Statement

Some historians see the ascent of the ra'is al-yahud as an example of the shift from an 'ecumenical' to a 'territorial' organization of medieval Jewish life. In the early Abbasid and Fatimid era Jews everywhere gathered around competing spiritual hubs in Palestine and Babylonia, but by the eleventh century a different pattern had appeared: the Jews of Egypt, joined under shared territorial leaders, looked past a fading Gaonic authority. Tunisia and Muslim Spain followed, giving rise to local and regional Jewish identities.

References

1. p. 165

   supports · main text · ch. 6

   Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.

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2. p. 165

   supports · main text · ch. 6

   Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.

   Verification anchor recorded · checked against the page text