In his exposition of the first book of the Pentateuch, Saadiah again challenged the Karaites. The dispute arose out of his endeavor to prove that the Karaite calendar was not in accordance with Scripture. In attacking Karaism, he had disturbed a hornets' nest, and aroused a host of opponents. The Karaites had hitherto waged war against Talmudic Judaism without meeting with opposition. They were, therefore, greatly disturbed when a Rabbanite, endowed with intellect and knowledge, entered the lists against them. A lively contest arose, which served its purpose in awakening scientific interest. Saadiah's chief opponent was the Karaite Solomon ben Yerucham (Ruchaïm). This Karaite (born in Fostat in 885, died in 960), who lived in Palestine, and was only a few years older than Saadiah, did not rise above mediocrity. He was of a violent and acrid nature, and imagined that he could settle scientific questions by scoffing and abuse. When he returned from Palestine to Egypt, and perceived the impression that Saadiah's written and oral attacks upon Karaism had made even in Karaite circles, he was filled with rage against the young and spirited Rabbanite author, and determined to write a double refutation--in Hebrew for the educated, and in Arabic for the masses generally. In his Hebrew reply, which consists of eighteen doggerel verses alphabetically arranged (Milchamoth), he treats Saadiah like a child. The whole work breathes nothing but slander and coarseness. In fact, the Karaite polemic writings generally deserve consideration more on account of the method by means of which they seek to cover up their mistakes, than on account of their contents or their form. Ben-Yerucham's composition took the shape of a letter to the Karaite communities in Egypt. Ben-Yerucham was not the only Karaite who sought to defend the sect against Saadiah's attacks. The various writers vied with one another in the fierceness of their attacks upon the young Rabbanite by whom their anti-Talmudic creed was threatened with destruction. If the Karaite authors expected to silence Saadiah by means of abuse they were mistaken. He refuted their arguments, substantiated his assertions, and was always on the alert to take up arms. He wrote two other polemic treatises against Karaism in Arabic, the one "Distinction" (Tamgiz), and one against Ibn Sakviyah, who had entered the lists in defense of the Karaites. Saadiah's works carried his fame to the communities of the African and Eastern Caliphate. The venerable Isaac Israeli read his writings with avidity, and his pupil, Dunash ben Tamim, fairly devoured them. At the seat of the Gaonate, too, he was favorably known, and the attention of the leaders was directed to him.