Abstract
The history and development of the study of the Oral Law following the
completion of the Babylonian Talmud remain shrouded in mystery.
Although significant Geonim from Babylonia and Palestine during the
eighth and ninth centuries have been identified, the extent to which their
writings reached Europe, and the channels through which they passed,
remain somewhat unclear. A fragile consensus suggests that, at least initially,
rabbinic teachings and rulings from Eretz Israel traveled most directly
to centers in Italy and later to Germany (Ashkenaz), while those of
Babylonia emerged predominantly in the western Sephardic milieu of
Spain and North Africa. (from Introduction)