A History of Judaism

by Martin Goodman,
The Jerusalem Post, March 8, 2018

In the 10th century, Rabbi Saadia Gaon, the leader of the rabbinic academy in Sura, Babylon, laid out the appropriate approaches to scriptural interpretation in his Book of Beliefs and Opinions. To arrive at the truth of religion, he declared, seekers are “obliged at once” to accept evidence verified by the testimony of their senses and/or authenticated by “reliable tradition.” For many, Saadia added, rational inquiries “may take a long time before they are completed, but that should not worry us; no one prevented by any hindrance from pursuing his investigations is left without religious guidance.”

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