l
successors, of whom the first is Saadia Gaon (892-942 C.E.). Indeed
the main interest of this newly-discovered connection, if it can be
seriously so regarded, is that it suggests the possibility of Saadia's
acquaintance with Philo by means of a translation. That Saadia read
the works upon which Christian theologians relied, is certain; and a
fragment in which he refers to the teaching of Judah the
Alexandrian[331]--also unearthed from the Cairo Genizah--goes some way
to support the suggestion. The passage refers to the connection of the
number "fifty" with the different seasons of the year, and though it
does not tally exactly with any piece of the extant Philo, it is in
the Philonic manner. And Philo, who was surnamed Judaeus by the Church,
would have been re-named by his own people, translating from the
Church writers, [Hebrew: yhuda]. One would the more willingly catch on to
this floating straw, because Saadia was at once a compatriot of Philo,
born in the Fayyum of Egypt, and the first Jew who strove to carry on
his work. He aimed at showing the philosophy of the Torah, and its
harmony with Greek wisdom in particular. Aristotle, who had been
translated into Arabic, had meantime supplanted Plato as the master of
philosophy for theologians, and Saadia's _magnum opus_, [Hebrew: amonot
tsd'ot], is colored throughout by Aristotelian ideas. But the difference
of masters does not obscure the likeness of aim, and, albeit
unconsciously, Saadia renews the task of the Hellenic-Jewish school.

Saadia's work was carried on and expanded in a great outburst of the
Jewish genius, which showed itself most brilliantly in the
Moorish-Spanish kingdom. The general cultural conditions of Alexandria
in the first century B.C.E. were reproduced in Spain in the tenth
century. Once again the Jews found themselves politically emancipated
amid a sympathetic environment, and again they illumined their
religious tradition with all the culture which their environment could
afford. The mingling of thought gave birth to a great literature, both
creative and critical; to a striking body of lyric poetry; to a
systematic theology, and a religious philosophy.

While the study of the old Talmudic lore was maintained, the greatest
teachers developed tradition afresh by a philosophical restatement
designed to make it appeal to the mental attitude of the enlightened.
The sermon flourished again, collections of Haggadah (Yalkut) were
made as storehouses