to Arabic helped forward a sounder understanding of the
Scriptures.

At the age of thirty-six Saadiah received a remarkable honor; he was
summoned to Sura to fill the post of Gaon. This election of a foreigner
as head of the Babylonian school proves, first, that Babylonia had lost
its old supremacy, and, secondly, that Saadiah had already won
world-wide fame. Yet the great work on which his reputation now rests
was not then written. Saadiah's notoriety was due to his successful
championship of Rabbinism against the Karaites. His determination, his
learning, his originality, were all discernible in his early treatises
against Anan and his followers. The Rabbinites had previously opposed
Karaism in a guerilla warfare. Saadiah came into the open, and met and
vanquished the foe in pitched battles. But he did more than defeat the
invader, he strengthened the home defences. Saadiah's polemical works
have always a positive as well as a negative value. He wished to prove
Karaism wrong, but he also tried to show that Rabbinism was right.

As a champion of Rabbinism, then, Saadiah was called to Sura. But he had
another claim to distinction. The Karaites founded their position on the
Bible. Saadiah resolved that the appeal to the Bible should not be
restricted to scholars. He translated the Scriptures into Arabic, and
added notes. Saadiah's qualifications for the task were his knowledge of
Hebrew, his fine critical sense, and his enlightened attitude towards
the Midrash. As to the first qualification, it is said that at the age
of eleven he had begun a Hebrew rhyming dictionary for the use of poets.
He himself added several hymns to the liturgy. In these Saadiah's
poetical range is very varied. Sometimes his style is as pure and simple
as the most classical poems of the Spanish school. At other times, his
verses have all the intricacy, harshness, and artificiality of Kalir's.
Perhaps his mastery of Hebrew is best seen in his "Book of the Exiled"
(_Sefer ha-Galui_), compiled in Biblical Hebrew, divided into verses,
and provided with accents. As the title indicates, this book was written
during Saadiah's exile from Sura.

Saadiah's Arabic version of the Scriptures won such favor that it was
read publicly in the synagogues. Of old the Targum, or Aramaic version,
had been read in public worship together with the original Hebrew. Now,
however, the Arabic began to replace the Targum. Saadiah's version well
deserved its honor.

Saadi