Stern College for Women - Kochaviah Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Moses de Rieti 58 and Rabbi Abraham From Saadia ' s strong opposition to Ibn Ezra paid tribute to Saadia ' s work in Karaism, he emerges, above all, as a man this field. Ibn Ezra wrote, May the L-rd of insight who recognized the necessity double the reward of the Gaon who gave of maintaining Jewish unity. In the words complete answers to the Sadducees, [the of Ibn Daud, He gave answers to the Karaites were often referred to as Sad- heretics and those who deny the Law ducees] who forbid the light on the and thus did great deeds for Israel. 60 Sabbath. 5 ? NOTES l Solomon Grayzel, Karaites; Karaism, Valentine ' s Jewish Encyclopedia, ed. Albert M. Hymason and A. M. Silbermann (London, 1938 J, p. 345 2David Druck, Saadia Gaon, Scholar, Philosopher, Champion of Judaism (New York, 1942), p. 16 :i Leon Nemoy, Karaite Anthology (New Haven), 1953), p. xxiii 4 Bernard Revel, The Karaite Halakah and its Relation to Sadducean, Samaritan and Philonion Halakah (Philadelphia, 1913), p. 3 5 A. S. Halkin, Saadia ' s Exegis and Polemics 136, Rab Saadia Gaon, ed. Louis Finkelstein (New York, 1944), p. 136 6 Revel, p. 3 7Druck, p. 25 s Loc. cit. 9 Samuel Poznanski, ' Anti-Karaite Writings of Saadia Gaon, Jewish Quarterly Review, X(1898), 238 lORevel, p. 6 HHeinrich Graetz, History of the Jews (Philadelphia, 1894), 111, 182 mbid., p. 155 13Druck, p. 26 i4Loc. cit. Vlbid., p. 29 lfi Maurice Simon, Saadia ben Joseph, Valentine ' s Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 568 17Graetz, p. 189 18 Simon, p. 568 19Joseph Elias, The Spirit of Jewish History (New York, 1949), p. 63 20Judah B. Eisenstein, Rav Saadia, Ozar Yisroel Encyclopedia (London, 1935), VII, 234 2llbid„ p. 233 22 Nernoy, p. xx 23Druck, p. 29 24Z,oc. cit. 25Exodus 35:3 26Graetz, p. 132 - Solomon Zeitlin, Saadia Gaon, Champion for Jewish Unity and Religious Leadership, Saadia tudies, ed. Abraham Neuman and Solomon Zeitlin (Philadelphia, 1943), p. 289 2 ' s Abraham Harkavy, Karaites and Karaism, Jewish Encyclopedia VII (1904), 585 - Henry Maker, Saadia; His Life and Works (Philadelphia, 1921), p. 47 ' Quoted in Solomon Schechter, Studies in Judaism (London, 1896), 1, 162 31Max L. Margolis and Alexander Marx, A History of the Jewish People (Philadelphia, 1941), p. 271 32Poznanski, Anti-Karaite Writings, p. 261 HI bid. p. 240 Hlbid. p. 252 Hlbid., pp. 254-5 36Baron, p. 9 37Halkin, p. 137 38Graetz, p. 189 - Zeitlin pp. 286-7, note 103 • Benjamin B. Levin, Ozar Ha-Gaonim on Tractate Berakhot (Haifa, 1928), 32-33 42 Samuel Poznanski, A Fihirist of Saadia ' s Works, Jewish Quarterly Review XIII (1923), 396 •i- ' Saadia Gaon, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, trans. S. Rosenblatt (New York, 1896), 335 44 Margolis and Marx, p. 271 ■ 5Harkavy, Karaites, p. 441 ■• Samuel Poznanski, The Karaite Literary Opponents of Saadia Gaon (London, 1908), p. 4 illbid,, p. 90 48Margolis and Marx, p. 271 49Nemoy, p. xx 50Graetz, p. 157 5 ' Nemoy, p. xxi 52Poznanski, Anti-Karaite Writing, p. 276 53Nemoy, p. xxi 54Loc. cit. 55Druck, p. 32 ■ r ' °Grayzel, History, p. 270 57Poznanski, Anti-Karaite Writings, p. 240 5%Loc. cit. 59Quote d in Ibid., p. 245, note 4 ;n Quoted in Ibid., p. 240

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Saadia fought the Karaites with written polemics. The pen is mightier than the sword. 31 Unfortunately, most of Saadia ' s direct anti-Karaite writings have been lost and we know of thei r content only from ref- erences in the works of his opponents. 1 - ' As early as 915, in his twenty-third year, Saadia wrote a polemical essay against Anan, the alleged founder of the Karaite movement. 33 Eleven years later, he wrote his most comprehensive work against the Karaites, the Book of Distinction. From the few passages that were not lost, we see, according to Poznanski, that Saadia discussed in this book all points of di- vergence. It was written in a calm tone, one of defence rather than of attack. 3 ' Saadia wrote three more direct anti- Karaite works: a book against Ibn Saqa- veihi, the Book of Refutation of the At- tacking Writer, and a work against Ben Zuta. In these books, he refutes the con- tentions of the Karaite leaders and dis- cusses the calendar and anthropomorph- ism. 35 Saadia also opposed Karaism indirectly in many of his other works, for anti- Karaite and gen erally anti-sectarian ac- tivity was focal in Saadia ' s whole attitude to life, and it found expression even in remote corners of his scholarly activity. 36 From the works of Solomon Ben Yeru- ham, the Karaite, it appears that in his commentary on the Torah, Saadia listed arguments in proof of the need of the Mishna. 1 His Arabic translation of the Bible lias a marked anti-Karaite tenden- cy. P. R. Weis states that an inquiry into the paraphrases of the Gaon ' s ver- sion not only reveals that they stand in opposition to views known to have been held by the Karaites, but also shows that they correspond to the very arguments... advanced by the Gaon. 38 To this trans- lation, Saadia also added notes to coun- teract the Karaite influence ' ' Saadia compiled a Siddur in which he omitted the words and a new light shall shine on Zion from the blessing on light. Some scholars believe he did this in order to combat those Karaites who had emi- grated to Jerusalem. 1 Apparently this is an erroneous interpretation for Saadia himself gives a different reason — that mention of the new light of the future is anomalous in the blessing on everyday light. ' 1 Nevertheless, this Siddur was oi importance in the light against Karaism. h acquainted .ill Jews with the tradition- al prayers, which then had been replaced by rci nation of the Psalms ' Saadia used every opportunity to strike against the Karaites Even in his philo- sophical work, there is an allusion to Karaism: Whoever does not believe in . . . the truthfulness of the transmitters of tradition will not be rewarded in the world to come, even though he is right- eous in all other respects. 43 Saadia ' s writings have influenced many future polemics between the Rabbanites and the Karaites and — what is import- ant — have had a decisive effect on the development of Karaism. In their writ- ings, the Rabbis drew their weapons from the arsenal of the Gaon ' s polem- ics. ' To take just one example, Rabbi Jacob Ben Samuel carried on the fight against Karaism in Saadia ' s manner. 45 Also the Karaite writings centered around Saadia. Till the nineteenth century they attacked him in their books. From Ben Zuta and Ibn Saqaveihi 46 to Solo- mon Ben Luzki and Abraham Firko- wisch 47 they all levelled their shafts at the redoubtable master-controversialist, whose very name they held in execration. And his work was the shield against which their lances broke. 48 In order to answer Saadia effectively, the Karaites had to resolve the differ- ences among themselves 49 — differences that had resulted from their unlimited freedom in exegesis. 50 Their answers to Saadia had to be on a higher literary and scholastic plane than heretofore. Ka- raite leaders, such as Sahl ben Masliah and Solomon ben Yeruham replied to Saadia in Arabic and Hebrew. These answers produced the Golden Age of Karaite Literature. 1 But a literature cannot live on the chewing of old opin- ions and on controversy, and nothing more, especially when these are not even fertilized by new thoughts. Thus it is that Karaite literature vanished silently. 52 Similarly, the blow Saadia dealt the Karaite expansion was decisive and sealed the fate of the sect. It was cut off com- pletely from the main stream of Jewish thought and social progress. 5 3 This com- plete break closed the only missionary field open to Karaism. 5 ' Its numbers dwindled from that time until only an insignificant group remained. In time, it broke away entirely from the main bod] of Israel. 55 As regards Saadia ' s achievements, the facts speak for themselves. Karaism did not recover from Ins attack m A was never again a danger to Israel. Saadia had curbed hik- oi the strongest heretic move- ments that ever arose m fudais Saadia ' s contemporaries recognized his accomplishments miA he partly owed his appointment .is Gaon at Sura to his anti- Karaite a n ities Latet Rabbis such as

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