Did Wikipedia remove the word "occupation" from the Sherira ben Hanina article?

Yes. "occupation" appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1. We saved the article's opening paragraph at 6 moments between 2010 and 2025, and the counts come from those saved copies.

When did the Sherira ben Hanina article stop using the word "occupation"?

The word appeared 1 times in the opening at its peak in 2010. It is absent from today's opening, the part search engines quote and AI systems train on, checked against the live article on 2026-08-02.

How can I verify what Wikipedia's Sherira ben Hanina article used to say?

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Sherira ben Hanina

The word “occupation” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak in 2010. Today the opening carries none. 1 remains further down the article, where a reader arriving from a search result does not go.

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 2026-08-02. “occupation” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1.

We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since. Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now. ¹ tap a number or a side note to jump between them

The opening as it read in 2010

Sherira Gaon ( Hebrew : רב שרירא גאון ) was the head of the yeshiva in Pumbeditha .¹ He wrote the Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon ("[The] Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon"), a comprehensive history of the composition of the Talmud .² One of the most prominent Geonim of his period, he was the father of Hai Gaon .³ Gaon of Pumbedita; born about 900; died about 1000 (Abraham ibn Daud, "Sefer ha-Ḳabbalah," in Neubauer, "M. He was the descendant, both on his father's and his mother's side, of prominent families, several members of which had occupied the gaonate. One of his ancestors was Rabbah b. Abuha, who himself belonged to the family of the exilarch. Sherira boasted that his genealogy could be traced back to the pre-Bostanaian branch of that family, which, he claimed, on account of the deterioration of the exilarchate had renounced its claims thereto, preferring instead the scholar's life (Letter of Sherira Gaon, in Neubauer, l.c. i. 23, 33). The seal of his family was a lion, which was said to have been the emblem of the Judean kings (Ibn Daud, l.c.).⁴ The Iggeret was an answer to an enquiry from Kairouan about the authorship and composition of the Mishnah and Talmud, and in particular why earlier authorities are seldom cited by name and the authorities that are so cited do not seem to be chronologically continuous. It exists in two recensions.⁵ The "French" recension is in Aramaic, and is believed by scholars to be the original version.⁶ The "Spanish" recension contains a higher proportion of Hebrew, and is believed to be a paraphrase. The two recensions appear to differ on the question of whether the Mishnah was recorded in writing by Rabbi Judah haNasi . The Spanish recension definitely says that it was. The French recension appears to say that it was not, and this was the traditional view among Ashkenazi Jews . However, the notes to the most recent edition of the French recension argue that the wording is consistent with the Mishnah having been written down.⁷

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 362646940.

The opening as it stood in 2015 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Rav Sherira Gaon ( Hebrew : רב שרירא גאון or R. Sherira ben Ḥanina Gaon , Hebrew : רב שרירא גאון בר חנינא or merely Sherira b. Ḥanina ) was the head (gaon) of the Academy of Pumbeditha . He was one of the most prominent Geonim of his period, and the father of Hai Gaon , who succeeded him as gaon. Sherira was born in 906 and died in 1006. (Rabinowich p. xx; see also Abraham ibn Daud i. 66-67). He wrote the Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon ("[The] Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon"), a comprehensive history of the composition of the Talmud . The Iggeret was an answer to an enquiry from Kairouan about the authorship and composition of the Mishnah and Talmud, and in particular why earlier authorities are seldom cited by name and the authorities that are so cited do not seem to be chronologically continuous. The Iggeret exists in two recensions, a "French" and a "Spanish" recension. The "French" recension is in Aramaic, while the "Spanish" recension contains a higher proportion of Hebrew. The two recensions appear to differ on the question of whether the Mishnah was recorded in writing by Rabbi Judah haNasi . The Spanish recension definitely says that it was. The French recension appears to say that it was not, and this was the traditional view among Ashkenazi Jews . However, the notes to a recent edition of the French recension argue that the French wording is also consistent with the Mishnah having been written down. The scholarly consensus, up to and including Solomon Schechter , was that the "Spanish" recension was the original version, and this is strongly urged by Rabbi Israel Moses Hazan . More recent scholarship holds that the names are wrongly attributed: the so-called "French" version is the older, but is in fact a product not of France but of Spain.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660661529.

Today

“occupation” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1. Read the current article and compare.

Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
	2005	2010	2015	2020	Oct '23	2025

What Wikipedia says this is

Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2010.

Then

one of the post- talmudic geonim

Now

head of the yeshiva in pumbeditha

1. Removed: “Sherira Gaon ( Hebrew : רב שרירא גאון ) was the head…” In the article until 2010 (rev), gone by 2015 (rev).

2. Rewrote: “He wrote the Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon ("[The] Epistle of Rav Sherira…” Changed after our 2025 snapshot. Now reads: “He wrote the Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon , a comprehensive history of the composition of the Talmud .”

3. Removed: “One of the most prominent Geonim of his period, he was the…” In the article until October 6, 2023 (rev), gone by 2025 (rev).

4. Removed 6 sentences: “Gaon of Pumbedita; born about 900; died about 1000 (Abraham ibn Daud,…” In the article until 2010 (rev), gone by 2015 (rev).

5. Removed 2 sentences: “The Iggeret was an answer to an enquiry from Kairouan about the…” In the article until 2015 (rev), gone by 2020 (rev).

6. Removed: “The "French" recension is in Aramaic, and is believed by scholars to…” In the article until 2010 (rev), gone by 2015 (rev).

7. Removed 5 sentences: “The "Spanish" recension contains a higher proportion of Hebrew, and is believed…” In the article until 2015 (rev), gone by 2020 (rev).

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.

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