Ibn-sargado, Aaron

Ibn-Sargado, Aaron also called AAROS HACOHEN BEN-JOSEPH, a Jewish scholar, flourished in Bagdad towards the middle of the 10th century. He was a wealthy merchant, but very fond of study, and, taking ground against Saadia (q.v.), for whose deposition from the "Gaonate" he expended large sums of money, shortly after Saadia's decease he was elected Gaon (spiritual head) of the academy at Pumbadita (943), and by his zeal for learning and his great wealth greatly furthered the interests of this academy at the expense of the Suran school, over which Saadia had presided. Ibn-Sargado, during the eighteen years of his presidency, devoted himself not only to the exposition of the O.-Test. Scriptures, but also quite extensively to the study of philosophy (comp. Munk, Guide des egares, 1, 462). He wrote a philosophical work and a Commentary on the Pentateuch, but they are not as yet known to us. From the fragments of the latter preserved by Aben- Ezra (Ge 18:28; Ge 34:30; Ge 49:6-7; Ex 10:12; Le 18:6), we see that, though abiding by the traditional explanation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Ibn-Sargado was by no means a slavish follower of ancient opinions. See Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, v, 335 sq.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. 2, 357; Furst, Biblioth. Jude 1:3, 246; Geiger, Judische Zeitschrifufur Wissenschaft und Leben (1862), p. 297; Zunz, in Geiger's Zeitschrift, vol. 4 (Stuttg. 1839), p. 389, etc.