יהודה הכהן אבן סוסאן

Rav Yehuda HaKohen ibn Susan (niftar c. 4925/1165), known also simply as Yehuda HaKohen, was a dayan in Fez in Morocco under Almohad rule, valued for his brilliance in Torah together with his chasidut. His family had come to Fez from Bavel. The chronicler Rav Saadia ibn Danan writes that after the petirah of Rav Yosef ibn Migash in 4901/1141 the yeshivot of Spain thinned out, and that Rav Maimon the Dayan, hearing of ibn Susan’s greatness, traveled to him from Cordoba together with his two sons — Moshe, the Rambam, and his brother David — who learned before him for a period of no more than five years.

Around 4925/1165 the Almohad authorities demanded that he accept Islam, and when he refused he was killed al kiddush Hashem. Ibn Danan gives this as the reason the Rambam’s family left Morocco. His descendants remained prominent in Fez, where they were called the Bnei ibn Susan HaDayan; among them was Rav Yosef HaKohen, rebbi of Rav Yehuda ben Yosef alKarsani, author of Aron HaEdut. Members of the family sat in the rabbanut of Fez at least until the days of ibn Danan himself in the fifteenth century.