List of Jewish leaders in the Land of Israel


The following is a list of people who were in the position of the leaders of the Jewish nation, heads of state and/or government in the Land of Israel.
Because of the position of the Land of Israel in Judaism, the leaders of the inhabitants of the land had a priority status also over Diaspora Jewry, although there were periods when this status weakened due to the weakening of the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. For this reason, among others, great efforts were made by Jewish leaders in the Diaspora to immigrate to the Land of Israel throughout the generations.

The period of the judges

"The judges" was a period were individuals from different of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, served as leaders in times of crisis, in the period before the monarchy was established in Israel.
After Rehoboam reigned three years, the kingdom was divided in two – the northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam, with its capital, first in Shechem, then Tirzah, and finally Samaria, and ruled by a series of dynasties beginning with Jeroboam; and the southern kingdom of Judah with its capital still at Jerusalem and still ruled by the House of David. The following list contains the kings of Judah with the kings of Israel in the summaries. See also: the dynasties of the northern kingdom of Israel.
  • King Abijam c. 913-911 BCE
  • King Asa – under whose reign, the following were kings in Israel: Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab.
  • King Jehoshaphat – under whose reign, Ahaziah and Jehoram reigned in Israel.
  • King Jehoram ben Jehoshaphat
  • King Ahaziah ben Jehoram – under whose reign, Jehu ruled in Israel.
  • Queen Athaliah mother of Ahaziah
  • King Jehoash – son of Ahaziah, under whose reign, Jehoahaz and another Jehoash ruled in Israel.
  • King Amaziah – under whose reign, Jeroboam II ruled in Israel.
  • King Uzziah referred to as Azariah – under whose reign, the following ruled over Israel: Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah.
  • King Jotham
  • King Ahaz – under whose reign, Hoshea ruled as the last king of Israel.
  • King Hezekiah – under his reign, the Assyrian Empire conquered and destroyed the northern kingdom 722 BCE leaving only the southern kingdom of Judah.
  • King Manasseh
  • King Amon
  • King Josiah
  • King Jehoahaz son of Josiah
  • King Jehoiakim son of Josiah
  • King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim
  • King Zedekiah – son of Josiah, last king to rule over, and in, Judah. Overthrown by the Chaldean Empire and exiled, along with most of the rest of the population, to that kingdom, where his 10 sons were executed in front of him, then he was blinded and imprisoned.
  • Gedaliah son of Ahikam advisor to King Josiah; he became governor over the remnant of Judah in their homeland and was assassinated the next year

    Governors of the Persian Province of Judea

  • Zerubbabel,, son of Shealtiel. In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, successor to Darius, the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland. Zerubbabel led the first group of returnees and ruled in Judea for two years. The date is generally thought to have been between 538 and 520 BC. The House of David had survived, but struggled to reclaim its place as the ruling House of Israel.
  • Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem in 445 as governor of Judah, appointed by Artaxerxes.
  • Hananiah
  • Joshua the High Priest
  • Ezra
  • Johanan
  • Jaddua

    Honio dynasty (Sons of Zadok – High Priests)

  • - The beginning of the Hellenistic period in Judea.
  • Onias I ,
  • Simon I 310–291 or 300–270 BCE / Simeon the Just
  • Eleazar
  • Manasseh
  • Onias II
  • Simon II / Simeon the Just
  • Onias III
  • Jason

    Hasmonean dynasty 168–37 BCE

The Maccabees founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 168 BCE – 37 BCE, reasserting the Jewish religion and expanding the boundaries of the Land of Israel by conquest. In the post-Maccabean period the high priest was looked upon as exercising in all things, political, legal, and sacerdotal, the supreme authority.
After Archelaus and during the intervening period, the Sanhedrin, founded by Ezra, became the sole rulers of the Jewish people in Judea in conjunction with the High Priest. The heads, or nesiim, of the Sanhedrin beginning in 20 BCE, were Hillel the Elder, his son Shimon, and his son Gamaliel I whose rule extended into the reign of:
The Patriarchate was the governing legalistic body of Judean and Galilean Jewry after the destruction of the Second Temple until about 429 CE. Being a member of the house of Hillel and thus a descendant of King David, the Patriarch, known in Hebrew as the Nasi, had almost royal authority.
File:Catacomb no. 14, The Cave of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.jpg|thumb|200px|Catacomb no. 14, the Cave of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi in Beit Shearim.
File:Tomb of Judah II and his Beth Din ap 001.jpg|thumb|200px|Tomb of Rabbi Judah II on Jamnith mountain.
The Land of Israel Gaonate was the chief talmudical academy and central legalistic body of the Jewish community in the land of Israel, until the 11th century. It was considered the central leadership authority of the Jews of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt during the Geonim period and as the successor of the Sanhedrin institution and hence it served as an authority for the Jews of the Diaspora as well.
The rabbis who served as the spiritual leader of the Sephardic community in the Land of Israel from the mid-17th century. The Hebrew title for the position called: "The Rishon LeZion" and was officially recognized by the Ottoman Empire which ruled the region as the Hakham Bashi - the Ottoman Turkish name for the Chief Rabbi of the nation's Jewish community.