GE'ONIM (sing. Ga'on). - Title of the heads (cf. Ps. 47:5), "pride" of the house of Jacob) of the Talmudic academies of Sura and Pumbedita in the period 589-1040 A.D. and in the 10th and 11th centuries also of the heads of the Palestinian schools; in the 12th and 13th centuries also of those of Baghdad, Damascus and Egypt.
The gaonic dignity was conferred by the exilarchs, who sometimes preferred candidates devoted to them. From 825 A.D. the power of the exilarchate declined and so it was the scholars themselves who carried out the election of the geonim. The geonim applied the Talmud to legal practice for all of Judaism in the form of "responsa" to questions. The communities of the whole diaspora in turn offered the schools their financial support. In the months of Elul and Adar thousands of extraordinary listeners flocked to the academies. The geonim were, as regards authority and competence, the successors of the president of the sanhedrin in the preceding era. For the conferring of the dignity, preference was given to descendants of ancient families distinguished for piety and learning. People spoke of the ga'on currently "reigning." The geonim enjoyed great prestige with the caliphs. Among the most celebrated geonim are to be numbered: Sa'adhiah (he began the gaonate in 928 A.D.) and Sherira (968).
The gaonic institution came to an end around 1040 A.D. following the fall of the caliphate of Baghdad and the spread of Talmudic culture in the communities of the diaspora. In time the title of ga'on came to mean "distinguished scholar" in general.
Bibliography2 works
Eugenio Zolli