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Who was Saadia?
A short walk through the 10th century — and the choice one rabbi made that shaped how Arabic-speaking Jews would read Torah for the next thousand years.
Saadia, in his own words
ואנמא ארסמת הדיא אלכתאב לאן בעץ̧ אלראגבין סאלני אן אפרד בסיט נץ אלתורה פי כתאב מפרד… אלא אכ̧ראג̧ מעאני נץ אלתורה פקט.
“I authored this book only because certain seekers asked me to single out the plain text of the Torah in a separate book… only the bringing-forth of the meaning of the Torah's text itself. So that the audience might hear the meanings of the Torah — narrative, command, recompense — in a brief and orderly arrangement.”
— Tafsir preface, §10. Read the full preface →
Where it begins
אול מא כ’לק אללה. אלסמאואת ואלארץ’
“The first thing God created: the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1, in the Arabic Saadia chose. Tap to read.
Read the Tafsir