Bustanai ben Haninai בוסתנאי בן חנינאי

The change of rulers in Mesopotamia could have ended anyhow for the Jewish community. It ended with the office of Reish Galuta — head of the exile — being recognised by the Muslim rulers as it had been by the Persian ones. Bustanai was the first Exilarch of that new age.

A legend attaches to him, already transmitted by Rav Sherira Gaon: the caliph gave him a captive Persian princess in marriage — by one account a daughter of Khosrow, by another of Yazdegerd. After Bustanai's death this turned into a long dispute: the woman had been a captive and, one side maintained, had not converted, so her children could not inherit. The argument ran for generations and was finally settled in favour of recognising the descendants.

The story is not exotic colour. It shows how the Exilarch's authority was built: a hereditary office traced to the house of David, in which the validity of a marriage became a question of state.