West Africa: From Nile to Niger with the Jews.^47 Both works suggest a link
between modern ethnography and the Qayrawani interrogation of Eldad.
The Gaon’s response to the Qayrawanis’ query revealed from the outset his
positive impression of Eldad, referring to him as “rabbi”; this rabbinization was
a significant indication of authority. He also indicated that this Eldad had shown
up elsewhere and caused a similar stir. The Gaon assured the Qayrawanis that
there was no need to panic about the discrepancies they’d found in the course of
their interrogations; others had dealt with them as well: “Wise men tell us that
they heard from Rabban Isaac ben Mar and Rabban Simcha that they saw this
Rabbi Eldad the Danite and were surprised at his words because some of them
were according to the words of the Rabbis and some of them differed.”
The crux of the matter, however, was halachic, and here, too, the Gaon gave
Eldad the benefit of any doubt. He pointed out that, on the “big issues,” such as
methods of executions, the ten tribes’ law was similar to Jewish law, in the
sense that it also included strangling, which is not mentioned in scripture but
is mandated by the rabbis. As for the slight discrepancies, the Gaon reassured
the Qayrawanis that differences in ritual also prevail among different groups of
Jews. “Do not be astonished at the variation and difference which you heard
from Eldad,” he urged them, “for it is a fact that the sages of Babylon and of
Palestine study one and the same Mishnah and they do not add to or take away
from it, but sometimes these give one reason and those another reason.” In
other words, since Jewish law allows a degree of pluralism and difference in
interpretation, they must also allow for some differences between it and the ten
tribes’ law: “The law remains the same, whether in Mishnah or Talmud, and all
drink from one well.” Lest any doubt be left in his interlocutors’ minds, the
Gaon reminded them of the human dimension, as well:
It must be said that it is not far fetched to think that Eldad has erred
and confused things in consequence of the many troubles through
which he passed and the stress of travel wearying the body, but the
Mishna is one law... but the Talmud is studied by the men of Babylon
in Aramaic and by the men of Palestine inTargum[translation into a
different Aramaic dialect], and by the sages exiled to Ethiopia in
Hebrew, which they understand.
Finally, the Gaon did not miss the opportunity to use the episode for
didactic purposes, to confirm the supremacy of the Babylonian rabbinical
establishment in the Jewish world:
And as to what Eldad told, that they prayed for the wise men of
Babylon first and afterwards for all Israel in exile, they do well, for the