Exilarch (Aramaic: ריש גלותא Reish Galuta lit. "Head of the Exile") (Greek: Æchmalotarcha) refers to the leader of the Jews of the Babylonian exile. After the fall of the first Temple, the Greeks used the term to refer to the leader of the people. The people were called golah [Jeremiah 28:6, 29:1; Ezekiel passim] or galut [Jeremiah 29:22]. Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ... Aechmalotarcha, or Æchmalotarcha, in antiquity, is a Greek term signifying the chief or leader of captives. ... Main article: Jew Jewish religion Etymology of Jew  · Who is a Jew? Jewish leadership  · Jewish culture Jewish ethnic divisions Ashkenazi (German and E. Europe) Mizrahi (Arab and Oriental) Sephardi (Iberian) Temani (Yemenite)  · Beta Israel Jewish populations Germany  · France  · Latin America Britain  · Famous Jews by country Jewish languages Hebrew: (Biblical / Modern... The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש, transliterated Bet HaMikdash and meaning literally The Holy House) was located on the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit) in the old city of Jerusalem. ... The Book of Jeremiah, or Jeremiah (יִרְמְיָהוּ YirmÉ™yāhÅ« in Hebrew), is part of the Hebrew Bible, Judaisms Tanakh, and later became a part of Christianitys Old Testament. ... Book Of Ezekiel is rapper Freekey Zekeys debut album and debut on Diplomat Records/Asylum. ...

The origin of this dignity is not known, but the princely post was hereditary in a family that traced its descent from the royal Davidic line. It was recognized by the state and carried with it certain definite prerogatives. The first historical documents referring to it date from the time when Babylon was part of the Parthian Empire. The office lasted to the sixth century, under different regimes (the Arsacids and Sassanids). After the defeat of the exilarch Mar Zutra's independent Jewish state based around the city Mahoza, by Kobad, King of Persia, there was no need for the position of the exilarch until the 7th century, when the position was restored under Arab rule. Exilarchs continued to be appointed through the 11th century. The position was again restored by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II as Hakham Bashi while not exactly the same position they both played the same roles. Davidic line, (also House of David or Davidic Dynasty, sometimes referred to as Royal House of Israel), known in Hebrew as Malkhut Beit David (Monarchy of the House of David) refers to the tracing of royal lineage by kings and major leaders in Jewish history to the Biblical King David... Babylon (in Arabic: بابل; in Syriac: ܒܒܙܠ in Hebrew:בבל) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia (modern Al Hillah, Iraq), the ruins of which can be found in present-day Babil Province, about 80km south of Baghdad. ... Parthia[1] (Middle Persian: اشکانیان Ashkâniân) was a civilization situated in the northeast of modern Iran, but at its height covering all of Iran proper, as well as regions of the modern countries of Armenia, Iraq, Georgia, eastern Turkey, eastern Syria, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, the Persian Gulf... The 6th century is the period from 501 - 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... The Arsacid Dynasty ruled Persia. ... The Sassanid Empire in the time of Shapur I; the conquest of Cappadocia was temporary Official language Pahlavi (Middle Persian) Dominant Religion Zoroastrianism Capital Ctesiphon Sovereigns Shahanshah of the Iran (Eranshahr) First Ruler Ardashir I Last Ruler Yazdegerd III Establishment 224 AD Dissolution 651 AD Part of the History of... Location of Al-Madain, Iraq Great arch of Taq-i Kisra, 1921 Al-Madain (Arabic المدائن Two cities, also known under the Aramaic name Mahoze, or as Madayn) is the name of an ancient urban complex along the Tigris, in present-day Iraq, that was the site of the... Languages Arabic other minority languages Religions Predominantly Sunni Islam, as well as Shia Islam, Greek Orthodoxy, Greek Catholicism, Roman Catholicism, Alawite Islam, Druzism, Ibadi Islam, and Judaism Footnotes a Mainly in Antakya. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... Look up Ottoman, ottoman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mehmed II Mehmed II (March 30, 1432 – May 3, 1481; nicknamed el-Fatih, the Conqueror) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to 1446, and later from 1451 to 1481. ... Hakham Bashi (Turkish: Hahambaşı) is the Turkish name for the Chief Rabbi of the nation. ...

Development and organization

The history of the exilarchate falls naturally into two periods, separated by the beginning of the Arabic rule in Babylonia. Nothing is known about the office before the 2nd century, including any details about its founding or beginnings. It can merely be said in general that the golah, the Jews living in compact masses in various parts of Babylon, tended gradually to unite and create an organization, and that this tendency, together with the high regard in which the descendants of the house of David living in Babylon were held, brought it about that a member of this house was recognized as "head of the golah." The dignity became hereditary in this house, and was finally recognized by the state, and hence became an established political institution, first of the Arsacid and then of the Sassanid empire. Babylonia was a state in the south part of Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... The Arsacid Dynasty ruled Persia. ... Sassanid Empire at its greatest extent The Sassanid dynasty (also Sassanian) was the name given to the kings of Persia during the era of the second Persian Empire, from 224 until 651, when the last Sassanid shah, Yazdegerd III, lost a 14-year struggle to drive out the Umayyad Caliphate...

Such was the exilarchate as it appears in Talmudic literature, the chief source for its history during the first period, and which provide our only information regarding the rights and functions of the exilarchate. For the second, Arabic, period, there is a very important and trustworthy description of the institution of the exilarchate (See the sections Installation ceremonies and Income and privileges); this description is also important for the first period, because many of the details may be regarded as having persisted from it. The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a. ...

Holders of the office

The following list of exilarchs is based on the evidence detailed in the following sections.

Exilarchs listed in the Second Book of Kings and in the Books of Chronicles, some possibly legendary, are: The Books of Kings (also known as [The Book of] Kings in Hebrew: Sefer Melachim מלכים) is a part of Judaisms Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. ... The Book of Chronicles is a book in the Hebrew Bible (also see Old Testament). ...

• Jehoiachin, last of the Davidic kings
• Salathiel
• Zerubbabel
• Meshullam
• Hananiah
• Berechiah
• Hasadiah
• Jesaiah
• Obadiah
• Shemaiah
• Shechaniah, mentioned as having lived at the time of the destruction of the Temple
• Hezekiah
• Akkub

Probably historical exilarchs also found among the Davidians in the Books of Chronicles: Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin, Joachin, and Coniah) was king of Judah. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Zrubavel (Hebrew: , Zərubbāvel; traditional English: Zerubbabel; Greek: ζοροβαβελ, Zŏrobabel) was the grandson of Jehoiachin, penultimate King of Judah. ... . ... A Hebrew name meaning God is Gracious. The name of several characters in the Bible, including: Hananiah (prophet), a false prophet who opposed Jeremiah Hananiah (Book of Daniel), a young man taken captive from Israel to Babylon and companion of Daniel, usually referred to as Shadrach (the Babylonian name imposed... Look up Berechiah in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Obadiah (עֹבַדְיָה Servant of the LORD, Standard Hebrew ʿOvadya, Tiberian Hebrew ʿŌḇaḏyāh, Vulgate Abdias) is the name of many people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. ... This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ... Hezekiah (or Ezekias) (Hebrew: חזקיה or חזקיהו, God has strengthened) was the 13th king of indepedent Judah and the son of King Ahaz and Abijah (2 Chronicles 29:1), who was a daughter of a man (who was not the prophet) named Zechariah. ...

• Nahum, probably the same person known as Nehunyon or Ahijah, roughly from the time of the Hadrianic persecution (135 C.E.)
• Johanan
• Shaphat
• Anan: Anani in I Chron. 3:24; the first exilarch explicitly mentioned as such in Talmudic literature (where he is named as Huna); contemporary of Judah I (Judah HaNasi)
• Nathan 'Ukban, alternately Mar 'Ukban (reigning in 226)
• Huna II
• Nathan 'Ukban II, alternately Mar 'Ukban II
• Nehemiah (reigning in 313)
• Mar 'Ukban III ("Nathan di Zzuta", reigning in 337)
• Huna III
• Abba
• Nathan
• Mar Kahana
• Huna IV (died 441)
• Mar Zutra
• Kahana II
• Huna V
• Huna VI
• Mar Zutra II (crucified c. 520)
• Mar Ahunai
• Kafnai, second half of the sixth century
• Haninai, second half of the sixth century
• Bostanai
• Hanina ben Adoi
• Hasdai I
• Solomon
• Isaac Iskawi I
• Judah Zakkai (or Judah Babawai)
• Moses
• Isaac Iskawi II
• David ben Judah
  • see below for the rival succession of Karaite princes
• Natronai
• Hasdai II
• 'Ukba, deposed, reinstated 918, deposed again shortly after
• Brief interregnum
• David ben Zakkai took power (921 his brother Josiah (Al-Hasan) was elected anti-exilarch in 930, but David prevailed.

David ben Zakkai was the last exilarch to play an important part in history. His son Judah survived him only by seven months; at the time of Judah's death, he left a twelve-year-old son, whose name is unknown. The only later exilarch whose name is recorded is Hezekiah, an exilarch who also became gaon in 1038, but fell from power in 1040, both the last exilarch and the last gaon. For other uses, see number 135. ... Rav Huna (Hebrew: רב הונא) was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the second generation and head of the Academy of Sura; He was born about 216,[1] passed away in 296-297 (608 of the Seleucidan era)).[2] // He lived in a town,[3] identified... Judah haNasi, or more accurately in Hebrew, Yehudah HaNasi, was a key leader of the Jewish community of Judea under the Roman empire, toward the end of the 2nd century CE. He was reputedly from the Davidic line of the royal line from King David, hence his title Prince (Nasi... Events: Accession of Wei Mingdi as emperor of the Kingdom of Wei of China. ... February - Wtf is up mah cracka??. Constantine issues the Edict of Milan, ending all persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. ... Nathan de-Zuzita, according to Joseph ben Ḥama (Shab. ... September 9 - Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans succeed their father Constantine I and rule as co-emperors of the Roman Empire. ... Events The Huns invade the Balkans. ... Events February 20 - Epiphanius elected Patriarch of Constantinople. ... First exilarch under Arabian rule; flourished about the middle of the seventh century. ... Solomon the exilarch ruled from 730 to 761. ... Karaite Judaism is a Jewish denomination characterized by reliance on the Tanakh as the sole scripture, and rejection of the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmuds) as halakha (Legally Binding, i. ... Events Taebong has been overthrown and Goryeo established in Korean peninsula. ... An interregnum is a period between monarchs, between popes of the Roman Catholic Church, emperors of Holy Roman Empire, polish kings (elective monarchy) or between consuls of the Roman Republic. ... David ben Zakkai (died in 940) was an exilarch. ... Events Embassy of Ahmad ibn Fadlan from Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir Henry the Fowler invades Bavaria and obtains fealty from Arnulf the Bad Births King Edmund I of England Onmyoji Abe no Seimei Deaths September 1 - Richard of... Events With the establishment of the Icelandic Althing, now the worlds oldest parliament, the Icelandic Commonwealth is founded. ... Geonim (also Gaonim) (גאונים) (Singular: Gaon [גאון] meaning Genius in Hebrew) were the rabbis who were the Jewish Talmudic sages who were the generally accepted leaders of the Jewish community in the early medieval era. ... Events Independent declaration of Western Xia. ... Events March War of Independence of Western Xia occurred. ...

Karaite princes beginning in the 8th century, after the time of David ben Judah:

• Anan
• Saul
• Josiah
• Boaz
• Jehoshaphat
• David
• Solomon
• Hezekiah
• Hasdai
• Solomon II

Anan Ben David is often considered to be the founder of the Karaite movement (a form of Judaism that split off from rabbinic Judaism due to its rejection of the oral law), or at least the founder of one of the main groups forming the Karaite movement. ... Saul ben Anan was a Karaite Jewish leader of the eighth century CE. He was the son and successor of Anan ben David. ... Jehoshaphat ben Saul was the son of Saul ben Anan and the grandson of Anan ben David. ... Boaz ben Jehoshaphat was the son of Jehoshaphat ben Saul and the great-grandson of Anan ben David. ... David ben Boaz (in Arabic, Abu Said Daud ibn Buaz was a Karaite Jewish scholar who flourished in the tenth century CE. He is reported to have been the fifth in the line of descent from Anan ben David, the founder of Karaism (he was the son of... Solomon ben David was a Karaite leader of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries CE. He was the son of David ben Boaz. ... Hezekiah ben Solomon was the son of Solomon ben David and thus was the eighth Karaite exilarch of the line of Anan ben David. ...

Traced to Jehoiachin

Tradition has it that the first exilarch was Jehoiachin, a king of Judah carried off to captivity in Babylonia in 597 BCE. A chronicle from about the year 800 - the Midrashic Seder 'Olam Zuta - fills up the gaps in the early history of the exilarch. The captive king's advancement at Evil-merodach's court - with which the narrative of the Second Book of Kings closes (II Kings 25:27) - was apparently regarded by the author of the Seder 'Olam Zuta as the origin of the exilarchate. A list including generations of the descendants of the king is given in I Chronicles 3:17 et seq. Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin, Joachin, and Coniah) was king of Judah. ... Events December 25, Rome, coronation of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) as emperor by Pope Leo III. Celtic monks begin work on the Book of Kells on the Island of Iona. ... Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ... Seder Olam Zutta (Hebrew: סדר עולם זוטא) is an anonymous chronicle, called Zuá¹­a (= smaller, or younger) to distinguish it from the older Seder Olam Rabbah. ... Amel-Marduk (or Evil-merodach, Merodachs man) (? BC - ca. ... The Books of Kings (also known as [The Book of] Kings in Hebrew: Sefer Melachim מלכים) is a part of Judaisms Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. ... The Book of Chronicles is a book in the Hebrew Bible (also see Old Testament). ...

A commentary to Chronicles [Kirchheim 1874, p. 16] dating from the school of Saadia Gaon quotes Judah ibn kuraish to the effect that the genealogical list of the descendants of David was added to the book at the end of the period of the Second Temple, a view which was shared by the author of the list of exilarchs in Seder 'Olam Zuta. This list has been synchronistically connected with the history of the Second Temple, with Shechaniah being mentioned as having lived at the time of the Temple's destruction. The following are enumerated as his predecessors in office: Salathiel, Zerubbabel, Meshullam, Hananiah, Berechiah, Hasadiah, Jesaiah, Obadiah, and Shemaiah, all of which names are also found in I Chron. 3. (compare the list with the variants given in [Lazarus 1890]). The Book of Chronicles is a book in the Hebrew Bible (also see Old Testament). ... Saadia Ben Joseph Gaon (892-942), the Hebrew name of Said al-Fayyumi, was a rabbi who was also a prominent Jewish exilarch, philosopher, and exegete. ... Genealogy is the study and tracing of family pedigrees. ... A stone (2. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Zrubavel (Hebrew: , Zərubbāvel; traditional English: Zerubbabel; Greek: ζοροβαβελ, Zŏrobabel) was the grandson of Jehoiachin, penultimate King of Judah. ... . ... A Hebrew name meaning God is Gracious. The name of several characters in the Bible, including: Hananiah (prophet), a false prophet who opposed Jeremiah Hananiah (Book of Daniel), a young man taken captive from Israel to Babylon and companion of Daniel, usually referred to as Shadrach (the Babylonian name imposed... Look up Berechiah in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Obadiah (עֹבַדְיָה Servant of the LORD, Standard Hebrew ʿOvadya, Tiberian Hebrew ʿŌḇaḏyāh, Vulgate Abdias) is the name of many people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. ... This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ...

The names of the next two exilarchs - Hezekiah and Akkub - are also found at the end of the Davidic list in Chronicles. Then follows Nahum, with whom the authentic portion of the list probably begins, and who may, perhaps, be assigned to the time of the Hadrianic persecution (135). This is the period in which are found the first allusions in traditional literature to the exilarch. Hezekiah (or Ezekias) (Hebrew: חזקיה or חזקיהו, God has strengthened) was the 13th king of indepedent Judah and the son of King Ahaz and Abijah (2 Chronicles 29:1), who was a daughter of a man (who was not the prophet) named Zechariah. ... For other uses, see number 135. ...

First historic mention

In the account referring to the attempt of a Palestinian teacher of the Law, Hananiah, nephew of Joshua ben Hananiah, to render the Babylonian Jews independent of the Palestinian authorities, a certain Ahijah is mentioned as the temporal head of the former, probably, therefore, as exilarch [Berakhot 63a, b], while another source substitutes the name Nehunyon for Ahijah [Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 19a]. It is not improbable that this person is identical with the Nahum mentioned in the list [Lazarus 1890, p. 65]. Map of the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halakhot and Halachah with pronunciation emphasis on the third syllable, kha), is the collective corpus of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions. ... A Hebrew name meaning God is Gracious. The name of several characters in the Bible, including: Hananiah (prophet), a false prophet who opposed Jeremiah Hananiah (Book of Daniel), a young man taken captive from Israel to Babylon and companion of Daniel, usually referred to as Shadrach (the Babylonian name imposed... Joshua ben Hananiah (Hebrew: יהושע בן חנניה) was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Temple. ...

The danger threatening the Palestinian authority was fortunately averted; at about the same time, R. [Rabbi?] Nathan, a member of the house of exilarchs, came to Palestine, and by virtue of his scholarship was soon classed among the foremost tannaim of the post-Hadrianic time. His Davidic origin suggested to R. [Rabbi?] Meïr the plan of making the Babylonian scholar nasi (prince) in place of the Hillelite Simon ben Gamaliel. But the conspiracy against the latter failed [Horayot 13b]. R. [Rabbi?] Nathan was subsequently among the confidants of the patriarchal house, and in intimate relations with Simon ben Gamaliel's son Judah I (also known as Judah haNasi). The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, Repetition) is a major source of rabbinic Judaisms religious texts. ... Judah haNasi, or more accurately in Hebrew, Yehudah HaNasi, was a key leader of the Jewish community of Judea under the Roman empire, toward the end of the 2nd century CE. He was reputedly from the Davidic line of the royal line from King David, hence his title Prince (Nasi...

R. [Rabbi?] Meïr's attempt, however, seems to have led Judah I to fear that the Babylonian exilarch might come to Palestine to claim the office from Hillel's descendant. He discussed the subject with the Babylonian scholar Hiyya, a prominent member of his school [Horayot 11b], saying that he would pay due honor to the exilarch should the latter come, but that he would not renounce the office of nasi in his favor [Jerusalem Talmud Kilayim 32b]. When the body of the exilarch Huna, who was the first incumbent of that office explicitly mentioned as such in Talmudic literature, was brought to Palestine during the time of Judah I, Hiyya drew upon himself Judah's deep resentment by announcing the fact to him with the words "Huna is here" (Yerushalmi Kilayim 32b). Hillel (הלל) was a famous Jewish religious leader who lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod, Augustus, and probably Jesus; he is one of the most important figures in Jewish history, associated with the Mishnah and the Talmud. ... Rav Huna (Hebrew: רב הונא) was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the second generation and head of the Academy of Sura; He was born about 216,[1] passed away in 296-297 (608 of the Seleucidan era)).[2] // He lived in a town,[3] identified...

A tannaitic exposition of Genesis 49:10 [Sanhedrin 5a] which contrasts the Babylonian exilarchs, ruling by force, with Hillel's descendants, teaching in public, evidently intends to cast a reflection on the former. But Judah I had to listen at his own table to the statement of the youthful sons of the above-mentioned Hiyya, in reference to the same tannaitic exposition, that "the Messiah can not appear until the exilarchate at Babylon and the patriarchate at Jerusalem shall have ceased" [Sanhedrin 38a]. The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, Repetition) is a major source of rabbinic Judaisms religious texts. ... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... In Judaism, the Messiah (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian  ; Arabic: ,  ; Aramaic:  ; the Anointed One) at first meant any person who was anointed with oil on rising to a certain position among the ancient Israelites, at first that of High priest, later that of King and also that of a prophet. ... For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ...

Succession of Exilarchs

Huna I, the contemporary of Judah I, is not mentioned in the list of exilarchs in the Seder 'Olam Zuta, according to which Nahum was followed by his brother Johanan; then came Johanan's son Shaphat (these names also are found among the Davidians in I Chron. 3:22, 3:24), who was succeeded by Anan (comp. "Anani," I Chron. 3:24). From the standpoint of chronology the identification of Anan with the Huna of the Talmud account is not to be doubted; for at the time of his successor, Nathan 'Ukban, occurred the fall of the Arsacids and the founding of the Sassanid dynasty (226 C.E., which is noted as follows in Seder 'Olam Zuta: "In the year 166 after the destruction of the Temple (c. 234 C.E.) the Persians advanced upon the Romans" (on the historical value of this statement see [Lazarus 1890], p. 33). Judah haNasi, or more accurately in Hebrew, Yehudah HaNasi, was a key leader of the Jewish community of Judea under the Roman empire, toward the end of the 2nd century CE. He was reputedly from the Davidic line of the royal line from King David, hence his title Prince (Nasi... Seder Olam Zutta (Hebrew: סדר עולם זוטא) is an anonymous chronicle, called Zuṭa (= smaller, or younger) to distinguish it from the older Seder Olam Rabbah. ... Events: Accession of Wei Mingdi as emperor of the Kingdom of Wei of China. ... Events Wei Yan revolts against the kingdom of Shu Han Births Emperor Wu of Jin China (approximate date) Deaths Li Yan, general of the Shu Kingdom Wei Yan, Shu general, executed by Ma Dai Zhuge Liang of the Shu Kingdom in China, dies on the Wu Zhang Plains in a... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the old Persian homeland, and beyond in Western Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. ... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent. ...

Nathan 'Ukban, however, who is none other than Mar 'Ukban, the contemporary of Rab and Samuel, also occupied a prominent position among the scholars of Babylon' (see Bacher, "Aggadoth of the Babylonian Amoraim" pp. 34-36) and, according to Sherira Gaon (who quotes Talmud Shabbat 55a), was also exilarch. As 'Ukban's successor is mentioned in the list his son Huna (Huna II), whose chief advisers were Rab (d. 247) and Samuel (d. 254), and in whose time Papa ben Nazor destroyed Nehardea. Huna's son and successor, Nathan, whose chief advisers were Judah ben Ezekiel (d. 299) and Shesheth, was called, like his grandfather, "Mar 'Ukban," and it is he, the second exilarch of this name, whose curious correspondence with Eleazar ben Pedat is referred to in the Talmud [Gittin 7a; see Bacher, l.c. p. 72; idem, "Aggadoth of the Palestinian Amoraim" i. 9]. He was succeeded by his brother (not his son, as stated in Seder 'Olam Zuta); his leading adviser was Shezbi. The "exilarch Nehemiah" is also mentioned in the Talmud [Bava Metzia 91b]; he is the same person as "Rabbanu Nehemiah," and he and his brother "Rabbanu 'Ukban" (Mar 'Ukban II) are several times mentioned in the Talmud as sons of Rab's daughter (hence Huna II was Rab's son-in-law) and members of the house of the exilarchs [Hullin 92a; Bava Batra 51b]. Sherira Gaon was one of the post-Talmudic geonim. ... Events Births Deaths Categories: 247 ... A cosmic number. ... Nehardea or Nehardeah was a city of Babylonia, situated at or near the junction of the Euphrates with the Nahr Malka; one of the earliest centers of Babylonian Judaism. ... Events Births Deaths Categories: 299 ...

The Mar 'Ukbans

According to Seder 'Olam Zuta, in Nehemiah's time, the 245th year (313 C.E.) after the destruction of the Temple, there took place a great religious persecution by the Persians, of which, however, no details are known. Nehemiah was succeeded by his son Mar 'Ukban III, whose chief advisers were Rabbah ben Nahmani (d. 323) and Adda. He is mentioned as "'Ukban ben Nehemiah, resh galuta," in the Talmud [Shabbat 56b; Bava Batra 55a]. This Mar 'Ukban, the third exilarch of that name, was also called "Nathan," as were the first two, and has been made the hero of a legend under the name of "Nathan di Zzuta" [Shabbat 56b]. The conquest of Armenia (337) by Shapur (Sapor) II is mentioned in the chronicle as a historical event occurring during the time of Mar 'Ukban III. Seder Olam Zutta (Hebrew: סדר עולם זוטא) is an anonymous chronicle, called Zuṭa (= smaller, or younger) to distinguish it from the older Seder Olam Rabbah. ... February - Wtf is up mah cracka??. Constantine issues the Edict of Milan, ending all persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. ... Nathan de-Zuzita, according to Joseph ben Ḥama (Shab. ... September 9 - Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans succeed their father Constantine I and rule as co-emperors of the Roman Empire. ... Head of King Shapur II (Sasanian dynasty 4th century). ...

He was succeeded by his brother Huna Mar (Huna III), whose chief advisers were Abaye (d. 338) and Raba; then followed Mar 'Ukban's son Abba, whose chief advisers were Raba (d. 352) and Rabina. During Abba's time King Sapor conquered Nisibis. The designation of a certain Isaac as resh galuta in the time of Abaye and Raba [Yebamoth 115b] is due to a clerical error [Brüll's Jahrbuch, vii. 115]. Abba was succeeded first by his son Nathan and then by another son, Mar Kahana. The latter's son Huna is then mentioned as successor, being the fourth exilarch of that name; he died in 441, according to a trustworthy source, the "Seder Tannaim wa-Amoraim." Hence he was a contemporary of Rav Ashi, the great master of Sura, who died in 427. In the Talmud, however, Huna ben Nathan is mentioned as Ashi's contemporary, and according to Sherira it was he who was Mar Kahana's successor, a statement which is also confirmed by the Talmud [Zevachim 19a]. The statement of Seder 'Olam Zuta ought perhaps to be emended, since Huna was probably not the son of Mar Kahana, but the son of the latter's elder brother Nathan. The newly excavated Church of Saint Jacob in Nisibis. ... Events The Huns invade the Balkans. ... Ashi, known as Rav Ashi (Rabbi Ashi), (352–427) was a celebrated Jewish religious scholar, aBabylonian amora, who reestablished the academy at Sura and was first editor of the Babylonian Talmud. ... Sura was a city in the southern part of ancient Babylonia, located west of the Euphrates River. ... Events Pyongyang is declared the capital of Goguryeo by king Jangsu Births Deaths December 24 - Sisinius I, Patriarch of Constantinople Categories: 427 ...

Persecutions under Peroz and Kobad

Huna was succeeded by his brother Mar Zutra, whose chief adviser was Ahai of Diphti, the same who was defeated in 455 by Ashi's son Tabyomi (Mar) at the election for director of the school of Sura. Mar Zutra was succeeded by his son Kahana (Kahana II), whose chief adviser was Rabina, the editor of the Babylonian Talmud (d. 499). Then followed two exilarchs by the same name: another son of Mar Zutra, Huna V, and a grandson of Mar Zutra, Huna VI, the son of Kahana. March 16 - Valentinian III is murdered by former soldiers of Aëtius in revenge for Valentinians killing of Aëtius the previous year. ... Events March 1 - Pope Symmachus makes Antipope Laurentius bishop of Nocera in Campania. ...

Huna V fell a victim to the persecutions under King Peroz (Firuz) of Persia, being executed, according to Sherira, in 470; Huna VI was not installed in office until some time later, the exilarchate being vacant during the persecutions under Peroz; he died in 508 [Sherira]. The Seder 'Olam Zuta connects with the birth of his son Mar Zutra the legend that is elsewhere told in connection with Bostanai's birth. Peroz I (Pirooz, Peirozes, Priscus, fr. ... Events Euric, king of the Visigoths, defeats an attempted invasion of Gaul by the Celtic magnate Riothamus. ... Births Deaths Gerren I Llyngesog ab Erbin, King of Dumnonia. ... Seder Olam Zutta (Hebrew: סדר עולם זוטא) is an anonymous chronicle, called Zuṭa (= smaller, or younger) to distinguish it from the older Seder Olam Rabbah. ... First exilarch under Arabian rule; flourished about the middle of the seventh century. ...

Mar Zutra, who came into office at the age of fifteen, took advantage of the confusion into which Mazdak's communistic attempts had plunged Persia, to obtain by force of arms for a short time a sort of political independence for the Jews of Babylon. King Kobad, however, punished him by crucifying him on the bridge of Mahuza (c. 520). A son was born to him on the day of his death, who was also named "Mar Zutra." The latter did not attain to the office of exilarch, but went to Palestine, where he became head of the Academy of Tiberias, under the title of "Resh Pirka" ('Aρχιφεκίτησ), several generations of his descendants succeeding him in this office. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mahuza (in Hebrew and Aramaic sources, particularly Jewish ones, Maḥuza) is the name given to the metropolis formed by Ctesiphon and Seleucia on opposite sides of the Tigris River. ... Events February 20 - Epiphanius elected Patriarch of Constantinople. ...

After Mar Zutra's death the exilarchate of Babylon remained unoccupied for some time. Mar Ahunailived in the period succeeding Mar Zutra II, but for more than thirty years after the catastrophe he did not dare to appear in public, and it is not known whether even then (c. 550) he really acted as exilarch. At any rate the chain of succession of those who inherited the office was not broken. The names of Kafnai and his son Haninai, who were exilarchs in the second half of the sixth century, have been preserved. Events By Place Byzantine Empire Silk reaches Constantinople (approximate date). ...

Haninai's posthumous son Bostanai was the first of the exilarchs under Arabic rule. Bostanai was the ancestor of the exilarchs who were in office from the time when the Persian empire was conquered by the Arabs, in 642, down to the eleventh century. Through him the splendor of the office was renewed and its political position made secure. His tomb in Pumbedita was a place of worship as late as the twelfth century, according to Benjamin of Tudela. Events August 5 - In the Battle of Maserfield, Penda king of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald, king of Bernicia. ... ... Map of the route Benjamin of Tudela (flourished 12th century) was a medieval Spanish Jewish Rabbi, traveler and explorer. ...

Not much is known regarding Bostanai's successors down to the time of Saadia except their names; even the name of Bostanai's son is not known. The list of the exilarchs down to the end of the ninth century is given as follows in an old document [Neubauer, "Mediæval Jewish Chronicles," i. 196]: "Bostanai, Hanina ben Adoi, Hasdai I, Solomon, Isaac Iskawi I, Judah Zakkai (Babawai), Moses, Isaac Iskawi II, David ben Judah, Hasdai II." Solomon the exilarch ruled from 730 to 761. ...

Hasdai I was probably Bostanai's grandson. The latter's son Solomon had a deciding voice in the appointments to the gaonate of Sura in the years 733 and 759 [Sherira]. Isaac Iskawi I died very soon after Solomon. In the dispute between David's sons Anan and Hananiah regarding the succession the latter was victor; Anan then proclaimed himself anti-exilarch, was imprisoned, and founded the sect of the Karaites. (So says the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906; the origin of the Karaites is not uncontroversial.) His descendants were regarded by the Karaites as the true exilarchs. The following list of Karaite exilarchs, father being succeeded always by son, is given in the genealogy of one of these "Karaite princes": Anan, Saul, Josiah, Boaz, Jehoshaphat, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Hasdai, Solomon II [Pinsker, "Likkute Kadmoniyyot," ii. 53]. Anan's brother Hananiah is not mentioned in this list. Karaite Judaism is a Jewish denomination characterized by reliance on the Tanakh as the sole scripture, and rejection of the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmuds) as halakha (Legally Binding, i. ... Anan Ben David (‎) is often considered to be the founder of the Karaite movement (a form of Judaism that split off from rabbinic Judaism due to its rejection of the oral law), or at least the founder of one of the main groups forming the Karaite movement. ... Saul ben Anan was a Karaite Jewish leader of the eighth century CE. He was the son and successor of Anan ben David. ... Jehoshaphat ben Saul was the son of Saul ben Anan and the grandson of Anan ben David. ... Boaz ben Jehoshaphat was the son of Jehoshaphat ben Saul and the great-grandson of Anan ben David. ... David ben Boaz (in Arabic, Abu Said Daud ibn Buaz was a Karaite Jewish scholar who flourished in the tenth century CE. He is reported to have been the fifth in the line of descent from Anan ben David, the founder of Karaism (he was the son of... Solomon ben David was a Karaite leader of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries CE. He was the son of David ben Boaz. ... Hezekiah ben Solomon was the son of Solomon ben David and thus was the eighth Karaite exilarch of the line of Anan ben David. ...

Judah Zakkai, who is called "Zakkai ben Ahunai" by Sherira, had as rival candidate Natronai ben Habibai, who, however, was defeated and sent West in banishment; this Natronai was a great scholar, and, according to tradition, while in Spain wrote the Talmud from memory. David ben Judah also had to contend with an anti-exilarch, Daniel by name. The fact that the decision in this dispute rested with the calif Al-Ma'mun (825) indicates a decline in the power of the exilarchate. David ben Judah, who carried off the victory, appointed Isaac ben Hiyya as gaon at Pumbedita in 833. Preceding Hasdai II's name in the list that of his father Natronai must be inserted. Both are designated as exilarchs in a geonic responsum (Harkavy, "Responsen der Geonim," p. 389). Events Egbert of Wessex defeats Beornwulf of Mercia at Ellandun. ... Alexander Harkavy, Yiddish lexicographer Abraham Harkavy, historian This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Deposition of 'Ukba.

'Ukba is mentioned as exilarch immediately following Hasdai II; he was deposed at the instigation of Kohen Zedek, gaon of Pumbedita, but was reinstated in 918 on account of some Arabic verses with which he greeted the calif Al-Muktadir. He was deposed again soon afterward, and fled to Kairwan, where he was treated with great honor. Cohen (disambiguation) Position of the kohens hands and fingers during the Priestly Blessing A kohen (or cohen, Hebrew כּהן, priest, pl. ... Events Taebong has been overthrown and Goryeo established in Korean peninsula. ...

After a short interregnum 'Ukba's nephew, David ben Zakkai, became exilarch; but he had to contend for nearly two years with Kohen Zedek before he was finally confirmed in his power (921). In consequence of Saadia's call to the gaonate of Sura and his controversy with David, the latter has become one of the best-known personages of Jewish history. Saadia had David's brother Josiah (Al-Hasan) elected anti-exilarch in 930, but the latter was defeated and banished to Chorasan. David ben Zakkai was the last exilarch to play an important part in history. He died a few years before Saadia; his son Judah died seven months afterward. An interregnum is a period between monarchs, between popes of the Roman Catholic Church, emperors of Holy Roman Empire, polish kings (elective monarchy) or between consuls of the Roman Republic. ... David ben Zakkai (died in 940) was an exilarch. ... Events Embassy of Ahmad ibn Fadlan from Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir Henry the Fowler invades Bavaria and obtains fealty from Arnulf the Bad Births King Edmund I of England Onmyoji Abe no Seimei Deaths September 1 - Richard of... Events With the establishment of the Icelandic Althing, now the worlds oldest parliament, the Icelandic Commonwealth is founded. ...

Judah left a son (whose name is not mentioned) twelve years of age, whom Saadia took into his house and educated. His generous treatment of the grandson of his former adversary was continued until Saadia's death in 942. Only a single entry has been preserved regarding the later fortunes of the exilarchate. When Gaon Hai died in 1038, nearly a century after Saadia's death, the members of his academy could not find a more worthy successor than the exilarch Hezekiah, a descendant, perhaps a great-grandson, of David ben Zakkai; he thereafter filled both offices. But two years later, in 1040, Hezekiah, who was the last exilarch and also the last gaon, fell a victim to calumny. He was cast into prison and tortured; two of his sons fled to Spain, where they found refuge with Joseph, the son and successor of Samuel ha-Nagid. Hezekiah himself, on being liberated from prison, became head of the academy, and is mentioned as such by a contemporary in 1046 [Jewish Quarterly Review, hereafter "J. Q. R.", xv. 80]. Events Kaminarimon, the eight-pillared gate to Japans Kinryuzan Sensouji Temple is erected. ... Events Independent declaration of Western Xia. ... Events March War of Independence of Western Xia occurred. ... Samuel Ha-Nagid was widely known as a virtuoso of the keyboard. ... // Events First contact between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuks. ... The Jewish Quarterly Review (JQR) is the oldest English-language journal of Judaic scholarship, established in 1888 by Israel Abrahams and Claude G. Montefiore as an outgrowth of the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement. ...

Later traces

The title of exilarch is found occasionally even after the Babylonian exilarchate had ceased. Abraham ibn Ezra [commentary to Zech. xii. 7] speaks of the "Davidic house" at Baghdad (before 1140), calling its members the "heads of the Exile." Benjamin of Tudela in 1170 mentions the exilarch Hasdai, among whose pupils was the subsequent pseudo-Messiah David Alroy, and Hasdai's son, the exilarch Daniel. Pethahiah of Regensburg also refers to the latter, but under the name of "Daniel ben Solomon"; hence it must be assumed that Hasdai was also called "Solomon." Yehuda Alharizi (after 1216) met at Mosul a descendant of the house of David, whom he calls "David, the head of the Exile." Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Events Henry Jasomirgott was made count palatine of the Rhine. ... December 29: Assassination of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury cathedral City of Dublin captured by the Normans According to folklore, the Welsh prince Madoc sailed to North America and founded a colony. ... Yehuda Alharizi (1165 - 1234, Hebrew יהודה אלחריזי also appears as Judah or Jehuda Al-Harizi) was a Jewish rabbi, translator, and poet active in Spain in the Middle Ages. ... // Prince Louis of France, the future King Louis VIII, invades England in the First Barons War Henry III becomes King of England. ... Mosul (Arabic: , Kurdish: موصل Mûsil, Syriac: Nîněwâ, Turkish: Musul) is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate. ...

A long time previously a descendant of the ancient house of exilarchs had attempted to revive in Egypt the dignity of exilarch which had become extinct in Babylon. This was David ben Daniel; he came to Egypt at the age of twenty, in 1081, and was proclaimed exilarch by the learned Jewish authorities of that country, who wished to divert to Egypt the leadership formerly enjoyed by Babylon. A contemporary document, the Megillah of the Palestinian gaon Abiathar, gives an authentic account of this episode of the Egyptian exilarchate, which ended with the downfall of David ben Daniel in 1094 ["J. Q. R." xv. 80 et. seq.]. Events Corfu taken from Byzantine Empire by Robert Guiscard, Italy Byzantine emperor Nicephorus III is overthrown by Alexius I Comnenus, ending the Middle Byzantine period and beginning the Comnenan dynasty Alexius I helps defend Albania from the Normans (the first recorded mention of Albania), but is defeated at the Battle... // May - El Cid completes his conquest of Valencia, Spain, and begins his rule of Valencia. ...

Descendants of the house of exilarchs were living in various places long after the office became extinct. A descendant of Hezekiah, "Hiyya" by name, with the surname Al-Da'udi, indicative of his origin, died in 1154 in Castile (Abraham ibn Da'ud). Several families, as late as the fourteenth century, traced their descent back to Josiah, the brother of David ben Zakkai who had been banished to Chorasan (see the genealogies in [Lazarus 1890] pp. 180 et seq.). The descendants of the Karaite exilarchs have been referred to above.

Character of the exilarchate in the first era

Relations with the Academies

In accordance with the character of Talmudic tradition it is the relation of the exilarchs to the heads and members of the schools that is especially referred to in Talmudic literature. The Seder 'Olam Zuta, the chronicle of the exilarchs that is the most important and in many cases the only source of information concerning their succession, has also preserved chiefly the names of those scholars who had certain official relations with the respective exilarchs. The phrase used in this connection ("hakamim debaruhu", "the scholars directed him") is the stereotyped phrase used also in connection with the fictitious exilarchs of the century of the Second Temple; in the latter case, however, it occurs without the specific mention of names — a fact in favor of the historicalness of those names that are given for the succeeding centuries. Seder Olam Zutta (Hebrew: סדר עולם זוטא) is an anonymous chronicle, called Zuá¹­a (= smaller, or younger) to distinguish it from the older Seder Olam Rabbah. ...

The authenticity of the names of the amoraim designated as the scholars "guiding" the several exilarchs, is, in the case of those passages in which the text is beyond dispute, supported by internal chronological evidence also. Some of the Babylonian amoraim were closely related to the house of the exilarchs, as, for example, Rabba ben Abuha, whom Gaon Sherira, claiming Davidian descent, named as his ancestor. Nahman ben Jacob (d. 320) also became closely connected with the house of the exilarchs through his marriage with Rabba ben Abuha's daughter, the proud Yaltha; and he owed to this connection perhaps his office of chief judge of the Babylonian Jews. Huna, the head of the school of Sura, recognized Nahman ben Jacob's superior knowledge of the Law by saying that Nahman was very close to the "gate of the exilarch" ("baba di resh galuta"), where many cases were decided [Bava Batra 65b]. Amora, plural Amoraim, (from the Hebrew root amar to say or tell over), were renowned Jewish scholars who said or told over the teachings of the Oral law, from about 200 to 500 CE in Babylonia and Palestine. ...

The term "dayyane di baba" ("judges of the gate"), which was applied in the post-Talmudic time to the members of the court of the exilarch, is derived from the phrase just quoted [compare Harkavy, l.c.]. Two details of Nahman ben Jacob's life cast light on his position at the court of the exilarch: he received the two scholars Rav Chisda and Rabba b. Huna, who had come to pay their respects to the exilarch (Sukkah 10b); and when the exilarch was building a new house he asked Nahman to take charge of the placing of the mezuzah according to the Law [Men. 33a]. Alexander Harkavy, Yiddish lexicographer Abraham Harkavy, historian This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Rav Chisda was a Babylonian amora of the third generation (Passed away in 620 of the Seleucidan era [1] at the age of ninety-two [2]), mentioned frequently in the Talmud. ... Mezuzah (IPA: ) (Heb. ...

Retinue of the Exilarch

The scholars who formed part of the retinue of the exilarch were called "scholars of the house of the exilarch" ("rabbanan di-be resh galuta"). A remark of Samuel, the head of the school of Nehardea, shows that they wore certain badges on their garments to indicate their position [Shabbat 58a]. Once a woman came to Nahman ben Jacob, complaining that the exilarch and the scholars of his court sat at the festival in a stolen booth [Sukkah 31a], the material for it having been taken from her. There are many anecdotes of the annoyances and indignities the scholars had to suffer at the hands of the exilarchs' servants [Gittin 67b, the case of Amram the Pious; Avodah Zarah 38b, of Hiyya of Parwa; Shabbat 121b, of Abba ben Marta]. Avodah Zarah (meaning idolatry - lit. ...

The modification of ritual requirements granted to the exilarchs and their households in certain concrete cases is characteristic of their relation to the religious law [Pesahim 76b, Levi ben Sisi; Hullin 59a, Rab; Avodah Zarah 72b, Rabba ben Huna; Eruvin 11b, Nahman versus Sheshet; Eruvin 39b, similarly; Mo'ed Katan 12a, Hanan; Pesahim 40b, Pappai]. Once when certain preparations which the exilarch was making in his park for alleviating the strictness of the Sabbath law were interrupted by Raba and his pupils, he exclaimed, in the words of Jer. iv. 22, "They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge" [Eruvin 26a]. Levi ben Sisi or Levi bar Sisi (Sisyi, Susyi, Hebrew: לוי בר סיסי) was a Palestinian scholar, disciple of the patriarch Judah I, and school associate of his son Simeon (Ab. ... Shabbat (שבת shabbāt, rest Hebrew, or Shabbos in Ashkenazic pronunciation), is the weekly day of rest in Judaism. ...

There are frequent references to questions, partly halakic and exegetical in nature, which the exilarch laid before his scholars (to Huna, Gittin 7a; Yebamoth 61a; Sanhedrin 44a; to Rabba ben Huna, Shabbat 115b; to Hamnuna, Shabbat 119a). Details are sometimes given of lectures that were delivered "at the entrance to the house of the exilarch" ("pitha di-be resh galuta"; see Hullin 84b; Betzah 23a; Shabbat 126a; Mo'ed Katan 24a). These lectures were probably delivered at the time of the assemblies, which brought many representatives of Babylonian Judaism to the court of the exilarch after the autumnal festivals (on Sabbath Lek Leka, as Sherira says; compare Eruvin 59a).

Etiquette of the Resh Galuta's court

The luxurious banquets at the court of the exilarch were well known. An old anecdote was repeated in Palestine concerning a splendid feast which the exilarch once gave to the tanna Judah ben Bathyra at Nisibis on the eve of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement [ Lam. R. iii. 16]. Another story told in Palestine [Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 74b] relates that an exilarch had music in his house morning and evening, and that Mar 'Ukba, who subsequently became exilarch, sent him as a warning this sentence from Hosea: "Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people." Judah ben Bathyra or simply Judah Bathyra (also Beseira, Hebrew: יהודה בן בתירא) was an eminent tanna. ... Yom Kippur (IPA: ; Hebrew:יוֹם כִּפּוּר, IPA: ) is the Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement. ... The Midrash on Lamentations or Eichah (Lamentations) Rabbah (Hebrew: מדרש איכה רבה), like Bereshit Rabbah and the Pesiḳta ascribed to Rab Kahana, belongs to the oldest works of the Midrashic literature. ... See also Hoshea, who has the same name in Biblical Hebrew. ...

The exilarch Nehemiah is said to have dressed entirely in silk [Shabath 20b, according to the correct reading; see Rabbinowicz, "Dikdukei Soferim"]. The Talmud says almost nothing in regard to the personal relations of the exilarchs to the royal court. One passage relates merely that Huna ben Nathan appeared before Yezdegerd I, who with his own hands girded him with the belt which was the sign of the exilarch's office. There are also two allusions dating from an earlier time, one by Hiyya, a Babylonian living in Palestine [Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 5a], and the other by Adda ben Ahaba, one of Rab's earlier pupils [Sheb. 6b; Jerusalem Talmud Sheb. 32d], from which it seems that the exilarch occupied a foremost position among the high dignitaries of the state when he appeared at the court first of the Arsacids, then of the Sassanids.

An Arabic writer of the ninth century records the fact that the exilarch presented a gift of 4,000 dirhems on the Persian feast of Nauruz [Revue des etudes juives - hereafter R. E. J. - viii. 122]. Regarding the functions of the exilarch as the chief tax-collector for the Jewish population, there is the curious statement, preserved only in the Jerusalem Talmud [Sotah 20b, bottom], that once, in the time of Huna, the head of the school of Sura, the exilarch was commanded to furnish as much grain as would fill a room of 40 square ells. The dirham (درهم) is a unit of currency and a unit of the dinar. ... A tax is an involuntary fee paid by individuals or businesses to a state, or to functional equivalents of a state, including tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements. ... An ell, when used as a unit of length, is usually 45 inches, i. ...

Juridical functions

The most important function of the exilarch was the appointment of the judge. Both Rab and Samuel said [Sanhedrin 5a] that the judge who did not wish to be held personally responsible in case of an error of judgment, would have to accept his appointment from the house of the exilarch. When Rab went from Palestine to Nehardea he was appointed overseer of the market by the exilarch [Jerusalem Talmud Bava Batra 15b, top]. The exilarch had jurisdiction in criminal cases also. Aha b. Jacob, a contemporary of Rab [compare Gittin 31b], was commissioned by the exilarch to take charge of a murder case [Sanhedrin 27a, b]. The story found in Bava Kamma 59a is an interesting example of the police jurisdiction exercised by the followers of the exilarch in the time of Samuel. From the same time dates a curious dispute regarding the etiquette of precedence among the scholars greeting the exilarch [Jerusalem Talmud Ta'an. 68a]. The exilarch had certain privileges regarding real property [Bava Kamma 102b; Bava Batra 36a]. It is a specially noteworthy fact that in certain cases the exilarch judged according to the Persian law [Bava Kamma 58b]; and it was the exilarch 'Ukba b. Nehemiah who communicated to the head of the school of Pumbedita, Rabbah ben Nahmai, three Persian statutes which Samuel recognized as binding [Bava Batra 55a].

A synagogal prerogative of the exilarch was mentioned in Palestine as a curiosity [Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 22a]: The Torah roll was carried to the exilarch, while every one else had to go to the Torah to read from it. This prerogative is referred to also in the account of the installation of the exilarch in the Arabic period, and this gives color to the assumption that the ceremonies, as recounted in this document, were based in part on usages taken over from the Persian time. The account of the installation of the exilarch is supplemented by further details in regard to the exilarchate which are of great historical value; see the following section. A synagogue (from ancient Greek: , transliterated synagogē, assembly; Hebrew: beit knesset, house of assembly; Yiddish: , shul; Ladino: , esnoga) is a Jewish house of worship. ... It has been suggested that Tawrat be merged into this article or section. ...

Character of the exilarchate in the Arabic era

Upon their conquest of Iraq, the Arabs confirmed the authority of Exilarch Bustanay and the continuation of his governance of the Jewish community. For his services to the caliph during the conquest he received the hand of the daughter of the former Shah as a wife. The Muslims regarded the office of Exilarch with profound respect because they viewed him as a direct descendant of the prophet Dawood. Under the Abbassids, the Exilarch ruled over more than 90% of the Jewish nation. The subsequent fragmentation of the authority of the Abassids resulted in the waning of the authority of the Exilarch beyond Persia. A struggle for leadership between the Geonim and Exilarchs saw the slow relinquishing of power to the Geonim but remained an office of reverence to which Muslims showed respect.^[1] Languages Arabic other minority languages Religions Predominantly Sunni Islam, as well as Shia Islam, Greek Orthodoxy, Greek Catholicism, Roman Catholicism, Alawite Islam, Druzism, Ibadi Islam, and Judaism Footnotes a Mainly in Antakya. ... For main article see: Caliphate First of all, this system is invalid and is unlawful Islamicly. ... Shah or Shahzad is a Persian term for a monarch (ruler) that has been adopted in many other languages. ... David and Goliath, by Caravaggio, c. ... For other uses of this term see: Persia (disambiguation) The Persian Empire is the name used to refer to a number of historic dynasties that have ruled the country of Persia (Iran). ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ...

Installation ceremonies

The following is a translation of a portion of an account of the Exilarchy in the Arabic period, written by Nathan ha-Babli in the tenth century, and included in Abraham Zacuto's "Yuhasin" and in Neubauer's "Mediæval Jewish Chronicles," ii. 83 et seq.:

The members of the two academies [Sura and Pumbedita], led by the two heads [the geonim] as well as by the leaders of the community, assemble in the house of an especially prominent man before the Sabbath on which the installation of the exilarch is to take place. The first homage is paid on Thursday in the synagogue, the event being announced by trumpets, and every one sends presents to the exilarch according to his means. The leaders of the community and the wealthy send handsome garments, jewelry, and gold and silver vessels. On Thursday and Friday the exilarch gives great banquets. On the morning of the Sabbath the nobles of the community call for him and accompany him to the synagogue. Here a wooden platform covered entirely with costly cloth has been erected, under which a picked choir of sweet-voiced youths well versed in the liturgy has been placed. This choir responds to the leader in prayer, who begins the service with 'Baruk she-amar.' After the morning prayer the exilarch, who until now has been standing in a covered place, appears; the whole congregation rises and remains standing until he has taken his place on the platform, and the two geonim, the one from Sura preceding, have taken seats to his right and left, each making an obeisance. The trumpet is the highest brass instrument in register, above the French horn, trombone, baritone, euphonium, and tuba. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Standard atomic weight 196. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silver, Ag, 47 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 5, d Appearance lustrous white metal Standard atomic weight 107. ... A liturgy is the customary public worship of a religious group, according to their particular traditions. ... Mary Magdalene in prayer. ...

A costly canopy has been erected over the seat of the exilarch. Then the leader in prayer steps in front of the platform and, in a low voice audible only to those close by, and accompanied by the 'Amen' of the choir, addresses the exilarch with a benediction, prepared long beforehand. Then the exilarch delivers a sermon on the text of the week or commissions the gaon of Sura to do so. After the discourse the leader in prayer recites the kaddish, and when he reaches the words 'during your life and in your days,' he adds the words 'and during the life of our prince, the exilarch.' After the kaddish he blesses the exilarch, the two heads of the schools, and the several provinces that contribute to the support of the academies, as well as the individuals who have been of especial service in this direction. Then the Torah is read. When the 'Kohen' and 'Levi' have finished reading, the leader in prayer carries the Torah roll to the exilarch, the whole congregation rising; the exilarch takes the roll in hishands and reads from it while standing. The two heads of the schools also rise, and the gaon of Sura recites the targum to the passage read by the exilarch. When the reading of the Torah is completed, a blessing is pronounced upon the exilarch. After the 'Musaf' prayer the exilarch leaves the synagogue, and all, singing, accompany him to his house. After that the exilarch rarely goes beyond the gate of his house, where services for the community are held on the Sabbaths and feastdays. When it becomes necessary for him to leave his house, he does so only in a carriage of state, accompanied by a large retinue. If the exilarch desires to pay his respects to the king, he first asks permission to do so. As he enters the palace the king's servants hasten to meet him, among whom he liberally distributes gold coin, for which provision has been made beforehand. When led before the king his seat is assigned to him. The king then asks what he desires. He begins with carefully prepared words of praise and blessing, reminds the king of the customs of his fathers, gains the favor of the king with appropriate words, and receives written consent to his demands; thereupon, rejoiced, he takes leave of the king." Look up Amen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A benediction is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of church worship service. ... A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. ... Kaddish (קדיש Aramaic: holy) refers to an important and central blessing in the Jewish prayer service. ...

Income and privileges

In regard to Nathan ha-Babli's additional account as to the income and the functions of the exilarch (which refers, however, only to the time of the narrator), it may be noted that he received taxes, amounting altogether to 700 gold denarii a year, chiefly from the provinces Nahrawan, Farsistan, and Holwan. First row : c. ... Fārs or Pārs (Persian: فارس) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. ...

The Muslim author of the ninth century, Al-Jahiz, who has been referred to above, makes special mention of the shofar, the wind-instrument which was used when the exilarch (ras al-jalut) excommunicated any one. The punishment of excommunication, continues the author, is the only one which in Muslim countries the exilarch of the Jews and the catholicos of the Christians may pronounce, for they are deprived of the right of inflicting punishment by imprisonment or flogging ["R. E. J." viii. 122 et. seq.]. There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... A shofar in the Yemenite Jewish style. ... Cherem (or Herem חרם), is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. ... Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ... Catholicos (plural Catholicoi) is a title used by the head/regional head bishop of any of certain Eastern churches. ... Christianity percentage by country, purple is highest, orange is lowest Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch... A prison is a place in which people are confined and deprived of a range of liberties. ... Whipping on a post Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, whip) the human body. ...

Another Muslim author reports a conversation that took place in the eighth century between a follower of Islam and the exilarch, in which the latter boasted; "Seventy generations have passed between me and King David, yet the Jews still recognize the prerogatives of my royal descent, and regard it as their duty to protect me; but you have slain the grandson [Husain] of your prophet after one single generation" [ibid. p. 125]. Imaginary portrait of Husayn ibn Ali, by contemporary Iranian artist. ... Muhammad in a new genre of Islamic calligraphy started in the 17th century by Hafiz Osman. ...

The son of a previous exilarch said to another Muslim author: "I formerly never rode by Karbala, the place where Husain was martyred, without spurring on my horse, for an old tradition said that on this spot the descendant of a prophet would be killed; only since Husain has been slain there and the prophecy has thus been fulfilled do I pass leisurely by the place" [ibid. p. 123]. This last story indicates that the resh galuta had by that time become the subject of Muslim legend, other examples also being cited by Goldziher. [Goldziher, 1884] Shrine of Karbala Karbala (Arabic: ‎; BGN: Karbalā’; also spelled Kerbala, Kerbela, Karbila) is a city in Iraq, located about 100 km southwest of Baghdad at 32. ...

That the personage of the exilarch was familiar to Muslim circles is also shown by the fact that the Rabbinite Jews were called Jaluti, that is, those belonging to the exilarch, in contradistinction to the Karaites [ibid.]. In the first quarter of the eleventh century, not long before the extinction of the exilarchate, Ibn Hazam, a fanatic polemicist, made the following remark in regard to the dignity: "The ras al-jalut has no power whatever over the Jews or over other persons; he has merely a title, to which is attached neither authority nor prerogatives of any kind" [ibid., p. 125].

Curiously enough the exilarchs are still mentioned in the Sabbath services of the Ashkenazim ritual. The Aramaic prayer "Yekum Purkan," which was used once in Babylon in pronouncing the blessing upon the leaders there, including the "reshe galwata" (the exilarchs), is still recited in most synagogues. The Jews of the Sephardic ritual have not preserved this anachronism, nor was it retained in most of the Reform synagogues, beginning in the nineteenth century. Ashkenazi (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי, Standard Hebrew Aškanazi, Tiberian Hebrew ʾAškănāzî) Jews or Ashkenazic Jews, also called Ashkenazim (אַשְׁכֲּנָזִי&#1501... In the strictest sense, a Sephardi (ספרדי, Standard Hebrew Səfardi, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardî; plural Sephardim: ספרדים, Standard Hebrew Səfardim, Tiberian Hebrew Səp̄ardîm) is a Jew original to the... Reform Judaism (also known as Progressive Judaism while in the U.K. Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism together make up Progressive Judaism) is a branch of Judaism characterized by: The belief that an individuals personal autonomy overrides traditional Jewish law and custom. ...

References

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

This article is an evolution of the corresponding article in the public-domain Jewish Encyclopedia, which gives the following bibliography:

• Heinrich Grätz, Geschichte iv., v., vi.
• Felix Lazarus, Die Häupter der Vertriebenen, in Nehemiah Brüll's Jahrbuch 1890
• Jacob Reifman, Resh Galuta, in Bikkurim, 1864
• Abraham Krochmal, Perushim we-Haggahot le-Talmud Babli, pp. 5-68, Lemberg, 1881;
• Salomon Funk, Die Juden in Babylonien, Berlin, 1902
• Goldziher, Renseignements de Source Musulmane sur la Dignité du Resch-Galuta, in R. E. J. 1884, pp. 121-125:
• Brüll's Jahrbuch v. 94 et seq.
• S. Jona, I. Rasce Galutà, in Vessillo Israelitico, 1883-86
• Seder 'Olam Zuta, in A. Neubauer's Mediæval Jewish Chronicles, ii. 68 et seq.

The following is a reconstruction of some other references used in that Jewish Encyclopedia article but not explicitly mentioned in its bibliography: This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Nehemiah Brüll (born March 16, 1843 at Neu-Raussnitz, Moravia, died February 5, 1891 at Frankfort-on-the-Main) was a Rabbi and versatile scholar. ... Ignaz Goldziher (June 22, 1850 - 1921), was a Jewish Hungarian orientalist and is widely considered among the founders of modern Islamic studies in Europe. ... Seder Olam Zutta (Hebrew: סדר עולם זוטא) is an anonymous chronicle, called Zuṭa (= smaller, or younger) to distinguish it from the older Seder Olam Rabbah. ... Portrait of Adolf Neubauer, from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. ...

• Sherira (also Sherira Gaon or Gaon Sherira), was one of the post-Talmudic geonim.
• Raphael Kirchheim, Commentar zur Chronik aus dem Zehnten Jahrhundert, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1874. The Jewish Encyclopedia article refers to this as "A commentary to Chronicles (ed. Kirchheim)".
• S. Pinsker, Likkute Kadmoniyyot, Vienna, 1860. Various sources transliterate differently the name of this Hebrew-language work on Karaite history and literature, e.g. Likkutei Kadmoniyyot [1], Likute kadhmoniot [2]
• The Jewish Encyclopedia article from which this derives relies heavily on material from the Talmud. Unless otherwise noted, references are to the Babylonian Talmud; Jerusalem Talmud or Yerushalmi preceding the name of a Talmudic tractate means it is from the Jerusalem Talmud. This article uses the following tractates as reference material:
  • Avodah Zarah, a tractate in the order of Nezikin.
  • Bava Batra, a tractate in Nezikin.
  • Bava Kamma, a tractate in Nezikin.
  • Bava Metzia, a tractate in Nezikin.
  • Berakhot -- Berachos, a tractate in Zeraim.
  • Betzah, a tractate in Moed.
  • Eruvin -- Eruvin, a tractate in Moed.
  • Horayot, a tractate in Nezikin.
  • Gittin, a tractate in Nashim.
  • Hullin, a tractate in Kodshim.
  • Kilayim, a tractate in Zeraim.
  • Lam. R., Eicha (Lamentations) Rabba, a book of midrash.
  • Megillah, a tractate in Moed.
  • Men. -- Menachos, a tractate in Kodshim.
  • Mo'ed Katan, a tractate in Moed.
  • Pesahim, a tractate in Moed.
  • Sanhedrin, a tractate in Nezikin.
  • Shabbat, a tractate in Moed.
  • Sheb. -- Shebuot, a tractate in Nezikin.
  • Sotah. a tractate in Nashim.
  • Sukkah, a tractate in Moed.
  • Ta'an. -- Ta'anis, a tractate in Moed
  • Yebamoth, a tractate in Nashim.
  • Zech. -- Zachariah, a book of the Tnach
  • Zevachim, a tractate in Kodashim.

Geonim (also Gaonim) (גאונים) (Singular: Gaon [גאון] meaning pride in Biblical Hebrew and genius in modern Hebrew) were the rabbis who were the Jewish Talmudic sages who were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta/ Exilarch who wielded secular... Raphael Kirchheim (born in Frankfort-on-the-Main 1804; died there September 6, 1889) was a German Jewish scholar. ... The first page of the Vilna Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a. ... Avodah Zarah (meaning idolatry - lit. ... Nezikin (Hebrew: סדר נזיקין, The Order of Damages) is the fourth order of Mishna (also the Tosefta and Talmud). ... Moed (Festivals) is the second Order of the Mishnah (also the Tosefta and Talmud), Of the six orders of the Mishna, Moed is the third shortest. ... Nashim (Women or Wives) is the third order of the Mishnah (also of the Tosefta and Talmud), containing the laws related to women and family life. ... Kodshim (קדשים, Holy Things in Hebrew) is the fifth order in the Mishna (also the Tosefta and Talmud). ... Zeraim (זרעים) is the first Order of the Mishnah (and Tosefta and Talmud). ... Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ... Tanakh (‎) (also Tanach, IPA: or , or Tenak) is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. ... Kodashim or Kodshim (Hebrew קדשים, Holy Things) is the fifth Order in the Mishna (also the Tosefta and Talmud). ...

External links

• Iranian Encyclopedia on Exilarchs under Arab rule