upheaval for the Jewish people. It ushered in a period

in which three major schisms occurred which could

have, chas v’sholom, devastated klal Yisroel’s religious way of

life. However in that year, a Torah giant was born - Rav

Saadya Gaon who ultimately prevented such a catastrophe.

Saadya ben Yosef was born in 4652/892, in the Egyptian city

of Fayum (the former name of Cairo). By the time he reached

the age of twenty, he had become a talmid chacham of the first

rank, and he wrote numerous responsa to the halachic queries

addressed to him by the Jewish community. His phenomenal

breadth of knowledge also extended to languages (including

Latin and Greek), mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. It

was in this stage of his life that he wrote Sefer HaEgron, a

scholarly work on Hebrew grammar.

Soon afterward, at the ripe old age of twenty-three, Rav

Saadya was forced to spearhead an all-out war against the

Karaites. This sect claimed that Torah Shebeal Peh was not

divinely ordained, and instead interpreted the laws of Torah

Shebichtav on a literal basis. The activity of the Karaites

achieved its pinnacle in Egypt, during Rav Saadya’s youth,

and attracted many followers, perhaps even hundreds of thousands

of Jews throughout the medieval world.

The Karaite sect was founded in the seventh century by

Anan ben David, one of the two nephews of the Exilarch, the

leader of the Jewish community of that time. Enraged that he

had not been chosen to succeed his uncle as Exilarch, Anan

decided to satisfy his desire for recognition by founding a new

sect, the Karaites, and justified attacking the rabbinic leadership

using the pretext that the Oral Torah was not divinely

ordained.

Rav Saadya waged the main battle against the Karaites by

using numerous compelling arguments in droshos, pamphlets

and books, utterly refuting their claims. Rav Saadya skillfully

and sarcastically showed up the fallaciousness of their position,

whereby in order to disown Torah Shebeal Peh, they had

to compose their own "oral law."

The effects of his arguments were so powerful that thousands

of Jews who had joined the Karaites or had been considering

it, returned to the fold of Torah. To his eternal credit,

Rav Saadya accepted these baalei teshuva without reservation.

Rav Saadya’s main book on this subject was called "Kolo

Anan Vayeilech Lo" – literally, "the cloud has dispersed and

disappeared" – a play on words using the founder of the

Karaites’ name and a posuk in Iyov. The repercussions of Rav

Saadya’s direct attack were so ruinous and damaging to the

sect that the Karaites retaliated by attacking him physically

and burning his writings.

Due to Rav Saadya’s efforts, the Karaite scourge was dealt a

severe blow and became a negligible, non-influential sect. Rav

Saadya himself become famous throughout the international

Torah community, especially in Eretz Yisroel and Babylonia.

During that period, Rav Saadya also waged a battle against

Chivi HaBelchi from Afghanistan, who had written a heretical

work containing 200 critiques of the Torah. HaBelchi’s influence

was so widespread that, as attested to by Rav Saadya,

melamdim taught their young students from his books. To

counteract this trend, Rav Saadya published a book called A

Refutation of Chivi HaBelchi in which he persuasively disproved

every one of HaBelchi’s heretical claims.

In 4675/915, Rav Saadya left Egypt and moved to Tveria in

order to study Torah under the great sages of that city.

However, recognizing his greatness, the sages of the great

yeshiva of Sura in Babylonia invited him to that yeshiva.

According to Rav Sherira Gaon, he was the first non-

Babylonian so invited and was accorded the title of Aluf, an

honorary title given to the third in importance from the Gaon.

Six years after he had begun to study in Sura, in Iyar

4688/928, Rav Saadya was appointed the Gaon, the title of a

rosh hayeshiva. As Gaon of Sura yeshiva, Rav Saadya became

the acknowledged gadol hador.

Under his leadership, the yeshiva flourished and regained its

former glory.

As gadol hador, one of Rav Saadya’s first steps was to dispatch

letters to Egypt’s Jews, in which he offered to help them

in whatever area required his attention.

When Rav Saadya arrived, the Golden Age of 1,000 years of

Babylonia as the Torah world’s center of learning seemed to

be drawing to a close. This Golden Age had comprised the

compilation of the Babylonian Talmud, the period of the

Savora’im who sealed the Talmud, and the Geonic period that

was to last 450 years, from 4349/589 - 4799/1039.

During this period, there were two main yeshivos upon

which this reputation was based: Sura, founded by the amora

(Talmudic sage) Rav, and Pumpedisa, founded a few generations

later, by Rabi bar Nachmani.

There was a constant interdependency, and sometimes rivalry,

between the yeshivos. Sura, the older yeshiva, was considered

more eminent than Pumpedisa. The roshei yeshiva of

Pumpedisa had to have studied in Sura and were appointed by

the roshei yeshiva of Sura.

However, in time, the situation changed, with Sura declining

and Pumpedisa taking over as the more prestigious yeshiva. At

a certain point, the Babylonian sages even sought to close the

yeshiva of Sura and to transfer its students to Pumpedisa.

However, in the end, it was decided to try and revive the yeshiva

of Sura and thus Rav Saadya was invited to the yeshiva.

As the gadol hador, Rav Saadya became embroiled in another

very significant machlokes during that period, the calendar

dispute. This argument was between him and Rav Aharon ben

Meir from Tveria. It centered on the fixing of the lunar calendar

and the determining of the leap year.

A necessary prerequisite of fixing the Jewish calendar

assumes that a viable Jewish community lives in Eretz Yisroel.

Until the time of Abaye and Rava of the Talmud, who lived in

the fourth century, the Sanhedrin in Eretz Yisroel determined

when Rosh Chodesh fell. When Hillel Hakatan saw that

Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisroel was declining, he publicized

the method of calculating the leap years that had, until

then, been a secret. Nonetheless, only Eretz Israel’s Jews were

permitted to determine the leap year.

In 4580/820, when the settlement in Eretz Yisroel further

declined, Babylonia’s sages went to Eretz Yisroel to learn the

secrets of determining the calendar. For the next century, the

sages of Babylonia determined it and fixed the leap years.

However, during the lifetime of Rav Aharon ben Meir, Eretz

Yisroel once more became a Torah center, while Sura and

Pumbedisa declined. As a result, Rav Aharon ben Meir sought

to contest the custom that the Babylonian sages calculated the

years and, in general, to restore the spiritual command of Eretz

Israel’s talmidei chachamim.

In 4681/921, Rav Aharon ben Meir declared that Rosh

Hashana would fall on a Wednesday (which could not occur in

our fixed calendar), while the geonim of Babylonia calculated

that it would be on a Tuesday. Rav Aharon ben Meir refused

to accept the decision of Babylonia’s sages.

As a result, the Jews of Eretz Yisroel and Babylonia

observed the yomim tovim, including Yom Kippur and Leil

Haseder, on different days. This meant in practice that while

Jews were fasting in one center, Jews of the other center were

eating, and that while Jews in one center were refraining from

chametz, those of the other center were already eating bread.

An untenable schism had formed in klal Yisroel.

Rav Saadya Gaon stood behind Babylonia’s sages. This rift

lasted for five years, during which Rav Saadya and Rav

Aharon ben Meir made great efforts to prove their points,

mainly through letters and piskei din that they dispatched

throughout all the Jewish communities in Eretz Yisroel and the

Diaspora.

Eventually, using his Torah knowledge and his understanding

of the complicated mathematics involved, Rav Saadya was

decisively able to prove to klal Yisroel that Rav Aharon ben

Meir’s calculations were completely wrong. Consequently, the

rift was healed and klal Yisroel was reunited while

Babylonia’s spiritual authority was retained.

During this dispute, Rav Saadya Gaon compiled a work

called Arbaas Hashearim, which elucidates the correct order

of the leap years.

The leadership of the Jewish community in Babylonia was

divided between the geonim of the yeshivos and the Caliph of

Baghdad’s appointed leader, the Exilarch, called the reish

galusa.

The geonim appointed dayanim and rabbanim, and were

invested with the power to excommunicate transgressors.

Among the civil powers granted the reish galusa approving the

appointments of the roshei yeshivos and the permission to give

lashes to erring members of the Jewish community.

As one can imagine, during the later Geonic period, there

was much internal political strife between the roshei galusa

and the roshei yeshiva.

After two years as Gaon of Sura, a serious dispute began

between Rav Saadya and the reish galusa, David ben Zakai,

who had originally promoted Rav Saadya’s appointment as the

rosh yeshiva of Sura.

This argument focused on Rav Saadya’s refusal to sign a

document of the beis din endorsing one of David ben Zakai’s

decisions in a particular case.

Enraged, the reish galusa ousted Rav Saadya from his position

as rosh yeshiva and banished him from Sura, appointing

someone of lesser scholarship and stature to replace him.

Klal Yisroel was once again divided for several years, this

time between the supporters of the two leaders.

During his exile from Sura, Rav Saadya lived in Baghdad,

where he compiled most of his works.

Seven years later, David ben Zakai and Rav Saadya Gaon

made peace, and Rav Saadya was reinstated as rosh yeshiva of

Sura. The friendship of David ben Zakai resumed and lasted

until David ben Zakai’s petira.

The reconciliation was so complete that, after the passing of

both David ben Zakai and his son Yehuda, Rav Saadya Gaon

took Yehuda’s orphan into his home and raised him as his own

son.

Rav Saadya was one of Klal Yisroel’s most eloquent and

prolific authors and commentators, poets, and his works are

considered classics.

Rav Saadya was the first great Jewish philosopher, paving

the way for Rav Yehuda Halevi’s Kuzari and the Rambam’s

Guide for the Perplexed. This reputation is based on his most

famous work, "Ha’emunos Vehadeyos", "Beliefs and

Opinions" which he originally wrote in Arabic and was translated

in Hebrew by Rav Yehuda ibn Tibbon.

In this monumental sefer, Rav Saadya clarified all of the religious

questions that he felt might be disturbing the people of

his times. This work was intended to assist those who had,

under the influence of foreign cultures, developed doubts in

their Jewish faith.

Among the topics it discusses logically are the existence,

oneness and immutability of Hashem, free choice, good and

evil, reward and punishment, the nature of man as a composite

of body and soul, and the classification of the mitzvos.

His works on the Torah include a translation of the Chumash

into Arabic, which he wrote while he was Egypt. This translation

served Arabic speaking Jews for generations, and even

today Yemenite Jews study from it, alongside Targum

Onkelus.

In addition to the translation of the Chumash, he prepared a

lengthy commentary on it. Many sections of this commentary

remained intact and were brought to the Cairo Geniza.

Tragically, Rav Saadya’s commentaries on the rest of the

Tanach have been lost.

Although there is no sefer of his commentaries on the Shas,

many sections of commentaries are quoted by later geonim,

appearing in Oztar Hegeonim.

Another well-known work is his Sefer Klei Hatalmud, an

introduction to the methods employed by the Gemara, as well

as a work on the 13 ways (Yud Gimmel Middos) in which the

Torah is expounded.

His halachic writings include eleven works on many aspects

of the law, among them the laws of interest, monetary affairs,

the laws of shechita and the laws of family purity.

Rav Saadya’s siddur in which he cites the Talmudic sources

for each of the prayers is also well known. He himself wrote

various piyutim for selichos and for Hoshana Raba.

His broad expanse of writing includes a number of books on

Hebrew grammar, a work listing the order of the Tana’im and

the Amorai’m, and 14 books refuting the beliefs of various

heretical sects.

Rav Saadya Gaon passed away on Iyar 26 4702/942, five

years after he had made peace with David ben Zakai, and had

resumed his position as Rav of Sura.

The restoration of Sura had repercussions for the entire

future of the Torah world. Students from other countries who

studied under the great geonim of Babylon eventually returned

to their homelands to establish their own yeshivos there.

Toward the end of the period of Rav Hai Gaon (4898/1038),

four students of Babylon’s yeshivos were dispatched abroad to

collect funds for maintenance of the yeshivos. These students

were kidnapped and eventually redeemed, finding themselves

in France, Spain, Egypt and North Africa, where they went on

to establish famous yeshivos.

Each of these places, which eventually became great Torah

centers, can be considered the offshoots of Sura and

Pumpedisa. Thus we could say that Rav Saadya Gaon, who

restored Sura may, among other great geonim, be credited

keeping Torah alive throughout the generations, and forging

the chain of Torah transmission throughout the world.

Rav Saadya is highly praised by the great sages who fol-

lowed him. The Meiri calls him "the first and foremost authority

on all matters." In Igeres Teiman, Rambam says: "Without

Rav Saadya Gaon, Torah might chas v’sholom have been lost

to us." In his introduction to Chovas Halevavos, Rabbenu

Bachya says that Rav Saadya’s works "enlighten our reasoning

capacities and sharpen our minds."

Due to his wisdom, fearlessness, yiras shamayim and great

scholarship, Rav Saadya Gaon succeeded in navigating klal

Yisroel through stormy seas and leading it to safe shores. His

aphorism, "Our nation is a nation only on account its Torah,"

has become a maxim which has guided us until today.

May his name be blessed forever.