Hence the head of the Babylonian Jews was the exilarch (in Aramaic Resh Galutha) .
2
The Jewish chief priest may be said to be the successor of the exilarch or resh galutha of the earlier period.
3
The seat of the exilarch or resh galutha was transferred from Pumbedita(Pumbeditha or Pombeditha) inBabylonia to Bagdad, which thus became the capital of oriental Judaism; from then to the present day the Jews have played no mean part in Bagdad.