THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES of diaspora history, rabbinic leadership in the Jewish community has had a Janus-like function. Facing inwards, it has sought to exercise authority in defence of unity and tradition: mediating and communicating the sacred texts, interpreting and applying them in a manner that is both rooted in the past and that refracts them with novel insight; providing guidance and making decisions to address the various internal problems that arise; speaking out or acting to secure any breach in the discipline necessary for Jewish continuity and survival under trying circumstances. Facing outwards, rabbinic leadership (sometimes the same individuals, often others) has been expected to represent the Jewish community before the Gentile world, whether in symbolic rituals that dramatize the Jewish role in the larger society or by active intervention at the highest levels of government to defend Jewish needs. Sometimes the leaders function in solidarity with their own people and the external society; frequently, however, there is tension and conflict with one group or another. There is also a very different kind of leadership usually opposed by the rabbinic establishment— one that claims messianic status—which will be discussed later in the volume.

For the analysis of rabbinic leadership and its relationship to the broader population, many familiar expressions of Jewish intellectual activity will not be of primary importance. Such products of the cultural and intellectual elite are by their very nature intended for a minuscule audience. Examples would be the legal novellae or tosafot of the sophisticated talmudic scholar, ingeniously solving an intellectual conundrum or apparent contradiction between one passage and another; or the probings of the philosopher-theologian evaluating the cogency of Aristotelian proofs for the eternity of the world and the relationship of such proofs to biblical texts and rabbinic traditions; or the allusive exegesis of the kabbalist, uncovering in biblical verses an array of mystical hints to the secrets of the Godhead.

The first such category—intensive dialectical talmudic study—considers issues devoid of any direct connection with contemporary Jewish life—for example, the intricacies of the priestly rituals for Yom Kippur in the Jerusalem Temple—to be every bit as important as issues with practical consequences.