Saadiah invested the college of Sora with new splendor by his character and fame. During his presidency Pumbeditha was thrown into the shade. He sought to fill up the gaps that had arisen in the academy. He appointed worthy young men to academic offices, and was faithful to the duties of his position. What must have been his feelings when he entered for the first time the halls of learning where the great authorities, the Amoraïm, had taught before him! Soon, however, he no doubt became conscious of the fact that there existed but the smallest remnant of that former greatness, and that the high-sounding titles and dignities were mere semblances of things long since sunk into oblivion. The Exilarchate, the head of the Judæo-Babylonian community, was without intrinsic excellence, and was constantly at variance with the schools. Not being officially recognized at court, the Exilarchate had to purchase its existence from courtiers and ephemeral rulers, and was threatened with extinction, whenever its opponents should offer a larger sum. The money needed to maintain the Exilarchate was forcibly exacted from the people. Alike in the Exilarchate and in the academic colleges, corruption and oppression were the order of the day, the only object in view being to maintain the authority of the chiefs. Eloquence, virtue, piety, were wanting in the hearts of the leaders. The Exilarch David once sent his sons to levy an extraordinary contribution from the different communities; and when the congregation at Fars (Hamadan?) refused it, David excommunicated them, denounced them to the vizir, who accused them before the Caliph, when a heavy fine was imposed upon them. The Geonim had not a word to say against all this! Saadiah himself had to be silent; he had not been in office long enough to protest. His eminence had raised him many enemies who were eager for his downfall. Not alone Kohen-Zedek was jealous of him, because Pumbeditha was thrown into the shade, but a young man from Bagdad, Aaron (Caleb) Ibn-Sarjadu, learned, rich, and influential, distrusted and opposed him. Saadiah observed the great defects in the Jewish communal life in Babylonia in silence. He wished first to be on firmer footing. His sense of justice was, however, too deeply wounded, when he was expected to take part in the iniquities of the representative of the Jewish community. He could no longer restrain himself, and now revealed his inflexible character.