The person who had the most profound and wide-ranging influence upon the development of the Jewish tradition in the early medieval period, was Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon. Rasag was a revolutionary in many spheres. In the discipline of linguistics and halakhic writing, his work marks a turning point and a paradigm shift in the Jewish tradition. In the realm of parshanut, he is one of the founding fathers and trailblazers of the Jewish exegesis of Tanakh.
The historical background of Rasag’s Commentary is a response to the rise of Islam and to the Karaite movement that denied the Oral Law and its divinity.
The main aim of Rasag in his short commentary was to translate the Torah into the spoken Arabic of his world, in order to make it approachable for everyone, without dealing with broader issues of exegesis. However, even in this simple version Rasag was guided by several principles:
· Avoids the anthropomorphization of God
· Commentative elucidations
· The identification of places, nations, objects and animals
· Clarifications in the sphere of faith and philosophy
· Alterations to prevent the desecration of God’s name
In his longer commentary, of which we have only small portions, Rasag’s modus operandi was to explain the verses according to their simple meaning, unless: the sensory perception of the world or intellect refute the peshat, the Sages’ tradition refuted the peshat or the existence of contradicting verses forced one to reevaluate the peshat.
