David ben Saadiah
DAVID BEN SAADIAH
DAVID BEN SAADIAH (11th century), Spanish scholar. David b. Saadiah was the author of Mishpetei Shevu'ot written in Arabic. Though he was famous as a dayyan in his time, the disappearance of his book has caused him to be virtually forgotten. A quotation from it is preserved in Shitah Mekubbeẓet (on bm 104b), from which it may be inferred that he also wrote a critical commentary on the Halakhot Gedolot. If he is to be identified with the R. David mentioned in the responsa of Moses b. Ḥanokh (Assaf in Madda'ei ha-Yahadut, 2 (1927), no. 23), as is almost certain, he also wrote commentaries on the Talmud. A fragment of Mishpetei Shevu'ot in the original Arabic was published by I. Friedlander in the Israel Lewy Festschrift (1911) where, however, it is ascribed in error to *Saadiah Gaon. It appears that Sha'arei Shevu'ot is merely an edited translation of David b. Saadiah's work written by Isaac b. Reuben. Sha'arei Shevu'ot had a very large circulation and many incomplete editions of it are extant. Sefer Shevu'ot be-Ḥaruzim, published by Assaf (1933), is also patterned for the most part after the Sha'arei Shevu'ot.
bibliography:
Assaf, in: ks, 3 (1927), 295–7; idem, Mi-Sifrut ha-Ge'onim (1933), 12f.; Benedikt, in: ks, 25 (1948/49), 173; Abramson, in: Talpioth, 5 (1952), 773–80.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]