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'''Hezekiah Gaon''' or '''Hezekiah ben David''' ({{langx|he|חזקיה בן דוד}}) was the last [[Gaon (Hebrew)|Gaon]] of the [[Talmudic academies in Babylonia|Talmudic academy]] in [[Pumbedita]] from 1038 to 1040.

Hezekiah ben David was a member of the [[exilarch|House of Exilarchs]]; his father David was the son of Zakkai. Some scholars believe Hezekiah was great-grandson of David ben Zakai (not the grandson of David).<ref>[https://www.poeticmind.co.uk/heritage/king-david-dynasty-the-charlap-family-ascension/ King David Dynasty [see note number 74<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</ref>

Hezekiah was elected to the office of principal after the death of [[Hai Gaon]] at the age of 99, but was denounced to a fanatical government of the [[Buyid dynasty]], who then imprisoned and tortured him to death. However, the ''[[Jewish Quarterly Review]]'' mentioned that Hezekiah was liberated from prison, and became head of the academy, and is mentioned as such by a contemporary in 1046.<ref>''Jewish Quarterly Review'', xv. 80</ref> With him ended his family except two sons who escaped to the [[Iberian Peninsula]], where they found a home with [[Joseph ibn Naghrela]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poeticmind.co.uk/heritage/the-book-of-destiny-toledot-charlap-chapter-xxv/ |title=The Book of Destiny – Toledot Charlap – Chapter XXV |date=18 January 2021 |accessdate=2021-02-18}}</ref> son of [[Samuel ibn Naghrillah]].

The death of Hezekiah ended the line of the [[Geonim]], which had begun four centuries earlier (see [[Hanan of Iskiya]]), and with it, [[Pumbedita Academy]]. The Spanish poet, [[Hiyya al-Daudi]] (d. 1154), ancestor of the [[Ibn Yahya]] family descended from David ben Hezekiah, who had escaped the Buyyids with his brother. In addition, [[Abraham bar Hiyya]] was said to be a descendant of Hezekiah.

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=H&artid=701|article=Hezekiah (Gaon)}} It has the following bibliography:
*Rabad, Sefer ha-Kabbalah;
*Zacuto, The book of Lineage;
*Gans, Ẓemaḥ Dawid, i.;
*Grätz, Gesch. v. 428;
*Jost, Gesch. der Juden und Seiner Sekten, ii. 287.
{{S-start}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Hai Gaon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Gaon (Hebrew)|Gaon]] of the [[Pumbedita Academy]] | years = 1038–1040 }}
{{s-non|reason=Office extinct}}
{{S-end}}

{{Geonim}}
{{Exilarch}}
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[[Category:Geonim]]
[[Category:11th-century rabbis in al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Rabbis of Academy of Pumbedita]]

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