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Judaism is as much a culture as it is a set of religious practices and, regarded as such, the nation of Israel is one of the few to have retained a sense of identity beyond it's dissolution as a political entity. Jewish presence in their ancient homeland was disrupted in the 2nd century CE as a result of the Bar Kochba Revolt, which induced the Roman Empire to scatter the Jewish people to the four winds and repopulate the region with others. Although the region was never entirely devoid of Jewish residents, for the most part Jews migrated in every direction, ending up in all parts of the Roman and Parthian Empires, and eventually populating centers everywhere in Europe and Asia. This was the Diaspora, a very long period of time (135 CE to 1948) in which Jews were tiny minority communities in an at-best indifferent and all too often an actively hostile world. What kept them together as a people was their adherence to their ancient traditions, and the guidance of Exilarchs, leaders in far-flung locales who interpreted and administered the laws as set forth in scripture. This file is a record of some of those Exilarchic leaders, resident in various locales under varying legal and social circumstances. Contains articles on: Adiabene, Anjuvannam, Beta Yisrael, Chabad Chassidics, Chief Rabbis of Great Britain, Chief Rabbis of Israel, Jewish colonies in Egypt, the Gaonim, the Hakham Basi, Himyar, Jarawa, the Juhuri, the Keraites, the Khazars, Matrega, the Resh Galuta, Septimania, and Tayma. |
The following people were Nasi'im of the Baghdad Jewish community after the abolition of the Exilarchate who may have nevertheless claimed the title:
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