JEWSwhether or not Bostanai had freed the Persian princess, converted her
to Judaism, and married her before she bore his children. After his
death, in about 660, his two sons by his Jewish wife, I;Iisdai and
I;Ianina bar Adai, who succeeded him as exilarchs until 689, sought
to disinherit his children by the Persian woman and to claim them as
their own slaves. The rabbis insisted on the rights of Bostanai's children
by his Persian wife, but the real issue was over who had the authority
to interpret and apply religious law in matters of family life and in-
heritance. Although the sons of Bostanai deposed the heads of the
schools and appointed their own partisans, their ultimate inability to
impose their will with regard to their half brothers provides the best
evidence that the recognition by the Islamic government of the ex-
ilarch's right to appoint judges and the heads of the schools did not
extend to authority over the interpretation of the law. There was a
second persecution from 719 to 730, when Na!ronia bar Nehemiah
was head of the school at Pumabaditha and drove the rabbis opposed
to the house of Bostanai to take refuge at Sura. This conflict was the
origin of the antagonism between the exilarchs of the Islamic period
and the 'religious leaders of the Jewish community. Both Sherira and
Ibn Da'iid accuse the exilarchs of acquiring their office by bribing the
Muslim authorities.^89
From 730 on, the dual rule of the Jewish community by the exilarchs
who had secular authority and the leaders of the rabbinate (Gaonim)
became established. Judges for the Rabbinic courts were appointed
jointly by the exilarch and gaon and each gaon had the right of judicial
review over the judges under his jurisdiction. The office of exilarch
became ceremonial (what he lost in power he gained in honor), his
revenues were limited to districts and towns designated by the gov-
ernment, and he lost his claim to religious authority and his jurisdiction
over criminal cases. By the eighth century, the concept of election was
beginning to undermine dynastic succession. The Gaonim held the
deciding voice in the choice of a successor from among the family of
the exilarch, and the investiture ceremonies institutionalized the sub-
ordination of the exilarch to the Gaonim in religious matters.^90
89 Ibn Daud, Book of Tradition, p. 59; Ginzberg, "Bostanai," p. 330; Goode, "Ex-
ilarchate," pp. 155-56; Neusner, History, p. 136.
90 W. Bacher, "Exilarch," JE, V, 292-93; S. Doubnow, An Outline of Jewish History
(New York, 1925), 11, 212-14; S. Goitein, Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts through
the Ages (New York, 1955), pp. 120-21; H. Graetz, History of the Jews (Philadelphia,
1941), III, 93-96, 98, 137-38.