Excerpt from Saadia Gaon His Life and Works
The present book was originally designed to furnish a biography of Saadia Gaon for the biographical series of the Jewish Publication Society of America, at whose request the work was undertaken. At that time, about six years ago, there were already in existence (as will be seen from pp. 90 f.) a considerable number of sketches of Saadia's life, written in various languages (Hebrew, Latin, French, German, English, Russian, and Dutch); but all of them were based upon the epoch-making essay of Rapoport, who, writing nearly a century ago (1828) - long before the Genizah gave up its treasures - had at his disposal only the scanty material scattered in the mediaeval sources. For the biographical part in particular, only the Report of Nathan ha-Babli, the Epistle of Sherira Gaon, and some additional remarks by Abraham Ibn Daud were available. All that could be gathered from these sources about Saadia's life was that he was born in Egypt in 892, that he was appointed Gaon of Sura in 928, was deposed by the Exilarch David b. Zakkai and later reinstated (the deposition and reinstallation being related with some detail), and that he died in 942. Rapoport's biography, if it may be so called, consists therefore, chiefly of learned notes dealing with Saadia's writings, so far as these were accessible to him or known from quotations. Subsequent writers on Saadia followed Rapoport's example, adding nothing to the Gaon's biography, but entering more fully upon the description and characterization of his teachings.
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