exilarch

Why this word is great

EXILARCH — [Noun] The hereditary leader of the Jewish community in Babylonian exile and later diaspora. From English 'exile' (referring to the Babylonian exile) + '-arch' (a suffix meaning 'ruler'), calqued from Biblical Hebrew רֹאשׁ גָּלוּת (rôš galûṯ, "head of the exile"). Unlike 'patriarch' (a Christian ecclesiastical title) or 'gaon' (a scholarly leader of Babylonian academies), the exilarch was a political figure, a sovereign without a sovereign land. He was the shadow of a king in a kingdom of shadows: presiding over courts in silk robes, negotiating with caliphs for the protection of his people, walking the dusty streets of Baghdad as both prince and prisoner—a living testament to endurance when home is a memory, and power, a paradox.