The Jews have been organized as a social unit and a distinct people for thousands of years, the earliest such unit being the ancient Hebrew clan. As they changed from a nomadic to an agrarian life style and began to settle in towns, their leadership tended to become urbanized. The Elders are identified as leaders of the various towns, especially for the administration of justice. In ancient Israel, towns were also organized in larger territorial or tribal units.
It was during the period of the Babylonian
The end of the Second Temple period (70 CE) brought about major changes in Jewish communal organization. The two great centers of Jewish life, Erets Israel and (later) Babylonia, were headed by central authorities. The patriarchate, together with the Sanhedrin, enjoyed this prerogative in Erets Israel. In Babylonia, the Exilarch, traditionally of Davidic descent, was accorded the highest honor after the Muslim conquest, being close to the Caliph himself. The religious head of the Babylonian community was the Gaon and, in their daily life, Jews were bound by halakhah. The local community established a way of life that was totally Jewish: synagogues, law courts, schools, philanthropic institutions, and ritual baths formed part of a centralized complex under the control of the exilarch or the gaon. In North African communities and in Spain, the head of the community was the nagid, a title which in Egypt was retained hereditarily by descendants of Maimonides for over two centuries.
In medieval Ashkenaz (the Franco-German region), communal leadership was exercised by outstanding rabbinical authorities. The community or congregation (Kehillah) often occupied a defined quarter of the town, sometimes near the castle of the ruler, who afforded the Jews protection. Within the Ashkenazi community, life was also regulated by halakhah. As in Babylonia, a multitude of institutions dealt with every aspect of life. The community was responsible for all taxes, both those demanded by the secular authorities and those required for the community chest. Special societies were organized and funds collected for such purposes as the ransoming of Captives, providing Hospitality to Jewish visitors from other communities, visiting the Sick and caring for the Aged, collecting the Dowry for a poor bride, caring for the Widow, and supervising Jewish Burial. The focus of Jewish life was the synagogue with its own many-faceted functions; it was not only the center of worship and religious ceremonies but also the venue of communal assemblies, the law court, and the school, ritual baths, and even a "dance hall" for community functions.
Special communal statutes (takkanot ha-kahal) established down the community's constitution, which might be amplified by special ordinances and enactments for everyday life (see Takkanah), ranging from economic procedure to sumptuary laws governing dress. Responsible for their enforcement was the court (Bet Din), a panel of religious judges (dayyanim) who, in exceptional cases, would issue bans of Excommunication (Ḥerem) and who---in even rarer instances (e.g., with regard to "informers" who had endangered the community)---might pass sentences of death. The community's president (Parnas) was recognized by the secular or Church authorities as the official representative of the Jews; he or the local rabbi (see also Chief Rabbinate) usually received an official title such as "Master of the Jews" (Magister Judaeorum) or "Bishop of the Jews" (Judenbischof).
From the 14th century onward, the center of gravity of European Jewry began shifting to Poland, where the community was to gain its most effective autonomy and power. This sometimes took the form of a structure in which a Jewish community in one central town exercised authority over all the smaller communities in the region and became responsible for serving them. It was in Poland-Lithuania that the centralized and powerful Council of the (Four) Lands (Va'ad Arba ha-Aratsot) functioned as a sort of Jewish parliament.
In the Ottoman Empire, central authority was vested in a Chief Rabbi, the ḥakham Bashi, who was recognized by the Sublime Porte as the Jewish community's representative. Each province of the Empire had its own Chief Rabbi, and in Egypt the ḥakham bashi's office replaced that of the nagid.
This traditional pattern underwent a radical change with the advent of Emancipation. Up to that time, Jews had no way of opting out of the Jewish community (unless they abandoned their faith). Once the Jew was granted civil rights, however, he became a full member of the larger community and his membership in the Jewish communal organization was no longer compulsory but voluntary. A new type of Jewish organizational framework was imposed by Napoleon, who secured the agreement of a "Grand Sanhedrin" in Paris (1807) to far-reaching enactments that destroyed French Jewry's autonomous existence and made it a subservient "religious community." In return for the granting of civic rights and responsibilities, certain new Jewish bodies willingly confined themselves to religious functions which they---not the State---were often charged with maintaining (see Consistory).
In the modern world, Jews adjusted their communal life to changing circumstances. In the United States, for example, new forms of association have emerged, but the bold attempt to establish a New York City "Kehillah" (1908-22) eventually failed. Many Jewish organizations, growing out of individual aspects of the traditional community, are structured on a nationwide basis and often display a zealous independence that makes them unwilling to cooperate effectively with other bodies. Thus, the functions of rabbis in the United States and Canada are supervised by national rabbinical associations, while synagogue "roof organizations" exist throughout the world (including Israel). Different bodies take charge of education and the modern equivalent of philanthropy. In some countries (e.g., Britain and Scandinavia), the welfare state has taken over many of the functions that were basic to the traditional community (e.g., care of the sick and the aged). The general pluralism of American life is also reflected in the pluralism of American Jewish life, where each synagogue or Jewish community center operates as a kind of mini-community.
The organized Jewish community or kehillah has undergone many changes and vicissitudes over the centuries, but its basic vitality and adaptability in the face of challenges---both external and internal---have been determining factors in the social and religious development of the Jewish people.
