R. Nissim ben Jacob ben Nissim Ibn Shahin (R. Nissim Gaon, Rabbenu Nissim, c. 990–1062), together with R. Hananel b. Hushi'el, the outstanding leader and talmudist of North Africa. His father headed a bet ha-midrash in Kairouan and was the representative of the academies of Sura and Pumbedita for the whole of North Africa. Little is known of R. Nissim's personal history. It is known that he, too, was head of an academy in Kairouan and maintained close ties with the academy of Pumbedita. After the death or R. Hananel, he was appointed by the Babylonian academies Rosh bei-Rabbanan ("Head of the College") in his stead. There were close ties between R. Nissim and R. Samuel ha-Nagid. R. Samuel supported R. Nissim financially and R. Nissim served as the principal channel for R. Samuel's knowledge of Babylonian teachings, particularly those of R. Hai Gaon. When one of R. Nissim's sons died in childhood, R. Samuel composed a poem in consolation for the bereaved father. R. Nissim's daughter married R. Joseph ha-Nagid, R. Samuel's son, and on that occasion Nissim visited Granada and taught there. According to R. Abraham ibn Daud, R. Solomon ibn Gabirol was among those who heard his lectures. R. Nissim's teachers were his father, R. Hushi'el, and possibly also the latter's son R. Hananel, whose teachings reveal a close affinity with that of R. Nissim. R. Nissim obtained a great part of his halakhic tradition from R. Hai Gaon, with whom he corresponded. Noteworthy among his pupils is R. Ibn Gasom, the author of a book on the laws of prayer.

R. Nissim was a prolific and versatile writer. Five works of great length and value are known to have been written by him. The other four are, commentaries on a few tractates of the Talmud, apparently written in Hebrew. Only a few fragments from several tractates are extant; Halakhic rulings. A few fragments of what was evidently a comprehensive work are extant; Megillat Setarim (completed in 1051 at the latest). This work was very well known among the rishonim, Sephardim as well as Ashkenazim; and Hibbur me-haYeshu'ah (Ferrara, 1557), R. Nissim's best-known work, is a collection of Hebrew stories and folktales taken from early sources. It is designed to strengthen belief, faith, and morality among the people and to raise their spirit. This work, possibly the first prose storybook in medieval Hebrew literature, paved the way for Hebrew belletristic literature as a literary genre. Tradition has it that R. Nissim dedicated the book to his father-in-law, Dunash, who is otherwise unknown, to console him in his mourning.

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Yam shel Shlomo to tractate Bava Kamah. The Maharshal was descended from a distinguished family, tracing his lineage to Rashi. His teachers were his father R. Jehiel and his maternal grandfather, R. Isaac Klober of Posen. Luria served as rabbi and head of the yeshiva in Ostrog, leaving after twenty years for Brisk and subsequently becoming a rosh yeshivah in the yeshiva of Shalom Shachna. In 1567, Maharshal founded his own yeshiva. His students include R. Mordecai Jaffe (Levush), Joshua Falk (Derishah u-Perishah), and Hayyim ben Bezalel. Maharshal was known for his intellectual independence.