Semah ben Josiah explained

Semah ben Josiah (Hebrew: צמח בן יאשיהו) was the great-grandson of Anan ben David, a Nasi, and the head of the Palestinian yeshiva in the 9th century.

Details

According to a fragment found in the Cairo Genizah (T-S 312.82), Semah reigned as head of the Palestinian Yeshiva for 31 years and was a Rabbanite.^[1] His children lost the position to the rival Gaonic family. Another Genizah fragment (T-S 12.128) lists Semah as both a Rosh Yeshiva and a Nasi.

Semah was proceeded in the Gaonate by his brother Jehoshaphat.

Notes and References

1. The seemingly incongruous fact that these supposedly Karaite princes served in the Palestinian Gaonate can be explained by the fact that only during the 10th century did Karaites claim Anan as their founder and include these Nesi'im in their pedigree, see Encyclopedia: Gaon and Gaonate. Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Rustow . Marina. October 2010 . Marina Rustow . Brill . Leiden. 15 May 2023.