Commentaries On The Mishnah
Hai ben Sherira's philological abilities were directed to the expounding of the Mishnah; of this work only the portion on Seder Tohorot is extant; it was published by T. Rosenberg in "Qobetz Ma'aseh" (Berlin, 1856). This commentary contains especially interesting linguistic notes, Arabic and Aramaic being often adduced for comparison. The author quotes the Mishnah, the two Talmuds, the Tosefta, the Sifra, Targums Onkelos and Jonathan, the Septuagint, the works of Saadia Gaon, the Sifre Refu'ah, and other anonymous sources. He also quotes his own commentary on Zera'im (p. 34) and on Baba Batra (p. 43). These quotations, and many others cited by the 'Aruk, prove that the commentary extended to the whole Mishnah, containing among other explanations historical and archeological notes. Some passages of the commentary are quoted by Alfasi and Hananeel on Yoma, and by Solomon ibn Adret in his Hiddushim. while Abu al-Walid ibn Janah cites Hai's commentary to Shabbat frequently. It is uncertain whether Hai wrote commentaries in Arabic on the Bible as a whole or on parts of it. Abraham ibn Ezra, however, in his commentary on the Book of Job quotes several of his explanations.
Hai compiled also a dictionary of especially difficult words in the Bible, Targum, and Talmud, the Arabic title of which was al-Hawi. Abraham ibn Ezra translated this title, in his Moznayim, into "Ha-Me'assef," while Abu Bukrat's translation, Ha-Kolel, and Moses Botarel's translation, "Ha-Qemitzah," did not become popular. Fragments of this dictionary were discovered by Harkavy, and published by him in "Mitzpah" (St. Petersburg, 1886), in Hadashim Gam Yeshanim (No. 7), and in Mi-Mizrah umi-Ma'Arab (1896, iii. 94 et seq.); these show that the work was arranged according to an alphabetic-phonetic plan of three consonants in every group; for instance, s.v. it quotes the permutations . Judah ibn Balaam is the earliest Jewish author who expressly quotes this dictionary. Moses ibn Ezra and some North African rabbis of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries also mention it.
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