Wikipedia's first sentence called it “last palestinian gaon”. Today it says “last palestinian gaon to occupy his position in the land of israel”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Gaon (c. 1040–1112)”. It now reads “Palestinian Gaon (c. 1040–1112)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Abiathar ben Elijah ha-Cohen ( Hebrew : אביתר בן אליהו הכהן ; c. 1040 – 1112) was the last Palestinian Gaon to occupy his position in the land of Israel. He succeeded his father Rabbi Elijah to the gaonate in 1083. He was deposed for a period following a violent quarrel with the Egyptian exilarch David ben Daniel who aspired to dominate Palestinian Jewry. After having fled to Syria in 1093, he later returned to his position following the fall of David ben Daniel. An account of these events was discovered in the Cairo Genizah , known as Megillat Abiathar . Abiathar was stranded during the Siege of Tripoli and seems to have only found safe passage to Damascus because of his privileged status. The encyclopedia of the Jewish religion . The New standard Jewish encyclopedia . "Mediterranean Notables and the Politics of Survival in Islamic and Latin Syria: A New Geniza Petition from Tripoli under Crusader Siege" .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1279552953.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Abiathar ben Elijah ha-Cohen (c. 1040 - 1109), was the last Palestinian Gaon . He succeeded his father Rabbi Elijah to the gaonate in 1083. He was deposed for a period following a violent quarrel with the Egyptian exilarch David ben Daniel who aspired to dominate Palestinian Jewry. After having fled to Syria in 1093, he later returned to his position following the fall of David ben Daniel. An account of these events was discovered in the Cairo genizah . The encyclopedia of the Jewish religion . The New standard Jewish encyclopedia .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 448301463.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Abiathar ben Elijah ha-Cohen ( Hebrew : אביתר בן אליהו הכהן; c. 1040 – 1112), was the last Palestinian Gaon to occupy his position in the land of Israel. He succeeded his father Rabbi Elijah to the gaonate in 1083. He was deposed for a period following a violent quarrel with the Egyptian exilarch David ben Daniel who aspired to dominate Palestinian Jewry. After having fled to Syria in 1093, he later returned to his position following the fall of David ben Daniel. An account of these events was discovered in the Cairo Genizah , known as Megillat Abiathar .Abiathar was stranded during the Siege of Tripoli and seems to have only found safe passage to Damascus because of his privileged status. The encyclopedia of the Jewish religion . The New standard Jewish encyclopedia . "Mediterranean Notables and the Politics of Survival in Islamic and Latin Syria: A New Geniza Petition from Tripoli under Crusader Siege" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1169255092.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “last palestinian gaon”. Today it says “last palestinian gaon to occupy his position in the land of israel”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Gaon (c. 1040–1112)”. It now reads “Palestinian Gaon (c. 1040–1112)”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
last palestinian gaon
Now
last palestinian gaon to occupy his position in the land of israel
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
