A Mechanism for Change in Traditional Culture: A Case Study from the Judicial Jewish Codes of the Geonic Period

This article deals with the genre of Jewish judicial works, written from the eighth century to the end of the tenth century (known in Jewish history as the classical gaonic period). Those writings were monumental in breaking away from centuries of cultural, religious, and legal boundaries. It was trailblazing in two unique ways. First, in that it broke from oral to written culture, and second, because legal authority shifted from the institutions to individual scholars. I will try to identify the mechanisms for this phenomenon of breaking away from traditional and legal boundaries that previously forbidden the writing of any legal religious work. In this framework I wish to deal with two central historical themes: the interplay between tradition and change, and between the centre and the periphery. I will use, among other sources, remnants of legal works from the Cairo Geniza, and will try to draw a high-resolution picture of the process. By doing this, I will suggest a model for change that can be used to explain the phenomenon of change in traditional societies.