Chushiel

He was probably born in Italy, but his origins and travels remain obscure, and his eventual arrival in Kairwan is the subject of a well-known story.

According to the Sefer Ha-Kabbalah of Abraham ibn Daud, Ḥushiel was one of the four scholars who were captured by Abd al-Rahman III, an Arab admiral, while voyaging from Bari to Elaiussa Sebaste to collect money "for the dowries of poor brides."

Ḥushiel was sold as a slave in North Africa, but Jewish communities ransomed him and the other three rabbis in Alexandria, Cordoba, and Kairouan.

It may therefore be the case that the story presented by ibn Daud is an etiological myth explaining the migration of Jewish centers of learning from Babylonia to Spain and North Africa.

Samuel ha-Nagid, recognizing his importance and value, ordered that memorial services in his honor should be celebrated in Granada, Lucena, and Córdoba.

[9] The letter, ending with a Hebrew poem in the Hazaj meter, and written in a very difficult style, praises Ḥushiel's knowledge and virtue, and compliments Hananeel.