Halakha and the responsa of the Geonim, yeshiva leadership
A Gaon who tied the yeshiva to the Diaspora: he created and strengthened ties with the communities of the west and especially with Spain, and, according to one scholar, increased the spread and teaching of the Talmud more than any of the Geonim of Pumbedita before him, and enacted important ordinances in law, among them permission to turn to gentile courts when the defendant refuses to be judged in the Jewish court.
Rav Paltoi bar Abaye was Gaon of the Pumbedita yeshiva in 842–858 and one of the most active Geonim the yeshiva produced. He was appointed at a relatively young age and without dispute, although he did not come from a distinguished family, and he gave more halakhic responsa than any of the Geonim of Pumbedita before him. His son Rav Tzemach ben Paltoi was also a Gaon, and among his descendants were Rav Sherira Gaon and his son Rav Hai Gaon.
The archive doesn’t yet record Rav Paltoi Gaon’s teachers, so the road to Sinai can’t be drawn yet.