RABBI SA'ADYAH GAON ben Joseph was a remarkable figure of the geonic era, aptly styled the ‘chief discourser everywhere’ by Abraham ibn Ezra. His greatness is reflected not only in what he wrote and said but in his impact on others and in the variety of reactions he elicited. Although the classical Genizah period does not begin until some fifty years after Sa'adyah's death, many documents with a bearing on different aspects of his life and works have come to light since the early days of Genizah research alongside numerous fragments of his writings. This makes Sa'adyah Gaon a more attainable subject for a biography than any other Jewish figure of the first millennium. True, much in his life remains unknown, yet compared to our knowledge of his contemporaries, even the most prominent among them, and considering the fact that no organized archives have survived from his day—if indeed any such existed—the amount of information that has come down to us about his life is truly impressive, almost astounding.

Sa'adyah's Life:A Brief Overview

Sa'adyah, ‘the Fayyumite’ as he was called, was born in 882 in the Egyptian district of Fayyum to a family originating from the area of Dilas, which is why he is also sometimes referred to as al-Dilasi. About his family background we have scant information aside from the disparaging claims of his adversaries that he was the descendant of local non-Jews who had converted to Judaism, or the scion of church sextons, while he himself traced his ancestry back to Shelah, the son of Judah.

The little we know about Sa'adyah's childhood in Egypt comes largely from his own writings. The precise date of his departure from Egypt cannot be determined, but hewasmost probably in his late twenties by that time. He left behind a family and a circle of students (his wife and children probably joined him later on, although our sources provide no definite confirmation of this or details about when and where such a reunion might have taken place).What we do know concerning his years in Egypt is that he corresponded with Isaac Israeli, one of the first Jewish theologians, and that while still in his early twenties he composed a number of works, including the Egron and at least one polemical work refuting Jewish sectarians.