SAADIA, sa-a'di-a, BEN JOSEPH (SAID AL FAYYUMI): Jewish rabbi; b. at Dilaz in Upper Egypt, 892; d. at Sura (100 m. s. of Bagdad), Babylonia, 942. In 915 he went to Palestine, and in 928 became gaon, or head teacher, of the ancient academy of Sura; but on account of strife was compelled to retire to Bagdad, 930-937. He is distinguished for his Arabic translation of the Pentateuch, Job, Psalms, Canticles, and other books of the Bible, with brief annotations; his grammatical and lexical works; and, above all, for his "Book of Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma" in Arabic, completed in 933; known only in the Hebrew translation of Judah ibn Tibbon, Sefer emunot we-de'ot (Constantinople, 1562; Germ. transl., by Julius Fuerst, Glaubenslehre und Philosophie von Saadja Fajjumi, Leipsic, 1845, in Die judischen Religions-philosophen des Mittelalters, vol. i.). Saadia was a representative of the peshat, or literal interpretation, a creator of Hebrew philology, and the promoter of a new school of exegesis characterized by a rational investigation of the contents and a scientific knowledge of the text. His work was characterized by treating each book as a whole and the contents as a unity, and by minuteness of exegesis; and his style, in translation and authorship, aimed at simple form and pure vocabulary. In his philosophy he surveyed the entire field of doctrine, ranging from the idea of God to ethics, in the light of reason and revelation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: JE, x. 578-586 (excellent; contains very full list of literature); S. Munk, Notice sur R. Saadia Gaon, Paris, 1838; A. Geiger, in Judische Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaft und Leben, v. 267-316; J. Guttmann, Die Religions-philosophie des Saadia, Gottingen, 1882; A. Harkavy, Studien und Mittheilungen, vol. v., Berlin, 1891; idem, in JQR, xiii. 655-668; W. Engelkemper, De Sandiae Gaonis vita, Munster, 1897; M. Friedlander, in JQR, v. 177-199; S. Posmanski, in JQR, viii. 684-691, x. 238-276.
SAALSCHUETZ, sal'shutz, JOSEPH LEVIN: German rabbi and archeologist; b. at Konigsberg Mar. 15, 1801; d. there Aug. 23, 1863. He studied in the university of Konigsberg (Ph.D., 1824); held positions as rabbi and teacher in Berlin, 1825-29, and in Vienna 1829-35; became rabbi at Konigsberg, after 1835; in 1847 he became privat-docent in Hebrew archeology, and afterward professor extraordinary. He was the author, among other works, of Forschungen im Gebiete der hebraisch-agyptischen Archaologie, three parts (Konigsberg, 1838-51); Form und Geist der biblisch-hebraischen Poesie (1853); and Archaologie der Hebraer, in twelve parts (1855-56). He also edited a new edition of J. D. Michaelis' Das mosaische Recht mit Berucksichtigung des spatern Judischen, in two parts (Berlin, 1846-48).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Carpin, in Allgemeine Zeitschrift des Judentums, Oct. 18, 1901; JE, x. 586.