ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the Gaonic period, a basic change occurred in Jewish life, giving rise to a change in the status and role of the kehillah. Until then, there had generally been one center with spiritual hegemony over the scattered Jewish communities. In this political-legal environment, a legally autonomous Jewish entity was able to exist. The willingness of the central regime to grant the Jews such autonomy stemmed from various considerations: a certain degree of tolerance towards other religions, varying according to time and place; religious and ideological considerations; and, finally and most importantly, fiscal considerations. The authority of the Jewish communal government—the kehillah —was founded on several basic principles set down by the halakhic scholars, which endowed the kehillah with great power.
