Aaron Ibn Sargado

Gaon in Pumbedita and a son of Joseph ha-Kohen. According to the chronicle of Sherira, Sargado officiated from 943 to 960; others declare he died in 942. He was successor to the gaon HANANIAH, the father of Sherira. Not of a family of scholars, but an extremely wealthy merchant, he was elevated to the gaonate (presidency of a rabbinical academy) through the influence of his family. Caleb ibn Sargado, the determined opponent of Saadia, who spent 60,000 zuzim ($9,000) in order to bring about the deposition of the gaon of Sura, was probably identical with Aaron, as Harkavy has shown (see "Seder 'Olam Zuṭṭa" in "Anecdota Oxoniensia," 2:83). Four of Sargado's legal decisions on religious problems are preserved, and are printed in the collection, "Ḥemdah Genuza," Nos. 37-40. One of these, it appears, was the answer to an inquiry from Kairwan. Like his opponent Saadia, Aaron was a Bible commentator, and parts of his commentary are extant in St. Petersburg. Abraham ibn Ezra quotes some of his philosophical sayings.