Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon


Shem Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon was a Spanish Talmudist and kabbalist.

Biography

Shem Tov was born at Soria, Spain. From his genealogy given in the preface to his Keter Shem Tov, Azulai concluded that "Gaon" must have been the proper name of one of Shem Tov's ancestors. Zunz and Geiger however, suppose "Gaon" to be the Hebrew transliteration of "Jaén", indicating that Shem Tov's family originally came from that Spanish city.
After he had studied Talmud under Solomon ben Adret and kabbalah under Isaac ben Todros, Shem Tov moved to the Land of Israel in the hope of finding in the Holy Land a more suitable place for kabbalistic meditation. He lived for some time in Jerusalem, and then settled at Safed.'

Works

At Safed Shem Tov wrote the following works, of which only the first two have been published:
In a manuscript containing piyyutim of various liturgists, there is one written by a Shem Tov b. Abraham, whom L. Dukes supposes to be identical with the subject of this article. But Dukes seems to have distinguished between Shem Tov b. Abraham and Shem Tov of Soria, the author of the Sefer ha-Pe'er. On the other hand, Conforte confusing Shem Tov b. Abraham with Shem Tov Ardotial, wrongly ascribes to the former the viddui recited on Yom Kippur in the Musaf prayer.
The following works are erroneously attributed to Shem Tov b. Abraham ibn Gaon by Wolf and by other bibliographers: Keter Shem Tov, a collection of sermons, and Ma'amar Mordekai, a commentary on Book of Esther, the author of both works being Shem Tov Melammed; also a kabbalistic treatise by an unknown author on the crowns of the letters.