Gaon

See also: gaon

English

Etymology

From Hebrew גָּאוֹן (ga'ón, “grandeur, majesty, genius”).

Noun

Gaon (plural Gaonim or Geonim or Gaons)

1. (historical, Judaism) A sage of the Talmudic academies of Babylonia.

Quotations

• 1991, Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy [1]

  The Gaon also was distressed by the veneration the Hasidim accorded their rabbinic leaders, men whom the Gaon generally regarded as ignoramuses.

• 1996, Roger Friedland, Richard Hecht, To Rule Jerusalem [2]

  Like the hasidim, he too refused the title of rabbi, adopting the ancient title of Gaon.

• 1997, Moshe Gil, A History of Palestine [3]

  The Gaon also mentions a letter he has received from Ḥasan as-ʻĀqūlī (al-ʻĀqūla, the ancient Aramaic name for Kūfa) undoubtedly one of the emigrants from Iraq to Egypt whom the Gaon knew.

Anagrams

• Gano, Goan, Nago, Noga, agon, goan