were represented by the Exilarchy and great
academies of learning were created in Nehardea,
Sura and Pumpedita: these kept the spiritual
flame of the Jewish Exiles burning.
These seats of learning (Yeshivot) also served
as religious law courts for all of Israel.
For two months of every year (Yarhei Kalah) they
were centers of instruction for numbers of students.
The Yeshivot were maintained until the 12th Century,
in their original locations and subsequently
in Baghdad.
Babylon became the center for the creation of
great works of Jewish scholarship.The Babylonian
Talmud, one of these, lived on as the " book
of life" for the entire Jewish Diaspora.
Geonite literature, books by the Geonim
interpreted the Written and Oral Law and instructed
the Jewish People in the Diaspora in matters
of law and religion.
At the end of the Geonite era, the influence of
Babylonian Jewry waned due to restrictive laws
and persecution brought on by the invasion of
the Mongols, resulting in a decline from which
they did not recover until modern times.
