Chushiel

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Chushiel (Hebrew: חננאל בן חושיאל) is mentioned in Sefer HaKabala (Book of Tradition) by R. Abraham Ibn Daud, the grandson of Isaac ben Baruch Albalia. The story relates that R. Chushiel was one of four rabbis captured by pirates on the Mediterranean in about the year 1000. The four rabbis were ransomed by Jewish communities in Alexandria, Cordoba, and Kairouan. R. Chushiel was ransomed to Kairouan, and headed the Yeshiva there. His son R. Chananel and his student R. Nissim wrote two of the standard commentaries on the Talmud. The story attempts to explain the migration of Jewish centers of learning from Babylonia to Spain and North Africa.