Early Jewish Communal Organization and Leadership

Jews in Judea and the diaspora did not organize as a single body with a cohesive infrastructure. The Jews of Alexandria, Antioch, and elsewhere throughout the Greek and then the Roman Empire constructed bodies of legislation that would, in some cases, address communal leadership, but this infrastructure varied from city to city. In some cases, community titles were used in multiple regions but meant different things in different places. We can only infer, on the basis of the contexts in which they appear, what terms such as ethnarch, genarch, and gerousia meant and what the leaders who held these positions and were members of such councils did. Strikingly, some synagogue inscriptions apply certain leadership terms to women as well as to men.

The sources that speak of Jewish communal organization in the diaspora and in Judea indicate that Jews lived in highly structured and well-organized communities. At the same time, the decentralization of these communities gave way to a variety of forms of Jewish literature, culture, and observance. (For more, see the synagogue.)