mayor (Rab de la corte; "court rabbi") for the presentation of communal questions before the proper authorities; and the heads of the congregation were made answerable for the conduct of the community. In all government action, whether local or general, the unit considered was in most cases the community, not the individual Jew. The governing authority of the state sometimes nominated a member of the Jewish community to the administrative position of crown rabbi to act as intermediary between the aljama and the state. For example, in the Kingdom of Aragon King John I issued edicts in 1386 defining the functions and duties of the . There were various requirements as to the good character and faith of the person holding the position, as well as a requirement that he live among the entourage of the Court, and thus away from his community, and in constant contact with the Christian majority population. His powers and authorities over the of Castile, economic, judicial, and otherwise, were specified. Etymology and development of the concept The word aljama comes from Arabic and refers to the Jama Masjid of a Muslim community, where believers pray Jumu'ah, the communal Friday prayer. The word aljama is derived from the Arabic jama ("gather") plus the definite article al. It originally meant "congregation", "assembly", "group", but was, even before the establishment of Spanish rule, applied by the Moors to their own religious bodies and the larger mosques, and especially to the Jewish communities in the midst of them, and to the synagogues and schools which formed the center of all Jewish life. The term was adopted by the Christians, and its meaning extended so as to designate also the quarters that Jews and Moors had made their own. In some Spanish cities, the former Jewish quarters are still known by that name, even though the Jews were expelled in 1492. Very often, for purposes of distinction, such phrases as Aljama de los Judíos ("Aljama of the Jews") and Aljama de los Moros ("Aljama of the Moors") were used. But the circumstance that the Moors of Spain had by the term designated more especially the Jewish community has left its trace in the use of the word in the Spanish language; for in Spanish literature Aljama, without any further specification, stands for Sanedrin or for Judería ("Jewry"), or even for the Jewish place of worship, in the concrete as