Exilarch
Encyclopedia
Exilarch refers to the leaders of the Diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...

 Jewish community in Babylon following the deportation of King Jeconiah
Jeconiah
Jeconiah "; ; ), also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin , was a king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon in the 6th Century BCE and was taken into captivity. Most of what is known about Jeconiah is found in the Hebrew Bible. After many excavations in Iraq, records of Jeconiah's...

 and his court into Babylonian exile
Babylonian captivity
The Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....

 after the first fall of Jerusalem in 597 BCE
Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)
In 601 BC, in the fourth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, unsuccessfully attempted to invade Egypt and was repulsed with heavy losses...

 and augmented after the further deportations following the destruction of the kingdom of Judah
Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)
In 589 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II laid siege to Jerusalem, culminating in the destruction of the city and its temple in 587 BC.-Siege:Following the siege of 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as tributary king of Judah at the age of twenty-one. However, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, and...

 in 587 BCE. The people in exile were called golah ' onMouseout='HidePop("35882")' href="/topics/Book_of_Ezekiel">Ezekiel
Book of Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....

 passim) or galut .

The Greek term has continued to be applied to the position, notwithstanding changes to the position over time, which was at most times purely honorific. 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
Davidic line
The Davidic line refers to the tracing of lineage to the King David referred to in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the New Testament...

. It was recognized by the state and carried with it certain prerogatives. The first historical documents referring to it date from the time when Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...

 was part of the Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...

. The office lasted to the middle of the 6th century CE, under different regimes (the Arsacids and Sassanids). During the beginning of 6th century Mar-Zutra II formed a politically independent state where he ruled from Mahoza for about seven years. He was eventually defeated by Kavadh I
Kavadh I
Kavad or Kavadh I was the son of Peroz I and the nineteenth Sassanid king of Persia, reigning from 488 to 531...

, King of Persia. The position was restored in the 7th century, under Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 rule. Exilarchs continued to be appointed through the 11th century. Under Arab rule, Muslims treated the exilarch with great pomp and circumstance.

Development and organization

The history of the exilarchate falls naturally into two periods, separated by the beginning of the Arabic rule in Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...

. 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.

Such was the exilarchate as it appears in Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

ic literature, the chief source for its history during the first period, and which provides 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.

Holders of the office

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

Biblical and rabbinic

Exilarchs listed in the Second Book of Kings, the Books of Chronicles
Books of Chronicles
The Books of Chronicles are part of the Hebrew Bible. In the Masoretic Text, it appears as the first or last book of the Ketuvim . Chronicles largely parallels the Davidic narratives in the Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings...

 and in the Seder Olam Zutta
Seder Olam Zutta
Seder Olam Zutta is an anonymous chronicle from 804 CE, called "Zuṭa" to distinguish it from the older Seder 'Olam Rabbah. This work is based upon, and to a certain extent completes and continues, the older chronicle...

, some possibly legendary, are:
  • Jeconiah
    Jeconiah
    Jeconiah "; ; ), also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin , was a king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon in the 6th Century BCE and was taken into captivity. Most of what is known about Jeconiah is found in the Hebrew Bible. After many excavations in Iraq, records of Jeconiah's...

     or Jehoiachin, according to the chronology of the exilarchate, the last of the Davidic kings of Judah. After a reign of only three months and ten days, Jeconiah's reign came to an end by Babylonian intervention, and Jeconiah and the elite of Judah were taken into Babylonian exile
    Babylonian captivity
    The Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....

     in 597 BCE as part of the first deportation, Jeconiah continued to be regarded as the legitimate king of Judah by the Jews in Babylon. His family line was followed by subsequent exilarchs. Cuneiform records dated to 592 BCE mention Jeconiah ("Ia-'-ú-kinu") and his five sons as recipients of food rations in Babylon
    Babylon
    Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...

    . In any event, all the sons of Jehoiachin's successor on the throne of Judah, Zedekiah
    Zedekiah
    Zedekiah or Tzidkiyahu was the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by Babylon. He was installed as king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, after a siege of Jerusalem to succeed his nephew, Jeconiah, who was overthrown as king after a reign of only three months and...

    , were killed by Nebuchadrezzar II
    Nebuchadrezzar II
    Nebuchadnezzar II was king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who reigned c. 605 BC – 562 BC. According to the Bible, he conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and sent the Jews into exile. He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and also known for the destruction...

     after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE.
  • Shealtiel
    Shealtiel
    Shealtiel or Greek-derived variant Salathiel was the son of Jeconiah, king of Judah. The Gospels also list Shealtiel as the son of Jeconiah, while lists him as the son of an otherwise unknown man named Neri...

    , son of Jehoiachin
  • Zerubbabel
    Zerubbabel
    Zerubbabel was a governor of the Persian Province of Judah and the grandson of Jehoiachin, penultimate king of Judah. Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews, numbering 42,360, who returned from the Babylonian Captivity in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia . The date is generally thought to...

    , son of Pedaiah, who was a son of Jehoiachin and is mentioned as a governor of the Persian Yehud Province. According to the Seder Olam Zutta, Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel.
  • Meshullam
    Meshullam
    Meshullam is a Biblical masculine name meaning "Befriended". In the Old Testament the name Meshullam was borne by eleven characters:# One of the chief Gadites in Bashan in the time of Jotham .# Grandfather of Shaphan, "the scribe," in the reign of Josiah ....

    , son of Zerubbabel
  • Hananiah, son of Zerubbabel 
  • Berechiah
    Berechiah
    Berechiah is a Jewish name that occurs several times in the Bible. It is derived from Berakhah, "blessing".-Other people with that name:* Berechiah ha-Nakdan, 13th century writer and fabulist...

    , son of Zerubbabel
  • Hasadiah, son of Hananiah
  • Jesaiah, son of Hananiah
  • Obadiah
    Obadiah
    Obadiah is a Biblical theophorical name, meaning "servant of Yahweh" or "worshipper of Yahweh." It is related to "Abdeel", "servant of God", which is also cognate to the Arabic name "Abdullah". Turkish name Abdil or Abdi. The form of Obadiah's name used in the Septuagint is Obdios; in Latin it is...

    , son of Hananiah
  • Shemaiah, son of Shecaniah, who was a son of Hananiah
  • Shechaniah, son of Hananiah According to the Seder Olam Zutta, Shechaniah was the son of Shemaiah, and lived at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple
    Second Temple
    The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...

  • Hezekiah, son of Neriah, who was the son of Shemaiah
  • Akkub, son of Elioenai, who was a son of Neariah, who was a son of Shemaiah


Probably historical exilarchs also found in the Seder Olam Zutta
Seder Olam Zutta
Seder Olam Zutta is an anonymous chronicle from 804 CE, called "Zuṭa" to distinguish it from the older Seder 'Olam Rabbah. This work is based upon, and to a certain extent completes and continues, the older chronicle...

:
  • Nahum, probably the same person known as Nehunyon or Ahijah, roughly from the time of the Hadrianic persecution (135 CE)
  • 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
    Mar 'Ukban III (exilarch)
    Nathan de-Zuzita, Jewish Amora sage of the 3d generation, whom according to Joseph ben Ḥama , is to be identified with the exilarch 'Uḳban ben Nehemiah, Joseph's contemporary , who was a contrite sinner....

     ("Nathan di Zzuta", reigning in 337)
  • Huna III
  • Abba
  • Nathan
  • Mar Kahana
  • Huna IV (died 441)
  • Mar Zutra, brother of Huna IV.
  • Kahana II, son of Mar Zutra.
  • Huna V, son of Mar Zutra - executed by King Peroz
    Peroz I
    Peroz I Peroz I Peroz I (also Pirooz; Peirozes (Priscus, fr. 33); Perozes (Procopius, De Bello Pers. I. 3 and Agathias iv. 27; the modern form of the name is Perooz, Piruz, or the Arabized Ferooz, Firuz; Persian: پیروز "the Victor"), was the seventeenth Sassanid King of Persia, who ruled from 457...

     of Persia in 470.
  • Huna VI, son of Kahana II - not installed for some time because of persecution. Died 508.
  • Mar Zutra II - crucified c. 520 by Kavadh I
    Kavadh I
    Kavad or Kavadh I was the son of Peroz I and the nineteenth Sassanid king of Persia, reigning from 488 to 531...

     (or Kobad).
  • Mar Ahunai - did not dare to appear in public for 30 years (until 550).
  • Kafnai, second half of the sixth century
  • Haninai, second half of the sixth century
  • Bostanai
    Bostanai
    Bostanai was the first exilarch under Arabian rule; he flourished about the middle of the seventh century. The name is Aramaized from the Persian "bustan" or "bostan"...

    , son of Haninai - first of the exilarchs under Arab rule, middle of the seventh century.
  • Hanina ben Adoi
  • Hasdai I
  • Solomon
    Solomon (exilarch)
    Solomon the exilarch ruled from 730 to 761. He was the eldest son of the exilarch Ḥasdai I.In consequence of a dearth of teachers, he found it necessary to install as head of the Academy of Sura a scholar from Pumbedita, though this was contrary to traditional usage. According to Grätz, this...

     ruled 730
    730
    Year 730 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 730 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Charles Martel defeats the last independent...

    -761
    761
    Year 761 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 761 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Telets succeeds Vinekh as king of...

    . He was the eldest son of Ḥasdai I.
  • 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
    Interregnum
    An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...

  • David ben Zakkai
    David ben Zakkai (exilarch)
    David ben Zakkai was an exilarch, leader of the Jewish community of Babylon, known in Jewish history especially for his conflict with Saadia Gaon, which ruptured the leadership of the Babylonian Jews, and which was settled by the intervention of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Qahir.He was banished to...

     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
Hezekiah Gaon
Hezekiah Gaon was the last Gaon of the Talmudic academy in Pumbedita from 1038-40.Hezekiah was a member of the exilarchal family, son of David,who was son the of Zakkai,who was the son of Avraham, who was the son of Nathan, son of David a Rabbi, whose father was Hazub...

, an exilarch who in 1038 also became gaon
Gaon (Hebrew)
Gaon originally referred in Ancient Hebrew to arrogance and haughty pride . Later became known as pride in general: whether good or bad . Today it may refer to:...

of Pumbedita
Pumbedita Academy
Pumbedita Academy was a Jewish Yeshiva academy in Babylon, during the era of the Jewish Amora and Geonim sages. The academy was founded at the beginning of the second generation of the Amora era, by R...

, but was imprisoned and tortured to death in 1040. He was the last exilarch and the last gaon.

Karaite

Karaite princes beginning in the 8th century, after the time of David ben Judah:
  • Anan ben David
    Anan ben David
    Anan Ben David is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement of Judaism. His followers were called Ananites and, like modern Karaites, do not believe the Rabbinic Jewish oral law to be divinely inspired...

    , son of David ben Judah (ca 715 - ca 795 or 811?), considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement
  • Saul ben Anan, son of Anan ben David, eighth century.
  • Josiah, son of Anan ben David
  • Jehoshaphat ben Saul
    Jehoshaphat ben Saul
    Jehoshaphat ben Saul was the son of Saul ben Anan and the grandson of Anan ben David. He lived in Iraq during the early ninth century. Jehoshaphat was nasi and resh galuta of the nascent Karaite movement of Judaism. He was the father of Boaz ben Jehoshaphat....

    , son of Saul ben Anan, early ninth century
  • Boaz ben Jehoshaphat, son of Jehoshaphat ben Saul, mid ninth century.
  • David ben Boaz, son of Boaz ben Jehoshaphat, tenth century.
  • Solomon ben David
    Solomon (Karaite prince)
    Solomon ben David was a Karaite leader of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries CE. He was the son of David ben Boaz. As a direct lineal descendant of Anan ben David, he was regarded as nasi and resh galuta of the Karaite community. He was succeeded by his son Hezekiah ben Solomon....

    , son of David ben Boaz, late tenth and early eleventh centuries.
  • Hezekiah ben Solomon, son of Solomon ben David, eleventh century.
  • Hasdai ben Hezekiah
    Hasdai ben Hezekiah
    Hasdai ben Hezekiah was the son of Hezekiah ben Solomon and thus was the ninth Karaite exilarch of the line of Anan ben David. He lived in Iraq during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He was the father of Solomon ben Hasdai....

    , son of Hezekiah ben Solomon, eleventh and twelfth centuries.
  • Solomon ben Hasdai
    Solomon ben Hasdai
    Solomon ben Hasdai was the son of Hasdai ben Hezekiah. He was the tenth Karaite exilarch of the house of Anan ben David, and the last of Anan's descendants to be regarded by the Karaites as their nasi. During his reign many Karaite communities were destroyed by the Seljuks and Karaism as a rival to...

    , son of Hasdai ben Hezekiah. During his reign many Karaite communities were destroyed by the Seljuks.

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
Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)
In 601 BC, in the fourth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, unsuccessfully attempted to invade Egypt and was repulsed with heavy losses...

. A chronicle from about the year 800 - the Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....

ic 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 - 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
Books of Chronicles
The Books of Chronicles are part of the Hebrew Bible. In the Masoretic Text, it appears as the first or last book of the Ketuvim . Chronicles largely parallels the Davidic narratives in the Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings...

 3:17 et seq.

A commentary to Chronicles
Books of Chronicles
The Books of Chronicles are part of the Hebrew Bible. In the Masoretic Text, it appears as the first or last book of the Ketuvim . Chronicles largely parallels the Davidic narratives in the Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings...

 [Kirchheim 1874, p. 16] dating from the school of Saadia Gaon
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...

 quotes Judah ibn Kuraish to the effect that the genealogical
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

 list of the descendants of David was added to the book at the end of the period of the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...

, 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
Zerubbabel
Zerubbabel was a governor of the Persian Province of Judah and the grandson of Jehoiachin, penultimate king of Judah. Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews, numbering 42,360, who returned from the Babylonian Captivity in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia . The date is generally thought to...

, Meshullam
Meshullam
Meshullam is a Biblical masculine name meaning "Befriended". In the Old Testament the name Meshullam was borne by eleven characters:# One of the chief Gadites in Bashan in the time of Jotham .# Grandfather of Shaphan, "the scribe," in the reign of Josiah ....

, Hananiah
Hananiah
Hananiah may refer to:*Hananiah, son of Zerubbabel, exilarch*Hananiah of the Book of Daniel*Hananiah , 4th century BC, governor of Samaria under the Achaemenid Empire...

, Berechiah
Berechiah
Berechiah is a Jewish name that occurs several times in the Bible. It is derived from Berakhah, "blessing".-Other people with that name:* Berechiah ha-Nakdan, 13th century writer and fabulist...

, Hasadiah, Jesaiah, Obadiah
Obadiah
Obadiah is a Biblical theophorical name, meaning "servant of Yahweh" or "worshipper of Yahweh." It is related to "Abdeel", "servant of God", which is also cognate to the Arabic name "Abdullah". Turkish name Abdil or Abdi. The form of Obadiah's name used in the Septuagint is Obdios; in Latin it is...

, and Shemaiah, all of which names are also found in I Chron. 3. (compare the list with the variants given in [Lazarus 1890]).

The names of the next two exilarchs - Hezekiah
Hezekiah
Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz and the 14th king of Judah. Edwin Thiele has concluded that his reign was between c. 715 and 686 BC. He is also one of the most prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible....

 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.

First historic mention

In the account referring to the attempt of a Palestinian
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 teacher of the Law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

, Hananiah
Hananiah
Hananiah may refer to:*Hananiah, son of Zerubbabel, exilarch*Hananiah of the Book of Daniel*Hananiah , 4th century BC, governor of Samaria under the Achaemenid Empire...

, nephew of Joshua ben Hananiah
Joshua ben Hananiah
Joshua ben Hananiah was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Temple. He was of Levitical descent , and served in the sanctuary as a member of the class of singers . His mother intended him for a life of study, and, as an older contemporary, Dosa b. Harkinas,...

, 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].

The danger threatening the Palestinian authority was fortunately averted; at about the same time, 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
Tannaim
The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years...

 of the post-Hadrianic time. His Davidic origin suggested to 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]. 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
Judah haNasi
Judah the Prince, or Judah I, also known as Rebbi or Rabbeinu HaKadosh , was a 2nd-century CE rabbi and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He was a key leader of the Jewish community during the Roman occupation of Judea . He was of the Davidic line, the royal line of King David, hence the...

).

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
Hillel the Elder
Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud...

'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).

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
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...

 can not appear until the exilarchate at Babylon and the patriarchate at Jerusalem shall have ceased" [Sanhedrin 38a].

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," ). 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
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

" (on the historical value of this statement see [Lazarus 1890], p. 33).

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
Sherira Gaon
Rav Sherira Gaon was the head of the Academy of Pumbeditha. He was one of the most prominent Geonim of his period, and the father of Hai Gaon, who succeeded him as gaon.Sherira was born in 906 and died in 1006. Rav Sherira Gaon (Hebrew: רב שרירא גאון or R. Sherira ben Ḥanina Gaon, Hebrew: רב...

 (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
Nehardea
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. As the seat of the exilarch it traced its origin back to King Jehoiachin...

. 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 "Rabbeinu '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].

The Mar 'Ukbans

According to Seder 'Olam Zuta, in Nehemiah's time, the 245th year after the destruction of the Temple (313 C.E.), 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
Mar 'Ukban III (exilarch)
Nathan de-Zuzita, Jewish Amora sage of the 3d generation, whom according to Joseph ben Ḥama , is to be identified with the exilarch 'Uḳban ben Nehemiah, Joseph's contemporary , who was a contrite sinner....

, 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
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 (337) by Shapur (Sapor) II is mentioned in the chronicle as a historical event occurring during the time of Mar 'Ukban III.

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
Nisibis
Nusaybin Nisêbîn) is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey, populated mainly by Kurds. Earlier Arameans, Arabs, and Armenians lived in the city. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009.-Ancient Period:...

. 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
Sura (city)
Sura was a city in the southern part of ancient Babylonia, located west of the Euphrates River. It was well-known for its agricultural produce, which included grapes, wheat, and barley...

, 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.

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.

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
Bostanai
Bostanai was the first exilarch under Arabian rule; he flourished about the middle of the seventh century. The name is Aramaized from the Persian "bustan" or "bostan"...

's birth.

Mar Zutra, who came into office at the age of fifteen, took advantage of the confusion into which Mazdak
Mazdak
Mazdak was a proto-socialist Persian reformer and religious activist who gained influence under the reign of the Sassanian Shahanshah Kavadh I...

'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.

After Mar Zutra's death the exilarchate of Babylon remained unoccupied for some time. Mar Ahunai lived 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.

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
Pumbedita
Pumbedita was the name of a city in ancient Babylonia close to the modern-day city of Fallujah....

 was a place of worship as late as the twelfth century, according to Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...

.

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
Solomon (exilarch)
Solomon the exilarch ruled from 730 to 761. He was the eldest son of the exilarch Ḥasdai I.In consequence of a dearth of teachers, he found it necessary to install as head of the Academy of Sura a scholar from Pumbedita, though this was contrary to traditional usage. According to Grätz, this...

, Isaac Iskawi I, Judah Zakkai (Babawai), Moses, Isaac Iskawi II, David ben Judah, Hasdai II."

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 etc. 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
Solomon (Karaite prince)
Solomon ben David was a Karaite leader of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries CE. He was the son of David ben Boaz. As a direct lineal descendant of Anan ben David, he was regarded as nasi and resh galuta of the Karaite community. He was succeeded by his son Hezekiah ben Solomon....

, Hezekiah, Hasdai, Solomon II [Pinsker, "Likkute Kadmoniyyot," ii. 53]. Anan's brother Hananiah is not mentioned in this list.

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
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 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
Harkavy
Harkavy is surname which may refer to:* Abraham Harkavy , historian* Alexander Harkavy , writer* Yehoshafat Harkabi military historian...

, "Responsen der Geonim," p. 389).

Deposition of 'Ukba.

'Ukba is mentioned as exilarch immediately following Hasdai II; he was deposed at the instigation of Kohen
Kohen
A Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohens are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron....

 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.

After a short interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...

 'Ukba's nephew, David ben Zakkai
David ben Zakkai (exilarch)
David ben Zakkai was an exilarch, leader of the Jewish community of Babylon, known in Jewish history especially for his conflict with Saadia Gaon, which ruptured the leadership of the Babylonian Jews, and which was settled by the intervention of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Qahir.He was banished to...

, 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
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...

. 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.

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
Hezekiah Gaon
Hezekiah Gaon was the last Gaon of the Talmudic academy in Pumbedita from 1038-40.Hezekiah was a member of the exilarchal family, son of David,who was son the of Zakkai,who was the son of Avraham, who was the son of Nathan, son of David a Rabbi, whose father was Hazub...

, a descendant, perhaps a great-grandson, of David ben Zakkai, who 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 imprisoned and tortured to death. Hezekiah, is counted as the last exilarch and also the last gaon. Two of his sons fled to Spain, where they found refuge with Joseph, the son and successor of Samuel ha-Nagid. However, Jewish Quarterly Review
Jewish Quarterly Review
The Jewish Quarterly Review is an peer-reviewed academic journal which focuses on Jewish studies. It is published quarterly for the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The current editors are Elliott Horowitz...

mentions that Hezekiah was liberated from prison, and became head of the academy, and is mentioned as such by a contemporary in 1046. [Jewish Quarterly Review
Jewish Quarterly Review
The Jewish Quarterly Review is an peer-reviewed academic journal which focuses on Jewish studies. It is published quarterly for the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The current editors are Elliott Horowitz...

, hereafter "J. Q. R.", xv. 80]

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
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 (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
Yehuda Alharizi
Yehuda Alharizi, also Judah ben Solomon Harizi or al-Harizi was a rabbi, translator, poet and traveller active in Spain in the Middle Ages . He was supported by wealthy patrons, to whom he wrote poems and dedicated compositions.He was a rationalist, conveying the works of Maimonides and his...

 (after 1216) met at Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

 a descendant of the house of David, whom he calls "David, the head of the Exile."

A long time previously a descendant of the ancient house of exilarchs had attempted to revive in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 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.].

Descendants of the house of exilarchs were living in various places long after the office became extinct. A descendant of Hezekiah, Hiyya al-Daudi
Hiyya al-Daudi
Hiyya al-Daudi was a Jewish prominent rabbi, composer and poet of Andalusia....

, Gaon of Andalucia, died in 1154 in Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...

 (according to Abraham ibn Daud). 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.

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.

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].

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
Harkavy
Harkavy is surname which may refer to:* Abraham Harkavy , historian* Alexander Harkavy , writer* Yehoshafat Harkabi military historian...

, 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
Rav Chisda
Rav Chisda was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the third generation , mentioned frequently in the Talmud.-Youth:...

 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
Mezuzah
A mezuzah is usually a metal or wooden rectangular object that is fastened to a doorpost of a Jewish house. Inside it is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah...

 according to the Law [Men. 33a].

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
Samuel of Nehardea
Samuel of Nehardea or Samuel bar Abba was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the first generation; son of Abba bar Abba and head of the Yeshiva at Nehardea. He was a teacher of halakha, judge, physician, and astronomer. He was born about 165 at Nehardea, in Babylonia...

, the head of the school of Nehardea
Nehardea
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. As the seat of the exilarch it traced its origin back to King Jehoiachin...

, shows that they wore certain badges on their garments to indicate their position (Shabbat
Shabbat (Talmud)
Shabbat is first tractate in the Order of Moed, of the Mishnah and Talmud. The tractate consists of 24 chapters.The tractate primarily deals with laws relating to Shabbat , and the activities prohibited on Shabbat and distinguishes between Biblical prohibitions and Rabbinic prohibitions...

 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
Avodah Zarah
Avodah Zarah is the name of a tractate in the Talmud, located in Nezikin, the fourth Order of the Talmud dealing with damages...

 38b, of Hiyya of Parwa; Shabbat 121b, of Abba ben Marta].

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
Levi ben Sisi
Levi ben Sisi or Levi bar Sisi was a Jewish scholar, disciple of the patriarch Judah I, and school associate of his son Simeon Levi ben Sisi or Levi bar Sisi (Sisyi, Susyi, Hebrew: לוי בר סיסי) was a Jewish scholar, disciple of the patriarch Judah I, and school associate of his son Simeon Levi ben...

; 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 , "They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge" [Eruvin 26a].

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
Judah ben Bathyra
Judah ben Bathyra or simply Judah Bathyra was an eminent tanna. He must have lived before the destruction of the Temple, since he prevented a pagan in Jerusalem from partaking of the Paschal offering...

 at Nisibis on the eve of Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...

, 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
Hosea
Hosea was the son of Beeri and a prophet in Israel in the 8th century BC. He is one of the Twelve Prophets of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, also known as the Minor Prophets of the Christian Old Testament. Hosea is often seen as a "prophet of doom", but underneath his message of destruction is a promise...

: "Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people."

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 Yazdegerd I
Yazdegerd I
Yazdegerd I, or Izdekerti , was the thirteenth Sassanid king of Persia and ruled from 399 to 421. He is believed by some to be the son of Shapur III and by others to be son of Bahram IV...

, 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 Études Juives
Revue des Études Juives
Revue des Études Juives is a French quarterly of Jewish studies, founded in July 1880 at the École pratique des hautes études, Paris by the Société des Études 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 ell
Ell
An ell , is a unit of measurement, approximating the length of a man's arm.Several national forms existed, with different lengths, includingthe Scottish ell ,the Flemish ell ,the French ell...

s.

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
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 prerogative of the exilarch was mentioned in Palestine as a curiosity [Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 22a]: The Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

 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.

Character of the exilarchate in the Arabic era

Upon their conquest of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

s confirmed the authority of Exilarch Bustanai and the continuation of his governance of the Jewish community. For his services to the caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

 during the conquest he received the hand of the daughter of the former Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...

 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
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...

. 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
Geonim
Geonim were the presidents of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta who wielded secular authority...

 and Exilarchs saw the slow relinquishing of power to the Geonim but remained an office of reverence to which Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s showed respect.

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 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, 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
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 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
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...

 has been placed. This choir responds to the leader in prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

, 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.



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
Amen
The word amen is a declaration of affirmation found in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Its use in Judaism dates back to its earliest texts. It has been generally adopted in Christian worship as a concluding word for prayers and hymns. In Islam, it is the standard ending to Dua and the...

' of the choir, addresses the exilarch with a benediction
Benediction
A benediction is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service.-Judaism:...

, prepared long beforehand. Then the exilarch delivers a sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...

 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
Kaddish
Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...

, 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."

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
Denarius
In the Roman currency system, the denarius was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus...

 a year, chiefly from the provinces Nahrawan, Farsistan, and Holwan.

The Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 author of the ninth century, Al-Jahiz, who has been referred to above, makes special mention of the shofar
Shofar
A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes. Shofar-blowing is incorporated in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Shofar come in a variety of sizes.- Bible and rabbinic literature :...

, the wind-instrument which was used when the exilarch (ras al-jalut) excommunicated
Cherem
Cherem , is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. It is a form of shunning, and is similar to excommunication in the Catholic Church...

 any one. The punishment of excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

, continues the author, is the only one which in Muslim countries the exilarch of the Jews and the catholicos
Catholicos
Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases is borne by the designated head of an autonomous church, in which case the holder might have other titles such as Patriarch...

 of the Christians
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 may pronounce, for they are deprived of the right of inflicting punishment by imprisonment
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....

 or flogging ["R. E. J." viii. 122 et. seq.].

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
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 after one single generation" [ibid. p. 125].

The son of a previous exilarch said to another Muslim author: "I formerly never rode by Karbala
Karbala
Karbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people ....

, 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]

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 Hazm
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ) was an Andalusian philosopher, litterateur, psychologist, historian, jurist and theologian born in Córdoba, present-day Spain...

, 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.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK