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Full text of "Encyclopedia Judaica, 22 Volumes Complete Set
"
See other formats
ENCYCLOPAEDIA:
JUDAICA
Ss E.G ON D EDA tl ON
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JUDAICA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JUDAICA
SECOND EDITION
VOLUME 1
AA-ALP
FRED SKOLNIK, Editor in Chief
MICHAEL BERENBAUM, Executive Editor
MACMILLAN REFERENCE USA
An imprint of Thomson Gaile, a part of The Thomson Corporation
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
KETER PUBLISHING HOUSE LTD., JERUSALEM
THOMSON
8
GALE
Detroit * New York « San Francisco *» New Haven, Conn. * Waterville, Maine * London
THOMSON
—————e-—_——_ -
GALE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition
Fred Skolnik, Editor in Chief
Michael Berenbaum, Executive Editor
Shlomo S. (Yosh) Gafni, Editorial Project Manager
Rachel Gilon, Editorial Project Planning and Control
Thomson Gale
Gordon Macomber, President
Frank Menchaca, Senior Vice President and Publisher
©2007 Keter Publishing House Ltd.
Thomson Gale is a part of The Thomson
Corporation. Thomson, Star Logo and Macmillan
Reference USA are trademarks and Gale is a
registered trademark used herein under license.
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An imprint of Thomson Gale
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this work covered by the copyright
hereon may be reproduced or used in any form
or by any means - graphic, electronic, or
Jay Flynn, Publisher
Héléne Potter, Publishing Director
Keter Publishing House
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Peter Tomkins, Executive Project Director
Complete staff listings appear on pages 33-36
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Since this page cannot legibly accommodate all
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While every effort has been made to ensure the
reliability of the information presented in this
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Thomson Gale accepts no payment for listing;
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satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in
future editions.
v. cm.
Contents: v.1. Aa-Alp.
DS102.8.E496 2007
909'.04924 -- dc22
978-0-02-865928-2 (:
978-0-02-865929-9 (vol. 1)
978-0-02-865930-5 (vol. 2)
978-0-02-865931-2 (vol. 3)
978-0-02-865932-9 (vol. 4)
set) 978-0-02-865933-6 (vol. 5)
978-0-02-865934-3 (vol. 6)
978-0-02-865935-0 (vol. 7)
978-0-02-865936-7 (vol. 8)
978-0-02-865937-4 (vol. 9)
Encyclopaedia Judaica / Fred Skolnik, editor-in-chief ; Michael Berenbaum, executive editor. -- 2nd ed.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-02-865928-7 (set hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865929-5 (vol. 1 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-
865930-9 (vol. 2 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865931-7 (vol. 3 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865932-5 (vol.
4 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865933-3 (vol. 5 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865934-1 (vol. 6 hardcover :
alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865935-X (vol. 7 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865936-8 (vol. 8 hardcover : alk. paper) --
ISBN 0-02-865937-6 (vol. 9 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865938-4 (vol. 10 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-
865939-2 (vol. 11 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865940-6 (vol. 12 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865941-4
(vol. 13 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865942-2 (vol. 14 hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865943-0 (vol. 15: alk.
paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865944-9 (vol. 16: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865945-7 (vol. 17: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865946-5 (vol.
18: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865947-3 (vol. 19: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865948-1 (vol. 20: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865949-
X (vol. 21: alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-02-865950-3 (vol. 22: alk. paper)
1. Jews -- Encyclopedias. |. Skolnik, Fred. Il. Berenbaum, Michael, 1945-
ISBN-13:
978-0-02-865938-1 (vol. 10)
978-0-02-865939-8 (vol. 11)
978-0-02-865940-4 (vol. 12)
978-0-02-865941-1 (vol. 13)
978-0-02-865942-8 (vol. 14)
This title is also available as an e-book
ISBN-10: 0-02-866097-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-02-866097-4
978-0-02-865943-5 (vol. 15)
978-0-02-865944-2 (vol. 16)
978-0-02-865945-9 (vol. 17) 978-0-02-865950-3 (vol. 22)
18)
19)
2006020426
978-0-02-865948-0 (vol. 20)
978-0-02-865949-7 (vol. 21)
978-0-02-865946-6 (vol.
978-0-02-865947-3 (vol.
Contact your Thomson Gale representative for ordering information.
Printed in the United States of America
10987654321
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
In the past thirty-five years the Encyclopaedia Judaica has come to occupy a rarefied
space in the world of Jewish learning. Authoritative, comprehensive, serious yet ac-
cessible, it graced the library shelves of scholars and rabbis, of the learned and the
studious, and even of the would-be studious, consulted by the curious and the in-
quisitive, an important starting point for a journey of learning.
It also was that rare work in Jewish life and learning that covered controversy and
yet was not controversial. It could not be identified with one school of thought, with
one religious, political, or social perspective. Written by Zionists who believed ar-
dently in Jewish peoplehood and the centrality of the land of Israel and the renascent
State of Israel for the Jewish future, it also respected the many forms that Jewish life
had taken. It performed its task admirably, sharing with the reader what was known
and knowable in 1972, the year when it was first published. For a time through Year
Books and Decennial volumes, it sought to update its readers on more recent learn-
ing, trends, and issues, and for the first time in 1997 it migrated to an electronic ver-
sion with a wonderful search engine that freed the reader from taking volumes off
the shelf and moving from the index to yet another volume.
So we understood as we embarked upon the task of updating the masterful work
that much could be lost. We were also confident of what could be gained.
Why a new edition?
The answer is quite simple. Knowledge is dynamic, not static. Much has changed
in the last thirty-five years.
Israel of 2006 is quite different from Israel of 1972, when Golda Meir was prime
minister. Israel has faced two wars - the war of 1973 (Yom Kippur War) and the
war in Lebanon - two Intifadas, the Camp David Accords, the withdrawal from
Sinai, the Oslo Accords, the Disengagement, the rise of militant radical Islam,
and so much more. Israel has become the home of almost half the world’s Jewish
population, absorbing Jews from the former Soviet Union, from Ethiopia, Argen-
tina, France, and elsewhere. Soon a majority of the world’s Jews will live in Israel,
which has become a regional military superpower and a developed country in an
increasingly globalized world. Israeli culture has been transformed and its insti-
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
tutions have evolved. Quite simply, the Israel described in 1972 is unrecognizable
today.
The Soviet Union is no longer. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have become inde-
pendent countries; so too have the Ukraine and many of the former Soviet Repub-
lics. Jewish life has been transformed by these changes. The Iron Curtain has fallen
and thus the Jews of Poland and Hungary, of the Czech Republic and Slovakia live
under different conditions; and their world - the possibilities of their world — has
changed. East and West Germany have been reunited and the German Jewish com-
munity — which once lived with a fascinating past that had been eclipsed by its cata-
strophic recent history but had no discernible future - is now growing rapidly as it
has become home to many Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
In the United States, Las Vegas and Phoenix are growing most rapidly as Jew-
ish communities as tens of thousands of Jews have moved to these Sun Belt cities
and built not only new homes but also new institutions and new environments.
Southern Florida has become the third most populated area of Jewish settlement.
In the rural South, where Jews had lived for a century or more, synagogues have
become museums, thus marking the end of many small communities, while the
Jewish population of Atlanta and Jewish life in Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston have
expanded dramatically. Once Jewish Day Schools were the province of Orthodox
Jews living in major cities. They can now be found wherever there is a significant
Jewish population and they serve the entire spectrum of those interested in Jewish
learning. In light of such developments, each entry on the fifty states had to be up-
dated; so too the entries on each of the cities in which almost all of American Jews
reside.
Religiously, American Jewry has evolved dramatically. Orthodoxy is no longer
in danger of extinction but confident and self-sustaining. It is no longer character-
ized by loss but by gains, and modern Orthodoxy, which once appeared dominant,
has been sliding to the right. Chabad has developed as a global presence to be en-
countered wherever Jews live, wherever Jews travel. It has endured the passing of the
Rebbe, centralized charismatic leadership has been replaced by management and by
the charisma and dedication of many individual leaders. It has endured a messianic
crisis. Liberal forms of Judaism have become more diverse, more creative and more
diffuse. New institutions for the training of rabbis have evolved and the neat tripar-
tite division of Jews — Orthodox, Conservative and Reform — has become far more
fascinating as multiple forms of Jewish identity and Jewish engagement have become
available. Reconstructionist Judaism has created its own institutions; even the anti-
institutional world of Renewal Judaism is creating institutions of its own with its own
journals, its own publishing house and its own rabbinical and cantorial schools. Non-
denominational rabbinical seminaries are flourishing. Rural Jews gather for confer-
ences; Jewish life is alive and flourishing in cyberspace as well as real space, even as
a more individualized and less institutionalized Jewish identity takes root.
American Jews live in a world with few barriers, with no glass ceilings. Their Jew-
ishness is not regarded as a handicap but a privilege; highly individualized for many,
6 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
celebrated or even ignored, it takes a variety of forms and expresses itself in many
creative endeavors. The editors of this new edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica are
acutely conscious of these changes, both in the choice of individual entries and in
the description of various Jewish communities. But along with this extraordinarily
positive picture, American Jewry is in the decline numerically; simply put, Ameri-
can Jews are not reproducing, and the rate of intermarriage exceeds even the most
alarming predictions of a generation ago. Survivalists are deeply concerned about
survival, about the viability of the American Jewish community, in part because of
the freedom it enjoys. And with freedom comes the easy freedom not to identify
as a Jew, for one is not forced to identify as a Jew. One can embrace any number of
other identities, professional and personal, without betrayal.
Yet there is a cross fertilization between Israel and the United States. American
Jewish scholars spend sabbatical years in Israel, many have studied in Israel as part
of their undergraduate and graduate training, and Israeli scholars spend signifi-
cant time in the Diaspora. They read each other's work; they publish in each other’s
journals. Scholarly works initiated in Israel are published in English and American
scholarship is read in Israel and often translated into Hebrew.
Thirty-five years ago the women’s movement was just beginning and all rabbis
were men. Feminist Studies as a discipline was but in its infancy and women were
not considered by many an integral part of the Jewish community or the Jewish ex-
perience. Much has changed, and this new edition represents a deliberate attempt
to include women and the experience of women within its pages; the inclusion was
not for inclusion’s sake but because we cannot understand Jews or the Jewish expe-
rience without understanding the role of Jewish women. Permit a simple example.
An earlier entry on “Mikveh” considered Jewish religious teaching on the mikveh
and its halakhic requirements. A woman's perspective was not included, which we
now understand was a serious omission, one not repeated in this volume.
A new generation has arisen and, with each new generation, new scholarly ques-
tions are asked, new methodologies are employed. Thus, even though the giants of
the last generation played an important role in editing the Encyclopaedia Judaica,
extraordinary scholars such as Professors Gershom Scholem, Salo Baron, Menachem
Stern, H.L. Ginzburg, and Cecil Roth among others, the fields they developed and
in some cases pioneered have moved beyond them; their findings have been built
upon, their methodologies refined, enhanced, expanded, and disputed, and the re-
sult transforms our understanding even of the fields they illuminated so masterfully
a generation ago. We have endeavored to preserve much of their original writing,
to add what must be added, to refine where refinement was in order and to change
what must be changed with the passage of time. Thus, even while the masterful work
of Gershom Scholem has been preserved in its entirety, the intellectual discussion
he initiated has gone well beyond his work and his students and their students have
begun to ask different questions and reach different conclusions, as is reflected in
the second edition addendum to his classic Kabbalah entry. The presentation of the
historicity of the Talmud (see below) takes cognizance of the important work of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 7
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Jacob Neusner and David Weiss Halivni and others as well as Saul Lieberman and
Efraim Urbach.
The generation that created the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica was pri-
marily trained in Germany in the great institutions and the extraordinary culture of
the Weimar Republic or at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, perhaps the greatest
German university outside of Germany. Alas, that generation has passed. Many of
the scholars who wrote for this edition were trained in the United States and, even if
trained in Israel, were influenced by the dominance of American culture and Ameri-
can scholarship. Native-born Israel-trained scholars have written with brilliant com-
petence. Historians dominated the first edition; in this new work, the approach of
scholars even in the field of Judaic Studies is far more multi-disciplinary.
Entries written for the first edition had to be written differently for the second
edition for their fields had evolved in the ensuing decades. Special treatment is ac-
corded to the subject of Jewish Law (Mishpat Ivri) under the direction of Justice
Menachem Elon, where it is now possible to examine the principles of Jewish reli-
gious law (halahkah) as they are reflected in the courts of a sovereign Jewish state.
Elon, who had pioneered this field, has expanded his treatment of Jewish law as it
has grown in the recent past, confronted new questions and grappled with issues
unknown thirty-five years ago.
Certain dramatic changes have occurred within the most classical of fields of
studies. As our Bible editor notes:
“Modern critical Bible study as it arose in the 19th century was often couched in
terminology affirming that the Old Testament was inferior to the New Testament and
that Judaism had been superseded by Christianity. Some notable Christian biblicists
were also antisemites. As a result Wissenschaft des Judentums, ‘the scientific study
of Judaism; neglected the critical study of the Bible. At Reform Judaism’s Hebrew
Union College and Conservative Judaism's Jewish Theological Seminary it took years
before critical study of the Bible was fully embraced. Similarly, the Hebrew Univer-
sity of Jerusalem opened with a chair in biblical exegesis rather than Bible proper.
To some extent the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica retained this gingerly
approach to Bible so that in contrast to most subject areas, apologetic writing was
not always discouraged. By the 1990s the American and Israeli Jewish communities
had reached a level of self-confidence and maturity that permitted even Orthodox
scholars to participate fully in the critical study of the Hebrew Bible. In addition,
the 20th century witnessed renewed interest in the great Bible commentators of
medieval times. Largely neglected in early modern critical Bible scholarship, these
commentaries, which anticipated modern ‘discoveries’ are regularly studied by con-
temporary Biblicists, Jewish and Christian.” Critical literary studies of the Bible not
only dissect the Bible by pointing to the sources of its composition, but consider it
as an integrated whole which must be read as one work.
The editors of our Talmud division note that the past thirty years have seen a
number of developments in talmudic studies, which required the significant revi-
sion of many of the first edition entries dealing with talmudic and midrashic litera-
8 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
ture. First of all, since the 1970s, we have been witness to a dramatic increase in the
study of talmudic literature, not just within the rapidly expanding world of academic
Judaic studies, but even more so among the public at large. Many new editions and
translations in nearly all branches of talmudic and midrashic literature have been
published, often accompanied by reliable and user-friendly commentaries. These in
turn have opened up the study of the Mishnah, the Talmud, and other related texts
to a wide audience of interested non-professional students. Many of the core entries
in the previous edition of the Encyclopaedia were written with a pronounced bias
toward the agenda of professional scholarship, and it has been one of our concerns
both to widen this agenda and to provide the necessary foundation in order to make
entries accessible to the public at large (see, for example, Mishnah and Talmud, Bab-
ylonian). At the same time two developments in academic scholarship have also had
an impact on editorial policy. First of all, the application of modern critical histori-
cal methodology to the field of Aggadah and rabbinic biography has brought about
no less than a revolution in the attitude toward talmudic and midrashic traditions
concerning the lives and deeds of the rabbis (see Aggadah). This profound devel-
opment has led to the revision of well over a hundred entries describing the lives
of greater and lesser rabbinic figures (e.g. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Beruryah, Imma
Shalom, Johanan ben Zakkai, Meir, Elisha ben Avuyah, Johanan ben Nappaha, etc.),
while numerous traditional biographies of lesser rabbinic figures who have yet to
be critically reexamined have been reproduced intact. Secondly, the increasing so-
phistication of critical and historical tools for the analysis of talmudic literature as a
whole has brought about an equally profound revolution in our understanding of the
internal historical development of this literature, and specifically of the relationships
between parallel traditions found in the different finished talmudic works (see, for
example, Tosefta; Talmud, Babylonian — The Bavli and the Extant Tannaitic Works,
The Bavli and the Yerushalmi). The description and dating of the various talmudic
compositions — Mishnah, Tosefta, the halakhic and aggadic Midrashim, the Babylo-
nian and Jerusalem Talmudim - included in the earlier edition of the Encyclopaedia
could not, of course, have taken these new developments into account. As a result,
all of the entries dealing with this literature were reviewed, and in many cases (e.g.
the Midrashei Halakhah) thoroughly revised.
Judaic Studies in the United States was limited thirty-five years ago. The Asso-
ciation of Jewish Studies had just been founded; its members knew each other. Po-
sitions were few. Membership has since then increased a hundredfold, and interest
in Jewish Studies is wide throughout the Diaspora, as it has come to be seen as an
essential component of Western civilization, though not just of Western civilization.
American-trained Judaic Studies academics are on the faculty of every Israeli uni-
versity, often holding distinguished chairs, so the cross fertilization of Israeli and
American scholarship is a daily fact of life in both countries.
My own field of Holocaust Studies was but in its infancy thirty-five years ago.
The scholars were mostly survivors or refugees writing of their experience. Many
archives were closed, records were unavailable, many survivor memoirs had not yet
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 9
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
10
been written and one could convene a meeting of the significant figures in the field
in a conference room large enough for a dozen people. Holocaust Studies as a field
could be confined to several paragraphs, a few major works, and an occasional con-
ference. There was no major museum and no Holocaust educational resource cen-
ters, no sense of a “Holocaust industry.” With the passage of time came the insights
of time. There was a more personal intensity to the scholarly battles of the first gen-
eration, as many had lived through the events. The works of Bruno Bettelheim, who
wrote of the infantalization of the victim; of Hannah Arendt, who condemned Jew-
ish leadership in the Holocaust; and of Raul Hilberg, whose magisterial work mini-
mized the role of Jewish resistance, severely stung. In response, other Jewish schol-
ars fought back angrily, defensively, as if the pride of the living seemingly could be
enhanced by a positive depiction of the conduct of the dead. In the past thirty-five
years, records were declassified, documents from the former Soviet Union and else-
where became available as so many archives were opened. Documents and copies of
originals could be read in Washington, New York, and Jerusalem and not just War-
saw, Budapest, or Berlin. We have broadened our perspective and sought to come to
terms with the dynamics of a growing field of study. And the contributions to this
new edition reflect how much more is now known about an event that was in the
immediate past thirty-five years ago.
From time to time, as we worked with the vastness of this material, colleagues
and friends - especially our children — would ask what place an encyclopedia holds
in the world of the web, where access to information is instantaneous and the web
so vast. We have endeavored to preserve the sense of authority of the original edi-
tion — its reliability. We were mindful of the fact that this work would be consulted
for years and years; thus, it is intended to be more than a snapshot of what is known
at this time; its insights are meant to withstand the passage of time. Still, in a gen-
eration or two, when scholars and students want to know what was known in the
first decade of the 21st century, who were the Jews, what they thought, how they
lived, they will be able do no better than to consult this work and to understand its
ramifications.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica grapples with Jews and Judaism, how Jews live, how
they perceive themselves, how they encounter the world and shape the world they
encounter. From medicine to mysticism, from resurgent Hasidism to renewal Ju-
daism, from economics to science, from politics to art, music, theater, and cinema,
even cartoons and comedy, sports and entertainment, we have endeavored to be
comprehensive and creative.
Keter Publishing House and Macmillan Library Reference (an imprint of Thom-
son Gale), the publisher and distributor, respectively, of the first edition of the En-
cyclopaedia Judaica, initiated this project. Under the watchful eye of Peter Tomkins,
Keter turned to the Jerusalem Publishing House, which has long been known for ini-
tiating encyclopedias in many languages all over the world, to organize the project.
Frank Menchaca initiated this project for Macmillan, Héléne Potter was assigned
to bring it to life. When Menchaca went on to even higher levels of management,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Héléne Potter capably filled the vacuum. Jay Flynn has been entrusted with the all
important task of bringing this work to completion.
The scope of a second edition of the Encyclopaedia was far too large to be covered
by minor revisions and cosmetic updates — too much had changed, too much more
had become known. In sum, as the project evolved, half of the original entries had
to be changed; more than 2,650 were added.
Over time, it also became clear that an American editor would have to be added
to the core staff, to work with Jerusalem-based editor-in-chief Fred Skolnik. Shlomo
(Yosh) Gafni, president of the Jerusalem Publishing House (JPH), and his managing
editor Rachel Gilon, were a source of guidance and wisdom, with the assistance of
Leonardo Szichman, who executed the huge data control. JPH undertook the diffi-
cult task of coordinating this project with enormous energy, skill, and dedication.
Fred Skolnik was indefatigable and so wonderfully skilled. Associated with the Ju-
daica for 35 years, he was both its champion and the driving force in its enlargement
and transformation.
The writers of the Encyclopaedia are many. They write with passion and confi-
dence of the fields they know, of the persons, the ideas and the issues they describe.
Many could write - and have written - volumes on their subjects. Here they were
asked to be concise and precise, to write in a manner that reflected what is known,
to avoid polemics, to be scrupulously fair. We have endeavored not only to furnish
important details but also to present them in an interesting manner, knowing that,
unlike the stuff of journalism, which will not be read tomorrow, this work will be
read by many on many tomorrows. It has to endure the test of time.
This edition is a unique partnership. Initiated by Israelis, it brought together
Israelis and Americans and scholars from many different countries and many spheres
of learning. It took cognizance of the centrality of Israel in the contemporary Jewish
world but also of the enduring life, creative vitality, and intensity of the Jewish experi-
ence in the Diaspora. It was mindful of the many forms that Jewish life has taken and
the diverse ways in which Jews have contributed to their people and the world.
It has been built on a strong foundation; time and again the editors have come to
appreciate how comprehensive and authoritative was the work of their predecessors.
We have endeavored to take the work of our predecessors forward in the ongoing
quest for knowledge and understanding of the Jewish experience.
Michael Berenbaum
Executive Editor
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
5
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
15
EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION STAFF (SECOND EDITION)
33
EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION STAFF (FIRST EDITION)
37
CONTRIBUTORS
45
ABBREVIATIONS
177
General Abbreviations
177
Abbreviations Used in Rabbinical Literature
178
Bibliographical Abbreviations
184
TRANSLITERATION RULES
197
GLOSSARY
200
ENTRIES AA—ALP
207
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The Encyclopaedia Judaica, first published in 1972, has a long history, antedated by a
number of predecessors. The English-language Jewish Encyclopedia, the first complete
work of this nature, appeared in New York at the beginning of the 2oth century (its
twelfth and final volume was published in 1906). This pioneering work summed up
the state of Jewish scholarship and the condition of the Jewish world at the time. It
was an extraordinary achievement - especially if one considers the relatively small
numbers of the English-speaking and English-reading Jewish population at the
time. It was able, however, to call upon the collaboration of Jewish scholars in many
countries — in particular the representatives of the Wissenschaft des Judentums, the
School of Scientific Jewish Scholarship, then at its height. There were aspects that
it tended to overlook or underplay, such as the world of East European Jewry, Kab-
balah and Hasidism, Yiddish language and literature, and the life and culture of the
Jews in Muslim lands, but seen as a whole, it was a monumental work incorporat-
ing many entries which became classic statements on their subject. The 16-volume
Russian Jewish encyclopedia Yevreyskaya Entsiklopediya, which also appeared before
World War I, was well conceived and in some respects brilliantly edited. Particularly
outstanding was its expertise on East European Jewish subjects. The 10-volume He-
brew Ogar Yisrael (1924), an almost single-handed achievement by J.D. Eisenstein,
was on a far smaller scale and had less rigorous standards, although in certain areas
its articles presented useful material.
At the time of the revival of Jewish interest and learning in Germany after World
War 1, Jacob Klatzkin, Ismar Elbogen, and Nahum Goldmann planned a new ency-
clopedia in the German language. This was intended to incorporate the results of the
intervening years of intensive scholarship and research, to reflect the intellectual at-
titudes which had become established during this period, and to correct certain im-
balances found within the Jewish Encyclopedia. Klatzkin and Goldmann gathered a
galaxy of scholars to produce a new work. This work - called Encyclopaedia Judaica
— progressed notwithstanding the obstacles and difficulties of those troubled times,
until the Nazis rose to power in Germany. Publication had to be suspended after
Volume 10 (completing the letter L), leaving incomplete this last monument of the
15
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
16
intellectual greatness of German Jewry. Under the same auspices, a Hebrew version
— the Eschkol encyclopedia - appeared, but only two volumes were issued. Mention
should also be made of the five-volume Juedisches Lexikon, edited by Georg Her-
litz and Bruno Kirschner, published by the Juedischer Verlag in 1927-30. Although
more modest in scope than the other works mentioned, it made a useful contribu-
tion to Jewish studies and also paid more attention than its predecessors to illustra-
tive material.
In the five first years of World War 11 the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, edited by
Isaac Landman, was issued in the United States in 10 volumes. It was able to reflect
the growing importance of U.S. Jewry and to take into account late developments,
especially in American Jewish history and biography. It had considerable merits, but
was not an ambitious work. Moreover the fact that it was published in a period of
major transition in itself set a limit to its utility. It was, however, the Universal Jewish
Encyclopedia which constituted the basis of the 10-volume Spanish-language Enci-
clopedia Judaica Castellana produced in Mexico between 1948 and 1951. The major
contribution of this latter work lay in its original entries dealing with the develop-
ment of Jewish life in Latin America.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, the Hebrew language Encyclopaedia
Hebraica began to be published in Jerusalem by the Massada Publishing Company,
directed by the Peli family. This was the first large-scale general encyclopedia in the
Hebrew language - and naturally it emphasized the Jewish aspects of various sub-
jects, some of them of high scholarly importance and in certain cases even pioneer-
ing studies in their field. But though it contains the elements of a Jewish encyclope-
dia, it was not — nor was it intended to be - a Jewish encyclopedia as such.
The Development of the Encyclopaedia Judaica
For many years, and especially since the cataclysmic events in Jewish history of the
1940s, the need had been felt for an entirely new Jewish encyclopedia, especially
in the English language for English-speaking Jewry, who now accounted for about
half of the Jews of the world. Furthermore the survivors of the editorial board of
the German Encyclopaedia Judaica had always been determined that the Nazi at-
tack on their work could not be accepted as a final defeat and that the unfinished
publication must be completed. However, they too recognized that now only a rel-
atively small proportion of the Jewish people had access to a work in German and
that any new endeavor in this field must be, first and foremost, in English. Dr. Na-
hum Goldmann, the last active survivor of the original board of editors, had long
had this objective.
Initial funding of the project was made possible through an allocation obtained
by Dr. Goldmann from the German reparations fund earmarked for cultural pur-
poses. The Rassco Company in Israel also became interested and provided some of
the funds during the early stages. In the U.S., the Encyclopaedia Judaica Research
Foundation was established to raise further support for the project.
During this early period, when the preliminary work was centered in the U.,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Prof. Benzion Netanyahu (father of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu),
then editor of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica, served as editor in chief. The main edi-
torial offices were established in Philadelphia in 1963.
In 1965 Prof. Netanyahu was compelled through pressure of work to retire from
his post, and the editorial center was transferred to Jerusalem. This move was re-
garded as advisable because Jerusalem had become the unquestioned pivot of Jew-
ish studies in the world, with the greatest concentration of scholars in the subject
as well as possessing unrivaled research facilities. Moreover it was now the home of
Prof. Cecil Roth, who had been appointed to succeed Prof. Netanyahu as editor in
chief.
The publishing responsibility was assumed by the Israel Program for Scien-
tific Translations (at that time an Israel government corporation, later owned by
CLAL Israel Investment Company Ltd.). The Israel Program for Scientific Trans-
lations had already begun diversifying its publishing program and subsequently
set up the Keter Publishing House Ltd. under whose imprint the Encyclopae-
dia appeared. In the U.S. the Encyclopaedia Judaica also appeared for a limited
time with the imprint of Macmillan under an agreement by which the Macmil-
lan Company would distribute the Encyclopaedia in the Western Hemisphere.
The financing of the Encyclopaedia during the five years of actual work in which
it was produced in Israel was made possible initially by a generous loan from the
United States government out of counterpart funds available in Israel at a nominal
interest. This was supplemented by a considerable investment made by the publisher
to bring the project to a successful conclusion.
Work started in earnest in 1967 and a period of five years was allocated for the com-
pletion of the entire Encyclopaedia. It was decided early on that with well-planned or-
ganization and by proper exploitation of technological advances it would be possible
to achieve the highly desirable goal of publishing the entire Encyclopaedia at one time.
This would obviate the time gap inevitable in works that appear gradually, avoid the
frustration of having the first volumes of a series but not the continuation to which
references are made, and make possible the simultaneous publication of an index vol-
ume which the editors saw as basic and indispensable to the whole work.
To complete the Encyclopaedia within the given time, it was decided to adopt the
principle of maximum subdivision so as to involve the greatest number of editors
and contributors. The subject matter was broken down into some 20 divisions and
these were again subdivided into departments. Some divisions had only two or three
departments, but others included many more - 35 in the history division and more
than 70 in the division dealing with the participation of Jews in world culture.
The general flow of an entry was from the contributor to the departmental and
divisional editors, then to the central office for translation (where necessary), check-
ing, styling, transliterating and bibliographical verification, approval by the relevant
associate editor and by the editors in chief, and then back to the contributor for his
approval of the final version (in cases where substantial editorial changes had been
inserted). Finally the entry was sent to the index department and then to press.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
17
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
18
A number of outstanding scholars served as consulting editors. They advised the
Encyclopaedia staff in their fields of specialization when requested, but did not bear
any editorial responsibility. Nor did any departmental, divisional, or associate edi-
tor or deputy editor in chief have any editorial responsibility for the contents of the
Encyclopaedia apart from those which were his own direct responsibility. The final
responsibility for all entries rested with the editors in chief.
Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder was appointed deputy editor in chief and the various di-
visions were grouped into sections each headed by an associate editor. The associ-
ate editors —- Prof. Louis Rabinowitz, Prof. Raphael Posner, Dr. Binyamin Eliav, and
Mr. Simha Katz - together with the editor in chief and his deputy constituted the
editorial board. After the death of Prof. Roth in 1970, Dr. Wigoder was appointed
editor in chief. The New York office was headed by Dr. Frederick Lachman, who
coordinated the departments and divisions whose editors were in North America.
Working parallel with those preparing the text was the illustrations and graphics
department headed by Mr. Moshe Shalvi. This complex administration was directed
by Mrs. Rachel Sabbath. The immensity of the operation can best be illustrated by
the fact that apart from the 300 editors and 1,800 contributors with whom contact
was maintained, the Encyclopaedia employed an internal staff of 150 — not including
those who worked on the printing and binding stages. The entire publishing opera-
tion was directed by Mr. Yitzhak Rischin, managing director of the Keter Publish-
ing House Ltd.
The Year Books and Decennial Books
It was obvious on the publication of the Encyclopaedia Judaica that to maintain its
usefulness a mechanism would have to be found to ensure that it remained up to
date. The method chosen was the periodic publication of Year Books. These incor-
porated feature articles on subjects of current interest in the Jewish world as well as
extensive photo spreads on relevant topics. Many entries were updated, notably the
major countries of Jewish settlement which received special consideration in each
volume. Moreover new entries were devoted to personalities, organizations, Jewish
studies, and other items that had come into the news or to public attention since the
publication of the Encyclopaedia.
The Yearbooks continued to be published by Keter Publishing Company and the
editors included Rabbi Louis I. Rabinowitz, Professor Pinchas Peli, Dr. Geoffrey Wi-
goder, and Ms. Fern Seckbach.
In addition, two special Decennial books covering the decades preceding 1982 and
1992 were published, incorporating and supplementing Year Book material.
The CD-ROM Edition
The CD-ROM edition, appearing in 1997, included the complete text of the origi-
nal 16-volume edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, as well as the subsequent Year
Books and the Decennials published in 1982 and 1992. In the limited time allotted
for the Encyclopaedia Judaica CD-ROM project, there was no possibility for updat-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ing the entire work. Rather, the entire content of the Encyclopaedia Judaica was re-
viewed editorially and items selected for update or expanded coverage, under the
supervision of Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder, as editor in chief, together with Fern Seck-
bach, as deputy editor in chief.
The Second Edition
With the need acutely felt to bring the Encyclopaedia into the 21° century, it was
now determined to produce a thoroughly revised and updated new edition of the
Encyclopaedia with the accumulated material in the CD-ROM as its starting point.
Accordingly, Thomson Gale signed a licensing agreement with the Keter Publish-
ing House and work on the second edition commenced in August 2003. The project
was concluded editorially in the first months of 2006, though last-minute emenda-
tions continued to be made until the Encyclopaedia went to press in the autumn of
2006. It employed over 50 divisional editors and around 1,200 contributors from all
around the world.
To prepare the second edition all entries were systematically reviewed by the
divisional editors to select those requiring updating, revision, or rewriting and to
propose new entries. Those selected were assigned to the appropriate scholars and
writers and the process culminated in the review and editing of all entries received
from the contributors. At the end of the process, about half of the original entries
had been revised and about 2,650 new entries were produced. In addition, around
30,000 new bibliographical items were added. In all, 4.7 million new words were
written for the second edition.
Principles of Selection
An obvious problem in the compilation of any encyclopedia is the decision as to
which entries are to be included and which excluded. For the first edition, guide-
lines were drawn up asa result of which certain subjects were earmarked for definite
inclusion while others clearly fell short. But there is always a body of “borderline”
entries which potentially could fall in either category. This problem becomes par-
ticularly sensitive when dealing with biographies of contemporaries. Which schol-
ars receive entries and which do not? Where is the line to be drawn for rabbis or
businessmen or lawyers or scientists?
The Editorial Board laid down general principles, but was fully aware of the po-
tential risk of inconsistency. The Editorial Board considered the entire entry list and
paid special attention to the “borderline” entries according to the principles of se-
lection it determined.
Various methods and criteria were established. For example, editors were cir-
cumscribed by the word allocation. For example, the editors of the section on Jews
in medicine listed many hundreds of Jews who had distinguished themselves in the
field. They were asked to subdivide the list into those of major importance of whose
inclusion there was no doubt; those who should appear if possible; and those who
should at least be mentioned and characterized in the main entry. In this way, the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
19
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
20
maximum of names appear in the Encyclopaedia. But at the same time, it was obvi-
ous that along the borderline, different selections would be made by different ex-
perts. In certain categories, it is impracticable to talk about objective standards and
an element of subjectivity must enter the final selection. This inevitably provides a
happy hunting ground for discussion and criticism. However, it must be noted that
the editors of this and any such work have no alternative in such instances but to rely
on their judgment, formed after consultation with the expert editors and advisers in
each field. With contemporary scholars, the tendency was to be more generous with
the older generation, whose major work had been completed, and to be more selec-
tive with younger scholars who are in the process of producing their major works
and where it is therefore more difficult to reach an assessment.
In some subjects, it was possible to fix objective criteria. For example when it came
to U.S. Jewish communities, it was decided to include only those numbering more
than 4,500 (although here too exceptions had to be made where the community
has historical or other social importance). For places in Israel, it was decided that
all municipalities would have their own entry as well as kibbutzim and moshavim
which were in existence at the time of the establishment of the State in 1948. For
those settlements founded subsequently, only those of special interest have their own
entry. With regard to the kibbutzim, the process of “privatization” which most have
undergone or are undergoing is not noted in each of the many kibbutz entries but
rather discussed in general terms in the Kibbutz Movement entry.
In certain biographical entries a problem was to determine who was a Jew. The
first principle adopted was that anyone born a Jew qualified for inclusion, even if
he or she had subsequently converted or otherwise dissociated himself from Jewish
life (where these facts are known, they are stated). The second principle was that
a person with one Jewish parent would qualify for inclusion (with the relevant in-
formation stated) if he or she were sufficiently distinguished. A person whose Jew-
ish origins were more remote would only be the subject of an entry in very unusual
cases. However, a more generous attitude was taken in the case of Marranos, in view
of the special circumstances surrounding their history.
A number of non-Jews are also the subject of entries in the Encyclopaedia. They
have been included because of their relationship to Jewish life or culture (to avoid
misunderstanding, the sign ° has been placed before their name at the head of the
entry). These have been selected to ensure the completeness of the Encyclopaedia, for
example in matters of history (e.g., Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Balfour, Stalin),
philosophy and thought (e.g., Aristotle, Avicenna, Kant), or literature (e.g., Dante,
Shakespeare, Goethe). In these cases, the entry concentrates only on those elements
of the subject’s life and thought which are of Jewish interest, and for a biography and
assessment, the interested reader should refer to a general encyclopedia.
By and large the editors of the second edition have followed the above principles
in selecting new subjects for inclusion in the Encyclopaedia. At the same time, given
the widespread availability of perpetual Jewish calendars on the Internet, it was de-
cided to omit this feature from the new edition. It was thought more beneficial to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
devote the space to additional text and such new features as the Thematic Outline
(see below). On the whole, it has been the explicit aim of the editors to offer entries
that the general as well as the specialized reader will expect to find in an encyclope-
dia of this nature.
Consistency
Notwithstanding all efforts, it has been impossible to maintain perfect consistency in
the Encyclopaedia Judaica. For one thing, scholars who have written the entries have
been allowed a certain latitude in incorporating their own conclusions and this leads
occasionally to internal contradictions. For example there are differing views about
biblical chronology. It is possible that a scholar writing on a king of ancient Israel
may maintain a certain year to have been that of his death; another scholar writing
about his successor may be of the view that he began to reign a few years earlier or
later; while the author of the general survey of the period may give still different
dates. Since the entire subject is a matter of conjecture and all scholars regard their
own chronology as well founded, it is impossible to compel them to use dates with
which they disagree. Wherever possible, such dates have been coordinated, but the
editors are aware of such discrepancies, which must be seen against the differences
of opinion among the scholars.
Similarly there can be inconsistencies regarding the transliteration of places and
names. The name Leib represents the accepted English version of a Yiddish name;
but many with that name who lived in German-speaking countries themselves wrote
it Loeb, so that both forms are to be found in the Encyclopaedia. Accepted usage is
followed in most cases, but there are many problems. In some instances, it is cus-
tomary in English to anglicize names, such as those of foreign rulers: Empress Cath-
erine - and not Yekaterina or Caterina; Frederick the Great - and not Friedrich; Vic-
tor Emmanuel - and not Vittorio Emmanuele. But usage differs in other instances:
Christopher (not Cristobal or Cristoforo) Columbus, but Johann (not John) Sebas-
tian Bach, Leo (not Lev) Tolstoy, but Albrecht (not Albert) Duerer. Just as inconsis-
tency occurs in general usage, so it occurs in specific Jewish contexts. It is common
to adapt the better-known names into English and to write Salomon as Solomon
or Josef as Joseph, but what about Salomone and Giuseppe? Biblical names have a
familiar English form that has been accepted, but it would hardly be appropriate to
anglicize Hebrew names in modern Israel and to refer to Moses Dayan.
Whether Slavic names should end with the form -ich, -icz, -itz, or -itch must de-
pend on usage and not logic; and usage is sometimes confusing as, for example, when
persons could have spelled their name according to German or Czech usage.
For a number of reasons (in part because of the ambiguity and interchangeability
of the forms Aben and Ibn, but mainly because of the sheer weight of numbers) the
Encyclopaedia has generally entered persons with quasi-surnames beginning with
Ibn under the second name - but not in the case of accepted usage such as that of
Abraham ibn Ezra who is always referred to as Ibn Ezra. Here too inconsistencies
occur.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
21
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
22
Problems have also arisen concerning the consistency of place names: the mod-
ern Slovakian town of Bratislava, for example, was famous in Jewish life as a center
of scholarship as Pressburg, and is frequently referred to as such within a historical
context. Both forms will therefore be found in the Encyclopaedia. In such instances
the Index will prove an invaluable guide in coordinating the various references.
Certain concessions have led to inconsistencies with regard to Hebrew transliter-
ation. Apart from the different systems that have been employed, common English
usage has been taken into consideration in some cases. According to Encyclopaedia
rules, the word for commandment should be transliterated mizvah — but the spell-
ing “bar mitzvah” has in fact passed into the English language as has “kibbutz” (not
kibbuz) and matzah (or matzoh) and it is the accepted usage that has been adopted.
Current Anglo-American usage refers, even in legislation, to ritually prepared food
as “kosher” but in other contexts the term is transliterated according to Hebrew us-
age as kasher.
There are similar problems regarding the transliteration of terms in modern He-
brew which embody the “mobile sheva,? which is normally not pronounced in the
middle of a word in modern Hebrew. Thus the organization n17n97 should be trans-
literated in accordance with the rules as Histadderut, but it is universally known as
Histadrut. And then there are transliterations officially adopted by various bod-
ies — the name of the Religious Zionist movement is Mizrachi by which it appears
throughout the world, and so it appears in the Encyclopaedia even though accord-
ing to the rules it should appear as Mizrahi.
Inconsistencies also occur with regard to italicization. Foreign words are gener-
ally italicized - but not where they have become part of the English language, or are
in German, French, Spanish, or Italian languages. But this too leads to anomalies.
Yeshivah is now an English word and is not italicized; but the principal of a yeshivah
is a rosh yeshivah, which is italicized. Hasidim have joyfully entered the English lan-
guage, but their opponents, the Mitnaggedim, remain italicized outsiders.
Cross References and Glossary
The Encyclopaedia has been planned as a unit. To avoid unnecessary duplication,
cross-references are made to complementary entries and the fullest treatment of any
subject will be obtained by consulting both the cross-references given in any entry
together with any other references listed under the subject in the Index. However,
the Encyclopaedia has avoided a plethora of text cross-references which send the
reader from volume to volume (such as Ribash see Midrash, Genesis Rabbah, Exo-
dus Rabbah, etc.). Such information will be found by turning to the Index volume
which gives all relevant references.
In the text, cross-references are indicated in two ways. The first is by the direct
statement “See ...” referring to entries that have directly relevant additional infor-
mation. The second is by the use of an asterisk (*). The asterisk is placed before the
word under which the entry appears. Thus “Abraham *ibn Ezra” indicates that fur-
ther information related to that entry is to be looked for in the article on Ibn Ezra.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
In occasional instances the asterisk has been used to refer the reader to an entry in
the Index rather than an article in the text.
Generally speaking, asterisks indicate those further entries which, it is felt, throw
additional light on the subject under discussion. For example, in the statement
“Benjamin Cardozo was born in New York,” there is no cross-reference to New
York, both because it is unnecessary and because the entry on New York contains
no supplementary information on Cardozo. But the first reference to New York in
the entry on “United States” will have a cross-reference because the New York entry
in many ways supplements the “United States” entry. Occasional exceptions have
been made where some more obscure name or phrase is mentioned, the explana-
tion of which would unduly complicate the text. In most cases, only the first refer-
ence to a subject receives a cross-reference, but on occasions it is repeated for special
reasons.
It is inevitable in a work of this nature to use a considerable number of Hebrew
and technical terms which may not be familiar to the general reader. To explain
these on every occasion would make the work far too cumbersome. Therefore, where
necessary the cross-reference is given. However, for the convenience of the reader
a glossary has been prepared of the most frequently recurring Hebrew terms and
specialized names. This glossary is printed at the front of Volume 1, before the start
of the entries and at the end of the text in volumes 2 through 21.
Transliteration
For its basic transliteration from the Hebrew, the Encyclopaedia has adopted a sim-
plified system. It has been devised with particular regard to the usages of the Eng-
lish-speaking reader. However, certain exceptions have been necessary:
a) The editors of the section dealing with Hebrew and Semitic languages felt that
the Encyclopaedia’s simplified system could not convey all the nuances required
in technical linguistic entries. All entries in this section use the transliteration ad-
opted by the Academy of the Hebrew Language. However, to avoid inconsistencies
in proper names, the basic system used in the rest of the Encyclopaedia has also been
retained for names in these entries.
b) The editors of the Bible section felt the need for a few modifications in the En-
cyclopaedia’s system in order to convey certain nuances. To preserve the maximum
unity, these have generally been added in parentheses after the usual transliteration,
although in certain cases where it makes no difference to the ordinary reader (use
of t in place of t), only one form has been given.
c) Other forms of transliteration will be found in some of the musical notations.
This is in accordance with the system that has been developed so as best to print
Hebrew transliteration together with music.
d) As already mentioned, in a few instances, Hebrew words have become part of
the English language and their spelling standardized. In such cases, the term must
be regarded by now as an English word, and the spelling in Webster’s New Interna-
tional Dictionary (Third Edition) has been followed.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
23
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
24
See accompanying tables regarding transliteration for Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish,
Greek, and Russian.
Furthermore, certain English usages have been taken into account inasmuch as
certain words and names have received accepted English forms—for example Koran
(rather than Qur’an), Saladin (rather than Salah al-Din). Often, in place of the um-
laut in German names an “e” has been added after the accented vowel - thus Koe-
nigsberg, not Kénigsberg.
Bibliographies
The bibliography available for an entry is integral to the treatment of the subject as
a whole. On the basis of these references, the reader who wishes to pursue the sub-
ject in greater depth can turn to these basic books and articles.
For the first edition a principle of selectivity had to be adopted in view of the vast
amount of material that had accumulated. It had to be be recognized that the Ger-
man language, in which so much of Jewish research was written, had become inac-
cessible to most Jewish students. On the other hand, a considerable body of scien-
tific publication on Jewish subjects had now become available in English while the
corresponding literature in Hebrew had assumed vast proportions.
Preference was thus given to works in the English language provided they were
of an adequate scientific standard. Moreover, where translations were available in
English they were listed in some cases in preference to a (generally German) origi-
nal. However, exceptions were made in some cases where the English translation
did not represent the entire original (e.g., in some sections of Graetz’s History of the
Jews). Generally, only the most important and significant works are listed. Full bib-
liographies can usually be found in the works referred to and where there is a full
bibliography on the subject in a work cited, this fact is mentioned.
Many problems were encountered in the course of compiling the bibliography of
the first edition, not all of which found an ideal solution. For example, there is the
problem of which edition to cite - the first or latest? A book can have its first edition
in England in a different form than its first U.S. edition - and even have a different
name for each; an article can appear in a periodical and be reprinted as part of a
book; many volumes are now being reprinted photographically and are designated as
“second editions” although - where no extra material is added - this is inaccurate.
The organization of the bibliographies (basically supplied by the authors) is also
not consistent. An attempt was made to give precedence to the major works on the
subject and to works in English, while generally speaking, books precede articles.
However, in certain cases other arrangements (e.g., chronological) were followed. In
the first edition, names of articles in periodicals were usually not listed for reasons of
space, but the author and full details of the periodical served to direct the reader to
the major studies in such publications. For the bibliographical updates in the second
edition of the Encyclopaedia, the editors have endeavored to supply full article titles.
Bibliographical items added to updated or revised first edition entries are preceded
by the heading “Add. Bibliography” in bold face and appear immediately after the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
old bibliography where one exists, unless the latter is arranged by subtopic. Bibliog-
raphies of entries new to the second edition are simply headed “Bibliography.”
The standard histories - Graetz, Dubnow, Baron - have not been cited for every
article, but only in those cases where they provide material of special significance
for the subject in hand. Similarly, regarding individual countries, the standard re-
gional histories have been mentioned only when specially called for and the reader
should remember that they must be consulted.
Most of the bibliographical checking for the first edition was done at the Jewish
National and University Library, Jerusalem. The unrivaled richness of its collection
made possible a thorough investigation of most subjects dealt with and most works
cited, but there were cases when certain works or editions were not available and
the facts given by the contributor could not be verified.
To make the bibliographies less unwieldy a large number of standard works are
quoted by abbreviation. A full list of these abbreviations will be found at the front of
Volume 1 of the Encyclopaedia and the back of volumes 2 through 21. Such works can
be distinguished in the bibliographies by the fact that their titles are not italicized.
Biographical Entries
The title entry for an individual is given according to the name by which he or she
was most commonly known. Other names by which a person was known or ver-
sions of the name are also in the Index, allowing direct access to the entry, where
the alternative names appear in parentheses following the entry title.
Wherever possible, biographical entries are given under the surname if the per-
son had one. Where a combined rendering has become accepted in Europe (e.g.,
Abenatar) this is followed in the Encyclopaedia. In the case of Spanish and Portu-
guese names (e.g., Texeira de Mattos, Mendes da Costa), accepted usage is followed
even though the first component of these names is the basic part.
The place of birth and death are not always given. The reason is that the infor-
mation given customarily is in many cases conjectural, in others irrelevant. Places
of birth are usually mentioned in the text when these have been found to be verifi-
able. Place of death is not mentioned unless there is a specific reason for giving it.
Generally, it can be assumed that a subject died in the place where the person is last
mentioned as having resided. To keep the entries within allotted proportions, places
of education have generally been omitted as have details concerning awards such as
honorary degrees, visiting professorships, prizes (except for major ones such as the
Nobel Prize and the Israel Prize), promotion details (e.g., for military figures only
the last rank attained is usually given), etc. Though the second edition has been more
liberal in this respect, the above principles have generally been followed.
Family Entries
A single entry often covers various members of the same family. This has been es-
pecially the case when there are a number of members of the family who are of suf-
ficient interest to warrant a description but where space would not allow individual
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
25
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
26
entries. In such cases the various members are generally treated in chronological
order within the entry. It often occurs that in such families there are several mem-
bers mentioned in the body of the entry but one or two members are of exceptional
importance, warranting a separate entry. In this case they are listed with few details
in their appropriate chronological context within the family entry, together with an
asterisk indicating that they are the subject of separate entries.
In certain instances, two or more members of the same family have been combined
into a single entry. There are also examples of composite entries of several people
with the same name as in the case, for example, of biblical persons and places where
a single entry covers more than one person or place of the same name. In all such
cases, each individual subject can be traced through the Index, where an individual
listing will be found. If the family name is not repeated in the article following a per-
sonal name, it is understood that the name is identical with that of the title entry.
Special Terminology
In a few instances, the Encyclopaedia staff had to make decisions regarding the adop-
tion of basic terminology. One such term is “Holocaust” referring to the fate of the
Jews resulting from Nazi policies, from 1933 to 1945. Another is “Mishpat Ivri,’ fa-
miliarly called “Jewish Law.”
Another is the use of the term Erez Israel. The name Palestine was specifically
created by the Romans in order to invalidate the association of the Jewish people
with the country they had formerly called Judea. The name Palestine was virtually
unknown even when the country was under Muslim (as well as Crusader) rule. The
Encyclopaedia therefore terms the country by its proper name Erez Israel (literally,
the Land of Israel) using the term “Palestine” only in certain contexts (especially
with regard to the later Roman period and to the period of the British Mandate
when it was the official name of the country). This applies as well to such historical
West Bank cities as Hebron, Jericho, and Nablus (Shechem), which are accordingly
defined as cities in Erez Israel.
Israel, on the other hand, generally implies in these pages the modern State of
Israel. Since the origins of a great part of Israeli institutions and life go back to the
1880s, for certain purposes the term Israel is used retrospectively to this seminal pe-
riod. For example, the section of the comprehensive entry Israel (by far the largest
in the Encyclopaedia) headed “State of Israel” covers not only the period from 1948
but also the pre-State period. Though according to official government usage, Israel
(and not Israeli) is the adjective relating to Israel and Israeli is a citizen (or perma-
nent resident) of the State of Israel, in most cases “Israeli” has been also used as an
adjective in compliance with common usage.
Israel’s wars, discussed in the context of Israel’s history, are given their Israeli no-
menclatures. Thus, for example, Six-Day War for the war of 1967 and Yom Kippur
War for the war of 1973.
The Encyclopaedia uses the term Jerusalem Talmud rather than Palestinian Tal-
mud because although the latter is more accurate (the work was not written or
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
compiled in Jerusalem) the former conveys the traditional Jewish title Talmud Ye-
rushalmi.
Place Names
The basic guide for the form of place names in the first edition was the Columbia
Lippincott Gazetteer of the World (Columbia University Press, 1966) and where vari-
ous alternatives are cited there, the preferred form has been adopted. For the sake of
consistency the same guidelines have been used for the second edition. Place names
occurring in the Bible are given according to The Holy Scriptures (according to the
Masoretic text; The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1955). Other places in
Israel are cited according to the Encyclopaedia’s rules of transliteration. This has led
to some inconsistencies in cases where ancient and modern places (not always on the
same site) have identical names. Thus readers will find that some towns mentioned
in the Bible will begin with Beth (e.g., Beth Shean) but others not mentioned there
will begin with Bet (Bet Shearim). There will be a similar problem with “En” and
“Ein,.
Another problem with place names is that in many instances, places had differ-
ent names at different periods. The usage of the Encyclopaedia is that where a place
is still in existence, the entry appears under its current name (in a very few cases,
an exception has been made where the alternative name is so strong in Jewish tradi-
tion that any variant would look bizarre). Variants are given at the beginning of the
entry on the place and all these variants are cited in their appropriate places in the
Index. When place names occur in the body of entries, it has often been necessary
to change the usage according to the period. For example it would be absurd to talk
of a person in “Wroclaw” in the first half of the 20" century — he was in Breslau; a
book in the 18th century was published in Constantinople, not Istanbul.
A special problem was posed by East European names not to be found in the gaz-
etteer. Many Jews were born or lived in small places which had a reputation in the
Jewish world but are not large enough to figure in Western works of reference. Such
places were identified in standard atlases and where necessary the Encyclopaedia’s
regular rules of transliteration for the appropriate language were followed.
A number of major geographical changes have occurred since the original edition
of the Encyclopaedia Judaica appeared, notably the break-up of the Soviet Union,
Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia and the reunification of Germany. The reader is ad-
vised to look under both the original and former names of these countries. Thus,
the major history of many members of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(formerly the U.S.S.R.) will be found under Russia and only developments since
their independence are under their particular name. Appropriate cross-references
will be found in the text.
Proper Names
Some of the problems relating to consistency in the use of proper names have already
been mentioned. As noted, the tendency has been to anglicize first names where ap-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
27
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
28
propriate. This has been done even though in certain instances the person himself
did not use the form. Thus a German Jew would have signed himself (probably in
Hebrew letters) as Schlomo or Salomon but - as is customary in standard works of
reference in English — these all appear as Solomon.
Every effort has been made to give the spelling of the surname as the person him-
self spelled it - even if this means that the more usual Berdichevski appears as Berdy-
czewski and Moshe Glikson appears as Gluecksohn, these being the forms they them-
selves used. However, problems remain. What about a person who never signed his
name, as far as is known, in Latin characters? For example, if such a person’s name
was y°219°35, is it to be transliterated Rabinowitz, Rabbinowitz, Rabbinowicz, Rabbi-
novich, Rabinovitch, or by any other of the known transliterations, all of which are
legitimate? There is no ready-made answer. In some instances, there are precedents
to follow; in others, the precedent has to be invented. We are aware that consistency
has not always proved possible. Sometimes an apparent inconsistency is deliberate.
A man living in a German-speaking country would have written his name Hirsch.
But for a man with this name in Eastern Europe there is no reason to use a German
form of transliteration; in such instances the rules of Yiddish (or familiar English)
transliteration have been followed and the name appears as Hirsh.
Dates
The Hebrew year begins in the fall, three months approximately (in recent centu-
ries) before the Gregorian year. Where the Hebrew year is known (but not the exact
date) the probability is that the Gregorian date corresponds to the last nine months
rather than the first three months of the Hebrew year. So the Encyclopaedia has nor-
mally used, e.g., 1298 and not 1297/98 to correspond to the Hebrew year 5058, etc.
Where, however, the exact Hebrew date is known, it is possible to be more precise.
Where precision is significant the form 1527/28 is used; this implies that the event
took place in the Hebrew year 5388 but the period of the year cannot be determined.
Before the Gregorian reform of the calendar in 1587 the secular-Christian New Year
was considered in most places to have been in March; the Gregorian reform estab-
lished January ist but this was adopted only gradually in Europe. The Encyclopae-
dia Judaica assumes, however, in most cases (in accordance with modern historical
practice) the beginning of the new year in January, even before the Gregorian re-
form. To avoid unnecessary complications, account has not been taken of the ten-
(to 12- or 13-) day discrepancy between the Gregorian and Julian calendars, which
has continued in some areas until our own day. (The 1917 revolutions in Russia are
mostly called the February and October Revolutions, although by Western calen-
dars they occurred in March and November.)
Statistics
The whole area of Jewish demography is highly problematical and in many cases
precise numbers cannot be determined. Only in recent decades have systematic at-
tempts been made to determine Jewish statistics. Moreover, different criteria have
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
been adopted in different places, and results will vary with such factors as whether
any sort of Jewish definition appears in an official census, whether the particular
community has been subject to a scientific analysis - and how one defines a Jew! Oc-
casional discrepancies are inevitable. Moreover, in the case of France and the former
Soviet Union the problem has proven to be particularly acute. In the former case
this derives from the reluctance of community leaders to publicize Jewish popula-
tion figures. In the latter case, figures vary widely depending on the body produc-
ing them and the criteria used. In both cases, other than for the largest communi-
ties where current information is available, older figures are often used rather than
arbitrary or unsubstantiated later figures. For U.S. communities, the 2001 figures
appearing in the American Jewish Year Book have been used in the Encyclopaedia’s
standardized state maps, together with the 2000 U.S. Census figures for the general
population, with later figures given in the text where available.
Alphabetization
Entries have been arranged (both in the body of the Encyclopaedia and in the In-
dex) in strict alphabetical order - disregarding spaces and hyphens. The criterion is
the order of the letters up to the first punctuation sign (comma, period, etc.). This
makes for easy reference as well as facilitating the work of the computer.
For example, Ben-Gurion should be sought somewhere after Benghazi and be-
fore Benjamin; El Paso will be after Elephantine but before Elul.
The following elements are not considered in alphabetization: definite and indef-
inite articles; personal titles (e.g., Sir or Baron), with the exception of “Saint”; ma-
terial that appears in parentheses; the ordinal number of a monarch or pope. In the
event of absolutely identical title entries, the following order of precedence prevails:
places, people, things. Where persons have identical names, the one who lived ear-
lier comes first. Where the same name is used as a first and family name, entries of
the first name precede those of the family name.
For example in looking for an ABRAHAM one would find the order:
ABRAHAM (the patriarch)
ABRAHAM (family name)
ABRAHAM, APOCALYPSE OF (the comma after Abraham acting as a cae-
sura)
ABRAHAM, MAX
ABRAHAM ABELE BEN ABRAHAM SOLOMON (considered as a unit in
the absence of a comma)
ABRAHAM A SANCTA CLARA
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA
ABRAHAM BEN ALEXANDER (note that “bar” and “ben” are considered
as spelt in full)
ABRAHAM HAYYIM BEN GEDALIA
ABRAHAMITES
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL OF APTA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
29
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
30
ABRAHAM (ben Aaron) OF BAGHDAD (note that variants in parentheses
are ignored for alphabetization purposes)
ABRAHAM OF SARAGOSSA
ABRAHAMS
ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL
ABRAHAMS, SIR LIONEL (note that titles such as Sir and Lord are ignored
for alphabetization purposes)
ABRAHAMS, MOSES
ABRAHAM'S BOSOM
ABRAHAMSEN, DAVID
ABRAHAM ZEVI BEN ELEAZER
Style
Although basing itself on standard rule of style, the Encyclopaedia has in many cases
had to establish its own rules to meet its own particular requirements. Spelling was
based on Webster’s Third International Dictionary, except for a number of specific
Jewish and Hebrew words. Italicization is used in the text for non-English words
and phrases. (See also section on Consistency.)
Familiar abbreviations of rabbinical authorities (e.g., Rif for Isaac Alfasi or Rashba
for Solomon ben Adret) are generally not employed in the text but are used in bib-
liographical references in articles on rabbinical literature and Jewish law (see sec-
tion on Abbreviations). The exception here is Rashi (Rabbi Solomon Yizhaki) who
is so universally known by his acronym that it would be unnecessarily pedantic to
insist on his full name in usual references to him. In other cases, a decision had to
be made with regard to the form regularly used; thus the Encyclopaedia uses Mai-
monides rather than Moses ben Maimon or Maimuni and Nahmanides rather than
Moses ben Nahman. Here again the reader should consult the aliases appearing in
the alphabetized Index.
Illustrations
Supplementing the text are over 600 tables, maps, charts, and archaeological plans
including a full list of Jewish settlements in Israel and detailed chronologies of Jew-
ish history and of the Holocaust period, as well as an eight-page full-color insert in
each volume illustrating all facets of Jewish life in hundreds of photographs. A spe-
cial section of Holocaust photographs follows the main Holocaust entry.
Signatures and Contributors
Authors’ names generally appear at the end of each entry. Where different contribu-
tors have written sections of an entry, their names are found at the end of the section
they have written. When two (or more) contributions have been merged into a single
article a joint signature appears at the end of the entry. Contributions to the second
edition are indicated by the words (24 ed.) after the contributor’s name. However, in
cases where updates or revisions to a first edition entry are minor, or only new bibli-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ography has been added (see Bibliographies above), the second edition contributor
has generally not been cited, lest the mistaken impression be created that the entry
was a joint effort. Furthermore, with the removal of the ubiquitous “Ep.” (for “Edi-
tor”) signature from first edition entries produced by the EJ editorial staff, such en-
tries are now unsigned, unless the second edition update or revision was significant
enough to warrant its attribution to the second edition contributor alone.
Information on the authors (as of the date of writing the entry) can be found in
the List of Contributors along with a list of all entries partially or entirely written
by each author.
For the first edition the Encyclopaedia Judaica received permission to utilize en-
tries appearing in two other encyclopedias in other languages — the German Ency-
clopaedia Judaica and the Hebrew Encyclopaedia Hebraica. Where contributors of
such entries were living, the English version was sent to them for their approval and
where received, the author’s initial is given. In a few cases, for one reason or another,
the author was not available or not prepared to check the English version; in such
cases the entries are merely signed [Encyclopedia Judaica (Germany)] or [Encyclo-
paedia Hebraica] to indicate that the source is to be found in these works. For the
second edition, permission was received to use material from two other sources: Yad
Vashem's Pinkasei Kehillot and its English abridgment (Encyclopedia of Jewish Com-
munities Before and During the Holocaust) and The Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia in
Russian (Kratkoy Evreyskoy Entsiklopedii). Material from these sources was incorpo-
rated into entries written and generally signed by second edition contributors.
Index
One of the highlights of the Encyclopaedia is its comprehensive index, originally
edited by Prof. Raphael Posner for the first edition. This provides the key which un-
locks the Encyclopaedia so that each detail becomes readily available for consulta-
tion. Ordinarily, an encyclopedia can be consulted only through the alphabetical
list of entries. In the case of the Encyclopaedia Judaica this would give the reader
some 22,000 subjects. With the aid of the Index the option is expanded more than
eightfold, and the reader can at once see where information on topics that have not
received independent entries but have been treated under other headings can be
found. In addition a subject can be followed through all aspects of its treatment in
the Encyclopaedia. For example, if the reader is interested in Maimonides, he or she
will discover not only that there is a major entry on Maimonides but that there are
further extensive treatments of Maimonides’ thought and work in dozens of other
entries — such as the entry Mishpat Ivri (Jewish Law), Philosophy, Medicine, Aris-
totle, Attributes, etc.
The Index is an indispensable tool for the use of the Encyclopaedia and the edi-
tors recommend that the reader always start by turning to it. Only by consulting the
Index will he or she grasp the full treatment of any subject. (Where a person can be
referred to under various names or pseudonyms, the Index will guide the reader to
the relevant entry.) In planning the Encyclopaedia, the editors endeavored to main-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
31
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
32
tain an overview of the complete work and to avoid overlapping, as far as possible.
Without the Index, the reader would not be aware of the carefully planned structure
of each subject and might conclude that certain important facets had been omitted
or overlooked or that in certain cases treatment was inadequate. But by referring
to the Index the user will immediately find out under what heading each subject is
treated and where the supplementary aspects are dealt with.
It should be noted that the captions to the illustrations have also been indexed.
Thus, under Israel, the reader will find page references to all maps and tables in the
entry. In this way, the reader has easy access to all the visual material in the Ency-
clopaedia.
For full details on the Index and its use, the reader is referred to the Introduction
to the Index in the Index volume.
Thematic Outline
The Thematic Outline, at the front of the Index volume, is an entirely new feature
listing all entries in the Encyclopaedia under their appropriate subject headings, more
or less corresponding to the Encyclopaedia’s editorial divisions. Thus, for example,
a typical heading of this kind would be “Canada,” broken down into Main Entries,
General Entries, Community Entries, and Biographical Entries. For the larger divi-
sions (U.S., Israel, Germany, etc.) biographical entries are further subdivided into
Public and Economic Life, Academic Life, Popular Culture, Art, Science, etc. Many
entries will appear under more than one heading. Scientists, for example, will ap-
pear under both the country they are identified with (or more than one country in
certain cases) and the Science heading. As definitions are sometimes not clearcut,
the existence of an entry can always be checked against the Index.
The aim of the Thematic Outline is to provide at a glance a picture of what is con-
tained in the Encyclopaedia as well as to serve as a teaching and research tool show-
ing all the entries available on a given subject.
Conclusion
The preparation of the second edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica was a labor of
devotion and dedication on the part of those responsible. It is the product of the
diligent work of many hundreds of participants making very special efforts to en-
sure its successful conclusion. In this, they have been motivated by an awareness
of the historic and cultural value of this work and the significant role it can play in
Jewish education and culture, in the spread of Jewish knowledge - which is such an
urgent priority in the Jewish and non-Jewish world today - and in the closer linking
of Israel with Jews as well as non-Jews the world over. The editors are aware that for
objective reasons, they have not always attained the desired perfection and that, as
is inevitable in any work of comparable size and scope, errors have crept in. But they
feel that the final product, seen in its entirety, is indeed a historical contribution to
Jewish culture with which they feel privileged to have been associated.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION STAFF (SECOND EDITION)
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Fred Skolnik
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Michael Berenbaum
EDITORIAL PROJECT MANAGER
Shlomo S. (Yosh) Gafni
EDITORIAL PROJECT PLANNING AND CONTROL
Rachel Gilon
DIVISIONAL EDITORS
ASIA AND AFRICA
Tudor Parfitt
M.A., Dr. Phil.; School of Oriental and African Studies, University
of London, U.K.
BIBLE
S. David Sperling
Ph.D.; Rabbi; Professor of Bible, Hebrew Union College, New York
BULGARIA
Emil Kalo
Ph.D.; President of the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom”;
Bulgarian Academy of Science, Bulgaria
CANADA
Richard Menkis
Ph.D.; Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada
Harold Troper
Ph.D.; Professor, Department of Theory and Policy Studies, Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
CHRISTIANITY AND SECOND TEMPLE
Shimon Gibson
Ph.D.; Archaeologist and Senior Research Fellow, WF. Albright In-
stitute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Yeshayahu Jelinek
Ph.D.; Associate Professor Emeritus, Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev, Beersheba
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ENGLAND
William D. Rubinstein
Ph.D., B.C.; Professor of History, University of Wales-Aberystwyth,
UK.
FRANCE
Sylvie-Anne Goldberg
Ph.D.; Associate Professor, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences So-
ciales, France
Ilan Greilsammer
Ph.D.; Professor, Department of Political Science, Bar-Ilan Univer-
sity; Director, Center for European Community Studies, Bar-Ilan
University
GERMANY
Michael Brenner
Ph.D.; Professor of Jewish History and Culture, Ludwig-Maximil-
ians-Universitat, Munich, Germany
GREECE
Yitzchak Kerem
Professor, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece; Lecturer and
Researcher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
HEBREW, SEMITIC, AND JEWISH LANGUAGES
Aharon Maman
Ph.D.; Professor of Hebrew, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
HEBREW LITERATURE, MEDIEVAL
Angel Saenz-Badillos
Ph.D.; Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature, Universidad
Complutense, Madrid, Spain
33
EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION STAFF (SECOND EDITION)
HEBREW LITERATURE, MODERN
Anat Feinberg
Ph.D.; Professor of Jewish and Hebrew Literature, Hochschule fiir
Jiidische Studien, Heidelberg, Germany
HOLOCAUST AND UNITED STATES
Michael Berenbaum
Ph.D.; Professor of Theology (Adjunct), Director, Sigi Ziering Insti-
tute, University of Judaism, Los Angeles, CA
ISLAM AND MUSLIM COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE
EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
Jacob M. Landau
Ph.D.; Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem; winner of the Israel Prize
ISRAEL
Fred Skolnik
Editor in Chief, Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd edition)
ITALY
Robert Bonfil
Ph.D.; Professor Emeritus of Jewish History, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
JEWISH LAW
Menachem Elon
Ph.D.; Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Israel; Professor of
Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, School of Law; Visiting Pro-
fessor of Law, New York and Harvard Universities Schools of Law;
winner of the Israel Prize
JEWISH THOUGHT AND PHILOSOPHY
Aviezer Ravitsky
Ph.D.; Professor, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Senior Fellow, Israel Democracy Institute, Jerusalem;
winner of the Israel Prize
Raphael Jospe
Ph.D.; Professor; Researcher; Jewish Philosophy Lecturer, Bar-Ilan
University
KABBALAH AND HASIDISM
Moshe Idel
Ph.D.; Professor of Jewish Thought and Kabbalah, Hebrew Univer-
sity of Jerusalem; Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem; winner of
the Israel Prize
KARAITES
Haggai Ben-Shammai
Ph.D.; Professor of Arab Language and Literature, Hebrew Univer-
sity of Jerusalem
LATIN AMERICA
Margalit Bejarano
Ph.D.; Researcher and Teacher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Efraim Zadoff
Ph.D.; Historian, Editor, Research Association on Latin American
Jews, Jerusalem
34
MUSIC
Amnon Shiloah
Ph.D.; Professor Emeritus of Musicology, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
NETHERLANDS
Irene Zwiep
Ph.D.; Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Universiteit van Am-
sterdam, Holland
Resianne Fontaine
Ph.D.; Lecturer in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies,
Universiteit van Amsterdam, Holland
Barend Theodoor Wallet
M.A.; Junior Researcher, Hebrew, Aramaic and Jewish Studies, Uni-
versiteit van Amsterdam, Holland
POLAND
Shlomo Netzer
Ph.D.; Modern East European Jewish History, Tel Aviv University
ROMANIA
Leon Volovici
Ph.D.; Senior Researcher, The Vidal Sassoon International Center
for the Study of Anti-Semitism, Jerusalem, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
RUSSIA
Shmuel Spector
Ph.D.; Historian, Jerusalem
SCANDINAVIA
Ilya Meyer
B.Ed.; Translator, Transtext Ab, Gothenburg, Sweden
SCIENCE
Bracha Rager
Ph.D.; Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Health
Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba; Ministry
of Health
A. Michael Denman
M.D., ER.C.P.,; Emeritus Consultant, Northwick Park Hospital, Lon-
don, U.K.
Dan Gilon
M.D., EA.C.C. Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Director of Non-
Invasive Cardiology, Hadassah—Hebrew University Medical Center,
Jerusalem
SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND MARRANOS
Yom Tov Assis
Ph.D.; Department of Jewish History, World Center for Jewish Stud-
ies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
SPORTS
Eli Wohlgelernter
B.A.; Journalist, Jerusalem
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
SWITZERLAND
Uri Robert Kaufmann
Ph.D.; Historian, Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Leo Baeck
Institut, Heidelberg, Germany
TALMUD
Shamma Friedman
Ph.D.; Benjamin and Minna Reeves Professor of Talmud and Rab-
binics, Jewish Theological Seminary; Professor, Department of Tal-
mud, Bar-Ilan University
Stephen G. Wald
Ph.D.; Talmud and Rabbinics, Jerusalem
UNITED STATES LITERATURE
Lewis Fried
Ph.D.; Professor of English, Kent State University
WOMEN AND GENDER
Judith R. Baskin
Ph.D.; Knight Professor of Humanities; Director, Harold Schnitzer
Family Program in Judaic Studies, University of Oregon
YIDDISH LITERATURE
Jerold C. Frakes
Ph.D.; Professor of German and Comparative Literature, University
of Southern California, Los Angeles
YUGOSLAVIA
Zvi Loker
M.A.; Ambassador Retired; Director, Even Tov Archives, Jerusalem
ZIONISM
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*
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38
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39
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40
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41
EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION STAFF (FIRST EDITION)
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42
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
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STYLISTS
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dith Krausz, B.A.; Sandra Litt Hai, B.A.; Penina Mellick; Moira
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Gideon Fuks, B.A.; Daniel Furman; Henri Guttel, B.A.; Abra-
ham Herman; Eva Herman; Giza Kamrat; Eva Kondor; Sim-
cha Kruger, B.S.; Benjamin Lubelski, B.A., Dip. Lib.; Samuel S.
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ivestone, B.A.; Miriam Prager; Benjamin Richler; Betty-Lou
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Yaakobi, Dr. jur., Dipl. sc.pol.
TRANSLITERATORS
Hanna Avituv, B.A.; Amikam Cohen B.A.; Uri Davis, B.A.;
Leah (Rosen) Teichthal, B.A.
43
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
The following List of Contributors includes contributors to the first and second editions of the Encyclopaedia and all entries
entirely or partially written by them. Contributors to the second edition are noted with an asterisk (*). Information about
writers applies to the time of submission of the entry. In cases where a writer contributed to both editions the later infor-
mation is given along with an asterisk. Writers with no entries opposite their names contributed to unsigned entries.
Mahmoud Abassi, B.A.; Writer,
Shefaram, Israel: ISRAEL, STATE OE:
ARAB POPULATION
Isaac Abraham Abbady, Journalist,
Jerusalem: AUSTER, DANIEL
Alan D. Abbey*, M.S.; Journalist,
Businessman, Jerusalem: MERCHANT,
LARRY; MICHAELS, ALAN RICHARD; ROSE,
MAURICE; ROSENBLOOM, CARROLL;
ROTHSTEIN, ARNOLD; SEDAKA, NEIL;
SIMON, CARLY ELISABETH; SIMON, PAUL
FREDERIC; SPECTOR, PHIL
Irving Abella*, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.;
Shiff Professor of Canadian Jewish
History, York University, Toronto,
Canada: CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS;
GERSHMAN, JOE; HAYES, SAUL
Moses Aberbach, Ph.D.; Baltimore
Hebrew College, Maryland: ELDAD
AND MEDAD; ELIJAH; EZEKIEL; GOLDEN
CALF; HOVAH; JACOB; JOSEPH; JUDAH
IV; JUDITH; KETTA BAR SHALOM; MAR
BAR RAVINA; NEBUCHADNEZZAR;
NICARAGUA; PAPI; PHARAOH; SHEM;
SIMEON; YESHEVAV THE SCRIBE; YOSE
BEN AKAVYAH
Abraham Abraham, Rabbi;
Jerusalem
Gerald Abrahams, M.4A.; Barrister
at Law, Liverpool: BOLESLAVSKI,
ISAAC; BRONSTEIN, DAVID; CARDS
AND CARDPLAYING; CHESS; CZERNIAK,
MOSHE; FINE, REUBEN; FLOHR, SALO;
GOREN, CHARLES HENRY; HOROWITZ,
ISRAEL ALBERT; LASKER, EMANUEL;
NAJDORE, MIGUEL; NIMZOVITCH, AARON;
RESHEVSKY, SAMUEL HERMAN; RETI,
RICHARD; RUBINSTEIN, AKIVA; STEINITZ,
WILHELM; TAL, MIKHAIL; TARRASCH,
SIEGBERT
Israel Abrahams, M.A., Rabbi,
Emeritus Professor of Hebrew, the
University of Cape Town; Former
Chief Rabbi of Cape Province,
South Africa; Jerusalem: BELIEF;
CASSUTO, UMBERTO; GOD; MAN, THE
NATURE OF; MOSES; NUMBERS, TYPICAL
AND IMPORTANT; PRAYER; TABERNACLE;
WORD; WORSHIP
Shlomo Zalman Abramov,
Lawyer, former Member of Knesset,
chairman of the Editorial Board of
the New Zionist Encyclopaedia
Stanley Abramovitch, M.A.;
Director of the Education
Department, American Joint
Distribution Committee, Geneva:
EDUCATION, JEWISH
Daniel Abrams*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Philosophy, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: ASHER BEN
DAVID; BAHIR, SEFER HA-; MOPSIK,
CHARLES
Jeanne E. Abrams”, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor at Penrose
Library, University of Denver, and
Director of the Rocky Mountain
Jewish Historical Society and Beck
Archives, University of Denver,
Colorado: COLORADO; JACOBS,
FRANCES WISEBART; NATIONAL JEWISH
CENTER FOR IMMUNOLOGY AND
RESPIRATORY MEDICINE
Samuel Abramsky, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish History and in
Bible, the University of the Negev,
Beersheba: AMALEKITES; BAR KOKHBA;
BREAD; ISSACHAR; JERUSALEM; LEVI;
MEDES AND MEDIA; MEPHIBOSHETH;
MICAIAH; MICHAL; MIDIAN, MIDIANITES;
NATHAN; RECHABITES; SOLOMON;
WILDERNESS
Claude Abravanel, Lecturer,
the Rubin Academy of Music,
Jerusalem: ALKAN, CHARLES HENRI-
VALENTIN; BONAVENTURA, ENZO
JOSEPH; CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO,
MARIO; GOODMAN, BENNY; HELLER,
STEPHEN; JUDAH BEN ISAAC;
KREIN, ALEXANDER ABRAMOVICH;
LANDOWSKA, WANDA; MONTEUX,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
PIERRE; MOSCHELES, IGNAZ; PEERCE, JAN;
TANSMAN, ALEXANDER; TOCH, ERNST;
VOGEL, WLADIMIR
Butrus Abu-Manneh”, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, University of
Haifa: ABDUL MEJID I; SELIM I; SELIM II
Annalucia Accardo*, Laurea;
Associate Professor, University of
Rome "La Sapienza’, Italy: PALEY,
GRACE
Joseph Adar, M.Sc.; Israel Atomic
Energy Commission, Ramat Gan
Abraham Addleson, Attorney;
Former Mayor of East London,
South Africa: EAST LONDON
Howard Tzvi Adelman’, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Rothberg
School, Hebrew University,
Jerusalem; Hebrew College:
ABRABANEL, BENVENIDA; ASCARELLI,
DEVORA; MODENA, FIORETTA; MODENA,
LEON; MORPURGO, RACHEL LUZZATTO;
SHEHITAH
Howard L. Adelson, Ph.D.;
Professor of Medieval History, City
College of the City University of
New York: BLOCH, GUSTAVE; COHEN,
GUSTAVE; DAVIDSOHN, ROBERT; GROSS,
CHARLES; JANOWSKY, OSCAR ISAIAH;
LOPEZ, ROBERT SABATINO; SIMSON,
BERNHARD VON
Zvi Adiv, M.A.; Assistant in History,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv University: DISRAELI,
BENJAMIN, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD
Eliyana R. Adler*, Ph.D.; Fellow
and Lecturer, University of
Maryland: BERLIN, RAYNA BATYA;
PROSTITUTION
H.G. Adler, Ph.D.; Historian,
London
Helmut E. Adler, Ph.D.; Professor
45
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
of Psychology, Yeshiva University,
New York: BUHLER, CHARLOTTE;
GINOTT, HAIM G.; HEYMANS, GERARDUS
E; LEHRMAN, DANIEL S.; MUENSTERBERG,
HUGO; MYERS, CHARLES SAMUEL;
PSYCHOLOGY; RAZRAN, GREGORY; RUBIN,
EDGAR; SELZ, OTTO; STERN, WILLIAM
Israel Adler, Dr. du 3e cycle;
Director of the Center for Research
in Jewish Music, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: arpa,
ABRAMO DALL; BOLAFFI, MICHELE;
CACERES, ABRAHAM; CANTATAS AND
CHORAL WORKS, HEBREW; CIVITA, DAVIT;
OBADIAH, THE NORMAN PROSELYTE;
ORGAN; PADDAN-ARAM
Saul Aaron Adler, D.T.M., ER.C.P,,
ERS.; Professor of Parasitology, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
GRUBY, DAVID
Selig Adler, Ph.D.; Professor
of American History, the State
University of New York, Buffalo:
ROOSEVELT, THEODORE; WILSON,
WOODROW
Shalom Adler-Rudel, Director of
the Leo Baeck Institute, Jerusalem:
BERMUDA CONFERENCE; COUNCIL
OF JEWS FROM GERMANY: REFUGEES;
SALOMON, ALICE; WUNDERLICH, FRIEDA
Evelyn Adunka*, Dr.Phil.;
Historian, Vienna, Austria: AUSTRIA;
EHRLICH, JACOB; KREISKY, BRUNO;
NATIONALRAT; SCHOENERER, GEORG
VON; SCHUTZBUND, REPUBLIKANISCHER;
VIENNA; VOLKSPARTEI, JUEDISCHE
Laurentino Jose Afonso,
B.D.; Jerusalem: NABONIDUS;
NETHERWORLD; PROSTITUTION
Irving A. Agus, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva
University, New York: AVIGDOR BEN
ELIJAH HA-KOHEN; MEIR BEN BARUCH OF
ROTHENBURG
Jacob Bernard Agus, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Adjunct Professor of Modern Jewish
Philosophy, Dropsie University;
Professor of Rabbinic Judaism,
the Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College, Philadelphia: Goop AND EVIL
Abraham Aharoni, Journalist, Tel
Aviv: BARATZ, JOSEPH; BAR-YEHUDAH,
ISRAEL; BEJERANO; BEN-YEHUDAH,
BARUKH; BOGER, HAYYIM; BOGHEN,
FELICE; CHIZHIK; DAYYAN; HARARI,
46
HAYYIM; ISRAELI, BENZION; KRINITZI,
AVRAHAM; LEVI, SHABBETAI; METMAN-
COHEN, YEHUDAH LEIB; MEYUHAS,
YOSEF BARAN; MOHILEWER, SAMUEL;
MOSSINSON, BENZION; NISSAN,
AVRAHAM; SHAREF, ZE'EV; SHENKAR,
ARIE; SUKENIK, ELIEZER LIPA; SUPRASKY,
YEHOSHUA; TABIB, AVRAHAM; ZISLING,
AHARON
Yohanan Aharoni, Ph.D.; Professor
of Archaeology and of the Historical
Geography of Palestine, Tel
Aviv University: AHLAB; ALMON-
DIBLATHAIM; ANAHARATH; ARAD; BAAL-
GAD; BESOR, BROOK OF; BET-CHEREM;
BET-SHEMESH; CALEB, CALEBITES;
CHINNERETH, CHINNEROTH; DIBON;
GEBA; GILEAD; JABIN; JOSHUA; JOSHUA,
BOOK OF; KADESH; KENITE; MADON;
NABAL
Abba Ahimeir, Ph.D.; Journalist
and Writer, Tel Aviv: ANTOKOLSKI,
MARK; BATUMI; BRUTZKUS, JULIUS;
DERZHAVIN, GABRIEL ROMANOVICH;
DIMANSTEIN, SIMON; GUENZBURG,
MORDECAI AARON
Ora Ahimeir*, Director General,
The Jerusalem Institute for Israel
Studies, Jerusalem: JERUSALEM
INSTITUTE FOR ISRAEL STUDIES
Shmuel Ahituv, M.A.; Staff, Biblical
Encyclopedia, Jerusalem: AZAZEL;
DIVINATION
Reuben Ainsztein, Writer and
journalist, London
Edna Aizenberg, Ph.D.; Instructor
in Spanish Literature, Maritime
College, New York: sPANISH AND
PORTUGUESE LITERATURE
Golda Akhiezer*, M.A.; Doctoral
Student of Jewish History;
Researcher at the Ben-Zvi Institute
and Teacher in the Rothberg School
for Overseas Students, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABRAHAM
BEN JOSIAH TROKI; ABRAHAM BEN
JOSIAH YERUSHALMI; AGA; AZARIAH
BEN ELIYAH; BABOVICH, SIMHAH
BEN SOLOMON BEN NAHAMU; BEIM,
SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM; BENJAMIN
BEN ELIJAH DUWAN; EZRA BEN NISAN;
ISAAC BEN SOLOMON; KALI, SAMUEL
BEN JOSEPH; KALEA ISAAK BEN JOSEPH;
LABANOVICH; LEONOWICZ; LUZKI,
SIMHAH ISAAC BEN MOSES; MOSES BEN
ELIJAH HA-LEVI; MOSES BEN ELIJAH
PASHA; PIGIT, SAMUEL BEN SHEMARIA;
SALMON BEN JEROHAM; SHAPSHAL
SERAYA BEN MORDECHAI; SOLOMON
BEN AARON; SULTANSKY, MORDECAI
BEN JOSEPH; ZEFANIA BEN MORDECHAI;
ZERAH BEN NATHAN OF TROKI
Shalom Albeck, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Talmud and Law,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
ACQUISITION; ASSIGNMENT; AVOT
NEZIKIN; DAMAGES; GERAMA AND
GARME; GIFT; HEFKER; LIABILITY; LOST
PROPERTY; MARITIME LAW; MAZRANUT;
MISTAKE; NUISANCE; OWNERSHIP;
PROPERTY; SALE; SERVITUDES; THEFT
AND ROBBERY; TORTS; YE’USH
William Foxwell Albright, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of Near Eastern
Studies, Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Maryland
David Alcalay, Jerusalem: vajs,
ALBERT
Ora Alcalay, B.A., Dip.Lib.; Director
of the Library of Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem: BELEV, ALEXANDER
Harry J. Alderman, B.A., B.S.;
the American Jewish Committee,
New York: GOLDSTEIN, EANNY;
SCHNEIDERMAN, HARRY
Gabriel Eitan Alexander’, Ph.D.;
Head of Keren Kayemeth Lelsrael
(JNF), History Research Institute for
Zionism and Settlement, Jerusalem:
WEISER-VARON, BENNO
Itzhak Alfassi, General Secretary,
Bnai Brith, Tel Aviv: AROLLIA,
ISAAC BEN MOSES; ARYEH LEIB OF
OZAROW; BAMBERG, SAMUEL BEN
BARUCH; BARBY, MEIR BEN SAUL;
BARDAKI, ISAIAH BEN ISSACHAR BER;
BASCHKO, ZEVI HIRSCH BEN BENJAMIN;
BEJERANO, BEKHOR HAYYIM BEN
MOSES; BELZ; BENGIS, SELIG REUBEN;
BERLIN, ISAIAH BEN JUDAH LOEB;
BERNSTEIN, ARYEH LEIB; BERNSTEIN,
ISSACHAR BERUSH BEN ARYEH LOEB;
BEZALEL BEN MOSES HA-KOHEN; BLOCH,
JOSEPH LEIB; BOSKOWITZ, HAYYIM BEN
JACOB; BROIDA, SIMHAH ZISSEL BEN
ISRAEL; CARO, JOSEPH HAYYIM BEN
ISAAC; CHELM, SOLOMON BEN MOSES;
CIECHANOW, ABRAHAM BEN RAPHAEL
LANDAU OF; CORONEL, NAHMAN
NATHAN; DEUTSCH, ELIEZER HAYYIM
BEN ABRAHAM; EGER, SIMHAH BUNIM
BEN MOSES; EISENSTADTER, MEIR BEN
JUDAH LEIB; ENGEL, JOSEPH BEN JUDAH;
EPHRATI, DAVID TEVELE BEN ABRAHAM;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ETTINGER, MORDECAI ZE’EV BEN ISAAC
AARON SEGAL; EULENBURG, ISAAC
BEN ABRAHAM MOSES ISRAEL; FINKEL,
NATHAN ZEVI BEN MOSES; GEDALIAH,
JUDAH BEN MOSES; GESUNDHEIT,
JACOB BEN ISAAC; GRUNWALD, AMRAM;
HASIDISM; HAYYOT, MENAHEM MANISH
BEN ISAAC; HOROWITZ, ISAAC HA-LEVI
BEN JACOB JOKEL; ISRAEL, STATE OF:
ALIYAH; JACOB BEN AARON OF KARLIN;
JACOB BEN EPHRAIM NAPHTALI HIRSCH
OF LUBLIN; JENER, ABRAHAM NAPHTALI
HIRSCH BEN MORDECAI; JERUSALIMSKI,
MOSES NAHUM BEN BENJAMIN; JUDAH
BEN MOSES OF LUBLIN; KAHANA, JACOB
BEN ABRAHAM; KAHANOV, MOSES
NEHEMIAH; KALLIR, ELEAZAR BEN
ELEAZAR; KARFUNKEL, AARON BEN
JUDAH LEIB HA-KOHEN; KATZ, REUVEN;
KLAUSNER, ZEVI HIRSCH; KLEIN, SAMUEL
SHMELKA; KRENGEL, MENAHEM MENDEL;
KRISTIANPOLLER; LANDAU, ELEAZAR
BEN ISRAEL; LANDAU, ISRAEL JONAH BEN
JOSEPH HA-LEVI; LERNER, MAYER BEN
MORDECAI OF ALTONA; LEWIN, AARON
BEN NATHAN OF RZESZOW; LIBSCHITZ,
BARUCH MORDECAI BEN JACOB; LIPKIN,
ISRAEL BEN ZE'EV WOLF; LIPSCHUETZ,
HILLEL ARYEH LEIB BEN ZE'EV DOV;
LIPSCHUTZ, SOLOMON BEN MORDECAI;
MARGOLIOTH, EPHRAIM ZALMAN BEN
MENAHEM MANNES; MARLI, SAMUEL
BEN MAZLIT'AH; MEISELS, DOV BERUSH;
MICHAELSON, EZEKIEL ZEVI BEN
ABRAHAM HAYYIM; MUSSAFIA,
BENJAMIN BEN IMMANUEL;
NIEMIROWER, JACOB ISAAC; ORNSTEIN,
MORDECAI ZE’EV BEN MOSES; PLOTZKI,
MEIR DAN OF OSTROVA; POSNER,
SOLOMON ZALMAN BEN JOSEPH;
RABINOWITZ-TEOMIM, ELIJAH DAVID
BEN BENJAMIN; REICH, KOPPEL; RIVKES,
MOSES BEN NAPHTALI HIRSCH; ROSANES,
ZEVI HIRSCH BEN ISSACHAR BERISH;
ROSEN, JOSEPH BEN ISAAC; SAFRAN,
BEZALEL ZE'EV; SALANT, JOSEPH SUNDEL
BEN BENJAMIN BENISH; SCHICK,
ABRAHAM BEN ARYEH LOEB; SCHIFF,
MEIR BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN; SCHMELKES,
GEDALIAH BEN MORDECAI; SCHOR,
ALEXANDER SENDER BEN EPHRAIM
ZALMAN; SCHOR, EPHRAIM SOLOMON
BEN NAPHTALI HIRSCH; SHAPIRA, ELIJAH
BEN BENJAMIN WOLF; SOFER, HAYYIM
BEN MORDECAI EPHRAIM FISCHEL;
TAUBES, AARON MOSES BEN JACOB;
TEOMIM, ARYEH LEIB; TEOMIM, JOSEPH
BEN MEIR; WEINGARTEN, JOAB JOSHUA;
WESEL, BARUCH BENDET BEN REUBEN;
YOSEF, OVADIAH; ZIRELSON, JUDAH LEIB;
ZUENZ, ARYEH LEIB BEN MOSES
David Algaze, M.H.L., Rabbi; New
York: GUATEMALA
Uri Algom, Military Historian,
former Chief Historian of the Israel
Army
Moshe Allon, Jerusalem: ISRAEL,
STATE OF: LABOR; SOLEL BONEH
Yigal Allon, Major General (Res.),
Israel Defense Forces; Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Education
and Culture, Kibbutz Ginnosar:
PALMAH; SADEH, YIZHAK
Nehemya Allony, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebrew Language and
Literature, the University of the
Negev, Beersheba: HAYYUJ, JUDAH BEN
DAVID
Dan Almagor, Ph.D.; Writer, Haifa:
BERDYCZEWSKI, MICHA JOSEF; SOMMO,
JUDAH LEONE BEN ISAAC
Shlomo Alon*, M.A.; Senior
Lecturer, School of Education, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
DHIMMA, DHIMMI
Yehoshua Alouf, Supervisor of
Physical Education, Ministry of
Education and Culture, Ramat Gan:
A.S.A.; HAPOEL; MACCABI; MACCABI
WORLD UNION; SPORTS
Sara Alpern*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Texas A. & M. University,
Texas: ALBERT, MILDRED ELIZABETH
LEVINE; CARNEGIE, HATTIE; HANDLER,
RUTH MOSKO; LAUDER, ESTEE MENTZER;
LEIBER, JUDITH MARIA; MALSIN, LANE
BRYANT; MARGARETEN, REGINA; PARNIS,
MOLLIE; POLYKOFF, SHIRLEY; ROSENBERG,
ANNA MARIE LEDERER; ROSENTHAL, IDA
Carl Alpert, Executive Vice
Chairman of the Board of
Governors, the Technion, Haifa:
REINER, MARKUS
Rebecca Alpert*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Religion and Women’s
Studies, Temple University,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
LESBIANISM; NEWMAN, PAULINE
Paul Awraham Alsberg, Ph.D.;
Israel State Archivist; Lecturer in
Archival Management, Graduate
Library School, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ARCHIVES
Gerda Alster-Thau, M.A.; Lecturer
in Hebrew and World Literature,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
DUTCH LITERATURE; LOGGEM, MANUEL
VAN; MULISCH, HARRY; VROMAN, LEO
Moshe Altbauer, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Slavic Linguistics and
of Russian Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BIEGELEISEN,
HENRYK; BRANDSTAETTER, ROMAN;
FELDMAN, WILHELM; KLACZKO, JULIAN;
PUBLISHING; SLONIMSKI, ANTONI
Harry Alter, Editor, Youngstown,
Ohio: YOUNGSTOWN
Avraham Altman, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Japanese Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Alexander Altmann, Ph.D.,
D.H.L., Rabbi; Professor of Jewish
Philosophy, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts:
ANGELS AND ANGELOLOGY;
ARISTOTLE; ASTROLOGY; BEATITUDE;
COMMANDMENTS, REASONS FOR; GOD;
ISRAELI, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON; MOSES
BEN JOSEPH HA-LEVI; PROVIDENCE;
ZADDIK, JOSEPH BEN JACOB IBN
Mordechai Altschuler, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Institute for
Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: RUSSIA
Hadas Altwarg, Researcher,
Institute of Jewish Affairs, London:
ANTISEMITISM
Helen Aminoff*, B.A.; Historian,
Beth Israel Congregation; Past-
President of Hadassah, Ann Arbor,
Michigan: ANN ARBOR
Aharon Amir, Writer and Editor,
Tel Aviv
Amihood Amir*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Computer Science, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: COMPUTER
SCIENCE
Shimeon Amir, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in the Department of
Developing Countries, Tel Aviv
University; Deputy Director
General, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: PORTUGAL
Yehoshua Amir (Neumark),
Dr.Phil., Rabbi; Senior Lecturer
in Jewish Philosophy, Tel Aviv
University: MACCABEES, FOURTH
BOOK OF; MACCABEES, THIRD BOOK
OF; OSIANDER, ANDREAS; SIBYL AND
47
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
SIBYLLINE ORACLES; SIMON, AKIBA
ERNST
Yehoyada Amir*, Professor,
Director, Israel Rabbinic Program,
Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem:
ASCHER, SAUL; BAECK, LEO; BERGMAN,
SAMUEL HUGO; BREUER, ISAAC; COHEN,
HERMANN; CREATION AND COSMOGONY;
GANS, EDUARD; GUTTMANN, JACOB;
GUTTMANN, JULIUS; HIRSCH, SAMSON
RAPHAEL; PHILO JUDAEUS; SCHWEID,
ELIEZER
Ziva Amishai-Maisels*, B.A., M.A.,
Ph.D.; Professor of Art History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ART: INFLUENCED BY THE HOLOCAUST;
ART: MODERN JEWISH ART; BARASCH,
MOSHE
Jacob Amit, Editor, Tel Aviv: YAARI,
MEIR
Reuven Amitai*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Institute of African
Studies, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: AYALON, DAVID; MAMLUKS;
MONGOLS; SELJUKS
Shimshon Avraham Amitsur,
Ph.D.; Professor of Mathematics,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
LEVITSKY, JACOB
Moses Bensabat Amzalak, Ph.D.;
Honorary Rector and Professor of
the Technical University of Lisbon;
Former President of the Academy of
Sciences of Lisbon: BENARUS, ADOLFO;
BENOLIEL, JOSEPH
Jean Ancel*, Ph.D.; Independent
Historian, Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem: ATAKI; BELGOROD-
DNESTROVSKI; BELTSY; BENDERY;
BRICEVA; BRICHANY; DOMBROVENI;
FALESHTY; KALARASH; KAUSHANY;
KHOTIN; KISHINEV; KOTOVSKOYE;
LEOVO; LIPKANY; NOVOSELITSA;
ORGEYEV; SEKIRYANY; YEDINTSY;
ZGURITSA
Pierre Anctil*, Ph.D.; Director,
Institute of Canadian Studies,
University of Ottawa, Canada:
BELKIN, SIMON; BOSCO, MONIQUE;
CANADIAN LITERATURE; WISEMAN,
SHLOIME
Marc D. Angel", B.A., B.S., Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Congregation Shearith Israel,
New York: UNION OF SEPHARDIC
CONGREGATIONS, THE
48
Charles Angoff, B.A.; Professor
of English, Fairleigh Dickinson
University, Rutherford, New Jersey:
NATHAN, GEORGE JEAN
B. Mordechai Ansbacher, M.A.;
Historian, Jerusalem: ARNDT,
ADOLE; ARNHEIM, FISCHEL; BADGE,
JEWISH; BEHREND, JACOB FRIEDRICH;
BOOKS; BUCER, MARTIN; COINS AND
CURRENCY; ELLSTAETTER, MORITZ;
FRANKENBURGER, WOLFE; JUEDISCHER
KULTURBUND; KANTOROWICZ,
HERMANN; KEMPNER, ROBERT MAX
WASILII; LABAND, PAUL; LUBETKIN,
ZIVIA; LUTHER, MARTIN; MALINES;
REUTLINGEN; SHUM; SPEYER;
TRIER; WALLICH; WIENER GESERA;
WITTENBERG, YIZHAK; ZUCKERMAN,
ITZHAK
Heinz L. Ansbacher, Ph.D.;
Professor of Psychology, the
University of Vermont, Burlington,
Vermont: ADLER, ALFRED
Joyce Antler*, Ph.D.; Samuel Lane
Professor of American Jewish
History and Culture, Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts:
ABZUG, BELLA SAVITZKY; LERNER, GERDA
KRONSTEIN
J. Aouizerate-Levin*, M.A.;
Student, Musicology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: SHLONSKY,
VERDINA
John J. Appel, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of American Studies, the
James Madison College of Michigan
State University, East Lansing:
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE CHURCH
James L. Apple, Th.D., Rabbi; Great
Lakes, Illinois
Raymond Apple, B.A., LL.B., Rabbi;
London: MARRIAGE
Shimon Applebaum, D.Phil;
Associate Professor of Classical
Archaeology and of Jewish History,
Tel Aviv University: DECAPOLIS;
HEROD I; LIBYA
Miriam Arad, Literary Critic,
Jerusalem: BEN-AMOTZ, DAHN
Shimshon Arad, Israel Diplomat,
Jerusalem: WHITE, THEODORE H.
Yitzchak Arad, Librarian and
Teacher, Jerusalem: CHAJES, ISAAC
BEN ABRAHAM; KIRSCHBRAUN, ELIJAH;
MAZUR, ELIYAHU; PERLMUTTER,
ABRAHAM ZEVI
Mordechai Arbell*, M.A.;
Former Israel Ambassador to
the Caribbean; Ben Zvi Institute,
Jerusalem: BARBADOS; CARIBBEANS,
SPANISH-PORTUGUESE NATION OF THE:
LA NACION; COLOMBIA; CURACAO;
DELVALLE LEVI MADURO, ERIC ARTURO;
DELVALLE, MAX SHALOM; DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC; GUIANA; HAITI; MADURO,
RICARDO; PANAMA; SURINAME;
TUCACAS; VALONA
Archiv Bibliographia Judaica
Staff, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-
Universitat, Frankfurt, Germany:
ISAACSOHN, SIEGEFRIED; KELLNER,
LEON; KOMPERT, LEOPOLD; KOREFF,
DAVID FERDINAND; KRACAUER, ISIDOR;
REICHER, EMANUEL; RIESSER, GABRIEL;
ROSIN, DAVID; SCHWAB, HERMANN;
SPANIER, ARTHUR; STERN-TAEUBLER,
SELMA; SUEDFELD, GABRIEL; SULZBACH,
ABRAHAM; TAEUBLER, EUGEN; ULLSTEIN;
VEIT, MORITZ; YORK-STEINER, HEINRICH
ELCHANAN
Morris Ardoin*, M.A.; Director,
Communications, Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, New York:
HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY
Moshe-Max Arend, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
KARA, JOSEPH
Ramie Arian*: YOUNG JUDAEA
Eliyahu Arieh, M.Sc.; Director
of the Seismological Laboratory,
Geological Survey of Israel,
Jerusalem: EARTHQUAKE; SAMUEL BEN
HANANIAH
Nachum Arieli, B.A.; Jerusalem:
ABRAHAM BEN DOV OF MEZHIRECH;
BARUCH BEN JEHIEL OF MEDZIBEZH
Allan Arkush*, Ph.D.; Judaic
Studies, Binghamton University,
Binghamton, New York:
MENDELSSOHN, MOSES
Abraham Arnold*, L.L.D.; Author,
Historian, Journalist; Member
Order of Canada, Association for
Canadian Jewish Studies, Jewish
Heritage Centre of Western
Canada, Winnipeg, Canada:
CHERNIACK, SAUL MARK; FREEDMAN,
SAMUEL; GRAY, MORRIS ABRAHAM;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
MANITOBA; ORLIKOW, DAVID; WINNIPEG;
ZOLF
Yaakov Arnold*: LIEBER, DAVID
Walter L. Arnstein, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign: STERN, ALFRED
Wellesley Aron, B.A.; Major
(Ret.), British Army; Tel Aviv: 1uUD
HABONIM
C.C. Aronsfeld, Researcher,
London: GRUEBER, HEINRICH
Shlomo Aronson, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Political Science, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ADENAUER,
KONRAD; GESTAPO; JAFFA; SS AND SD
Elia Samuele Artom, Dott.in
lett., Rabbi; Teacher of Hebrew
Language and Literature, Universita
degli Studi, Florence; Director and
Professor of the Collegio Rabbinico
Italiano, Florence and Rome:
ABISHAG THE SHUNAMMITE; SEGRE
Menachem E. Artom, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Civil Service Commission,
Jerusalem: CAPISTRANO, JOHN;
MITHRIDATES, FLAVIUS; MORTARA,
MARCO; PESARO, ABRAMO; PISA, DA;
SARDINIA; SEGRE, JOSHUA BENZION;
SEGRE, SALVATORE; SIXTUS OF SIENA;
TUSCANY; VOLTERRA; VOLTERRA,
MESHULLAM BEN MENAHEM,
DA
Pinhas Artzi, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Hebrew
and Semitic Languages, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan; Associate
Professor of Akkadian and Ancient
Near Eastern History, Tel Aviv
University: CUTH, CUTHAH; DAGON;
EUPHRATES; GELB, IGNACE JAY; GOSHEN;
GOZAN; KARKAR; MARDUK; PEKOD;
PERIZZITES; PICK, HAYYIM HERMANN;
RESEN; RESHEPH; RODANIM; SIHON;
TADMOR
Abraham Arzi, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Senior Teacher in Talmud, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan: AL
TIKREI; DELITZSCH, FRIEDRICH;
DREAMS; ETIQUETTE; KODASHIM; LEKET,
SHIKHHAH, AND PE’AH; MO’ED; RABBAH
BAR BAR HANA; RESHUT; TEREFAH;
TIKKUN SOFERIM; TOHOROT; ZAKEN
MAMRE
Solomon Asch, Ph.D.; Psychologist,
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Rutgers University, New Jersey:
WERTHEIMER, MAX
Dov Ashbel, Dr. Phil.; Emeritus
Associate Professor of Meteorology,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ATLAS, DAVID; BERSON, ARTHUR JOSEPH
STANISLAV; CONRAD, VICTOR; ISRAEL,
LAND OF: GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY; LESS,
EMIL; MACHTA, LESTER; MARGULES, MAX;
NAMIAS, JEROME; PEPPER, JOSEPH; RUBIN,
MORTON JOSEPH; WEXLER, HARRY
Robert Asher, M.A.; Lecturer in
History, City College of the City
University of New York: FELS; FILENE
Shmuel Ashkenazi, the Rabbi
Kook Institute, Jerusalem: AARON
BERECHIAH BEN MOSES OF MODENA;
DAVID BEN SAMUEL HA-LEVI; EDELS,
SAMUEL ELIEZER BEN JUDAH HA-LEVI;
EISENSTADT, ABRAHAM ZEVI HIRSCH BEN
JACOB; GOMBINER, ABRAHAM ABELE BEN
HAYYIM HA-LEVI; IBN HAYYIM, AARON;
SABA, ABRAHAM BEN JACOB; TYRNAU,
ISAAC
Dianne Ashton*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Rowan University, Glassboro, New
Jersey: GRATZ, REBECCA
Eliyahu Ashtor, Ph.D., Dr. Phil;
Professor of Moslem History and
Civilization, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ABRAHAM BEN DAVID
MAIMUNI; ABRAHAM BEN MAZHIR; ABU
AL-MUNAJJA SOLOMON BEN SHAYA; ABU
"IMRAN AL-TIELISI; ABU SA’D AL-TUSTARI;
ALEPPO; ALEXANDRIA; ALMERIA;
AMRAM; BAQUBA; BAR HEBRAEUS,
JOHANAN; BASRA; BEN SIMEON, RAPHAEL
AARON; BILBEIS; CAIRO; DAMANHUR;
DAMIRA; DAVID BEN ABRAHAM
MAIMUNI; DAVID BEN DANIEL; DAVID
BEN JOSHUA MAIMUNI; DUMUH; EDESSA;
EGYPT; EPHRAIM BEN SHEMARIAH; EZRA
BEN ABRAHAM BEN MAZHIR; FAIYUM;
FATIMIDS; HANOKH BEN MOSES; HASSAN
IBN HASSAN; HIBAT ALLAH, IBN JUMAY’
IBN ZAYN; HILLA; HISDAI IBN HISDAL,
ABU AL-FADL; HISDAI IBN SHAPRUT; IBN
AL-BARQULI; IBN KILLIS, ABU AL-FARAJ
YA'QUB IBN YUSUF; IBN YASHUSH, ISAAC
ABU IBRAHIM; IBRAHIM IBN YA'QUB OF
TORTOSA; IRBIL; JAZIRAT IBN "UMAR;
JEHOSEPH HA-NAGID; JERUSALEM; JESSE
BEN HEZEKIAH; JOSHUA BEN ABRAHAM
MAIMUNI; JUBAYL; KHARAJ AND JIZYA;
LEBANON; LEVI-PROVENGAL, EVARISTE;
MAHALLA AL-KUBRA; MAMLUKS;
MANN, JACOB; MANSURA; MEVORAKH
BEN SAADIAH; MINYAT ZIFTA; MOSES
BEN HANOKH; NAHRAI BEN NISSIM;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
NAHRAWAN; NETHANEL BEN MOSES
HA-LEVI; NISIBIS; QASR IBN HUBAYRAH;
RAHBAH, AL-; RAQQA; RASHID; SAHLAN
BEN ABRAHAM; SAID IBN HASAN; SARUJ;
SELJUKS; SHEMARIAH BEN ELHANAN;
SHIMON, JOSEPH BEN JUDAH IBN;
SHOLAL, NATHAN HA-KOHEN; SIDON;
SOLOMON BEN ELIJAH HA-KOHEN;
SPAIN; SUNBAT; SYRIA; TADEF; TANTA;
TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS; TRIPOLI;
TYRE; UKBARA; WASIT
Cyril Aslanov*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: JEWISH LANGUAGES; JUDEO-
FRENCH; JUDEO-GREEK; JUDEO-ITALIAN;
JUDEO-PROVENGAL
Simha Assaf, Rabbi; Rector and
Professor of Rabbinical and Geonic
Literature, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Justice of the Supreme
Court of Israel: AARON BEN JOSEPH
HA-LEVI; ABBAHU; ABIATHAR BEN ELIJAH
HA-KOHEN; ABRAHAM BEN ELIJAH
OF VILNA; ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC OF
NARBONNE; ABRAHAM BEN NATHAN;
ADRET, SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM; AHA
OF SHABHA; ALFASI, ISAAC BEN JACOB;
BUSTANAI BEN HANINAI; ELHANAN BEN
HUSHIEL; ELHANAN BEN SHEMARIAH;
ELIJAH BEN SOLOMON HA-KOHEN; GAON;
ISAAC; YESHIVOT
Yom Tov Assis*, Ph.D.; Department
of Jewish History, World Center
for Jewish Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: aBoaB,
IMMANUEL; ALCONSTANTINI; ALEMAN,
MATEO; ANUSIM; AUTO DA FE; AVILA;
BADAJOZ; BARBASTRO; BARCELONA;
BARCELONA, DISPUTATION OF; BARRIOS,
DANIEL LEVI DE; BARROS BASTO, ARTURO
CARLOS DE; BEJA; BELMONTE; BESALU;
BRAGANZA; BUITRAGO; BURGOS;
BURRIANA; CALAHORRA; CALATAYUD;
CANARY ISLANDS; CANTERA BURGOS,
FRANCISCO; CARDOZO, ISAAC; CARRION
DE LOS CONDES; CASTRO QUESADA,
AMERICO; CASTRO SARMENTO, JACOB
DE; CASTRO TARTAS, ISAAC DE; CASTRO,
PEDRO DE; CERVERA; CHILLON; CHUETAS;
CIUDAD REAL; CIUDAD RODRIGO;
COIMBRA; CUENCA; CURIEL; DAROCA;
DUENAS; ELCHE; ENRIQUEZ GOMEZ,
ANTONIO; ESCALONA; ESCUDERO,
LORENZO; ESTELLA; FERNANDES
VILLAREAL, MANOEL; HUESCA; IBN
ZADOK, SOLOMON; INQUISITION; JACA;
JAEN; LEON, LUIS DE; LERIDA; LIMPIEZA
DE SANGRE; MADRID; MAJORCA;
MURVIEDRO; OROBIO DE CASTRO, ISAAC;
PALENCIA; PAMPLONA; PLASENCIA;
SALAMANCA; SANTA COLOMA DE
49
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
QUERALT; SARAGOSSA; SEGOVIA; SEVILLE;
SORIA; TOLEDO; TUDELA
Alexander Astor, B.A. O.B.E.,
Rabbi; Auckland, New Zealand:
DAMASCUS; DAVIS, SIR ERNEST HYAM;
FISHER, SIR WOOLE
Alan Astro*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Trinity University, San Antonio,
Texas: AYALTI, HANAN J.; BERLINER,
ISAAC; BOTOSHANSKY, JACOB; GLANTZ,
JACOB; KHALYASTRE; WARSZAWSKI, OSER
Maurice (D.) Atkin, M.A.;
Economist, Washington, D.C.:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Tsevi Atsmon, M.A.; Rishon le-
Zion, Israel: RISHON LE-ZION
Robert Attal, Librarian, the Ben-
Zvi Institute and Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem: ALGERIA; AYDAN, DAVID;
BAHUZIM; BEKACHE, SHALOM;
CONSTANTINE; GOZLAN, ELIE; HAJJAJ,
DANIEL; LIBYA; SAMAMA, NESSIM;
SCIALOM, DAVID DARIO
David Atzmon, M.Jur.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Pierre Aubery, Ph.D.; Professor
of French Literature, the State
University of New York, Buffalo:
LECACHE, BERNARD; MANDEL,
ARNOLD
Bernard Auerbach’, L.L.M.;
Professor of Law (Retired),
University of Maryland: conTRACT;
THEFT AND ROBBERY
Jacob Auerbach, Jerusalem: TEMPLE
MOUNT; WESTERN WALL
Rachel Auerbach, Dipl.Hist.Psych.;
Historian, Jerusalem: TREBLINKA
Hanoch Avenary, Dr.Phil.; Senior
Lecturer in Musicology, Tel Aviv
University: ADDIR HU; AKDAMUT
MILLIN; ALEINU LE-SHABBE’AH; ALGAZI,
ISAAC BEN SOLOMON; ALGAZI, LEON; AL-
HARIZI, JUDAH BEN SOLOMON; ALMAN,
SAMUEL; ALTSCHUL, JOSEPH; AMEN;
AMIDAH; AVI AVI; AVODAH; BACHMANN,
JACOB; BAUER, JACOB; EDIRNE;
HAGGADAH, PASSOVER; IBN ABI AL-SALT;
KADDISH; MI-SINAI NIGGUNIM; MOSES
BEN JOSEPH HA-LEVI; MUSIC; NUSAH;
SHTAYGER
Moshe Avidan, Ambassador,
50
Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Jerusalem: FINLAND; POLAND
Moshe Avidor, Ph.D.; Former
Ambassador and Director General
of the Israel Academy of Sciences
and Humanities, Jerusalem:
ISRAEL ACADEMY OE SCIENCES AND
HUMANITIES; ISRAEL, STATE OF:
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Nachman Avigad, Ph.D.; Professor
of Archaeology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BET
SHE’ARIM; JERICHO
Avraham Avi-Hai, Ph.D.; Vice-
Provost, School for Overseas
Students, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
Gitta (Aszkenazy) Avinor, M.A.;
Critic, Haifa: AMIR, AHARON;
BARTOV, HANOCH; MEGGED, AHARON;
MOSSINSOHN, YIGAL; TAMMUZ,
BENJAMIN
Joseph Aviram, M.A.; Director of
the Institute of Archaeology, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Isaac Avishur, M.A.; Instructor
in Bible and Biblical History, the
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
BIBLE; DAN; EDOM; GEHAZI; ISAIAH;
NAOMI; NAPHTALI; SEPHARVAIM
Benad Avital, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
HISTORICAL SURVEY
Efrat E. Aviv*, M.A.; Jewish
History, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: IZMIR
Michael Avi-Yonah, Ph.D.;
Professor of Archaeology and of
the History of Art, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABEL
SHITTIM or SHITTIM; ABEL, AVEL; ABEL,
LOUIS FELIX; ABEL-BETH-MAACAH;
ABEL-MEHOLAH; ABILENE; ACHOR,
VALLEY OF; ACHSHAPH; ACHZIB; ACRE;
ADAM; ADORAIM; ADULLAM; AGRIPPINA;
AI or HA-Al; AKHBAREI/ACCHABARON;
ALAMAH; ALBRIGHT, WILLIAM FOXWELL;
ALMON or ALEMETH; ALT, ALBRECHT;
AMANA; AMMATHA; ANAB; ANATHOTH;
ANTHEDON; ANTIPATRIS; ANTONIA;
APHEK; APOLLONIA; ARABAH, THE;
ARBEL; ARCHELAIS; ARETHUSA;
ARGOB; AROER; ASHDOD; ASHKELON;
ASHTAROTH, ASHTEROTH-KARNAIM,
KARNAIM; ATAROTH; ATHLIT; AVELIM
or OVELIM; AZEKAH; AZMON; AZNOTH-
TABOR; BAALAH; BAAL-HAZOR;
BAAL-MEON; BAAL-PERAZIM; BAAL-
ZEPHON; BADE, WILLIAM FREDERIC;
BAHURIM; BANIAS; BASILICA; BEER;
BEEROTH; BEERSHEBA; BEN-DOR,
IMMANUEL; BENE-BERAK; BENJAMIN
OF TIBERIAS; BENZINGER, IMMANUEL;
BET AGLAYIM; BET ALFA; BET GUVRIN;
BET HARODON; BET NETOFAH; BET
YERAH; BET ZEKHARYAH; BET-ANATH;
BET-DAGON; BET-EL; BETHANY; BET-
HARAM; BETHBASI; BETHLEHEM;
BETHLEPTEPHA; BET-HORON;
BETHPHAGE; BETHSAIDA; BETHULIA;
BET-MAON; BET-NIMRAH; BET-REHOB;
BET-ZUR; BEZEK; BLISS, FREDERICK
JONES; BOZRAH; BURCHARDUS
DE MONTE SION; BURCKHARDT,
JOHANN LUDWIG; BUTNAH; CABUL;
CAESAREA; CAPERNAUM; CAPITOLIAS;
CARMEL; CARMEL, MOUNT; CHERITH;
CHORAZIN; CLERMONT-GANNEAU,
CHARLES; CONDER, CLAUDE REGNIER;
COZEBA; CROWEOOT, JOHN WINTER;
DAN; DEAD SEA; DEBIR; DEUTSCHER
PALAESTINA-VEREIN; DIUM; DOBRATH;
DOK; DOTHAN; DURA-EUROPUS; EBEN-
EZER; EDREI; EGLON; ELASA; ELATH;
ELEALEH; ELTEKEH; ELUSA; EMMAUS;
EN-DOR; EN-GANNIM; EN-HAROD;
EN-RIMMON; EN-ROGEL; EPHRON;
ESHTAOL; ESHTEMOA; ETAM; EUSEBIUS
PAMPHILI; FABRI, FELIX; GADARA;
GALILEE; GAMLA; GARSTANG, JOHN;
GATH; GATH-HEPHER; GATH-RIMMON;
GAZA; GEBA; GEDERAH, GEDEROTH;
GEDOR; GERASA; GEZER; GIBBETHON;
GILGAL; GISCALA; GITTAIM; GOFNAH;
GOLAN; GUERIN, VICTOR; GUY, PHILIP
LANGSTAFFE ORD; HABOR; HADAD;
HADID; HADRACH; HALHUL; HAM;
HAMMATH; HANNATHON; HAPHARAIM;
HAR HA-MELEKH; HAROSHETH-GOIIM;
HAURAN; HAVVOTH-JAIR; HAZER,
HAZERIM; HAZEROTH; HEBRON;
HEPHER; HERMON, MOUNT; HERODIUM;
HESHBON; HISTORY: THE AFTERMATH OF
THE FIRST ROMAN WAR; HOR; HORMAH;
HORONAIM; HUKOK; HULEH; HYRCANIA;
IBLEAM; IJON; IR-NAHASH; IRON; ISRAEL
EXPLORATION SOCIETY; ISRAEL, LAND
OF: GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY; JABBOK;
JABESH-GILEAD; JABNEEL; JABNEH;
JAHAZ, JAHAZA; JANOAH, JANAH; JAPHIA;
JARMUTH; JATTIR, JETHIRA; JAZER;
JEHOSHAPHAT, VALLEY OF; JERUSALEM;
JEZREEL; JEZREEL, VALLEY OF; JOKNEAM;
JORDAN; JOTABAH; JOTAPATA; JOTBATH,
JOTHBATAH; JUDEAN DESERT CAVES;
KABRITHA; KANAH; KARKAR; KARNAIM;
KEDEMOTH; KEFAR AKKO; KEFAR
BARAM; KEFAR DAROM; KEFAR GAMALA;
KEFAR HANANYAH; KEFAR HATTIN;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
KEFAR KANNA; KEFAR MANDI, KEFAR
NEBURAYA; KEFAR OTNAY; KEILAH;
KENATH; KENYON, DAME KATHLEEN
MARY; KERAK or CHARAX; KIDRON;
KINNERET, LAKE; KIR-HARESETH;
KIRIATH-JEARIM; KISHON; KLEIN,
SAMUEL; LEBANON; LEGIO; LIBNAH;
LO-DEBAR; LUZ; LYDDA; MAON; MAALEH
AKRABBIM; MACALISTER, ROBERT
ALEXANDER STEWART; MACHAERUS;
MADABA, MEDEBA; MAHANAIM;
MAIUMAS; MAKKEDAH; MAMPSIS;
MAMRE; MARESHAH; MAYER, LEO ARY;
MAZAR, BENJAMIN; MEGIDDO; MEROZ;
MICHMASH or MICHMAS; MIGDOL;
MINNITH; MISREPHOTH-MAIM; MIZPEH
or MIZPAH; MOAB; MODPIN; MOLADAH;
MORESHETH-GATH; MORIAH; MOUNT OF
OLIVES; MOZA; MUSIL, ALOIS; NAARAH;
NABLUS; NAHALAL or NAHALOL; NAIN;
NARBATA; NAVEH; NAZARETH; NEBO;
NEGEV; NETOPHAH; NIZZANAH; NOB;
ONO; OPHEL; OPHRAH; OSSUARIES and
SARCOPHAGI; PALESTINE EXPLORATION
FUND; PALMER, EDWARD HENRY; PARAH,
PERATH; PARAN; PEKTIN; PELLA or PAHAL;
PENUEL; PERROT, JEAN MICHAEL; PETRA;
PHASAELIS; PHOTIS; PISGAH; POCOCKE,
RICHARD; PRESS, YESHAYAHU; PUNON;
QUARESMIUS, FRANCISCUS; RABBAH;
RABBATH-AMMON; RAFA; RAMAH or
HA-RAMAH or HA-RAMATHAIM-ZOPHIM;
RAMLEH; RAMOTH; RAMOTH-GILEAD;
RED SEA; REHOBOTH; RIMMON-PEREZ;
ROBINSON, EDWARD; ROEHRICHT,
REINHOLD; RUMA or ARUMAH; SAFED;
SALCHAH; SARID; SARTABA; SAULCY,
LOUIS FELICIEN DE JOSEPH CAIGNART;
SCHICK, CONRAD; SCHUMACHER,
GOTTLIEB; SEETZEN, ULRICH JASPER;
SEIR, MOUNT; SENAAH or MIGDAL
SENAAH; SENNABRIS; SHAALBIM; SHALEM;
SHECHEM; SHEFARAM; SHEPHELAH;
SHIHIN or ASOCHIS; SHIHOR, SHIHOR-
LIBNATH; SHILOAH, SILOAM; SHILOH;
SHIMRON; SHIVTAH or SOBATA; SHUNEM;
SHUSHAN; SICHAR; SIKHNIN or SOGANE;
SIN, WILDERNESS OF; SINAI; SMITH, SIR
GEORGE ADAM; SOCOH OR SOCO; SODOM
AND GOMORRAH; SOREK, VALLEY OF;
STARKEY, JOHN LLEWELYN; STEKELIS,
MOSHE; SUCCOTH; SUKENIK, ELIEZER
LIPA; SUSITA OR HIPPOS; SYNAGOGUE;
TAANACH; TABGHA; TABOR, MOUNT;
TAMAR; TEKOA; TEMPLE; THEBEZ;
THOMSEN, PETER; TIBERIAS; TIMNATH-
HERES, TIMNATH-SERAH; TIRZAH; TIVON;
TRANSJORDAN; TYRE OF THE TOBIADS;
USHA; VINCENT, LOUIS HUGUES; VOGUE,
CHARLES EUGENE MELCHIOR, COMTE
DE; WADI DALIYA; WAR AND WARFARE;
WARREN, SIR CHARLES; WATZINGER,
CARL; WEIGAND, THEODOR; WILSON, SIR
CHARLES WILLIAM; WINCKLER, HUGO;
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
WOOLLEY, SIR CHARLES LEONARD;
YARKON; YARMUK; YEIVIN, SHEMUEL;
ZANOAH; ZAPHON; ZAREPHATH;
ZARETHAN; ZEMARAIM; ZERED;
ZEREDAH; ZIKLAG; ZIPH; ZORAH
Jane (Adashko) Avner*, Ph.D.;
Archivist and Consultant,
Milwaukee Jewish Historical Society,
Milwaukee; Former Associate
Curator of Jewish History at the
Western Reserve Historical Society,
Cleveland: AKRON; CLEVELAND;
LAURA AND ALVIN SIEGAL COLLEGE OF
JUDAIC STUDIES; LEWIS, PETER B.; OHIO;
SAPIRSTEIN-STONE-WEISS
FAMILY
Zvi Avneri (Hans Lichtenstein),
Dr.Phil.; Senior Lecturer in Jewish
History, Haifa University: AARON BEN
JOSEPH HA-ROFE; ABNER OF BURGOS;
ABOAB, ISAAC II; ABRABANEL, ISAAC
BEN JUDAH; ABU ’ISA, ISAAC BEN JACOB
AL-ISFAHINI; ABUDARHAM; ABUDARHAM,
DAVID BEN JOSEPH; ABULAFIA, SAMUEL
BEN MEIR HA-LEVI; ABULAFIA, SAMUEL
HA-LEVI; ADLER, NATHAN BEN SIMEON
HA-KOHEN; ALBALIA, BARUCH BEN ISAAC;
ALBALIA, ISAAC BEN BARUCH; ALDUBI,
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES BEN ISMAIL;
ALFONSO DE OROPESA; ANDERNACH;
ANHALT; ANSBACH; ARONIUS, JULIUS;
AUGSBURG; AVELEI ZION; BACHARACH;
BARCELONA; BASLE; BAVARIA; BAYONNE;
BEAUCAIRE; BEDERSI, ABRAHAM
BEN ISAAC; BENVENISTE DE PORTA;
BENVENISTE, ABRAHAM; BENVENISTE,
SHESHET BEN ISAAC BEN JOSEPH;
BERG; BERGHEIM; BERNE; BESANGON;
BEZIERS; BIELEFELD; BINGEN; BLOIS;
BRESSLAU, HARRY; BRUNSWICK; BURGOS;
BUXTORE, JOHANNES; DUESSELDORE;
DUISBURG; EISENMENGER, JOHANN
ANDREAS; EMDEN; EPSTEIN, ABRAHAM;
ERFURT; FERRER, VICENTE; GENEVA;
HALBERSTADT; HALLE; HAMBURG;
HAMELN; HANOVER; HEIDELBERG;
HEINEMANN, JEREMIAH; HESSE;
HILDESHEIM; IBN ALFAKHAR; IBN
SHOSHAN; IBN WAQAR; MEHLSACK,
ELIAKIM BEN JUDAH HA-MILZAHGI;
OBERMEYER, JACOB; OFFENBACH;
OFFENBURG; OLDENBURG; OPPENHEIM;
OPPENHEIMER, JOSEPH BEN ISSACHAR
SUESSKIND; SHEMARIAH BEN ELIJAH
BEN JACOB; VERBAND DER VEREINE
FUER JUEDISCHE GESCHICHTE UND
LITERATUR; WANDSBECK; WASSERMANN,
JAKOB; WESTPHALIA; WOLE, GERSON;
WORMS; WUERTTEMBERG
Arie Avnerre, M.A.; Israel
Broadcasting Authority, Jerusalem
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Haim Avni, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Contemporary Jewry, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AGRICULTURE; AMIA; ARGENTINA; CHILE;
ENTRE RIOS; LATIN AMERICA; PORTUGAL;
SPAIN
Yitzhak Avni, Director of the Israel
Government Coins and Medals
Corporation, Jerusalem:
MEDALS
Moshe A. Avnimelech, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of Geology and
Paleontology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem:
BLANCKENHORN, MAX; OPPENHEIM,
PAUL LEO
Mindy (Beth) Avrich-Skapinker*,
Ph.D.; Member, Immigration and
Refugee Board, Toronto, Canada:
LASTMAN, MELVIN DOUGLAS; NEWMAN,
PETER CHARLES; REISMAN, HEATHER;
SCHWARTZ, GERALD
Leila Avrin, Ph.D.; Teaching Fellow,
School of Library and Archive
Studies, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: CALLIGRAPHY, MODERN
HEBREW; SPITZER, MOSHE
Dov Avron, Ph.D.; Historian,
Tel Aviv: GNIEZNO; GREAT POLAND;
POZNAN
Benjamin Maria Baader*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor, University of
Manitoba, Canada: DIE DEBORAH
Menachem Babitz, M.A.,
Ing.; Senior Research Fellow,
the Technion Research and
Development Foundation, Haifa
Gabriel Bach, LL.B.; State Attorney
of the State of Israel, Jerusalem
Gideon Bach’, Professor,
Chairman, Department of Human
Genetics, Hadassah University
Hospital, Jerusalem: GENETIC
DISEASES IN JEWS
Roberto Bachi, Ph.D., Dr.Jur.;
Professor of Statistics and
Demography, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem
Bernard Bachrach, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Medieval History,
the University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis: CLOTAIRE II;
RECCARED
51
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Gershon Bacon*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: IDOLATRY;
JUDGES, THE BOOK OF; SCHENIRER,
SARAH; SHIMEI; TABEEL, THE SON OF;
ZAMZUMMIM; ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA;
ZIMRI; ZIMRI
Yohanan Bader, Dr.Jur.; Member
of the Knesset, Ramat Gan: BEGIN,
MENAHEM
Avner Bahat, B.A.; Kefar Masaryk:
ZEFIRA, BRACHAH
Dan Bahat*, Ph.D.; Professor,
University of St. Michael College,
University of Toronto, Canada:
WESTERN WALL
Jacob Bahat, Senior Lecturer in
Hebrew Language and Literature,
Haifa University: HAZAZ, HAYYIM
Henry Eli Baker, B.C.L., LL.B.;
President of the District Court,
Jerusalem; Research Fellow in the
Law Faculty, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: LEGAL
AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Zachary M. Baker*, B.A., M.A.,
M.L.S.; Reinhard Family Curator
of Judaica & Hebraica Collections,
Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, California: ABRAMOWICZ,
DINA
Carol Bakhos*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Late Antique Judaism,
University of California, Los
Angeles: AGGADAH
Avraham Balaban’, Ph.D.;
Professor of Modern Hebrew
Literature, University of Florida:
AVIDAN, DAVID; HOURVITZ, YAIR;
KAHANA-CARMON, AMALIA; OZ, AMOS;
ZELDA
Meir Balaban, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Professor of Jewish History, Warsaw:
CALAHORA; SAMBOR
Rifat Bali*, Graduate of Sorbonne
University, Ecole Pratique Des
Hautes Etudes, Istanbul, Turkey:
ALATON, ISHAK; ASSEO, DAVID;
BENAROYA, AVRAM; CHALOM, MARCEL;
FARHI, MORIS; FRANCO, GAD; FRESCO,
DAVID; GARTH, UZEYIR; GEREZ, JOSEF
HABIB; HALEVA, ISAK; HUBES, ROZET;
KAMHI, JAK V.; KANETI, SELIM; KARASU,
52
ALBERT; KOHEN, ALBERT; KOHEN, SAMI;
LEVI, MARIO; LEYON, AVRAM; MENDA,
ELIEZER; VENTURA, MICHON
Carole B. Balin*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
New York: DUBNOW-ERLICH, SOPHIA;
MARKEL-MOSESSOHN, MIRIAM
Ivan Jay Ball, Jr., B.A., B.D.; Foothill
Community College, Los Altos
Hills, California: ZEPHANIAH
Kurt Jakob Ball-Kaduri, Dr.Jur.;
Historian, Tel Aviv: BERLIN; STAHL,
HEINRICH
Shlomo Balter, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Bible, the City
University of New York: EN-DoR,
WITCH OE; GERSHON, GERSHONITES;
JONATHAN; PUT; ROD OF AARON; ROD OF
MOSES; SHAMMAH
Bernard J. Bamberger, D.D., Rabbi;
President of the World Union for
Progressive Judaism, New York:
ANGELS AND ANGELOLOGY; BLANK,
SHELDON HAAS; BUTTENWIESER,
MOSES; LAUTERBACH, JACOB ZALLEL;
MORGENSTERN, JULIAN; NEPHILIM;
PARADISE
Arnold J. Band*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Hebrew, the University
of California, Los Angeles: AGNON,
SHMUEL YOSEF; ASSOCIATION FOR
JEWISH STUDIES; BERDYCZEWSKI, MICHA
JOSEF
Menahem Banitt, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of French, Tel Aviv
University: BLONDHEIM, DAVID SIMON;
JUDEO-FRENCH; LAXAZ
Rivka Irene Banitt, M.A.; Research
Assistant in Sociology, the Institute
of Criminology, Tel Aviv University:
BELGIUM
Judith Barack, M.S.; Writer, New
York
Pessah Bar-Adon, Director,
Archaeological Expedition in the
Judean Desert, Jerusalem: JUDEAN
DESERT CAVES
Dan P. Barag, Ph.D.; Professor of
Archaeology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: GLASS
Oren Barak’, Ph.D.; Lecturer of
Political Science and International
Relations, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: BEIRUT; LEBANON;
SIDON
Zevi Baras, Jerusalem: LOISY, ALFRED
FIRMIN
Jerry Barasch, Department of
External Relations, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: HEBREW
UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
Moshe Barasch, Professor of
Architecture and Fine Arts, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Shalom Bar-Asher*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BACRI; CASABLANCA
Jack Barbash, M.A.; Professor
of Economics, the University of
Wisconsin, Madison: ADVERTISING
Molly Lyons Bar-David, Journalist,
Tel Aviv: FOOD; HAROSET
Haim Bar-Dayan, Dr. Phil;
Instructor in the History of Music
and Art, the Rubin Academy of
Music, Jerusalem: BAER, ABRAHAM;
BIRNBAUM, EDUARD; ELI ZIYYON VE-
AREHA; GNESIN, MIKHAIL FABIANOVICH;
KIPNIS, MENAHEM; MILNER, MOSES
MICHAEL; VINAVER, CHEMJO
Elinoar Bareket*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer (History of the Jewish
People in the Middle Ages), Achva
Academic College, Shikmim, Israel:
NAGID
Adina Bar-El*, Ph.D.; Researcher,
Author, Lecturer, Achva College of
Education, Achva, Shikmim, Israel:
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Naftali Bar-Giora, Jewish Agency,
Jerusalem: BENE ISRAEL
Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, Ph.D.;
Professor of Logic and the
Philosophy of Science, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: CHOMSKY,
NOAM AVRAM
Avraham Barkai*, Ph.D.;
Independent Scholar, Leo Baeck
Institute, Jerusalem: C. v.-ZEITUNG;
CENTRAL-VEREIN DEUTSCHER
STAATSBUERGER JUEDISCHEN
GLAUBENS
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Haim Barkai*, Ph.D.; Economics,
Professor Emeritus, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Zeev Barkai, M.A.; Jerusalem:
SUGAR INDUSTRY AND TRADE; TEXTILES;
TOBACCO TRADE AND INDUSTRIES
Menahem Zvi Barkay, M.A.; Senior
Librarian, the Jewish National and
University Library, Jerusalem
Isadore Barmash, Journalist, New
York: BERNBACH, WILLIAM; RUBINSTEIN,
HELENA
Jacob Barnai, M.A.; Assistant
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: DAVID
BEN SHIMEON; RABINOWICH, ELIYAHU
AKIVA; ROKEAH or ROKAH, ELAZAR BEN
SHMELKE; VAAD HA-PEKIDIM VE-HA-
AMARKALIM; VAX'AD PEKIDEI EREZ ISRAEL
BE-KUSHTA
Victoria J. Barnett*, M.Div., Union
Theological Seminary, New York,
Staff Director, Church Relations,
US. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
Washington, D.C.: HOLOCAUST
Hanan Bar-On, Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: ETHIOPIA
Lawrence Baron’, Ph.D.; Nasatir
Professor of Modern Jewish History,
San Diego State University, San
Diego, California: HOLOCAUST
Lori Baron*: FRIEDMAN, HERBERT A.
Salo W. Baron, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Emeritus Professor of Jewish
History, Literature and Institutions,
Columbia University, New York:
CALVIN, JOHN; CHAJES, HIRSCH
PEREZ; CONFERENCE ON JEWISH
SOCIAL STUDIES; ECONOMIC HISTORY;
ISRAELITISCH-THEOLOGISCHE
LEHRANSTALT; POPULATION
Zvi Avraham Bar-On, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Philosophy, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
James Barr, D.D., E.B.A.; Professor
of Semitic Languages and Literature,
the University of Manchester,
England: LINGUISTIC LITERATURE,
HEBREW
Sylvia J. Barras, Wilkes-Barre and
Kingston.
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
David Bar-Rav-Hay, Advocate;
Former Member of the Knesset,
Haifa: BLUMENFELD, HERMANN
FADEEVICH; GOLDENWEISER,
ALEXANDER SOLOMONOVICH; PASSOVER,
ALEXANDER
Joel Barromi, DrJur.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Israel Bar Tal, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BAUM,
MENAHEM MENDEL BEN AARON OF
KAMENETZ
Yossi (Yosef) Bartov*, Ph.D.; Chief
Scientist, Ministry of National
Infrastructure, Jerusalem: BENTOR,
JACOB
Lois Bar-Yaacov, B.A.; Tel Aviv:
HISTADRUT
Elinor Barzacchi-Kommisar,
D.E.A.; District Architect of the
Jerusalem District, Ministry of
Housing, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
CULTURAL LIFE
Hillel Barzel, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebrew and World
Literature, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: KURZWEIL, BARUCH
Joshua Barzilay (Folman), M.A.;
Ramat Gan: WESSELY, NAPHTALI HERZ
Eliezer Bashan (Sternberg),
M.A,; Instructor in Jewish History,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
EXILARCH; HASAN, ABU ALI JEPHETH
IBN BUNDAR; JOSEPH BEN JACOB BAR
SATIA; JOSIAH BEN AARON HE-HAVER;
JUDAH BEN JOSEPH OF KAIROUAN;
KOHEN ZEDEK OF PUMBEDITA; MADMUN
BEN JAPHETH BEN BUNDAR; NAGID;
NEHARDEA; OMAR IBN AL-KHATTAB;
OMAR, COVENANT OF; PUMBEDITA;
SOLOMON BEN JUDAH; SURA; UMAYYADS
Judith R. Baskin*, Ph.D.; Knight
Professor of Humanities; Director,
Harold Schnitzer Family Program
in Judaic Studies, University of
Oregon: ABLUTION; ABRASS, OSIAS;
ADLER, POLLY; ALEXANDER, BEATRICE;
AMULET; ARENDT, HANNAH; ASCETICISM;
BARRENNESS AND FERTILITY; BARRON,
JENNIE LOITMAN; BLOOD; BRINIG,
MYRON; CHAGALL, BELLA ROSENFELD;
CIRCUMCISION; DULCEA OF WORMS;
FESTIVALS; FLORETA CA NOGA; FREHA
BAT AVRAHAM; GINSBURG, RUTH JOAN
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BADER; GREENBLATT, ALIZA WAITZMAN;
HALLAH; HASIDISM; HASKALAH; HEAD,
COVERING OF THE; HISTORIOGRAPHY;
JEWISH STUDIES; JOB, BOOK OF;
JOCHSBERGER, TZIPORA; KARFF, MONA
MAY; KRESSYN, MIRIAM; LIEBMANN,
ESTHER SCHULHOFF AARON and JOST;
MIKVEH; NIDDAH; PETERS, ROBERTA;
PIONEER WOMEN; POWDERMAKER,
HORTENSE; PRIESAND, SALLY JANE;
PULCELINA OF BLOIS; RABBI, RABBINATE;
RASHI; REBBETZIN; RESNIK, JUDITH
ARLENE; SIMON, KATE; TUSSMAN,
MALKA HEIFETZ; WASSERSTEIN, WENDY;
WOMAN: EARLY MODERN PERIOD TO 1800
IN EUROPE; WOMAN: ISRAEL; WOMAN:
MEDIEVAL, CHRISTIAN WORLD; WOMAN:
MODERN PERIOD IN CENTRAL AND
WESTERN EUROPE
Samantha Baskind*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor, Art History,
Cleveland State University,
Cleveland, Ohio: ADLER, SAMUEL
M.; ART: UNITED STATES; BAIZERMAN,
SAUL; BARNET, WILL; BASKIN, LEONARD;
BENN, BEN; BEN-ZION; BERNSTEIN,
THERESA; BLOOM, HYMAN; BLUME,
PETER; BOLOTOWSKY, ILYA; BOROFSKY,
JONATHAN; CARVALHO, SOLOMON
NUNES; CHICAGO, JUDY; DAVIDSON,
JO; DINE, JIM; EILSHEMIUS, LOUIS
M.; EZEKIEL, MOSES JACOB; FERBER,
HERBERT; FRANKENTHALER, HELEN;
GOLUB, LEON; GOTTLIEB, ADOLPH;
GREENBERG, CLEMENT; GROPPER,
WILLIAM; GUSTON, PHILIP; GUTMANN,
JOSEPH; HIRSCH, JOSEPH; KATZ, ALEX;
KITAJ, R. B.; KRASNER, LEE; KRUGER,
BARBARA; LASSAW, IBRAM; LEVINE,
JACK; LEWITT, SOL; LICHTENSTEIN,
ROY; LIPTON, SEYMOUR; LOUIS,
MORRIS; LOZOWICK, LOUIS; MOSLER,
HENRY; NEVELSON, LOUISE; OLITSKI,
JULES; PEARLSTEIN, PHILIP; RATTNER,
ABRAHAM; RIVERS, LARRY; ROTHKO,
MARK; SEGAL, GEORGE; SERRA, RICHARD;
SOYER, MOSES; SOYER, RAPHAEL;
ZORACH, WILLIAM
Jack Bass, B.A.; New York
Yomtov Ludwig Bato, Dr. Phil;
Historian, Ramat Hen, Israel:
VIENNA; WERTHEIMER, SAMSON
Geulah Bat Yehuda (Raphael),
M.A.; Writer, Jerusalem: ELYASHAR,
JACOB SAUL BEN ELIEZER JEROHAM;
HAUSDORE, AZRIEL ZELIG; LAPIDOT,
ALEXANDER MOSES; LAPIN, ISRAEL
MOSES FISCHEL; MEIR, JACOB; PANIGEL,
ELIYAHU MOSHE; SALANT, SAMUEL;
SPEKTOR, ISAAC ELHANAN
53
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Fritz Bauer, Dr.Jur.; Prosecutor
of War Criminals, Frankfurt on
the Main: ZENTRALE STELLE DER
LANDESJUSTIZVERWALTUNGEN
Yehuda Bauer, Ph.D.; Historian,
Professor and Head of the Institute
of Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BAERWALD,
PAUL; BECKELMAN, MOSES W,; BERGEN-
BELSEN; BERIHAH; HOLOCAUST;
HOLOCAUST, RESCUE FROM; HYMAN,
JOSEPH C.; JORDAN, CHARLES
HAROLD; LEAVITT, MOSES A.; ROSEN,
JOSEPH A.
Dorothy Bauhoff*, M.A.;
Independent Author and
Researcher, East Taghkanic, New
York: ABRAMS, MEYER H.; AKERLOE,
GEORGE A.; DINER, HASIA R.; EISEN,
ARNOLD; ELIAS, NORBERT; ENDELMAN,
TODD M.; FEINBERG, KENNETH;
FELDMAN, LOUIS H.; FISH, STANLEY;
FREEDMAN, JAMES O.; FRYMER-KENSKY,
TIKVA; GLOCK, CHARLES Y.; GOLB,
NORMAN; GOLDBERG, HARVEY E.;
GREENBERG, JOSEPH; GUTMANN, AMY;
KAUFMAN, IRVING R.; KORMAN, EDWARD
R.; KOZINKSI, ALEX; KRAVITCH, PHYLLIS;
KUHN, THOMAS S.; LEVIN, RICHARD
C.; LEWIS, I. M.; LINGLE, LINDA; MIKVA,
ABNER J.; MILGRAM, STANLEY; NOVAK,
DAVID; PUTNAM, HILARY; REINHARDT,
STEPHEN R.; RODIN, JUDITH; ROSENBERG,
HAROLD; ROSKIES, DAVID G.; RUBIN,
ROBERT E.; SAHLINS, MARSHALL;
SHAPIRO, HAROLD; SMITH, JONATHAN
Z.; SOFAER, ABRAHAM; SONNENFELDT,
HELMUT; SPERBER, DAN; SPITZER, LEO;
SPORKIN, STANLEY; WEINER, ANTHONY;
WEINFELD, EDWARD; WEINSTEIN, JACK
B.; WISSE, RUTH R.; WOLFE, ALAN S.;
WOLFSON, ELLIOT; WOLPE, HOWARD
ELIOT
Mark K. Bauman”, Ph.D.; Editor,
Southern Jewish History; Professor of
History (retired), Southern Jewish
Historical Society, Ellenwood,
Georgia: EPSTEIN, HARRY H.
David Baumgardt, Dr. Phil;
Professor of Philosophy, the
University of Berlin; Consultant
on Philosophy to the Library
of Congress, Washington, D.C.:
CASSIRER, ERNST; HERDER, JOHANN
GOTTERIED; LAZARUS, NAHIDA RUTH;
LEVI-STRAUSS, CLAUDE
Albert I. Baumgarten, M.A.;
Adjunct Lecturer in History, the
Herbert H. Lehman College of the
54
City University of New York: scROLL
OF ESTHER
Elisheva Baumgarten’, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, Department of Jewish
History and Gender Studies
Program, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: BIRTH, GENDER
Jean Baumgarten”, Ph.D.;
Professor, Directeur de recherche,
Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France:
BOBE-MAYSE; HARKAVY, ALEXANDER;
LIEBERMAN, CHAIM; SHMERUK, CHONE;
WEINREICH, MAX; ZINBERG, ISRAEL
Walter Baumgartner, Dr.Phil.;
Emeritus Professor of Bible and
Oriental Languages, the University
of Basle: PRIS, JOSEPH
Diane Baxter*, Ph.D.; Instructor,
Anthropology, The University of
Oregon: ANTHROPOLOGY
Steve (Harold Steven) Bayar”,
B.A. M.A., Rabbi; Congregation
Bnai Israel, Millburn, New Jersey:
GRUENEWALD, MAX
Bathja Bayer, Ph.D.; Librarian of
the Music Department, the Jewish
National and University Library,
Jerusalem: ABRAHAM; AGUILAR,
EMANUEL ABRAHAM; AUER, LEOPOLD;
BEKKER, PAUL; BELSHAZZAR; BEN SIRA,
WISDOM OF; BENTWICH; BIBLE; BINDER,
ABRAHAM WOLF; CANTILLATION; COSTA,
URIEL DA; DA PONTE, LORENZO; DAVID;
EL MALE RAHAMIM; ELIJAH; GERNSHEIM,
FRIEDRICH; GERSHWIN, GEORGE;
GOLDFADEN, ABRAHAM; GUSIKOW,
JOSEPH MICHAEL; HALLELUJAH;
HASMONEANS; HA-TIKVAH; HEROD I;
HOLLAENDER; ISAIAH; JACOB; JACOB;
JEPHTHAH; JEREMIAH; JERUSALEM;
JOACHIM, JOSEPH; JOB, BOOK OF; JONAH,
BOOK OF; JOSEPH; JOSEPHSON; JOSHUA;
JUDITH, BOOK OF; KALMAN, EMMERICH;
KARACZEWSKI, HANINA; KEDUSHAH;
KOL NIDREI; LAMENTATIONS, BOOK
OF; LAVRY, MARC; LEKHAH DODI;
LEWANDOWSKI, LOUIS; LOVY, ISRAEL;
MAOZ ZUR; MAQAM; MOSES; MUSIC;
NADEL, ARNO; NARDI, NAHUM; NATHAN,
ISAAC; NAUMBOURG, SAMUEL; NAVON,
ISAAC ELIYAHU; OFFENBACH, ISAAC;
ORGAN; PARTOS, OEDOEN; PSALMS,
BOOK OF; RACHEL; ROMANOS MELODOS;
ROZSAVOLGYI, MARK; SALMON, KAREL;
SALOME; SAMBURSKY, DANIEL; SAMSON;
SAUL; SCHMIDT, JOSEPH; SECUNDA,
SHOLOM; SEIBER, MATYAS GYORGY;
SETER, MORDECHAI; SHARETT, YEHUDAH;
SHELEM, MATTITYAHU; SHESTAPOL,
WOLF; SINGER, JOSEF; SOCIETY FOR
JEWISH FOLK MUSIC,; SODOM AND
GOMORRAH; SOLOMON; SONG OF SONGS;
STERNBERG, ERICH-WALTER; STRAUS,
OSCAR; STUTSCHEWSKY, JOACHIM;
SUSANNA AND THE ELDERS; TALMUD,
MUSICAL RENDITION; THALBERG,
SIGISMUND; TOBIT, BOOK OF; WERNER,
ERIC; YIGDAL; ZEIRA, MORDECHAI
Steven Bayme”, Ph.D.; National
Director, Contemporary Jewish
Life Department; American Jewish
Committee, Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
EDAH
Michael J. Bazyler*, Professor
of Law and The "1939" Club Law
Scholar in Holocaust and Human
Rights Studies, Whittier Law School,
Costa Mesa, California: CALABRESI,
GUIDO; REPARATIONS, GERMAN; WAR
CRIMES TRIALS
Walton Bean, Ph.D.; Professor of
History, the University of California,
Berkeley: RUE ABRAHAM
Elieser Beck, Kibbutz Kefar ha-
Maccabi: ZILINA
Arthur Beer, Ph.D., ER.A.S.;
Lately Senior Observer at the
Observatories, the University
of Cambridge: ABELMANN, ILYA
SOLOMOVITCH; ASTRONOMY;
BEMPORAD, AZEGLIO; COHN,
BERTHOLD; COHN, FRITZ; EPSTEIN,
PAUL SOPHUS; FINLAY-FREUNDLICH,
ERWIN; GOLDSCHMIDT, HERMANN;
IBN SAID, ISAAC; ISRAELI, ISAAC
BEN JOSEPH; LOEW, MORITZ; LOEWY,
MAURICE; MASHAALLAH B. ATHAN;
PRAGER, RICHARD; RUBENSON, ROBERT;
SCHLESINGER, FRANK; SCHUSTER, SIR
ARTHUR; SCHWARZSCHILD, KARL
Helen Beer*, Dr.Phil.; Lecturer
in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Jewish
Studies, University College of
London, England: MANGER, ITZIK
Moshe Beer, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: ABBA BAR
MARTA; ABBA OF AKKO; ABBA OSHAYA
OF TIRIAH; ACADEMIES IN BABYLONIA
AND EREZ ISRAEL; ARDAVAN; BE-HOZAI;
DIMI OF NEHARDEA; HABBAR, HABBAREI;
HAGRONIA; HUZAL; ISSACHAR; MAHOZA;
MATA MEHASYA; NARESH; NEHUTEI;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
NISIBIS; PUMBEDITA; RABBAH BEN
SHILAH; RAV; RAVA; RAVINA; SAMUEL;
SHAPUR; SHEKANZIB; SIMEON BEN
LAKISH; TANHUMA BAR ABBA
Emmanuel Beeri, M.A.; Jerusalem:
AMENITIES, COMMUNAL; BERTHOLD
OF FREIBURG; CALMER, MOSES
ELIEZER LIEFMANN; CHATEAUBRIAND,
FRANGOIS RENE, VICOMTE DE; CIVILTA
CATTOLICA, LA; CLERMONT-TONNERRE,
COUNT STANISLAS DE; KAHN, LOUIS;
LANGALLERIE, PHILIPPE GENTIL DE;
LEVEN, NARCISSE; MIRABEAU, HONORE
GABRIEL RIQUETI, COMTE DE; MONTI DI
PIETA; MORPURGO; MUSSOLINI, BENITO;
PREZIOSI, GIOVANNI; ROEDERER, COUNT
PIERRE LOUIS; STUDENTS’ FRATERNITIES,
GERMAN
Doron M. Behar*, M.D., Ph.D.;
Physician, Research Scientist,
Rambam Medical Center, Haifa:
GENETIC ANCESTRY, JEWISH
Arnold Beichman, M.A.; Lecturer
in Politics, the University of
Massachusetts, Boston: GOLDBERG,
ARTHUR JOSEPH
Alexander Bein, Dr. Phil.; Former
State Archivist, Former Director
of the Central Zionist Archives,
Jerusalem: ARCHIVES; BLUMENFELD,
KURT YEHUDAH; BODENHEIMER,
MAX ISIDOR; ETTINGER, AKIVA JACOB;
OLIPHANT, LAURENCE; RUPPIN, ARTHUR
Haim Beinart, Ph.D.; Professor
of Medieval Jewish History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ALBARRACIN; ALCONSTANTINI; ALFONSO
DE ESPINA; ALMAGRO; ALMERIA;
BADAJOZ; BALAGUER; BARBASTRO;
BARCELONA; BARCELONA, DISPUTATION
OF; BESALU; BIEL; BRIVIESCA; BUITRAGO;
BURRIANA; CADIZ; CALAHORRA;
CALATAYUD; CALATRAVA; CANARY
ISLANDS; CARMONA; CARRION DE LOS
CONDES; CARTAJENA; CASTELLON DE
LA PLANA; CASTROJERIZ; CAVALLERIA,
DE LA; CEA; CERVERA; CHILLON;
CIUDAD REAL; CIUDAD RODRIGO;
COCA; CORDOBA; CORUNNA; CUENCA;
DAROCA; DENIA; DUENAS; ECIJA; ECIJA,
JOSEPH; ELCHE; ELVIRA; ESCALONA;
ESTELLA; FERRER, VICENTE; FERRIZUEL,
JOSEPH HA-NASI; GERONA; GRANADA;
GUADALAJARA; GUADALUPE; HARO;
HERRERA DE PISUEGRA; HUESCA; HUETE;
ILLESCAS; JACA; JAEN; JATIVA; JEREZ DE
LA FRONTERA; LA GUARDIA, HOLY CHILD
OF; LEA, HENRY CHARLES; LEON; LERIDA;
LLERENA; LORKI, JOSHUA; LUCENA;
MADRID; MAJORCA; MALAGA; MAQUEDA;
MEDINA DE POMAR; MEDINA DEL
CAMPO; MEDINACELI; MERIDA; MILLAS
VALLICROSA, JOSE MARIA; MINORCA;
MIRANDA DE EBRO; MONTCLUS;
MONTIEL; MONZON; MURCIA;
MURVIEDRO; NAJERA; OCANA; OLMEDO;
ORABUENA; ORENSE; ORIHUELA;
PALENCIA; PALMA, LA; PAMPLONA;
PERPIGNAN; PLASENCIA; SALAMANCA;
SANTA COLOMA DE QUERALT;
SARAGOSSA; SEGOVIA; SEPULVEDA;
SEVILLE; SORIA; TARRAGONA; TOLEDO;
TORTOSA; TORTOSA, DISPUTATION OF;
TUDELA; VALENCIA
Malachi Beit-Arie, Ph.D.; Research
Worker, the Jewish National and
University Library, Jerusalem:
COLOPHON; PEREK SHIRAH
Michael Beizer, Ph.D.;
Director, Centre for the Study
and Documentation of East
European Jewry, Jerusalem:
AZERBAIJAN; BELARUS; GEORGIA;
KAZAKHSTAN; KYRGYZSTAN; LATVIA;
LITHUANIA; MOLDOVA; PRESS; RUSSIA;
TADZHIKISTAN; UKRAINE; UZBEKISTAN
Margalit Bejarano*, Ph.D.;
Researcher and Teacher, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AvNI, HAIM;
BACHI, ROBERTO; BLIS, DAVID; COSTA
RICA; CUBA; EL SALVADOR; FESELA;
GROBART, FABIO; HAVANA; KAPLAN,
SENDER MEYER; LATIN AMERICA; LEVY,
SION; LIWERANT SZCLAR, DANIEL;
SITTEON DABBAH, SHAUL DAVID
Avi Beker: UNITED NATIONS
Judith Belinfante: AN-ski
COLLECTIONS
Randall C. Belinfante*, M.A., M.S.,
M.A., M.S.L.; Librarian/ Archivist,
American Sephardic Federation,
New York: LEVY, ALBERT J.
David Bellos, Ph.D.; Professor
of Literature, University of
Manchester: PEREC, GEORGES
Ruth Beloff*, B.A.; Writer, Editor,
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Miriam Ben-Aaron, M.A.; Ministry
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Yehuda Benari, D.en D.; Director
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Yehoshoua Ben-Arieh, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer in Geography, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
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OF: RELIGIOUS LIFE AND COMMUNITIES
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Yehuda Ben-Dor*, B.A., L.L.B.;
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Yehuda Ben-Dror (James
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David Ben-Gurion, Former Prime
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Zeev Ben-Hayyim, Ph.D.; Professor
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ASHER, AARON BEN MOSES; HEBREW
GRAMMAR
Eliashiv Ben-Horin, LL.B.;
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of Education, Dropsie University,
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Ernest Frank Benjamin, Brigadier;
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England
Robert M. Benjamin, M.A.,
Rabbi; Adjunct Assistant Professor
of Humanities, Indiana State
University, Terre Haute
Jacov Benmayor, B.A.; Salonika:
SALONIKA
Moti Benmelech*, M.A.; Jewish
History, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: BENEVENTO, IMMANUEL
BEN JEKUTHIEL; DEL BANCO, ANSELMO;
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Bibliography, the Hebrew University
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ZEVI; ENGELMANN, GABRIEL; FRENK,
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
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BEN MEIR; JUNGREIS, ASHER ANSHEL;
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BEN ISAIAH NATHAN
Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AGE AND THE AGED; ANUSIM;
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- FROM THE 1880S TO THE EARLY 21ST
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- TO 1880; HISTORY: THE MIDDLE AGES;
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Menahem Ben-Sasson”*, Ph.D.;
Professor, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Knesset Member: BEN-ZVI
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JEWISH
COMMUNITIES OF THE EAST; GENIZAH,
CAIRO
Haggai Ben-Shammai*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Arabic, Department
of Arabic Language and Literature,
57
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ABU AL-FARAJ HARUN IBN AL-FARAJ;
FIRKOVICH, ABRAHAM; JAPHETH BEN ELI
HA-LEVI; KALAM; KARAITES; SAADIAH
GAON
Meir Hillel Ben-Shammai, Dr.Phil.;
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MEIR BEN ISAAC; ELIJAH PHINEHAS BEN
MEIR; PORTALEONE, ABRAHAM BEN
DAVID II
Joseph Ben-Shlomo, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Philosophy, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: CORDOVERO,
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Daniel Ben-Simhon, Jerusalem: yap
IZHAK BEN-ZVI
Doris Bensimon-Donath, D.esL.;
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Langues et Civilisations, Paris:
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Asher Benson’, Journalist, Dublin:
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Yaakov Bentolila*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus, Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev, Beersheba: HAKETIA
Yakov K. Bentor, Ph.D.; D.es Sc.;
Professor of Geology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ANCONA,
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MORITZ
Haim Bentov, M.A., Rabbi; Lecturer
in Talmud, Bar-Ilan University,
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Joseph Bentwich, M.A.; Former
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University of Jerusalem: BIRAM,
ARTHUR
Norman Bentwich, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of International Relations,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM;
JEWISH SUCCESSOR ORGANIZATIONS;
UNITED RESTITUTION ORGANIZATION
Aviva Ben-Ur*, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor, University of
Massachusetts at Amherst: PHILLIPS,
REBECCA MACHADO
Meron Benvenisti, B.A.; Jerusalem:
JERUSALEM
58
Abraham Ben-Yaacob, B.A.;
Researcher in Jewish History,
Jerusalem: BAGHDAD; DIYALA; EZEKIEL;
EZEKIEL BEN REUBEN MANASSEH;
EZRA; EZRA; GABBAI; GAGIN, HAYYIM
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES; HALEVI, EZEKIEL
EZRA BEN JOSHUA; HA-LEVI, SASSON BEN
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AARON SASSON BEN ELIJAH; RUWANDIZ;
SHINDOOKH, MOSES BEN MORDECAI;
SOMEKH, ABDALLAH BEN ABRAHAM;
SULEIMANIYA; ZAKHO
Mordecai Ben-Yehezkiel, Writer,
Jerusalem: ABRAHAM HAYYIM BEN
GEDALIAH; ADEL
Aharon Zeev Ben- Yishai, Writer
and Critic, Tel Aviv: FRISCHMANN,
DAVID; GORDON, JUDAH LEIB; PARODY,
HEBREW; SHNEOUR, ZALMAN
Isac Bercovici, Journalist, Bat Yam:
CILIBI MOISE; GHELERTER, LUDWIG
LITMAN; ISER, JOSIE; PAUKER, ANA; PRESS;
PSANTIR, JACOB
Michael Berenbaum”*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Theology (Adjunct),
Director, Sigi Ziering Institute,
University of Judaism, Los Angeles,
California: ABRAHAM EZRA MILLGRAM;
ABRAMSON, JERRY EDWIN; ADLER,
SAMUEL; AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR
JUDAISM; ANIELEWICZ, MORDECAI;
ATLAS, JECHEZKIEL; BAAR, HERMAN;
BABI YAR; BARSHEESKY, CHARLENE;
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HENRY; BERLIN; BERMAN, MORTON
MAYER; BERNSTEIN, PHILIP SIDNEY;
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CONTROVERSY; BOKSER, BEN ZION;
BOLTEN, JOSHUA B.; BORMANN, MARTIN;
BRAND, JOEL JENO; BRICKNER, BARNETT
ROBERT; BUCHENWALD; BULGARIA;
CAMPS; CHELMNO; CHURCH COUNCILS;
CHURCH, CATHOLIC; COHEN, BOAZ;
COHEN, MORTIMER JOSEPH; COLOGNE;
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DEUTCH, JOHN M.; DORTMUND;
DRACHMAN, BERNARD; DRANCY;
DROB, MAX; DUISBURG; EISENDRATH,
MAURICE NATHAN; ELKES, ELHANAN;
ELLSBERG, DANIEL; ENGEL, ELIOT L.;
EPSTEIN, CHAIM FISCHEL; EPSTEIN,
GILBERT; EUROPA PLAN; EVANS, JANE;
EVIAN CONFERENCE; FEINGOLD,
RUSSELL; FELDHEIM, PHILIPP; FINEBERG,
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ARTHUR; FINKELSTEIN, LOUIS;
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MICHAEL; FRANK, KARL HERMANN;
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GEFFEN, JOEL; GELB, MAX; GERMANY;
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ISRAEL; GOLDMAN, SOLOMON;
GOODBLAT, MORRIS; GORDON, ALBERT
I.; GREENBERG, IRVING; GREENBERG,
IRVING; GREENBERG, LOUIS; GREENBERG,
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L.; LANTOS, TOM; LAUTENBERG, FRANK
R.; LAZARON, MORRIS SAMUEL; LEESER,
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K.; SHARLIN, WILLIAM; SIEGEL, MARK;
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WEINBERGER, MOSHE; WEINSTEIN,
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WESTERBORK; WILLIAM LEHMAN;
WIRTH, CHRISTIAN; WISLICENY, DIETER;
WITTENBERG, YIZHAK; WYDEN, RON;
YOUNGSTOWN; YUDELOVITZ, ABRAHAM
AARON; ZENTRALE STELLE DER LANDE
SJUSTIZVERWALTUNGEN; ZLOTOWITZ,
MEIR; ZUCKERMAN, ITZHAK; ZUROFF,
EFRAIM
Esme E. Berg*: AMERICAN SEPHARDI
FEDERATION
Roger Berg, D.Econ.; Editor,
Paris: BELFORT; BENFELD; BIARRITZ;
BISCHHEIM; UNIVERS ISRAELITE
Abraham Berger, M.A.; Former
Director, Jewish Division, the New
York Public Library; Lecturer in
Jewish History, the Academy for
Jewish Religion, New York: BLocu,
JOSHUA
Jack S. (Jacob Solomon) Berger*,
Ph.D.; Mahwah, New Jersey:
ETTINGER, SOLOMON; KOL MEVASSER
Joseph Berger*, M.A.; B.A.; English
Literature, Journalism, Senior
Reporter for the New York Times,
New York: DISPLACED PERSONS
Shlomo Z. Berger*: FUKS, LAJB
Joseph Berger-Barzilai, Professor
of Political Science, particularly
of the Soviet Union, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: TREPPER,
LEOPOLD
Samuel Hugo Bergman, Dr.Phil.;
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy,
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: BAUMGARDT, DAVID;
BENDAVID, LAZARUS; BENRUBI, ISAAC;
BUBER, MARTIN; COHEN, HERMANN;
COHEN, MORRIS RAPHAEL; EISLER,
RUDOLF; FEIWEL, BERTHOLD; FICHTE,
JOHANN GOTTLIEB; FRANK, PHILIPP;
GORDON, AHARON DAVID; HEINEMANN,
FRITZ; HERZ, MARCUS; HOENIGSWALD,
RICHARD; ILNAE, ELIEZER ISAAC;
ITELSON, GREGOR; KRONER, RICHARD;
LANDAUER, GUSTAV; LASK, EMIL;
NELSON, LEONHARD; SIMMEL, GEORG;
SOUL, IMMORTALITY OF; UTITZ,
EMIL; WELTSCH, FELIX; WOLF,
ABRAHAM
Burton Berinsky, B.A.; Freelance
Photographer, New York: aBRAM,
MORRIS BERTHOLD
Harvey Berk*, B.A.; Principal and
Associates Harvey Berk, Silver
Spring, Maryland: B’NAI BRITH
Eliezer Berkovits, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish Philosophy, the
Hebrew Theological College, Skokie,
Illinois: TALMUD
Joel Berkowitz*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor and Chair, Judaic Studies,
University at Albany, New York:
GOLDFADEN, ABRAHAM; GORDIN, JACOB;
HIRSCHBEIN, PERETZ; THEATER
Simcha Berkowitz, M.A., M.H.L.,
Rabbi; the College of Jewish Studies,
Detroit: AGUS, IRVING ABRAHAM;
GRAYZEL, SOLOMON; SZOLD, ROBERT
Chip Berlet*, Senior Analyst at
Political Research Associates,
Somerville, Massachusetts: NEO-
NAZISM
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
George L. Berlin*: BALTIMORE
HEBREW UNIVERSITY
Jacques Berlinerblau*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor Religious
Studies, Hofstra University, New
York: BIBLE
Yaffah Berlovitz*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Department of Literatures of the
Jewish People, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: HEBREW LITERATURE,
MODERN; MICHAEL, SAMI
Harold Berman”, Dr.; Executive
Director, Jewish Federation of
Greater Springfield, Massachusetts:
SPRINGFIELD
Lawrence V. Berman, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Religious
Studies, Stanford University,
California: AL-BATALYAWSI, ABU
MUHAMMAD ABDALLAH IBN
MUHAMMAD IBN AL-SID; AVEMPACE;
BRETHREN OF SINCERITY, EPISTLES
OF; CAUSE AND EFFECT; EMPEDOCLES;
HERMETIC WRITINGS; KALAM; PLATO
AND PLATONISM; STOICISM
Morton Mayer Berman, M.H.L.,
Rabbi; Honorary Director,
Department of English-Speaking
Countries, Keren Hayesod United
Israel Appeal, Jerusalem: ADLER, MAX;
BAMBERGER, LOUIS; BAMBERGER, SIMON;
BUCHALTER, LOUIS; DAVIS, EDWARD;
EISENBERG, SHOUL; GERTZ, ELMER;
LANDAU, EUGEN; MERTON; ROSENBLUM,
SIGMUND GEORGIEVICH; SIEGEL,
BENJAMIN; WEINSTOCK, SIR ARNOLD,
BARON; WERTHEIMER, JOSEPH RITTER
VON; WISE, STEPHEN SAMUEL
Moshe Eliahu Berman, M.Eng.,
ELE.E.; Director of Engineering,
Ministry of Communications, Tel
AViv: BAGRIT, SIR LEON; PHILANTHROPY
Saul Berman, M.A., M.H.L., Rabbi;
Brookline, Massachusetts: Law AND
MORALITY; NOACHIDE LAWS
Isaak Dov Ber Markon, Dr.Phil.;
Historian, Ramsgate, England:
AARON SELIG BEN MOSES OF ZOLKIEW;
BAER, SELIGMAN ISAAC; BALI, ABRAHAM
BEN JACOB; BALI, MOSES BEN ABRAHAM;
BASIR, JOSEPH BEN ABRAHAM HA-KOHEN
HARO’EH AL-; BEGHI; BEIN, ALEXANDER;
BIBLE; CARMOLY, ISSACHAR BAER BEN
JUDAH LIMA; FIRUZ; GIBBOR, JUDAH
BEN ELIJAH; IBN ABBAS, JUDAH BEN
SAMUEL II; JACOB BEN REUBEN; JAPHETH
59
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BEN DAVID IBN SAGHIR; JOSEPH BEN
NOAH; JOSEPH BEN SAMUEL BEN ISAAC
HA-MASHBIR; JOSIAH BEN SAUL BEN
ANAN; JUDAH HA-PARSI; KALT, SAMUEL
BEN JOSEPH; KAZAZ, ELIJAH BEN
ELIJAH; KIRIMI, ABRAHAM; KUKIZOW;
LICHTENSTEIN, HILLEL BEN BARUCH;
LUZKI, JOSEPH SOLOMON BEN MOSES;
POKI, JUDAH BEN ELIEZER CHELEBI;
POTTERY
Leo Bernard, Antiquarian
bookseller, Member of the Czech
Memorial Scrolls Committee,
London: CZECH MEMORIAL SCROLLS,
THE
Suzan Berns, Jewish Community
Federation of San Francisco
Louis Bernstein, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva
University, New York: KLAVAN,
ISRAEL; LOOKSTEIN, JOSEPH HYMAN;
MIZRACHI; POUPKO, BERNARD
Selma Berrol, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, the Bernard
Baruch College of the City
University of New York: LEIPZIGER,
HENRY M.
Mel Berwin*, M.A.; Education
Consultant, Jewish Women’s
Archive, Brookline, Massachusetts:
BNAI BRITH
Paul Bessemer*, M.A., M.E.,
C.Phil.; in Middle Eastern History;
High School Teacher, Freelance
Translator; Eugene, Oregon: JAVID
BEY, MEHMED
James D. Besser*, B.A.; Washington
Correspondent, New York Jewish
Week, Baltimore Jewish Times,
Fairfax, Virginia: KLEIN, MORTON;
ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA
Sonja Beyer”, Student for Magister
Artium, Hochschule fiir Jiidische
Studien Heidelberg, Heidelberg,
Germany: EHRLICH, GEORG;
FREUNDLICH, OTTO; KOPF, MAXIM
Rachel Biale, M.A., M.S.W.; Author
of Women and Jewish Law
Yehuda Leib Bialer, Jerusalem:
STEIN, ISAAC
Frank (Franklin) Bialystok*, Ph.D.;
Historian, Association of Canadian
Jewish Studies, Toronto, Canada:
60
FEDERMAN, MAX; GIVENS, PHILIP;
HARRIS, SYDNEY; JEWISH IMMIGRANT
AID SERVICES OF CANADA; KAPLAN,
ROBERT P.; KAPLANSKY, KALMEN;
KAYFETZ, BEN; KUPER, JACK; LANTOS,
ROBERT; LENKINSKI, LOUIS; MARMUR,
DOV; MARRUS, MICHAEL R.; PHILLIPS,
NATHAN; SAMUEL, SIGMUND
Shlomo Bickel, Dr.Jur.; Writer and
Critic, New York: ALTMAN, MOISHE;
ASHENDORE, ISRAEL; AUERBACH,
EPHRAIM; AUSLAENDER, NAHUM;
AYALTI, HANAN J.; BAAL-MAKHSHOVES;
BOMZE, NAHUM; BOTOSHANSKY, JACOB;
CHARNEY, DANIEL; GROSS, NAPHTALI;
HALPERN, MOYSHE-LEYB; JUSTMAN,
MOSHE BUNEM; LICHT, MICHAEL;
LIEBERMAN, CHAIM; LUTZKY, A.;
MINKOFF, NAHUM BARUCH; MUKDONI,
A.; SHTERN, ISRAEL; YAKNEHAZ
Elias J. Bickerman, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Ancient History,
Columbia University, New York:
PERSIA
Israel M. Biderman, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Education, New York University;
the Jewish Teachers’ Seminary, New
York: ORLAND, HERSHL
David Bidney, Ph.D.; Professor
of Anthropology and Education,
Indiana University, Bloomington:
ANTHROPOLOGY
Konrad Bieber, Ph.D.; Professor of
French and Comparative Literature,
the State University of New York,
Stony Brook: vERCORS
Rose Bieber, B.A., Lic. en Sc.
Comm.; Brussels: ERRERA, PAUL
JOSEPH; LIPSKI, ABRAHAM
Erwin Bienenstok, LL.M.;
Journalist, London: TELEVISION AND
RADIO
Anat Biger*, M.A.; Ph.D. student,
Faculty of Arts, Tel Aviv University:
ISRAEL, STATE OF: BROADCASTING, FILM,
TELEVISION
Gideon Biger*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Geography, Tel Aviv University:
BANIAS; CARMEL, MOUNT; HYENA;
ISRAEL, LAND OF: GEOGRAPHICAL
SURVEY; ISRAEL, STATE OF: HISTORICAL
SURVEY
Max Bilen, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in French Literature, Tel Aviv
University: JACOB, MAX; VIGEE,
CLAUDE
Israel Ch. Biletzky, B.A.; Writer,
Tel Aviv: EPSTEIN, MELECH; FEINBERG,
LEON; GRADE, CHAIM; GROSS-
ZIMMERMANN, MOSHE; HERSHELE;
KARPINOVITSH, AVROM; LEHRER,
LEIBUSH; LEV, ABRAHAM; MENDELSOHN,
SHELOMO; MENDELSON, JOSE; MENES,
ABRAM; NEUMANN, YEHESKEL MOSHE;
OLEVSKI, BUZI; PAPIERNIKOV, JOSEPH;
YUD, NAHUM
Frederik Julius Billeskov-Jansen,
Ph.D.; Professor of Danish
Literature, Copenhagen University:
BRANDES, CARL EDVARD; BRANDES,
GEORG; GOLDSCHMIDT, MEIR ARON;
HERTZ, HENRIK
Frederick M. Binder, Ed.D.;
Professor of Educational History,
City College of the City University
of New York: SACHS, JULIUS
Emanuel Bin-Gorion, Writer and
Scholar, Holon, Israel: HORODEZKY,
SAMUEL ABBA
Avraham Biran, Ph.D.; Director of
the Department of Antiquities and
Museums, Ministry of Education
and Culture, Jerusalem: ISRAEL
MUSEUM; MUSEUMS; ROCKEFELLER
MUSEUM
Yoav Biran, B.A; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: KENYA
Solomon Asher Birnbaum,
Dr.Phil.; Former Lecturer in Hebrew
Palaeography and Epigraphy, the
School of Oriental and African
Studies, the University of London:
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Maurice Bisgyer, M.A.; Honorary
Executive Vice President of Bnai
Brith, Washington, D.C.: KLUTZNICK,
PHILIP MORRIS
Eugene C. (Charlton) Black”,
Ph.D.; Otillie Springer Professor of
Modern European History, Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts:
BIGART, JACQUES
Haim Blanc, Ph.D.; Professor of
Linguistics, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: BLOOMFIELD,
LEONARD
Simha Blass, Engineer; Former
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Director General of Tahal Water
Planning for Israel, Tel Aviv
Joseph L. Blau, Ph.D.; Professor
of Religion, Columbia University,
New York: ADAMS, HANNAH; ETHICAL
CULTURE; RECKENDORE, HERMANN
SOLOMON; ROTH, LEON
Joshua Blau*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Arabic Language and
Literature, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ARABIC LANGUAGE;
BARTH, JACOB; HAPAX LEGOMENA;
HEBREW LANGUAGE; IBN BAL'AM, JUDAH
BEN SAMUEL; IBN BARUN, ABU IBRAHIM
ISAAC BEN JOSEPH IBN BENVENISTE; IBN
QURAYSH, JUDAH; MENAHEM BEN JACOB
IBN SARUQ
Paul Blau, Encyclopaedia Judaica
(Germany); Vienna: MAKAL EMIL
Rivkah (Teitz) Blau*, Ph.D.; Author
and Lecturer, New York: TEITZ,
PINCHAS; UNION COUNTY
Gerald Y. Blidstein*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish Thought, the
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheba: COMMANDMENTS, REASONS
FOR; EVEN SHETIYYAH; ISRAEL, KINGDOM
OF; NASI; PRIESTS AND PRIESTHOOD
Ruben (Victor) Bloemgarten”,
Translator and Unix Systems
Engineer, The Netherlands: PoLak,
HENRI
Salvador (Edmond) Bloemgarten*,
Ph.D.; Historian, Menasseh ben
Israel Institute, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: POLAK, HENRI
Douglas M. Bloomfield’, B.A.
M.A,; Journalist, Syndicated
Columnist, Washington, D.C.:
NATIONAL JEWISH DEMOCRATIC
COUNCIL; ROSENTHAL, BENJAMIN
STANLEY
Richard N. Bluestein, LL.D.;
Executive Vice President, the
National Jewish Hospital, Denver,
Colorado
Harry Bluestone, B.A., A.C.S.W;
Former Executive Director of the
Jewish Federation of Delaware,
Wilmington
Albert A. Blum, Ph.D.; Professor
of Labor History, Michigan State
University, East Lansing: GITLow,
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BENJAMIN; GOLD, BENJAMIN; LEISERSON,
WILLIAM MORRIS
Haim Karl Blum, Dr. Phil.;
Historian, Jerusalem: GALATI
Samuel M. Blumenfield, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Professor of Hebrew
Literature and Culture, Hofstra
University, Hempstead, New York:
SPERTUS INSTITUTE OF JEWISH STUDIES
Bernhard Blumenkranz, Ph.D.,
D.es-L.; Maitre de Recherches,
Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, Paris: AGDE; AGEN;
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OF POITIERS; ALSACE; AMBROSE;
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GRATIAN; GREGORY; GREGORY OF
TOURS; GUEBWILLER; HADRIAN I;
HAGUENAU; HAVRE, LE; HEGENHEIM;
HILDEBERT OF LAVARDIN; HILDUIN;
HONORIUS; HRABANUS MAURUS; HYERES;
INGWILLER; INNOCENT; ISLE-SUR-LA-
SORGUE, L; IVO OF CHARTRES; JACOB OF
PONT-SAINTE-MAXENCE; JOHN II; JOHN
XXII; JOIGNY; JULIUS II; JUNGHOLZ;
LANGUEDOC; LEO; LIMOGES; LIMOUX;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
LODEVE; LONS-LE-SAUNIER; LOUIS;
LUNEL; LYONS; MACHAUT, DENIS DE;
MACON; MACON; MANESSIER DE VESOUL;
MANOSQUE; MANS, LE; MARSEILLES;
MELUN; MONTELIMAR; MONTEREAU;
MONTPELLIER; MORHANGE; MULHOUSE;
NANTES; NARBONNE; NEVERS; NICE;
NIMES; NIMES; NYONS; OBERNAI;
ODO OF CAMBRAI; ODO OF SULLY;
ORANGE; ORLEANS; PAMIERS; PARIS;
PASTOUREAUX; PETER OF BLOIS; PETER
OF CLUNY; PEYREHORADE; PHILIP;
POITIERS; POITU; PONTOISE; POSQUIERES;
PROVINS; PUY, LE; RAMERUPT; RAOUL
GLABER; RHEIMS; RIBEAUVILLE;
ROCHELLE, LA; ROSENWILLER; ROSHEIM;
ROUEN; ROUFFACH; ROUSSILLON;
RUDOLPH; SAINT-DENIS; SAINTES;
SAINT-GILES; SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ; SAINT-
PAUL-TROIS-CHATEUX; SAINT-REMY-DE-
PROVENCE; SAINT-SYMPHORIEN-D’OZON;
SAVERNE; SAVOY; SELESTAT; SENLIS; SENS;
SERRES; SIMON, RICHARD; SISTERON;
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TOULOUSE; TOURAINE; TOURS; TRETS;
TREVOUX; TROYES; VALENCE; VALREAS;
VERDUN-SUR-GARONNE; VESOUL; VIBERT
OF NOGENT; VIENNE; VILLEFRANCHE-DE-
CONFLENT; VITRY
Nachman Blumental, Historian,
Jerusalem: BARASH, EPHRAIM;
BUEHLER, JOSEF; DACHAU
H. Elchanan Blumenthal, M.A.,
Rabbi; Jerusalem: HA LAHMA ANYA;
HASIDEI UMMOT HA-OLAM; KAVVANAH;
NEW MOON, ANNOUNCEMENT OF;
NIGHT PRAYER
Henriette Boas, Ph.D.; Journalist,
Amsterdam: ELKERBOUT, BEN; FUKS,
LAJB; GANS, MOZES HEIMAN; GODEEROI,
MICHAEL HENRI; GOUDSMIT, JOEL
EMANUEL; HAAN, JACOB ISRAEL DE;
HERZBERG, ABEL JACOB; HORODISCH,
ABRAHAM; MEYER, JACOB; MEIJERS,
EDUARD MAURITS; MEYER, JONAS
DANIEL; MIRANDA, SALOMON
RODRIGUES DE; NETHERLANDS, THE;
NIEROP, VAN; OPPENHEIM, JACQUES;
ORNSTEIN, LEONARD SALOMON;
SARPHATI, SAMUEL; SCHUSTER, AARON;
VISSER, LODEWIJK ERNST; VORST,
LOUIS J.
Charles Boasson, LL.D.;
the Truman Center for the
Advancement of Peace, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AssER
Mendel Bobe, Engineer, Tel Aviv:
COURLAND; LATZKY-BERTHOLDI, JACOB
61
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
ZE'EV WOLF; NUROCK, MORDECHAI,
YOFFE, ALTER
Y. Michal Bodemann, Ph.D.; Assoc.
Professor of Sociology, University of
Toronto
Frederick Simon Bodenheimer,
Dr. Phil.; Emeritus Professor of
General Zoology and Entomology,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
HA-REUBENI, EPHRAIM
Yohanan Boehm, Music critic,
Jerusalem: ZUKERMAN, PINCHAS;
DANCE; DA-OZ, RAM; DAUS, AVRAHAM;
EDEN-TAMIR; FRIED, MIRIAM; GILBOA,
JACOB; GRAZIANI, YITZHAK; HORAH;
INBAL DANCE THEATER; INBAL, ELIAHU;
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA;
JACOBI, HANOCH; JAFEE, ELI; KADMAN,
GURIT; KALICHSTEIN, JOSEPH; LAKNER,
YEHOSHUA; MAAYANI, AMI; NATRA,
SERGIU; ORGAD, BEN ZION; PRESSLER,
MENAHEM; RONLY-RIKLIS, SHALOM;
SADAI, YIZHAK; SCHIDLOWSKY, LEON;
SETER, MORDECHAI; SMOIRA-COHN,
MICHAL
Harm den Boer*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Chair of Spanish Literature,
University of Basel, Switzerland:
ABENDANA, JACOB BEN JOSEPH; CORREA,
ISABEL DE; COSTA, URIEL DA
Gunter Bohm, B.A.; Professor of
Jewish Art and Vice Director of the
Institute for the Study of Judaism,
the University of Chile, Santiago:
CHILE; KOSICE, GYULA
Anne Bohnenkamp-Renken’*,
Ph.D.; Director, Freies Deutsches
Hochstift/ Frankfurter Goethe-
Museum, Frankfurt University,
Germany: GOETHE, JOHANN
WOLEGANG VON
Leon Boim, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Political Science, Tel
Aviv University
Willy Bok, M.A.; Acting Director
of the Centre National des Hautes
Etudes Juives, Brussels: ANTWERP;
BRUSSELS; WIENER, ERNEST EDOUARD
Ben Zion Bokser, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Adjunct Professor of English,
Queens College of the City
University of New York: sUsTIN
MARTYR; LIFE AND DEATH
Robert G. Boling, Ph.D.; Professor
62
of Old Testament, McCormick
Theological Seminary, Chicago:
BAAL-BERITH; BOOK OF JASHAR; JOTHAM;
SISERA
Sidney Bolkosky*: DETROIT;
HOLOCAUST
Shimon Bollag*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Department of Science
Teaching, Jerusalem College of
Technology: MATHEMATICS
Ruth Bondi*, Writer and Historian,
Ramat Gan: THERESIENSTADT
Robert Bonfil*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Jewish History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ITALY; PIPERNO BEER, SERGIO
Marlene Booth’, M.F.A.;
Documentary Filmmaker and
Lecturer, Academy for Creative
Media, University of Hawaii,
Honolulu, Hawaii: 1owa
Paul Borchardt, Encyclopaedia
Judaica (Germany); Munich: MosuL
Poul Borchsenius, M.A., Reverend;
Historian, Randers, Denmark:
SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE
Howard Borer*: WORCESTER
Linda J. Borish*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History and Women’s
Studies Program History, Western
Michigan University, Kalamazoo,
Michigan: COHEN, NATALIE; EPSTEIN,
CHARLOTTE; HELDMAN, GLADYS
MEDALIE
David Joseph Bornstein,
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Berlin: MAASEROT; MAKKOT; MAR BAR
RAV ASHI; MARI BEN ISSUR; MEREMAR;
NAHMAN BAR RAV HUNA; NAHMAN BEN
ISAAC; NAHMAN BEN JACOB; NAHUM OF
GiMZO; NAHUM THE MEDE; NAKDIMON
BEN GURYON; NASHIM; NATHAN
DE-ZUZITA RESH GALUTA; NATHAN
HA-BAVLI; NEGAIM; NEHORAI; NEZIKIN;
NITTAI OF ARBELA; ORLAH
Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky*,
Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer in Jewish
Studies, College of Judea and
Samaria, Ariel, Israel: ADJIMAN;
ALEPPO; AMASIYA; ASHKENAZI, BEHOR;
BENVENISTE, MOSES; BURSA; BUSTANAI
BEN HANINAI; CAPITULATIONS;
DAMANHOUR; DAMASCUS; EDESSA;
EL-ARISH; FARHI; GALLIPOLI; HAMON;
ISTANBUL; IZMIT; JADID AL-ISLAM;
KHARAJ AND JIZYA; KHAYBAR; KIERA;
MAHALLA AL-KUBRA; MANISSA;
MANSURA; MENASCE, DE; MOLCHO,
DAVID EFFENDI ISAAC PASHA; OTTOMAN
EMPIRE; PALTIEL; PORT SAID; RABBI,
RABBINATE; RASHID; SAMUEL IBN ’ADIYA;
SAPHIR, JACOB; SARUJ; SHILMASSA;
SOLAL; SUAREZ; SULEIMAN I; TANTA;
TLEMCEN; TOKAT; TRIPOLI; VALENSI
Eugene B. Borowitz, D.H.L., Ed.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Jewish Religious
Thought and of Education, the
Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, New York:
FRIENDSHIP; LOVE
Elijah Bortniker, Ph.D.; the Jewish
Education Committee, New York:
EDUCATION, JEWISH
Jacob Borut*, Ph.D.; Historian,
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem: VERBAND
DER DEUTSCHEN JUDEN; VERBAND DER
VEREINE FUER JUEDISCHE GESCHICHTE
UND LITERATUR
Shira Borut, Ph.D.; Research
Associate in Parasitology, the
Hebrew University- Hadassah
Medical School, Jerusalem: rayss,
TSCHARNA
Alvin Boskoff, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, Emory University,
Atlanta, Georgia: ARON, RAYMOND;
CAHNMAN, WERNER J.; DIAMOND,
SIGMUND; GUMPLOWICZ, LUDWIG;
GURVITCH, GEORGES
Philippe Boukara*, Doctoral
Candidate, Lecturer in History,
Institute d'études politiques -
Training Department, Mémorial
de la Shoah, Paris, France: KAGAN,
ELIE; KAHN, ALBERT; KRYGIER, RIVON;
LUSTIGER, JEAN-MARIE ARON; SCHWARZ-
BART, ANDRE; SIRAT, RENE SAMUEL
Alan Keir Bowman, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Classics,
Rutgers University, New Jersey:
PAPYRI
Daniel Boyarin, M.H.L.; New
York: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, U-EFARSIN;
RESURRECTION; TUBAL-CAIN; URIAH; UZ;
WATCHERS
Rachel Bracha*, M.A.; Archive
Coordinator, World ORT, London,
England: ort
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Marshall (A.) Brachman*, M.B.A.;
Lobbyist, Washington, D.C.: FROST,
MARTIN
Harry M. Bracken, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy, McGill University,
Montreal
Randolph (L.) Braham’, Ph.D.;
Distinguished Professor Emeritus,
Graduate Center of the City
University of New York: aBony;
ALBERTI-IRSA; ASZOD; BAIA-MARE;
BAJA; BALASSAGYARMAT; BEKESCSABA;
BELED; BERETT YOUJFALU; BISTRITA;
BODROGKERESZTUR; BONYHAD; BORSA;
BUDAPEST; CLUJ; DEJ
Andreas Bramer*, Dr.Phil.;
Associate Director, Institut ftir die
Geschichte der deutschen Juden,
Hamburg, Germany: ZUCKERMAN,
BENEDICT
Emmanuel Brand, Dipl. Archiv.;
Jerusalem: LVOV; MENGELE, JOSEF; WAR
CRIMES TRIALS
Jehoshua Brand, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Talmudic Archaeology,
Tel Aviv University: BARON DE HIRSCH
FUND; CIRCUSES AND THEATERS;
GAON
Paul Anthony Brand”*, Dr.Phil.;
Senior Research Fellow, All Souls
College, Oxford, England: HENRY OF
WINCHESTER; ISAAC OF SOUTHWARK
Joseph Brandes, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Paterson State College,
Wayne, New Jersey: AGRICULTURE;
BACHARACH; JEWISH AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY; SABSOVICH, H. L.; VINELAND
Rainer Brandle*, Dr.Phil.;
Assistant, Archiv Bibliographia
Judaica, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-
Universitat, Frankfurt, Germany
Samuel G.F. Brandon, D.D.;
Professor of Comparative Religion,
the University of Manchester: sICARII
Yehuda Zvi Brandwein, Rabbi;
Author, Jerusalem: ASHLAG, YEHUDAH
Joseph Braslavi (Braslavski),
Historian, Tel Aviv: JAFFA; KEFAR
YASIF; KHAYBAR; MACHPELAH, CAVE OF;
MOUNT OF OLIVES; PEKIN; RACHEL
Chaya (E.) Brasz*, M.A.; Freelance
Historian and Publicist; Former
Director of the Center for Research
on Dutch Jewry, Jerusalem:
AMSTERDAM; GOUDEKET, MAURITS;
NETHERLANDS, THE
Alisa Braun*, M.A.; Lecturer,
University of California, Davis,
California: MANI LEIB
David S. Braun’, Preceptor in
Yiddish, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts: CAHAN,
JUDAH LOEB
Eliot Braun*, PH.D.; Archaeologist,
Associate Fellow, WF Albright
Institute of Archaeological Research,
Jerusalem; Associate Researcher,
Centre de Recherche Frangais de
Jérusalem: EPSTEIN, CLAIRE
Sidney D. Braun, Ph.D.; Professor
of Romance Languages, the Herbert
H. Lehman College of the City
University of New York: HERTZ,
HENRI; MAUROIS, ANDRE; MENDES,
CATULLE; SUARES, ANDRE; THARAUD,
JEROME and JEAN
Susana Brauner*, M.A.; Senior
University Teacher and Investigator,
UADE-UBA, Argentina, South
America: TEUBAL, EZRA
Susan L. Braunstein’, Ph.D.;
Curator of Archaeology and Judaica,
The Jewish Museum, New York:
HANUKKAH LAMP
Zeev Braverman, Elitzur, Tel Aviv:
ELITZUR
Sandee Brawarsky*: NEW YORK CITY,
UPPER WEST SIDE
Abraham J. Brawer, Dr. Phil.;
Geographer and Historian, Tel Aviv:
ABU GHOSH; BASHAN; BATUMI; BIELSKO;
BIRKENTHAL, DOV BER; BUCHACH;
DAMASCUS AFFAIR; GEOGRAPHY;
GILBOA; GINNOSAR, PLAIN OF; HOLON;
HOROWITZ, ISRAEL ZE’EV: ISRAEL, LAND
OF: GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY; JORDAN;
LUNCZ, ABRAHAM MOSES; NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE; PALESTINE; SAPIR, ELIYAHU;
SCHWARZ, YEHOSEPH; TABOR, MOUNT;
TEMPLERS; TIBERIAS; WOLFENBUETTEL;
YARMUK
Moshe Brawer, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Geography, Tel
Aviv University: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
HISTORICAL SURVEY; PHILIPPSON; RED
SEA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Menachem M. Brayer, Ph.D.,
D.H.L., Rabbi; Clinical Psychologist,
Professor of Biblical Literature and
Education, Yeshiva University, New
York: FROMM, ERICH; LEWIN, KURT
ZADEK; MALLER, JULIUS BERNARD;
PSYCHOLOGY; ROBACK, ABRAHAM
AARON
Jennifer (Stern) Breger*, B.A.,
M.A,; Silver Springs, Maryland:
PRINTING, HEBREW
Marshal Breger*: BUSH, GEORGE
HERBERT WALKER; BUSH, GEORGE
WALKER
Marc Bregman*: TANHUMA
YELAMMEDENU
Sol Breibart*: CHARLESTON
Shlomo Breiman, Ph.D.; Writer and
Scholar, Jerusalem: HELPERN, MICHAEL
Michael Brenner”, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish History and
Culture, Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universitat, Munich, Germany:
AUERBACH, PHILIPP; BECKER, JUREK;
BUBIS, IGNATZ; COHN-BENDIT,
DANIEL; GALINSKI, HEINZ; GERMANY;
HERMLIN, STEPHAN; HOCHHUTH, ROLF;
JUEDISCHE VOLKSPARTEI; NACHMANN,
WERNER; SPIEGEL, PAUL; STERN, FRITZ
RICHARD; ZENTRALRAT DER JUDEN IN
DEUTSCHLAND
Marla Brettschneider*, Ph.D.;
Professor, Political Philosophy,
University of New Hampshire:
COHEN, FANNIA; HAUSER, RITA ELEANOR;
MESSINGER, RUTH WYLER
Mordechai Breuer, Ph.D.; Educator,
Jerusalem: DELITZSCH, FRANZ;
FRANKEURT ON THE MAIN; PHILIPPSON;
PILPUL; ROSOWSKY, SOLOMON; YESHIVOT
Yochanan Breuer’, Ph.D.; the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
HEBREW LANGUAGE
Herbert Chanan Brichto, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Bible, the
Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, Cincinnati:
BLASPHEMY; BLESSING AND CURSING;
PRIESTLY BLESSING
Ravelle Brickman, B.A.; New York:
RACHEL; RUBINSTEIN, IDA
William W. Brickman, Ph.D.;
63
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Professor of Educational History
and Comparative Education,
the University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia: EDUCATION;
ENGELMANN, SUSANNE CHARLOTTE;
FLEXNER, ABRAHAM; GOULD, SAMUEL
BROOKNER; KANDEL, ISAAC LEON;
KARSEN, FRITZ; PEREIRE, JACOB
RODRIGUES; RICHMAN, JULIA;
STERN, ERICH; STERN, WILLIAM;
UNIVERSITIES
Bernhard Brilling, Dr. Phil., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Jewish History, the
University of Muenster, Germany:
BADEN; BRESLAU; GOERLITZ; HOMBURG;
MINDEN; PADERBORN; SILESIA; SOEST;
STETTIN; WARENDORE
David Brinn”, B.Sc.; Editorial
Director, Israel 21c, Jerusalem:
RAMONE, JOEY; ROTH, DAVID LEE; WEISS,
MELVYN L.
Dvora Briskin-Nadiv, B.A., B.Ed.;
Assistant in Biblical Studies, the
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
HABAKKUK
Sir Israel Brodie, B.A., B.Litt.,
Rabbi; Former Chief Rabbi of the
British Commonwealth, London:
MILITARY SERVICE
Heinrich Haim Brody, Ph.D.;
Scholar of Medieval Hebrew Poetry
and former Chief Rabbi of Prague,
Jerusalem: AARON SIMEON BEN
JACOB ABRAHAM OF COPENHAGEN;
AL-AVANI, ISAAC; ANKAWA, ABRAHAM
BEN MORDECAI; BANET; CASTELNUOVO,
MENAHEM AZARIAH MEIR BEN ELIJAH
Ephraim Broido, Writer and Editor,
Jerusalem: SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM
Abraham Isaac Bromberg, Rabbi;
Writer, Jerusalem: SOCHACZEW,
ABRAHAM BEN ZE’EV NAHUM
BORNSTEIN OF
Maury A. Bromsen, M.A.; Boston,
Massachusetts: HARRISSE, HENRY
Fred Bronner, M.A.; Lecturer in
Latin American History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ARGENTINA
Lawrence Brook’, B.A.; Publisher,
Deep South Jewish Voice,
Birmingham, Alabama: ALABAMA;
BIRMINGHAM
Simcha Shalom Brooks’, B.A.,
64
M.A., Ph.D.; Freelance Scholar,
London, England: GIBEAH, GEBA;
GIBEON
Chaim Brovender, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Instructor in Bible, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: HEBREW
LANGUAGE
Hannah Brown’, B.A.; Writer,
Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem: ALMAGOR,
GILA; BAKRI, MOHAMMED; CEDAR,
JOSEPH; DAYAN, ASSAF; FOX, EYTAN;
GITAI, AMOS; GLOBUS, YORAM; IVGY,
MOSHE
Michael Brown’, B.A., M.A.,
M.HLL., Ph.D., D.D.; Professor
Emeritus, York University, Toronto,
Canada: JOSEPH; ROSENBERG, STUART
E.; SCHEUER, EDMUND
Theodore M. Brown, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of History, City
College of the City University of
New York: SINGER, CHARLES JOSEPH
Tracy L. Brown’, M.A., B.A.;
Researcher, United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, Washington,
D.C.: HOLOCAUST
Rosalind Browne, Art critic, New
York
Christopher R. Browning”, Ph.D.;
Frank Porter Graham Professor
of History University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, North
Carolina: HILBERG, RAUL
Josef Brozek, Ph.D.; Research
Professor, Lehigh University,
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: LuRIA,
ALEXANDER ROMANOVICH; VYGOTSKI,
LEV SEMYONOVICH
Frederick Fyvie Bruce, D.D.;
Professor of Biblical Criticism
and Exegesis, the University of
Manchester, England: AscETICISM;
COPPER SCROLL; DAMASCUS, BOOK OF
COVENANT OF; DEAD SEA SCROLLS;
KITTIM; LIES, MAN OF; LIES, PROPHET
OF; LION OF WRATH; MURABBAAT
SCROLLS; PESHER; QUMRAN; SEEKERS
AFTER SMOOTH THINGS; SEREKH;
SHAPIRA FRAGMENTS; SONS OF LIGHT;
TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; WAR
SCROLL; WICKED PRIEST; YAHAD;
ZADOKITES
Gerald Bubis*: UNITED JEWISH
COMMUNITIES
Arthur T. Buch, D.S.Sc., Rabbi;
Teacher, New York
Nancy (Nield) Buchwald*, Ph.D.;
Independent Scholar, Columbus,
Ohio: MANSO, LEO; MARGO, BORIS;
MARGOULIES, BERTA; MARIL, HERMAN;
MARYAN; MENKES, ZYGMUNT; MOHOLY-
NAGY, LASZLO; MOISE, THEODORE
SYDNEY; MOPP; NICHOLS, JACK;
PANOFSKY, ERWIN; RASKIN, SAUL;
REDER, BERNARD; REISS, LIONEL; ROSE,
HERMAN; ROSENTHAL, MAX; ROTHSTEIN,
IRMA; SCHAMES, SAMSON; SCHANKER,
LOUIS; SCHAPIRO, MEYER; SCHOR, ILYA;
SCHWARTZ, MANERED; SIMON, SIDNEY;
SPIRO, EUGEN; STERNE, HEDDA; STERNE,
MAURICE; TEWI, THEA; TWORKOV, JACK;
WILSON, SOL; ZUCKER, JACQUES
Emmanuel Bulz, LL.D., Rabbi;
Chief Rabbi of Luxembourg:
LUXEMBOURG
Nicolas Burckhardt, Director of
the International Tracing Service,
Arolsen, Germany: INTERNATIONAL
TRACING SERVICE
Yosef Burg, Ph.D., Rabbi; Minister
of the Interior, Jerusalem: AvIAD,
YESHAYAHU
Israel Burgansky, M.A.; Instructor
in Talmud, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: HALLAH; SIMEON BAR
YOHAI; SIMEON BEN ABBA; SIMEON
BEN ELEAZAR; SIMEON BEN GAMALIEL
I; SIMEON BEN HALAFTA; SIMEON BEN
JUDAH HA-NASI; SIMEON BEN NANAS;
SIMEON BEN NETHANEL; SIMEON HA-
PAKULI; SIMEON HA-TIMNI; SIMEON OF
MIZPAH
Janet (Handler) Burstein*, Ph.D.;
Professor Emeritus of English
Literature, Drew University,
Madison, New Jersey: HEILBRUN,
CAROLYN G.
Giulio Busi*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Jewish Studies, Free University
Berlin, Germany: BECK, MATTHIAS
FRIEDRICH; BOESCHENSTEIN, JOHANN;
DI GARA, GIOVANNI; FAGIUS, PAULUS;
FORSTER, JOHANN
Mervin Butovsky*, M.A.; Professor
of English Literature, Concordia
University, Montreal, Canada:
LAYTON, IRVING; LEVINE, NORMAN
Gilbert Cahen, Archiviste-
Paleographe; Conservateur aux
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Archives Departementales de la
Moselle, Metz, France: BOULAY; LEVY,
RAPHAEL; LORRAINE; LUNEVILLE; METZ;
NANCY; PHALSBOURG; SARREGUEMINES;
THIONVILLE; TOUL; VERDUN
Werner J. Cahnman, Ph.D.;
Professor of Sociology, Rutgers
University, Newark, New Jersey;
Member of the Faculty, New
School for Social Research, New
York: ADLER, MAX; ARON, RAYMOND;
BENDIX, REINHARD; BOSKOFF, ALVIN;
DIAMOND, SIGMUND; DRACHSLER,
JULIUS; DURKHEIM, EMILE; EISENSTADT,
SAMUEL NOAH; FRIEDMANN, GEORGES;
GINSBERG, MORRIS; GLAZER, NATHAN;
GOLDSCHEID, RUDOLF; GORDON,
MILTON M.; GUMPLOWICZ, LUDWIG;
GUTTMAN, LOUIS; HALPERN, BENJAMIN;
HAUSER, PHILIP MORRIS; HORKHEIMER,
MAX; INKELES, ALEX; JANOWITZ,
MORRIS; JOSEPH, SAMUEL; KRACAUER,
SIEGFRIED; LANDSHUT, SIEGERIED;
LAZARSFELD, PAUL F; LEVY, MARION
JOSEPH, JR.; LEVY-BRUHL, LUCIEN; LIPSET,
SEYMOUR MARTIN; MAIER, JOSEPH;
MANNHEIM, KARL; MERTON, ROBERT
KING; MORENO, JACOB L.; NELSON,
BENJAMIN; OPPENHEIMER, FRANZ;
RIESMAN, DAVID; ROBISON, SOPHIA;
ROSE, ARNOLD MARSHALL; ROSENTHAL,
ERICH; SALOMON, ALBERT; SALOMON,
GOTTERIED; SIMMEL, GEORG; SKLARE,
MARSHALL; SMELSER, NEIL JOSEPH;
SOCIOLOGY; STERN, BERNHARD JOSEPH;
SULZBACH, WALTER; TUMIN, MELVIN
MARVIN; WIRTH, LOUIS; WORMS, RENE
Ivan Caine, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Bible,
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College, Philadelphia: NUMBERS,
BOOK OF
Justin D. (Daniel) Cammy’,
Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Jewish
Studies and Comparative Literature,
Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusetts: SUTZKEVER, ABRAHAM;
WOLF, LEYZER; YUNG-VILNE
Hyman Joseph Campeas, M.A.;
Educator, New York: SEPHARDIM
Judith L. (Levine) Cantor’, B.A.;
Archivist, Congregation Shaarey
Zedek; Jewish Historical Society
of Michigan; Past President,
former Editor; Historical Society
of Michigan, Board of Trustees;
Womens Studies Association, Board
of Directors, Emeritus, Michigan:
MICHIGAN
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Kimmy Caplan*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: FRIEDERMAN, ZALMAN
JACOB; GORDON, JACOB; SILVERSTONE,
GEDALYAH
Richelle Budd Caplan*, M.A.;
Director, International Relations,
International School for Holocaust
Studies, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem:
HOLOCAUST
Brenda Cappe’*, B.A.; Researcher,
OISE/University of Toronto,
Canada: LUFTSPRING, SAMMY;
RUBENSTEIN, LOUIS; UNGERMAN, IRVING;
WEIDER, BEN
Jacob Carciente*, C.E.; Civil
Engineer, Professor Universidad
Central de Venezuela and
Universidad Metropolitana; Former
Dean of Engineering, Caracas,
Venezuela: BRENER, PYNCHAS;
CARACAS; CORO; DE SOLA, JUAN
BARTOLOME; VENEZUELA
Michael Hart Cardozo, B.A., LL.B.;
Executive Director, Association
of American Law Schools,
Washington, D.C.: LEHMAN, IRVING;
POLLAK, WALTER HEILPRIN
Alexander Carlebach, D.en
D., Rabbi; Jerusalem: AARON
OF NEUSTADT; AARON OF PESARO;
ADASS JESHURUN, ADASS JISROEL;
AKADEMIE FUER DIE WISSENSCHAFT
DES JUDENTUMS; ARVIT; AUERBACH;
BARRENNESS AND FERTILITY; BERLINER,
ABRAHAM; BRAUDE, JACOB; CHOTZNER,
JOSEPH; COLOGNE; DORTMUND;
FERRARA; GOLDSCHMIDT, ERNST
DANIEL; HAMBURGER, JACOB;
HILDESHEIMER, MEIR; HOLLAENDER,
LUDWIG; HOMILETIC LITERATURE;
JAFFE, SIR OTTO; KAFAH, YOSEF;
LEHMANN, EMIL; RABBI, RABBINATE;
WAHL, SAUL BEN JUDAH; WEISS, ISAAC
JACOB
Ezriel Carlebach, Dr.Jur.; Editor
and Writer, Tel Aviv: ALLGEMEINE
ZEITUNG DES JUDENTUMS
Alex Carmel, Ph.D.; Instructor in
International Relations and History,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
HAIFA
Ram Carmi, Architect, Tel Aviv
Moshe Carmilly- Weinberger,
Ph.D., Rabbi; Professor of Jewish
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Studies, Yeshiva University, New
York: CENSORSHIP; HASKAMAH
Yaacov Caroz, Formerly second in
command of the Mossad; Journalist,
Tel Aviv
Daniel Carpi, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish History, Tel
Aviv University: BOLZANO; CASALE
MONFERRATO; CHIERI; DONATI, ANGELO;
FARINACCI, ROBERTO; FOSSANO;
FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA; ISTRIA; ITALY;
LAMPRONTI, ISAAC HEZEKIAH BEN
SAMUEL; LATTES, BONET; LATTES, ISAAC
BEN JACOB; LATTES, ISAAC JOSHUA;
MONCALVO; ROME; SERVI, FLAMINIO
Judy Feld Carr, Mus. M., Mus. Bac.;
Musicologist and Music Educator;
Chairman, National Task Force
for Syrian Jews, CJC; Chairman,
Dr. Ronald Feld Fund for Jews in
Arab Lands, housed in Beth Tzedec
Congregation, Toronto: syRIA
Hayden Carruth, M.A.; Poet and
critic, Johnson, Vermont: REZNIKOFF,
CHARLES
Greer Fay Cashman, Journalist,
Sydney: MARTIN, DAVID; WATEN, JUDAH
Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto,
Litt.Doct., Rabbi; Professor of
Bible, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ABRAHAM BEN DANIEL;
AHITUB BEN ISAAC; AL-BAZAK, MAZLYAH
BEN ELIJAH IBN; ALEMANNO, JOHANAN
BEN ISAAC; ANATOLI, JACOB BEN ABBA
MARI BEN SAMSON; APULIA; BENEVENTO,
IMMANUEL BEN JEKUTHIEL; BERGAMO;
BIBLE; BRESCIA; BRUNETTI, ANGELO;
CAGLIARI; CANTARINI, ISAAC VITA HA-
KOHEN; CASTELLO, ABRAHAM ISAAC;
COMO; CONAT, ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON;
DEL BENE, ELIEZER DAVID BEN ISAAC;
FLORENCE; FOLIGNO, HANANEL;
FORTI, BARUCH UZZIEL BEN BARUCH;
GENNAZANO, ELIJAH HAYYIM BEN
BENJAMIN OF; GENTILI; HALEAN, ELIJAH
MENAHEM; IMMANUEL OF ROME; ISAAC
BEN JACOB MIN HA-LEVIYYIM; JEDIDIAH
BEN MOSES OF RECANATI; JUDAH BEN
JEHIEL; KALONYMUS BEN KALONYMUS;
LATTES, ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC; LEONE,
LEON DI; LEVI, BENEDETTO; LUZZATTO;
LUZZATTO, JACOB BEN ISAAC; MANETTI,
GIANNOZZO; MARGULIES, SAMUEL
HIRSCH; MOROSINI, GIULIO; MOSES OF
PAVIA
Calev Castel, M.D.; Kibbutz Netzer
Sereni: SERENI, ENZO HAYYIM
65
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Moshe Catane, Dr. du 3e cycle,
Archiviste Paleographe; Senior
Lecturer in French Civilization
and Literature, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan; Librarian, the Jewish
National and University Library,
Jerusalem: ALSACE; ARON, ROBERT;
BEER-BING, ISAIAH; BERNARD, TRISTAN;
BERR ISAAC BERR DE TURIQUE; BERR,
MICHEL; CONSISTORY; DRACH, PAUL-
LOUIS-BERNARD; DREYFUS, ALFRED;
DRUMONT, EDOUARD-ADOLPHE; GARY,
ROMAIN; HALEVY; HARRY, MYRIAM;
HIRSCH, BARON MAURICE DE; JAVAL;
KAHN, GUSTAVE; KESSEL, JOSEPH; KLEIN,
SALOMON WOLF; LAHARANNE, ERNEST;
LEHMANN, JOSEPH; LEVI ALVARES, DAVID;
LOEWENSON, JEAN; LUNEL, ARMAND;
LYONS; NEHER, ANDRE; PORTO-RICHE,
GEORGES DE; RABBINOWICZ, ISRAEL
MICHEL; SACHS, MAURICE; SINZHEIM,
JOSEPH DAVID BEN ISAAC;
SPIRE, ANDRE
Shulamith Catane, B.A.; Jerusalem:
BLOCH, PIERRE; BOKANOWSKI, MAURICE;
GOUDCHAUX, MICHEL; GREENSTONE,
JULIUS HILLEL; GRUMBACH, SALOMON;
KLOTZ, LOUIS-LUCIEN; LYON-CAEN,
CHARLES LEON; MAYER, DANIEL;
MAYER, RENE; MEYER, LEON; RAYNAL,
DAVID; SCHRAMECK, ABRAHAM; STERN,
JACQUES; TORRES, HENRY
Georges Cattaui, L.en D., Dip.
Sc.Pol.; Paris: PROUST, MARCEL
Alberto Cavaglion*, Ph.D.;
Teacher, Istituto piemontese per
la storia della resistenze e della
societa contemporanea, Turin, Italy:
ALESSANDRIA; CUNEO; GENOA
Henri Cazelles, D.en D.; Professor
of Biblical Exegesis and Hebrew,
Institut Catholique de Paris: MICAH
Adonella Cedarmas*, Ph.D.;
Researcher, University of Udine,
Italy: GORIZIA; TRIESTE
David Cesarani*, Ph.D.; Research
Professor; Royal Holloway,
University of London; London,
England: ENGLAND; GILBERT, SIR
MARTIN; KINDERTRANSPORT; MAXWELL,
ROBERT; RIFKIND, SIR MALCOLM;
ROTHSCHILD, NATHANIEL CHARLES
JACOB; SACKS, JONATHAN HENRY;
TAYLOR, SIR PETER MURRAY
J.H. Chajes*, Ph.D.; Lecturer, Jewish
History, University of Haifa: ABERLIN,
RACHEL
66
Scott Chamberlin’, B.A.;
Writer and Editor, Los Angeles:
KINDERTRANSPORT
Leon Chameides*, M.D.; Emeritus
Director of Pediatric Cardiology,
Connecticut Children’s Medical
Center, Clinical Professor University
of Connecticut School of Medicine;
Member of the Board and Executive
Committee of the Jewish Historical
Society of Greater Hartford,
Connecticut: HARTFORD
Jerome A. Chanes*, Faculty
Scholar, Cohen Center for Modern
Jewish Studies, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts: AMERICAN
JEWISH COMMITTEE; AMERICAN
JEWISH CONGRESS; ANTI-DEFAMATION
LEAGUE; ASSIMILATION; CLAL;
COMMUNITY; CONFERENCE OF
PRESIDENTS OF MAJOR AMERICAN
JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS
Zevulun Charlop, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Director of RIETS and of Yeshiva
Program/Mazer School of Talmudic
Studies, Yeshiva University, New
York
Yosef Chavit, Researcher, Kiryat
Arba: RENASSIA, YOSSEF
Barry Chazan, Ed.D.; former
Director, Melton Center for Jewish
Education in the Diaspora, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Robert Chazan, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Ohio State
University, Columbus: NAMES
Mordecai Chenzin, Rabbi;
Columbus, Ohio: LEWIN, JUDAH LEIB
Mordecai S. Chertoff, D.H.L.;
Director of Public Information,
World Zionist Organization -
American Section; Executive
Director, American Histadrut
Cultural Exchange Union, New
York: STERNSTEIN, JOSEPH PHILIP
Bryan Cheyette, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Dept. of English, Queen Mary and
Westfield College, University of
London: FEINSTEIN, ELAINE; JACOBSON,
HOWARD; JOSIPOVICI, GABRIEL; RUBENS,
BERNICE; STEINER, GEORGE
Arthur A. Chiel, M.A., D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Woodbridge, Connecticut:
NEW HAVEN
Jonathan Chipman, M.A.; Writer
and Lecturer, Jerusalem: BAALEI
TESHUVAH
Dov Chomsky, Poet, General
Secretary of the Hebrew Writers’
Association, Tel Aviv: WRITERS’
ASSOCIATION IN ISRAEL
Noam Chomsky, Ph.D.; Professor of
Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge: HARRIS,
ZELLIG SABBETAI
William Chomsky, Ph.D., D.H.L.;
Professor of Hebrew and Jewish
Education, Dropsie University,
Philadelphia
Andre N. Chouraqui, Ph.D.;
Historian, Jerusalem: CASSIN, RENE
SAMUEL
Anatole Chujoy, Dance critic
and Historian, New York: HUROK,
SOLOMON
Stanley FE. Chyet, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of American Jewish
History, the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati: HEBREW UNION COLLEGE-
JEWISH INSTITUTE OF RELIGION; HENRY,
JACOB; JONAS, JOSEPH; LOPEZ, AARON;
MARX, ALEXANDER; RIVERA, JACOB
RODRIGUEZ; TRADE AND COMMERCE
E.Cindof: HAMMAT GADER
Eli Citonne, Businessman and
Photographer, Istanbul: KARAITES
Mordechai Cogan, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer and Chairman of the
Department of Bible, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Beersheba
Amnon Cohen’, Ph.D.; Eliahu
Elath Professor of History of the
Muslim Peoples, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: siILL
Ariel Cohen: LIPPMANN, GABRIEL;
LIPSCHITZ, RUDOLF OTTO SIGISMUND
Aryeh Cohen*: PROGRESSIVE JEWISH
ALLIANCE
Benjamin Cohen, M.A., Rabbi;
Jerusalem: PHINEHAS BEN HAMA HA-
KOHEN; PHINEHAS BEN JAIR; YANNAI
Beth (B.) Cohen’, Ph.D.; Historian,
Chapman University, Los Angeles,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
California: ARAD, YITZHAK; BAUMAN,
ZYGMUNT; BIELSKI, TUVIA, ASAEL
and ZUS; BROWNING, CHRISTOPHER
R.; DAMATO, ALFONSE M.; DICKER-
BRANDEIS, FREDERIKE; FORTUNOFF
VIDEO ARCHIVE FOR HOLOCAUST
TESTIMONY; HARTMAN, GEOFEREY;
RAVENSBRUECK
Burton I. Cohen*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor Emeritus of Jewish
Education, Jewish Theological
Seminary, New York: JEwIsH
CAMPING
Chaim E. Cohen*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Hebrew Language, Tel
Aviv University: DOTAN, ARON
Chayim Cohen, B.A., B.H.L.;
Columbia University, New York:
MINOR PROPHETS; POISON; RAHAB;
RIGHT AND LEFT; RIMMON; TREASURE,
TREASURY; WIDOW
Daniel J. Cohen, Ph.D.; Director of
the Central Archives for the History
of the Jewish People, Jerusalem:
ARCHIVES; LANDJUDENSCHAFT
David Cohen, M.A.; Teacher in
Hebrew and Semitic Languages,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
NEO-ARAMAIC
Elisheva Cohen, Chief Curator
of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem:
BUDKO, JOSEPH; JESI, SAMUEL; KAPLAN,
ANATOLI LVOVICH; KIRSZENBAUM,
JESEKIEL DAVID; STRUCK, HERMANN;
SZALIT-MARCUS, RACHEL
Evelyn (M.) Cohen’, Ph.D.; Art
Historian, Jewish Theological
Seminary, New York: ILLUMINATED
MANUSCRIPTS, HEBREW
Gerson D. Cohen, Ph.D., Rabbi;
President and Professor of Jewish
History, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
HANNAH AND HER SEVEN SONS
Hayyim (Haim) J. Cohen, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer in Contemporary
Jewry, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: AFGHANISTAN; ALEPPO;
ANTIBI; ARABIA; ASHKENAZI, BEHOR;
ATLAS; BATTAT, REUBEN; BAGHDAD;
BEIRUT; CAIRO; CASABLANCA; CATTAUI;
DAMASCUS; DANIEL, MENAHEM SALIH;
DUWAYK; EDIRNE; EGYPT; ELIAS, JOSEPH;
FARAJ, MURAD; FARHI; FEZ; HADDAD,
EZRA; HARARI; HARARI, SIR VICTOR
RAPHAEL; HARIRI; ISFAHAN; ISTANBUL;
IZMIR; KABIR, ABRAHAM SALIH AL-;
KADOORIE, SASSON; KIRKUK; LIBYA;
MEKNES; MENASCE, DE; MOROCCO;
MOSSERI; MOSUL; MOYAL, ESTHER;
NAHOUM, HAIM; NISSIM, ABRAHAM
HAYYIM; PICCIOTTO; PORT SAID;
SALE-RABAT; SAMRA, DAVID; SASSOON,
SIR EZEKIEL; SHAUL, ANWAR; SHIRAZ;
TANGIER; TETUAN; TRIPOLI; ZILKHA,
NAIM
Isaac Cohen, Ph.D., Rabbi; Chief
Rabbi of Ireland, Dublin: irRELAND
Israel Cohen, Writer and Editor,
Tel Aviv: AHARONOVITCH, YOSEF;
AHARONOVITCH, YOSEF; LAUFBAHN,
YITSHAK
Jack (Joseph) Cohen*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Retired Director, Hillel Foundation,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
Retired member of faculty,
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College; Founding Member, Kehillat
Mevakshei Derech, Jerusalem:
KAPLAN, MORDECAI MENAHEM
Judah M. Cohen’, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor, Lou and Sybil Mervis
Professor of Jewish Culture, Indiana
University, Bloomington, Indiana:
CARLEBACH, SHLOMO
Judith Cohen, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Musicology, Tel Aviv University:
ADLER, GUIDO; DEUTSCH, OTTO ERICH;
EINSTEIN, ALFRED; HERZ, HENRI; HESS,
DAME MYRA; HESS, DAME MYRA; LEVI,
HERMANN; LEVI, HERMANN; MOTTL,
FELIX JOSEEF
Julie-Marthe M. Cohen’, M.A.;
Curator, Jewish Historical Museum,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands:
CITROEN, ROELOF PAUL; ELTE, HARRY
Lionel Cohen, M.A.; Instructor
in French and Classical Studies,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
LANGFUS, ANNA; PASCAL, BLAISE
Margot Cohen”: ROCHESTER
Mark R. Cohen”*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton
University, New Jersey: GOITEIN,
SHLOMO DOV; OMAR, COVENANT OF
Martin A. Cohen, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish History, the
Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, New York:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
CARVAJAL; COIMBRA; DIAS, LUIS; ESTE,
JOAO BAPTISTA DE; GRANADA, GABRIEL
DE; LATIN AMERICA; MALDONADO DE
SILVA, FRANCISCO; MARRANO; MARRANO
DIASPORA; NAVARRO; NETANYAHU,
BENZION; NEW CHRISTIANS; NORONHA,
FERNAO DE; RIVKIN, ELLIS; VECINHO,
JOSEPH
Michael Cohen”: FLEISCHER, CHARLES
Naomi W. Cohen, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Hunter College
of the City University of New York:
AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE; STRAUS
Nathan Cohen’, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Cultural History, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan: AHARON
BEN SAMUEL; ALTMAN, MOISHE; ANSHEL
OF CRACOV; BIMKO, FISHEL; BOMZE,
NAHUM; BRYKS, RACHMIL; SINGER, ISAAC
BASHEVIS
Nilli Cohen*, Director, The
Institute for the Translation of
Hebrew Literature, Tel Aviv: HEBREW
LITERATURE, MODERN
Rachel Cohen, B.A.; Jerusalem:
LEBANON; LIBYA
Richard Cohen, B.A.; Associate
Director, the American Jewish
Congress, New York: sPINGARN
Robert Cohen, B.A.; Jerusalem:
CARIBBEANS, SPANISH-PORTUGUESE
NATION OF THE: LA NACION
Robert S. Cohen, Ph.D.; Professor
of Physics and Philosophy, Boston
University, Massachusetts: CHWISTEK,
LEON; MEYERSON, EMILE; SCHAFF, ADAM
Selma Jeanne Cohen, Ph.D.; Editor,
New York: DANCE; MARCEAU, MARCEL
Tova Cohen*, Ph.D.; Professor, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan: HEBREW
LITERATURE, MODERN
Yoel Cohen”*, B.Sc., Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Netanaya Academic
College; Lifshitz Religious
Education College Jerusalem; The
Holon Institute of Technology;
Israel: AL HA-MISHMAR; BAR-ILAN,
DAVID; BARNEA, NAHUM; DANKNER,
AMNON; DISSENTCHIK, ARYEH; GLOBES;
HAARETZ; HA-MODIA; HA-ZOFEH;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL LIFE;
JERUSALEM POST; JERUSALEM REPORT;
KIRSCHENBAUM, MORDECHAI; LANDAU,
67
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
DAVID; MAARIV; MARGALIT, DAN;
MARMORI, HANOKH; MOZES; NIMRODI,;
PRESS; ROSENBLUM, HERZL; RUBINGER,
DAVID; SCHNITZER, SHMUEL; SCHOCKEN;
VANUNU AFFAIR; VARDI, MOSHE; YATED
NEEMAN; YEDIOTH AHARONOTH;
YUDKOVSKY, DOV; ZEMER, HANNAH
Cedric Cohen Skalli*, Ph.D.;
Postdoctoral Research, Alumnus Tel
Aviv University: ABRABANEL
Yohanan (J.-G.) Cohen-Yashar
(Kahn), Ph.D.; Lecturer in Classical
Languages and in Philosophy, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan: RENAN,
ERNEST
Alexander Cohn, M.Sc.; Municipal
Engineer, Bene-Berak: BENE-BERAK
Gabriel H. Cohn, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Bible, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: JONAH, BOOK OF
Haim Hermann Cohn, Justice
of the Supreme Court of Israel,
Jerusalem; Associate Professor
of Law, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ABDUCTION; ADMISSION;
ADULTERY; ASSAULT; ATTORNEY; BET DIN
AND JUDGES; BLOOD- AVENGER; BRIBERY;
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT; CITY OF REFUGE;
COMPOUNDING OFFENSES; CONFESSION;
CONFISCATION, EXPROPRIATION,
FORFEITURE; CONTEMPT OF COURT;
CRUCIFIXION; DIVINE PUNISHMENT;
EVIDENCE; EXTRAORDINARY REMEDIES;
FINES; FLOGGING; FORGERY; FRAUD;
GAMBLING; HEREM; HOMICIDE; INCEST;
INFORMERS; OATH; OPPRESSION;
ORDEAL; PENAL LAW; PERJURY; PLEAS;
POLICE OFFENSES; PRACTICE AND
PROCEDURE; PUNISHMENT; REBELLIOUS
SON; SEXUAL OFFENSES; SLANDER;
SLAVERY; SORCERY; SUICIDE; TALION;
THEFT AND ROBBERY; USURY; WEIGHTS
AND MEASURES; WITNESS
Robert A. Cohn’, B.A., J.D., B.S.;
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the St.
Louis Jewish Light, St. Louis: SAINT
LOUIS
Baruch J. Cohon: IDELSOHN,
ABRAHAM ZVI
Margaret L. Coit, Dr. of Letters;
Associate Professor of Social
Science, Fairleigh Dickinson
University, Rutherford, New Jersey:
BARUCH
Saul Paul Colbi, Dr.Jur.; Former
68
Director, Department of Christian
Communities, the Ministry of
Religious Affairs, Jerusalem: HOLY
PLACES; JEWISH-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS
Yoseph Colombo, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Jewish Studies, the Luigi Bocconi
Commercial University, Milan:
PRESS; RASSEGNA MENSILE DI ISRAEL, LA
Vittore Colorni, Ph.D.; Professor
of the History of Italian Law, the
University of Ferrara, Italy
Michael Comay, B.A., LL.B.;
Ambassador, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
HISTORICAL SURVEY
Manuela Consonni*, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ALESSANDRIA; ALMANSI;
AQUILA; AREZZO; ASTI; CATTANEO,
CARLO; MUSSOLINI, BENITO
Alan Cooper*, Ph.D.; Elaine Ravich
Professor of Jewish Studies, Jewish
Theological Seminary, New York:
LAMENTATIONS, BOOK OF
Harvey A. Cooper, B.A.; Journalist,
New York: MAYER, LOUIS BURT;
PREMINGER, OTTO LUDWIG; THEATER
Jacob H. Copenhagen, Librarian,
Jerusalem: HIRSCHEL, LEVIE;
ROSENTHAL, LESER
Renee Corcoran’: NEBRASKA; OMAHA
David Corcos, Historian,
Jerusalem: AARON BEN BATASH;
ABENSUR; ABUDARHAM; ABULKER;
ALGERIA; ALGIERS; ARCILA; ATAR;
ATLAS; AVILA, DE; AYASH; AZANCOT;
AZEMMOUR; AZEVEDO; BELAIS,
ABRAHAM BEN SHALOM; BELISHA;
BENCHIMOL; BENGALIL; BENGHAZI;
BENIDER; BENOLIEL; BENREMOKH;
BENSUSAN; BENWAISH, ABRAHAM;
BENZAMERO; BERBERS; BERGEL; BESSIS,
ALBERT; BIBAS; BORDJEL; BOUCHARA;
BOUGIE; BRUNSCHVIG, ROBERT;
BUENO; BUSNACH; CABESSA; CANSINO;
CARDOSO; CASABLANCA; CATTAN;
CAZES, DAVID; CEUTA; CHOURAQUI;
CHOURAQUI, ANDRE; CHRIQUI; COHEN,
LEVI-ABRAHAM; CONSTANTINE; CORIAT;
DAHAN; DARMON; DELMAR; DELOUYA;
DJERBA; DRA; DURAN; FEZ; GABES;
GAGIN, HAYYIM; HASSAN; HATCHWELL,
SOL; HONEIN; KAHINA; KAIROUAN;
LEVY; LEVY-BACRAT, ABRAHAM BEN
SOLOMON; LUMBROSO; MACNIN; MALCA;
MOROCCO; NARBONI; OFRAN; OKHLAH
VE-OKHLAH; PALACHE; PINTO; QALAT
HAMMAD; ROSALES, JACOB; ROTE; SEBAG;
SEROR; SERUYA; SIJILMASSA; SOLAL;
SOUS; TANGIER; TETUAN; TLEMCEN;
TUAT; TUNIS, TUNISIA; UZAN; VALENSI;
WAQQASA
David Coren, Member of the
Knesset, Kibbutz Gesher ha-Ziv:
GADNA
Mort Cornin, B.Litt.; Journalist,
Jersey City, New Jersey: HUDSON
COUNTY
Maritza Corrales*, M.A.;
Researcher, University of Havana,
Cuba: WOLFE, RICHARD RIEGEL
Alan D. Corre, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Hebrew Studies,
the University of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee: sEPHARDIM; SOLIS-COHEN
Lewis A. Coser, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, the State University
of New York, Stony Brook: sCHELER,
MAX FERDINAND
Aliza Craimer*, M.A. Phil.; Modern
Jewish Studies, University of Oxford,
England: ALBERTA; CALGARY; SAFDIE,
MOSHE; VEINER, HARRY
Lawrence A. Cremin, Ph.D.;
Professor of Education, Columbia
University, New York: RICE, JOSEPH
MAYER
David (M.) Crowe*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, Elon
University, North Carolina: pLaszow;
SCHINDLER, OSKAR
June Cummins”, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Department of English
and Comparative Literature, San
Diego State University: TAYLOR,
SYDNEY
Louisa Cuomo, Dott. in lett.;
Assistant in Italian Language and
Literature, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Assistant in Judaica,
New York University: BAUR, HARRY;
FUBINI, MARIO; LEVI, GIULIO AUGUSTO;
MOMIGLIANO, ATTILIO; MORPURGO,
GIUSEPPE; MUSSAFIA, ADOLFO
Michael Curtis, Ph.D.; Professor of
Political Science, Rutgers University,
Editor of Middle East Review:
ANTISEMITISM
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Irving Cutler*, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Geography, Chicago
State University: CHICAGO
Charles Cutter, M.A., M.L.S.;
Hebrew Bibliographer of the
Library, Ohio State University,
Columbus: BERNSTEIN, IGNATZ;
CAHAN, JUDAH LOEB; CASSEL, DAVID
William Cutter*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Steinberg Professor of Human
Relations and Professor of Hebrew
Literature, Hebrew Union College,
Los Angeles: DAVIS, DAVID BRION
Arthur Cygielman, Cand. S.C.;
Teacher in Seminar ha-Kibbutzim,
Tel Aviv: BOLESLAV V; CRACOW;
DABROWA GORNICZA; DAVID-GORODOK;
DIVIN; FISHEL; FRANK, MENAHEM
MENDEL; GORODENKA; GORODOK;
HIRSZOWICZ, ABRAHAM; IVANOVO;
IVYE; JEDRZEJOW; JEKELES; JOSKO;
JOZEFOWICZ; KALISZ; KALUSH; KLETS;
KOBIELSKI, FRANCISZEK ANTONI;
KOBRIN; KOCK; KONIN; KOSOV; KRYNKI;
LACHVA; LANCUT; LASK; LECZYCA;
LELEWEL, JOACHIM; LEWIN, GERSHON;
LEWKO, JORDANIS; LEZAJSK; LOWICZ;
MEISEL, MOSES BEN MORDECAI; MEISELS,
DAVID DOV; MENAHEM MENDEL
BEN ISAAC; MICZYNSKI, SEBASTIAN;
MIEDZYRZEC PODLASK; MIELEC;
MIR; MLAWA; MOJECKI, PRZECLAW;
NACHMANOVICH; NATANSON, LUDWIK;
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DWOR MAZOWIECKI; NOWY SACZ;
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OSTROW MAZOWIECKA; PARCZEW;
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WEIGEL, CATHERINE; WIELUN;
WOLOWSKI; WYSZKOW; ZALCSTEIN,
GECL; ZAMBROW; ZDUNSKA WOLA;
ZGIERZ
Roney Cytrynowicz*, Ph.D.;
Historian, Arquivo Histérico
Judaico Brasileiro, SAo Paulo, Brazil:
BAHIA; BRAZIL; KOCH, ADELHEID LUCY;
POLITICS; PORTO ALEGRE; RECIFE; RIO DE
JANEIRO; SAO PAULO
Leon Czertok, Dr.Jur.; General
Secretary, Centre de Documentation
Juive Contemporaine, Paris:
SCHNEERSOHN, ISAAC
Moshe M. Czudnowski, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in Political Science, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ALMOND, GABRIEL ABRAHAM
Larissa (Dimmig) Daemmig*,
University Diploma, Librarian, Bet
Debora and The Ronald S. Lauder
Foundation, Berlin, Germany:
FREIBURG IM BREISGAU; FUERTH;
FULDA; HAGEN; HALBERSTADT; HALLE;
HAMELN; HANOVER; HEIDELBERG;
LANDAU; LEIPZIG; LIPPE; LUEBECK;
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STUTTGART; THURINGIA; TRIER; ULM;
VILLINGEN; WEINHEIM; WESTPHALIA;
WUERTTEMBERG; WUPPERTAL
Avigdor Dagan, Dr.Jur.; Author
and former Ambassador, Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
ASKENAZY, LUDVIK; BORNERIEND,
JACOB; CZECHOSLOVAK LITERATURE;
CZECHOSLOVAKIA; EISNER, PAVEL;
FEIGL, BEDRICH; FEUERSTEIN, BEDRICH;
FISCHER, OTOKAR; FRITTA; FUCHS,
ALFRED; GELLNER, FRANTISEK;
GOLDSTUECKER, EDUARD; GOTTLIEB,
FRANTISEK; GROSMAN, LADISLAV;
GROSSMAN, LADISLAV; GUTFREUND,
OTTO; GUTTMANN, ROBERT; HAAS, LEO;
HOSTOVSKY, EGON; JUSTITZ, ALFRED;
KAFKA, FRANTISEK; KAPPER, SIEGFRIED
or VITEZSLAV; KARS, JIRI; KNIEZA, EMIL;
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FRANTISEK R.; LANGER, FRANTISEK;
LANGER, JIRE MORDECHAI, LEDA,
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IVAN; ORTEN, JIRI; POLACEK, KAREL;
PRESS; RAKOUS, VOJTECH; SCHORSCH,
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TRIAL; TRIER, WALTER; VRCHLICKY,
JAROSLAV; WINTER, GUSTAV; ZELENKA,
FRANTISEK; ZEYER, JULIUS; ZIDEK, PAVEL
Shaul Dagoni, M.D.; Haifa: stamps
Rachel Dalven, Ph.D.; Professor of
English, Ladycliff College, Highland
Falls, New York: CAIMIS, MOISIS;
ELIYIA, JOSEPH; GREEK LITERATURE,
MODERN; JUDEO-GREEK; MATSAS,
NESTORAS; SCHIBY, BARUCH; SCIAKI,
JOSEPH
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Joseph Dan, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebrew Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AARON OF BAGHDAD; ABRAHAM;
ALEXANDER THE GREAT; APOCRYPHA
AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA; BEN SIRA,
ALPHABET OF; BIOGRAPHIES AND
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES; CALAHORA, JOSEPH
BEN SOLOMON; CANPANTON, JUDAH
BEN SOLOMON; DERASHOT HA-RAN;
DEVEKUT; DONNOLO, SHABBETAI;
ELEAZAR BEN JUDAH OF WORMS;
ELEAZAR BEN MOSES HA-DARSHAN OF
WUERZBURG; ELHANAN BEN YAKAR;
ELIEZER BEN MANASSEH BEN BARUCH;
ETHICAL LITERATURE; EXEMPLA OF THE
RABBIS; EXEMPLUM; FICTION, HEBREW;
FRANCES, ISAAC; GORDON, JEKUTHIEL
BEN LEIB; HAGIOGRAPHY; HASIDEI
ASHKENAZ; HASIDIM, SEFER; HEMDAT
YAMIM; HOMILETIC LITERATURE; IBN
YAHYA, GEDALIAH BEN JOSEPH; IGGERET
HA-KODESH; ISRAEL HARIF OF SATANOV;
ISRAEL ISSERL BEN ISAAC SEGAL; JABEZ,
JOSEPH BEN HAYYIM; JACOB KOPPEL BEN
MOSES OF MEZHIRECH; JAGEL, ABRAHAM;
JOSEPH BEN UZZIEL; JOSEPH DELLA
REINA; JUDAH BEN SAMUEL HE-HASID;
KALONYMUS; LETTERS AND LETTER
WRITERS; LUZZATTO, MOSES HAYYIM;
MAGGID; MAGIC; MANN, ABRAHAM
AARON OF POSNAN; MENAHEM ZIYYONI;
MICHAEL AND GABRIEL; MIDRASH
ASERET HA-DIBBEROT; MIVHAR HA-
PENINIM; MOSCATO, JUDAH BEN JOSEPH;
MOSES, CHRONICLES OF; MUSAR HASKEL;
NEVU"AT HA-YELED; ORHOT HAYYIM;
POLEMICS AND POLEMICAL LITERATURE;
RAZIEL, BOOK OF; SACRIFICE; SAMUEL
BEN KALONYMUS HE-HASID OF SPEYER;
SASPORTAS, JACOB; SEFER HA-HAYYIM;
SEFER HA-YASHAR; SEFER HUKKEI HA-
TORAH; SHEKHINAH; TAKU, MOSES BEN
HISDAI; TISHBY, ISAIAH; TOLEDOT HA-
ARI; TOLEDOT YESHU; UZZA AND AZAEL;
VISIONS; WILLS, ETHICAL; ZERUBBABEL,
BOOK OF; ZEVI HIRSCH OF NADWORNA
Robert Dan, Ph.D.; Research
Fellow of Orientalia and Librarian,
National Szechenyi Library of
Hungary, Budapest: KOMAROMI
CSIPKES, GYORGY
Suzanne Daniel, D.es-L.; Associate
Professor of Judeo-Hellenistic
Literature, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: BIBLE
Uriel Dann, Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer
in the History of the Modern
Middle East, Tel Aviv University:
ABDULLAH IBN HUSSEIN; HUSSEIN;
JORDAN, HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF
69
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Haim Darin-Drapkin, Ph.D.,
Scientific Director, International
Research Centre for Cooperative
Rural Communities, Tel Aviv:
ISRAEL, STATE OF: ALIYAH
Joseph J. Darvin, B.S.; Chemist,
Spring Valley, New York
Jacob Dash, B.Arch, A.M.T.PL;
Head of the Planning Department,
Ministry of the Interior, Jerusalem:
ISRAEL, STATE OF: ALIYAH
Abraham David", Ph.D.; Senior
Researcher, The Jewish National
and University Library, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: aBoaB,
SAMUEL BEN ABRAHAM; ABRAHAM
BEN N... HA-BAGHDADI; ABRAHAM BEN
NATHAN; ABULAFIA, HAYYIM NISSIM
BEN ISAAC; ALASHKAR, SOLOMON;
ALFANDARI, SOLOMON ELIEZER
BEN JACOB; ALGAZI, SOLOMON BEN
ABRAHAM; ALI BEN ZECHARIAH;
ANAU, PHINEHAS HAI BEN MENAHEM;
ARYEH LEIB BEN ELIJAH; ASHKENAZI,
BEZALEL BEN ABRAHAM; ASHKENAZI,
JUDAH BEN SIMEON; ASTRUC, SAUL HA-
KOHEN; AUERBACH, MEIR BEN ISAAC;
AZARIAH BEN SOLOMON; BADHAY,
ISAAC BEN MICHAEL; BASOLA, MOSES
BEN MORDECAI, BEN-KIKI; BENVENISTE,
JOSEPH BEN MOSES DE SEGOVIA; BERAB,
JACOB BEN HAYYIM; BERLIN, SAUL
BEN ZEVI HIRSCH LEVIN; BERTINORO,
OBADIAH BEN ABRAHAM YARE; BLOCH,
SAMSON BEN MOSES; BONASTRUC,
ISAAC; BRUDO, ABRAHAM BEN ELIJAH;
CANPANTON, ISAAC BEN JACOB;
CAPSALI, MOSES BEN ELIJAH; CAPUSI,
HAYYIM; CARO, ISAAC BEN JOSEPH;
CASTELLAZZO; CASTRO, ABRAHAM;
CASTRO, JACOB BEN ABRAHAM;
CORDOVERO, GEDALIAH BEN MOSES;
CURIEL, ISRAEL BEN MEIR DI; DANGOOR,
EZRA SASSON BEN REUBEN; DANIEL
BEN HASDAI; DANIEL BEN PERAHYAH
HA-KOHEN; DANIEL BEN SAADIAH HA-
BAVLI; DANIEL BEN SAMUEL IBN ABI
RABI’; DAVID BEN HAYYIM OF CORFU;
DAVID BEN HEZEKIAH; DAVID BEN
JUDAH; DAVID BEN SAMUEL; DAYYAN;
DEL VECCHIO, SHABBETAI ELHANAN BEN
ELISHA; DIENNA, AZRIEL BEN SOLOMON;
ELEAZAR BEN HALFON HA-KOHEN;
ELIJAH BEN BENJAMIN HA-LEVI; EPHRAIM
SOLOMON BEN AARON OF LUNTSHITS;
EXILARCH; EZEKIEL FEIVEL BEN ZE'EV
WOLF; FINN, JAMES; FOUR CAPTIVES,
THE; HAKAM, AL-; HAKIM, SAMUEL
BEN MOSES HA-LEVI IBN; HALFON BEN
NETHANEL HA-LEVI ABU SAI’D; HASDAI;
HAVER; HAYYIM SHABBETAI; HEZEKIAH
70
BEN DAVID; HEZEKIAH BEN DAVID DA
SILVA; IBN HABIB, MOSES BEN SHEM
TOV; IBN SHUAIB, JOEL; ISAAC; ISAAC
BEN ABRAHAM DI MOLINA; ISRAEL
BEN SAMUEL HA-KOHEN; ISSACHAR
BAER BEN TANHUM; JACOB BEN
ELEAZAR; JACOB BEN HAYYIM TALMID;
JACOB BEN NETHANEL BEN FAYYUMI;
JOSEPH BEN KALONYMUS HA-NAKDAN
I; JOSEPH BEN PHINEHAS; JOSEPH
DAVID; JOSEPH HAYYIM BEN ELIJAH
AL-HAKAM; JOSIAH BEN JESSE; KARA,
AVIGDOR BEN ISAAC; KAZIN, JUDAH
BEN YOM TOV; KHALAZ, JUDAH BEN
ABRAHAM; LANIADO, ABRAHAM BEN
ISAAC; LANIADO, RAPHAEL SOLOMON
BEN SAMUEL; LANIADO, SAMUEL BEN
ABRAHAM; LANIADO, SOLOMON BEN
ABRAHAM; LAPAPA, AARON BEN ISAAC;
LEON, ISAAC DE; LIPSCHUTZ, ISRAEL
BEN GEDALIAH; LONZANO, ABRAHAM
BEN RAPHAEL DE; MAHALALEL BEN
SHABBETAI HALLELYAH; MALACHI
BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN; MARGOLIOT,
MOSES BEN SIMEON; MARGOLIOTH,
JACOB; MASHAIRI, AL; MAZLI’AH BEN
SOLOMON HA-KOHEN; MEIR BEN ISAAC
SHELIPAH ZIBBUR; MEYUHAS, ABRAHAM
BEN SAMUEL; MEYUHAS, MOSES JOSEPH
MORDECAI BEN RAPHAEL MEYUHAS;
MEYUHAS, RAPHAEL MEYUHAS
BEN SAMUEL; MONZON, ABRAHAM;
MORDECAI BEN JUDAH HA-LEVI; MOSES
BEN LEVI; MOSES BEN YOM-TOV; MOSES
ESRIM VE-ARBA; MOSES KAHANA
BEN JACOB; MOSES NATHAN; MOTAL,
ABRAHAM BEN JACOB; MUBASHSHIR
BEN NISSI HA-LEVI; MUBASHSHIR BEN
RAV KIMOI HA-KOHEN; NAJARA; NAJARA,
ISRAEL BEN MOSES; NATHAN BEN
ABRAHAM I; NATHAN BEN ABRAHAM
II; NATHAN BEN ISAAC HA-KOHEN HA-
BAVLI; NATHAN BEN JEHIEL OF ROME;
NATHAN, MORDECAI; NATRONAI BEN
HAVIVAI; NAVON, BENJAMIN MORDECAI
BEN EPHRAIM; NAVON, EPHRAIM BEN
AARON; NAVON, JONAH BEN HANUN;
NAVON, JONAH MOSES BEN BENJAMIN;
NEHEMIAH BAR KOHEN ZEDEK;
NEHEMIAH HA-KOHEN; NETHANEL
BEN MESHULLAM HA-LEVI; NETIRA;
NISSI BEN BERECHIAH AL-NAHRAWANTI,
PALTIEL; PANIGEL, RAPHAEL MEIR BEN
JUDAH; PARDO, JOSEPH; PERAHYAH,
AARON BEN HAYYIM ABRAHAM
HA-KOHEN; PERAHYAH, HASDAI BEN
SAMUEL HA-KOHEN; PHINEHAS BEN
JOSEPH HA-LEVI; PORTALEONE; PORTO;
PORTO, ABRAHAM MENAHEM BEN JACOB
HA-KOHEN; PORTO-RAFA, MOSES BEN
JEHIEL HAKOHEN; PROVENCAL, MOSES
BEN ABRAHAM; QAZZAZ, MANASSEH
BEN ABRAHAM IBN; REGGIO, ABRAHAM
BEN EZRIEL; REGGIO, ABRAHAM BEN
EZRIEL; RICHIETTI, JOSEPH SHALLIT BEN
ELIEZER; RUNKEL, SOLOMON ZALMAN;
SAGIS; SAMEGAH, JOSEPH BEN BENJAMIN;
SAMUEL BEN AZARIAH; SAMUEL HA-
SHELISHI BEN HOSHANA; SAR SHALOM
BEN MOSES HA-LEVI; SARAVAL, JACOB
RAPHAEL BEN SIMHAH JUDAH; SARAVAL,
JUDAH LEIB; SCHICK, BARUCH BEN
JACOB; SHALOM, ABRAHAM; SHELUHEI
EREZ ISRAEL; SHOLAL, ISAAC; SHOLAL,
NATHAN HA-KOHEN; SID, SAMUEL IBN;
SILANO; SIRILLO, SOLOMON BEN JOSEPH;
SOLOMON BEN HASDAI; SOLOMON
SULIMAN BEN AMAR; SONCINO, JOSHUA;
STEINHARDT, MENAHEM MENDEL BEN
SIMEON; TERNI, DANIEL BEN MOSES
DAVID; UKBA, MAR; UZIEL, ISAAC BEN
ABRAHAM; WILNA, JACOB BEN BENJAMIN
WOLF; YIZHAKI, DAVID; ZARKO, JOSEPH
BEN JUDAH; ZAYYAH, JOSEPH BEN
ABRAHAM IBN; ZE’EVI, ISRAEL BEN
AZARIAH; ZECHARIAH MENDEL BEN
ARYEH LEIB; ZEMAH ZEDEK BEN ISAAC;
ZUTA
Preston David, M.S.; Executive
Director, New York City Human
Rights Commission
Yonah David, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Medieval Hebrew
Literature, Tel Aviv University:
ANAN BEN MARINUS HA-KOHEN; ANAV,
BENJAMIN BEN ABRAHAM; FRANCES,
IMMANUEL BEN DAVID; JERAHMEEL BEN
SOLOMON; MATTATHIAS; MESHULLAM
BEN KALONYMUS; MOSES BEN JOAB;
OLMO, JACOB DANIEL BEN ABRAHAM;
POETRY; REMOS, MOSES BEN ISAAC;
RIETI, MOSES BEN ISAAC DA; RIMON,
JOSEPH ZEVI; SHEPHATIAH BEN AMITTAI;
YESHURUN, AVOT
David Davidovitch, Eng.; Director
of the Museum of Ethnography
and Folklore, Tel Aviv: KETUBBAH;
SYNAGOGUE; TOMBS AND TOMBSTONES
Esther B. Davidowitz", B.Sc.;
Editor and CommunityActivist
Jewish Community Center of
Wilkes-Barre; Board of Trustees of
the Wilkes University; Kingston, Pa.:
WILKES-BARRE AND KINGSTON
Steven Davidowitz*, B.A. M.A.,
M.B.A.; Registered Representative,
Sammons Securities Corp.
Kingston, Pennsylvania: WILKES-
BARRE AND KINGSTON
Herbert Davidson, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Philosophy,
the University of California, Los
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Angeles: SHALOM, ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC
BEN JUDAH BEN SAMUEL
Philip (R.) Davies*, M.A., Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of Biblical
Studies, University of Sheffield,
England: DEAD SEA SCROLLS; DEAD SEA
SECT; ESSENES; YAHAD
Barry Davis (Yid. Div.)*, B.A.;
Senior Lecturer in Jewish History,
London Jewish Cultural Center,
London, England: TRUNK, YEHIEL
YESHAIA
Barry Davis (Isr. Div.)*, B.A.;
Journalist, Translator; Jerusalem
Post, Downbeat; Moshav Matta:
ARTZI, SHLOMO; BANAI; CASPI,
MATTI; DAMARI, SHOSHANA; DESHEH,
AVRAHAM; EINSTEIN, ARIK; FISHER,
DUDU; GAON, YEHORAM; GEFEN, AVIV;
HADDAD, SARIT; HA-GASHASH HA-HIVER;
HANOKH, SHALOM; HITMAN, UZI; NINI,
ACHINOAM; POLIKER, YEHUDAH; ZOHAR,
URI
Eli Davis, M.D.; Associate Professor
of Medicine, the Hebrew
University - Hadassah Medical
School, Jerusalem: YAssKy, HAIM
Joseph W. Davis, Ramat Ha-Sharon,
Israel: DE VRIES, ANDRE
Moshe Davis, Ph.D.; Professor,
Head of the Institute of
Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Natalie Zemon Davis*, Ph.D.;
Henry Charles Lea Professor
of History Emerita, Princeton
University, New Jersey: GLUECKEL OF
HAMELN
Moshe Dayan, Lieutenant General
(Res.), Israel Defense Forces;
Minister of Defense, Tel Aviv:
WINGATE, ORDE
Alan H. Decherney*, M.D.; Chief
Reproductive Biology and Medicine
Branch, National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development,
National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, Maryland: LIEBERMAN,
JOSEPH
Robert L. (Louis) DelBane’,
B.A.; Research Fellow, Kent State
University, Ohio: KAUFMAN, GEORGE
SIMON; MAMET, DAVID; MILLER, ARTHUR;
PERELMAN, SIDNEY JOSEPH; SIMON, NEIL
Sergio DellaPergola*, Ph.D.;
Shlomo Argov Chair in Israel-
Diaspora Relations, A. Harman
Institute of Contemporary
Jewry, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem; Senior Fellow, Jewish
People Policy Planning Institute,
Jerusalem: BLAYER, PIETRO; CANTONI,
RAFFAELE; DEMOGRAPHY; FERRARA;
GENOA; ITALY; LEGHORN; MERANO;
MIGRATIONS; MILAN; MIXED MARRIAGE,
INTERMARRIAGE; NAPLES; PARMA;
PIPERNO BEER, SERGIO; PISA; ROME;
STATISTICS; TOAFF; VITAL STATISTICS;
ZOLLER, ISRAEL
Aaron Demsky, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Senior Lecturer in Jewish History,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: EDUCATION, JEWISH; SCRIBE;
SHALMANESER III; SHALMANESER V;
TIGLATH-PILESER II; WRITING
Hugh Denman’, B.A., M.A.;
Honorary Research Fellow in
Yiddish, Hebrew and Jewish
Studies, University College,
London, England: IMBER, SAMUEL
JACOB; KOBRIN, LEON; LEIVIK, H.;
MANN, MENDEL; RABOY, ISAAC; REISEN,
ABRAHAM; SHALOM ALEICHEM; SHAPIRA,
KALONYMOUS KALMAN
Michael Denman”*, M.D., ER.C.P;
Emeritus Consultant, Northwick
Park Hospital, London, England:
ALFEROV, ZHORES I.; ALTSCHUL,
AARON MEYER; ANFINSEN, CHRISTIAN
BOEHMER; AVIGAD, GAD; AVIV, HAIM;
AXEL, RICHARD; BENACERRAE, BARUJ;
BENZER, SEYMOUR; BETHE, HANS
ALBRECHT; BLOCH, FELIX; BODMER,
SIR WALTER; BOHM, DAVID; BRENNER,
SYDNEY; CEDAR, CHAIM; CHARGAEF,
ERWIN; COHEN, I. BERNARD; COHEN,
PHILIP PACY; COHEN, SIR PHILIP;
COHEN, STANLEY N.; COHEN, YIGAL
RAHAMIM; COHN, MILDRED; COOPER,
LEON N.; CORI, GERTY THERESA; CROHN,
BURRILL BERNARD; DASSAULT, MARCEL;
DIAMOND, LOUIS KLEIN; DJERASSI, CARL;
DRUCKER, DANIEL CHARLES; EDINGER,
TILLY; ELION, GERTRUDE BELL; EPHRUSSI,
BORIS; FISCHER, EDMOND; FOLKMAN,
JUDAH; FRANK, ILYA MIKHAILOVICH;
FRISCH, OTTO ROBERT; FURCHGOTT,
ROBERT E; GELFAND, IZRAIL MOISEVICH;
GELL-MANN, MURRAY; GILMAN, ALFRED
G.; GINZBURG, VITALY LAZAREVICH;
GLASER, DONALD ARTHUR; GLAUBER,
ROY J.; GOLDBERG, EMANUEL;
GOLDSTEIN, JOSEPH LEONARD; GREEN,
DAVID EZRA; GREENGARD, PAUL; GROSS,
DAVID J.; HAREL, DAVID; HAUPTMAN,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
HERBERT AARON; HAURWITZ, BERNARD;
HERSHKO, AVRAM; HORWITZ, H. ROBERT;
JACOB, FRANCOIS; JACOBSON, KURT;
JAMMER, MAX; JANOWITZ, HENRY
D.; JORTNER, JOSHUA; KALNITSKY,
GEORGE; KANDEL, ERIC RICHARD;
KANTROWITZ, ADRIAN; KAPLAN, JOSEPH;
KARLE, JEROME; KATZ, ISRAEL; KLEIN,
GEORGE; KLINE, NATHAN S.; KOGAN,
ABRAHAM; KOHN, WALTER; KOLTHOFF,
IZAAK MAURITS; KORNBERG, ARTHUR;
KORNBERG, SIR HANS LEO; KROTO, SIR
HAROLD WALTER; LACHMANN, SIR PETER
JULIUS; LANGER, ROBERT S$; LEDERER,
JEROME F.; LEDERMAN, LEON MAX; LEE,
DAVID; LEES, LESTER; LIBAI, AVINOAM;
LIFSON, SHNEIOR; LOEWE, FRITZ PHILIPP;
LOEWI, OTTO; MASTER, ARTHUR M.;
MESELSON, MATTHEW; MOTTELSON, BEN
R.; NATHANS, DANIEL; NEUGEBAUER,
OTTO; NIRENBERG, MARSHALL WARREN;
OLAH, GEORGE A.; OSHEROFF, DOUGLAS
DEAN; PAULI, WOLFGANG; PERL, MARTIN
LEWIS; PICARD, LEO YEHUDA; PINKEL,
BENJAMIN; PNUELI, AMIR; POLANYI,
JOHN C.; POLANYI, MICHAEL; POLITZER,
H. DAVID; PRESS, FRANK; PRESSMAN,
DAVID; PRIGOGINE, ILYA; PRUSINER,
STANLEY S.; PTASHNE, MARK STEPHEN;
RACKER, EFRAIM; RAHAMIMOFF, RAMI;
RAPHAEL, RALPH ALEXANDER; RODBELL,
MARTIN; ROSE, IRWIN; ROSEN, FRED
SAUL; ROTBLAT, SIR JOSEPH; ROTH, KLAUS
FRIEDRICH; SABIN, ALBERT; SALITERNIK,
ZVI; SALK, JONAS; SCHALLY, ANDREW
VICTOR; SCHAWLOW, ARTHUR L.;
SCHWARTZ, LAURENT; SHARON, NATHAN;
SHELAH, SAHARON; SILVERMAN, LESLIE;
SLEPIAN, JOSEPH; SONDHEIMER, FRANZ;
SOSKIN, SELIG EUGEN; SPIEGELMAN,
SOL; STEG ADOLPHE; STEIN, YEHEZKIEL;
STEINBERG, AVRAHAM; STENT,
GUNTHER SIEGMUND; STROMINGER,
JACK; SZILARD, LEO; TABOR, DAVID;
TABOR, HARRY ZVI; TALMI, IGAL;
TAMM, IGOR YEVGENYEVICH; TARSKI,
ALFRED; TELLER, EDWARD; TEMIN,
HOWARD MARTIN; TEPPER, MORRIS;
ULAM, STANISLAW MARCIN; VANE,
SIR JOHN R.; VARMUS, HAROLD ELIOT;
VOET, ANDRIES; WEINBERG, STEVEN;
WEINHOUSE, SIDNEY; WEISSKOPF, VICTOR
F; WESTHEIMER, FRANK HENRY; WIGNER,
EUGENE PAUL; WINTROBE, MAXWELL
MYER; YALOW, ROSALYN SUSSMAN;
YOUNG, ALEC DAVID; ZAIZOV, RINA; ZIFF,
MORRIS
Shlomo Derech, Editor, Kibbutz
Givat Hayyim: KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT
David (Jay) Derovan*, M.A.;
Jewish Education, Director,
Draitch Adult Jewish Education,
71
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Beit Shemesh, Israel: ABRAHAM
BEN DAVID OF POSQUIERES; ADLER,
NATHAN BEN SIMEON HA-KOHEN; ADRET,
SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM; AHARONIM;
ALSHEKH, MOSES; ASHER BEN JEHIEL;
BAALEI TESHUVAH; BAKSHI-DORON,
ELIAHU; BIBLE CODES; BLAU, AMRAM;
BOBOV; BREUER, MORDECHAI; ELJAH
BEN SOLOMON ZALMAN; ELIYAHU,
MORDECHAI; FEINSTEIN, MOSES; GAON;
GEMATRIA; GERONDI, ZERAHIAH BEN
ISAAC HA-LEVI; GERSHOM BEN JUDAH
ME’OR HA-GOLAH; HAI BEN SHERIRA;
HAKHAM BASHI; HAYYIM BEN ISAAC "OR
ZARU’A"; HAYYIM BEN BEZALEL; HELLER,
YOM TOV LIPMANN BEN NATHAN HA-
LEVI; HERMENEUTICS; HERZOG, ISAAC;
HILDESHEIMER, AZRIEL; HOFFMANN,
DAVID ZEVI; ISAAC BEN SHESHET PERFET;
ISRAEL MEIR HA-KOHEN; ISSERLES, MOSES
BEN ISRAEL; JACOB BEN ASHER; JONAH
BEN ABRAHAM GERONDI; KAFAH, YOSEF;
KAHANEMAN, JOSEPH; KALISCHER,
ZEVI HIRSCH; KARA, JOSEPH; KARELITZ,
AVRAHAM YESHAYAHU; LANDAU,
EZEKIEL BEN JUDAH; LAU, ISRAEL MEIR;
LEIBOWITZ, NEHAMA; LIPKIN, ISRAEL
BEN ZE’EV WOLFE; LURIA, SOLOMON BEN
JEHIEL; LUZZATTO, SIMONE BEN ISAAC
SIMHAH; MALBIM, MEIR LOEB BEN JEHIEL
MICHAEL WEISSER; ME-AM LO’EZ; MEIRI,
MENAHEM BEN SOLOMON: SHAPIRA,
AVRAHAM ELKANA KAHANA; TA-SHMA,
ISRAEL MOSES
Lisa (C.) DeShantz-Cook”*, B.A.;
Freelance Writer and Editor,
Detroit, Michigan: FISCHER, STANLEY;
KAHNEMAN, DANIEL; KOHL,
HERBERT; NADLER, JERROLD
LEWIS; STIGLITZ, JOSEPH E.; WALZER,
MICHAEL
Dawn (M.) DesJardins*, B.A.;
Freelance Editor and Writer,
Westland, Michigan: LEVITT, ARTHUR,
SR.; MERTON, ROBERT C.; SCHOLES,
MYRON S.
Elisabeth Dessauer*, University
Student, University of Munich,
Germany: TAUSK, VIKTOR; THIEME,
KARL OTTO; URY, ELSE
Nathaniel Deutsch*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Swarthmore
College, Pennsylvania: LUDOMIR,
MAID OF
Shabbetai Devir, Jerusalem: FRANK,
ZEVI PESAH
Benjamin De-Vries, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Talmud, Tel Aviv
72
University: HALAKHAH; MAARSEN,
ISAAC
Paul Joseph Diamant, Dr.Phil.;
Genealogist, Jerusalem
Adam Dickter*: NEW YORK CITY,
WILLIAMSBURG
Alain Dieckhoff*, Ph.D.; Research
Director, Centre for International
Studies and Research, Alumnus
of the University of Paris, France:
FRANCE
Jacob I. Dienstag, M.A.; Professor
of Bibliography, Yeshiva University,
New York: MAIMONIDES
Devora Dimant, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Department of Biblical Studies,
Haifa University
Yedidya A. Dinari, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Talmud, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: HILLEL OF ERFURT; ISRAEL
OF BAMBERG; ISRAEL OF KREMS; JACOB
OF VIENNA; JOSEPH BEN MOSES
Leonard Dinnerstein’, B.S.S., M.A.;
Professor Emeritus, University of
Arizona, Tucson, Arizona: TUCSON
Yoram Dinstein, Dr.Jur.; Senior
Lecturer in Public International
Law, Tel Aviv University: UNITED
NATIONS
Benzion Dinur (Dinaburg),
Emeritus Professor of Jewish
History, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Former Minister of
Education and Culture, Jerusalem:
BAER, YITZHAK; BASNAGE, JACQUES
CHRISTIAN; BENJACOB, ISAAC;
EMANCIPATION; JAWITZ, ZE'EV;
ODESSA; TAEUBLER, EUGEN; UKRAINE;
WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDENTUMS;
YELLIN
David Diringer, Litt. D.; Emeritus
Reader in Semitic Epigraphy, the
University of Cambridge; Director
of the Alphabeth Museum, Tel Aviv:
ALPHABET, HEBREW; LIDZBARSKI, MARK
Daniel Dishon, Former Senior
Research Associate, Shiloah Center
for Middle Eastern and African
Studies, Tel Aviv University
Abraham (H.A.) Diskin*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Department
of Political Science, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: HISTORICAL SURVEY
Eial (Yosef) Diskin*, M.B.A.; Tel
Aviv University, Tel Aviv: KAPLAN,
ABRAHAM
Elliott Dlin*, M.A.; Executive
Director, Dallas Holocaust Museum,
Dallas, Texas: HOLOCAUST
Eli Dlinn, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
Shawna Dolansky Overton’, Ph.D.;
Adjunct Faculty, University of
California, San Diego: PENTATEUCH
Marc Dollinger*, Ph.D.; Richard
and Rhoda Goldman Chair
in Jewish Studies and Social
Responsibility, San Francisco State
University, San Franciso: LERNER,
MICHAEL; NEW LEFT; TIKKUN
Danuta Dombrowska, M.A.;
Historian, Jerusalem: BELCHATOW;
BOLEKHOV; BRODY; BRZESC KUJAWSKI;
BRZEZINY; BYDGOSZCZ; CIECHANOW;
CRACOW; GNIEZNO; GORLICE;
GOSTYNIN; INOWROCLAW; KALISZ;
KLODAWA; KOLO; KONIN; KROSNO;
KROTOSZYN; KUTNO; LASK; LECZYCA;
LESZNO; LODZ; LUTOMIERSK; MAJDANEK;
NASIELSK; OLESKO; OLKUSZ; OPATOW;
OZORKOW; PABIANICE; PLOCK; POZNAN;
RUMKOWSKI, CHAIM MORDECHAI; RYPIN;
SIERADZ; SOBIBOR; SREM; STOPNICA;
STRYKOW; SZCZERCOW; WARSAW;
WIELUN; WOLBROM; WRONKI; ZDUNSKA
WOLA; ZELOW; ZGIERZ; ZYCHLIN
Stephen G. Donshik, D.S.W,;
Director, Israel Office of UJA-
Federation of New York, UIA,
Jerusalem
Elliot N. Dorf, M.H.L., Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Provost and Professor of
Philosophy, University of Judaism,
Los Angeles
David Dori, Kibbutz Ein ha-
Horesh: wLOCLAWEK
Yaakov Dori, Dipl. Ing.; Lieutenant
General (Res.), Israel Defense
Forces and former Chief of Staff;
Former President of the Technion,
Haifa: TECHNION, ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
Abraham Doron’, Ph.D.; Professor,
Paul Baerwald School of Social
Work, the Hebrew University of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: HEALTH,
WELFARE, AND SOCIAL SECURITY
Israel Dostrovsky, Ph.D.; Vice
President and Professor of Physical
Chemistry, the Weizmann Institute
of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Aron Dotan”, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus, President, International
Organization of Masoretic Studies;
Member, Hebrew Language
Academy; Head, Cymbalista Jewish
Heritage Center, Tel Aviv University:
BEN-ASHER, MOSES; MASORAH
Moshe Dothan, Ph.D.; Director
of Excavations and Surveys and
Deputy Director, Department
of Antiquities and Museums,
Jerusalem: ASHDOD
Trude Dothan*, Ph.D.; The Philip
and Muriel Berman Center for
Biblical Archaeology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: EKRON
Alan Dowty, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in International Relations, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
MORGENTHAU, HANS JOACHIM
Noah W. Dragoon, M.A.;
Jerusalem: HARBIN
Paula Draper*, Ph.D.; Historian,
Toronto, Canada: BAYEFSKY, ABA;
COHON, GEORGE A.; CRONENBERG,
DAVID; DAN, LESLIE L.; RASMINSKY,
LOUIS; ROTHSCHILD, KURT; SCHILD,
EDWIN; SCHLESINGER, JOE; SPRACHMAN,
ABRAHAM AND MANDEL; WOLFE;
ZNAIMER, MOSES
Israel Drapkin-Senderey,
M.D.; Professor of Criminology
and Director of the Institute of
Criminology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: DELVALLE, MAX SHALOM;
TOPOLEVSKY, GREGORIO; WALD, ARNOLD
Daniel Dratwa, DEA Paris X;
Curator of Jewish Museum of
Belgium, Brussels: BELGIUM
Adina Dreksler, Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem: HOLOCAUST: SPIRITUAL
RESISTANCE IN THE GHETTOS AND
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Willi Dressen, Public Prosecutor,
Zentralle Stalle der Landesjustizver
waltungen, Ludwigsburg, Germany:
WAR CRIMES TRIALS
A. Stanley Dreyfus, Ph.D., Rabbi;
New York: COHEN, HENRY
Jean-Marc Dreyfus”, Ph.D.;
Historian, Affiliate Researcher,
Institut @histoire du temps present
- CNRS,Paris: UNION GENERALE DES
ISRAELITES DE FRANCE; WARSCHAWSKI,
MAX; WIEVIORKA, ANNETTE
Walter Driver*, B.A.; Screenwriter,
Los Angeles: ABBOTT, BUD; ALDRICH,
ROBERT; AVNET, JON; BARRIS, CHUCK;
BERGEN, POLLY; BERGMAN, ALAN
and MARILYN; BERGMAN, ANDREW;
BERMAN, SHELLEY; BERNHARD, SANDRA;
BISHOP, JOEY; BLANC, MEL; BRODERICK,
MATTHEW; KAHN, MADELINE; KANE,
CAROL; KAVNER, JULIE; KAZAN, LAINIE;
KEITEL, HARVEY; KLUGMAN, JACK
Yosef Dror*, Ph.D.; Institute of
Biochemistry, Food Science and
Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BONDI, ARON
Moshe Drori*, LL.B., LL.M.; Judge,
Jerusalem District Court, Jerusalem:
ABDUCTION; ADULTERY; BET DIN
RABBANI; DIVORCE; LEVIRATE MARRIAGE
AND HALIZAH; MAINTENANCE;
MATRIMONIAL PROPERTY
Alejandro (Daniel) Dubesarsky*,
Journalist and Translator for
Agencia Judia de Noticias, Buenos
Aires, Argentina: NAJNUDEL, LEON
DAVID; PEKERMAN, JOSE NESTOR
Bernard Dubin, M.S.W;; Executive
Director of the Jewish Federation
of Camden County, New Jersey:
CAMDEN
Thomas Dublin’, Ph.D.; Professor,
State University of New York,
Binghamton, New York: COHEN,
ROSE GOLLUP; MALKIEL, THERESA
SERBER
Melvyn Dubofsky, Ph.D., Associate
Professor of History, the University
of Wisconsin, Milwaukee: BRESLAW,
JOSEPH; DUBINSKY, DAVID; FEIGENBAUM,
BENJAMIN; FEINSTONE, MORRIS;
HOCHMAN, JULIUS; NAGLER, ISADORE;
ROSENBERG, ABRAHAM; SCHLESINGER,
BENJAMIN; SCHLOSSBERG, JOSEPH;
SIGMAN, MORRIS
Brother Marcel-Jacques Dubois
O.P., Professor, Department of
Philosophy, the Hebrew University
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
of Jerusalem: MARITAIN, JACQUES and
RAISSA
Yael Dunkelman, Toronto:
BORNSTEIN, ELI
Douglas Morton Dunlop, M.A.;
Professor of History, Columbia
University, New York: aTIL; BAB
AL-ABWAB; BALANJAR; BULAN; JOSEPH;
KHAZARS; OBADIAH; OBADIAH;
RADANIYA; SAMANDAR; SARKIL
Alexander M. Dushkin, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of Education,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
RIEGER, ELIEZER
Deborah Dwork*, Ph.D.; Rose
Professor Holocaust History;
Director, Strassler Center for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies,
Clark University, Worcester,
Massachusetts: AUSCHWITZ
Shlomo Dykman, Translator,
Jerusalem: TUWIM, JULIAN
Abba Eban, M.A.; Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
WEIZMANN, CHAIM
Irene Eber, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor in Chinese History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CHINA
Michael H. Ebner, M.A.; Lecturer
in American History, the Herbert
H. Lehman College of the City
University of New York: passalc-
CLIFTON
Nathan Eck, Dr.Jur.; Historian,
Tel Aviv: HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE
DAY; MARK, BERNARD; RINGELBLUM,
EMANUEL; SOMMERSTEIN, EMIL;
TENENBAUM, MORDECAI
A. Roy Eckardt, Ph.D.; Clergyman,
United Methodist Church; professor
and chairman of the Department
of Religious Studies, Lehigh
University.
Shuki (Yehoshua) Ecker*, M.A.; Tel
Aviv University: ZONANA
Willehad Paul Eckert, Dr.Phil.;
Professor of the History of
Philosophy, Hochschule der
Dominikaner, Walberberg,
Germany: CHURCH COUNCILS;
CHURCH, CATHOLIC; DANIEL-ROPS,
73
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
HENRI; LEO; PAUL VI; PIUS X; PIUS XI;
PIUS XH; THIEME, KARL; THIEME, KARL
OTTO
Rafael Edelman, Ph.D.; Director
of Jewish Studies, Copenhagen
University; Head of the Jewish
Department, the Royal Library,
Copenhagen: ASLAKSSEN, CORT;
DENMARK
William B. Edgerton, Ph.D.;
Professor of Slavic Languages and
Literature, Indiana University,
Bloomington: LESKOV, NIKOLAY
SEMYONOVICH
Elisha Efrat*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Geography, Tel Aviv University:
ISRAEL, STATE OF: ALIYAH, POPULATION,
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY; JERUSALEM;
LACHISH REGION
Natan Efrati, M.A.; Ben Zvi
Institute, Jerusalem: ASHKELON;
BET-MIDRASH; CAPTIVES, RANSOMING
OF; CHORTKOV; CIECHANOW; DAVID
BEN MANASSEH DARSHAN; DLUGOSZ,
JAN; MAAMAD or MAHAMAD; PARNAS;
PLETTEN; SHULKLAPPER; SICK CARE,
COMMUNAL; TANZHAUS
Daniel Efron, M.A.; Jerusalem:
LAWRENCE, THOMAS EDWARD;
LLOYD GEORGE, DAVID; MANDATE
FOR PALESTINE; PALESTINE, INQUIRY
COMMISSIONS; PALESTINE, PARTITION
AND PARTITION PLANS; SAINT JAMES’S
CONFERENCE; SAMUEL, EDWIN; SAMUEL,
HERBERT LOUIS; WHITE PAPERS; ZIONIST
COMMISSION
Zusia Efron, Director of the Art
Museum, Kibbutz En Harod
Yulia Egorova*, Ph.D.; Research
Fellow, School of Religious and
Theological Studies, Cardiff
University, England: BENE ISRAEL;
BOMBAY; CHENNAMANGALAM;
CRANGANORE; DIVEKAR, SAMUEL
EZEKIEL; GANDHI, MOHANDAS
KARAMCHAND
Robert M. Ehrenreich*, Dr.Phil.;
Director, Academic Programs,
Center for Advanced Holocaust
Studies, United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, Washington,
D.C.: HOLOCAUST
Albert A. Ehrenzweig, J.D., S.J.D.,
Dr. Utr. Jur.; Professor of Law, the
University of California, Berkeley;
/4
Honorarprofessor, the University of
Vienna: RADIN, MAX
Ariel Ehrlich*, L.L.B.; Lawyer, Ofra,
Israel: MILITARY LAW
Carl Stephen Ehrlich*, Dr.Phil ;
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
EDOM
Dror Ehrlich’, Ph.D.; Department
of Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University:
ALBO, JOSEPH
Uri Ehrlich*, Ph.D.; Jewish
Thought, Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev, Beersheba: AMIDAH;
BIRKAT HA-MINIM
Arnost Zvi Ehrman, Dr.Jur., EJ.C.,
Rabbi; Talmudic Scholar, Ramat
Gan: ANTICHRESIS; ASMAKHTA;
CONDITIONS; EDUYYOT; HORAYOT;
KELIM; KERITOT; KETUBBOT; KIDDUSHIN;
KINNIM; MEGILLAH; ME’ILAH; MENAHOT;
MIDDOT; MIKVAXOT; MO’ED KATAN;
SELDEN, JOHN; SHEVPIT
H. Bruce Ehrmann, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Brockton, Massachusetts
David Max Eichhorn, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Cape Kennedy, Florida:
JEWISH WAR VETERANS OF THE U.S.A.
Shlomo Eidelberg, Ph.D., D.H.L.;
Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva
University, New York, and Haifa
University: ETTLINGER, JACOB; FALK,
JOSHUA BEN ALEXANDER HA-KOHEN;
GERSHOM BEN JUDAH MEOR HA-
GOLAH; HAYYIM BEN ISAAC "OR ZARU’A’S
HESCHEL, ABRAHAM JOSHUA BEN JACOB;
KLATZKIN, ELIJAH BEN NAPHTALI HERZ;
KOIDONOVER, ZEVI HIRSCH; LUBLIN,
MEIR BEN GEDALIAH; MENAHEM BEN
AARON IBN ZERAH; MINZ, ABRAHAM
BEN JUDAH HA-LEVI; MINZ, JUDAH BEN
ELIEZER HA-LEVI; MOSES BEN JACOB
OF KIEV; MOSES OF KIEV; RAPOPORT,
ABRAHAM BEN ISRAEL JEHIEL
HAKOHEN; SHABBETAI BEN MEIR HA-
KOHEN; SHALOM SHAKHNA BEN
JOSEPH
Amnon Einav, Chief Scientist, Israel
Ministry of Energy
Yizhak Einhorn, M.A.; Teacher, Tel
Aviv: PEWTER PLATES
Alfred Einstein, Dr. Phil.;
Musicologist, Professor of Music,
Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusetts: MARX, ADOLE
BERNHARD
Sydney Eisen, Ph.D.; Professor
of History and Humanities, York
University, Downsview, Ontario:
HEICHELHEIM, FRITZ MORITZ
Esty (Esther) Eisenmann’, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, Open University of Israel,
Tel Aviv University: KATZ, JOSEPH BEN
ELIJAH; MOSES BEN JUDAH, NOGA
Abraham S. Eisenstadt, Ph.D.;
Professor of American History,
Brooklyn College of the City
University of New York: BEER,
GEORGE LOUIS; BOORSTIN, DANIEL J.
Ira Eisenstein, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Former President of
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College, Philadelphia
Yizchak Jacob Eisner, Ph.D.;
Ministry of Education and Culture,
Jerusalem
Daniel J. Elazar, Ph.D.; Paterson
Professor of Intergovernmental
Relations, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan, and Chairman, Center
for Jewish Community Studies,
Jerusalem and Philadelphia:
COMMUNITY
Edna Elazary, B.A.; Jerusalem:
AGRIPPA I; BASSUS, LUCILIUS;
DEMETRIUS; ELIONAEUS, SON OF
CANTHERAS; HEROD; HEROD II; HEROD
PHILIP I; HEZEKIAH, THE HIGH PRIEST;
JACOB BEN SOSAS; JONATHAN SON
OF ABSALOM; JOSEPH OF GAMALA;
JOSHUA, SON OF SAPPHAS; JUDAH,
SON OF ZIPPORAI; JULIUS ARCHELAUS;
KIMHIT; PHERORAS; PHILIP OF BATHYRA;
PHINEHAS BEN SAMUEL; TETRARCH;
VALERIUS GRATUS
Jacob Elbaum, M.4A.; Assistant in
Hebrew Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AHITHOPHEL
THE GILONITE; ELNATHAN BEN ACHBOR;
ESTORI HA-PARHI; GENESIS RABBATI;
MIDRASH LEKAH TOV; MIDRASH
PROVERBS or AGGADAT PROVERBS;
MIDRASH SAMUEL; MIDRASH TEHILLIM;
TANNA DE-VEI ELIYAHU; YALKUT
MAKHIRI; YALKUT SHIMONI
Aliza El-Dror, Public Relations,
WIZO, Tel Aviv: WIzo
Yaffa Eliach, M.A.; Lecturer in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Jewish and European History,
Brooklyn College of the City
University of New York: YSANDER,
TORSTEN
E. Elias, Journalist, formerly of
Ernakulam, Cochin, India; Haifa,
Israel: PAKISTAN
Flower Elias, London: FERRIS, IRIS
Ben-Zion Eliash*, Ph.D., Dr.Jur.;
Senior Lecturer, Tel Aviv University
School of Law: usuRY
Aryeh Eliav, Former Member of
Knesset, Tel Aviv: ELIAV, BINYAMIN
Binyamin Eliav, Dr. Phil.; Editor
and Official, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: "CANAANITES";
ANTISEMITISM; ARLOSOROFE, CHAIM;
ASSIMILATION; BERGER-BARZILAI,
JOSEPH; COMMUNISM; GERSHUNI,
GRIGORI ANDREYEVICH; LENIN,
VLADIMIR ILYICH; LIFSHITZ, NEHAMAH;
LITVINOV, MAXIM MAXIMOVICH;
MIKHOELS, SOLOMON; NUMERUS
CLAUSUS; POLITICS; RUSSIA
Mordechai Eliav, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish History and
Education, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: AHLEM; HILDESHEIMER,
AZRIEL
Eliezer Eliner, M.A.; Senior Teacher
in Talmud, Tel Aviv University:
HOSHANOT
Rachel Elior*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Cohen Chair of Jewish Philosophy,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AARON BEN MOSES HA-LEVI OF
STAROSIELCE; CHABAD; FRANK, EVA;
JACOB ISAAC HA-HOZEH MI-LUBLIN
Yehuda Elitzur, M.A.; Associate
Professor of Biblical Historiography,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
GAD; ISHMAEL; ISHMAEL; PARHON,
SALOMON BEN ABRAHAM IBN; ZEBULUN
Yuval Elizur, M.A.; Journalist,
Jerusalem
Judith Laikin Elkin*, Ph.D.;
Independent Scholar, The University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan:
LAJSA
Gedalyah Elkoshi, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebrew Literature, Tel
Aviv University: ALMANZI, JOSEPH;
ASEFAT HAKHAMIM; BACHER, SIMON;
BEILINSON, MOSES ELIEZER; BEN-AVI,
ITHAMAR; BEN-ZION, S.; BERSHADSKY,
ISAIAH; BICK, JACOB SAMUEL; BLOCH,
SAMSON; BRESSELAU, MEYER ISRAEL;
BRILL, JEHIEL; BRILL, JOSEPH; CARO,
DAVID; COHEN, SHALOM BEN JACOB;
DOLITZKI, MENAHEM MENDEL;
EHRENPREIS, MARCUS; ELISHEVA;
EPSTEIN, ZALMAN; EUCHEL, ISAAC
ABRAHAM; FARMERS’ FEDERATION OF
ISRAEL; FRAENKEL, FAIWEL; HACOHEN,
MORDECAI BEN HILLEL; HALEVY, ELIE
HALFON; HALPERIN, YEHIEL; HAMEIRI,
AVIGDOR; HANKIN, YEHOSHUA;
HARZFELD, AVRAHAM; HAYNT; HEILPRIN,
PHINEHAS MENAHEM; HERZBERG,
WILHELM; HILLELS, SHELOMO;
HIRSCHKAHN, ZVI; HISIN, HAYYIM;
HURWITZ, JUDAH BEN MORDECAI
HA-LEVI; LOEWE, LOUIS; SHALKOVICH,
ABRAHAM LEIB; SILBERBUSCH, DAVID
ISAIAH; SIMHAH HAYYIM WALKOMITZ;
SUEDFELD, GABRIEL; TAWIOW, ISRAEL
HAYYIM; WARSHAWSKY, ISAAC;
WAWELBERG, HIPOLIT; WEISSBERG, ISAAC
JACOB; WEISSBERG, MEIR; WEITZ, JOSEPH;
WERBEL, ELIAHU MORDECAI; WERBER,
BARUCH; WETTSTEIN, FEIVEL HIRSCH;
WIENER, SAMUEL; ZEID, ALEXANDER;
ZHERNENSKY, MOSHE ELIYAHU; ZMORA,
YISRAEL; ZMORA, YISRAEL; ZUTA,
HAYYIM ARYEH
David (H.) Ellenson*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
President, Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion, New
York: RABBINICAL TRAINING,
AMERICAN
Richard S. Ellis, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Near Eastern
Archaeology, Yale University, New
Haven, Connecticut: ERECH
Peter Elman, Departmental Editor,
Law and Politics, Encyclopaedia
Judaica (1st ed.), Jerusalem: KAHAN
COMMISSION
Yaakov Elman*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Judaic Studies, Yeshiva University,
New York, and Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts: TALMUD
AND MIDDLE PERSIAN CULTURE
Menachem Elon*, Ph.D.; Deputy
President of the Supreme Court of
Israel; Professor of Law, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, School
of Law; Visiting Professor of Law,
New York and Harvard Universities,
Schools of Law: ABORTION; AGUNAH;
APOSTASY; ARBITRATION; ASSAULT;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
AUTHORITY, RABBINICAL; BIGAMY
AND POLYGAMY; BRIBERY; BUSINESS
ETHICS; CAPITAL PUNISHMENT;
CHILD MARRIAGE; CITY OF REFUGE;
CODIFICATION OF LAW; COMPROMISE;
CONCUBINE; CONDITIONS; CONFESSION;
CONFLICT OF LAWS; CONTRACT;
DAMAGES; DETENTION; DINA DE-
MALKHUTA DINA; DIVINE PUNISHMENT;
DOMICILE; DOWRY; EXECUTION;
EXTRADITION; EXTRAORDINARY
REMEDIES; FINES; HAANAKAH; HAFKAAT
SHE’ARIM; HASSAGAT GEVUL; HAZAKAH;
HEFKER; HEKDESH; HOMICIDE; HUMAN
DIGNITY AND FREEDOM; HUSBAND AND
WIFE; IMPRISONMENT; IMPRISONMENT
FOR DEBT; INFORMERS; INTERPRETATION;
KETUBBAH; LABOR LAW; LAW AND
MORALITY; LAW OF RETURN; LEGAL
PERSON; LEVIRATE MARRIAGE AND
HALIZAH; LIEN; LIMITATION OF ACTIONS;
MAASEH; MAJORITY RULE; MAMZER;
MARRIAGE; MARRIAGE, PROHIBITED;
MEDICINE AND LAW; MEHILAH; MINHAG;
MISHPAT IVRI; MISTAKE; NOACHIDE
LAWS; NUISANCE; OATH; OBLIGATIONS,
LAW OF; ONA’AH; ONES; PARTNERSHIP;
PENAL LAW; PLEDGE; POLICE OFFENSES;
PUBLIC AUTHORITY; PUNISHMENT;
RIGHTS, HUMAN; SEVARAH; SEXUAL
OFFENSES; SHOMERIM; SLANDER;
SUCCESSION; SUICIDE; SURETYSHIP;
TAKKANOT; TAKKANOT HA-KAHAL;
TAXATION; THEFT AND ROBBERY; VALUES
OF THE JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC
STATE; WILLS; WOMAN: AND THE ISRAELI
COURTS; YUHASIN
Aya Elyada*, M.A.; Graduate
student for German-Jewish History,
Tel Aviv University, Lehrstuhl fiir
juidische Geschichte und Kultur,
Munich, Germany: MUENSTER,
SEBASTIAN; OSIANDER, ANDREAS;
PELLICANUS, CONRAD; SCHICKARD,
WILHELM; SCHUDT, JOHANN JAKOB;
WOLE, JOHANN CHRISTOPH
Zeev Elyashiv, M.A.; Ministry
of Communications, Jerusalem:
MOLODECHNO
Barnett A. Elzas*: POZNANSKI,
GUSTAVUS
Frank Emblen, Journalist, New
York: ROBINSON, EDWARD G.
Isaac Samuel Emmanuel, Sc.D.,
Rabbi; Historian, Cincinnati, Ohio:
MICHAEL, MOSES
Charles J. Emmerich*: ADAMS, ARLIN
MARVIN
75
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Encyclopaedia Hebraica: aBoas,
ISAAC I; ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON OF
TORRUTIEL; ABSALOM; ADONIJAH;
AGGADAH; APOLOGETICS; ARENDT,
OTTO; ASHER BEN JEHIEL; ASHKENAZ;
AVILA; AZ ROV NISSIM; BADT, HERMANN;
BALFOUR, ARTHUR JAMES, EARL OF; BEN
MEIR, AARON; BILHAH; CHAJES, ZEVI
HIRSCH; CHASANOWICH, LEON; DREAMS;
EPHRAIM; ESZTERGOM; FREEMASONS;
GEMATRIA; GOITEIN, BARUCH BENEDICT;
HASIDIM; HAVER, HAVERIM; HILLEL;
HOMBERG, NAPHTALI HERZ; HOROVITZ,
JOSEF; HOS, DOV; IBN GABIROL, SOLOMON
BEN JUDAH; ISRAEL, LAND OF: HISTORY;
JERUSALEM; JOEL; JOHANAN BEN ZAKKAI;
JOTHAM; JUDAH; JUDAH HA-LEVI;
JUDAH HA-NASI; LAMED VAV ZADDIKIM;
LAVI, SHELOMO; LESTSCHINSKY, JACOB;
LILIENTHAL, MAX; LILIENTHAL, OTTO;
LOEW, ELEAZAR; LOEWENSTEIN -
STRASHUNSKY, JOEL DAVID; MEZHIRECH;
OSTRACA; PROSELYTES; UNION OF THE
RUSSIAN PEOPLE; UR; WAHRMANN,
ABRAHAM DAVID BEN ASHER ANSCHEL;
WARBURG, OTTO; ZACUTO, ABRAHAM
BEN SAMUEL
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany):
ABELSON, JOSHUA; AKIVA BAER BEN
JOSEPH; BENVENISTE, IMMANUEL;
CRESCAS, HASDAI BEN JUDAH;
HERZBERG-FRAENKEL, LEO; HIBAT
ALLAH, ABU AL-BARAKAT BEN ALI AL-
BAGHDADI; IBN DAUD, ABRAHAM BEN
DAVID HALEVI; IBN EZRA, JOSEPH BEN
ISAAC; JOEL, MANUEL; JOSEPH MOSES BEN
JEKUTHIEL ZALMAN; KAHANA, DAVID;
KALLIR, ELEAZAR; KAMENKA-BUGSKAYA;
KIRSCHSTEIN, MORITZ; KLODAWA;
KORNIK; KOZIENICE; KRZEPICE;
KUTY; LECZYCA; LELOW; LESHNEV;
LEVY, SAMUEL; LIDA; LIPNO; LOSICE;
LUBARTOW; LUTOMIERSK; LYAKHOVICHI;
LYUBOML; MARCUS, AARON; NOTKIN,
NATA; OLDENBURG; OPOLE LUBELSKIE;
OTWOCK; PRINTING, HEBREW; SCROLL
OF ANTIOCHUS
Avraham (Alfred) Engel, Tel Aviv
Paul Engel, M.D.; Professor of
Biology, the Central University of
Ecuador, Quito
Morton S. Enslin, Th.D.; Professor
of Early Christian History and
Literature, Dropsie University,
Philadelphia: BIBLE
Israel Eph’al, M.A.; Instructor in
Biblical History, Tel Aviv University:
ISHMAELITES; KEDAR; KETURAH;
MEUNITES
76
Jacob Eliahu Ephrathi, D.H.L.;
Senior Lecturer in Talmud, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: EVEN HA-
TOIM; GEBIHA OF BE-KATIL; GEBINI; YOSE
BEN DORMASKOS
Ury Eppstein, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Musicology Dept., the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABILEAH,
ARIE; BERGEL, BERND; BOEHM,
YOHANAN; EVEN-OR, MARY; ISRAEL,
STATE OF: CULTURAL LIFE
Morris Epstein, Ph.D.; Editor and
Professor of English, Stern College
for Women, Yeshiva University, New
York: MARX, ALEXANDER
Seymour Epstein”, B.S., B.H.L.,
M.A., Ed.D.; Senior Vice President,
Jewish Education and Identity,
UJ.A.-Federation, Board of Jewish
Education, Toronto, Canada:
EDUCATION, JEWISH
Amira Eran”*, Ph.D.; the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: GHAZALI,
ABU HAMID MUHAMMAD IBN
MUHAMMAD AL-TUSI AL-; KINDI, ABU
YUSUF YAQUB IBN ISHAQ AL
Shlomo Erel, Ministry of Defense,
Tel Aviv: CHILE; LATIN AMERICA
Patricia Erens, Ph.D.; Department
of Communications, Rosary
College, River Forest, Ilinois
Yehudah Erez, Editor and Writer,
Kibbutz Givat Hayyim: GOLOMB,
ELIYAHU
Abraham Erlik, B.A. (Arch.);
Architect, Tel Aviv: BAERWALD, ALEX;
KARMI, DOV; KAUFMANN, RICHARD;
MANSFELD, ALFRED; MENDELSOHN, ERIC;
RECHTER; SHARON, ARYEH
Shimon Ernst, Ph.D.; Librarian, Tel
Aviv: HIRSCHENSOHN-LICHTENSTEIN,
JEHIEL ZEVI HERMANN
Lewis John Eron*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Jewish Community Chaplain,
Jewish Federation of Southern New
Jersey, Cherry Hill, New Jersey:
CAMDEN
Shaul Esh, Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer
in Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ANIELEWICZ,
MORDECAI; COHEN, DAVID; DRANCY;
FRIEDMAN, PHILIP; GRYNSZPAN,
HERSCHEL
Ruth Eshel*, Ph.D.; Dance Critic
for Haaretz Daily; Editor of Dance
Today, the Dance Magazine of
Israel; Lecturer at the University of
Haifa; Artistic Director of Beta and
Eskesta Dance Troupes-Dance of
Ethiopian Jewry, Israel: BATSHEVA
AND BAT-DOR DANCE COMPANIES; BE’ER,
RAMI; BERTONOFE, DEBORAH; DANCE;
NAHARIN, OHAD; SCHUBERT, LIA
Gennady Estraikh*, Dr.Phil.;
Associate Professor, New York
University, New York: ABTSHUK,
AVRAHAM; BEIDER, CHAIM; CHARNEY,
DANIEL; DOBRUSHIN, YEKHEZKEL;
FEFER, ITZIK; GOLOMB, ABRAHAM;
GORDON, SHMUEL; GORSHMAN,
SHIRA; HALKIN, SHMUEL; HOFSTEIN,
DAVID; JEWISH DAILY FORWARD;
KALMANOVITCH, ZELIG; KULTUR-LIGE;
KUSHNIROV, AARON; OLEVSKI, BUZI;
ORLAND, HERSHL; PERSOV, SHMUEL;
RAZUMNY, MARK; REZNIK, LIPE; SFARD,
DAVID; SHTIF, NOKHEM; SMOLAR,
HERSH; SOVETISH HEYMLAND; TEITSH,
MOYSHE; VERGELIS, AARON; WEITER,
A.; WENDROFF, ZALMAN; YAKNEHAZ;
ZARETZKI, ISAAC
Shmuel Ettinger, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BERDICHEV; BERSHAD; BERSHADSKI,
SERGEY ALEXANDROVICH; BRATSLAV;
CHMIELNICKI, BOGDAN; GRAETZ,
HEINRICH; HAIDAMACKS,; REUVENI,
DAVID; VIENNA, CONGRESS OF;
VOLOZHIN; ZIONISM
Yona Ettinger
Jehonatan Etz-Chaim, Instructor in
Talmud, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: DUKHAN; ELEAZAR BEN DAMMA;
ELEAZAR BEN JUDAH OF BARTOTA;
ELEAZAR BEN PARTA
Yakir Eventov, Haifa: LICHT,
ALEXANDER; ZIONISM
Ephraim Evron, Ambassador and
Deputy Director General, Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Yosef Ewen, M.A.; Lecturer in
Hebrew Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and the
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
BARASH, ASHER
Eli Eytan, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebrew Language,
Tel Aviv University; Scientific
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Secretary of the Academy of the
Hebrew Language, Tel Aviv: HEBREW
LANGUAGE
Alexander Ezer, Editor, Jerusalem
Sidra Ezrahi, Ph.D.; Researcher,
Jerusalem: HOLOCAUST
Salamon Faber, D.H.L., Rabbi; New
York
Emil Ludwig Fackenheim, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Philosophy, the
University of Toronto: HEGEL, GEORG
WILHELM FRIEDRICH; SCHELLING,
FRIEDRICH WILHELM JOSEPH
Karen L. Falk*, M.A., Project
Coordinator, Jewish Museum of
Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland:
MEYERHOFFE, HARVEY
Stanley L. Falk, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of National Security
Affairs, Industrial College of the
Armed Forces, Washington, D.C.:
BLOOM, SOL; BLUMENBERG, LEOPOLD;
JOHNSON, LYNDON BAINES; MORDECAI,
ALFRED; MORDECAI, JACOB; RICKOVER,
HYMAN GEORGE
Zeev Wilhem Falk, Ph.D.,
Advocate; Jacob I. Berman Associate
Professor of Family Law and
Succession, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Senior Lecturer in
Jewish Law, Tel Aviv University:
ALTENSTADT; ASCHAFFENBURG;
BAIERSDORF; BAMBERG; BAYREUTH;
BONN; BREMEN; BRUNSWICK;
CARLEBACH, JOSEPH; CENTRAL-
VEREIN DEUTSCHER STAATSBUERGER
JUEDISCHEN GLAUBENS; COBURG;
DAVID, MARTIN; DE VRIES, BENJAMIN;
DUEREN; ELBLAG; FUERTH; HAGEN;
HAMELN; HEILBRONN; HILFSVEREIN DER
DEUTSCHEN JUDEN; LYCK; RABBINICAL
CONFERENCES; WIESBADEN
Kochava Fattal-Binyamin’*,
Ph.D.; Clinical Instruction and
Coordinator of Human Resource
Development, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: ORPAZ AVERBUCH,
YITZHAK
Jose Faur, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Rabbinics, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York: IDOLATRY
Zvi Hermann Federbush, M.A.;
Ministry of Education and
Culture, Jerusalem: ALPHABET,
HEBREW
Nira Feidman, Ph.D.; Research
Fellow in Contemporary Jewry, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CAMPS
Ricardo Feierstein, Director
Editorial Mila, AMIA, Buenos
Aires
Julian B. Feigelman, LL.D., Ph.D.,
Rabbi; New Orleans
Aryeh Feigenbaum, M.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Ophthalmology,
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: BENEVENUTUS GRAPHEUS
HIEROSOLYMITANUS; HIRSCHBERG,
JULIUS
Lawrence H. Feigenbaum, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in Education, City College
of the City University of New York:
DUJOVNE, LEON; KOENIGSBERG, MOSES;
LAQUEUR, WALTER ZE'EV; LERNER, MAX;
SCHIFE, DOROTHY; SELDES, GEORGE;
SONNEMANN, LEOPOLD
Konrad Feilchenfeldt*, Dr.Phil;
Germanist, Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universitat, Munich, Germany:
HEILBORN, ERNST; HEYMANN, WALTHER;
HEYSE, PAUL; LEONHARD, RUDOLF;
MEYER, RICHARD MORITZ; NEUMANN,
ALFRED; WALDEN, HERWARTH
Gil Feiler*, Ph.D.; Senior
Researcher, Besa Center, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: BOYCOTT,
ARAB
Isaac M. Fein, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Jewish History,
Baltimore Hebrew College: COHEN;
ETTING; REHINE, ZALMA
Anat Feinberg*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Hochschule fiir Jiidische Studien,
Heidelberg, Germany: ADELMAN, URI;
ALMOG, RUTH; ALTERMAN, NATHAN;
AMIR, ELI; AVIGUR-ROTEM, GABRIELA;
BALLAS, SHIMON; BARTOV, HANOCH;
BAR-YOSEEF, YEHOSHUA; BE’ER, HAIM;
BEJERANO, MAYA; BEN-NER, YITZHAK;
BERNSTEIN, ORI; BIRSTEIN, YOSSEL;
CASTEL-BLOOM, ORLY; DOR, MOSHE;
EYTAN, RACHEL; GELDMAN, MORDECHAI;
GUR, BATYA; HAREVEN, SHULAMITH;
HEBREW LITERATURE, MODERN; HENDEL,
YEHUDIT; HOFFMANN, YOEL; JERUSALEM;
KAHANA-CARMON, AMALIA; KANIUK,
YORAM; KATZIR, JUDITH; KENAN, AMOS;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
KENAZ, YEHOSHUA; KERET, ETGAR;
LAOR, YITZHAK; LAPID, SHULAMIT;
LIEBRECHT, SAVYON; MATALON, RONIT;
MEGGED, AHARON; MISHOL, AGI; OREN,
RAM; ORLEV, URI; PAGIS, DAN; PINCAS,
ISRAEL; RAAB, ESTHER; RAVIKOVITCH,
DALIA; REICH, ASHER; SADEH, PINHAS;
SENED, ALEXANDER; SERI, DAN BENAYA;
SHABTAI, AHARON; SHAHAM, NATHAN;
SHAHAR, DAVID; SHALEV, MEIR; SHALEV,
ZERUYA; SHIMONI, YOUVAL; SIVAN,
ARYEH; SOMECK, RONNY; TAMMUZ,
BENJAMIN; TSALKA, DAN; WIESELTIER,
MEIR; YONATHAN, NATHAN; ZACH,
NATHAN
Lynn Claire Feinberg*, Historian
of Religion, Jewish Museum of
Oslo, Norway: BENKOW, JO; EITINGER,
LEO S.; NORWAY; OSLO; SCANDINAVIAN
LITERATURE; WERGELAND, HENRIK
ARNOLD
Nathan Feinberg, Dr.Jur.; Emeritus
Professor of International Law, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BERNHEIM PETITION; BLIOKH, IVAN
STANISLAVOVICH; COMITE DES
DELEGATIONS JUIVES; LEAGUE OF
NATIONS; STREICHER, JULIUS; STUERMER,
DER
Shmuel Feiner*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Modern Jewish History, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
MENDELSSOHN, MOSES
Henry L. Feingold, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Americana
and Diplomatica and American
Jewish History, the Bernard Baruch
College of the City University of
New York: McDONALD, JAMES GROVER;
NIXON, RICHARD MILHAUS; ROOSEVELT,
FRANKLIN DELANO; TRUMAN, HARRY S.
Edward Feinstein*, M. A., Rabbi;
Rabbi, Valley Beth Shalom, Encino,
California; Instructor, University of
Judaism, Los Angeles, California:
SCHULWEIS, HAROLD MAURICE
Stephen C. Feinstein*, Ph.D.;
Director, Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies, University
of Minnesota: EISENMAN, PETER;
HOLOCAUST; MEIER, RICHARD; POLSHEK,
JAMES; TIGERMAN, STANLEY
Moshe M. Felber, Ministry of
Finance, Jerusalem
Marjorie N. Feld*, Ph.D., Assistant
Professor of History, Babson
77
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
College, Massachusetts: SETTLEMENT
HOUSES
Michael Feldberg*, Ph.D.;
Researcher, American Jewish
Historical Society, New York:
BRESLAU, ISADORE
Meyer S. Feldblum, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Rabbinics,
Yeshiva University, New York: weiss,
ABRAHAM
Abraham J. Feldman, B.H.L.,
Rabbi; Hartford, Connecticut:
CONNECTICUT
David M. Feldman, D.H.L., Rabbi;
New York: CHASTITY; OMER; ONANISM
Egal Feldman, Ph.D.; Professor of
History, Wisconsin State University,
Superior, Wisconsin: CHURCH,
CATHOLIC; PROTESTANTS
Eliyahu Feldman, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish History, Tel
Aviv University: ASTRAKHAN; ATAKI;
AZERBAIJAN; BACAU; BAKHCHISARAI,
BALLY, DAVICION; BARASCH, JULIUS;
BARLAD; BECK, MORITZ; BELGOROD-
DNESTROVSKI; BELTSY; BENDERY;
BESSARABIA; BOJAN; BOTOSANI; BRAILA;
BRICEVA; BRICHANY; BROCINER, JOSEPH;
BUCHAREST; BUHUSI; BURDUJENI; BUZAU;
DOMBROVENI; EMANUEL; GRUNWALD,
MAX; IZMAIL; KALARASH; KAUSHANY;
KHOTIN; KILIYA; KOTOVSKOYE; LEOVO;
LIPKANY; MARCULESTI; NOVOSELITSA;
ORGEYEV; REZINA; RYSHKANY;
SEKIRYANY; SOROKI; TELENESHTY; VAD
RASHKOV; YEDINTSY; ZGURITSA
Gerald D. Feldman’, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, University
of California, at Berkeley:
GOLDSCHMIDT, JAKOB
Leon A. Feldman, Ph.D., D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Professor of Hebraic Studies,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
New Jersey: NISSIM BEN REUBEN
GERONDI; TAMAKH, ABRAHAM BEN
ISAAC HA-LEVI
Louis Harry Feldman, Ph.D.;
Professor of Classics, Yeshiva
University, New York: ANTIGONUS
OF CARYSTUS; BEROSUS; BLOCH,
HERBERT; CAPLAN, HARRY; CENSORINUS;
HELLADIUS OF ANTINOUPOLIS;
HELLENISM; HORACE, QUINTUS
HORATIUS FLACCUS; ITINERARIUM
ANTONINI; JUVENAL; LEVY, HARRY
78
LOUIS; LOWE, ELIAS AVERY; LUCIAN OF
SAMOSATA; MARCUS, RALPH; OROSIUS,
PAULUS; THRASYLLUS OF MENDES;
TRAUBE, LUDWIG; VIRGIL; VITRUVIUS,
POLLO
Mark B. Feldman’, A.B., L.L.B.;
Attorney, Garvey Schubert Barer,
Washington, D.C.: FEITH, DOUGLAS J.
Myer Feldman, B.A., B.S., LL.B.;
Attorney, Washington, D. C.:
KENNEDY, JOHN FITZGERALD
Seymour Feldman*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus,
Rutgers University, New Jersey:
ARISTOTLE; COSMOLOGY; CREATION AND
COSMOGONY
Yael S. Feldman’, Ph.D.;
Abraham I. Katsch Professor of
Hebrew Culture and Professor of
Comparative Literature and Gender
Studies, New York University, New
York: BEN YEHUDA, NETIVA
Jehuda Feliks, Ph.D.; Professor of
Botany, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: AARON BEN SAMUEL; ACACIA;
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT
METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT
EREZ ISRAEL; AGRICULTURE; ALGUM;
ALMOND; ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE AND
TALMUD; ANT; ANTELOPE; APE; APPLE;
ASS; BALSAM; BARLEY; BAT; BAY TREE;
BDELLIUM; BEANS; BEAR; BEE; BEET;
BEHEMOTH; BITTERN; BOX; BROOM;
BUFFALO; BURNING BUSH; BUZZARD;
CABBAGE; CALAMUS, SWEET; CAMEL;
CAPER; CAROB; CASTOR-OIL PLANT;
CAT; CATTLE; CEDAR; CENTIPEDE;
CHAMELEON; CHICKEN; CINNAMON;
CORAL; CORIANDER; COTTON;
CRANE; CRIMSON WORM; CROCODILE;
CUCUMBER; CUMIN; CYPRESS; DEER;
DIETARY LAWS; DOG; DOVE; DYE PLANTS;
EAGLE; EBONY; ELEPHANT; ETROG;
EVOLUTION; FENNEL; FIG; FIVE SPECIES;
FLAX; FLEA; FLOWERS; FLY; FODDER;
FOX; FRANKINCENSE; FROG; GALBANUM;
GARLIC; GAZELLE; GECKO; GNAT; GOAT;
GOOSE; GOURD; GRASSHOPPER; GULL;
HARE; HAWK; HEMLOCK; HEMP; HENNA;
HERBS, MEDICINAL; HOOPOE; HORNET;
HORSE; HYENA; HYRAX; HYSSOP; IBEX;
INCENSE AND PERFUMES; ISRAEL, LAND
OF: FLORAN AND FAUNA; IVY; JACKAL;
JUJUBE; JUNIPER; KITE; LAUDANUM;
LEECH; LEEK; LEGUMES; LENTIL;
LEOPARD; LETTUCE; LEVIATHAN; LION;
LIZARD; LOCUST; LOUSE; MALLOW;
MANDRAKE; MANNA; MAROR; MELON;
MILLET; MIXED SPECIES; MOLE;
MONITOR; MOTH; MOUSE; MULBERRY;
MULE; MUSHROOMS; MUSTARD; MYRRH;
MYRTLE; NIGHTINGALE; NUT; OAK;
OLEANDER; OLIVE; ONAGER; ONION;
ONYCHA; ORACH; OSTRICH; OWL; PALM;
PAPYRUS; PARTRIDGE; PEACH; PEACOCK;
PEAR; PELICAN; PEPPER; PHEASANT;
PHOENIX; PIG; PINE; PISTACHIO; PLANE
TREE; PLUM; POMEGRANATE; POPLAR;
QUAIL; QUINCE; RADISH; RAT; RAVEN;
REED; RICE; ROCKET; ROSE; SAFFRON;
SCORPION; SHEEP; SILK; SKINK; SNAKE;
SOAP; SORGHUM; SPARROW; SPICES;
SPIDER; SPIKENARD; SQUILL; STORAX;
STORK; SUMAC; SWIFT; SYCAMORE;
TAHASH; TAMARISK; TARES; TEKHELET;
TEREBINTH; THISTLES AND THORNS;
TORTOISE; TRAGACANTH; TURTLE DOVE;
VEGETABLES; VINE; VULTURES; WEEDS;
WHEAT; WILD BULL; WILLOW; WOLF;
WORM; WORMWOOD
Abraham Feller, Journalist, Tel
Aviv: BALTAZAR, CAMIL; CALUGARU,
ION; DAN, SERGIU; DORIAN, EMIL;
FURTUNA, ENRIC; FURTUNA, ENRIC;
GRAUR, CONSTANTIN; LAVI, THEODOR;
LAZAREANU, BARBU; LUDO, ISAC
IACOVITZ; NEMTEANU, BARBU; PELTZ,
ISAC; RELGIS, EUGEN; SAINEANU, LAZAR;
STEUERMAN, ADOLF RODION; ZISSU,
ABRAHAM LEIB
Abraham Fellman, F.A.C.C.A.,
C.P.A.; Accountant, Tel Aviv:
FREEMASONS
Sarah B. Felsen*, Ph.D. (German
Lit.); University of California, at
Berkeley: LIESSIN, ABRAHAM; SHOMER
Vivian Felsen*, M.A., L.L.B.;
Translator, Toronto, Canada: BERGER,
LILI; MEDRES, ISRAEL JONAH; SHULNER,
DORA
John Felsteiner, Ph.D.; Professor
of English, Stanford University,
Stanford, California
Mary Lowenthal Felsteiner, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, San Francisco
State University, San Francisco:
BRUNNER, ALOIS
Paul (B.) Fenton’, Ph.D.;
Ambassador (retired), Professor,
Director of Jewish Studies,
Université de Paris-Sorbonne:
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES BEN MAIMON
Bonny V. Fetterman’, B.A., M.A.;
Literary Editor, Reform Judaism
Magazine, New York: WIESEL, ELIE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Bernd Feuchtner*, Dr.Phil.;
Publicist, Berlin, Germany: BARSHAI,
RUDOLF
Leon I. Feuer, Rabbi; Toledo,
Ohio
Robert E. Fierstien*, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Temple Beth Or, Brick, New Jersey:
RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY
Louis Filler, Ph.D.; Professor of
American Civilization, Antioch
College, Yellow Springs, Ohio:
HOFSTADTER, RICHARD
Leon Fine”, B.A.; Attorney, Tel
Aviv: AVI-YITZHAK, DAN; BEINISCH,
DORIT; BEN-ISRAEL, RUTH; BERENSON
ZVI; COHEN, SHLOMO; ENGLARD,
YITZHAK; HESHIN, SHNEUR ZALMAN;
MAZUZ, MENI; ZAMIR, ITZHAK
Irving Fineman, B.S.; Author,
Shaftsbury, Vermont: ROSTEN, LEO
CALVIN
Uzi Finerman, Member of the
Knesset, Kefar Yehezkel: MosHAV OR
MOSHAV OVEDIM; MOSHAV SHITTUFI
Israel Finestein, M.A., Q.C.;
Barrister, London: COHEN, LIONEL
LEONARD, BARON; GOODHART, ARTHUR
LEHMAN; HEILBRON, DAME ROSE; JESSEL,
SIR GEORGE; KARMINSKI, SIR SEYMOUR
EDWARD; LAUTERPACHT, SIR HERSCH;
SALMON, CYRIL BARNET, BARON
Dan Fink*: IpAHO
Haim Finkelstein*, Ph.D.; Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheba: ART: MODERN EREZ ISRAEL;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL LIFE
Israel Finkelstein*, Ph.D.;
Professor, Institute of Archaeology,
Tel Aviv University: MEGIDDO
Jacob Finkelstein, Ph.D.; Professor
of Assyriology and Babylonian
Literature, Yale University, New
Haven, Connecticut: MESOPOTAMIA
Norman Finkelstein*, Ph.D.;
Professor of English, Xavier
University, Cincinnati: OPPEN,
GEORGE; REZNIKOFE, CHARLES; UNITED
STATES LITERATURE
Gérald Finkielsztejn*, Ph.D.;
Senior Archaeologist of the Israel
Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem:
AGORANOMOS; ASINIUS POLLIO, GAIUS;
MARESHAH
Jordan Finkin*, Ph.D.; University
of California, Berkeley: LIESsIN,
ABRAHAM; SHOMER
Bert Fireman, B.A.; Lecturer in
Arizona History, Arizona State
University, Tempe: ARIZONA
Harold Harel Fisch, B. Litt.;
Professor of English and former
Rector, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: BLAKE, WILLIAM; CHAUCER,
GEOFFREY; CUMBERLAND, RICHARD;
DICKENS, CHARLES; DISRAELI, BENJAMIN,
EARL OF BEACONSFIELD; D’ISRAELI,
ISAAC; ELIOT, GEORGE; ENGLISH
LITERATURE; HA-TENU’AH LE-MAAN
EREZ ISRAEL HA-SHELEMAH; HENRIQUES;
KOESTLER, ARTHUR; MARLOWE,
CHRISTOPHER; MILTON, JOHN;
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM; SCOTT, SIR
WALTER; TARN, NATHANIEL; ZANGWILL,
ISRAEL
Solomon Fisch, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Leeds: MIDRASH HA-GADOL
Henry Albert Fischel, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Near Eastern
Studies, Indiana University,
Bloomington: CYNICS AND CYNICISM;
EPICUREANISM; GREEK AND LATIN
LANGUAGES, RABBINICAL KNOWLEDGE
OF; HELLENISM; STOICISM
Walter Joseph Fischel, Professor
of Judaic Studies and History, the
University of California, Santa Cruz:
AARON BEN AMRAM; ABENDANA, ISAAC
SARDO; ABRAHAM, SAMUEL; ABRAHAO,
COJE; AFGHANISTAN; AHMADNAGAR;
AHWAZ; AKBAR THE GREAT; AKLAR
MORDECAI BEN RAPHAEL; ALIBAG;
"AMADIYA; ASHER, ISAIAH BEN MOSES
HA-LEVI; AZERBAIJAN; BAHRAIN;
BALKH; BENARES; BENE ISRAEL; BOMBAY;
BUCHANAN, CLAUDIUS; BURMA;
CALCUTTA; CALICUT; CASTRO; CEYLON;
CHENNAMANGALAM; CRANGANORE;
DAMAVAND; DAVID D’BETH HILLEL;
DIVEKAR, SAMUEL EZEKIEL; ELEAZAR
BEN JACOB HA-BAVLI; ERNAKULAM;
FEINSTEIN, HAYYIM JACOB HA-KOHEN;
FONSECA, ALVARO DA; GAMA, GASPAR
DA; GOA; HACOHEN, RAPHAEL HAYYIM;
HAKHAM, SIMON; HALLEGUA; HORMUZ;
ISFAHAN; JADID AL-ISLAM; JOSEPH
MAMAN AL-MAGHRIBI; JUDEO-PERSIAN;
KASHMIR; KEHIMKAR, HAYIM SAMUEL;
KHURASAN; KODER, SAMUEL SHABDAIT;
KORNFELD, JOSEPH SAUL; LAR; LESLAU,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
WOLF; MADRAS; MELAMED, RAHAMIM
REUVEN; MELAMED, SIMAN TOV; MERV;
MOSES, MARCUS; NAJIB AL-DAWLA;
NATHAN, MULLA IBRAHIM; NAVARRO,
ABRAHAM; NEUMARK, EPHRAIM;
NISHAPUR; ORTA, GARCIA DE; PAIVA,
JACQUES; PAKISTAN; PERSIA; POLAK,
JACOB EDUARD; POONA; POPPER,
WILLIAM; RAHABI, EZEKIEL; RAJPURKAR,
JOSEPH EZEKIEL; REINMANN, SALOMON;
RIZAIEH; RODRIGUES, BARTHOLOMEW;
ROTENBURG; SAD AL-DAWLA AL-SAFI
IBN HIBBATALLAH; SANANDAJ; SARMAD,
MUHAMMAD SAID; SASSOON; SHIRAZ;
SOLOMON BEN SAMUEL; TABRIZ;
TAVUS, JACOB BEN JOSEPH; TEHERAN;
TRANSOXIANA; WOLFF, JOSEPH; YAHUDI,
YUSUF; YEZD
Jens Malte Fischer*, Ph.D.;
Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universitat, Munich, Germany:
JESSNER, LEOPOLD; KORTNER, FRITZ;
PALLENBERG, MAX; SONNENTHAL, ADOLF
RITTER VON
Jerome E. Fischer*, M.A.; Executive
Director, Jewish Federation of
Eastern Connecticut, New London,
Connecticut: NEW LONDON
Yona Fischer, Curator of
Contemporary Art, the Israel
Museum, Jerusalem: ASCHHEIM,
ISIDOR; FEIGIN, DOV; HABER, SHAMAI;
KRAKAUER, LEOPOLD; LEVANON,
MORDECAI; PALDI, ISRAEL; PALOMBO,
DAVID; SCULPTURE; SHEMI, MENAHEM;
STEMATSKY, AVIGDOR; ZARITSKI, YOSEF
Ephraim Fischoff, D.S.Sc.,
Rabbi; Professor of Sociology,
Wisconsin State University, Eau
Claire: BENEDIKT, MORITZ; BIDNEY,
DAVID; BOAS, FRANZ; BOGORAZ,
VLADIMIR GERMANOVICH; BURCHARDT,
HERMANN; ELKIN, ADOLPHUS PETER;
FISHBERG, MAURICE; FORTES, MEYER;
FRIED, MORTON HERBERT; GLUCKMAN,
MAX; GOLDENWEISER, ALEXANDER
ALEXANDROVICH; HALBWACHS,
MAURICE; HENRY, JULES; JOCHELSON,
VLADIMIR; KARDINER, ABRAM; LANDES,
RUTH; LEVIN, MAKSIM GRIGORYEVICH;
LEVI-STRAUSS, CLAUDE; LEVY-BRUHL,
LUCIEN; LEWIS, OSCAR; LOWIE,
ROBERT HARRY; LUSCHAN, FELIX VON;
MANDELBAUM, DAVID GOODMAN; MAUSS,
MARCEL; MONTAGU, MONTAGUE FRANCIS
ASHLEY; MUNKACSI, BERNAT; NADEL,
SIEGFRED FERDINAND STEPHAN; OPLER,
MARVIN KAUFMANN; OPLER, MORRIS
EDWARD; OPPERT, GUSTAV SALOMON;
OPPERT, JULES JULIUS; OSCHINSKY,
79
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
LAWRENCE; RADIN, PAUL; ROHEIM, GEZA;
SAPIR, EDWARD; SCHAPERA, ISAAC;
SELIGMAN, CHARLES GABRIEL; SHAPIRO,
HARRY LIONEL; SINGER, MILTON B;
SPIER, LESLIE; SPIRO, MELFORD ELLIOT;
SPOEHR, ALEXANDER; STERNBERG, LEV
YAKOVLEVICH; SWADESH, MORRIS;
TAX, SOL; TITIEV, MISCHA; VAMBERY,
ARMINIUS; WEIDENREICH, FRANZ;
WEISSENBERG, SAMUEL ABRAMOVICH;
ZOLLSCHAN, IGNAZ
Michael Fishbane, M.A.; Instructor
in Hebrew and of Biblical Studies,
Brandeis University, Waltham,
Massachusetts: ARK OF NOAH; COPPER
SERPENT, THE; JAVAN; LAMECH; SERAPH
Eugene J. (Joseph) Fisher*, Ph.D.;
Associate Director, Secretariat for
Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs, U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, Washington, D.C.: JOHN
PAUL II
Aleisa Fishman”, Ph.D.;
Editorial Coordinator, Academic
Publications, United States
Holocaust Museum, Washington,
D.C.: BRENNER, ROSE; SPIEGEL, DORA
Donna Fishman’, M.A., B H.L.;
Executive Director, Gilda’s Club
Westchester, New York: GILLMAN, NEIL
Robert (J.) Fishman’, M.A.,
M.S.W;; Executive Director,
Jewish Federation Association of
Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut:
CONNECTICUT
Sylvia Barack Fishman, Ph.D.; Asst.
Prof. of Jewish Studies, Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts:
GORNICK, VIVIAN; RICH, ADRIENNE;
ROTH, PHILIP MILTON
Artur Fiszer, B.A.; Researcher,
Jerusalem: MOMENT, DER; PRESS
Gila Flam*, Ph.D.; Director of
Music, National Library, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ADLER, ISRAEL; ALDEMA, GIL; ARGOV,
ALEXANDER; AVENARY, HANOCH; BARNEA,
EZRA; BEREGOVSKI, MOSHE; BOSCOVITCH,
ALEXANDER URIYAH; BRAUN, YEHEZKIEL;
CHASINS, ABRAHAM; DA-OZ, RAM; GILBOA,
JACOB; HERZOG, GEORGE; HESKES, IRENE;
IDELSOHN, ABRAHAM ZVI; ISRAEL, STATE
OF: CULTURAL LIFE; JACOBI, HANOCH;
LACHMANN, ROBERT; MIRON, ISSACHAR;
MUSIC; NOY, MEIR; RUBIN, RUTH; SHEMER,
NAOMI
80
Dov Shmuel Flattau (Plato), Dr.
Phil., Rabbi; Encyclopaedia Judaica
(Germany); Teacher and scholar, Tel
Aviv: ANGELS AND ANGELOLOGY
Ezra Fleischer, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Hebrew Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
KRAUSS, FRIEDRICH SALAMO; PHINEHAS
BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN; PIYYUT;
SCHIRMANN, JEFIM; SIMEON BEN MEGAS
HA-KOHEN; SOLOMON BEN JUDAH HA-
BAVLI; YOZEROT
Eugene Jacob Fleischmann,
Ph.D.; Maitre de Recherche au
Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, Paris: WEIL, ERIC
Lazar Fleishman, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer, Department of
Russian Studies, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BELINKOV,
ARKADIIVIKTOROVICH
Daniel (E.) Fleming*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Assyriology and
Hebrew Bible, New York University:
EMAR
Heinrich Flesch, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Czechoslovakia: OPPENHEIM;
OPPENHEIM, BEER BEN ISAAC;
OPPENHEIM, DAVID BEN ABRAHAM
Rachel Floersheim, Ph.D.; New
York: KUZNETS, SIMON
David Flusser, Ph.D.; Professor of
Comparative Religion, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABRAHAM,
TESTAMENT OF; APOCALYPSE; DAVID;
ENOCH; GNOSTICISM; ISAIAH, ASCENSION
OF; JEROME; JESUS; JOSIPPON; KLAUSNER,
JOSEPH GEDALIAH; LEVI, TESTAMENT OF;
MASTEMA; MELITO OF SARDIS; MIDRASH
VA-YISSA'U; MOSKONI, JUDAH LEON
BEN MOSES; NAPHTALI, TESTAMENT
OF; PATRIARCHS, TESTAMENTS OF THE
TWELVE; PAUL OF TARSUS; REDEMPTION;
SEVENTY SHEPHERDS, VISION OF; SMITH,
MORTON; SOLOVIEV, VLADIMIR; SON OF
MAN; VISIONS; WENDLAND, PAUL
Yeshayahu Foerder, Dr.Phil.;
Chairman of the Board of Directors,
Bank Leumi le-Israel, Tel Aviv:
HOOFIEN, ELIEZER SIGERIED
Eva Fogelman’*, Ph.D.; Social and
Personality Psychology, Co-Director
Psychotherapy with Generations of
the Holocaust and Related Traumas
Training Program, Training Institute
for Mental Health, New York:
HOLOCAUST
Jerome D. Folkman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Adjunct Professor of Sociology,
Ohio State University, Columbus
Resianne Fontaine”, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in the Department
of Hebrew and Jewish Studies,
Universiteit van Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: IBN DAUD, ABRAHAM BEN
DAVID HALEVI; MATKAH, JUDAH BEN
SOLOMON HA-KOHEN
Linda (B.) Forgosh*, B.A., M.A.;
Curator and Outreach Director,
Jewish Historical Society of Metro
West, New Jersey: ESSEX COUNTY;
MORRIS AND SUSSEX COUNTIES
Morris D. Forkosch, Ph.D., J.S.D.;
Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law
School; Professor of Economics,
New School for Social Research,
New York: SOBELOFE, SIMON ERNEST
Ira (N.) Forman*, B.A., M.B.A.;
Executive Director, National Jewish
Democratic Council, and the
Solomon Project, Washington, D.C.:
CARTER, JIMMY; CLINTON, WILLIAM
JEFFERSON; POLITICS
Umberto Fortis*; Professor,
Biblioteca Archivio Renato Maestro
Comunita Ebraica di Venezia:
VENICE
Everett Fox*, Ph.D.; Allen M. Glick,
Professor of Judaic and Biblical
Studies, Clark University, Newton,
Massachusetts: BIBLE
Marvin Fox, Ph.D., Rabbi; Professor
of Philosophy, Ohio State University,
Columbus: FREEDOM; GOD; GOD,
NAMES OF
Michael V. Fox*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Hebrew, University of
Wisconsin, Milwaukee: AGUR SON
OF JAKEH; BOOKS OF THE CHRONICLES
OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL;
ECCLESIASTES or QOHELET; LEMUEL;
MOSES, BLESSING OF; NOTH, MARTIN;
SEA, SONG OF THE
Nili S. Fox*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Bible, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio: NUMBERS,
BOOK OF
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Abraham H. Foxman, J.D.; Anti-
Defamation League of Bnai Brith,
New York: VILNA
Joseph M. Foxman, Research
Associate, YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research, New York: KOLDYCHEVO
CAMP
Abraham Halevy Fraenkel,
Dr. Phil.; Emeritus Professor of
Mathematics, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: BORNSTEIN, HAYYIM
JEHIEL
Carlos Fraenkel*, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor, McGill University,
Montreal, Canada: sPINOZA, BARUCH
DE
Jona Fraenkel, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Hebrew Literature and in Talmud,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
RASHI
Josef Fraenkel, Journalist,
London: CHAMBERLAIN, JOSEPH;
COHEN, ISRAEL; DUGDALE, BLANCHE
ELIZABETH CAMPBELL; EHRLICH, JACOB;
FRIEDMANN, DESIDER; GOLDBLOOM,
JACOB KOPPEL; GOODMAN, PAUL;
JEWISH CHRONICLE; JEWISH WORLD;
PRESS; SONNENSCHEIN, ROSA;
STEINBERG, AARON; STRICKER, ROBERT;
WELT, DIE
Vadim (E.) Fraifeld*, M.D., Ph.D.;
Senior Research Scientist, Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheba: FROLKIS, VLADIMIR
VENIAMINOVICH
Jerold C. (Coleman) Frakes*,
Ph.D.; Professor of German and
Comparative Literature, University
of Southern California: BOVE-
BUKH; BRESCH, JUDAH LOEB BEN
MOSES NAPHTALI; BRIYO VE-ZIMRO;
BRODERZON, MOYSHE; CAMBRIDGE
YIDDISH CODEX; FEINBERG, LEON;
GOLDBERG, ABRAHAM; GOLDBERG, BEN
ZION; GUTMAN, CHAIM; HAIMOWITZ,
MORRIS JONAH; HARSHAV, BENJAMIN;
HERMAN, DAVID; JUSTMAN, MOSHE
BUNEM; KATZ, ALEPH; KI-BUKH; KRANTZ,
PHILIP; LANDAU, ZISHE; LEHRER,
LEIBUSH; LEV, ABRAHAM; LITERATURE,
JEWISH; MARMOR, KALMAN; MELOKHIM-
BUKH; MENDELSON, JOSE; ORNSTEIN,
LEO; PARIZ UN VIENE; RAVITCH,
MELECH; SAPHIRE, SAUL; SCHNAPPER,
BER; SHEKHTMAN, ELYE; SHMUEL-BUKH;
SIMON, SHLOME; TABACHNIK, ABRAHAM
BER; TKATCH, MEIR ZIML; TOLUSH;
TSANIN, MORDKHE; VIDVILT; WELNER,
PINCHES; YOFFE, MORDECAI
Federica Francesconi*, Ph.D.;
History, University of Haifa: Ascout,
GRAZIADIO ISAIA; BASEVI; BOLOGNA;
BOLZANO; BORGHI, LAMBERTO;
BOZZOLO; CANTONI, RAFFAELE;
CENTO; CONEGLIANO; CREMONA;
FAENZA; FINALE EMILIA; FINZI; FORLI;
FORMIGGINI, ANGELO FORTUNATO;
FRIZZI, BENEDETTO; GUASTALLA,
ENRICO; IMOLA; LATTES, DANTE; LODI;
MANTUA; MODENA; REGGIO EMILIA;
VENTURA, RUBINO
Israel Francus, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Rabbinics,
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, New York: ABRAMSON,
SHRAGA
Moshe Zvi Frank, B.A.; LL.B.;
Journalist, Tel Aviv: BILTMORE
PROGRAM
Alex Frankel*: MATLIN, MARLEE
Giza Frankel, Ph.D.; the Ethno-
logical Museum, Haifa: PAPER-CUTS
Jonathan Frankel*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Modern Jewish and Russian
History, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: "DOCTORS PLOT’;
DAMASCUS AFFAIR
William Frankel, Former Editor of
the Jewish Chronicle, London
Norma Franklin*, Ph.D.;
Archaeologist, Tel Aviv University:
SAMARIA
Harry Freedman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Caulfield, Victoria, Australia:
ACADEMY ON HIGH; AKIVA; ARK OF
THE COVENANT; BARNACLE GOOSE
MYTHS; DEATH, KISS OF; GELMAN,
MANUEL; HAVER IR; HISDA; ISHMAEL
BEN JOHANAN BEN BEROKA; JOSIAH;
LEVI; LEVI; MANI; MEGILLAT SETARIM;
PARAPET; PATRIARCHS, THE; SEA OF THE
TALMUD; SINAI, MOUNT; TRIBES, THE
TWELVE; YALTA
Shalom Freedman”, Ph.D.;
Freelance Writer, Jerusalem:
GREENBERG, IRVING; KAPLAN, ARYEH;
LAMM, NORMAN; TENDLER, MOSHE
ChaeRan Freeze*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of East European Jewish
History, Brandeis University,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Waltham, Massachusetts: SHTETL;
WOMAN: EASTERN EUROPE
Harriet Pass Freidenreich*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, Temple
University, Philadelphia: coHEN,
ELIZABETH D. A. MAGNUS; COSER, ROSE
LAUB; DENMARK, FLORENCE LEVIN;
FRANKENTHAL, KATE; HELLMAN,
CLARISSE DORIS; HYDE, IDA HENRIETTA;
HYMAN, LIBBIE HENRIETTA; JACOBSON,
ANNA; KAUFMAN, JOYCE JACOBSON;
KRIM, MATHILDE; LEICHTER, KAETHE
PICK; MARCUS, RUTH BARCAN;
PEIXOTTO, JESSICA BLANCHE; PEIXOTTO,
JUDITH SALZEDO; RICHTER, ELISE;
SCHWARTZ, ANNA JACOBSON; WEINBERG,
GLADYS DAVIDSON; WOLFF, CHARLOTTE
Jacob Freimann, Dr.Phil., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Rabbinics and Jewish
History, the Berlin Rabbinical
Seminary: ABBA MARI BEN MOSES BEN
JOSEPH ASTRUC OF LUNEL; ABRAHAM
BEN SAMUEL HE-HASID; ISAAC BEN NOAH
KOHEN SHAPIRA
Paul Freireich, M.S.; Journalist,
New York: KRAMER, STANLEY E.
Gad Freudenthal*: zAmosc, ISRAEL
BEN MOSES HA-LEVI
Jonathan (G.) Freund”, M.A. Ed.;
Program Director, Board of Rabbis
of Southern California, Los Angeles:
NEUMANN, EMANUEL
Paul A. Freund, S.J.D.; Professor
of Law, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts:
BRANDEIS, LOUIS DEMBITZ;
FRANKFURTER, FELIX
Richard Freund*, Ph.D.; Director
and Professor, Maurice Greenberg
Center for Judaic Studies, University
of Hartford, Connecticut: sIEGEL,
SEYMOUR
George H. Fried, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Biology, Brooklyn
College of the City University
of New York: BERNSTEIN, JULIUS;
BRONOWSKI, JACOB; COHN, FERDINAND
JULIUS; EMBDEN, GUSTAV; HABERLANDT,
GOTTLIEB; KATZ, SIR BERNARD; MULLER,
HERMAN JOSEPH; PINCUS, GREGORY
GOODWIN; SALAMAN; SALAMAN,
REDCLIFFE NATHAN; WALD, GEORGE
Lewis (Frederick) Fried*, Ph.D.;
Professor, Kent State University,
Ohio: AUSTER, PAUL; BUKIET,
81
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MELVIN JULES; CALISHER, HORTENSE;
DOCTOROW, EDGAR LAWRENCE;
EPSTEIN, LESLIE; FADIMAN, CLIFTON;
FAST, HOWARD MELVIN; FELDMAN,
IRVING; GOLD, HERBERT; GOLDSTEIN,
REBECCA; GOODMAN, ALLEGRA; GREEN,
GERALD; GROSSMAN, ALLEN; HARRIS,
MARK; HELLER, JOSEPH; HELLMAN,
LILLIAN; HOWE, IRVING; IGNATOW,
DAVID; KAZIN, ALFRED; KUNITZ,
STANLEY JASSPON; LEVIANT, CURT;
MAILER, NORMAN; MALAMUD, BERNARD;
NEMEROV, HOWARD; NISSENSON, HUGH;
PROSE, FRANCINE; RICH, ADRIENNE;
ROTH, PHILIP MILTON; SALINGER,
JEROME DAVID; SONTAG, SUSAN; STERN,
STEVE; UNITED STATES LITERATURE;
WALLANT, EDWARD LEWIS; YEZIERSKA,
ANZIA
Nathan Fried, Rabbi; Bene-Berak:
SUSAN, ISSACHAR BEN MORDECAI
Lillian A. Friedberg, M.A.; Former
Executive Director of the Jewish
Community Relations Council
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
PITTSBURGH
Maurice Friedberg, Ph.D.;
Professor of Slavic Languages and
Literature and Director of the
Russian and East European Institute,
Indiana University, Bloomington:
ADMONI, VLADIMIR GRIGORYEVICH;
AIKHENVALD YULI ISAYEVICH; AIZMAN,
DAVID YAKOLEVICH; ALDANOV, MARK;
AVERBAKH, LEOPOLD LEONIDOVICH;
BABEL, ISAAC EMMANUILOVICH;
BAGRITSKI, EDUARD GEORGIYEVICH;
BILL-BELOTSERKOVSKI, VLADIMIR
NAUMOVICH; BRODSKI, YOSIEF;
BYADULYA-YASAKAR, ZMITROK;
CHERNY, SASHA; DANIEL, YULI
MARKOVICH; EHRENBURG, ILYA
GRIGORYEVICH; GERSHENZON,
MIKHAIL OSIPOVICH; GRANIN, DANIEL
ALEKSANDROVICH; GROSSMAN, VASILI
SEMYONOVICH; HAGAR; ILF, ILYA;
INBER, VERA MIKHAILOVNA; KASSIL,
LEV ABRAMOVICH; KAVERIN, BENJAMIN
ALEKSANDROVICH; KAZAKEVICH,
EMMANUIL GENRIKHOVICH;
KHODASEVICH, VLADISLAV
FELITSIANOVICH; KIRSANOV, SEMYON
ISAAKOVICH; KOROLENKO, VLADIMIR
GALAKTIONOVICH; KOZAKOV, MIKHAIL
EMMANUILOVICH; LIBEDINSKI, YURI
NIKOLAYEVICH; LIDIN, VLADIMIR
GERMANOVICH; MARSHAK, SAMUEL
YAKOVLEVICH; PASTERNAK, BORIS
LEONIDOVICH; RUSSIAN LITERATURE;
SELVINSKI, ILYA LVOVICH; SLONIMSKI,
MIKHAIL LEONIDOVICH; SLUTSKI,
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BORIS ABRAMOVICH; TUR BROTHERS;
TYNYANOV, YURI NIKOLAYEVICH;
UTKIN, JOSEPH PAVLOVICH; WENGEROFF,
SEMYON AFANASYEVICH; YEVTUSHENKO,
YEVGENI ALEXANDROVICH
Ken Frieden”, Ph.D.; B.G. Rudolph
Professor of Judaic Studies, Syracuse
University: ABRAMOVITSH, SHOLEM
YANKEV; PERETZ, ISAAC LEIB
Daniel M. Friedenberg, B.A.;
Curator of Coins and Medals,
the Jewish Museum, New York:
ARON; FURST, MORITZ; FURST, MORITZ;
GRILICHES, AVENIR; JUDIN, SAMUEL;
MEDALISTS; MINTMASTERS AND
MONEYERS; SIMON, JEAN HENRI; VINCZE,
PAUL; WIENER
Eric Lewis Friedland, Ph.D.;
Professor of Judaic Studies, Wright
State University, Antioch College,
University of Dayton, and United
Theological Seminary, Dayton,
Ohio: PRAYER BOOKS
Henry Friedlander*: EUTHANASIA
Saul Friedlander, Dr.Phil.;
Professor of International Relations
and Contemporary History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ellen Friedman, New York:
BLUMENTHAL, WERNER MICHAEL;
BUNZEL, RUTH LEAH; ELKIND, ARKADI
DANIILOVICH; LOMBROSO, CESARE;
ZUCKERKANDL, EMIL
Isaiah Friedman”, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of History, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
AARONSOHN; BALFOUR DECLARATION;
HERZL, THEODOR; LANGUAGE WAR;
MORGENTHAU; OTTOMAN EMPIRE;
SYKES, SIR MARK; SYKES-PICOT
AGREEMENT; UGANDA SCHEME; ZIONISM
Jeanette Friedman”, B.A.; Editor-
in-Chief, The Wordsmithy; Editor,
Together, American Gathering of
Jewish Holocaust Survivors and
Their Descendants; Chairman, The
Brenn Institute, American Jewish
Press Association/Folksbiene
Yiddish Theater/Second Generation,
New Jersey: AARONSOHN, MOSES;
ADAMS, THEODORE L.; AISH HATORAH;
AMERICAN GATHERING OF JEWISH
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS; ARONOWITZ,
BENJAMIN; BARISHANSHKY, RAPHAEL;
BAUMOL, JOSHUA; BLEICH, J. DAVID;
BLOCH, CHAIM ISAAC; BLUESTONE,
JOSEPH ISAAC; BRILL, ISAAC LIPA;
BUERGENTHAL, THOMAS; CARDIN,
SHOSHANA SHOUBIN; CHARLOP, YECHIEL
MICHEL; CHAZAN, ELIYAHU SIMCHA;
KAMINETSKY JOSEPH; KENT, ROMAN
R.; MENDLOWITZ, SHRAGA FEIVEL;
SCHACHTER, HERSCHEL; SINGER, ISRAEL;
U.S. ARMY AND THE HOLOCAUST; YOUNG
ISRAEL, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF
Judith Friedman Rosen’, Ph.D.;
Historian, Graduate Center City
University of New York: HOLTZMAN,
ELIZABETH J.; KAYE, JUDITH S.; LOWEY,
NITA MELNIKOFF; UDIN, SOPHIE A.
Mark Friedman, Mhil.; Director
of Cultural Affairs, World Jewish
Congress, New York: BRONFMAN,
EDGAR MILES
Maurice Friedman, Ph.D.;
Professor of Religion, Temple
University, Philadelphia:
EXISTENTIALISM
Menachem Friedman”, Ph.D.;
Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan: AGUDAT
ISRAEL; BLAU, AMRAM; EZ HAYYIM;
KAHANA, KALMAN; LEVIN, YIZHAK MEIR;
MINZ, BENJAMIN; NETUREI KARTA
Mira Friedman, Ph.D.; Department
of History of Art, Tel Aviv
University; Curator, Tel Aviv
Museum: MERZER, ARIEH
Murray Friedman*: COMMENTARY;
PODHORETZ, NORMAN
Reena Sigman Friedman’, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Modern
Jewish History, Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College, Wyncote,
Pennsylvania: ORPHAN, ORPHANAGE
Richard Elliott Friedman*,
Th.D.; Katzin Professor of
Jewish Civilization, University of
California, San Diego: PENTATEUCH
Shamma Friedman”, Ph.D.;
Benjamin and Minna Reeves
Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics,
Jewish Theological Seminary;
Professor, Department of Talmud,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
BAVA BATRA; BAVA KAMMA; BAVA MEZIA;
DIMITROVSKY, CHAIM ZALMAN
Theodore Friedman, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Jerusalem: GENTILE; ISAIAH;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: RELIGIOUS LIFE AND
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
COMMUNITIES; JOB, THE BOOK OF;
KEDUSHAH; KETUBBAH; LOANZ, ELIJAH
BEN MOSES; MAN, THE NATURE OF;
MORDECAI BEN HAYYIM OF EISENSTADT;
STUDY
Carrie Friedman-Cohen*, Lecturer,
Department for Yiddish Language
and Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AUERBAKH,
ROKHL; ZYCHLINSKA, RAJZEL
Yohanan Friedmann‘, Ph.D.;
Professor of Islamic Studies, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ISLAM
Avyatar Friesel, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Jewish History, the University
of the Negev, Beersheba:
OESTERREICHISCHES CENTRAL-ORAGAN
FUER BLAUBENSFREIHEIT, CULTUR,
GESCHICHTE UND LITERATUR DER
JUDEN
Dov I. Frimer*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor; Advocate and Attorney
at-law, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: CIVIL MARRIAGE
Hillel Frisch*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Political Science and
Middle Eastern History, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: GAZA STRIP;
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
Tikva S. Frymer, M.A.; Associate
Professor of Near Eastern
Languages, Wayne State University,
Detroit: ARARAT; ARIEL; ASHERAH;
ASHTORETH; AVVIM; GROVES, SACRED;
HAZAEL; HONEY; HULDAH; HUSHAI THE
ARCHITE; MILK
Aharon Fuerst, Dr. Phil.; Historian,
Jerusalem: BURGENLAND; EINHORN,
IGNAZ; EISENSTADT, MEIR; EPHRAIM BEN
JACOB HA-KOHEN
Alexander Fuks, Ph.D.; Professor
of History and Classics, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
TCHERIKOVER, VICTOR
Daniel Furman, Jerusalem:
DUBROVNIK; SPLIT
Ben Furnish”, Ph.D.; Managing
Editor, University of Missouri:
ADLER, JACOB; PINSKI, DAVID
Abraham M. Fuss’, M.A., J.D.,
Ph.D.; Attorney, New York: SHETAR
Mordecai L. Gabriel, Ph.D.;
Professor of Biology, Brooklyn
College of the City University
of New York: AHARONI, ISRAEL;
ARTOM, CESARE; ASCHERSON, PAUL
FRIEDRICH AUGUST; ASKENASY, EUGEN;
BODENHEIMER, FREDERICK SIMON;
BRESSLAU, ERNST; ENRIQUES, PAOLO;
EZEKIEL, MOSES; GOLDSCHMIDT,
RICHARD BENEDICT; HAAS, FRITZ;
HAAS, GEORG; LEVI, GIUSEPPE; LURIA,
SALVADOR EDWARD; LWOFE, ANDRE
MICHEL; MAGNUS, PAUL WILHELM;
METCHNIKOFF, ELIE; RITTENBERG,
DAVID; SACHS, JULIUS; SEMON, RICHARD
WOLFGANG; SORAUER, PAUL KARL
MORITZ; STRASBURGER, EDUARD;
WIESNER, JULIUS VON
Edward McGlynn Gaffney
Jr.*, Ph.D.; Professor of Law,
Valparaiso University School of
Law, Valparaiso, Indiana: FRANKEL,
MARVIN EARL; GREENE, HAROLD H.;
HELLERSTEIN, ALVIN K.
Isaiah Gafni, M.A.; Special Teacher
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem; Assistant
in Jewish History, the University
of the Negev, Beersheba: ADIABENE;
ADMON BEN GADDAI; AGRIPPA, CAIUS
JULIUS; AGRIPPA, MARCUS VIPSANIUS;
AHASUERUS-XERXES; ALEXANDER
THE FALSE; ALEXANDER THE ZEALOT;
ALEXANDRIA; ALEXANDRIAN MARTYRS,
ACTS OF; ALEXAS; ANANIAS OF
ADIABENE; ANANIAS SON OF ZADOK;
ANILAEUS AND ASINAEUS; ANTIOCHUS;
APAMEA; ARADUS; ARDASHIR; AREIOS;
ARISTOBULUS; ARTEMION; ASARAMEL;
ASS WORSHIP; ATHRIBIS; ATHRONGES;
AUGUSTUS; AURUM CORONARIUM;
BACCHIDES; BANUS; BATHYRA; BEN
STADA; BEN-HADAD; BET GARMU;
BET ZERIFA; CALLISTHENES; CARIA;
CASSIUS LONGINUS; CHARES; CILICIA;
CLEOPATRA OF JERUSALEM; COELE-
SYRIA; COMMAGENE; COSTOBAR;
CYRENE; DORIS; DOROTHEUS; DRUSILLA;
EDESSA; ELEAZAR; EMPEROR WORSHIP;
ETHNARCH; FLAVIUS, CLEMENS; FULVIA;
GERUSIA; GLAPHYRA; GORGIAS; GREECE;
GYMNASIUM; HASMONEAN BET DIN;
HEZEKIAH, THE HIGH PRIEST; HIGH
PRIEST; JANUARIUS; JOSEPH BEN ELEM;
JOSHUA, SON OF SETH; JOSHUA BEN
PHABI; LAMPON AND ISIDOROS; LUCUAS;
LYSANIAS; MACEDONIA; MARSUS, C.
VIBIUS; MATTATHIAS; MATTATHIAS
BEN SIMEON; MENAHEM THE ESSENE;
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OSROENE; PAMPHYLIA; PERGAMUM;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
PHINEHAS; PHRYGIA; POLEMON II;
PTOLEMY; QUADRATUS, UMMIDIUS
CAIUS; QUINTILIUS VARUS; SALOME
ALEXANDRA; SCHALIT, ABRAHAM
CHAIM; SELEUCIA; SELEUCID ERA;
SELEUCUS IV PHILOPATOR; SEVERUS,
ALEXANDER; SILAS; SOSIUS, GAIUS; SYRIA;
THEODOSIUS; TOPARCHY; VENTIDIUS,
PUBLIUS; YANNAI, ALEXANDER; ZADOK
THE PHARISEE
Bernhard Gajek”, Dr.Phil,;
Professor Emeritus, University
of Regensburg, Germany: FULDA,
LUDWIG
Michael Galchinsky*, Ph.D.;
Director of Program in Jewish
Studies, Georgia State University,
Georgia: GAER, FELICE D.
Israel Gal-Edd, B.A., A.C.LS.;
Senior External Lecturer in
International Trade Relations, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
Former Director General, Ministry
of Development, Jerusalem:
CHEMICAL CRAFTS AND INDUSTRIES
James S. Galfund’, B.A.; Senior
Communications Manager, State
of Israel Bonds, Washington, D.C.:
BONDS, STATE OF ISRAEL
Israel Galili, Minister without
Portfolio, Kibbutz Na’an
Marie Claire Galperine, Ph.D.;
Charge de Recherches au
Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, Paris
Eithan Galun*, M.D.; Professor of
Medicine, Sam and Ellie Fishman
Chair in Gene Therapy; Director,
Goldyne Savad Institute of Gene
Therapy, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, Hadassah Hebrew
University Hospital: AscHNER,
MANERED
Riva Gambert*: OAKLAND
Denise Gamzon, Ph.D.; Instructor
in French Literature, Tel Aviv
University: SCOUTING
Claude Gandelman, M.A.;
Jerusalem: IONESCO, EUGENE;
STAROBINSKI, JEAN
Evelien Gans*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Modern Jewish History, University
of Amsterdam and Netherlands
83
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Institute for War Documentation,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands: GANS,
MOZES HEIMAN; KLEEREKOPER, ASSER
BENJAMIN; WIJNKOOP, DAVID
Bernard Dov Ganzel, Ph.D.;
Historian, New York: LANDSBERG,
OTTO; LASKER, EDUARD
Salomon Gaon, Ph.D., Rabbi; Chief
Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese
Associated Congregations of the
British Commonwealth, London:
PRESS
Joseph Gar, Historian, Jerusalem:
KAUNAS; KELME; KRASLAVA; KRUSTPILS;
LATVIA; LEVIN-SHATZKES, YIZHAK;
LIEPAJA; LITHUANIA; MEISEL, NOAH;
MEMEL; MINTZ, PAUL; OVCHINSKI,
LEVI; PALANGA; PANEVEZYS; RASEINIAI;
REZEKNE; RIGA; SAMOGITIA; SCHATZ-
ANIN, MAX; VILKAVISKIS; ZARASAI
Jonathan Garb*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
IDEL, MOSHE
Irene Garbell, Dr.Phil.; Associate
Professor of Semitic Linguistics, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
DALMAN, GUSTAF HERMANN; DURAN,
PROFIAT; GESENIUS, HEINRICH
FRIEDRICH WILHELM; GOOR, YEHUDAH
Morris W. Garber, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, New
Jersey: PATERSON
Zev Garber*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Jewish Studies, Los Angeles Valley
College: BATE, JULIUS; BAUDISSIN, WOLE
WILHELM; BAUMGARTNER, WALTER;
BENTZEN, AAGE; BERTHOLET, ALFRED;
BLEEK, FRIEDRICH; COOK, STANLEY
ARTHUR; COOKE, GEORGE ALBERT;
CORNILL, CARL HEINRICH; CORNILL,
CARL HEINRICH; DILLMANN, AUGUST;
DUPONT-SOMMER, ANDRE; EERDMANS,
BERNARDUS DIRKS; FISHBANE, MICHAEL;
GUNKEL, HERMANN; HAUPT, PAUL;
HENGSTENBERG, ERNST WILHELM;
HUPFELD, HERMANN CHRISTIAN KARL;
JEREMIAS, ALFRED; KATZ, STEVEN T;;
KAUTZSCH, EMIL FRIEDRICH; KEIL, KARL
FRIEDRICH; KIRKPATRICK, ALEXANDER
FRANCIS; KITTEL, RUDOLE; KUGEL,
JAMES L.; LEHMANN-HAUPT, CARL
FRIEDRICH; LEVENSON, JON D.; MARTI,
KARL; MEINHOLD, JOHANNES FRIEDRICH;
MEYER, EDUARD; NOWACK, WILHELM
GUSTAV HERMANN; ORLINSKY, HARRY
MEYER; PARROT, ANDRE; PFEIFFER,
84
ROBERT HENRY; ROSENMUELLER, ERNST
FRIEDRICH KARL; ROWLEY, HAROLD
HENRY; RYSSEL, VICTOR; SCHAEFFER,
CLAUDE F. A.; SEGAL, MOSES HIRSCH;
SIEVERS, EDUARD; SMEND, RUDOLF;
SMITH, JOHN MERLIN POWIS; SMITH,
WILLIAM ROBERTSON; STEUERNAGEL,
CARL; THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA;
TORREY, CHARLES CUTLER
Yosef Garfinkel*, Professor,
Archaeologist, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: SHAAR HA-
GOLAN
Leib Garfunkel, M.A.; Attorney,
Jerusalem: YIDISHE SHTIME
Leah Garrett*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, University of Denver: AN-
SKI, S.; SHAPIRO, LAMED
Isaac Garti, B.A.; Teaching
Assistant in Italian Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI
Lloyd P. Gartner, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, City College
of the City University of New
York: ADLER, SELIG; HASIDISM;
HISTORIOGRAPHY; HOROWITZ, AARON
JUDAH LOEB; INDUSTRIAL REMOVAL;
NEW YORK CITY; PEIXOTTO; SOCIALISM;
TRADE AND COMMERCE; UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
John W. Gassner, M.A.; Professor of
Drama, Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut: GRUENBERG, LOUIS
Theodor H. Gaster, Ph.D.; Professor
of Religion, Barnard College,
Columbia University, New York:
BEHEMOTH; BELIAL; DEEP, THE; DREAMS;
EARTH; HADAS, MOSES; HOST OF HEAVEN
Yehuda Gaulan, Advocate;
Ambassador, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: FINLAND
Daniel Gavron, Writer, Jerusalem:
ARAD
Miriam Gay, M.A., M.Sc.; Senior
Teacher in Psychology, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan; Ministry
of Health, Tel Aviv: EISSLER, KURT R;
REICH, WILHELM
David Geffen*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Director of Information, Gesher
Institute, Jerusalem; Researcher
and Writer, Jerusalem: ATLANTA;
BAHYA; EVANS, ELI; GEFFEN, TOBIAS;
HAMMER, ARMAND; REAGAN, RONALD
WILSON; SAFIRE, WILLIAM; SCRANTON;
WEINBERG, HARRY
Rela Mintz Geffen*, Ph.D.;
President and Professor of
Sociology, Hebrew, University
Baltimore, Maryland: AUFRUFEN;
CANDLES; DIETARY LAWS; FAMILY,
AMERICAN JEWISH; HAKKAFOT; HAZZAN;
MARRIAGE; PASSOVER
Manfred Moshe Geis, Theater
Critic, Tel Aviv: GRONEMANN, SAMUEL
Ignace J. Gelb, Ph.D.; Professor
of Assyriology, the University of
Chicago: HITTITES
Saadia Gelb, M.A., Rabbi; Kibbutz
Kefar Blum: IHUD HABONIM
Nathan Michael Gelber, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Jerusalem: ABRAHAM BEN ISRAEL OF
BRODY; ALEKSANDER JAGIELLONCZYK;
ALLIANZ, ISRAELITISCHE, ZU WIEN;
ASKENAZY, SIMON; AUGUSTOW; AUSTRIA;
BARUCH BEN DAVID YAVAN; BEDZIN;
BELZ; BELZYCE; BENISCH, ABRAHAM;
BERGSON; BERLIN, CONGRESS OE;
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JASLO; JOSELEWICZ, BEREK; KATZ,
ALBERT; OLESKO; OLIPHANT, LAURENCE;
OLKUSZ; OPOCZNO; OSTROLEKA;
OSTROWIEC; TARNOBRZEG; TARNOGROD;
TARNOW; WINNINGER, SOLOMON;
WODZISLAW; WOJDA, CAROL
FREDERICK
Arden J. Geldman, M.A.; Grants
Officer and Projects Administrator,
Joint Program for Jewish Education,
JAFI and WZO, Jerusalem: FAMILY,
AMERICAN JEWISH; UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
Victor Geller*: BESDIN, MORRIS J.
Yaacov Geller, M.A.; Research
Assistant in the Institute for
Research in the History and
Culture of Oriental Jewry, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: ISTANBUL;
OTTOMAN EMPIRE; PALACHE, HAYYIM
Edith B. Gelles*, Ph.D.; Senior
Scholar, Stanford University,
California: FRANKS, BILHAH ABIGAIL
LEVY
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Dov Genachowski, B.A.; Journalist,
Former Senior Economist of the
Bank of Israel, Jerusalem: COINS AND
CURRENCY; SANBAR, MOSHE
Carol Gendler, M.A.; Instructor in
History, College of St. Mary, Omaha,
Nebraska: OMAHA; ROSEWATER,
EDWARD
Yehuda Gera, Dr.Jur.; Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
GOLDSTEIN, ANGELO; KAFKA, BRUNO
ALEXANDER
Daniel E. Gershenson, Ph.D.;
Acting Associate Professor
of Classics, the University
of California, Los Angeles:
LOGOS; POSIDONIUS; PYTHAGORAS;
THEOPHRASTUS OF ERESOS
Jonathan (M.) Gershoni*, Ph.D.;
Professor, Tel Aviv University:
FRANKLIN, ROSALIND ELSIE
Gershon K. Gershony, Theater
Critic, Jerusalem: GNESSIN, MENAHEM;
GRANACH, ALEXANDER; GRANOVSKY,
ALEXANDER; SONNENTHAL, ADOLF
RITTER VON
Allan Gerson’, J.S.D., J.D., L.L.M.;
Attorney, AG International Law,
PLLC, Washington, D.C.: REAGAN,
RONALD WILSON
Edith Gerson-Kiwi, Dr.Phil.;
Associate Professor of
Ethnomusicology, Tel Aviv
University: KURDISTAN; KESTENBERG,
LEO; LACHMANN, ROBERT; VEPRIK,
ALEXANDER MOISEYEVITCH;
WEINBERG, JACOB; WELLESZ, EGON
JOSEPH
Dan Gerstenfeld*, M.A.; Business
Editor, Makor Rishon and Israeli
Newspapers, Jerusalem: AKIROV,
ALFRED; ALEXANDER, KOBI
Zev Gerstl*, Ph.D.; Institute Soil,
Water and Environmental Sciences,
Agricultural Research Organization
- Volcani Center, Beit Dagan, Israel:
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Elmer Gertz, J.D.; Attorney,
Chicago: LOEB-LEOPOLD CASE;
ROSENBERG CASE
Devorah Getzler, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: HEBREW
UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Israel Getzler, Ph.D.; Professor
in European History, La Trobe
University, Melbourne: MARTOV,
JULIUS
Haim M. I. Gevaryahu, Ph.D.;
Chairman of the Israel Society
for Biblical Research, Jerusalem:
KAUFMANN, YEHEZKEL
Brenda Gevertz*, M.S.S.A.;
Executive Director, Jewish
Communal Service Association of
North America, New York: JEWISH
COMMUNAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF
NORTH AMERICA, THE
Shimon Gibson’, Ph.D.;
Archaeologist and Senior Research
Fellow, W.E. Albright Institute of
Archaeological Research, Jerusalem:
ABBA SIKRA; ABSALOM; ABSALOM,
MONUMENT OF; ACRA, THE; ACRABA;
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
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TIBERIAS; TILLICH, PAUL JOHANNES;
URMAN, DAN; USSISHKIN, DAVID;
VERMES, GEZA
Nahum Tim Gidal, Ph.D.;
Photojournalist, Jerusalem
Ludy Giebels*, Ph.D.; Retired
Historian, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: DE LIEME, NEHEMIA;
HAAN, JACOB ISRAEL DE
Yisrael (Zvi) Gilat*, Senior
Lecturer, Law School, Netanya
Academic College, Israel: ADOPTION
Yitzhak Dov Gilat, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Talmud, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan; Senior
Lecturer in Talmud, Tel Aviv
University: ABBA; ABBA BAR KAHANA;
ABBA BAR MEMEL; ABBA BAR ZAVDA;
ABBA BENJAMIN; ADDA BAR AHAVAH;
ALEXANDRI; AMEIMAR; AMRAM; ARBA
AMMOT; ASSI, RAV; AVDIMI OF HAIFA;
AVIN; AVIN THE CARPENTER; AVINA;
BAR HEDYA; BAR KAPPARA; BARAITA DE-
MELEKHET HA-MISHKAN; BEBAI; BEBAI
BAR ABBAYE; BEI AVIDAN; BENJAMIN BEN
JAPHETH; DESKARTA; DIMI; ELEAZAR
BEN MATYA; ELEAZAR BEN YOSE;
ELEAZAR BEN YOSE II; ELEAZAR BEN
ZADOK; ELEAZAR HISMA; ELIEZER BEN
HYRCANUS; ELIEZER BEN JACOB; ERUVIN;
GITTIN; HANINA; HULLIN; HUNA BEN
NATHAN; ILAI; IMMA SHALOM; ISAAC
NAPPAHA; JACOB; JOSIAH; KALLAH,
MONTHS OF; MEGILLAT YUHASIN;
NEHARDEA; NEHUNYA BEN HA-KANAH;
RAVINA; SIMEON BEN JEHOZADAK;
SIMEON BEN SHETAH; SOFERIM; YUDAN
Gad Gilbar*, Ph.D.; Professor,
University of Haifa: SARRAF
Shaked Gilboa*, MSc., Ph.D.;
85
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Lecturer in Geography, Tel Aviv
University: ABSALON; ABU GHOSH;
ACRE; ADULLAM REGION; AFULAH; ALFEI
MENASHEH; ALLONEI ABBA; ALLONEI
YIZHAK; ALLONIM; ALMAGOR; AMIDAR;
AMIR, MENAHEM; AMIRIM; ANATHOTH;
APELOIG, YITZHAK; APHEK; APOLLONIA;
ARABAH, THE; ARAD; ARAD, RON; ARARA;
ARIEL; ASHDOD; ASHDOT YAAKOV;
ASHKELON; ATHLIT; AVELIM or OVELIM;
AVINERI, SHLOMO; AYALON, AMI;
AYANOT; AZOR; BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY;
BARKAI; BASHAN; BAT HEFER; BAT
YAM; BE’ER YAAKOV; BE’EROT YIZHAK;
BEERSHEBA; BEIT JIMAL; BEN-ARIEH,
YEHOSHUA; BENE-BERAK; BENEI AISH;
BEN-PORAT, MIRIAM; BEN-SHAKHAR,
GERSHON; BET GUVRIN; BET-DAGON;
BET-EL; BETHLEHEM; BETH-SHAN; BET-
SHEMESH; BINYAMINAH; BLUM, LUDWIG;
BOGEN, ALEXANDER; BRAVERMAN,
AVISHAY; BRINKER, MENACHEM;
CAESAREA; CARMEL, MOSHE; CARMEL,
MOUNT; CAROL, ARYEH; CITRUS; COHEN
GAN, PINCHAS; CONFINO, MICHAEL;
COOPERATIVES; CRIME; DABBURIYYA;
DAFNAH; DALESKI, HILLEL; DALIYAT
AL-KARMIL; DALIYYAH; DALTON;
DAN; DAVAR; DEAD SEA; DEGANYAH;
DIMONAH; DORON, ABRAHAM;
DOSTROVSKY, ISRAEL; EILOT; EIN GEY;
EIN HA-EMEK; EIN HOD; EIN SHEMER;
EIN ZEITIM; EIN ZURIM; EISENBERG,
SHOUL; EL AL; ELAD; ELATH; ELYASHIV;
EN-DOR; EN-GEDI; EVEN YEHUDAH;
EYDOUX, EMANUEL; FISH, HAREL;
FRANKEL, YAAKOV; GALIL, UZIA; GALON;
GAN SHEMU’EL; GAN YAVNEH; GANNEI
TIKVAH; GANNEI YEHUDAH; GAT;
GAVISON, RUTH; GAZIT; GEDERAH; GELIL
YAM; GERSHON, PINCHAS; GE’ULIM; GEVA;
GILADI, ALEX; GILBOA; GINNOSAR; GIVAT
ADA; GIVAT BRENNER; GIVAT HEN; GIVAT
SHEMUEL; GIVAT ZE'EV; GIVATAYIM;
GROSSMAN, AVRAHAM; GUSH ETZYON;
GUSH KATIF; HABIBI, EMIL; HA-BONIM;
HADERAH; HAGAI, BARUCH; HA-
GOSHERIM; HAIFA MUNICIPAL THEATER;
HAIFA, UNIVERSITY OF; HA-KIBBUTZ HA-
ARZI HA-SHOMER HA-ZATIR; HA-KIBBUTZ
HA-DATI; HA-KIBBUTZ HA-ME’UHAD;
HAMADYAH; HA-MAPIL; HA-OGEN;
HAPOEL; HAREL; HAREL, MENASHE; HA-
SOLELIM; HAZER, HAZERIM; HAZEVAH;
HAZOR; HAZOR ASHDOD; HA-ZORE‘;
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JERUSALEM; HEFZI BAH; HELEZ; HEREV
LE-ET; HERUT; HERZLIYYAH; HEVRAT
HA-OVEDIM; HISTADRUT; HISTADRUT HaA-
OVEDIM HA-LE’UMMIT; HOD HA-SHARON;
HOLON; HUKOK; HULDAH; HURVITZ,
ELI; ILANIYYAH; INBAL DANCE THEATER;
ISRAEL MUSEUM; ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA; JERICHO; JEZREEL, VALLEY
86
OF; JOKNEAM; KABRI; KALIR, AVRAHAM;
KANEV, ISAAC; KARMI, DOV; KARMPEL;
KARNEI SHOMRON; KATZ, ELIHU; KAZIR
HARISH; KAZRIN; KEFAR AZAR; KEFAR
BARAM; KEFAR BARUKH; KEFAR BILU;
KEFAR BLUM; KEFAR DAROM; KEFAR
HA-HORESH; KEFAR HA-MACCABI;
KEFAR HA-NASI; KEFAR HA-RO’EH; KEFAR
HASIDIM; KEFAR HESS; KEFAR MASARYK;
KEFAR MENAHEM; KEFAR NETTER;
KEFAR ROSH HA-NIKRAH; KEFAR RUPPIN;
KEFAR SAVA; KEFAR SHEMARYAHU;
KEFAR TAVOR; KEFAR VERADIM; KEFAR
YEHEZKEL; KEFAR YEHOSHU’A; KEFAR
YONAH; KHOURI, MAKRAM; KIBBUTZ
MOVEMENT; KINNERET; KINNERET, LAKE;
KIRYAT ATA; KIRYAT BIALIK; KIRYAT
EKRON; KIRYAT GAT; KIRYAT HAROSHET;
KIRYAT MALAKHI; KIRYAT MOTZKIN;
KIRYAT ONO; KIRYAT SHEMONAH; KIRYAT
TIVON; KIRYAT YAM; KLEIN, RALPH;
KOKHAV YAIR; KORIAT, ASHER; LACHISH
REGION; LAPIDOT, RUTH; LAUTMAN,
DOV; LEHAVIM; LEIBOWITZ, KEREN; LEO
BAECK INSTITUTE; LEVIEV, LEV; LIBRARY,
JEWISH NATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY;
LIEBMAN, CHARLES; LIEBMAN,
YESHAYAHU; LIPKIN-SHAHAK, AMNON;
LOHAMEI HA-GETTAOT; LYDDA; MA'ALEH
ADUMIM; MA'ALEH HA-HAMISHAH;
MAALOT-TARSHIHA; MA’BAROT;
MACCABI; MACCABIAH; MACCABIM-
RE’UT; MAGHAR, AL-; MAGIDOR,
MENACHEM; MAHANAYIM; MANHEIM,
BILHAH; MAOR, GALIA; MAOZ HAYYIM;
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HA-EMEK; MIKVEH ISRAEL; MISGAV AM;
MISHMAR HA-NEGEV; MISHMAR HA-
SHARON; MISHMAROT; MIZPAH; MIZPEH
RAMON; MIZRA; MIZRACHI, SHIMON;
MO’EZET HA-PO’ALOT; MOLEDET;
MOSHAV OR MOSHAV OVEDIM; MOZA;
NAAN; NAHAL; NAHAL OZ; NAHALAL
or NAHALOL; NAHALAT YEHUDAH;
NAHARIYYAH; NATIONAL PARKS IN
ISRAEL; NATURE RESERVES IN ISRAEL;
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HE; NETIVOT; NEVATIM; NEVEH EITAN;
NEVEH YAM; NIR AM; NIRIM; NIZZANAH;
NIZZANIM; OFAKIM; OFIR, SHAIKE;
OLIVE; OMER; OR AKIVA; OR HA-NER; OR
YEHUDAH; ORANIT; OROT; PALESTINE
ECONOMIC CORPORATION; PARDES
HANNAH-KARKUR; PARDESIYYAH; PERI,
YAAKOV; PETAH TIKVAH; POLLACK,
ISRAEL; PROPPER, DAN; RXANANNAH;
RABINOVICH, ITAMAR; RAMA, AL-;
RAMALLAH; RAMAT DAVID; RAMAT GAN;
RAMAT HA-GOLAN; RAMAT HA-KOVESH;
RAMAT HA-SHARON; RAMAT HA-SHOFET;
RAMAT RAZIEL; RAMAT YISHAI; RAMLEH;
RAMON, ILAN; RAMOT MENASHEH;
RAND, YAAKOV; RECHTER; REGBAH;
REHOVOT; REKHASIM; RISHON LE-ZION;
ROSEN, YEHOSHUA; ROSH HA-AYIN;
ROSH PINNAH; ROTH-SHACHAMOROV,
ESTHER; SAAD; SAFED; SAFRAI, SHMUEL;
SALOMON, GAVRIEL; SAVYON; SEDEH
BOKER; SEDEH ELIYAHU; SEDEH
NEHEMYAH; SEDEROT; SHAAREI TIKVAH;
SHAAR HA-AMAKIM; SHA'AR HA-GOLAN;
SHAAR HEFER-BEIT YIZHAK; SHACHAR,
ARIE; SHADMOT DEVORAH; SHAHAR,
SHULAMIT; SHAMGAR, MEIR; SHAMIR;
SHARON, ARYEH; SHAVEI ZION; SHEAR
YASHUV; SHEFAYIM; SHELOMI; SHOHAM;
SHOHAM, SHLOMO-GIORA; SHOMRAT;
SHOVAL; SHUVAL, JUDITH; SHWED, GIL;
SIMONSOHN, SHLOMO; TAANACH; TAHAL;
TEKUMAH; TEL ADASHIM; TEL AVIV
UNIVERSITY; TEL AVIV-JAFFA; TEL KAZIR;
TEL MOND; TEL YOSEF; TIMNA; TIRAT
HA-KARMEL; TNUVA; TURNER, YAAKOV;
UDIM; URIM; VAN LEER, LIA; WESTERN
WALL; YXALON, MOSHE; YAD HANNAH;
YAD IZHAK BEN-ZVI; YAGUR; YAKUM;
YARKON; YARMUK; YAVETS, ZVI; YAVNEH;
YEDIDYAH; YEFET, SARAH; YEHUD;
YEROHAM; YESUD HA-MAALAH; YIZRE’EL;
YOVEL, YIRMIYAHU; ZIKHRON YAAKOV;
ZIM; ZOFIT; ZORAH; ZUR YIGAL
Baruch Gilead, M.A.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: TURKEY
Sharon Gillerman*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Jewish
History, Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion, Los
Angeles: WRONSKY, SIDDY
Joseph Gillis, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus, The Rudy Bruner
Professor of Science Teaching,
Weizmann Institute of Science,
Rehovot: ULAM, STANISLAW MARCIN
Philip Gillon, Journalist, Jerusalem
Neil Gilman, Ph.D.; the Aaron
Rabinowitz and Simon H. Rifkind
Associate Professor of Jewish
Philosophy, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, author of
Conservative Judaism, The New
Century
Dan Gilon’*, M.D., FA.C.C;
Professor of Medicine (Cardiology),
Director of Non-Invasive Cardiology,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Heart Institute, Hadassah-Hebrew
University Medical Center, Ein-
Kerem Jerusalem: MEDICINE;
MIROWSKI, MICHEL
Joseph Ginat, B.A.; Deputy Adviser
to the Prime Minister on Arab
Affairs, Givatayim, Israel: IsRAEL,
STATE OF: ARAB POPULATION
Eyal Ginio*, Ph.D.; Lecturer, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
EDIRNE
Rosa Ginossar, L.en D., Honorary
President of WIZO, Jerusalem: sIEFF,
REBECCA; WIZO
Harold Louis Ginsberg, Ph.D.;
Professor of Biblical History and
Literature, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION; AHAB;
AHASUERUS-XERXES; ANCIENT OF
DAYS; ARIOCH; ARTAXERXES; BABEL,
TOWER OF; BEN-HADAD; CULT; DANIEL;
DANIEL, BOOK OF; ECCLESIASTES; ELIHU;
ELIPHAZ; HEART; HIEL; HOSEA, BOOK OF;
IMMANUEL; ISAIAH; JEPHTHAH; JOB, THE
BOOK OF; KEDEMITES or EASTERNERS;
LEMUEL; MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ;
MICHAEL AND GABRIEL; NAMES; PEACE;
SHEBA BEN BICHRI; SO
Louis Ginsberg, Petersburg,
Virginia
Shabbetai Ginton, M.D.; Ministry
of Health, Jerusalem: sHEBA, CHAIM
S. (Seymour) Gitin*, Ph.D.;
Dorto Director and Professor of
Archaeology, WE. Albright Institute
of Archaeological Research,
Jerusalem: EKRON
Marcia Gitlin, B.A.; Jerusalem
Rudolf Glanz, DrJur.; Historian,
New York: NEW BEDFORD
Ruth Glasner*, Ph.D.; Professor of
History and Philosophy of Science,
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: JEDAIAH BEN ABRAHAM
BEDERSI
Nahum N. Glatzer, Ph.D.; Professor
of Jewish History, Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts:
GANS, EDUARD; MAYBAUM, SIGMUND;
MEGILLAT TAANIT; MONATSSCHRIFT
FUER GESCHICHTE UND WISSENSCHAFT
DES JUDENTUMS; ZUNZ, LEOPOLD
Nathan Glazer, Ph.D.; Professor
of Education and Social Structure,
Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts
William Glicksman, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in Jewish History, Gratz
College, Philadelphia: czEstocHowa;
KIELCE; RADOM
Paul Glikson, B.Sc.; Institute for
Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Yvonne Glikson, B.A.; Jerusalem:
PILGRIMAGE; TALMUD, BURNING OF;
WANDERING JEW
Eliezer Gluzberg, Kibbutz Hazerim:
IHUD HABONIM
Hans Goedkoop*: HEVERMANS,
HERMAN
Denise R. Goitein, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in French Literature,
Tel Aviv University: BERNSTEIN,
HENRI-LEON; BLOCH, JEAN-RICHARD;
BLOY, LEON; CHALIER, CATHERINE;
COHEN, ALBERT; FRENCH LITERATURE;
LACRETELLE, JACQUES DE; MIKHAEL,
EPHRAIM; MONTAIGNE, MICHEL DE;
SCHWIEFERT, PETER; SCHWOB, MARCEL;
TRIOLET, ELSA
Shelomo Dov Goitein, Dr.Phil.;
Emeritus Professor of Islamic
Studies, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Emeritus Professor
of Arabic, the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: aaron;
ABD AL-MALIK IBN MARWAN; ABRAHAM;
ADEN; ASHTOR, ELIYAHU; BANETH;
BILLIG, LEVI
Norman Golb, Ph.D., Professor of
Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic Studies,
Department of Near Eastern
Languages and Civilizations,
University of Chicago: ROUEN
Dore Gold*, Ph.D.; Former Israeli
Ambassador to the UN; President,
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs,
Jerusalem: SAUDI ARABIA
Abraham Goldberg, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Senior Lecturer in Talmud, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ABBA BAR ZEMINA; ABBA KOHEN
BARDELA; ABBA SAUL BEN BATNIT;
ABBAYE KASHISHA; OHOLOT
Avie Goldberg, B.A.; Jerusalem:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
DAVID; JERUSALEM; SFORNO, OBADIAH
BEN JACOB
Dara Goldberg”, B.A.; Director,
External Affairs, United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum,
Washington, D.C.: UNITED STATES
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Florinda Goldberg*, M.A.,
Lecturer, Spanish and Latin
American Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: CHOCRON,
ISAAC; CONSTANTINI, HUMBERTO;
DINES, ALBERTO; EICHELBAUM, SAMUEL;
ESPINOZA, ENRIQUE; FEIERSTEIN,
RICARDO; FUTORANSRY, LUISA;
GELMAN, JUAN; GERCHUNOFFE, ALBERTO;
GLANTZ, JACOBO; GLANTZ, MARGO;
GOLDEMBERG, ISAAC; ISAACS, JORGE;
ISAACSON, JOSE; KOZER, JOSE; LIACHO,
LAZARO; LISPECTOR, CLARICE; PIZARNIK,
ALEJANDRA; PORZECANSKI, TERESA;
RABINOVICH, JOSE; ROVINSKY, SAMUEL;
SVERDLIK, ODED; TOKER, ELIAHU
Gerald Goldberg, M.A.; Former
Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland
Hillel Goldberg, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Jerusalem: HURVITZ, JOSEPH YOZEL
Jacob Goldberg, Ph.D.; Teacher
in History, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: AGRICULTURE;
BUTRYMOWICZ, MATEUSZ; CASIMIR
III; GDANSK; OLESNICKI, ZBIGNIEW;
PAWLIKOWSKI, JOZEF; SIEDLCE;
TORUN; WINE AND LIQUOR TRADE;
WISNIOWIECKI, JEREMI
Lea Goldberg, Dr.Phil.; Author and
Associate Professor of Comparative
Literature, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: BEN YIZHAK, AVRAHAM;
GNESSIN, URI NISSAN
Samuel P. Goldberg, B.S.S.,
C.S.W., Lecturer in Communal
Organization, Columbia University,
New York: COUNCIL OF JEWISH
FEDERATIONS AND WELFARE FUNDS
Sylvie Anne Goldberg’, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Ecole des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales;
Paris: HEVRA KADDISHA; JEWISH
STUDIES; MORIN, EDGAR; OUAKNIN,
MARC-ALAIN; VIDAL-NAQUET, PIERRE;
ZAFRANI, HAIM
Harry Golden, B.A.; Writer and
Editor, Charlotte, North Carolina:
CONE; FRANK, LEO MAX
87
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
David M. Goldenberg*, Ph.D.;
Cohon Professor in Jewish Religion
and Thought, University of
Pennsylvania: DROPSIE COLLEGE
Esther Goldenberg, M.A.; Assistant
in Hebrew Language, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: HEBREW
LANGUAGE
Myrna Goldenberg*, Ph.D.;
Professor Emerita, Montgomery
College, Maryland: KLEPFISZ, IRENA;
MEYER, ANNIE NATHAN; SKLAREW, MYRA
Yossi (Yosef) Goldenberg",
Ph.D.; Researcher, Head Librarian,
Jerusalem Academy of Music and
Dance, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: HAJDU, ANDRE; JADASSOHN,
SALOMON; MANOR, EHUD; SCHACHTER,
CARL; SCHENKER, HEINRICH;
SCHILLINGER, JOSEPH; YARKONI, YAFFA;
ZUR, MENACHEM
Samuel Goldfeld, M.D.; Jerusalem
Judah Goldin, D.H.L.; Professor of
Classical Judaica, Yale University,
New Haven, Connecticut:
FINKELSTEIN, LOUIS
Steven Goldleaf*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Pace University, New York:
NEUGEBOREN, JAY
Alex J. Goldman, LL.B., Rabbi;
Stamford, Connecticut
Bernard Goldman, Ph.D.;
Professor of Art History, Wayne
State University, Detroit: MARIANOS;
PORTAL
Cecilia Goldman*, M.A.;
Researcher, Jerusalem: GOLDMAN,
MARTIN
Israel M. Goldman, M.A., D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Baltimore: HERFORD, ROBERT
TRAVERS; SCHNEEBERGER, HENRY
WILLIAM
Jacob Goldman, Rabbi; Jerusalem:
HERZOG, ISAAC; KAHANA, SOLOMON
DAVID; UNTERMAN, ISSER YEHUDA
Karla Goldman”*, Ph.D.; Historian
in Residence, Jewish Women’s
Archive, Brookline Massachusetts:
AMERICAN JEWESS; SIMON, CARRIE
OBENDORFER; SYNAGOGUE
Michael James Goldman, M. Phil.,
88
Minister, Newbury Park, Essex,
England: BARAITA DE-NIDDAH
Perry Goldman, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, City College
of the City University of New York:
LEVIN, LEWIS CHARLES
Robert S. Goldman, M.A.; New
York: HARTOGENSIS, BENJAMIN HENRY;
RABINOFF, GEORGE W.
Annie Goldmann’, Ph.D.
(Sociology).; Research, Ecole des
hautes études en sciences sociales,
Paris: MOTION PICTURES
Abram Juda Goldrat, Rabbi; Tel
Aviv: GORA KALWARIA; ISAAC BEN
SAMUEL HA-LEVI; ISAIAH BEN
ABRAHAM; ISAIAH MENAHEM BEN
ISAAC; JELLIN, ARYEH LOEB BEN SHALOM
SHAKHNA; JOEL BEN MOSES GAD;
KOPPELMAN, JACOB BEN SAMUEL
BUNIM; KRAMER, MOSES BEN DAVID, OF
VILNA
Ernst Daniel Goldschmidt, Ph.D.;
Scholar and Librarian, Jerusalem:
ADDIR HU; AKDAMUT MILLIN;
BAKKASHAH; HAGGADAH, PASSOVER;
LANDSHUTH, ELIEZER; LITURGY; PRAYER
BOOKS; SACHS, MICHAEL; WEINTRAUB,
SOLOMON; ZEMIROT
Itzhak Goldshlag, Journalist,
Jerusalem: BNEI AKIVA; LANDAU,
SHEMUEL HAYYIM; MAIMON, JUDAH
LEIB; MIZRACHI; NERIAH, MOSHE ZEVI;
NISSIM, ISAAC; OUZIEL, BEN-ZION MEIR
HAI; SARNA, EZEKIEL; SHAPIRA, HAYYIM
MOSHE; SHRAGAI, SHLOMO ZALMAN;
SOLOVEICHIK, ISAAC ZE’EV HA-LEVI;
SOROTZKIN, ZALMAN BEN BEN-ZION;
SUROWIECKI, WAWRZYNIEC; TOLEDANO,
JACOB MOSES
Maurice Goldsmith, B.Sc.; Director
of the Science Policy Foundation
Ltd. and of the Science Information
Service, London: BALINT, MICHAEL;
BORN, MAX; HOFSTADTER, ROBERT;
LANDAU, LEV DAVIDOVICH; LEVY,
HYMAN; MEITNER, LISE; MICHELSON,
ALBERT ABRAHAM; VEKSLER, VLADIMIR;
WEIL, ANDRE; WIENER, NORBERT;
ZARISKI, OSCAR
Bernard R. Goldstein, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of the History
of Science, Yale University, New
Haven, Connecticut: BONFILS,
IMMANUEL BEN JACOB; LEVI BEN
GERSHOM; MAIMONIDES
Eric L. Goldstein*, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History and Jewish
Studies. Emory University, Atlanta,
Georgia: MARYLAND
Israel Goldstein, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Former Chairman of the Board
of Directors, Keren Hayesod,
Jerusalem: KEREN HAYESOD
Marcy Braverman Goldstein’,
Ph.D.; History of Religions Scholar,
University of Judaism, Los Angeles,
California: LEHIGH VALLEY
Michael Goldstein, Professor of
Music, Staatliche Hochschule fiir
Musik und Darstellende Kunst,
Hamburg: ASHKENAZY, VLADIMIR
DAVIDOVICH; BRUSSILOVSKY,
YEVGENI GRIGORYEVICH; DAVYDOV,
KARL YULYEVICH; GILELS, EMIL
GRIGORYEVICH; GLIERE, REINHOLD
MORITZEVICH; KOGAN, LEONID
BORISSOVICH; LAMM, PAVEL
ALEKSANDROVICH; OISTRAKH,
DAVID FEDOROVICH; RUBINSTEIN,
ANTON GRIGORYEVICH; STOLYARSKI,
PETER SOLOMONOVICH; TSEASSMAN,
ALEXANDER NAUMOVICH; VEINBERG,
MOISSEY SAMUILOVICH
Neil (B.) Goldstein”, S.B.;
Executive Director, American
Jewish Congress, New York: NEw
YORK CITY
Raymond Goldstein’, B. Mus.;
Musician specializing in Jewish
Music; Accompanist, Rubin
Academy of Music, Tel Aviv: ARONI,
TSVI; BAGLEY, DAVID; DANTO, LOUIS;
GANCHOFF, MOSES; GREENBLATT,
ELIYAHU; HAINOVITZ, ASHER;
HEILMANN, YITZHAK; HERSTIK, NAFTALI;
KALIB, SHOLOM; LERER, SHMUEL;
LUBIN, ABRAHAM; MALOVANY, JOSEPH;
MEISELS, SAUL; MILLER, BEN-ZION;
MULLER, BENJAMIN; NULMAN, MACY;
RAPPAPORT, JACOB; SCHULHOE, MOSHE;
STERN, MOSHE; TAUBE, SAMUEL BARUCH;
VIGODA, SAMUEL; WOHLBERG, MOSHE
Sidney Goldstein, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology and Anthropology,
Brown University, Providence,
Rhode Island: spRINGFIELD
Yossi (Jorge) Goldstein*, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, Head of Long Term
Academic Programs Unit (YAFD),
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
and Jewish Agency for Israel:
HARKAVI, YITZHAK
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Chaim Ivor Goldwater, LL.M.;
Ministry of Finance, Jerusalem:
GULAK, ASHER; SILBERG, MOSHE
Sharon Goleman”: RAPHAEL,
WILLIAM
David Golinkin*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
President and Professor of Jewish
Law, Jerusalem: CONSERVATIVE
JUDAISM; GINZBERG, LOUIS; GOLINKIN,
MORDECHAI YAAKOV; KIEVAL, HAYYIM;
KLEIN, ISAAC; LEVI, SAMUEL GERSHON;
PERLBERG, ABRAHAM NATHAN;
SCHECHTER INSTITUTE OF JEWISH
STUDIES, THE
David Goodblatt, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Providence, Rhode Island
Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough,
Ph.D.; Professor of the History
of Religion, Yale University, New
Haven, Connecticut: DURA-EUROPUS
Abram Vossen Goodman, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; President of the American
Jewish Historical Society, New York:
FEIBELMAN, JULIAN BECK; FELDMAN,
ABRAHAM JEHIEL; FINESHRIBER,
WILLIAM HOWARD; GITTELSOHN,
ROLAND BERTRAM; GOLDENSON,
SAMUEL HARRY; NONES, BENJAMIN;
PHILLIPS; SOLOMONS, ADOLPHUS
SIMEON
Jerry Goodman’, B.A., M.A.;
Executive Director, National
Committee for Labor Israel, New
York: NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
SOVIET JEWRY
Karen Goodman’, M.A.;
Independent Scholar, Los Angeles,
California: LEWITZKY, BELLA; OVED,
MARGALIT
Philip Goodman, Rabbi; Executive
Secretary of the Jewish Book
Council of America, New York:
BOOKPLATES; KRAFT, LOUIS; WEIL,
FRANK LEOPOLD
Sheldon (M.) Goodman’, Ph.D.;
Clinical Psychologist in private
practice, New York Department
of Education, New York: FREUD,
SIGMUND
George M. Goodwin*: NEWPoRT;
RHODE ISLAND
Marjanne E. Goozé*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Germanic and
Slavic Languages, University of
Georgia: HERZ, HENRIETTE
Jacob Gordin, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany):
HERRERA, ABRAHAM KOHEN DE
Robert Gordis, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Religion, Temple
University, Philadelphia; Professor
of Bible, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
MARGOLIS, MAX LEOPOLD
Bezalel Gordon*, M.A.; Near
Eastern Studies, University of
Michigan: AMERICAN, SADIE;
APPELMAN, HARLENE; BAAR, EMIL N.;
BACKMAN, JULES; BARDIN, SHLOMO;
BARNSTON, HENRY; BARON, JOSEPH
LOUIS; BEERMAN, LEONARD; BENJAMIN,
RAPHAEL; BERGER, ELMER; BERMAN,
MYRON R.; BERNSTEIN, LOUIS;
BETTMANN, BERNHARDT; BLUMENTHAL,
AARON H.; BOARD OF DELEGATES OF
AMERICAN ISRAELITES; BOHNEN, ELI
AARON; BOSNIAK, JACOB; BRICKNER,
BALFOUR; BRICKNER, BARNETT
ROBERT; BRONSTEIN, HERBERT;
BROWNE, LEWIS; CANTOR, BERNARD;
CHANOVER, HYMAN; CHIEL, ARTHUR
ABRAHAM; CHIEL, SAMUEL; COFFEE,
RUDOLPH ISAAC; COHEN, ARMOND
E.; COHEN, JACK JOSEPH; COHEN,
JACOB XENAB; COHEN, SEYMOUR
J.s COOK, SAMUEL; CURRICK, MAX
COHEN; DAVIDSON, DAVID; DAVIDSON,
MAX DAVID; DONIN, HAYIM HALEVY;
DRESNER, SAMUEL HAYIM; DREYFUS,
STANLEY A.; EHRENREICH, BERNARD
COLONIUS; EICHHORN, DAVID MAX;
EICHLER, MENACHEM MAX; ELIASSOE,
HERMAN; ETTELSON, HARRY WILLIAM;
FALK, JOSHUA; FEUER, LEON ISRAEL;
FEUERLICHT, MORRIS MARCUS; FINK,
JOSEPH LIONEL; GOLDFEDER, FISHEL;
HABERMAN, JOSHUA O.; HAILPERIN,
HERMAN; HALPERN, HARRY; HIRSCH,
RICHARD; ISRAEL, EDWARD LEOPOLD;
ISSERMAN, FERDINAND M.; JACOB,
WALTER; KLENICKI, LEON; KOLATCH,
ALFRED JACOB; KREITMAN, BENJAMIN
ZVI; KUSHNER, HAROLD S.; KUSHNER,
LAWRENCE; LELYVELD, ARTHUR JOSEPH;
MALEYV, WILLIAM S.; MARK, JULIUS;
MIELZINER, MOSES; MILLER, ISRAEL;
MINDA, ALBERT GREENBERG; MINKIN,
JACOB SAMUEL; MOWSHOWITZ, ISRAEL;
NEULANDER, ARTHUR H.; NEWFIELD,
MORRIS; NEWMAN, LOUIS ISRAEL;
NUSSBAUM, MAX; OLAN, LEVI ARTHUR;
OLITZKY, KERRY M.; PETUCHOWSKI,
JAKOB JOSEF; PILCHIK, ELY EMANUEL;
PLAUT, W. GUNTHER; POLISH, DAVID;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
PRAGER, DENNIS; REGNER, SIDNEY L.;
RICE, ABRAHAM JOSEPH; ROSENBAUM,
SAMUEL; ROSENBERG, ISRAEL;
ROTHSCHILD, JACOB M.; ROUTTENBERG,
MAX JONAH; RUDERMAN, DAVID B.;
SCHWARTZMAN, SYLVAN DAVID; SEGAL,
BERNARD; SHAPIRO, ALEXANDER M.;
SILVER, ABBA HILLEL; SILVER, DANIEL
JEREMY; SILVERSTEIN, ALAN; SIMON,
RALPH; SOBEL, RONALD; SOLOMON, ELIAS
LOUIS; STAMPFER, JOSHUA; STEINBERG,
PAUL; STERN, CHAIM; STERN, JACK;
STERN, MALCOLM HENRY; TEPLITZ,
SAUL I.; WASHOFSKY, MARK E.; WAXMAN,
MORDECAI; WECHSLER, JUDAH;
WEINSTEIN, JACK B.; WOLF, ARNOLD
JACOB; ZELIZER, NATHAN; ZIMMERMAN,
SHELDON; ZOLA, GARY PHILLIP
Arthur Aryeh Goren, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in American History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
NEW YORK CITY
Asher Goren, M.A.; Writer,
Jerusalem
Haim Goren’, Associate Professor,
Tel-Hai Academic College, Israel:
GUTHE, HERMANN; SCHICK, CONRAD
Yosef Gorny, Ph.D.; Professor,
History of the Jewish People, Tel
Aviv University
Shmuel Gorr, B.A.; Rabbi;
Jerusalem: BALLARAT; CASSAB, JUDY;
KAHAN, LOUIS; SPIELVOGEL, NATHAN;
TASMANIA
Peter Gossens*, Dr. Literary
Scholar, Westfalische Wilhelms-
Universitat, Miinster, Germany:
CELAN, PAUL
Harvey Leonard Gotliffe*,
Ph.D.; Professor of Journalism,
School of Journalism and Mass
Communications, San Jose,
California: PRESS
M.J. Gottfarstein: FRANCK, HENRI
Erich Gottgetreu, Journalist,
Jerusalem: ADLER, HERMANN;
BERENDSOHN, WALTER A.;
BORCHARDT, RUDOLF; HEYM, STEFAN;
KALEKO, MASCHA; KRAFT, WERNER;
LOEWENSTEIN, KURT; MARGOLIN,
JULY; STURMANN, MANERED; WOLFF,
THEODOR; ZUKUNFT; ZUKUNET, DIE
Efraim Gottlieb, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish Philosophy and
89
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Mysticism, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ALCASTIEL, JOSEPH;
BAHYA BEN ASHER BEN HLAVA; DATO,
MORDECAI BEN JUDAH; EZRA BEN
SOLOMON; GERONDI, JACOB BEN
SHESHET; ISAAC BEN SAMUEL OF ACRE;
MAAREKHET HA-ELOHUT; MENORAH;
NAHMANIDES; RECANATI, MENAHEM BEN
BENJAMIN; RICCHI, RAPHAEL IMMANUEL
BEN ABRAHAM HAI; SABBATH; SHAPIRA;
TEMUNAH, THE BOOK OF
Isaac B. Gottlieb, M.A., Rabbi;
Jerusalem: BREUER, JOSEPH
Moshe Gottlieb, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Beit Berl, Zofit, Israel: BoycoTT,
ANTI-NAZI; LIPSKY, LOUIS; TENENBAUM,
JOSEPH L.
Paul Gottlieb, B.A.; Jerusalem:
BOMBAY; PAKISTAN
Yemima Gottlieb, B.A.; Jerusalem:
GOLINKIN, MORDECAI; PELLEG, FRANK;
PELLEG, FRANK
Alfred Gottschalk, Rabbi;
President, Hebrew Union College,
Cincinnati
Max Gottschalk, Ph.D.; Research
Professor of Sociology, the Free
University of Brussels: ANTWERP;
BELGIUM; BRUSSELS; PHILIPPSON;
PHILIPPSON
Norman K. Gottwald, Ph.D.;
Professor of Old Testament and
of Biblical Theology and Ethics,
the Graduate Thealosical Union,
Berkeley, California: AMORITES;
JACOB, BLESSING OF; MANASSEH;
NOMADISM; SAMUEL, BOOK OF
Percy S. Gourgey, M.B.E.;
Journalist, Twickenham, Middlesex,
England: KODER, SHABDAI SAMUEL;
PRESS
Melissa (J.) de Graaf*, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, Brandeis University/
Northeastern University, Boston:
BAUER, MARION EUGENIE; WERTHEIM,
ROSALIE MARIE
Peter Emanuel Gradenwitz, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in Musicology, Tel Aviv
University: BEN-HAIM, PAUL; DESSAU,
PAUL; KORNGOLD, ERICH WOLFGANG;
MILHAUD, DARIUS
Michael Graetz, M.A.; Jerusalem:
SYMMACHUS BEN JOSEPH; VEREIN
90
FUER KULTUR UND WISSENSCHAFT DES
JUDENTUMS
Michael J. Graetz, M.A., Rabbi;
Jerusalem: FRIEDLAENDER, DAVID;
GOMPERZ; GOOD AND EVIL; LESSING,
GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM; MOMMSEN,
THEODOR; RAILROADS; REDEMPTION;
SABBATH
Naomi Graetz*, M.A.; Senior
Teacher, Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev, Beersheba: DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE
Gil Graff*, Ph.D.; Executive
Director, Bureau of Jewish
Education of Greater Los Angeles,
California.: EDUCATION, JEWISH
Frank D. Grande, M.A.; Lecturer
in History, City College of the City
University of New York: ERRERA,
CARLO; LUMBROSO
Anna Grattarola*: BOLOGNA
Bernhard Grau*, Dr.Phil; Archivist,
Staatsarchiv Munich, Munich,
Germany: EISNER, KURT
Alyssa M. Gray’*, J.D., Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Codes and
Responsa Literature, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
New York: AMORAIM; JOHANAN BEN
NAPPAHA
John Gray, Ph.D.; Professor of
Hebrew and Semitic Languages, the
University of Aberdeen, Scotland:
KINGS, BOOK OF; SABEA
Solomon Grayzel, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Editor Emeritus of the Jewish
Publication Society of America;
Professor of History, Dropsie
University, Philadelphia: ALEXANDER;
ANACLETUS II, PETER PIERLEONE; BEA,
AUGUSTIN; BENEDICT; BULLS, PAPAL;
CALIXTUS; CHURCH COUNCILS;
CLEMENT; HUSIK, ISAAC; JEWISH
PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA;
MALTER, HENRY; NEUMAN, ABRAHAM
AARON
Bernard Grebanier, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of English,
Brooklyn College of the City
University of New York: BEHRMAN,
SAMUEL NATHANIEL; BELASCO, DAVID;
HART, MOSS
Arthur Green, Ph.D., Rabbi;
President, Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College, Wyncote, Pa.
Daryl Thomas Green’, B.A.;
English, Kent State University, Ohio
Emanuel Green, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Hebrew
and Judaica, Hofstra University,
Hempstead, New York: KAUFMANN,
YEHEZKEL
Wm. (William) Scott Green*,
Ph.D.; Professor of Religion,
University of Miami, Coral Gables,
Florida: NEUSNER, JACOB
Aaron Greenbaum, Ph.D., Rabbi;
American Joint Distribution
Committee, Jerusalem: SAMUEL BEN
HOPHNI
Alfred Abraham Greenbaum,
Ph.D.; Librarian of the University of
Haifa
Avraham Greenbaum, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer, Modern Jewish
History, Haifa; University, and
Research Associate, Dinur Institute,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
JEWISH STUDIES
Fred Greenbaum: CELLER, EMANUEL
Nathan Greenbaum, M.A.; Lecturer
in Hebrew Literature and Language,
Gratz College; Lecturer in Hebrew,
Temple University, Philadelphia:
DUSHKIN, ALEXANDER MORDECHAI
Cheryl Greenberg*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, Trinity College,
Hartford, Connecticut: BLACK-JEWISH
RELATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
Evelyn Levow Greenberg,
Journalist, Washington, D.C.
Joel Greenberg*, B.A., B.Ed.;
Professor, University of Waterloo,
Canada: DONALDA, PAULINE; HIRSCH,
JOHN STEPHEN; RASKY, HENRY;
SALTZMAN, HARRY; WAXMAN, AL; WAYNE
AND SCHUSTER
Moshe Greenberg, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Bible, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: aM Ha-
AREZ; DECALOGUE; EXODUS, BOOK OF;
EZEKIEL; GINSBERG, HAROLD LOUIS;
HABIRU; HEREM; INCEST; LABOR;
LEVITICAL CITIES; MOSES; NASH
PAPYRUS; OATH; PLAGUES OF EGYPT;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
RESURRECTION; SABBATICAL YEAR AND
JUBILEE; SEMITES; SPEISER, EPHRAIM
AVIGDOR; URIM AND THUMMIM
Daniel Greene*, Ph.D.; Historian,
Division of Exhibitions, United
States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, Washington, D.C.:
PHILLIPS, WILLIAM
Jonas C. Greenfield, Ph.D.;
Professor of Ancient Semitic
Languages, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: DARIUS; DARIUS THE
MEDE; MALKIEL, YAKOV; PHILISTINES;
WRITING
Larry (Lawrence) R. Greenfield”,
J.D., B.A.; California Director,
Republican Jewish Coalition,
Los Angeles: REPUBLICAN JEWISH
COALITION
Ari Greenspan*, DMD; Efrat,
Israel: MATZAH
Charlotte (Joyce) Greenspan’,
Ph.D.; Independent Scholar,
Alumna of University of California,
Berkeley, California: FIELDs,
DOROTHY
Leonard J. Greenspoon’, Ph.D.;
Professor, Klutznick Chair in
Jewish Civilization, Creighton
University, Omaha: BIBLE, ANCIENT
TRANSLATIONS, SEPTUAGINT
Edward L. Greenstein, B.A.,
B.H.L.; New York: ALTSCHUL, FRANK;
ALTSCHUL, LOUIS; AMTER, ISRAEL;
BARRON, JENNIE LOITMAN; BECKER;
BEDACHT, MAX; BEHRMAN, MARTIN;
BIEN, JULIUS; BITTELMAN, ALEXANDER;
BORINSTEIN, LOUIS J.; BRAUDE, MAX A.;
BROIDO, LOUIS; BUBLICK, GEDALIAH; DE
CORDOVA, JACOB; EISENMAN, CHARLES;
HENDRICKS; JAFFA; JOACHIMSEN,
PHILIP J.; LOUISIANA; MADISON, JAMES;
MELTON, SAMUEL MENDEL; NEW YORK
CITY; NEW YORK STATE; PENNSYLVANIA;
RATSHESKY, ABRAHAM CAPTAIN; RICE,
ISAAC LEOPOLD; ROOSEVELT, FRANKLIN
DELANO; ROSENBLATT, SOL ARIEH;
STOKES, ROSE PASTOR
Michael Greenstein’, Ph.D.;
Professor (retired), Toronto,
Canada: CANADIAN LITERATURE
Gideon (M.) Greif*, Ph.D.;
Historian, Director, Polish Desk,
International School for Holocaust
Studies European Department,
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem:
SONDERKOMMANDO, JEWISH
Ilan Greilsammer”*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Political Science, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan
Beth (A.) Griech-Polelle*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Modern
European History, Bowling Green
State University, Bowling Green,
Ohio: LICHTENBERG, BERNHARD
Zeev Gries, Jerusalem
Tobias Grill*: KAMINKA, ARMAND
Hyman B. Grinstein, Ph.D.;
Professor of American Jewish
History, Yeshiva University, New
York: BLUESTONE, JOSEPH ISAAC;
JACKSON, SOLOMON HENRY
Yehoshua M. Grintz, Ph.D.;
Professor of Biblical Studies,
Tel Aviv University: APOCRYPHA
AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA; ARK OF THE
COVENANT; ASHKENAZ; ASHKENZAZ;
BALAAM; BARAK; BARUCH; BARUCH,
APOCALYPSE OF; BATH-SHEBA;
BEL AND THE DRAGON; BENAIAH;
BEZALEL; BORSIPPA; ELISHA; ENOCH,
ETHIOPIC BOOK OF; EPHOD; GERAR;
GERIZIM, MOUNT; GOD; HABAKKUK;
HAGGAI; HAMAN; HANANIAH SON OF
AZZUR; HANNAH; HEMAN; HEZEKIAH;
JAAZANIAH, JAAZANIAHU; JAIR; JAIR;
JAMPEL, SIGMUND; JEHOIADA; JEHOIARIB;
JEW; JONATHAN BEN UZZIEL; JUBILEES,
BOOK OE; JUDITH, BOOK OF; MACCABEES,
FIRST BOOK OF; MACCABEES, SECOND
BOOK OF; PROVIDENCE; SOLOMON,
WISDOM OF; SOUL, IMMORTALITY OE;
TEMPLE; TOBIT, BOOK OE; VASHTI;
ZECHARIAH (h. pr.); ZECHARIAH (k.);
ZECHARIAH (prophet); ZECHARIAH
(son of Jeberechiah); ZERAH THE
CUSHITE
Alex Grobman’*, Ph.D.; President,
Institute for Contemporary Jewish
Life, Englewood, New Jersey:
HOLOCAUST: AFTERMATH; KLAUSNER,
ABRAHAM J.
Alfred S. Groh*: WILKES-BARRE AND
KINGSTON
David C. Gross*, M.A.; Journalist,
New York: PUBLISHING
Jack Gross, Ph.D., M.D.C.M.;
Professor of Experimental Medicine
and Cancer Research, the Hebrew
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
University-Hadassah Medical
School, Jerusalem: BERENBLUM, ISAAC
Walter (Shlomoh) Gross, Dr.Phil.;
Journalist, Tel Aviv: WELTSCH, ROBERT
Bernard Grossfeld, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Assistant Professor of Hebrew
Studies, the University of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee: BIBLE
Alan J. Grossman”, Director of
Marketing & Communications, UJA
Federation of Northern New Jersey:
BERGEN COUNTY; HUDSON COUNTY;
PATERSON
Avraham Grossman, M.A.;
Instructor in History, the University
of the Negev, Beersheba: ABRABANEL,
ISAAC BEN JUDAH; BEKHOR SHOR,
JOSEPH BEN ISAAC; BIBLE; ELIEZER OF
BEAUGENCY; KARA, JOSEPH; MENAHEM
BEN HELBO; RASHI; SAMUEL BEN MEIR
Grace Cohen Grossman’, Senior
Curator, Skirball Cultural Center,
Los Angeles: MUSEUMS
Lawrence Grossman”, Ph.D.;
Editor, American Jewish Year Book,
New York: YESHIVA CHOVEVEI TORAH;
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
Kurt R. Grossmann, Writer, New
York
Mayer Irwin Gruber’, A.B.,
M.H.L., Ph.D., Litt.H.D.; Professor
of Bible and Ancient Near East,
Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev, Beersheba: HAVILAH;
HIVITES; HONOR; JOB, THE BOOK OF;
MOURNING; OILS; RED HEIFER; SCEPTER;
TIBNI; YEAR
Ruth E. Gruber, B.A.; Journalist,
Writer, correspondent for JTA,
(London) Jewish Chronicle and
others, photographer specializing
on Jewish issues in East-Central
Europe, Italy: CZECH REPUBLIC
AND SLOVAKIA; CZECHOSLOVAKIA;
YUGOSLAVIA
Judy Gruen’, M.S.J.; Writer, Los
Angeles: AVRUTICK, ABRAHAM N.;
KAMENETSKY, YAAKOV
Kurt Gruenberger, Dr Jur.; Haifa:
MOLLER, HANS
Aaron Gruenhut, M.A.; Librarian,
the Jewish National and University
91
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Library, Jerusalem: GURWITSCH,
AARON; JOEL, KARL; LIEBERT, ARTHUR
Ithamar Gruenwald, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in Jewish Philosophy, Tel
Aviv University: MELCHIZEDEK; SONG,
ANGELIC
Irene Grumach, Ph.D.; Jerusalem:
PERIZZITES; RAMSES; SHISHAK;
TIRHAKAH; UZAL
Ralph (E.) Grunewald*, M.A.;
Executive Director, National
Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers, Washington, D.C.:
LERMAN, MILES; OFFICE OF SPECIAL
INVESTIGATIONS.; SHER, NEAL
Judith Grunfeld-Rosenbaum,
Ph.D.; Educator, London:
DEUTSCHLAENDER, LEO
Kurt Grunwald, Drrer.Pol.;
Economist, Jerusalem: JEWISH
COLONIAL TRUST
Inger-Lise Grusd, Oslo: EITINGER,
LEO S.
Noe Gruss, Ph.D.; Librarian,
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris:
BEUGNOT, AUGUSTE ARTHUR
Regina Griiter (Grueter)*, Ph.D.;
Head World War II Research and
Archives Unit, Netherlands Red
Cross, The Hague, Netherlands:
WEINREB, FRIEDRICH
Anne Grynberg*, Ph.D., H.D.R.;
Professor of Universities, National
Institute of Oriental Languages and
Civilizations and Sorbonne, Paris,
France: FRENCH LITERATURE
Shlomo Guberman”*, M. Jur.;
Deputy Attorney-General
(Legislation), Retired, Ministry of
Justice, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
LEGAL AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Alessandro Guetta*, Professor
Jewish Thought, Institut National
des Langues et Littératures
Orientales, Paris: ALATRINI; ALATRINI,
ANGELO; BARUCH, JACOB BEN MOSES
HAYYIM; BASSANI, GIORGIO; BELFORTE,
SOLOMON; BENAMOZEGH, ELIJAH BEN
ABRAHAM; CALIMANI, SIMONE BEN
ABRAHAM; CASTELNUOVO, ENRICO; DA
VERONA, GUIDO; DANTE ALIGHIERI;
DE BENEDETTI, ALDO; DEBENEDETTI,
GIACOMO; FIORENTINO, SALOMONE;
92
FUBINI, MARIO; GORNI; ITALIAN
LITERATURE; JEDIDIAH BEN MOSES OF
RECANATI; JOHN OF CAPUA; LEGHORN;
MOMIGLIANO, ATTILIO; MOMIGLIANO,
FELICE; MUSSAFIA, ADOLFO; RIETI
Jacques Yakov Guggenheim,
Jerusalem: BARUCH, GREEK
APOCALYPSE OF
Florence Guggenheim-Gruenberg,
Dr.Sc.Nat.; Historian, Zurich:
AARGAU
Terry Guild, Office of Public
Affairs, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts
Yehiel G. Gumpertz, M.D.,
Jerusalem: BARANY, ROBERT; JEKUTHIEL
BEN JUDAH HA-KOHEN
Herman S. Gundersheimer, Ph.D.;
Professor of Art History, Temple
University, Philadelphia: art
HISTORIANS AND ART CRITICS
Yosef Guri, M.A.; Senior Teacher
in Russian Language, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: PECHERSKY,
ALEXANDER
Aron Gurwitsch, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy, the New School for
Social Research, New York: HUSSERL,
EDMUND GUSTAV ALBRECHT
Hans G. Guterbock, Ph.D.;
Professor of Hittitology, the
University of Chicago: HITTITES
Simeon L. Guterman, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, Yeshiva
University, New York: JUSTER, JEAN
Oren Gutfeld*, M.A.;
Archaeologist, Institute of
Archaeology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: HYRCANIA
Itta Gutgluck, B.A.; Jerusalem:
BREIDENBACH, WOLF
Israel Gutman, B.A.; Historian,
Kibbutz Lehavot ha-Bashan:
PARTISANS
Edwin Emanuel Gutmann, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer in Political Science,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
EULAU, HEINZ; FINER, HERMAN; HELLER,
HERMANN; KIRCHHEIMER, OTTO; KOHN,
HANS; LOEWENSTEIN, KARL; ROBSON,
WILLIAM ALEXANDER
Joseph Gutmann, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Art History, Wayne
State University, Detroit: AGGADAH;
HAGGADAH, PASSOVER; JAFFE, MEIR OF
ULM
Joshua Gutmann, Emeritus
Associate Professor of Jewish
History and Jewish Hellenism, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ACHISH; AHASUERUS; AHIKAR, BOOK
OF; AMAZIAH; ANGARIA; ANGELS
AND ANGELOLOGY; ANTISEMITISM;
ANTONINUS PIUS; ARISTOBULUS OF
PANEAS; ELIJAH; GOD; IDI; OPHIR; URIEL;
WARHAFTIG, ZERAH
Linda Gutstein, B.A.; Journalist,
New York: BERNHARDT, SARAH; DASSIN,
JULES; FOX, WILLIAM
Morris A. Gutstein, Ph.D., D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Associate Professor of
Jewish History and Sociology,
the College of Jewish Studies,
Chicago: BRITH ABRAHAM; CHICAGO;
GREENEBAUM; HORNER, HENRY;
MAYER, LEOPOLD; MAYER,
LEVY
Henri Guttel, B.A.; Jerusalem:
JUDEO-PROVENGAL; LADINO; ME-AM
LO'EZ
Louis (Eliahu) Guttman, Ph.D.;
Director, Israel Institute of Applied
Research, Jerusalem
Julius Guttmann, Dr.Phil., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish Philosophy, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS
Awni Habash, Ph.D., LL.B.;
Lawyer and Sociologist, Bethlehem
University: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
RELIGIOUS LIFE AND COMMUNITIES
Jacob Haberman, Ph.D., Dr.Jur.,
Rabbi; Attorney, New York:
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES HA-KOHEN HA-
SEPHARDI; ASCETICISM; ASHKENAZI,
SAUL BEN MOSES HA-KOHEN;
BACHARACH, JAIR HAYYIM BEN MOSES
SAMSON; BACHARACH, MOSES SAMSON
BEN ABRAHAM SAMUEL; BELIEF; DASH,
SAMUEL; DELMEDIGO, JOSEPH SOLOMON;
EGER, AKIVA BEN SIMHAH BUNIM; EGER,
SAMUEL BEN JUDAH LOEB; ELIAKIM
GOETZ BEN MEIR; ELIJAH BEN HAYYIM;
ELIJAH BEN LOEB OF FULDA; GRUENHUT,
ELEAZAR; JOSEPH BEN ZADDIK; JUDAH
BEN NISSAN; LICHTENSTADT, BENJAMIN
WOLE BEN JUDAH; LICHTSTEIN,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN ELIEZER LIPMAN;
LIPSCHUETZ, ISRAEL BEN ELIEZER; LOGIC
Jacob Hirsch Haberman, M.A.,
Rabbi; Librarian, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York: EHRENTREU, HEINRICH;
ENOCH BEN ABRAHAM; FRANKFURTER,
MOSES; GEDALIAH, JUDAH; HEILBRONN,
JACOB BEN ELHANAN; HELLER, JEHIEL
BEN AARON; HELLER, JOSHUA BEN
AARON; KAEMPE, SAUL ISAAC; KOERNER,
MOSES BEN ELIEZER PHOEBUS; KRONER,
THEODOR
Joshua O. Haberman”, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Chairman, Foundation for
Jewish Studies, Washington, D.C.:
HIRSCH, SAMUEL; STEINHEIM, SALOMON
LUDWIG
Abraham Meir Habermann,
Associate Professor of Medieval
Hebrew Literature, Tel Aviv
University: AARON HAKIMAN; ABI
ZIMRA, ISAAC MANDIL BEN ABRAHAM;
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC BEN GARTON;
ABUN; ADELKIND, ISRAEL CORNELIUS;
ADONIM BEN NISAN HA-LEVI; ALAMANI,
AARON HE-HAVER BEN YESHU’AH;
ALHADIB, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON BEN
ZADDIK; ALI; ALVAN BEN ABRAHAM;
AMITTAI; AMITTAI BEN SHEPHATIAH;
AMNON OF MAINZ; ATHIAS, JOSEPH
and IMMANUEL; AZHAROT, AZHARAH;
BAK; BASS, SHABBETAI BEN JOSEPH;
BENJAMIN BEN AZRIEL; BENJAMIN BEN
ZERAH; BERECHIAH BEN NATRONAI HA-
NAKDAN; BERGMANN, JUDAH; BERLIN;
BIBLIOGRAPHY; BIRNBAUM, SOLOMON
ASHER; BLOCH; BOMBERG, DANIEL;
BOOK TRADE; BRODY, HEINRICH; CARMI,
JOSEPH JEDIDIAH; DAVIDSON, ISRAEL;
EISENSTEIN, JUDAH DAVID; EPHRAIM
BEN ISAAC; EPHRAIM BEN JACOB OF
BONN; FRANCES, JACOB BEN DAVID;
GANSO, JOSEPH; GENIZAH; GIKATILLA,
MOSES BEN SAMUEL HA-KOHEN; HAKIM
BI-AMR ALLAH, AL; IBN ALTABBAN, LEVI
BEN JACOB; IBN SASSON, SAMUEL BEN
JOSEPH; JERUSALEM; KALILA AND DIMNA;
KEROVAH; KINAH; LONGO, SAADIAH;
MAARAVOT; MAQAMA; MEIR BEN ELIJAH
OF NORWICH; PIZMON; POETRY; SAHULA,
ISAAC BEN SOLOMON; SAMUEL HA-
NAGID; SANTOB DE CARRION; SIMEON
BAR ISAAC; SINDABAR; SONCINO;
TEHINNAH; TEHINNAH; TEKPATA; WOLE,
JOHANN CHRISTOPH; ZARCO, JUDAH
Joseph Hacker, M.A.; Instructor
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: IBN HABIB,
JACOB BEN SOLOMON; LERMA, JUDAH
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BEN SAMUEL; LEVI; LEVI, SOLOMON BEN
ISAAC; LEVI, ABRAHAM BEN JOSEPH;
LEVI, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON; LEVI, JACOB
BEN ISRAEL; LEVI, SOLOMON BEN ISAAC;
MEDINA, SAMUEL BEN MOSES DE;
MIZRAHI, ELIJAH; SASSON, AARON BEN
JOSEPH
Aviad Hacohen*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer and Dean, Shaarey Mishpat
Law College; Faculty of Law, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ELON, MENACHEM; PLANNING AND
CONSTRUCTION; PUBLIC AUTHORITY;
RIGHTS, HUMAN; SEPARATION OF
POWERS; TAKKANOT HA-KAHAL
Elisheva Hacohen*, LI.M.;
Advocate, Ministry of Justice,
Jerusalem: MEDIATION
Mordechai Hacohen, Rabbi;
Author, Jerusalem: ABRAMSKY,
YEHEZKEL; AMIEL, MOSHE AVIGDOR;
EPSTEIN, BARUCH HA-LEVI; FINKEL,
ELIEZER JUDAH; HUTNER, ISAAC; ISRAEL
MEIR HA-KOHEN; ISRAEL, STATE OF:
RELIGIOUS LIFE AND COMMUNITIES;
KAHANEMAN, JOSEPH; KARELITZ,
AVRAHAM YESHAYAHU; KASOVSKY,
CHAYIM YEHOSHUA; KLUGER, SOLOMON
BEN JUDAH AARON; KOTLER, AARON;
LEIBOWITZ, BARUCH BER; MAISEL, ELIJAH
HAYYIM; MEIR SIMHAH HA-KOHEN OF
DVINSK; MELTZER, ISSER ZALMAN; RATH,
MESHULLAM; SHAPIRA, MEIR; SHKOP,
SIMEON JUDAH; SHVADRON, SHALOM
MORDECAI BEN MOSES; SOLOVEICHIK;
SOLOVEICHIK, HAYYIM; SOLOVEICHIK,
JOSEPH BAER, OF VOLOZHIN; TIKTINSKI;
WASSERMAN, ELHANAN BUNIM;
WEINBERG, JEHIEL JACOB
Shmuel Avidor Hacohen,
Rabbi; Writer, Lecturer, Tel Aviv:
SCHNEERSOHN, MENAHEM MENDEL
Jesaia Hadari, Rabbi; Jerusalem
Amnon Hadary, Ph.D.; Writer
and Researcher, Jerusalem: JEWISH
AGENCY; ZIONIST CONGRESSES
Gershon Hadas, B.A., Rabbi;
Kansas City, Missouri: FEDERBUSCH,
SIMON; KANSAS CITY
Gideon Hadas*, Ph.D.;
Archaeologist, Director of Ein
Gedi Oasis Excavations Delegation,
Kibbutz Ein Gedi, Israel: EN-GEDI
Pepita Haezrahi, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Philosophy, the Hebrew
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
University of Jerusalem: BERGSON,
HENRI LOUIS; BRUNSCHVICG, LEON
Barbara Hahn*, Dr.Phil.; Professor,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
Tennessee: SALONS
Gerlinde Haid*: MAUTNER, KONRAD
Abraham Haim, M.A.; Assistant
Lecturer, Department of Middle
Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University:
ADJIMAN; AKRA; AMASIYA; ANTIOCH;
AYDIN; CAPITULATIONS; CARMONA,
BEKHOR ISAAC DAVID; DEHOK; FONSECA,
DANIEL DE; HIT; ISTANBUL; IZMIT; JUBAR;
KHANAQIN; KUFA; KUFA; MANISSA;
MERSIN; SHAKI, ISAAC; SULEIMAN I;
TOKAT
Andre Hajdu, M.A., Lecturer in
Music, Tel Aviv University and
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
HASIDISM; SZABOLCSI, BENCE
Amos Hakham, B.A.; Researcher,
Jerusalem: KITTIM
Monika Halbinger*, M.A.; Ph.D.
student; Chair for Jewish History
and Culture, Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universitat, Munich, Germany:
GROSSMANN, KURT RICHARD; MARX,
KARL; ROSENBERG, LUDWIG; ROSENTHAL,
PHILIPP; SPRINGER, AXEL CAESAR;
WEICHMANN, HERBERT; WEIGEL,
HELENE
Elimelech Epstein Halevy, M.A.;
Visiting Senior Lecturer in Aggadah,
Tel Aviv University: AARON; ADAM;
ALEXANDER THE GREAT; AMALEKITES;
AMRAM; BEZALEL; CAIN; ELI; HAGAR;
ISAIAH; JEROBOAM; JOAB; JONAH, BOOK
OF; JONATHAN; JOSHUA; NOAH
David Weiss Halivni, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Professor of Rabbinics,
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America; Adjunct Professor of
Religion, Columbia University, New
York: ZUCKER, MOSHE
Abraham Solomon Halkin, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of History, the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, Jerusalem: AKNIN, JOSEPH
BEN JUDAH BEN JACOB IBN; AMERICAN
ACADEMY FOR JEWISH RESEARCH;
AVENDAUTH; FINKEL, JOSHUA; IBN
BARUN, ABU IBRAHIM ISAAC BEN
JOSEPH IBN BENVENISTE; JEDAIAH
BEN ABRAHAM BEDERSI; JUDEO-
ARABIC LITERATURE; SAADIAH GAON;
93
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
SPIEGEL, SHALOM; TRANSLATION AND
TRANSLATORS
Hillel Halkin, M.A.; Jerusalem:
AM OLAM; ARVEY, JACOB M.; ATRAN,
FRANK Z.; BAMBERGER, BERNARD JACOB;
ELKUS, ABRAM ISAAC; FALK; FISHER,
MAX M.; FREEHOF, SOLOMON BENNETT;
GREENBERG, HAYIM; GROSSINGER,
JENNIE; HOWE, IRVING; HURWITZ,
HENRY; JEWISH DAILY FORWARD; JEWISH
DAY; JEWISH MORNING JOURNAL;
KAHN, BERNARD; KANE, IRVING;
LEHMAN, HERBERT HENRY; LIEBERMAN,
ELIAS; MAILER, NORMAN; MENORAH
ASSOCIATION AND MENORAH JOURNAL;
NEW YORK CITY; NEWSPAPERS, HEBREW;
RAYNER, ISIDOR; RICE, JAMES P.; ROSE,
ERNESTINE POTOVSKY; ROSENBACH,
ABRAHAM SIMON WOLE; SCHULMAN,
SAMUEL; SHALOM, ISAAC L.; SOCIALISM;
SONNEBORN, RUDOLE GOLDSCHMIDT;
STONE, DEWEY D.; SWIG, BENJAMIN
HARRISON; TSUKUNET; UNITED STATES
LITERATURE; WOLF; YIDISHER
KEMFER
Moshe Hallamish, M.A.; Instructor
in Jewish Philosophy, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: HAYYIM
HAYKL BEN SAMUEL OF AMDUR; JACOB
JOSEPH BEN ZEVI HA-KOHEN KATZ
OF POLONNOYE; JEHIEL MICHAEL OF
ZLOCZOW; JERUSALEM; JOSEPH BEN
SHALOM ASHKENAZI; KORETS, PHINEHAS
BEN ABRAHAM ABBA SHAPIRO OF;
MOSES HAYYIM EPHRAIM OF SUDYLKOW;
REUBEN HOESHKE BEN HOESHKE KATZ;
ZEMAH, JACOB BEN HAYYIM
Morris Halle, Ph.D.; Professor of
Modern Languages, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge:
JAKOBSON, ROMAN
Eileen Hallet Stone*: UTAH
William W. Hallo, Ph.D.; Professor
of Assyriology and Curator
of the Babylonian Collection,
Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut: AKKAD; HARAN;
MESOPOTAMIA
Abraham Halperin, Ph.D.;
Professor of Physics, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: NEW
BRUNSWICK; NEW JERSEY
Dan Halperin, B.A.; Economist and
Journalist, Jerusalem
Liora R. Halperin’, Ph.D.; Student
Jewish History, University of
94
California, Los Angeles, California:
ROTH, JOEL
Vladimir Seev Halperin, Ph.D.;
Director of the World ORT Union,
Geneva: ORT; SYNGALOWSKI, ARON
Baruch Halpern*, Ph.D.; Chaiken
Family Chair of Jewish Studies;
Professor of History; Classics and
Ancient Mediterranean Studies,
and Religious Studies, Penn State,
University Park, Pennsylvania: DAVID
Israel Halpern, M.A.; Professor
of Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABRAHAM
BEN HAYYIM; ABRAHAM BEN JOSEPH OF
LISSA; CZACKI, TADEUSZ; DEMBITZER,
HAYYIM NATHAN; FORTIS, ABRAHAM
ISAAC; FRENK, EZRIEL NATHAN;
HANNOVER, NATHAN NATA; JAROSLAW;
LEWIN, LOUIS; MEIR BEN SAMUEL OF
SHCHERBRESHIN; SCHIPER, IGNACY
Janice Halpern*, M.D.; Psychiatrist,
University of Toronto, Toronto,
Canada: FREUD, SIGMUND
Joseph Halpern, M.A., Reverend;
Educator and Writer, Ramat Gan,
Israel: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Lipman Halpern, M.D.; Professor
of Neurology, the Hebrew
University-Hadassah Medical
School, Jerusalem: GOLDSTEIN, KURT
Nikki Halpern’, Institut Charles V,
Paris: STEINBARG, ELIEZER
Stanley Halpern”: Gary; SAN DIEGO
Ernest Hamburger, Ph.D.; Political
Scientist, New York: ARONS, LEO;
BAERWALD, MORITZ; BARTHOLDY, JACOB;
ROZIN, JOSEPH
Reuven Hammer, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Department of Rabbinics, Jewish
Theological Seminary of America;
Dean of Jerusalem School and
Director of Seminary of Judaic
Studies, JTS, Jerusalem
Liz Hamui (Halabe)*, Ph.D.;
Professor in Social Science,
Universidad Iberoamericana,
Mexico City: MEXICO
Samuel (B.) Hand*, Ph.D.;
Professor Emeritus, University of
Vermont: ROSENMAN, SAMUEL
IRVING
Michael Handelsaltz, B.A.; Theater
Critic, Book Review Editor, Haaretz,
Tel Aviv: ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL
LIFE
Amy Handelsman”, B.A.; Producer,
Writer, Los Angeles and New York:
RUDNER, RITA; SABAN, HAIM; SANDLER,
ADAM RICHARD; SINGER, BRYAN; STAR,
DARREN; STILLER, BEN; TOBACK, JAMES;
WANAMAKER, SAM
Joélle Hansel*, Ph.D.; Lecturer, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
LUZZATTO, MOSES HAYYIM
Nelly Hansson*, Ph.D.; Executive
Director, Fondation du judaisme
frangais, Paris, France: KLEIN,
THEODORE; LEVY, BERNARD-HENRI;
MUSEE D’ART ET D’HISTOIRE DU
JUDAISME; VEIL, SIMONE
Menahem Haran, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Bible, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AMOS; HOLINESS CODE; MENORAH;
NEHUSHTAN; POOR, PROVISION FOR
THE; PRIESTLY VESTMENTS; PRIESTS AND
PRIESTHOOD; PROVERB; SHEWBREAD;
VATKE, WILHELM; WETTE, DE, WILHELM
MARTIN LEBERECHT; WINCKLER,
HUGO
Yuval Harari*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Hebrew Literature - Program of
Folklore Studies, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
MAGIC
Israel Harburg, B.A., Rabbi; Lynn,
Massachusetts
Shoshana Hareli, M.A.; Haifa:
MO’EZET HA-PO’ALOT; PIONEER WOMEN
Shulamith Hareven, Writer,
Jerusalem: POTOK, CHAIM
Yehoshafat Harkabi, Ph.D.;
Major General (Res.), Israel
Defense Forces; Senior Lecturer
in International Relations and
Middle Eastern Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Angela Kim Harkins*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Theology,
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania: BIBLE, ANCIENT
TRANSLATIONS, LATIN
Franklin T. Harkins*, Ph.D.; Lilly
Fellow and Lecturer in Theology,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Valparaiso University, Indiana: BIBLE,
ANCIENT TRANSLATIONS, LATIN
Jules Harlow, Rabbi; Director of
Publications, Rabbinical Assembly
of America
Isaac Harpaz, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Agricultural
Entomology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: AVIDOV, ZVI; HANNOVER,
NATHAN NATA
Nisan Harpaz, Chairman, Brit Ivrit
Olamit
Jay Harris*: BAND, ARNOLD; BERGER,
DAVID; BIALE, DAVID; BOYARIN, DANIEL;
CARLEBACH, ELISHEVA; CHAZAN,
ROBERT; COHEN, SHAYE J. D.
Lucien Harris, M.A.; Hadassah
Medical Organization, Jerusalem:
FEIGENBAUM, ARYEH; MICHAELSON,
ISAAC CHESAR
Monford Harris, D.H.L.; Professor
of Religious Studies, the University
of Toronto: HERBERG, WILL
Laszlo Harsanyi, D.L.; Historian,
Budapest: BAJA; BALASSAGYARMAT;
BODROGKERESZTUR; KOSZEG; LIPSHITZ,
ISRAEL; MISKOLC; NYIREGYHAZA;
PAPA
Michael Harsgor, Ph.D.; Professor,
Aranne School of History, Tel Aviv
University: PORTUGAL
Judah Harstein*, B.Sc.; Head of
Jewish Education, World ORT,
London, England: ort
Alexander Hart*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, Canada: MICHAELS, ANNE;
STEINEELD, JJ.
David Hartman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Director, Shalom Hartman Institute,
Jerusalem
Geoffrey H. Hartman, Ph.D.;
Professor of English and
Comparative Literature, Yale
University, New Haven, Connecticut
Harriet Hartman*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, Rowan University,
Glassboro, New Jersey: SOCIOLOGY;
STEINEM, GLORIA
Heinz Hartman, M.D.; Physician,
Syracuse, New York: SANDMEL,
SAMUEL
Louis F. Hartman, L.S.S., L.O.L.;
Professor of Semitic and Egyptian
Languages and Literatures, the
Catholic University of America,
Washington, D.C.: ESCHATOLOGY;
GOD, NAMES OF
Steven Harvey*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: AVERROES
Warren Zev Harvey”*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish Thought, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CRESCAS, HASDAI BEN JUDAH; IBN
SHEM TOV, ISAAC BEN SHEM TOV; IBN
SHEM TOV, SHEM TOV; IBN SHEM TOV,
SHEM TOV BEN JOSEPH BEN SHEM TOV;
PHILOSOPHY, JEWISH
Galit Hasan-Rockem, B.A.;
Assistant in Hebrew Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
FABLE
Wendy Haslem*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Cinema Studies, University of
Melbourne: DEREN, MAYA
Isaac Hasson*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: JERUSALEM; JIHAD;
UMAYYADS
Shlomo Hasson, B.A.; Jerusalem:
AKABA; HADERAH; HAZOR; HOLON;
KIRYAT ONO; LYDDA; MIZPEH RAMON;
NETANYAH; OR AKIVA; PETAH TIKVAH;
RAMLEH; ROSH HA-AYIN; SHARM EL-
SHEIKH, TIRAN ISLAND, and TIRAN
STRAITS; SHEFARAM; SODOM AND
GOMORRAH; ’USIFIYYA; YEHUD;
YEROHAM
Theodore Hatalgui, M.A.; the
Jewish National Fund, Jerusalem:
GRANOTT, ABRAHAM; GRANOTT,
ABRAHAM
Susan Hattis Rolef*, Ph.D.;
Senior Researcher in the Knesset
Information Division, The Knesset,
Jerusalem: AHDUT HA-AVODAH-PO’ALEI
ZION; ALLON, YIGAL; ALMOGI, YOSEE
AHARON; ALONI, SHULAMIT; AMIT, MEIR;
ARIDOR, YORAM; AVNERY. URI; BARAK,
EHUD; BARAM, MOSHE; BARAM, UZI;
BARKAT, REUVEN; BAR-LEV, HAIM; BEGIN,
MENAHEM; BEGIN, ZE’EV BINYAMIN;
BEILIN, YOSSI; BEN-AHARON, YITZHAK;
BEN-ELIEZER, BINYAMIN; BEN-GURION,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
DAVID; BEN-PORAT, MORDEKHAIT;
BENTOV, MORDEKHAI; BERIT SHALOM;
BI-NATIONALISM; BURG, AVRAHAM;
BURG, JOSEPH; COHEN, GEULAH; DAYAN,
MOSHE; DAYAN, YAEL; DEMOCRATIC
MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE; DERI, ARYEH;
EHRLICH, SIMHA; EITAN, RAPHAEL;
ELDAD, ISRAEL; ELIAV, ARIE LOVA;
ESHKOL, LEVI; GAHAL; GALILI, ISRAEL;
GENERAL ZIONISTS; GRUENBAUM,
YIZHAK; GUR, MORDECAI; HACOHEN,
DAVID; HAMMER, ZEVULUN; HAZAN,
YAAKOV; HERUT MOVEMENT; HERZOG,
CHAIM; HILLEL, SHLOMO; HURWITZ,
YIGAEL; IDELSON, BEBA; INDEPENDENT
LIBERAL PARTY; ISRAEL LABOR PARTY;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: POLITICAL LIFE AND
PARTIES; ITZIK, DALIA; JOSEPH, DOV;
KACH; KAPLAN, ELIEZER; KATZAV,
MOSHE; KESSAR, ISRAEL; KHOUSHI,
ABBA; KNESSET; KOL, MOSHE; KOLLEK,
TEDDY; LAHAT, SHLOMO; LAPID, JOSEPH;
LAVON AFFAIR, THE; LAVON, PINHAS;
LEVY, DAVID; LIBAI, DAVID; LIKUD;
LIVNAT, LIMOR; LOPOLIANSKY, URI; LUZ,
KADISH; MAIMON, ADA; MAPAT; MAPAM;
MEIR, GOLDA; MERETZ; MERIDOR, DAN;
MESHEL, YERUHAM; MILO, RONI; NAMIR,
MORDECHAI; NAMIR, ORA; NATIONAL
RELIGIOUS PARTY; NAVON, ITZHAK;
NE’EMAN, YUVAL; NIR-RAFALKES,
NAHUM; NUROCK, MORDECHAI; PAIL,
MEIR; PATT, GIDEON; PERES, SHIMON;
PERETZ, AMIR; PO’ALEI AGUDAT YISRAEL;
PO’ALEI AGUDAT YISRAEL; PORUSH,
MENACHEM; RABIN, YITZHAK; RAMON,
HAIM; RAPHAEL, YITZHAK; REMEZ,
MOSHE DAVID; RUBINSTEIN, AMNON;
SAPIR, PINHAS; SHAHAL, MOSHE;
SHALOM, SILVAN; SHAMIR, YITZHAK;
SHARANSKY, NATAN; SHARETT, MOSHE;
SHARON, ARIEL; SHAS; SHAZAR, SHNEUR
ZALMAN; SHEETRIT, MEIR; SHEM-TOV,
VICTOR; SHERF, ZE'EV; SHINUI; SHOHAT,
AVRAHAM BEIGA; SNEH, MOSHE;
SPRINZAK, JOSEPH; TABENKIN, YIZHAK;
TAMIR, SHMUEL; TSABAN, YAIR; TSOMET;
WEIZMAN, EZER; YAACOBI, GAD; YAARI,
MEIR; YAARI, MEIR; YADIN, YIGAEL;
YELLIN-MOR, NATHAN; YESHAYAHU-
SHARABI, ISRAEL; ZADOK, HAIM JOSEPH;
ZEEVI, REHAVAM
G. Eric Hauck, B.A.; Journalist,
New York: LERNER, ALAN JAY;
THALBERG, IRVING GRANT; WYLER,
WILLIAM
Yehuda Martin Hausman”, B.A.,
M.A.; Rabbinic Student, Yeshiva
Chovevei Torah, Rabbinic Seminary,
Los Angeles: ABRAMS, ELLIOTT;
ABRAMS, ROBERT; ARONSON, ARNOLD;
BOOKBINDER, HYMAN H.
95
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Meir Havazelet, Ph.D., D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Professor of Rabbinic
Literature and of Bible, Yeshiva
University, New York: ABBA; HANINA
KAHANA BEN HUNA; JACOB HA-KOHEN
BAR MORDECAI; JOSEPH BAR ABBA;
JOSEPH BAR HIYYA; KOHEN-ZEDEK BAR
IVOMAI; MEIR BAAL HA-NES, TOMB
OF; NAHSHON BAR ZADOK; NATRONAI
BAR HILAI; NATRONAI BAR NEHEMIAH;
PALTOI BAR ABBAYE; RABBAH; SAR
SHALOM BEN BOAZ; SHERIRA BEN
HANINA GAON; ZADOK BAR MAR YISHI;
ZEMAH BEN HAYYIM; ZEMAH BEN PALTOI
Shlomoh Zalman Havlin, Rabbi;
Research Assistant, the Institute for
Research in Jewish Law, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AARON
BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN OF LUNEL; ANAV,
JEHIEL BEN JEKUTHIEL BEN BENJAMIN
HA-ROFE; ANAV, JUDAH BEN BENJAMIN
HA-ROFE; ELISHA BEN ABRAHAM;
GERSHOM BEN SOLOMON; HADRAN;
HAGGAHOT; HAGGAHOT MAIMUNIYYOT;
HA-HINNUKH; HANANEL BEN SAMUEL;
HEZEKIAH BEN JACOB; ISAAC BEN
ABRAHAM; ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM OF
NARBONNE; ISAAC BEN ASHER HA-
LEVI; ISAAC BEN JACOB HA-LAVAN OF
PRAGUE; ISAAC BEN JUDAH OF MAINZ;
ISAAC BEN MEIR; ISAAC BEN MERWAN
HA-LEVI; ISAAC BEN MORDECAI; ISAAC
BEN MOSES OF VIENNA; ISAAC BEN
TODROS OF BARCELONA; ISAAC FROM
OURVILLE; JACOB BEN NISSIM IBN
SHAHIN; JUDAH BEN ISAAC; KOKHAVI,
DAVID BEN SAMUEL; KOL BO; LUBETZKY,
JUDAH; MANOAH OF NARBONNE; MEIR
BEN SIMEON HA-ME’ILI; MESHULLAM BEN
JACOB OF LUNEL; PARDO, DAVID SAMUEL
BEN JACOB; PERAHYAH BEN NISSIM;
SAMSON BEN ABRAHAM OE SENS; SARDI,
SAMUEL BEN ISAAC; SCHLETTSTADT,
SAMUEL BEN AARON; SIMHAH BEN
SAMUEL OF SPEYER
Christine (Elizabeth) Hayes*,
Ph.D.; Professor of Religious Studies
in Classical Judaica, Yale University,
New Haven, Connecticut: PURITY
AND IMPURITY, RITUAL
Saul Hayes, M.A., Q.C.; Executive
Vice President of the Canadian
Jewish Congress; Lecturer in Social
Work, McGill University, Montreal
Yaakov Arie Hazan, Member of
the Knesset; Kibbutz Mishmar ha-
Emek: KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT
Aviva Hazaz, M.A.; Jerusalem:
HAZAZ, HAYYIM
96
David Hazony”*, M.A.; Editor
in Chief of the Journal Azure,
The Shalem Center, Jerusalem:
BERKOVITS, ELIEZER
Barth Healey, B.A.; Journalist,
New York: FRIENDLY, FRED W; JESSEL,
GEORGE ALBERT
Lee Healey, New York: NICHOLS,
MIKE; ROSE, BILLY; SELLERS, PETER;
STREISAND, BARBRA; TUCKER, SOPHIE;
ZIEGFELD, FLORENZ
Ernest Hearst, Editor, Wiener
Library, London: NEO-FASCISM; NEO-
NAZISM; NEW LEFT
Jacob Heilbrunn*, M.A.; Editorial
Writer, Los Angeles Times,
Washington, D.C.: BELL, DANIEL;
KRISTOL, IRVING; KRISTOL, WILLIAM
Samuel C. Heilman, Ph.D.;
Professor, holder of the Harold
Proshansky Chair in Jewish Studies
Graduate Center of the City
University of New York: FEUERSTEIN;
HAREDIM
Joseph Heinemann, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Hebrew Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AMIDAH; ANTISEMITISM; LEVITICUS
RABBAH; NAHSHON; PREACHING; RED
SEA; ZECHARIAH; ZENTRALE STELLE DER
LANDESJUSTIZVERWALTUNGEN
Dirk Heisserer*, Dr. Phil.; Scientist
of Literature, LMU, Munich: MANN,
THOMAS
Petra Heldt*, Ph.D.; Professor
of History of the Church in the
East and the Early Writings of the
Church, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ORIGEN
Leonardo Hellemberg, Managua,
Nicaragua: NICARAGUA
Bernard Heller, Ph.D., Rabbi; New
York: ADAM
Joseph Elijah Heller, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Lecturer in Hebrew, University
College, London: ANDRADE, VELOSINO
JACOB DE; BALMES, ABRAHAM BEN
MEIR DE; BERLIN, DAVID BEN LOEB;
CAMPEN, JOHANNES VAN; CARDOZO,
ISAAC; CARVALHO, MORDECAI BARUCH;
COHN, LEOPOLD; CUENQUE, ABRAHAM
BEN LEVI; DAVID BEN SAUL; DENIS,
ALBERTUS; FRANCK, ADOLPHE; FRANKEL,
ZACHARIAS; FREUDENTHAL, JACOB;
GAFFAREL, JACQUES; GERONDI, MOSES
BEN SOLOMON D’ESCOLA; GERONDI,
ZERAHIAH BEN ISAAC HA-LEVI; HAAS,
SOLOMON BEN JEKUTHIEL KAUFMANN;
HESS, MENDEL; HOECHHEIMER, MOSES
BEN HAYYIM COHEN; ISRAEL BEN
BENJAMIN OF BELZEC; ISRAEL BEN
JONATHAN FROM LECZYCA; JACOB BEN
MORDECAI OF SCHWERIN; KAHANA,
ABRAHAM ARYEH LEIB BEN SHALOM
SHAKHNA; KARAITES; KARGAU,
MENAHEM MENDEL BEN NAPHTALI
HIRSCH; KOENIGSBERGER, BERNHARD;
LANDAUER, MEYER HEINRICH HIRSCH;
LEUSDEN, JOHANN; LUTHER, MARTIN;
MOSES BEN MENAHEM GRAF
Kathryn Hellerstein*, Ph.D.;
Ruth Meltzer Senior Lecturer
in Yiddish and Jewish Studies,
Department of Germanic Languages
and Literatures, University of
Pennsylvania: DROPKIN, CELIA;
MARGOLIN, ANNA; MOLODOWSKY, KADIA
Sara O. Heller-Wilensky, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Jewish
Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv University, and
Haifa University: ARAMA, ISAAC BEN
MOSES
Yehuda Hellman, Executive
Director of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations; Secretary
General of the World Conference
of Jewish Organizations, New
York: WORLD CONFERENCE OF JEWISH
ORGANIZATIONS
Melila Hellner-Eshed*, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, Jewish Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ZOHAR
Marilyn Henry*, M.P.A., M.A;
Journalist, Teaneck, New Jersey:
CONFERENCE ON JEWISH MATERIAL
CLAIMS AGAINST GERMANY
Dana Herman’, B.A., M.A.;
Doctoral Candidate, McGill
University, Montreal, Canada:
JEWISH CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION
INC.
Jan Herman, Ph.D.; State Jewish
Museum, Prague: BENESOV; BOHEMIA;
GOLCUV JENIKOV; HERMANUV MESTEC;
HROZNETIN; JOSEPH II; KADAN;
KASEJOVICE; KLATOVY; KOSOVA HORA;
LIBEREC; LITOMERICE; LOUNY; MLADA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BOLESLAV; MOST; NOVY BYDZOV; PILSEN;
POLNA; PRAGUE; ROUDNICE NAD LABEM;
SOBEDRUHY; TABOR; TEPLICE; TURNOV;
UDLICE; USTEK; VOTICE; ZATEC
Zvi Herman, Rabbi; Former
Member of the Jewish Agency
Executive; Former Managing
Director of the Zim Israel
Navigation Company, Haifa: zim
Zvi Hermon, Dr.Phil., Rabbi;
Adjunct Professor of Criminology
and Corrections, Center for the
Study of Crime, Delinquency,
and Corrections, Southern
Illinois University, Carbondale:
ABRAHAMSEN, DAVID; ALEXANDER,
FRANZ; CRIME; CRIMINOLOGY;
DRAPKIN, ISRAEL; EATON, JOSEPH W;;
FRIEDLANDER, KATE; GLUECK, SHELDON;
GRUENHUT, MAX; GUNZBURG, NIKO;
GUTTMACHER, MANFRED; HENRIQUES;
HURWITZ, STEPHAN; KROSS, ANNA;
LOMBROSO, CESARE; MANNHEIM,
HERMANN; SCHAFER, STEPHEN
Moshe David Herr, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AGE AND
THE AGED; AGGADAT BERESHIT;
ALBECK; ANTIGONUS OF SOKHO;
APTOWITZER, VICTOR; AVODAH ZARAH;
BANETH; BAVA MEZIA; BRUELL; BRUELL,
JACOB; CHURCH FATHERS; DAY OF
ATONEMENT; DEUTERONOMY RABBAH;
ECCLESIASTES RABBAH; EDOM; ESAU;
ESTHER RABBAH; EXODUS RABBAH;
FASTING AND FAST DAYS; FESTIVALS;
GENESIS RABBAH; GUTMANN, JOSHUA;
GUTTMANN, MICHAEL; HANANIAH BEN
TERADYON; HANUKKAH; HOFFMANN,
DAVID ZEVI; HOROVITZ, SAUL; JABNEH;
JACOB OF KEFAR SAKHNAYYA; JOSHUA
BEN KORHA; JOSHUA BEN PERAHYAH;
JUDAH BEN BAVA; JUDAH BEN TABBAI;
JUDAH BEN TEMA; LAMENTATIONS
RABBAH; MIDRASHIM, SMALLER;
MIDRESHEI AGGADAH; MINHAG;
MONOGAMY; NUMBERS RABBAH; PIRKEI
DE-RABBI ELIEZER; PROSTITUTION;
ROME; SHAMMAI; TEN MARTYRS, THE;
THEODOR, JULIUS; TRAJAN, MARCUS
ULPIUS; URBACH, EPHRAIM ELIMELECH;
WEISS, ISAAC HIRSCH; YOSE BEN JOEZER
OF ZEREDAH; YOSE BEN JOHANAN HA-
TANNA OF JERUSALEM; YOSE BEN
KISMA; YOSE BEN ZIMRA; ZIEGLER,
IGNAZ; ZUCKERMANDEL, MOSES
SAMUEL
Eli Herscher*, M.A.H.L., Rabbi;
Stephen S. Wise Temple, Los
Angeles: ZELDIN, ISAIAH
Lucian-Zeev Herscovici*, M.A.;
Historian; Librarian, Jewish
National and University Library,
Jerusalem: ADAM; ADERCA, FELIX;
ARTZI, YITZHAK; AXELRAD, AVRAM;
BACAU; BALLY, DAVICION; BALLY,
ISAAC DAVID; BALTAZAR, CAMIL;
BANUS, MARIA; BARANGA, AUREL;
BARASCH, JULIUS; BARLAD; BERLIAND,
SHLOMO MEIR; BLANK, MAURICE;
BOTOSANI; BRAILA; BRESLASU, MARCEL;
BUCHAREST; BUHUSI; BURDUJENI;
BUZAU; C.D.E.; CAJAL, NICOALE; CALIN,
VERA; CAMPULUNG MOLDOVENESC;
CARP, HORIA; CONSTANTA; CRAIOVA;
DARABANI; DOMINIC, ALEXANDRU;
DORIAN, DOREL; DOROHOI; EGALITATEA;
EALTICENI; FERARU, LEON; FOCSANI;
GALATI; GASTON-MARIN, GHEORGHE;
GERTSA; GHELERTER, LUDWIG
LITMAN; GRAUR, CONSTANTIN; GURA-
HUMORULUI; HAIMOVICI, MENDEL;
HARLAU; HASEFER; HEFTER, ALFRED;
HUSI; LAVI, THEODOR; LUCA, B.;
ROMANIA
Leo Hershkowitz, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Queens
College of the City University of
New York: ABRAHAMS, ABRAHAM
ISAAC; ABRAHAMS, ISAAC; BARSIMSON,
JACOB; BROWN, SAUL PARDO; BUSH,
SOLOMON; DE LUCENA; FRANKS, DAVID;
FRANKS, DAVID SALISBURY; FRANKS,
JACOB; GOMEZ; GRATZ; ISAACS, JOSEPH;
JOSEPHSON, MANUEL; KURSHEEDT,
ISRAEL BAER; LEVY, AARON; LEVY, ASSER;
LEVY, HAYMAN; LEVY, MOSES; MYERS,
MORDECAI; NATHAN; NATHAN; NEW
YORK CITY; NOAH, MORDECAI MANUEL;
PACHECO, RODRIGO BENJAMIN MENDES;
PINTO, ISAAC; SALOMON, HAYM; SEIXAS;
WAGG, ABRAHAM
Zvi Yehuda Hershlag, Ph.D.;
Professor of Economic History
and the Economics of Developing
Countries, Tel Aviv University:
BONNE, ALFRED ABRAHAM
Eli Herstein*, Publisher, Yanshuf
Publishing, Zur Moshe, Israel:
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, JEWISH
Deborah Hertz*, Ph.D.; Wouk
Chair in Modern Jewish Studies,
University of California at San
Diego: MENDELSSOHN-VEIT-SCHLEGEL,
DOROTHEA; VARNHAGEN, RAHEL LEVIN
Arthur Hertzberg, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Adjunct Professor of
History, Columbia University, New
York: ANTISEMITISM; ASSIMILATION;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BARON, SALO WITTMAYER; DEISTS;
FRENCH REVOLUTION; JEWISH IDENTITY;
MONTESQUIEU, CHARLES LOUIS DE
SECONDAT, BARON DE LA BREDE ET DE;
NUMERUS CLAUSUS; ZIONISM
Abel Jacob Herzberg, Dr Jur.;
Attorney, Amsterdam: VUGHT;
WESTERBORK
Avigdor (Yitshaq) Herzog*, M.A.;
Lecturer in Jewish Traditional
Music, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: ADON OLAM; AHOT KETANNAH;
INDIA; PSALMS, BOOK OF; SCROLLS, THE
FIVE
Chaim Herzog, LL.B.; Major
General (Res.), Israel Defense
Forces; Military Commentator and
Business Executive, Tel Aviv: ISRAEL,
STATE OF: DEFENSE FORCES; SIX-DAY
WAR; YOM KIPPUR WAR
Abraham Joshua Heschel,
Ph.D., Rabbi; Professor of Jewish
Ethics and Mysticism, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York
Susannah Heschel*, Ph.D.;
Professor Dartmouth College,
Hanover, New Hampshire: FEMINISM;
GEIGER, ABRAHAM; LILITH
Irene Heskes, Musicologist, New
York: RECORDS, PHONOGRAPH
Moshe Hesky, Dr.Jur.; Former
Adviser, Philatelic Services, Israel
Ministry of Posts; England: stamps
Carolyn Hessel*: JEwISH BOOK
COUNCIL, THE
R. (Renate) Heuer*, Dr.Phil.;
Director, Archiv Bibliographia
Judaica, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-
Universitat, Frankfurt, Germany:
REICHER, EMANUEL
Andreas Heusler*, Dr.Phil.,
M.A.; Senior Scholar, Munich
City Archives, Munich, Germany:
MERZBACHER, GOTTERIED; NEUMEYER,
ALFRED; NEUMEYER, KARL
Viveka Heyman, M.A.; Teacher
in Swedish, Tel Aviv University:
JOSEPHSON; SCANDINAVIAN
LITERATURE
Michael Heymann, Ph.D.; Director
of the Central Zionist Archives,
97
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Jerusalem: HANTKE, ARTHUR; HERLITZ,
GEORG
Zalman Heyn, Ministry of Labor,
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: LABOR
Eugene B. Hibshman, B.A., B.H.,
Rabbi; Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Alter Hilewitz, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Principal, Hebrew Teachers Training
College and Hebrew Training
College for Ministers and Rabbis,
Johannesburg, South Africa: AHAI;
ELIEZER BEN YOSE HA-GELILI; HOSHAIAH,
RAV
Joe Hillaby*, President Elect, Jewish
Historical Society of England,
Honorary Research Fellow, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AARON OF YORK; ARCHA; BRISTOL;
BURY ST. EDMUNDS; CANTERBURY;
COLCHESTER; ROBERT OF READING;
WINCHESTER; WORCESTER
Delbert Roy Hillers, Ph.D.;
Professor of Semitic Languages,
Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore: BURIAL; DEMONS,
DEMONOLOGY
Shmuel Himelstein*, Rabbi, Dr.;
Writer, Translator, Editor, Jerusalem:
LICHTENSTEIN, AHARON
Maurice Gerschon Hindus, MS.;
Writer, New York: FISCHER, LOUIS
Milton Henry Hindus, M.S.;
Professor of English, Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts:
DAHLBERG, EDWARD; DAVENPORT,
MARCIA; FIEDLER, LESLIE AARON;
FREEMAN, JOSEPH; GOLDEN, HARRY
LEWIS; GOODMAN, PAUL; KAZIN, ALFRED;
KRONENBERGER, LOUIS; KUNITZ,
STANLEY JASSPON; MALTZ, ALBERT;
ORNITZ, SAMUEL BADISCH; ROTH, PHILIP
MILTON; SALINGER, JEROME DAVID;
UNITED STATES LITERATURE
Edith Hirsch, M.A.; Economist and
Teacher, New York: FEILER, ARTHUR;
TIETZ; WERTHEIM
Frederik Jacob Hirsch, B.A.;
Librarian, Haifa: COHEN, BENJAMIN;
HARTOG, LEVIE DE; HILLESUM, JEREMIAS;
HOND, MEIJER DE; NEUBAUER, JACOB;
ROEST, MEIJER MARCUS; TUNIS, TUNISIA;
WAGENAAR, LION
Joseph Hirsch, Ph.D., Chaplain,
98
US. Armed Forces, Okinawa:
WIERNIK, PETER
Mark D. Hirsch, Ph.D.; Professor of
History, Bronx Community College,
New York: DUBERMAN, MARTIN B.
Richard Hirsch, Rabbi; Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, Jerusalem: EISENSTEIN, IRA;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: RELIGIOUS LIFE AND
COMMUNITIES; RECONSTRUCTIONISM;
ROSENSTOCK-HUESSY, EUGEN
Alfred Hirschberg, DrJur.; Director
of the Confederagao Israelita de
Brasil, National Director of B’nai
Brith of Brazil, Sao Paulo: KLABIN;
LAFER, HORACIO
Eliyahu Hirschberg, M.Jur., M.Ph.;
Jerusalem: NAWI; NEHAR PEKOD; NIEGO,
JOSEPH
Haim Z’ew Hirschberg, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Jewish History,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
AGGADAH; AHL AL-KITAB; ALAWIDS;
ARABIA; ASHURA; AYYUBIDS; BALAAM;
BENJAMIN; BIBLE; CANAAN; COMMUNITY;
DANIEL; DAVID; ELIJAH; ELISHA; ENOCH;
ESCHATOLOGY: EVE; EZEKIEL; EZRA;
FRANCOS; GOLIATH; GORNI; HABIL;
HADITH; HAKHAM BASHI; HAMAN;
HANIE; HIMYAR; HUD; HUESCA; ISAAC;
ISAIAH; ISHMAEL; ISLAM; ISRAEL,
LAND OF: HISTORY; ISRAELITE; JACOB;
JEREMIAH; JERUSALEM; JETHRO; JIHAD;
JOB, THE BOOK OF; JONAH, BOOK OF;
JOSEPH; JOSHUA; KAKHYA; KAMNIEL, ABU
AL-HASAN MEIR IBN; KORAH; LEBANON;
LEVI DELLA VIDA, GIORGIO; LIBYA; LOT;
MADRID; MAGHREBI-MAARAVI; MILLET;
MIRIAM; MOCHA; MOSES; MUSTARAB,
MUSTA‘RABS; NEBUCHADNEZZAR;
NIMROD; NOAH; OTTOMAN EMPIRE;
PALACHE; PHARAOH; POTIPHAR;
SALADIN; SAMARITANS; SAMUEL;
SARRAE; SETH; SOLOMON; TARAGAN,
BEN-ZION; TEHERAN; TERAH; TRIPOLI;
TURKEY; UMAYYA IBN ABI AL-SALT
Richard S. Hirschhaut”*, B.A;
International Relations and Judaic
Studies, Project and Executive
Director, Illinois Holocaust Museum
and Education Center; Former
Midwest Director, Anti-Defamation
League: FOXMAN, ABRAHAM
Gertrude Hirschler, B.S.; Editor,
New York: PIONEER WOMEN
Jehoash Hirshberg*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Musicology, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ALEXANDER, HAIM; AVNI, TZEVI; BEN-
HAIM, PAUL; BUKOFZER, MANERED;
GELBRUN, ARTUR; GRADENWITZ, PETER
EMANUEL; HARRAN, DON; HAUSER, EMIL;
HOLDHEIM, THEODORE; LOWINSKY,
EDWARD ELIAS; MAAYANI, AMI; MUSIC;
OLIVERO, BETTY; ORGAD, BEN ZION;
SCHIDLOWSKY, LEON; TAL, JOSEF;
TISCHLER, HANS; YELLIN-BENTWICH,
THELMA
Yair Hirshfeld, Ph.D.; Shiloah
Center, University of Tel Aviv
Aron Hirt-Manheimer*, M.A.;
Doctor of Jewish Religious
Education; Editor Reform Judaism
Magazine, Union for Reform
Judaism, New York: WIESEL, ELIE;
YOEFFIE, ERIC H.
Philip D. Hobsbaum, L.R.A.M.,
L.G.S.M., Ph.D.; Lecturer in
English Literature, the University of
Glasgow: MEYERSTEIN, EDWARD HARRY
WILLIAM; PINTER, HAROLD; SHAFFER,
SIR PETER; SILKIN, JON; WALEY, ARTHUR;
WESKER, ARNOLD; WOLFE, HUMBERT
Jerome (Jerry) Hochbaum’, Ph.D.;
Executive Vice President, Memorial
Foundation for Jewish Culture, New
York: MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR
JEWISH CULTURE
Nathan Hochberg, M.Sc.;
Agronomist, Tel Aviv: WINE AND
LIQUOR TRADE
Joseph Hodara, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Latin American History, the
National Autonomous University of
Mexico, Mexico City: CORDOBA
Sidney B. Hoenig, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva
University, New York: BELKIN,
SAMUEL; REVEL, BERNARD; ZEITLIN,
SOLOMON
Miriam Hoexter*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor (retired), the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: 1BADIs
Harold von Hofe, Ph.D.; Professor
of German Literature, the University
of Southern California, Los Angeles:
MARCUSE, LUDWIG
Frederick J. Hoffman, The
University of California, Riverside:
STEIN, GERTRUDE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Shlomo Hofman, D.Litt.; Lecturer
in the History of Music, Tel Aviv
University - Rubin Academy of
Music: KARAITES; SAMARITANS
Menachem Hofnung", Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer, Department of
Political Science, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BARAK,
AHARON
S.H. Holland: wELsuH, ARTHUR L.
Svend Holm-Nielsen, Dr.Theol.;
Professor of Old Testament,
Copenhagen University:
THANKSGIVING PSALMS
J. Edwin Holmstrom, Ph.D.,
C.Eng.; Folkestone, England:
AYRTON, HERTHA; FRANCK, JAMES;
FRENKEL, JACOB ILICH; GABOR, DENNIS;
GOLDSTEIN, EUGEN; HECHT, SELIG;
HERTZ, GUSTAV; INFELD, LEOPOLD;
OPPENHEIMER, J. ROBERT; SEGRE,
EMILIO GINO; SIMON, SIR FRANCIS
EUGENE
Avraham Holtz, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Modern
Hebrew Literature, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York: PATTERSON, DAVID
Barry W. Holtz*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Jewish Education, Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York: DORPH, SHELDON;
ETTENBERG, SYLVIA CUTLER; MELTON,
FLORENCE; RAUCH, EDUARDO
Avner Holtzman, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Department of Hebrew Literature,
Tel Aviv University: HEBREW
LITERATURE, MODERN
Livnat Holtzman’, Ph.D.;
Instructor and Researcher in the
Department of Arabic, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: KALAM
Ari Hoogenboom, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Brooklyn College of the
City University of New York: UNGER,
IRWIN
FJ. Hoogewoud*, M.A.; Former
Deputy Curator Bibliotheca
Rosenthaliana, Amsterdam
University Library, The Netherlands:
BEEK, MARTINUS ADRIANUS; BOAS,
HENRIETTE; PRAAG, SIEGERIED
EMANUEL VAN; PRINS, LIEPMAN PHILIP;
SEELIGMANN, ISAC LEO
Bernard Hooker, B.A., Rabbi;
Kingston, Jamaica: HART, DANIEL;
STERN, PHILIP COHEN
Doreet Hopp”, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, State Teachers College-
Seminar Hakibbutzim; Tel Aviv
University: YEHOSHUA, AVRAHAM B.
Jens Hoppe*, Ph.D.; Historian,
Conference of Jewish Material
Claims against Germany, Office
for Germany, Frankfurt, Germany:
FORCED LABOR; FRANKFURT ON THE
MAIN
Deborah (C.S.) Hopper’, M. A.,
B.Sc.; Graduate Student, University
of Victoria, Victoria, Canada: GLICK,
IRVING SRUL
David Horn, Ph.D.; Professor of
Physics, Tel Aviv University
Samuel Abba Horodezky, Ph.D.;
Historian, Tel Aviv: ALASHKAR,
MOSES BEN ISAAC; ALPHABET, HEBREW,
IN MIDRASH, TALMUD, AND KABBALAH;
ANGELS AND ANGELOLOGY; BARUCH
OF KOSOV; BERECHIAH BERAKH BEN
ELIAKIM GETZEL; BLOCH, ISSACHAR
BAER BEN SAMSON; CALAHORA, JOSEPH
BEN SOLOMON; DAVID BEN AARON
IBN HASSIN; DELACRUT, MATTATHIAS
BEN SOLOMON; ELIJAH; ELIJAH BEN
RAPHAEL SOLOMON HA-LEVI; EPSTEIN,
ABRAHAM MEIR BEN ARYEH LEIB;
EPSTEIN, ARYEH LEIB BEN MORDECAI;
EPSTEIN, ISAAC BEN MORDECAI; FORTI
RAPHAEL HEZEKIAH BEN ABRAHAM
ISRAEL; GENTILI; HAZKUNI, ABRAHAM;
HEILBUT, ELEAZAR LAZI BEN JOSEPH
BEN LAZI; HEILPERN, YOM TOV LIPMAN
BEN ISRAEL; HOESCHEL BEN SAUL;
HOROWITZ, SHABBETAI SHEFTEL BEN
AKIVA; ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM OF POSEN;
ISAAC BEN BEZALEL OF VLADIMIR; ISAAC
BEN SAMSON HA-KOHEN; ISSACHAR
BAER BEN SOLOMON ZALMAN; JACOB
BEN BENJAMIN ZE'EV; JACOB DAVID
BEN ISRAEL ISSAR; JAFFE, ISRAEL BEN
AARON; JEHIEL MICHAEL BEN ELIEZER;
JOSEPH BEN ISAAC HA-LEVI; JOSEPH
BEN MORDECAI HA-KOHEN; JOSEPH
BEN MOSES OF KREMENETS; JOSHUA
HOESCHEL BEN JOSEPH OF CRACOW;
JUDAH BEN ELIEZER; JUDAH LEIB BEN
BARUCH; KLATZKO, MORDECAI BEN
ASHER; KOHEN, ELEAZAR BEN ZE’EV
WOLF; KREMNITZER, JOHANAN BEN
MEIR; LEVY, JUDAH BEN MENAHEM;
LEWIN, JOSHUA HESHEL BEN ELIJAH
ZE'EV HA-LEVI; LEWINSTEIN, JOSEPH
BEN ABRAHAM ABUSH; LIPSCHUETZ;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
LIPSCHUETZ, BARUCH ISAAC BEN ISRAEL;
LIPSCHUTZ, SHABBETAI BEN JACOB
ISAAC; LONDON, JACOB BEN MOSES
JUDAH; NAHUM, ELIEZER BEN JACOB;
OBERNIK, JUDAH; PARNAS, HAYYIM
NAHMAN; PERELMANN, JEROHMAN
JUDAH LEIB BEN SOLOMON ZALMAN;
PESANTE, MOSES BEN HAYYIM BEN SHEM
TOV; PINTO, JOSIAH BEN JOSEPH; SAMUEL
BEN ALI; SHAPIRA, JOSHUA ISAAC BEN
JEHIEL
Josef Horovitz, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Professor of Semitic Languages, the
University of Frankfurt; Director of
the School of Oriental Studies, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ABDALLAH IBN SABA; ABDALLAH IBN
SALAM; BABAD; BARUCH BEN SAMUEL
OF ALEPPO; BRODA; COHN, MESHULLAM
ZALMAN BEN SOLOMON; FRAENKEL-
TEOMIM, BARUCH BEN JOSHUA EZEKIEL
FEIWEL; HELLER, YOM TOV LIPMANN
BEN NATHAN HA-LEVI; ISSAR JUDAH BEN
NEHEMIAH OF BRISK; JACOB KOPPEL
BEN AARON SASSLOWER; KALISCHER,
JUDAH LEIB BEN MOSES; MODAI,
HAYYIM; MORDECAI BEN NAPHTALI
HIRSCH OF KREMSIER; ORNSTEIN, JACOB
MESHULLAM BEN MORDECAI ZE'EV;
PIRKOI BEN BABOI
David Horowitz, Former Governor
of the Bank of Israel, Jerusalem:
KAPLAN, ELIEZER
Rivka Horowitz, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheba
Sara Horowitz*: HILLESUM, ETTY;
KARMEL, ILONA; KLEIN, GERDA
WEISSMAN; OSTRIKER, ALICIA
Yehoshua Horowitz, Dr. Phil.;
Educator, Lecturer in Talmud and
Rabbinic Literature, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
AARON BEN MESHULLAM OF LUNEL;
AARON SAMUEL BEN NAPHTALI HERZ
HA-KOHEN; ABOAB, JACOB BEN SAMUEL;
ABRAHAM ABELE BEN ABRAHAM
SOLOMON; ABRAHAM BEN AVIGDOR;
ABRAHAM BEN BENJAMIN ZE'EV BRISKER;
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC HA-KOHEN OF
ZAMOSC; ABRAHAM BEN MORDECAI
HA-LEVI; ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON;
ABTERODE, DAVID BEN MOSES ELIAKIM;
AHA OF SHABHA; ALTARAS; ALTSCHUL;
ANATOLI BEN JOSEPH; ANSHEL OF
CRACOW; ARCHIVOLTI, SAMUEL; ARDIT;
ARDIT, EPHRAIM BEN ABRAHAM; ARHA,
ELIEZER BEN ISAAC; ARYEH JUDAH
99
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
LEIB BEN EPHRAIM HA-KOHEN; ARYEH
LEIB BEN SAMUEL ZEVI HIRSCH; ASH;
ASHER BEN MESHULLAM HA-KOHEN
OF LUNEL; ASHKENAZI, ZEVI HIRSCH
BEN JACOB; AUERBACH; AUERBACH,
ISAAC EISIG BEN ISAIAH; BABAD, JOSEPH
BEN MOSES; BACHRACH, JUDAH BEN
JOSHUA EZEKIEL; BALBO, MICHAEL BEN
SHABBETAI COHEN; BASSAN, ABRAHAM
HEZEKIAH BEN JACOB; BENJAMIN ZE'EV
BEN MATTATHIAS OF ARTA; BERLIN,
NOAH HAYYIM ZEVI HIRSCH; BERNAYS;
BEZALEL BEN SOLOMON OF KOBRYN;
BIALEH, ZEVI HIRSCH BEN NAPHTALI
HERZ; BIALOBLOCKI, SAMUEL SHERAGA;
BLOCH, HERMANN; BONAEED, DAVID
BEN REUBEN; BOZECCO, BENJAMIN
BEN JUDAH; BRESLAU, ARYEH LOEB BEN
HAYYIM; BRESLAU, JOSEPH MOSES BEN
DAVID; BRIEL, JUDAH BEN ELIEZER;
BRODA, ABRAHAM BEN SAUL; CASE,
JOSEPH BEN ABRAHAM; DAINOW,
ZEVI HIRSCH BEN ZE’EV WOLF; DAVID
BEN BOAZ; DAVID BEN NATHAN OF
LISSA; DAVIDS, AARON ISSACHAR BEN
NAHMAN; DEMBITZER, HAYYIM NATHAN;
DEUTSCH, DAVID BEN MENAHEM
MENDEL; DISKIN, MOSES JOSHUA JUDAH
LEIB; DUSCHAK, MORDECAI; ELIEZER
BEN JOEL HA-LEVI OF BONN; ELIEZER
BEN SAMUEL OF VERONA; EPSTEIN,
JEHIEL MICHAL BEN AARON ISAAC
HALEVI; EPSTEIN, JEHIEL MICHAL BEN
ABRAHAM HALEY; FALK, JACOB JOSHUA
BEN ZEVI HIRSCH; FISCHELS, MEIR
BEN EPHRAIM; FLECKELES, ELEAZAR
BEN DAVID; FRAENKEL, DAVID BEN
NAPHTALI HIRSCH; FRIEDMANN, DAVID
BEN SAMUEL; FULD, AARON BEN MOSES;
GATIGNO; GENIZAH, CAIRO; GEONIC
LITERATURE; GLOGAU, JEHIEL MICHAEL
BEN ASHER LEMMEL HA-LEVI; GRACIAN,
SHEALTIEL BEN SOLOMON; HABERMANN,
ABRAHAM MEIR; HABIBA, JOSEPH;
HALAKHOT GEDOLOT; HALBERSTADT,
ABRAHAM BEN MENAHEM MENKE;
HALBERSTADT, MORDECAI; HALEVI,
JOSEPH ZEVI BEN ABRAHAM; HALEVY,
ISAAC; HANOKH ZUNDEL BEN JOSEPH;
HARIF; HARIF HA-LEVI; HAYYIM BEN
ISAAC "OR ZARU’A"; HAYYIM BEN JEHIEL
HEFEZ ZAHAV; HEILPRIN, SAMUEL
HELMANN BEN ISRAEL; HEILPRUN,
ELIEZER LEIZER BEN MORDECAI; HILLEL;
HILLEL (3rd cen.); HILLEL BEN NAPHTALI
ZEVI; HOLLANDER, ISAIAH BEN AARON;
HOROWITZ; HOROWITZ, ABRAHAM BEN
ISAIAH; HOROWITZ, ARYEH LEIB BEN
ELEAZAR HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ, ARYEH
LEIB BEN ISAAC; HOROWITZ, DAVID
JOSHUA HOESCHEL BEN ZEVI HIRSCH
HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ, ISAAC HA-LEVI
BEN JACOB JOKEL; HOROWITZ, ISAIAH
BEN JACOB HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ, ISAIAH
100
BEN SHABBETAI SHEFTEL; HOROWITZ,
JACOB BEN ABRAHAM; HOROWITZ, JACOB
JOKEL BEN MEIR HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ,
LAZAR BEN DAVID JOSHUA HOESCHEL;
HOROWITZ, MESHULLAM ISSACHAR
BEN ARYEH LEIB HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ,
PHINEHAS BEN ZEVI HIRSCH HA-LEVI;
HOROWITZ, PHINEHAS BEN ISRAEL
HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ, SAMUEL BEN
ISAIAH ARYEH LEIB HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ,
SAUL HAYYIM BEN ABRAHAM HA-LEVI,
HOROWITZ, SHRAGA FEIVEL HA-LEVI;
HOROWITZ, ZEVI HIRSCH BEN HAYYIM
ARYEH LEIBUSH HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ,
ZEVI HIRSCH BEN JOSHUA MOSES AARON
HA-LEVI; HOROWITZ, ZEVI HIRSCH
BEN PHINEHAS HALEVI; HOROWITZ,
ZEVI JOSHUA BEN SAMUEL SHMELKE;
HUSHPEL BEN ELHANAN; IBN SHOSHAN,
DAVID; ISAAC BENJAMIN WOLF BEN
ELIEZER LIPMAN; JACOB OF MARVEGE;
JAFFE, SAMUEL BEN ISAAC ASHKENAZI;
JEHIEL MICHAEL BEN ABRAHAM MEIR
OF CIFER; JEHIEL MICHAEL BEN JUDAH
LEIB HE-HASID; JESHUA BEN JOSEPH
HA-LEVI; JONATHAN BEN JACOB; JOSEPH
BEN ISSACHAR BAER OF PRAGUE; JOSEPH
BEN JOSHUA MOSES OF FRANKFURT;
JOSEPH BEN MORDECAI GERSHON
HA-KOHEN OF CRACOW; JOSEPH JOSKE
BEN JUDAH JUDEL OF LUBLIN; JOSEPH
SAMUEL BEN ZEVI OF CRACOW; JOSHUA
BEN MORDECAI FALK HA-KOHEN;
JOSHUA BOAZ BEN SIMON BARUCH;
JOSHUA HOESCHEL BEN JACOB; JOSHUA
HOESCHEL BEN JOSEPH OF CRACOW;
JUDAH ARYEH LEIB BEN DAVID; JUDAH
BEN ASHER; JUDAH BEN KALONYMUS
BEN MOSES OF MAINZ; JUDAH LEIB BEN
ENOCH ZUNDEL; JUDAH LEIB BEN HILLEL
OF SCHWERSENZ; KAHANA, JEHIEL ZEVI
BEN JOSEPH MORDECAI; KAMELHAR,
JEKUTHIEL ARYEH BEN GERSHON;
KAPLAN, ALEXANDER SENDER BEN
ZERAH HA-KOHEN; KARA, MENAHEM
BEN JACOB; KARMI; KATZ, NAPHTALI
BEN ISAAC; KIMHI, JACOB BEN SAMUEL;
KIMHI, RAPHAEL ISRAEL BEN JOSEPH;
KIMHI, SOLOMON BEN NISSIM JOSEPH
DAVID; KOHEN, RAPHAEL BEN JEKUTHIEL
SUESSKIND; LANDAU, ISAAC ELIJAH BEN
SAMUEL; LARA, DAVID BEN ISAAC COHEN
DE; LARA, HIYYA KOHEN DE; LEON,
MESSER DAVID BEN JUDAH; LEV, JOSEPH
BEN DAVID IBN; LICHTSTEIN, ABRAHAM
JEKUTHIEL ZALMAN BEN MOSES JOSEPH;
LURIA, DAVID BEN JUDAH; MALBIM, MEIR
LOEB BEN JEHIEL MICHAEL WEISSER;
MASKILEISON, ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH
LEIB; MORDECAI BEN HILLEL HA-KOHEN;
ONDERWIJZER, ABRAHAM BEN SAMSON
HA-KOHEN; PERLES, MOSES MEIR BEN
ELEAZAR; PINELES, HIRSCH MENDEL BEN
SOLOMON; PROVENGAL, ABRAHAM BEN
DAVID; PROVENCAL, JACOB BEN DAVID;
RAGOLER, ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON;
RAPAPORT, DAVID HA-KOHEN; SAMUEL
BEN AVIGDOR; SAMUEL BEN JACOB OF
KELMY; SCHICK, MOSES BEN JOSEPH;
SHALOM BEN YIZHAK OF NEUSTADT;
SINZHEIM, JOSEPH DAVID BEN ISAAC;
STEINHARDT, JOSEPH BEN MENAHEM;
TANHUM BEN ELIEZER; TEDESCHI,
MOSES ISAAC BEN SAMUEL; TREVES;
TREVES, JOHANAN BEN JOSEPH; TREVES,
JOHANAN BEN MATTATHIAS; VIDAL
YOM TOV OF TOLOSA; VITAL, DAVID BEN
SOLOMON; WEIL, JACOB BEN JUDAH;
WORMS, AARON; WORMS, ASHER ANSHEL;
YEHUDAI BEN NAHMAN; ZAHALON
Rivka G. Horwitz*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus Jewish Philosophy, Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheba: ROSENZWEIG, FRANZ; RU’AH
HA-KODESH; SHEKHINAH; THRONE OF
GOD
Elaine Hoter, M.A.; Materials
developer for the Open University,
Tel Aviv: AVINERI, SHLOMO; BEINART,
HAIM; BIRAN, AVRAHAM; DAN, JOSEPH;
DOTHAN, MOSHE; GREENBERG, MOSHE;
GREENFIELD, JONAS CARL; HARAN
MENAHEM; MALAMAT, ABRAHAM;
NOY, DOV: TADMOR, HAYIM; TALMON,
SHEMARYAHU
Louis Hotz, B.A.; Historian,
Johannesburg: ALEXANDER, BERNARD;
BERGTHEIL, JONAS; BRYER, MONTE; CAPE
TOWN; COHEN, SIMON; DURBAN; FRAM,
DAVID; GITLIN, JACOB; GLUCKMAN,
HENRY; HANSON, NORMAN LEONARD;
HARRIS, SIR DAVID; JOHANNESBURG;
KANTOROWICH, ROY; KIBEL, WOLF;
LANGERMANN, MAX; LE ROITH,
HAROLD HIRSCH; MAISELS, ISRAEL
AARON; MICHAELIS, SIR MAX; NATHAN,
MANERED; NORDEN; OCHBERG, ISAAC;
ORENSTEIN, ALEXANDER JEREMIAH;
OUDTSHOORN; SCHLESINGER, ISIDORE
WILLIAM; SMUTS, JAN CHRISTIAAN;
SOLOMON, BERTHA; SOUTH AFRICAN
LITERATURE
Susannah Howland’, B.A.; Law
student, Southwestern University
School of Law, Los Angeles: KASDAN,
LAWRENCE EDWARD; MEYERS, NANCY
JANE; MORRIS, ERROL M.; PAKULA, ALAN
JAY; PENN, ARTHUR; PERRY, FRANK;
RAFELSON, ROBERT; RAPHAELSON,
SAMSON; RITT, MARTIN; SHAPIRO,
ESTHER JUNE; SHAWN, DICK
Benjamin Hrushovski, Associate
Professor of Poetics and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv
University: PROSODY, HEBREW
John Huehnergard”*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Semitic Philology,
Harvard University: BIBLE, ANCIENT
TRANSLATIONS, ETHIOPIC
Alana Hughes*, Director of
Administration, Charles and Lynn
Schusterman Family Foundation,
Tulsa, Oklahoma: SCHUSTERMAN,
CHARLES AND LYNN
Horace D. Hummel, Ph.D.;
Professor, Department of Exegetical
Theology, Concordia Seminary, St.
Louis, Missouri: BIBLE
Avi Hurvitz, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Bible and in Hebrew Language, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
PSALMS, APOCRYPHAL
Elazar Hurvitz, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Bible and
Midrash, Yeshiva University, New
York: CHAVEL, CHARLES BER
Samuel B. Hurwich, M.D., F.A.A.P;
Jerusalem: ZIONISM
Ariel Hurwitz*: MORESHET
Marshall S. Hurwitz, M.A., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Greek and Latin, City
College of the City University
of New York: EZEKIEL THE POET;
HELLENISTIC JEWISH LITERATURE;
PSEUDO-PHOCYLIDES
Samuel J. Hurwitz, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Brooklyn College of
the City University of New York:
RISCHIN, MOSES
Shmuel Hurwitz, Dr. Ag.; Emeritus
Professor of Agronomy, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Abraham Huss, Ph.D., D.L.C.;
Associate Professor of Meteorology,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CARMI, T.
Boaz Huss*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev, Beersheba: ASHLAG,
YEHUDAH
Jehoshua Hutner, Rabbi; Director
of the Encyclopaedia Talmudica and
of Yad Harav Herzog, Jerusalem:
ZEVIN, SOLOMON JOSEPH
Arthur Hyman’, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Distinguished Service Professor
of Philosophy and Dean, Bernard
Revel Graduate School of Jewish
Studies, Yeshiva University, New
York: MAIMONIDES; PHILOSOPHY,
JEWISH; WOLFSON, HARRY AUSTRYN
Avi Hyman’, Dr. Education;
Director, Research, Academic
Technologies, OISE/University of
Toronto, Canada: LUFTSPRING, SAMMY;
RUBENSTEIN, LOUIS; UNGERMAN, IRVING;
WEIDER, BEN
Louis Hyman, M.A.; Historian,
Haifa
Semah Cecil Hyman, Former
Minister Plenipotentiary, Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
AGRON, GERSHON; JERUSALEM; KISCH,
FREDERICK HERMANN; PILGRIMAGE
Moshe Idel*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Jewish Thought and Kabbalah,
Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
Shalom Hartman Institute,
Jerusalem: ABRAHAM BEN ALEXANDER
OF COLOGNE; ABRAHAM BEN ELIEZER
HA-LEVI; ABULAFIA, TODROS BEN JOSEPH
HA-LEVI; ALEMANNO, JOHANAN BEN
ISAAC; ANTINOMIANISM; CARO, JOSEPH
BEN EPHRAIM; DEVEKUT; EIN-SOF;
EMANATION; GABBAI, MEIR BEN EZEKIEL
IBN; GIKATILLA, JOSEPH BEN ABRAHAM;
GOD, NAMES OF; HAYYAT, JUDAH BEN
JACOB; KABBALAH; KANAH AND PELIYAH,
BOOKS OF; LURIA, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON;
SCHOLEM, GERSHOM GERHARD
David Ignatow, Adjunct Professor
of Writing, Columbia University;
Poet-in-Residence, York College of
the City University of New York:
FEARING, KENNETH; GINSBERG,
ALLEN
Shahar Ilan*, Journalist, Haaretz
Newspaper, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: RELIGIOUS LIFE AND COMMUNITIES
Tal Ilan*, Ph.D.; Professor, Institute
for Jewish Studies, Free University,
Berlin, Germany: WOMAN: POST-
BIBLICAL PERIOD
Shulamit Imber*, M.A.;
Pedagogical Director in the
International School for Holocaust
Studies, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem:
HOLOCAUST
Efraim Inbar, Ph.D.; Senior
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Lecturer, Department of Political
Science, Bar-Ilan University
Judith Brin Ingber”*, B.A.;
Independent Scholar, Dance
Historian, University of Minnesota:
DANCE; LANG, PEARL
Nahman Ingber, M.A.; Instructor in
Poetics and Comparative Literature,
Tel Aviv University: MOTION
PICTURES
Institute of Jewish Affairs, London
Radu Ioanid*: arap
Miriam Isaacs*, Ph.D.; Long-Term
Visiting Associate Professor, Yiddish
Language and Culture, University
of Maryland, College Park: yiDpIsH
LITERATURE
Benny Isaacson, Tel Aviv
Shirley Berry Isenberg,
Anthropologist and Author: BENE
ISRAEL
Moshe Ishai, Dr.Juris; Former
Ambassador, Tel Aviv: MUSOLINO,
BENEDETTO
Benjamin Ish-Shalom*, Ph.D.;
Rector, Beit Morasha of Jerusalem:
KOOK, ABRAHAM ISAAC
Benjamin J. Israel, Former
Secretary of the Bombay Public
Service Commission: BENE ISRAEL
Salvator Marco Israel, M.D.;
Maitre de Recherches Hebraiques,
the Bulgarian Academy of
Sciences, Sofia: BULGARIAN
LITERATURE
Joseph Israeli, Kibbutz Afikim: Ha-
SHOMER HA-ZA'IR
Raphael (Rafi) Israeli*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Islamic, Chinese, and
Middle Eastern History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ISRAEL,
STATE OF: ARAB POPULATION; SADAT,
MUHAMMAD ANWAR
Stanley Isser, M.A.; Lecturer in
History, Queens College of the
City University of New York:
CHRONOLOGY
Israel (Ignacy) Isserles, M.A.,
Advocate; Tel Aviv: LACHS, MANFRED;
101
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MUSZKAT, MARION; SAWICKI, JERZY;
SZER, SEWERYN
Nissim Itzhak, B.A.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: URUGUAY
Norman Itzkowitz, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Near Eastern Studies,
Princeton University, New Jersey:
AYALON, DAVID; HEYD, URIEL; LEWIS,
BERNARD
Ruth Ivor, Ph.D.; Former Lecturer
in the History of Comparative
Civilization, the University of
Colorado; Siena, Italy: ITALIENER,
BRUNO
Alfred L. (Lyon) Ivry*, Ph.D.;
Dr.Phil; Professor Emeritus,
New York University, New York:
ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS;
ALTMANN, ALEXANDER; BODY AND
SOUL; EMOTIONS; FORM AND MATTER;
IMAGINATION; INTELLECT; MOSES BEN
JOSHUA OF NARBONNE; NATURE; SOUL;
THEMISTIUS
Dafna Izraeli, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan
Edward Jacobs*, Conceptual
Designer, Mishkenot Ltd, Jerusalem:
RISKIN, SHLOMO
Louis Jacobs, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Scholar, London: AKEDAH;
HALAKHAH; HALAKHAH LE-MOSHE
MI-SINAI; HASIDISM; HERMENEUTICS;
JUDAISM; MONTEFIORE, CLAUDE
JOSEPH GOLDSMID; MOSES; PASSOVER;
PEACE; PRAYER; PREACHING; PURIM;
RIGHTEOUSNESS; ROSH HA-SHANAH;
SABBATH; SHAVUOT; SHEMA, READING
OF; SIN; STUDY; SUKKOT; THEOLOGY;
TORAH, READING OF
Thorkild Jacobsen, Dr. Phil.;
Professor of Assyriology,
Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts
Howard Jacobson, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Classics, the University
of Illinois, Urbana: HERACLES;
ITINERARIUM HIEROSOLYMITANUM or
ITINERARIUM BURDIGALENSE; TITANS
Joshua Jacobson*, D.M.A.;
Professor of Music, Northeastern
University, Boston: CHOIRS
David Jacoby, Ph.D.; Associate
102
Professor of History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: sTARR,
JOSHUA
Jonathan Jacoby”: IsRAEL POLICY
FORUM
Benjamin Jaffe, M.A., M.Jur.;
Writer and official, Jewish
Agency, Jerusalem: ALMOG,
YEHUDA; ARIEL, DOV; ARLOSOROFE,
CHAIM; AVRIEL, EHUD; BARTH, JACOB;
BARZILAI,YEHOSHUA; BEN-AMI, OVED;
BENTOV, MORDEKHAI; BENTWICH;
BERLIGNE, ELIYAHU MEIR; CHELOUCHE;
COHN, HAIM; COMAY, MICHAEL SAUL;
DANIN, YEHEZKEL; DOBKIN, ELIYAHU;
DULZIN, ARYE LEIB; ELATH, ELIAHU;
ELDAD, ISRAEL; FRIENDSHIP LEAGUES
WITH ISRAEL; GLUSKA, ZEKHARYAH;
GRAJEWSKY, PINCHAS; HACOHEN, DAVID;
HARARI, HAYYIM; HESHIN, SHNEUR
ZALMAN; KHOUSHI, ABBA; LOURIE,
ARTHUR; LURIE, ZVI; MAISEL-SHOHAT,
HANNAH; PERSITZ, SHOSHANAH; PINCUS,
LOUIS ARIEH; RECANATI; ROKACH,
SHIMON; SASSON, ELIYAHU; SCOTT,
CHARLES PRESTWICH; SMOIRA, MOSHE;
STERN, JOSEPH ZECHARIAH; TOLKOWSKY,
SHEMUEL; TSUR, JACOB; VALERO; VILNAY,
ZEV
Lee (David) Jaffe*, M.S.; Librarian,
University of California, Santa Cruz,
California: SANTA CRUZ
Immanuel Jakobovits, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Chief Rabbi of the British
Commonwealth, London: ARTIFICIAL
INSEMINATION; BIRTH CONTROL;
CASTRATION; CELIBACY; EUTHANASIA;
HOMOSEXUALITY
Oscar Isaiah Janowsky, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of History, City
College of the City University of
New York: GILBERT, FELIX; GOLDMAN,
ERIC FREDERICK; KOEBNER, RICHARD;
KUBLIN, HYMAN; LANDES, DAVID SAUL;
PINSON, KOPPEL S.; SCHAPIRO, JACOB
SALWYN
Taeke Jansma, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew and Aramaic, the
State University of Leiden, the
Netherlands
Sara Japhet, M.A.; Instructor in
Bible, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: CHRONICLES, BOOK OF
Jack Jedwab*, Ph.D.; Executive
Director, Association for Canadian
Studies, Montreal, Quebec: QUEBEC
Yeshayahu (A.) Jelinek*, Associate
Professor Retired, Beersheba:
BANSKA BYSTRICA; BARDEJOV;
BRATISLAVA; CESKE BUDEJOVICE; CHEB;
CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA;
CZECHOSLOVAKIA; DOLNI KUBIN;
DUNAJSKA STREDA; GALANTA;
HLOHOVEC; HOLESOV; HRANICE;
HUMENNE; HUNCOVCE; KOMARNO;
KOSICE; KUGEL, HAYYIM; LIBEREC;
LIPTOVSKY MIKULAS; LITOMERICE;
LOEBL, EUGEN; LOSTICE; LUCENEC;
MASARYK, JAN GARRIGUE; MICHALOVCE;
MIKULOV; MORAVIA; NITRA; NOVE
MESTO NAD VAHOM; NOVE ZAMKY;
OSTRAVA; PEZINOK; PIESTANY;
POHORELICE; PRAGUE; PRESOV;
PROSTEJOV; ROUDNICE NAD LABEM;
SLOVAKIA; TABOR; TOPOLCANY; TREBIC;
TRENCIN; TRNAVA; TURNOV; UHERSKE
HRADISTE; UHERSKY BROD; USOV; USTI
NAD LABEM; VOTICE; ZIDOVSKA STRANA;
ZILINA; ZNOJMO
Uffa Jensen*: STAHL, FRIEDRICH
JULIUS; STOECKER, ADOLF; TREITSCHKE,
HEINRICH VON
Jewish Museum Staff*: JEwIsH
MUSEUM
Leon A. Jick: JEWISH STUDIES
Akira Jindo, Ph.D.; Assistant Editor
of “The Weekly Original Gospel”
and “The Light of My Life”; Staff
Member of Makuya Tokyo Bible
Seminary: MAKUYA
Franklin Jonas, Ph.D.; Instructor
in History, Long Island University,
New York: VLADECK, BARUCH
CHARNEY
Faith Jones*, B.A., M.L.I.S.; Head,
Literature and Languages, Mid-
Manhattan Library, New York:
ELBERG, YEHUDA; KACZERGINSKY,
SZMERKE; MAZE, IDA; SEGAL, ESTHER;
SHUMIATCHER-HIRSCHBEIN, ESTHER;
YUDIKA; ZYLBERCWEIG, ZALMAN
Louis de Jong, Litt.D.; Historian
and Extraordinary Professor
of Contemporary History, the
University of Rotterdam; Director
of the Netherlands State Institute for
War Documentation, Amsterdam
Alfred Joseph, San Salvador: EL
SALVADOR
Max Joseph’, B.A.; Screenwriter/
Filmmaker, Los Angeles: ARCHERD,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ARMY; BENSON, ROBBY; GUBER, PETER;
HALL, MONTY; HALMI, ROBERT; HOWARD,
MOE, SHEMP, and CURLY; INSDOREF,
ANNETTE; IRVING, AMY
Norma Baumel Joseph*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Concordia
University, Montreal, Canada: BAR
MITZVAH, BAT MITZVAH; GOLDSTEIN,
ELYSE; ROBACK, LEA
Alfred Jospe, Bnai Brith Hillel
Foundations, Washington, D.C.:
MENDELSSOHN, MOSES; STUDENTS’
MOVEMENTS, JEWISH; UNIVERSITIES
Raphael Jospe*, Ph.D.; Professor;
Researcher; Jewish Philosophy
Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University:
BIBAGO, ABRAHAM BEN SHEM TOV;
FALAQUERA, SHEM TOV BEN JOSEPH IBN;
IBN EZRA, ABRAHAM BEN MEIR; JOSPE,
ALFRED; KAPLAN, MORDECAI MENAHEM;
LOVE; MAIMONIDEAN CONTROVERSY;
PEKARSKY, MAURICE BERNARD;
PHILOSOPHY, JEWISH; RAVITZKY,
AVIEZER; WAGNER, STANLEY M.
Martha Sharp Joukowsky”,
Professor Emerita, Brown
University, Director, Brown
University Petra Great Temple
Excavations, Providence, Rhode
Island: NABATEANS
Anthony Julius*, M.A., Ph.D.;
Solicitor, London: IRVING v. LIPSTADT
Leo Jung, Ph.D., Rabbi; Emeritus
Professor of Ethics, Yeshiva
University, New York: RABBINER-
SEMINAR FUER DAS ORTHODOXE
JUDENTUM
Hans Jungmann, M.D.; London,
England
David Jutan, Histadrut Ha-Ovedim
Ha-Leummit, Tel Aviv: HISTADRUT
HA-OVEDIM HA-LE’UMMIT
Jacob Kabakoff, B.A., D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Associate Professor of
Hebrew, the Herbert H. Lehman
College of the City University of
New York: MATZ, ISRAEL
Menahem Zevi Kaddari, Ph.D.;
Rector and Professor of Hebrew
Language, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: BEN ZE’EV, JUDAH LEIB;
ELIJAH BEN SOLOMON ZALMAN; KOHUT;
LOEW, IMMANUEL; NATONEK, JOSEPH;
RASHI; WIZEN, MOSHE AHARON
David Kadosh, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Assistant Professor of Jewish
Philosophy, Yeshiva University, New
York: ADAM; CATEGORIES; DECALOGUE;
MOSES
Sara Kadosh*, Ph.D.; Director of
JDC Archives, American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee,
Jerusalem: AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT
DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
Elieser Kagan, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Hebrew Language and Literature,
Haifa University: LEBENSOHN,
MICAH JOSEPH; LUZZATTO, EPHRAIM;
PAPPENHEIM, SOLOMON; SALKINSON,
ISAAC EDWARD
Saul Kagan, New York: COUNCIL OF
JEWS FROM GERMANY
Joseph Kage, Canada
Arcadius Kahan, Ph.D.; Professor
of Economics, the University
of Chicago: ECONOMIC HISTORY;
LIBERMAN, YEVSEY GRIGORYEVICH
Menahem I. Kahana’, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: MEKHILTA DEUTERONOMY;
MEKHILTA OF R. ISHMAEL; MEKHILTA
OF R. SIMEON BEN YOHAI; MIDRESHEI
HALAKHAH; SIFRA; SIFRE ZUTA
DEUTERONOMY; SIFRE ZUTA NUMBERS;
SIFREI; SIFREI NUMBERS
Isaac Ze'ev Kahane, Rabbi;
Professor of Talmud and of Jewish
History, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: ASHKENAZI, GERSHON; BOSKOVICE;
BRNO; BRUNA, ISRAEL BEN HAYYIM;
CHEB; EYLENBURG, ISSACHAR BAER
BEN ISRAEL LEISER PARNAS; HLADIK,
ABRAHAM; IVANCICE; UHERSKY
BROD
Penuel P. Kahane, Ph.D.;
Former Chief Curator of the
Samuel Bronfman Biblical and
Archaeological Museum, the
Israel Museum, Jerusalem:
ARCHAEOLOGISTS; BARNETT, LIONEL
DAVID; BAUMGARTEL, ELISE J.;
BIEBER, MARGARETE; BORCHARDT,
LUDWIG; DELOUGAZ, PIERRE PINCHAS;
FRANKFURT, HENRI; GHIRSHMAN,
ROMAN; GOLDMAN, HETTY; HANEMANN,
GEORGE MAXIM ANOSSOV; HIRSCHFELD,
GUSTAV; KLEIN, WILHELM; LEHMANN,
KARL; LEVI, DORO; LOEWY, EMANUEL;
WALSTON, SIR CHARLES; WEINBERG,
SAUL S.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Jacqueline Kahanoff, M.A.; Writer,
Tel Aviv: MEMMI, ALBERT; PEGUY,
CHARLES-PIERRE
Ezer Kahanov, M.A.; Teacher,
Researcher in Jewish History:
SEPHARDIM
Moshe Kahanovich, Journalist, Tel
Aviv
Ava F. Kahn*, Ph.D.; Historian,
California Studies Center, Berkeley,
California: CALIFORNIA; FEINSTEIN,
DIANNE GOLDMAN; KAHN, FLORENCE
PRAG; MAGNIN, MARY ANN COHEN
Benjamin Kahn, M.H.L., Rabbi;
International Director of the
Bnai Brith Hillel Foundations,
Washington, D.C.: MONSKY, HENRY
Catherine (C.) Kahn’, Archivist,
Touro Infirmary Archives, New
Orleans: LOUISIANA; NEW ORLEANS
Gilbert N. Kahn”, Ph.D.; Professor,
Kean University, Union, New Jersey:
HOENLEIN, MALCOLM; LOOKSTEIN,
HASKEL; LOOKSTEIN, JOSEPH HYMAN
Leybl Kahn, M.A.; Bibliographer,
New York: FISHMAN, JOSHUA AARON;
SCHAECHTER, MORDKHE
Lily O. (Okalani) Kahn’*, M.A.,
Ph.D.; Lecturer in Hebrew and
Yiddish, University College,
London, England: EPSTEIN, MELECH;
TENENBAUM, JOSHUA; WARSHAVSKY,
YAKIR; YUD, NAHUM
Ludwig W. Kahn, Ph.D.; Professor
of German, Columbia University,
New York: FRAENKEL, JONAS; STRICH,
FRITZ
Sholom Jacob Kahn, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in English and American
Literature, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ANGOFE, CHARLES;
MALAMUD, BERNARD
Kathleen Kahrl*: sACRAMENTO
Aryeh-Leib Kalish, Jerusalem:
CHELM; JOLLES, JACOB ZEVI BEN
NAPHTALI; ZEMBA, MENAHEM; ZHOLKVA
Frances R. Kallison, B.A.; San
Antonio, Texas: SAN ANTONIO
Menachem Kallus*, Ph.D.;
Independent Researcher, Writer and
103
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Translator, Alumnus of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: SHABBETAI
BEN TZVI HIRSCH OF RASZKOW
Emil Kalo*, Ph.D.; Philosopher,
President of the Organization of
the Jews in Bulgaria "Shalom",
Bulgaria: BULGARIA; BULGARIAN
LITERATURE; KOLAROVGRAD;
KYUSTENDIL; NIKOPOL; PETROV, VALERI;
PLEVEN; PLOVDIV; RUSE; STARA ZAGORA;
VARNA; VIDIN; WAGENSTEIN, ANGEL
RAYMOND
Isaac Kalugai, M.Sc.; Emeritus
Professor of Chemistry, the
Technion, Haifa: JOFFE, ABRAHAM
FEODOROVICH
Roger Kamien, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Music, Queens College
of the City University of New York:
SCHENKER, HEINRICH
Stewart Kampel*, B.B.A., M.S.;
Freelance Writer, Editor, East
Northport, New York; Wellington,
Florida: ABRAMS, FLOYD M.; ACE,
GOODMAN; ADLER, HARRY CLAY;
ADLER, RENATA; ADLER, RICHARD;
ADLER, STELLA; ALEXANDER, JASON;
ALLEN, PAUL G.; ALTER, ELEANOR B.;
ARBUS, DIANE; ARNOLD, EVE; AVEDON,
RICHARD; AZENBERG, EMANUEL; BAKSHI,
RALPH; BALLMER, STEVE; BANKERS AND
BANKING; BEN-AMI, JACOB; BENNETT,
MICHAEL; BEN-VENISTE, RICHARD;
BERGER, SAMUEL R.; BERNAYS, EDWARD
L.; BERNSTEIN, CARL; BERNSTEIN,
ELMER; BIALKIN, KENNETH J.; BING,
ILSE; BLANK, ARTHUR M.; BLITZER,
WOLF; BLOCK, H. & R.; BLOCK, HERBERT
LAWRENCE; BLOOMBERG, MICHAEL R.;
BLOOMGARDEN, KERMIT; BLUHDORN,
CHARLES G.; BOCK, JERRY; BOESKY,
IVAN FREDERICK; BOURKE-WHITE,
MARGARET; BREITEL, CHARLES; BRIN,
SERGEY; BROAD, ELI; BRODER, DAVID
SALZER; BRODY, JANE E.; BRUCE, LENNY;
BUSCH, CHARLES; CAHN, SAMMY; CAPA,
CORNELL; CAPA, ROBERT; CAPP, AL;
CARTOONISTS; CHAST, ROZ; CHERTOFF,
MICHAEL; CHOPER, JESSE H.; COHEN, H.
RODGIN; COLEMAN, CY; COPPERFIELD,
DAVID; CRUMB, ROBERT; CULLMAN;
CUTLER, BRUCE; DAVID, LARRY;
DAVIDSON, WILLIAM; DAVIS, MARVIN
H.; DELL, MICHAEL S.; DEPARTMENT
STORES; DILLER, BARRY; DOUGLAS, KIRK;
DYLAN, BOB; EISENSTAEDT, ALFRED;
EISNER, WILL; ELDER, WILL; ELISOFON,
ELIOT; ETTLINGER, MARION; FAIN,
SAMMY: FAIRSTEIN, LINDA A.; FRANK,
ROBERT; FRANKEL, MAX; FREED, ALAN;
104
FRIEDLANDER, LEE; FRIEDMAN, THOMAS
L.; FUNT, ALLEN; GABLER, MILTON;
GAINES, WILLIAM A.; GELB, ARTHUR;
GOLDBERG, RUBE; GOLDIN, DANIEL
SAUL; GOLDIN, NAN; GOLDWATER,
JOHN L.; GRAHAM, KATHARINE; GRANZ,
NORMAN; GREENBERG, MAURICE R.;
GROSSFELD, ABRAHAM ISRAEL; GROVE,
ANDREW STEPHEN; GURALNIK, DAVID
B.; HALSMAN, PHILIPPE; HARNICK,
SHELDON; HART, KITTY CARLISLE;
HART, LORENZ; HELMSLEY, LEONA;
HERMAN, JERRY; HERSH, SEYMOUR;
HEWITT, DON; HIRSCHFELD, AL; ICAHN,
CARL C.; ISAACS, SUSAN; JACOBI,
LOTTE; JACOBS, BERNARD B.; JACOBS,
IRWIN M.; JACOBSON, SYDNEY, BARON;
JOURNALISM; KAEL, PAULINE; KALB,
BERNARD; KALB, MARVIN; KALMAN,
MAIRA; KALMAN, TIBOR; KANE, BOB;
KANE, GIL; KANN, PETER R.; KARMAZIN,
MEL; KAUFMAN, ANDY; KELLERMAN,
FAYE; KELLERMAN, JONATHAN; KERTESZ,
ANDRE; KING, ALAN; KIRBY, JACK;
KISSINGER, HENRY ALFRED; KOPPEL,
TED; KOSNER, EDWARD A.; KRANTZ,
JUDITH; KURTZMAN, HARVEY; KUSHNER,
TONY; LAEMMLE, CARL; LANDESMAN,
ROCCO; LASKY, JESSE L.; LAVIN, LINDA;
LAWYERS; LAZARUS, MEL; LEE, STAN;
LEFRAK, SAMUEL J.; LEIBOVITZ, ANNIE;
LELYVELD, JOSEPH; LEVIN, IRA; LEVITT,
HELEN; LIMAN, ARTHUR L.; LORTEL,
LUCILLE; LOUIS-DREYFUS, JULIA;
LUBITSCH, ERNST; MACKLOWE, HARRY;
MARCUS, BERNARD; MARCUS, STANLEY;
MARKEL, LESTER; MARX BROTHERS;
MASON, JACKIE; MENDES, SAM; MERRICK,
DAVID; MEYEROWITZ, JOEL; MILKEN,
MICHAEL R.; MILSTEIN; NEUWIRTH, BEBE;
NEVINS, SHEILA; NEWTON, HELMUT;
NOVAK, ROBERT; PALTROW, GWYNETH;
PARKER, SARAH JESSICA; PATRICOF,
ALAN; PEARLSTINE, NORMAN; PENN,
IRVING; PLACHY, SYLVIA; PLAIN, BELVA;
POLLACK, MILTON; PRITZKER; PUBLIC
RELATIONS; RAGEN, NAOMI; RAND, AYN;
RANDALL, TONY; RATNER, BRUCE C.;
REINHARDT, MAX; REMNICK, DAVID;
RICH, MARC; RICHARDS, MARTIN; RINGL
+ PIT; ROBBINS, HAROLD; ROBERTS, TONY;
ROBINSON, EDWARD G.; RODGERS, MARY;
ROSENTHAL, A.M.; ROSS, LILLIAN; ROSS,
STEPHEN; RUBIN, GAIL; RUDIN; SAKS,
GENE; SAND, LEONARD B.; SCHANBERG,
SYDNEY H.; SCHARY, DORE; SCHECK,
BARRY; SCHENKER, JOEL W.; SCHNEIDER,
IRVING; SCHORR, DANIEL; SCHULTZ,
HOWARD; SCHWARTZ, STEPHEN;
SCHWIMMER, DAVID; SHAPIRO, IRVING
SAUL; SHAPIRO, ROBERT; SHEINDLIN,
JUDITH; SHELDON, SIDNEY; SHEVELOVE,
BURT; SHUSTER, JOE; SIEBERT, MURIEL;
SIEGEL, JERRY; SILVERSTEIN, LARRY;
SIMON; SIMONS, JAMES H.; SOKOLOEF,
PHIL; SPIEGELMAN, ART; SPIELVOGEL,
CARL; STEEL, DANIELLE; STEIG, WILLIAM;
STEIN, JOSEPH; STEINBERG, SAUL;
STEINHARDT, MICHAEL H.; STERN,
LEONARD; STERNBERG, JOSEF VON;
STIEGLILTZ, ALFRED; STINE, R.L.; STONE,
PETER; STRAND, PAUL; STRAUS, ROGER,
JR.; STYNE, JULE; SUSANN, JACQUELINE;
TAUBMAN, A. ALFRED; TAYMOR, JULIE;
THEATER; TISCH; TISHMAN; TRIBE,
LAURENCE H.; TRILLIN, CALVIN;
TRILLING, DIANA; TUROW, SCOTT;
ULLSTEIN; VESZI, JOZSEF; VOLCKER,
PAUL A.; VORENBERG, JAMES; WALLACE,
IRVING; WARNER; WASSER, DENNIS M.;
WASSERSTEIN, BRUCE; WEEGEE; WEISS,
MELVYN L.; WEISSLER, BARRY and FRAN;
WILDER, BILLY; WILPON, FRED; WINKLER,
IRWIN; WINOGRAND, GARRY; WYNN,
STEVE; ZUCKER, JEFF; ZUCKERMAN,
MORTIMER
Mordechai Kamrat, Ph.D.;
Educator, Jerusalem: ULPANIM
Yuval Kamrat, Jerusalem:
ADRAMMELECH; AHIMELECH; ESAU;
GAD; GESHEM, GASHMU; NINEVEH;
SHAPHAN; ZADOK
Yosef Kanefsky*, M.S., Rabbi, B’nai
David-Judea Congregation, Los
Angeles: WEISS, AVI
Izhak Kaney, M.A.; Director of
the Social and Economic Research
Institute, Tel Aviv: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: HEALTH, WELFARE, AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Joshua Kaniel (Mershine), M.A.;
Instructor in Jewish History,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
JERUSALEM; MENAHEM MENDEL OF
SHKLOV
Abram Kanof, M.D.; Physician and
Art Historian; Professor of Pediatrics,
the State University of New York -
Downstate Medical Center at
Brooklyn; Former President of the
American Jewish Historical Society,
New York: HAYS, DANIEL PEIXOTTO;
HORWITZ, PHINEAS JONATHAN; LEVY,
JONAS PHILLIPS; LEVY, URIAH PHILLIPS;
PASSOVER; SABBATH; SUKKOT
Arvid S. Kapelrud, Theol.D.;
Professor of Biblical Language and
Literature, the University of Oslo:
MOWINCKEL, SIGMUND OLAF PLYTT
E. Kapitaikin: KALIK, MIKHAIL
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Dana Evan Kaplan*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Temple Bnai Israel, Albany: REFORM
JUDAISM
Jacob Kaplan, Ph.D.; Director of
the Museum of Antiquities of Tel
Aviv-Yaffo: CHEMICAL CRAFTS AND
INDUSTRIES; METALS AND MINING; SALT
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Joseph Kaplan, M.A., Assistant
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ARAGAO,
FERNAO XIMENES DE; ARBUES, PEDRO
DE; ARRABY MOOR; CONTRACTORS;
FALAQUERA; HIRSCHHORN, SAMUEL;
KOLISCHER, HEINRICH; MORTEIRA, SAUL
LEVI; NAHMANIDES; PABLO DE SANTA
MARIA; SENEOR, ABRAHAM
Marion Kaplan*, Ph.D.; Skirball
Professor of Modern Jewish History,
New York University
Mordechai Kaplan, M.Eng.;
Lieutenant Colonel (Res.), Israel
Defense Forces, Tel Aviv: ASCOLI,
ETTORE; BLOCH, CLAUDE; DASSAULT,
DARIUS PAUL; KLEIN, JULIUS; KREISER,
JACOB GRIGORYEVICH; LAMBERT,
AIME; MEKHLIS, LEV ZAKHAROVICH;
SCHWEITZER, EDUARD VON; SEE,
LEOPOLD; SELIGMAN, HERBERT SPENCER;
SHMUSHKEVICH, YAACOV; SINGER,
JOSEPH; SOMMER, EMIL; VALABREGUE,
MARDOCHEE GEORGES
Steve Kaplan, Ph.D.; Harry S.
Truman Research Center, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BETA ISRAEL; BOGALE, YONA
Yehiel Kaplan*, Dr.Jur.; Senior
Lecturer in Law, University of Haifa:
PARENT AND CHILD; TAKKANOT;
TORTS
Zvi Kaplan, Encyclopaedia
Hebraica, Jerusalem: ABBA BAR AHA;
ABBA BEN ABBA HA-KOHEN; ABBA
YOSE BEN HANIN; AHA BAR HANINA;
AHA BEN JACOB; AHERIM; AIBU; AMMI
BAR NATHAN; AMRAM HASIDA; ANAN;
ANIMALS, CRUELTY TO; ARONSON,
SOLOMON; AVDAN; AVDIMI BAR HAMA;
AVIA; AVIMI, AVIMI BEN ABBAHU; AVIRA;
AZARIAH; BAITOS BEN ZONIN; BAR
MITZVAH, BAT MITZVAH; BAR-ILAN,
MEIR; BATHYRA, SONS OF; BATLANIM;
BAVA BEN BUTA; BEBAI; BEN AZZAI,
SIMEON; BEN BAG BAG; BEN HE HE; BEN
KALBA SAVU’A; BEN PETURA; BEN ZIZIT
HA-KASAT; BEN ZOMA, SIMEON; BENA’AH;
BERECHIAH; BERLIN, NAPHTALI ZEVI
JUDAH; BEZAH; BLAU, MOSHE; DESSLER,
ELIJAH ELIEZER; ERUV; GORDON,
ELIEZER; GRAJEWSKI, ARYEH LEIB;
HALAFTA; HALAFTA BEN SAUL; HAMA;
HAMA BAR BISA; HAMNUNA; HANA BAR
HANILAI; HANA BEN BIZNA; HANAN THE
EGYPTIAN; HANANIAH; HANANIAH BEN
HAKHINAI; HANANIAH OF SEPPHORIS;
HANINA BAR HAMA; HANINA BAR
PAPA; HANINA BEN ABBAHU; HANINA
BEN ANTIGONUS; HANINA BEN DOSA;
HANINA BEN GAMALIEL; HANINA SEGAN
HA-KOHANIM; HARLAP, JACOB MOSES
BEN ZEBULUN; HELBO; HEZEKIAH;
HIDKA; HIRSCHENSOHN; HIYYA; HIYYA
BAR ABBA; HIYYA BAR AVIN; HUNA BEN
JOSHUA; HUNA OF SEPPHORIS; ILAI;
ISAAC; ISAAC BAR JOSEPH; ISAAC BAR
RAV JUDAH; JOHANAN BEN BEROKA;
JOHANAN BEN GUDGADA; JOSHUA BEN
GAMLA; JOSHUA BEN LEVI; JUDAH BAR
EZEKIEL; JUDAH BAR ILAI; JUDAH BAR
SHALOM; JUDAH BAR SIMEON; JUDAH
BEN HIYYA; JUDAH BEN NAHAMANI;
MEIR BEN SAMUEL OF RAMERUPT;
SONNENFELD, JOSEPH HAYYIM BEN
ABRAHAM SOLOMON; TARFON; TEMPLE
MOUNT; WERTHEIMER, SOLOMON
AARON; ZECHARIAH BEN AVKILUS;
ZEEIRA
Charles I. Kapralik, Dr. iur.;
London: CENTRAL BRITISH FUND;
JEWISH SUCCESSOR ORGANIZATIONS
Israel J. Kapstein, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of English Literature,
Brown University, Providence,
Rhode Island: PERELMAN, SIDNEY
JOSEPH
Samuel E. Karff, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Jewish Thought and
American Culture, Divinity School,
the University of Chicago: HIRSCH,
EMIL GUSTAVE
Abraham J. Karp, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Historian, and Visiting Associate
Professor of Jewish History, the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, New York: BURSTEIN,
ABRAHAM
Alan Karpas, Jerusalem: sTAMPS
Heinrich Karplus, M.D.; Associate
Professor of Forensic Medicine,
the Hebrew University - Hadassah
Medical School, Jerusalem;
Director of the Institute of Forensic
Medicine, Tel Aviv: EMBALMING
Reuben Kashani, Journalist,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Jerusalem: BURIAL; DEATH; MAIMUNA;
MARRIAGE
Asa Kasher, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Mathematics and Philosophy,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
LEIBOWITZ, YESHAYAHU
Hannah Kasher*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: ABRAHAM; FEAR OF GOD;
INCLINATION, GOOD AND EVIL; KASPI,
JOSEPH BEN ABBA MARI IBN; LOVE
Aharon Kashtan, Ing., M.A.;
Associate Professor of Architecture
and Town Planning, the Technion,
Haifa: SYNAGOGUE
Alvin Kass, M.A., M.H.L. Rabbi;
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
of the City University of New York:
ADLER, MORRIS; ARZT, MAX; ASHER,
JOSEPH MICHAEL; COMMUNITY TOKENS;
UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF CONSERVATIVE
JUDAISM
Abraham I. Katsh, Ph.D.; President
Emeritus of Dropsie University,
Philadelphia: KAPLAN, CHAIM ARON
E. (Ethan) Katsh*, J.D.; Professor
of Legal Studies, University
of Massachusetts at Amherst,
Massachusetts: KATSH, ABRAHAM ISAAC
Jacob Katsnelson, Lecturer in
Climatology, Tel Aviv University;
Director of the Climatology
Division, Israel Meteorological
Service, Bet Dagan, Israel: DEw;
RAIN
Bernard (M.L.) Katz*, M.A., B.L.S.;
Librarian, University of Guelph,
Toronto, Canada: SAFDIE, SYLVIA
Chava Alkon Katz, Writer,
Jerusalem: ZIONISM
Dovid Katz*, B.A., Ph.D.; Professor
of Yiddish Language, Literature
and Culture; Director of Research,
Vilnius University, Lithuania: KATZ,
MENKE; KERLER, DOV-BER
Elena (M.) Katz*, Ph.D., Dr;
University College, London,
England: sHRAYBMAN, YEKHIEL
Elias Katz, Rabbi; Former Rabbi
of Bratislava, Czechoslovakia,
Beersheba: BRODY, SOLOMON ZALMAN
BEN ISRAEL; ISRAEL MOSES BEN ARYEH
105
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
LOEB; JACOB BEN ABRAHAM SOLOMON;
JACOB ISAAC BEN SHALOM; JOSEPH BEN
MOSES PHINEHAS; JOSEPH BEN ZE'EV
WOLF HA-LEVI; JUDAH BEN JACOB HA-
KOHEN
Emily Alice Katz*, M. Phil; The
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, Princeton, New Jersey:
ABARBANELL, LINA
Harold E. Katz, M.A., A.C.S.W;
Executive Director of the Jewish
Community Council, Birmingham,
Alabama
Irving I. Katz, B.A., B.B.A., ET.A.;
Detroit, Michigan: BUTZEL; DETROIT;
FRANKLIN, LEO MORRIS; FRANKS, JACOB;
HERSHMAN, ABRAHAM M.; SOLOMON,
EZEKIEL
Israel J. Katz*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, University of California
at Davis: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
JEWISH MUSIC; GREECE; HEMSI, ALBERTO;
IDELSOHN, ABRAHAM ZVI; LADINO; LIST,
GEORGE HAROLD; SCHINDLER, KURT;
SOLA, ABRAHAM DE; WEISSER, ALBERT;
WERNER, ERIC; WINTERNITZ, EMANUEL;
YASSER, JOSEPH
Jacob Katz, Dr. Phil.; Rector and
Professor of Social Jewish History,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ZIONISM
Katriel Katz, Ambassador, Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
SHILOAH, REUBEN
Meir Katz, Ph.D.; Musicologist,
Jerusalem: WIENIAWSKI, HENRI
Nathan Katz*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Dept. of Religious Studies, Florida
International University: INDIA;
KOCHI; MOTA, NEHEMIA
Simha Katz, M.A.; Associate
Editor, Encyclopaedia Judaica, and
former General Associate Editor,
Encyclopaedia Hebraica, Jerusalem:
AXELROD, PAVEL BORISOVICH; BAAL-
MAKHSHOVES; BAKU; BAUSKA; BOGROV,
DMITRI; BORISOV; BUSEL, JOSEPH;
BYKHOV; ELIJAH BEN ABRAHAM; ENGEL,
JOEL; GALICIA; GRUSENBERG, OSCAR
OSIPOVICH; GUENZBURG; GUENZBURG;
HALICZ; HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL;
ISSERLEIN, ISRAEL BEN PETHAHIAH;
OCTOBRISTS; ORSHANSKI, ILYA
GRIGORYEVICH; STEINBERG, ISAAC
NAHMAN
106
Steven T. Katz*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Religion, Director, Elie Wiesel
Center for Judaic Studies, Boston
University: AGUS, JACOB B.; HOLOCAUST
Nathaniel Katzburg, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Jewish
History, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: HALUKKAH; HUNGARY; JEREMIAH
BEN ISAAC; KITTSEE, HAYYIM BEN ISAAC;
KITTSEE, JEHIEL MICHAEL BEN SAMUEL;
KUNSTADT, ISAAC BEN ELIEZER LIPMAN;
ONODY, GEZA; ORTHODOXY; RIVLIN,
YOSEF YIZHAK
Joy Katzen-Guthrie*, B.EA., B.A.;
Professional Writer and Recording
Artist/Composer/Lyricist/Vocalist/
Pianist/Speaker/Historian/Heritage
Tour Operator: ALASKA
H. Jacob Katzenstein, Ph.D.;
Director of the Schocken Library,
Jerusalem: HIRAM; JEZEBEL; PHOENICIA,
PHOENICIANS; SCHOCKEN INSTITUTE
Gideon Katznelson, M.A.; Lecturer
in Modern Hebrew Literature, Tel
Aviv University: LAMDAN, YIZHAK;
SHALOM, SHIN; SHOFMAN, GERSHON
Asher Kaufman’, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor, University of Notre
Dame, Indiana: ARAB LEAGUE
Edy Kaufman, Ph.D.; Jerusalem:
STUDENTS’ MOVEMENTS, JEWISH
Uri (Robert) Kaufmann’, Ph.D.;
Historian, Wissenschaftliche
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Leo Baeck
Institut, Heidelberg, Germany:
AARGAU; BASLE; BERNE; BIEL; BLOCH,
ROLF; COHN; DREIFUSS, RUTH; DREYFUS;
FARBSTEIN, DAVID; FEIGEL, SIGI;
FRIBOURG; GENEVA; GOETSCHEL, JULES;
GUGGENHEIM, CAMILLE; GUGGENHEIM,
PAUL; GUGGENHEIM-GRUENBERG,
FLORENCE; HERSCH, JEANNE; LA CHAUX-
DE-FONDS; LAUSANNE; LUCERNE;
SCHACHNOWITZ, SELIG; SCHAFFHAUSEN;
STRECKEUSS, ADOLF FRIEDRICH KARL;
SWITZERLAND; TEITLER, SAMUEL;
ZURICH
Ben G. Kayfetz, B.A.; Executive
Director of National Joint
Community Relations Committee,
Canadian Jewish Congress and Bai
Brith, Toronto: BENNETT, ARCHIE;
CROLL, DAVID ARNOLD; DAVID; DE SOLA;
FEUER, LEWIS SAMUEL; FRANKLIN, SELIM;
FREIMAN; GELBER; GRAUBART, JUDAH
LEIB; HART, AARON; HART, BENJAMIN;
HART, EZEKIEL; HART, SAMUEL; LEWIS,
DAVID; RHINEWINE, ABRAHAM;
SALSBERG, JOSEPH B.; SASKATCHEWAN
Gad Kaynar’*, Dr.; Senior Lecturer,
Department of Theater Studies, Tel
Aviv University: HEBREW LITERATURE,
MODERN; ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL
LIFE
Rudolf Kayser, Dr.Phil.; Assistant
Professor of Germanic Language
and Literature, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts: ADLER,
PAUL; BAB, JULIUS; BIEBER, HUGO;
BRUCKNER, FERDINAND; FRANK,
BRUNO; GEIGER, LUDWIG; GERMAN
LITERATURE; GUMPERT, MARTIN; HAAS,
WILLY; HEILBORN, ERNST; HERMANN,
GEORG; HOLITSCHER, ARTHUR; KAHANE,
ARTHUR; KASTEIN, JOSEF; KERR, ALFRED;
KISCH, EGON ERWIN; KORNFELD, PAUL;
LANDSBERGER, ARTHUR; LEONHARD,
RUDOLF; MEHRING, WALTER; MEYER,
RICHARD MORITZ; NEUMANN, ALFRED;
PUBLISHING; REHFISCH, HANS JOSE;
ROTH, JOSEPH; RUBINER, LUDWIG;
SEGHERS, ANNA; WOLFENSTEIN, ALFRED
Stephen Kayser, Ph.D.; Former
Curator of the Jewish Museum, New
York; Los Angeles, California
Chaim S. Kazdan, the Jewish
Teachers’ Seminary, New York:
EDUCATION, JEWISH
Hillel Kazovsky*: ABERDAM, ALFRED;
ADLER, JANKEL; ADLIVANKIN, SAMUIL;
AIZENBERG, NINA; ALTMAN, NATHAN;
ANISFELD, BORIS; APPELBAUM, MOSHE;
ART: EASTERN EUROPE; AXELROD,
MEYER; BARCINSKY, HENRYK; BENN;
BERLEWI, HENRYK; BRAUNER, ISAAC;
BRAZ, OSIP; BRAZER, ABRAM; BRODSKIL,
ISAAK; CENTERSZWER, STANISLAWA
Nissim Kazzaz*, Ph.D.; Retired
Academic, Omer, Israel: BAGHDAD;
IRAQ; MOSUL; ZAKHO
Batya Kedar, Jerusalem:
NETHERWORLD
Benjamin Kedar, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Biblical Studies, Haifa University:
BIBLE
Zvi Kedar, M.A.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
Martha Keil*, Dr.; Institut fiir
Geschichte der Juden in Osterreich,
St. Polten, Austria: BANKERS AND
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BANKING; ISSERLEIN, ISRAEL BEN
PETHAHIAH
Jacob Kelemer, Jerusalem: PARAH;
PE’AH
Hermann Kellenbenz, Dr. Phil.;
Professor of Economic and Social
History, the University of Cologne:
BANKERS AND BANKING; COURT JEWS:
SPICE TRADE; TRADE AND COMMERCE
Mark Keller, Rutgers University,
New Brunswick, New Jersey:
DRUNKENNESS
Sharon (Ruth) Keller*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor, Bible and
Ancient Semitic Languages, The
Jewish Theological Seminary, New
York: EGYPT
Menachem Kellner*, Ph.D.;
Professor, University of Haifa:
SCHWARZSCHILD, STEVEN SAMUEL
Wolfe Kelman, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Executive Vice President, Rabbinical
Assembly, New York: LEVY, FELIX
ALEXANDER; MORGENSTERN, SOMA;
RABBI, RABBINATE
Aaron Kempinski, M.A., Lecturer
in Ancient Near Eastern History and
Archaeology; Tel Aviv University:
LYDIA, LYDIANS
Robert M.W. Kempner, LL.D.;
Jurist and Chief Prosecutor,
Nuremberg War Crimes Trials;
Lansdowne, Pennsylvania: LAWYERS
Isaiah L. Kenen, LL.B.; Executive
Director of the American-Israel
Public Affairs Committee,
Washington, D.C.: UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
Sharon Kenigsberg*: LONG BEACH
Andreas Kennecke*, Dr.Phil.;
Research Assistant, University
of Potsdam, Germany:
SCHLEIERMACHER, FRIEDRICH
Moshe Kerem, M.4A.; Lecturer
in Education, Haifa University;
Kibbutz Gesher ha-Ziv: KIBBUTZ
MOVEMENT
Yitzchak Kerem”, Professor,
Aristotle University, Thessalonika,
Greece; Lecturer and Researcher,
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
ALHANATI, DAVID; ANGEL, MARC
D.; ARDITI, ALBERT JUDAH; ARTA;
ATHENS; BELLELI, LAZARUS MENAHEM;
BENSANCHI, MENTESH; CAIMIS, JULIUS;
CANEA; CHIOS; COHEN, JOSEPH ISAAC;
CORCOS, DAVID; CORCOS, STELLA;
CORFU; CUOMOTINI; DALVEN, RACHEL;
DIDYMOTEIKHON; DRAMA; ELAZAR,
DANIEL J.; ELAZAR, YAAKOV; ELIYIA,
JOSEPH; FRANCO, AVRAHAM; FRANCO,
MOSES; GREECE; GREEK LITERATURE,
MODERN; IOANNINA; KASTORIA;
KAVALLA; KORETZ, ZVI; KOS; LARISSA;
MAESTRO, YAAKOV; MATSAS, JOSEPH;
MATSAS, NESTORAS; MOLHO, ISAAC
RAPHAEL; NAUPAKTOS; NEHAMA, JOSEPH;
NOVITCH, MIRIAM; PATRAS; PHLORINA;
RAZON, JACKO; RECANATI, ABRAHAM
SAMUEL; RHODES; SALEM, EMMANUEL
RAPHAEL; SALONIKA; SCHIBY, BARUCH;
SCIAKI, JOSEPH; SEPHARDIM; SERRAT;
TRIKKALA; UZIEL, BARUCH; VEROIA;
VOLOS; WORLD SEPHARDI FEDERATION;
ZANTE
Dov-Ber Kerler*, B.A., Dr.Phil.;
Dr. Alice Field Cohn Chair in
Yiddish Studies, Borns Jewish
Studies Program and Department
of Germanic Studies, Indiana
University, Bloomington; Director
of Indiana University Yiddish
Ethnographic Project, Bloomington:
KATZ, DOVID; KERLER, YOYSEF
Elton J. Kerness, M.S.W.; Executive
Director of the Jewish Community
Council of Eastern Union County,
New Jersey
Anne J. Kershen, M.Phil.; Barnet
Shine Senior Research Fellow and
Director, Centre for the Study
of Migration, Queen Mary and
Westfield College, University of
London: LONDON
Solomon Kerstein, Vice President,
Bloch Publishing Company, New
York: PUBLISHING
Margery (Helen) Kerstine*, M.A.;
Archivist, Temple Israel, Memphis:
SAMFIELD, MAX
J. Yeshurun Kesheth, Writer and
Critic, Jerusalem: CAHAN, YAAKOV
Carole S. Kessner*, Ph.D.;
Professor, State University of New
York at Stony Brook: EISENSTEIN,
JUDITH KAPLAN; LAZARUS, EMMA;
SYRKIN, MARIE; WEISS-ROSMARIN,
TRUDE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Ruth Kestenberg-Gladstein, Ph.D.;
External Teacher in the History of
the Jewish People, Haifa University:
BASSEVI OF TREUENBERG, JACOB;
FAMILIANTS LAWS; HUSSITES
Geoffrey Khan, Ph.D.; Research
Assistant, Genizah Unit, Cambridge
University Library: GENIZAH, CAIRO
Dan Kharuv, Ph.D.; Editor, The
Shorter Jewish Encyclopaedia in
Russian, Jerusalem: KRIMCHAKS
Herman Kieval, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Visiting Associate Professor
of Practical Theology; Visiting
Assistant Professor of Liturgy,
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, New York: BAREKHU;
BARUKH; KOL NIDREI; NE’ILAH; PESUKEI
DE-ZIMRA
Andreas Kilcher*, Professor,
Universitat Tiibingen, Deutsches
Seminar, Tiibingen, Germany: BEN-
CHORIN, SCHALOM; BENJAMIN, WALTER;
CANETTI, ELIAS; DOEBLIN, ALFRED;
EHRENSTEIN, ALBERT; GOLDSTEIN,
MORITZ; GUNDOLF, FRIEDRICH; HAAS,
WILLY; HESSEL, FRANZ; HILSENRATH,
EDGAR; HONIGMANN, BARBARA; KOLMAR,
GERTRUD; KORNFELD, PAUL; KROJANKER,
GUSTAV; LASKER-SCHUELER, ELSE;
LESSING, THEODOR; MARGUL-SPERBER,
ALFRED; MAUTHNER, FRITZ; MEHRING,
WALTER; MORGENSTERN, SOMA;
MYNONA; REICH-RANICKI, MARCEL
Andreas Kilian*, M.A.; Frankfurt,
Germany: SONDERKOMMANDO, JEWISH
Joseph Kilinghofer
Israel Kimhi*, M.A.; Geographer
and Town Planner, Head of the
Research Division on Jerusalem, The
Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies,
and the Hebrew University School
for Urban and Regional Studies,
Jerusalem: JERUSALEM
Arie Kindler, Director of the
Kadman Numismatic Museum,
Tel Aviv: COINS AND CURRENCY;
JUDENPFENNIGE; MERZBACHER; SHEKEL
Stephen D. Kinsey*, M.A.; Middle
School Teacher, J.W. Fair Middle
School, San Jose, California: SAN JOSE
Mark Kipnis, M.A.; Scientific
Editor, Jewish Personalities
Division of The Shorter Jewish
107
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Encyclopaedia in Russian, Jerusalem:
CRIMEAN AFFAIR; GEKHT, SEMEN
GRIGOREVICH; GOTS; GRULEV, MIKHAIL
VLADIMIROVICH; GUKOVSKY, GRIGORY
ALEKSANDROVICH; KIPEN, ALEKSANDR
ABRAMOVICH; KNUT, DOVID; KOLTSOV,
MIKHAIL; KOMZET; LOTMAN, YURI
MIKHAILOVICH; LOYTER, EFRAIM
BARUKHOVICH; ZEMLYACHKA, ROZALIYA
SAMOYLOVNA
Aaron Kirschenbaum, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Associate Professor of Jewish
Law, Tel Aviv University: DOMICILE;
LEGAL MAXIMS; LEGAL PERSON;
MEHILAH; ORPHAN, ORPHANAGE;
SHPBUDA DE-RABBI NATHAN
Robert Kirschner*, Ph.D.; Los
Angeles, California: HERSCHER,
URI DAVID; HOLOCAUST: SPIRITUAL
RESISTANCE IN THE GHETTOS AND
CONCENTRATION CAMPS; SKIRBALL
CULTURAL CENTER
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett*,
Ph.D.; Professor of Performance
Studies, and Affiliated Professor
of Hebrew and Judaic Studies,
New York University, New York:
COOKBOOKS, JEWISH
Shimshon Leib Kirshenboim,
Ph.D.; Educator, Jerusalem:
DZIALOSZYCE; KALUSZYN; KATOWICE;
KOLO; KOLOMYYA; KONSKIE; KOVEL;
KREMENETS; KROSNO; KROTOSZYN;
KUTNO; LESKOW; LESSER POLAND;
LIPNO; LODZ; LUBLIN; LUTSK; MINSK
MAZOWIECKI, NAROL; NASIELSK;
OZORKOW; PABIANICE; PEREMYSHLYANY;
PIASECZNO; PLONSK; PODGAITSY;
PODKAMEN; PODVOLOCHISK; PRUZHANY;
PRZEDBORZ; PRZEMYSL; PRZEWORSK;
PRZYSUCHA; RADYMNO; RADZYMIN;
RADZYN; ROGATIN; ROPCZYCE;
RYMANOW; RYPIN; SASOV; SATANOV;
SHARGOROD; SOKOLOW PODLASKI;
STASZOW; STOPNICA; STRYKOW;
SZCZEBRZESZYN; TYKOCIN; WLODAWA;
WOLOMIN; WRONKI; WYSZOGROD;
ZAWIERCIE; ZMIGROD NOWY; ZWOLEN;
ZYCHLIN
Meir Jacob Kister, Ph.D.; Professor
of Arabic Language and Literature,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
HADITH
Menahem Kister*: AVOT DE-RABBI
NATHAN
Melissa (R.) Klapper*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of History,
108
Rowan University, Glassboro, New
Jersey: HASSENFELD, SYLVIA KAY
Manfred Klarberg, M.A.;
Department of Humanities,
Footscray College of Technology,
Footscray, Victoria, Australia: AARON
BEN SAMUEL
Traci M. Klass*, Ph.D.; Visiting
Faculty, English, University of
Florida, Wellington, Florida: Moss,
CELIA and MARION
Jacob Klatzkin, Dr.Phil.;
Philosopher and Editor in Chief
of the Encyclopaedia Judaica
(Germany); Berlin: ARMILUS;
AUGUSTINE; INFORMERS
Israel Klausner, Ph.D.; Historian
and former Deputy Director of
the Central Zionist Archives,
Jerusalem: BEN-AMMI, MORDECAI;
CAZALET, EDWARD; DEMOCRATIC
FRACTION; ELIJAH BEN SOLOMON
ZALMAN; FRIEDLAND, NATAN; GLIKIN,
MOSHE; GROSSMAN, MEIR; JAFFE,
MORDECAI-GIMPEL; KATTOWITZ
CONFERENCE; KRAUSE, ELIYAHU; LIPPE,
KARPEL; MINSK CONFERENCE; MUYAL,
AVRAHAM; NES ZIYYONAH; NETTER,
CHARLES; NEWLINSKI, PHILIPP MICHAEL;
ODESSA COMMITTEE; PINELES, SAMUEL;
SNEERSOHN, HAYYIM ZEVI; VILNA;
WEITZ, NAPHTALI
Joseph Gedaliah Klausner,
Dr. Phil. Emeritus Professor of
Hebrew Literature and of the
Second Temple Period, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ALEXANDER
SUSSKIND BEN MOSES OF GRODNO;
BEN-YEHUDA, ELIEZER; BERNFELD,
SIMON; ESCHATOLOGY; MASIE, AARON
MEIR; USSISHKIN, ABRAHAM MENAHEM
MENDEL
Yehuda Arye Klausner, Ph.D.;
Writer and Scholar, Jerusalem:
ACROSTICS; JUNOSZA, KLEMENS; MEZAH,
JOSHUA HA-LEVI; MICKIEWICZ, ADAM;
MULDER, SAMUEL ISRAEL; ORZESZKOWA,
ELIZA; PERETZ, ISAAC LEIB
Benjamin J. Klebaner, Ph.D.;
Professor of Economics, City
College of the City University of
New York: LIPSON, EPHRAIM
Claude Klein, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Law, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem:
LAWYERS
Hilel Klein, M.D.; Jerusalem:
FENICHEL, OTTO
Isaac Klein, Ph.D., Rabbi; Lecturer
in Philosophy, the State University
of New York at Buffalo: HOSCHANDER,
JACOB; HYAMSON, MOSES; MINHAGIM
BOOKS; RECANATI; ZAHALON
Jacqueline Klein*: pAssAIC-CLIFTON
Joseph Klein, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Biblical Literature,
Clark University, Worcester,
Massachusetts: WORCESTER
Nancy (H.) Klein*, M.A.; Retired,
Cincinnati: CINCINNATI; FEINBERG,
LOUIS; SCHMIDT, SAMUEL MYER
Robert B. Klein*, M.Ed.; English
Teacher; Freelance Journalist,
Yeshiva High School of Mitzpeh
Ramon, Israel: ROTH, MARK; RUDOLPH,
MARVIN; SAMPRAS, PETE; SCHAYES,
ADOLPH; SCHECKTER, JODY; SCHNEIDER,
MATHIEU; SELIG, ALLAN H.; SHERMAN,
ALEXANDER; SLUTSKAYA, IRINA;
SOLOMON, HAROLD; SPELLMAN,
FRANK; STERN, BILL; STILLMAN,
LOUIS; STRUG, KERRI; SZEKELY, EVA;
TANENBAUM, SIDNEY HAROLD;
ZASLOVSKY, MAX
Rudolf Klein*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Architecture, Tel Aviv University,
The David Azrieli School of
Architecture; Saint Steven
University, Yb] Miklos Faculty of
Architecture, Budapest: BAUMHORN,
LIPOT; SYNAGOGUE
Max M. Kleinbaum, M.A.;
American Jewish Congress,
Philadelphia: BERGEN COUNTY
Michael L. Klein-Katz, Rabbi;
Spiritual Leader, Teacher, and
Storyteller, Jerusalem
Heszel Klepfisz, Ph.D., Litt. D.,
Rabbi; Rector of the Instituto
Alberto Einstein; Professor of Judaic
Culture, the University of Panama
Jean (C.) Klerman’, B.A., M.L.S.;
Principal Librarian, Monmouth
County (retired), Co-President,
Jewish Heritage Museum of
Monmouth County, New Jersey:
MONMOUTH COUNTY
Bronia Klibanski, B.A.; Archivist,
Jerusalem: BIALYSTOK
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Ignacio Klich, Ph.D.; School
of Languages, Faculty of Law,
Languages and Communication,
University of Westminster, London:
ARGENTINA
Barnet David Klien, M.A., Rabbi;
Jerusalem: BARAITA OF 32 RULES
Sam Kliger*, Ph.D.; Director
of Russian Jewish Affairs, The
American Jewish Committee, New
York: NEW YORK CITY
Jerome Klinkowitz*, Ph.D.;
Professor of English, University of
Northern Iowa: APPLE, MAX
Alan Klugman”: PALM SPRINGS AND
DESERT AREA
Brian Knei-Paz (Knapheis), M.A.;
Instructor in Political Science, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BELOFF, MAX; BERLIN, SIR ISAIAH
Andrea Knight*, M.A.; Editor,
Toronto, Canada: FRUM; GRAFSTEIN,
JERAHMIEL S.; MORGENTALER, HENRY;
SHARP, ISADOR NATANIEL
Hugo Knoepfmacher, D.Jur.;
Government Official, Washington,
D.C.: NATIONALRAT; NEUZEIT, DIE;
PARLAMENTSKLUB, JUEDISCHER;
PICK, ALOIS; SEIPEL, IGNAZ; STEUSS,
DAVID; SZANTO, SIMON; UNION,
OESTERREICHISCH-ISRAELITISCHE;
VOLKSPARTEI, JUEDISCHE;
ZENTRALSTELLE DER FUERSORGE FUER
KRIEGSELUECHTLINGE
Harry Knopf, D.iur.Utr.; Advocate,
Tel Aviv: RESTITUTION AND
INDEMNIFICATION
Ann-Kristin Koch*, M.A.; Ph.D.;
Student, University of Tibingen,
Tubingen, Germany: AICHINGER,
ILSE; AMERY, JEAN; BROCH, HERMANN;
ELOESSER, ARTHUR; FRIED, ERICH; GOLL,
CLAIRE; GOLL, YVAN; JELINEK, ELFRIEDE;
KLEMPERER, VICTOR; LEWALD, FANNY;
TABORI, GEORG
Lionel Kochan, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Jewish History, the University of
Warwick, Coventry: KRISTALLNACHT
Moshe Kochavi, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Archaeology, Tel Aviv
University: EGYPT, BROOK OF; EPHRATH
David Koenigstein*, M.A.T.,
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
M.L.S.; Assistant Professor,
Librarian, Bronx Community
College of the City University of
New York: LEVERTOV, DENISE
Barry (Sherman) Kogan”,
M.A.H.L., Ph.D.; Efroymson
Professor of Philosophy and Jewish
Religious Thought, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati: CAUSE AND EFFECT
Mendel Kohansky, Theater critic,
Tel Aviv: BERNSTEIN-COHEN, MIRIAM;
HAIFA MUNICIPAL THEATER; HALEVY,
MOSHE; MERON, HANNA; MESKIN,
AHARON; OHEL; ROVINA, HANNA
Sami Kohen, M.A.; Journalist,
Istanbul
Shira Kohn’, Ph.D.; New York
University: HILLMAN, BESSIE “BAS
SHEVA” ABRAMOWITZ; NATHAN, MAUD
S. Joshua Kohn, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Trenton, New Jersey: NAAR, DAVID;
TRENTON
Yehudah Pinhas Leo Kohn, LL.D.;
Jurist and Diplomat, Jerusalem:
BRODETSKY, SELIG; HYDE, THOMAS
Moshe Kol, Minister of Tourism,
Jerusalem: HA-OVED HA-ZIYYONI
Israel Kolatt, Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer
in Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: LABOR
Yehuda Komlosh, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Senior Lecturer in Bible, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: SELLIN, ERNST;
TARGUM SHENI; WIENER, HAROLD
MARCUS; ZERAH BEN NATHAN OF TROKI
Eva Kondor, Jerusalem:
BAUMGARTEN, SANDOR; BOHM,
HENRIK; FREUND, VILMOS; HAJOS,
ALFRED; HEGEDUS, ARMIN; SEBESTYEN,
ARTUR; STERK, IZIDOR; HUNGARIAN
LITERATURE; JAKAB, DEZSO and KOMOR,
MARCELL; KARINTHY, FERENC; KERTESZ
IMRE; KONRAD, GYORGY; LAJTA, BELA;
MALNAI, BELA; QITTNER, ZSIGMOND;
SPIRO, GYORGY; SZENDE, STEFAN; VAGO,
JOZSEF; VAGO, LASZLO; VANDOR, LAJOS;
VAS, ISTVAN
Milton Ridvas Konvitz, Ph.D.;
Professor Emeritus of Industrial
and Labor Relations and of Law,
Cornell University, New York:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AUERBACH, CARL A.; BICKEL, ALEXANDER
M.; BOTEIN, BERNARD; DERSHOWITZ,
ALAN M.; DWORKIN, RONALD; FEINBERG,
ROBERT; FRIENDLY, HENRY JACOB;
GOLDMAN, PAUL L.; GOLDMAN, SIDNEY;
GOULD, MILTON S.; HELLER, BERNARD;
KAMPELMAN, MAX M.; LEVIN, A. LEO;
PILCH, JUDAH; SHEINKMAN, JACOB;
SILVER, EDWARD S.; WACHTLER, SOL;
WILENTZ, ROBERT N.; YANKOWICH, LEON
RENE; ZUKERMAN, JACOB T.
Lothar Kopf, Ph.D.; the Jewish
National and University Library,
Jerusalem: GERSHON BEN SOLOMON OF
ARLES; WEIL, GOTTHOLD
Lionel Koppman, M.A.;
Director, Public Information and
Publications, National Jewish
Welfare Board, New York
Nathan Koren, M.D.; Historian,
Jerusalem: ALBU, ISIDOR; BALLIN,
SAMUEL JACOB; MAGNUS, RUDOLPH
Sharon Faye Koren’, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Medieval
Jewish Culture, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
New York: SHEKHINAH
Yedidah Koren*: ARAKHIN;
BEKHOROT
William Korey, Ph.D.; Director
of the B’nai Brith United Nations
Office, New York: BABI YAR;
DISCRIMINATION; EISENMANN, LOUIS;
MITIN, MARK BORISOVICH; PIPES,
RICHARD EDGAR; YAROSLAVSKY,
YEMELYAN; ZINOVIEV, GRIGORI
YEVSEYEVICH
Bertram Wallace Korn, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Historian, Elkins Park,
Pennsylvania: ALABAMA; BENJAMIN,
JUDAH PHILIP; BONDI, AUGUST; BONDI,
JONAS; BUSH, ISIDOR; CRESSON, WARDER;
DAROEFF, SAMUEL H.; DROPSIE, MOSES
AARON; FLEISHER; GOTTHEIL, GUSTAV;
GRANT, ULYSSES SIMPSON; GREENFIELD,
ALBERT MONROE; GUTHEIM, JAMES
KOPPEL; HART, ABRAHAM; HART,
BERNARD; HART, EMANUEL BERNARD;
LEVY, MOSES ELIAS; LINCOLN, ABRAHAM;
LIT; LOUISIANA; MORWITZ, EDWARD;
MOSS, JOHN; PHILADELPHIA; PINNER,
MORITZ; SLAVE TRADE; TOURO, JUDAH;
UNION OF REFORM JUDAISM
Eli Kornreich*, B.A., M.S., M.A.;
President, JCC of Eastern Fairfield
County, Bridgeport, CT: BRIDGEPORT
109
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Pawel Korzec, Ph.D.; Research
Associate of the Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris:
BOYCOTT, ANTI-JEWISH
David Kotlar, C.E.; Lecturer in
Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: MIKVEH
Gideon Kouts, Israeli
Correspondent and Journalist,
Paris: ATTALI, JACQUES; BADINTER,
ROBERT; BENN; BLEUSTEIN-BLANCHET,
MARCEL; DANIEL, JEAN; ELKABBACH,
JEAN-PIERRE; ELKANN, JEAN-PAUL;
FABIUS, LAURENT; FINKIELKRAUT,
ALAIN; FITERMAN, CHARLES; KAHN,
JEAN; KLEIN, THEODORE; KOUCHNER,
BERNARD; KRASUCKI, HENRI; KRIEGEL,
ANNIE; LANG, JACK; LANZMANN,
CLAUDE; MNOUCHKINE, ALEXANDRE;
MOATI, SERGE; MODIANO, PATRICK;
OURY, GERARD; ROULEAY, ERIC;
SCHWARTZENBERG, ROGER-GERARD;
STRAUSS-KAHN, DOMINIQUE; TIM;
ZAFRANI, HAIM; ZIONISM
Santiago Ezequiel Kovadloff,
Licenciado en Filosofia; Writer,
Translator, Professor of Classical
Philosophy, Buenos Aires: SPANISH
AND PORTUGUESE LITERATURE
Joel Kraemer, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Assistant Professor of Arabic and
Islamic Studies, Yale University,
New Haven, Connecticut: ATOMISM;
CAIN; EMANATION; FARABI, ABU NASR
MUHAMMAD, AL-; HALLO, RUDOLF;
MICROCOSM; NEOPLATONISM
Helen Kragness-Romanishan,
M.A.; Educator, Wichita, Kansas:
KANSAS
Stefan Krakowski, M.A.; Yad
Vashem, Jerusalem: AUGUSTOW;
BEDZIN; BELZYCE; BIALA PODLASKA;
BIELSKO; BILGORAJ; BOCHNIA; CHECINY;
CHELM; CHMIELNIK; CHORZOW;
CHRYZANOW; CRACOW; CZESTOCHOWA;
DABROWA GORNICZA; DZIALOSZYCE;
GLIWICE; GORA KALWARIA; GROJEC;
HRUBIESZOW; IZBICA LUBELSKA;
JANOW LUBELSKI; JASLO; JEDRZEJOW;
KALUSZYN; KATOWICE; KIELCE; KONSKIE;
KONSKOWOLA; KRASNIK; KROSNO;
LODZ; LOWICZ; LUBLIN; MAKOW
MAZOWIECKI; MIEDZYRZEC PODLASK;
MINSK MAZOWIECKI; NOWY SACZ;
OPOCZNO; OPOLE LUBELSKIE; OSTROW
MAZOWIECKA; OTWOCK; PARCZEW;
POLAND; PRZYTYK; PULAWY; PULTUSK;
RADOM; RADOMSKO; RADZYN; RZESZOW;
110
SANDOMIERZ; SANOK; SIEDLCE;
SKARZYSKO-KAMIENNA; SKIERNIEWICE;
SOKOLOW PODLASKI; SOSNOWIEC;
STUTTHOF; SZCZEBRZESZYN; TARNOW;
TOMASZOW LUBELSKI; TOMASZOW
MAZOWIECKI; WARSAW; WEGROW;
WLODAWA; WYSZKOW; ZAMOSC;
ZAWIERCIE; ZELECHOW; ZYRARDOW
Shmuel Krakowsky*
Robin Kramer*: WOLE, ALFRED
Samuel Noah Kramer, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Research Professor of
Assyriology, the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: suMER,
SUMERIANS
William M. Kramer, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Emeritus Professor, California State
University at Northridge
Rachel Kranson*, Ph.D.; History,
Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New
York University: INTERNATIONAL
LADIES GARMENT WORKERS UNION;
SHAVELSON, CLARA LEMLICH
Jonathan Krasner’, Ph.D.;
Professor, Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati, Ohio: GAMORAN, MAMIE
GOLDSMITH
Elisabeth Kraus*: MOSSE
Naftali Kraus, Journalist, Tel Aviv:
HUNGARY; ROMANIA
Adonijahu Krauss, M.A., Rabbi;
Jerusalem: KRAUSS, JUDAH HA-KOHEN;
KROCH, JACOB LEIB BEN SHEMAIAH
Ernest Krausz, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Sociology, the City University,
London: ENGLAND; LONDON
Leonard S. Kravitz, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Midrash and
Homiletics, the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
New York
Yulia Kreinin’*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Department of
Musicology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: AROM, SIMHA; BABBITT,
MILTON; BOTSTEIN, LEON; DOREMAN,
JOSEPH; FELDMAN, MORTON; FOSS,
LUKAS; GLASS, PHILIP; HAUBENSTOCK-
RAMATI, ROMAN; HIRSHBERG,
JEHOASH; JAFFE, ELI, KOPYTMAN, MARK
RUVIMOVICH; LEIBOWITZ, RENE; LIGETI,
GYORGY; REICH, STEVE; ROCHBERG,
GEORGE; ROSEN, CHARLES; SCHNITTKE,
ALFRED; SCHOENBERG, ARNOLD;
TANSMAN, ALEXANDER; THOMAS,
MICHAEL TILSON; VOGEL, WLADIMIR;
WEILL, KURT
Howard (Haim) Kreisel*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Medieval Jewish
Philosophy, Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev, Beersheba: NISSIM BEN
MOSES OF MARSEILLES; PROPHETS AND
PROPHECY; RU’'AH HA-KODESH
Benjamin Z. Kreitman: EPSTEIN,
LOUIS M.
Getzel Kressel, Writer and
Bibliographer, Holon, Israel: ABELES,
OTTO; AGMON, NATHAN; AHDUT HA-
AVODAH; AKAVYA, AVRAHAM ARYEH
LEIB; ALBALA, DAVID; ALKALAI, DAVID;
ASHMAN, AHARON; ATLAS, ELEAZAR;
AUERBACH, ISRAEL; AVI-SHAUL,
MORDEKHAI; BADER, GERSHOM; BAK;
BARBASH, SAMUEL; BARNETT, ZERAH;
BARUCH, JOSEPH MARCOU; BATO,
LUDWIG YOMTOV; BEHAK, JUDAH;
BEILIN, ASHER; BEILINSON, MOSHE;
BEN ELIEZER, MOSHE; BEN-AMITAI,
LEVI; BENEI MOSHE; BEN-YEHEZKY EL,
MORDEKHAI; BEN-YEHUDA, HEMDAH;
BEN-ZVI, RAHEL YANAIT; BEREGI, ARMIN
BENJAMIN; BERGSTEIN, FANIA; BERTINI,
K. AHARON; BIBAS; BIERER, RUBIN;
BIKKUREI HA-ITTIM; BILU; BODEK, JACOB;
BOSAK, MEIR; BRAUDE, MARKUS; BRILL,
JEHIEL; BROIDES, ABRAHAM; BUSTENAI;
BUXBAUM, NATHAN; CARMOLY, ELIAKIM;
CASTIGLIONI, HAYYIM; CHOMSKY, DOV;
CHURGIN, YAAKOV YEHOSHUA; COEN,
GRAZIADIO VITA ANANIA; COHEN,
ISRAEL; COHN, EMIL MOSES; COWEN,
JOSEPH; CREIZENACH, MICHAEL; DAGON,
BARUKH; DAVAR; DEEDES, SIR WYNDHAM;
DEINARD, EPHRAIM; DELLA TORRE,
LELIO; DO’”AR HA-YOM; DON-YAHIA,
YEHUDAH LEIB; DUNANT, JEAN HENRI;
DYKMAN, SHLOMO; EDER, MONTAGUE
DAVID; EICHENBAUM, JACOB; EISLER,
EDMUND MENAHEM; ELAZARI-VOLCANI,
YIZHAK; ELIASBERG, MORDECAI; ESRA;
EVEN-SHOSHAN, AVRAHAM; EVER
HADANI; FADENHECHT, YEHOSHUA;
FAHN, REUBEN; FARBSTEIN, DAVID
ZEVI; EFARBSTEIN, JOSHUA HESCHEL;
FEDER, TOBIAS; FEITELSON, MENAHEM
MENDEL; FELD, ISAAC; FERNHOB, ISAAC;
FISCHER, JEAN; FISCHMANN, NAHMAN
ISAAC; FLEISCHER, JUDAH LOEB;
FRAENKEL, ISAAC SECKEL; FRANKEL,
NAOMI; FREDERICK I; FRIEDEMANN,
ADOLE; FRIEDMANN, DAVID ARYEH;
GALAI, BINYAMIN; GAMZU, HAYYIM;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GAON, MOSES DAVID; GAWLER, GEORGE;
GESANG, NATHAN-NACHMAN; GILEAD,
ZERUBAVEL; GILYONOT; GLASNER,
MOSES SAMUEL; GOLDBERG, ABRAHAM;
GOLDENBERG, BAERISH; GOLDENBERG,
SAMUEL LEIB; GOLDHAMMER-SAHAWI,
LEO; GOLDIN, EZRA; GOLDMAN, YAAKOV
BEN ASHER; GOLDSTEIN, ALEXANDER;
GORDON, DAVID; GORDON, SAMUEL
LEIB; GOREN, NATAN; GOSLAR, HANS;
GOTTLIEB, HIRSCH LEIB; GOTTLIEB,
YEHOSHUA; GRAEBER, SCHEALTIEL
EISIK; GREENBERG, LEOPOLD JACOB;
GROSS, NATHAN; GUEDALLA, HAIM;
GUEDEMANN, MORITZ; GUENZIG,
EZRIEL; GUTTMACHER, ELIJAH; HA-
ASIF; HABAS, BRACHA; HA-BOKER;
HAEZRAHI, YEHUDA; HA-LEVANON;
HALPERN, GEORG GAD; HA-MAGGID;
HA-MELIZ; HAMENAHEM, EZRA; HA-
ME’ORER; HA-MIZPEH; HANNOVER,
RAPHAEL LEVI; HAOLAM; HA-PO’EL
1A-ZA'1R; HA-SHILO’AH; HA-TEKUFAH;
IAUSNER, BERNARD; HAVAZZELET;
1A-YOM; HA-ZEFIRAH; HA-ZOFEH;
ECHLER, WILLIAM HENRY; HEFER,
IAYIM; HE-HALUTZ; HELLER, JOSEPH
LIJAH; HELLMAN, JACOB; HELSINGFORS
ROGRAM; HERBST, KARL; HERRMANN,
{UGO; HESS, MOSES; HICKL, MAX;
IODESS, JACOB; HOFFMANN, JACOB;
IOGA, STANISLAV; HORODISCHTSCH,
LEON; HOROWITZ, YAAKOV; HURWITZ,
SAUL ISRAEL; ISH-KISHOR, EPHRAIM;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL LIFE; JAFFE,
ABRAHAM B.; JANNER, BARNETT, LORD;
JARBLUM, MARC; JUEDISCHER VERLAG;
K. ZETNIK; KADARI, SHRAGA; KADIMAH;
KALEE, YEHOSHUA; KALISCHER, ZEVI
HIRSCH; KAMSON, YAAKOV DAVID;
KANN, JACOBUS HENRICUS; KAPLAN,
PESAH; KARIV, AVRAHAM YIZHAK; KARU,
BARUCH; KASHER, MENAHEM; KATZ,
BENZION; KATZENELSON, BARUCH;
KATZNELSON, RAHEL; KAZNELSON,
SIEGMUND; KELLNER, LEON; KENAANI,
DAVID; KEREM HEMED; KESHET,
YESHURUN; KESSLER, LEOPOLD; KIMHI,
DOV; KINDERFREUND, ARYEH LEIB;
KIPNIS, LEVIN; KISHON, EPHRAIM;
KLAUSNER, ISRAEL; KLEE, ALFRED;
KLEINMANN, MOSHE; KLUMEL, MEIR;
KOHELETH MUSSAR; KOHEN-ZEDEK,
JOSEPH; KOKESCH, OZER; KORKIS,
ABRAHAM ADOLF; KOVNER, ABBA;
KROCHMAL, ABRAHAM; KROJANKER,
GUSTAV; LANDAU, LEIBUSH MENDEL;
LANDAU, MOSES; LANDAU, SAUL
RAPHAEL; LAUTERBACH, ASHER
ZELIG; LEVI-BIANCHINI, ANGELO;
LEVIN, ALTER ISAAC; LEVNER, ISRAEL
BENJAMIN; LEWINSKY, YOM-TOV;
LEWYSOHN, YEHUDI LEIB LUDWIG;
LICHTENBAUM, JOSEPH; LICHTHEIM,
mori
rt: bed
acl
al
RICHARD; LIPSON, MORDEKHAJT;
LORJE, CHAIM; LUBOSHITZKI, AARON;
LUDVIPOL, ABRAHAM; LUIDOR, JOSEPH;
MACCOBY, HAYYIM ZUNDEL; MAHLER,
ARTHUR; MAIMON, ADA; MARGOLIN,
ELIEZER; MEHLSACK, ELIAKIM BEN
JUDAH HA-MILZAHGI, MEISL, JOSEPH;
MEITUS, ELIAHU; MELTZER, SHIMSHON;
MENDELSOHN, FRANKFURT MOSES;
MICHALI, BINYAMIN YIZHAK; MIESES,
FABIUS; MIESIS, JUDAH LEIB; MIRSKY,
AARON; MOHR, ABRAHAM MENAHEM
MENDEL; MOHR, MEIR; MORDELL,
PHINEHAS; MORDOVTSEV, DANHL
LUKICH; MOSER, JACOB; NEWSPAPERS
AND PERIODICALS, HEBREW;
NEWSPAPERS, HEBREW; NISSENBAUM,
ISAAC; NOBEL, NEHEMIAH ANTON;
NOSSIG, ALFRED; NUSSENBLATH,
TULO; OFEK, URIEL; OLSCHWANGER,
ISAAC WOLF; OLSVANGER, IMMANUEL;
OMER, HILLEL; OPPENHEIM, DAVID;
OPPENHEIM, HAYYIM; ORLAND, YAAKOV;
OTTENSOSSER, DAVID; OTTOLENGHI,
MOSES JACOB; OVSAY, JOSHUA; OVSAY,
JOSHUA; PAPERNA, ABRAHAM BARUCH;
PENN, ALEXANDER; PENUELI, SHEMUEL
YESHAYAHU; PERI EZ-HAYYIM; PERLMAN,
SAMUEL; PINES, NOAH; POZNANSKY,
MENAHEM; PROBST, MENAHEM MENDEL;
PROTESTRABBINER; RABBI BINYAMIN;
RABINOVITZ, ALEXANDER SISKIND;
RABINOWITZ, YAAKOV; RABINOWITZ,
ZEVI HA-COHEN; RABINOWITZ, ZINA;
RAWNITZKI, YEHOSHUA HANA; REINES,
ISAAC JACOB; REUVENI, AHARON;
RIMON, JACOB; RINGEL, MICHAEL;
RIVLIN, ELIEZER; ROKACH, ELEAZAR;
ROKEAH, DAVID; ROMANO, MARCO;
ROSEN, ABRAHAM; ROSENFELD,
AHARON; ROTENSTREICH, FISCHEL;
ROTHSCHILD, BARON EDMOND JAMES
DE; RUBIN, SOLOMON; RUBINSTEIN,
ISAAC; RUEBNER, TUVIA; RUELF,
ISAAC; SACERDOTI, ANGELO-RAPHAEL
CHAIM; SACHER, HARRY; SACHS,
SENIOR; SALVENDI, ADOLF; SAN REMO
CONFERENCE; SATANOW, ISAAC;
SCHACH, FABIUS; SCHACHTEL, HUGO-
HILLEL; SCHAECHTER, JOSEPH; SCHALIT,
ISIDOR; SCHAPIRA, NOAH; SCHATZ, ZEVI;
SCHERLAG, MARK; SCHILLER, SOLOMON;
SCHNEIDER, MORDECAI BEZALEL;
SCHNIRER, MORITZ TOBIAS; SCHORR,
NAPHTALI MENDEL; SCHRENZEL, MOSES;
SCHWARZBART, ISAAC IGNACY; SCHWEID,
ELIEZER; SELBSTEMANZIPATION; SENED,
ALEXANDER; SHAANAN, AVRAHAM;
SHALEV, YITZHAK; SHAMI, YITZHAK;
SHAPIRA, HAYYIM NACHMAN; SHAPIRO,
ABBA CONSTANTIN; SHOHETMAN,
BARUCH; SHREIER, FEIWEL; SHURER,
HAIM; SILMAN, KADISH YEHUDA LEIB;
SIMON, JULIUS; SIMON, SIR LEON;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
SLUTZKI, DAVID; SMILANSKY, MEIR;
SMOLI, ELIEZER; SOKOLOW, NAHUM;
STAVI, MOSES; STEIN, LEONARD;
STEINMAN, ELIEZER; STERN, MAX
EMANUEL; STRAUSS, ARYEH LUDWIG;
STREIT, SHALOM; STRELISKER, MARCUS;
SUSSMAN, EZRA; TABIB, MORDEKHAI;
TALPIR, GABRIEL JOSEPH; TAUBES,
LOEBEL; TCHERNOWITZ, SAMUEL;
TCHERNOWITZ-AVIDAR, YEMIMAH;
TELLER, ZEVI LAZAR; TEMKIN; TENE,
BENJAMIN; TEVET, SHABBETAI;
TOCHNER, MESHULLAM; TRIWOSCH,
JOSEPH ELIJAH; TRUNK, ISRAEL JOSHUA;
UKHMANI, AZRIEL; UNGERFELD,
MOSHE; VAN PAASSEN, PIERRE; VITKIN,
JOSEPH; WALLACH, MOSHE; WERNER,
SIEGMUND; WISSOTZKY, KALONYMUS
ZE’EV; WOLFFSOHN, DAVID; WOLFOWSKI,
MENAHEM ZALMAN; WOLFSOHN-HALLE,
AARON; WORTSMAN, YECHESKIEL
CHARLES; YAARI, YEHUDAH; YALAN-
STEKELIS, MIRIAM; YEIVIN, YEHOSHUA
HESCHEL; ZAMOSC, DAVID; ZAMOSC,
ISRAEL BEN MOSES HALEVI; ZARCHI,
ISRAEL; ZEITLIN, WILLIAM; ZERUBAVEL,
JACOB; ZIONISM; ZIONIST CONGRESSES;
ZIPPER, GERSHON; ZLOCISTI,
THEODOR
Marie Luise Kreuter*, Dr., Phil.;
Freelancer Researcher, Addisabeba,
Ethiopia: ECUADOR
Samson Jacob Kreutner, Former
Director General, Keren Hayesod —
U.LA., Jerusalem
Max Kreutzberger, Ph.D.; Former
Director of the Leo Baeck Institute,
New York; Ascona, Switzerland: LEO
BAECK INSTITUTE
Conny Kristel*, Ph.D.; Senior
Research Fellow, Netherlands
Institute for War Documentation,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Jona,
LOUIS DE; PRESSER, JACOB
Jelka (J.) Kréger(-Verhorst)*, M.A.;
Art Editor and Researcher, Jewish
Historical Museum, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands: HAAN, MEIJER DE;
HAGUE, THE
Frederic Krome*, Ph.D.; Managing
Editor, The American Jewish
Archives Journal and Adjunct
Professor of Judaic Studies and
History, American Jewish Archives,
Cincinnati, Ohio: AARONSOHN,
MICHAEL
Simcha Kruger, B.S.; Librarian,
111
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
New York: FREIDUS, ABRAHAM
SOLOMON
Mikhail Krutikov*, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Jewish-Slavic Cultural
Relations, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor: ESTRAIKH, GENNADY;
SANDLER, BORIS; WIENER, MEIR
Andreas Kubinyi, Dr. Phil;
Lecturer in History, Eotvos Lorand
University, Budapest: MENDEL;
PRAEFECTUS JUDAEORUM; SZERENCSES,
IMRE
Hyman Kublin, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Brooklyn College of
the City University of New York:
HAZZAN; JAPAN; KOBAYASHI, MASAYUKI;
KOTSUJL SETSUZO; RIESS, LUDWIG;
TOKYO
Erich Kulka, Historian, Jerusalem:
BRATISLAVA; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; KOSICE;
LOEBL, EUGEN; LONDON, ARTUR;
PRAGUE; SICHER, GUSTAV; UHERSKY
BROD
Otto Dov Kulka, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Modern Jewish History,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AUSTRIA; ETTINGER, SHMUEL;
THERESIENSTADT
Yuri Kulker, Jerusalem: KUSHNER,
ALEKSANDER SEMENOVICH
Linda S. Kulp”: ATLANTIC CITY
M. (Muhammed) Mustafa Kulu’,
M.A.; Research Assistant, Middle
East Technical University, Ankara,
Turkey: BAYRAMIC; CANAKKALE; EZINE;
KOILA; LAPSEKI; PARIUM
S. (Shirley) Kumove*, Writer
and Yiddish Translator, American
Literary Translators Association,
Texas: PERLE, JOSHUA
Shifra Kuperman’, Lic. Phil., M.A.;
University of Basel, Switzerland:
BAAL-MAKHSHOVES; EINHORN, DAVID;
NOMBERG, HERSH DAVID; OPATOSHU,
JOSEPH
Ephraim Kupfer, Research Fellow
in Jewish Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: COMTINO,
MORDECAI BEN ELIEZER; HAMIZ, JOSEPH
BEN JUDAH; IBN YAHYA, DAVID BEN
SOLOMON; ISSACHAR BERMAN BEN
NAPHTALI HA-KOHEN; JACOB BEN ASHER;
JAFFE, MORDECAI BEN ABRAHAM; JONAH
112
BEN ABRAHAM GERONDI; JOSEPH HA-
KOHEN; JOSEPH HAZZAN BEN JUDAH
OF TROYES; KASPI, JOSEPH BEN ABBA
MARI IBN; LORBEERBAUM, JACOB BEN
JACOB MOSES OF LISSA; MANUSCRIPTS,
HEBREW; MOELLIN, JACOB BEN MOSES;
REISCHER, JACOB BEN JOSEPH; SIKILI,
JACOB BEN HANANEL; TAM IBN YAHYA,
JACOB BEN DAVID; TANHUM BEN JOSEPH
YERUSHALMI; TRANI, JOSEPH BEN
MOSES; YOM TOV BEN ABRAHAM
ISHBILI
Uri K. Kupferschmidt, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer, Department of
Middle Eastern History, University
of Haifa
David Kushner*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Middle East History, University of
Haifa: ANTIOCH; AYDIN; ISKENDERUN;
MERSIN
Gilbert Kushner, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Anthropology, the
College at Brockport of the State
University of New York
Ernst Kutsch, Dr. Theol.; Professor
of Old Testament Theology,
Friedrich-Alexander Universitat
zu Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany:
PASSOVER; SUKKOT
Eduard Yecheskel Kutscher, M.A.;
Professor of Hebrew Philology, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
Professor of Hebrew Language,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
ARAMAIC; HEBREW LANGUAGE;
POLOTSKY, HANS JACOB
Raphael Kutscher, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Mesopotamian Languages and
Civilization, Tel Aviv University:
EUPHRATES; MARDUK; TAMMUZ
Cecile Esther Kuznitz*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Jewish
History, Bard College, Annandale-
on-Hudson, New York: yIDDISH
LITERATURE; YIVO INSTITUTE FOR
JEWISH RESEARCH
Mindaugas Kvietkauskas*, Ph.D.;
Research Fellow, Lithuanian
Literature, Vilnius University,
Lithuania: KATZENELENBOGEN, URIAH;
NAIDUS, LEIB
Gail (S.) Labovitz*, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Rabbinics, University
of Judaism, Los Angeles, California:
STUDY
Frederick R. Lachman, Ph.D.;
Formerly Executive Editor of the
Encyclopaedia Judaica and former
American Correspondent of
Encyclopaedia Judaica Year Books,
New York: BISGYER, MAURICE; GEORGE,
MANEFRED; GROSSMANN, KURT RICHARD;
LEVIN, THEODORE; SAXON, DAVID
STEPHEN; STERN-TAEUBLER, SELMA;
THEATER; WALINSKY; ZUCKERMAN, PAUL
Irwin (Jay) Lachoff*, M.A.;
Archivist, Xavier University of
Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana:
LOUISIANA; NEW ORLEANS
Josef J. Lador-Lederer, Dr.Jur.;
Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Jerusalem: BIENENFELD, FRANZ
RUDOLF; ELLENBOGEN, WILHELM;
FRIED, ALFRED HERMANN; KELSEN,
HANS; KLANG, HEINRICH; KUNZ, JOSEF
LAURENZ; LAWYERS; LEMKIN, RAPHAEL;
OENER, JULIUS; POPPER, JOSEF; REDLICH,
JOSEPH; RODE, WALTHER; STEINBACH,
EMIL; STRISOWER, LEO; VADASZ, LIPOT;
VAZSONYI, VILMOS; WORLD JEWISH
ASSOCIATIONS
Gideon Lahay, B.A.; Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, Jerusalem:
DIAMOND TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Sanford A. Lakoff, Ph.D.; Professor
of Political Science, the University of
Toronto: RIBICOFF, ABRAHAM A.
Anne Marie Lambert, Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: UNITED
NATIONS
Lars Lambrecht*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy and Sociology,
University of Hamburg, Germany:
MARX, KARL HEINRICH
Ruth Lamdan’*, Ph.D.; Lecturer of
Jewish History, Tel Aviv University:
HANDALI, ESTHER; MALCHI, ESPERANZA
Meir Lamed, Kibbutz Neot
Mordekhai: AGUILAR, DIEGO D’;;
ALTSCHUL, EMIL; ARNSTEIN; AUSPITZ;
AUSTRIA; BLOCH, JOSEPH SAMUEL;
BOHEMIA; BONDI; CECHU-ZIDU, SVAZ;
CHOMUTOV; CHRISTIAN SOCIAL PARTY;
COUDENHOVE-KALERGI, HEINRICH
VON; CZECH, LUDWIG; DOLNI KOUNICE;
ESKELES; FISCHER; FISCHHOFE, ADOLF;
GESELLSCHAFT DER JUNGEN HEBRAEER;
GRAZ; GUTMANN, WILHELM, RITTER
VON; HAINDORE, ALEXANDER;
HALFANUS; HAPSBURG MONARCHY:
HARDENBERG, KARL AUGUST VON;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
HEIMWEHR; HENRY IV; HERMANUS
QUONDAM JUDAEUS; HILSNER CASE;
HIRSHEL, MEYER; HODONIN; HOFER,
ANDREAS; HOHENAU; HOLESOV;
HRANICE; HUNCOVCE; JABLONEC
NAD NISOU; JAKOBOVITS, TOBIAS;
JEITELES; JELLINEK, ADOLF;
JEMNICE; JEVICKO; JINDRICHUV
HRADEC; JUDENBURG; KHUST;
KISCH; KLAGENFURT; KLEMPERER,
GUTMANN; KOHN, THEODOR;
KOJETIN; KOLLONITSCH, LEOPOLD;
KOLODEJE NAD LUZICI; KOMARNO;
KORNFELD, AARON BEN MORDECAI
BAER; KROCHMAL, MENAHEM MENDEL
BEN ABRAHAM; KROMERIZ; KUGEL,
HAYYIM; KULTUSVEREIN; KURANDA,
IGNAZ; KYJOV; LAEMEL, SIMON
VON; LANDAU, EZEKIEL BEN JUDAH;
LANDESJUDENSCHAFT, BOEHMISCHE;
LAZNE KYNZVART; LEATHER INDUSTRY
AND TRADE; LEOPOLD I; LICHTENSTADT,
ABRAHAM AARON; LIEBEN, SALOMON;
LIEBEN, SALOMON HUGO; LITOMERICE;
LOEW-BEER; LOSTICE; LUCENEC;
MAGNUS, MARCUS; MAOR KATAN;
MARIA THERESA; MARIENBAD;
MAXIMILIAN I; MEISEL, MORDECAI
BEN SAMUEL; MEYER, PAULUS;
MICHALOVCE; MIKULOV; MIROSLAV;
MORAVIA; MORAVSKE BUDEJOVICE;
MORAVSKY KRUMLOV; NACHOD;
NEUDA, ABRAHAM; NITRA; OLOMOUC;
OPAVA; OSOBLAHA; OSTRAVA;
PERNERSTORFER, ENGELBERT; PETSCHEK;
PLACZEK, ABRAHAM; POBEZOVICE NA
SUMAVE; POLNA; PREMYSL OTTOKAR
II; PROSTEJOV; PULKAU; QUETSCH,
SOLOMON; RANSCHBURG, BEZALEL
BEN JOEL; RUDOLF IJ; SCHUTZBUND,
REPUBLIKANISCHER; SELF-DEFENSE;
SHLOM THE MINTMASTER; SONNENFELS,
ALOYS VON; SPITZER, KARL HEINRICH;
STEINHERZ, SAMUEL; STYRIA; TACHOV;
TEKA; TESCHEN; TEWELES, JUDAH;
THIEBERGER, FRIEDRICH; TREBIC;
TREBITSCH, ABRAHAM; TREST; VEITH,
JOHANN EMANUEL; WINKLER, LEO;
WOLFSBERG; ZNOJMO
Norman Lamm”, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Chancellor, Yeshiva University;
Rosh Hayeshiva, Rabbi Isaac
Elchanan Theological Seminary,
New York: BLASER, ISAAC; KIDDUSH
HA-SHEM AND HILLUL HA-SHEM;
VOLOZHINER, HAYYIM BEN ISAAC
Zvi Lamm, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Education, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: FRANKENSTEIN, CARL
Jacob M. Landau’, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Political Science,
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Jerusalem: BAER, GABRIEL; CARASSO,
EMMANUEL; EGYPT; GALANTE,
ABRAHAM; HEYD, URIEL; IBRAHIM PASHA;
KEMAL MUSTAFA; LEWIS, BERNARD;
MANSURA; MOSSERI; MUBARAK,
MUHAMMAD HUSNI SAID; MUHAMMAD
ALI; SANU?, YXQUB or JAMES; TEKINALP,
MUNIS
Julian J. Landau, M.1.A.; Journalist,
Jerusalem: HOFFMAN, PHILIP E.; ISRAEL,
STATE OF: ARAB POPULATION
Moshe Landau, M.A.; Educator,
Tel Aviv: AGUDDAT AHIM; BEOBACHTER
AN DER WEICHSEL; BERNSTEIN, ARYEH
LEIB; BLUMENFELD, EMANUEL; BUCHNER,
ABRAHAM; CALMANSON, JACOB;
CENTOS; CHWILA; DMOWSKI,
ROMAN; ENDECJA; FINKELSTEIN,
NOAH; FOLKSPARTEI; GOLDMAN,
BERNARD; GRABSKI, STANISLAW;
GROSS, ADOLF; HALLER’S ARMY;
IZRAELITA; JABLONNA; JELENSKI, JAN;
KIRSCHBAUM, ELIEZER SINAI; KOHN,
ABRAHAM; KRONENBERG; LOEWENSTEIN,
BERNHARD; LOEWENSTEIN, NATHAN;
MAYZEL, MAURYCY; MINORITY BLOC;
MORGENTHAU COMMISSION; NASZ
PRZEGLAD; NEUFELD, DANIEL; NOWY
DZIENNIK; P.P.S.; PRZYTYK; ROSMARYN,
HENRYK; ROZWOJ; SAMUEL COMMISSION;
SEJM; SHABAD, ZEMAH; SHOMER ISRAEL;
STEIGER TRIAL; STERN, ABRAHAM
JACOB; THON, ALBERT; TOZ; UGODA;
WALDMANN, ISRAEL; WOLKOWISKI,
JEHIEL BER; ZBITKOWER, SAMUEL
Yehuda Landau, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Philosophy, Tel Aviv
University
Leo Landman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Assistant Professor of Rabbinical
Literature, Dropsie University,
Philadelphia: GAMBLING
Hermann Langbein, Vienna:
AUSCHWITZ TRIALS
Lucille Lang Day*, A.B., M.A.,
M.EA., Ph.D.; Poet and Museum
Director, Hall of Health, Hands-
on Health Museum, Berkeley,
California: FALK, MARCIA
Nicholas de Lange, D.Phil.;
Lecturer in Rabbinics, the
University of Cambridge: LATERAN
COUNCILS IIL, IV; MARTIN; NICHOLAS;
ODO OF CHATEAUROUX; SIXTUS IV
Lawrence L. Langer*, Ph.D.;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Professor of English, Emeritus,
Simmons College, Boston: BAK,
SAMUEL
Ruth Langer*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish Studies, Boston
College: LITURGY
Tzvi Y. Langermann’, Ph.D.;
Professor of Arabic, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan
Shaoul Langnas, Ph.D.; Jewish
Agency, Tel Aviv: NUMERUS CLAUSUS
Doris Lankin, M.Jur.; Legal
Journalist, Jerusalem
Ruth Lapidoth*, Ph.D.; Professor
of International Law, the Hebrew
University, Jerusalem Institute of
Israel Studies: JERUSALEM, LEGAL
ASPECTS
Steven Lapidus*, M.A.; Concordia
University, Montreal, Canada:
GOLDBLOOM
Dvora Lapson, B.A.; Instructor in
Dance, the Hebrew Union College
School of Education, New York:
DANCE
Guiseppe Laras, Dr.Jur., Rabbi;
Leghorn, Italy: DEL VECCHIO;
MORPURGO, SAMSON BEN JOSHUA
MOSES; PAPO, SAMUEL SHEMAIAH;
SARAVAL; VITAL
Scott (B.) Lasensky*, Ph.D.;
Washington, D.C.: ROSS, DENNIS
Daniel J. Lasker*, Ph.D.; Norbert
Blechner Professor of Jewish Values,
Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev, Beersheba: ISRAELI, ISAAC BEN
SOLOMON; JUDAH, HALEVI ; KARAITES;
PHILOSOPHY, JEWISH
Michael M. Laskier*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Middle Eastern and
North African History, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: AGADIR;
AGHLABIDS; ALMORAVIDS; ARAB WORLD;
BONE; DEBDOU; DEMNAT; HAFSIDS;
MARRAKESH; MEKNES; MERINIDS;
MOGADOR; MOROCCO; M’ZAB; ORAN;
RYVEL; SA’DIS; SAFI; SALE-RABAT;
TANGIER; TETUAN; WATTASIDS; ZIRIDS;
ZIYANIDS
Egon H.E. Lass*: DOTHAN
Jacob Lassner*, Ph.D., D.H.L.;
113
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Professor of Jewish Civilization,
Northwestern University, Evanston,
Illinois: ABBASIDS; HALKIN, ABRAHAM
SOLOMON
Ted (Theodore) Lauer*, M.A.;
Chairman History Department,
Touro College, New York: rouRo
COLLEGE
Theodor Lavi, Dr. Phil.; Historian,
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem: ANTONESCU,
ION; ANTONESCU, MIHAI; BACAU;
BARLAD; BESSARABIA; BOTOSANI;
BRAILA; BUHUSI; BURDUJENI; BUZAU;
CHERNOVTSY; CONSTANTA; CRAIOVA;
DARABANI; DOROHOI; FALTICENI;
FILDERMAN, WILHELM; FOCSANI;
GERTSA; HARLAU; HUSI; JASSY;
KISHINEV; LECCA, RADU; MIHAILENI;
MOINESTI; NUMERUS CLAUSUS; PASCANI;
PIATRA-NEAMT; PLOESTI; REVISTA
CULTULUI MOZAIC; ROMAN; ROMANIA;
SCHWARZFELD; SETANESTI; STERN,
ADOLPHE; SULITA; TIRGU NEAMT; TIRGU-
FRUMOS; TRANSNISTRIA; VASLUI
Anthony Lincoln Lavine, M.A.;
Jerusalem: HOMA; MARGOLIES, ISAAC
BEN ELIJAH; MOSES ZE’EV BEN ELIEZER
OF GRODNO; PERLA, JEROHAM FISCHEL
BEN ARYEH ZEVI; SANDZER, HAYYIM BEN
MENAHEM; SHAPIRO, SAUL BEN DOV
Eric (Jay) Lawee*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Humanities, York
University, Toronto, Canada:
ABRABANEL, ISAAC BEN JUDAH;
ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH LEON; ABULRABI,
AARON
Mary Lazar*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, English, Kent State
University, Ohio: KOSINSKI, JERZY
Moshe Lazar, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Romance Philology,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
LADINO
Gilbert Lazard, D.es L.; Professor of
Iranian Language and Civilization,
Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris: arx-EN-
PROVENCE; JUDEO-PERSIAN
Lucien Lazare, Ph.D.; Educator,
Jerusalem: GAMZON, ROBERT; KAPLAN,
JACOB; LAVAL, PIERRE; LEVI, SYLVAIN;
MANDEL, GEORGES; STRASBOURG;
STUDENTS’ MOVEMENTS, JEWISH;
ZIONISM
Arlene Lazarowitz*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of History,
114
Director, Jewish Studies Program,
California State University, Long
Beach: BOXER, BARBARA
Paul Lazarus, Dr.Phil., Rabbi;
Historian, Haifa: opPPENHEIM
Hava Lazarus-Yafeh: JUDEO-ARABIC
LITERATURE
Hayim Leaf, Ph.D.; Professor of
Hebrew Language and Literature,
Yeshiva University, New York:
CHURGIN, PINKHOS
Abraham Lebanon, M.A.; Teacher
in the Hebrew Teachers’ College,
Jerusalem: DAMASCUS; ELEAZAR BEN
JAIR; JEBUS, JEBUSITE; MARIAMNE
Arieh Lebowitz’, B.A.;
Communications Director, Jewish
Labor Committee, New York: JEwIsH
LABOR COMMITTEE; JEWISH SOCIALIST
VERBAND; MORNING FREIHEIT;
WORKMEN’S CIRCLE; YIDISHER KEMFER;
YIDISHES TAGEBLAT
Michael Lecker*, Ph.D. Professor,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
KA’B AL-AH BAR; MUHAMMAD; NADIR,
BANU 1-; QAYNUQA, BANU; QURAYZA,
BANU; WAHB IBN MUNABBIH
Barton G. Lee, M.A., Rabbi;
Chicago: FORTAS, ABE; GOLDMAN,
MAYER CLARENCE; GREENBAUM,
EDWARD SAMUEL
Elaine Leeder*, M.S.W,, M.P.H.,
Ph.D.; Professor of Sociology,
Sonoma State University, Rohnert
Park, California: PESOTTA, ROSE
Carolyn Leeds”, B.A.; Special
Projects Director, Jewish Federation
of Greater Indianapolis, Indiana:
INDIANAPOLIS
Sidney M. Lefkowitz, Th.D.;
Lecturer in Religion, Jacksonville
University, Florida
Joseph Leftwich, Editor and
Journalist, London: HERMAN,
DAVID; KAMINSKI or KAMINSKA;
KESSLER, DAVID; MIKHOELS, SOLOMON;
MYER, MORRIS; SCHILDKRAUT,
RUDOLPH; VILNA TROUPE; WEICHERT,
MICHAEL
Israel O. Lehman, D.Phil.; Curator
of Manuscripts and Special
Collections, the Hebrew Union
College - Jewish Institute of
Religion, Cincinnati: VILNA
Ruth P. Lehmann, Dipl.0.A.S.,
EL.A.; Librarian of Jews’ College,
London: ABBREVIATIONS; LEVERTOFF,
PAUL PHILIP; SIMON, SIR LEON
Grete Leibowitz, Dr.Phil.; Former
editorial staff, Encyclopaedia
Hebraica, Jerusalem: BERLINER, EMILE;
JACOBI, KARL GUSTAV JACOB; JACOBI,
MORITZ HERMANN
Joshua O. Leibowitz, M.D.;
Associate Clinical Professor of
the History of Medicine, the
Hebrew University-Hadassah
Medical School, Jerusalem: AMATUS
LUSITANUS; ANATOMY; AUERBACH,
LEOPOLD; BARUK, HENRI; BERNHEIM,
HIPPOLYTE; BLOODLETTING; BUERGER,
LEO; HEIDENHAIN, RUDOLE; HENLE,
JACOB; JACOBI, ABRAHAM; ORTA, GARCIA
DE; TELLER, ISSACHAR BAER; WEIGERT,
CARL; WIDAL, FERNAND; WUNDERBAR,
REUBEN JOSEPH; ZACUTUS LUSITANUS
Shnayer Z. Leiman, B.A.; Lecturer
in Jewish History and Literature,
Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut: BERNFELD, SIEGFRIED;
COHN, JONAS; KARMAN, MOR; LEVI,
EDWARD H.; MORGENSTERN, LINA; VAN
PRAAGH, WILLIAM
Samuel Leiter, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Professor of Modern Hebrew
Literature, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
BIALIK, HAYYIM NAHMAN
André Lemaire*, Ph.D.; Professor
in Oriental Studies, Ecole
Pratique des Hautes Etudes,
Section des sciences historiques
et philologiques, Sorbonne, Paris:
CAQUOT, ANDRE
Carolyn G. (Gray) LeMaster*, B.A.,
M.A.; Butler Center Fellow for the
Arkansas Jewish History Collection,
Butler Center for Arkansas Studies,
Central Arkansas Library System,
Little Rock, Arkansas: ARKANSAS
Howard M. Lenhoff, Associate
Professor of Biochemistry,
University of California, Irvine
Aron (di Leone) Leoni*, M.S.,
Ph.D., M.A.; Former Representative
of the Italian paper industries at the
European Commission in Brussels.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Consulting Economist (retired).
Historian, State University of Padua,
Milan: PESARO; PISA, DA
Haim Leor, M Jur; Secretary of the
Knesset, Jerusalem
Antony Lerman, Researcher,
Institute of Jewish Affairs, London
Anne Lapidus Lerner*, Ph.D.,
M.A., M.H.L., A.B., BJ. Ed.;
Director, Program in Jewish
Women’s Studies; Assistant
Professor, Department of Jewish
Literature, Jewish Theological
Seminary, New York: KNOPE,
BLANCHE WOLF
Bialik Myron Lerner, Ph.D.;
Instructor in Talmud, Tel Aviv
University: ABBA GURYON OF SIDON;
ABBA SAUL; AKAVYAH BEN MAHALALEL;
ALTAR; ANDROGYNOS; AVTALYON;
SHEMAIAH
Harold Lerner, Ph.D.; Political
Scientist, New York
Loren Lerner*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Concordia University, Montreal,
Canada: BORENSTEIN, SAM
Natan Lerner, LL.D.; Executive
Director, World Jewish Congress,
Tel Aviv: PERLZWEIG, MAURICE L.;
TARTAKOWER, ARIEH; WORLD JEWISH
CONGRESS
Ralph Lerner, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Social Sciences, the
University of Chicago: PROPHETS AND
PROPHECY; STRAUSS, LEO
Benny Leshem*: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: HEALTH, WELFARE, AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Donald Daniel Leslie, D.del’U;
Fellow in Far Eastern History,
Australian National University,
Canberra: CHAO; REDEMPTION
Yaacov Lev*, Ph.D.; Professor, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan
Chaim Levanon, Eng. Agr.;
Agricultural Engineer and former
Mayor of Tel Aviv: GENERAL ZIONISTS
Yehuda Levanon, B.A.; Ministry of
Absorption, Jerusalem
Arye Levavi, M.A.; Ambassador,
Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Jerusalem
Schneier Zalman Levenberg, Ph.D.;
Jewish Agency Representative and
Writer, Jerusalem: ADLER, VICTOR;
MARX, KARL HEINRICH; NATANSON,
MARK; SOCIALISM; ZUNDELEVITCH,
AARON
Joseph Levenson, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Instructor in Religion, Oklahoma
City University, Oklahoma:
OKLAHOMA
Marcia (Irene) Leveson’, Ph.D.,
B.Ed.; Assistant Professor (retired),
Honorary Research Fellow,
University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg, South Africa:
GORDIMER, NADINE; SOUTH AFRICAN
LITERATURE
Martin Levey, Ph.D.; Professor
of the History of Science, the
State University of New York,
Albany: IBN BIKLARISH, JUNAS BEN
ISAAC
Josef Levi*: FLORENCE
L. Levi*: GREECE
Leo Levi, D.Sc.; Research Fellow
in Jewish Musicology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: 1TALy
Shlomit Levi, Research Associate,
Israel Institute of Applied Research,
Jerusalem
Yitzhak Levi, Former Managing
Director of the Israel Program for
Scientific Translations, Jerusalem:
INDEPENDENCE DAY, ISRAEL
Curt Leviant, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebraic Studies,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
New Jersey: ARTHURIAN LEGENDS;
BURLA, YEHUDA
Dov Levin, Ph.D.; Researcher in the
Institute of Contemporary Jewry,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
KALVARIJA; KEDAINIAI; KRETINGA;
KUPISKIS; MARIJAMPOLE; PLUNGE;
PONARY; SIAULIAI; VIRBALIS
Norman Levin, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Biology, Brooklyn
College of the City University of
New York: GASSER, HERBERT SPENCER;
GURWITSCH, ALEXANDER GAVRILOVICH;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
SANDGROUND, JACK HENRY; WAKSMAN,
SELMAN ABRAHAM
Samuel Levin, Writer, Translator,
Givat Savyon
Shalom Levin, M.A.; Member of
the Knesset, Tel Aviv: TEACHERS’
ASSOCIATION IN ISRAEL
Zeev Levin, Former Ambassador,
Tel Aviv: KENYA
Baruch A. Levine*, Ph.D.; Skirball
Professor Emeritus, New York
University: BALAAM; CULT; CULT
PLACES, ISRAELITE; FIRST FRUITS;
FIRSTBORN; GIBEONITES AND NETHINIM;
KEDUSHAH; SOLOMON, SERVANTS OF
Emily Levine*: wARBURG, ABY
MORITZ
Jonathan D. Levine*: GREENBERG,
SIDNEY
Joyce Levine*, M.A.; Director,
Educational Technology, UJ.A.
Federation Board of Jewish
Education, Toronto, Canada:
EDUCATION, JEWISH
Michael Levine, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Dept. of History of Art, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: CULTURAL LIFE
Paul (A.) Levine*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Holocaust History, The
Uppsala Programme for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies, Uppsala
University, Sweden: HOLOCAUST
Stephen Levine”, Ph.D.; Professor,
Victoria University of Wellington,
New Zealand: NEW ZEALAND
Yael Levine*, Ph.D.; Talmud, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan: ESHET
HAYIL
Renée Levine Melammed*,
Ph.D.; Professor of Jewish History,
Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies,
Jerusalem: ANUSIM; BARAZANI,
ASENATH; BOTON, ABRAHAM BEN MOSES
DE; WOMAN: MUSLIM WORLD AND SPAIN;
WUHSHA AL-DALLALA
Jacob S. Levinger, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish Philosophy, Tel
Aviv University: ASCHER, SAUL; DAVID
BEN ARYEH LEIB OF LIDA; DELMEDIGO,
ELIJAH BEN MOSES ABBA; DINAH; DUBNO,
115
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
SOLOMON BEN JOEL; DUENNER, JOSEPH
ZEVI HIRSCH; DUKES, LEOPOLD; DURAN,
PROFIAT; GALIPAPA, HAYYIM BEN
ABRAHAM; GANZFRIED, SOLOMON BEN
JOSEPH; GEIGER, SOLOMON ZALMAN;
GERMANY; GORDON, SAMUEL LEIB;
GUTTMANN, JULIUS; HAI BEN SHERIRA;
HOLDHEIM, SAMUEL
Boris M. Levinson, Ph.D.; Professor
of Psychology, Yeshiva University,
New York: WECHSLER, DAVID
Robert E. Levinson, Ph.D.; San
Francisco: ALEXANDER, MOSES;
CALIFORNIA; GERSTLE, LEWIS; HIRSCH,
SOLOMON; KAHN, JULIUS; MEARS, OTTO;
MEIER, JULIUS; SACRAMENTO; SUTRO,
ADOLPH HEINRICH JOSEPH
Seymour Levitan’, B.A., M.A;
Translator of Yiddish Poetry and
Fiction, Vancouver, Canada: KORN,
RACHEL-HARING; SEGAL, JACOB ISAAC
Isaac Levitats, Ph.D.; the Herzliah
Hebrew Teachers’ Seminary,
New York: AUTONOMY; AUTONOMY,
JUDICIAL; BET DIN AND JUDGES; BITTUL
HA-TAMID; CHARITY; CHIEF RABBI,
CHIEF RABBINATE; COMMUNITY;
CONFERENCES; CONSISTORY; DAYYAN;
EDUCATION, JEWISH; EPISCOPUS
JUDAEORUM; FEDERATIONS OF
COMMUNITIES, TERRITORIAL; FINANCES,
AUTONOMOUS JEWISH; FINES:
FRATERNAL SOCIETIES; GABBAI; GEMILUT
HASADIM; HAZAKAH; HEKDESH; HEREM
BET DIN; HEREM HA-IKKUL; HEREM HA-
YISHUV; HEVRAH, HAVURAH; MINORITY
RIGHTS; NASI; OATH MORE JUDAICO or
JURAMENTUM JUDAEORUM; PINKAS;
PRESBYTER JUDAEORUM; PUNISHMENT;
RABBINICAL CONFERENCES; SEMIKHAH;
SHAMMASH; SHEHITAH; SICK CARE,
COMMUNAL; SUMPTUARY LAWS; SYNODS;
TAKKANOT HA-KAHAL; TITLES
Lev Levite, Kibbutz En-Harod
(Me'uhad): BOROCHOV, BER
Georges Levitte, Writer, Paris:
AVIGNON; BAYONNE; BESANGON;
BORDEAUX; CAEN; COLMAR; DIJON;
GRENOBLE; LYONS; MULHOUSE; NANCY;
NICE; ROUEN; TOULOUSE
Avital Levy, B.A.; Jerusalem: PICA
Richard N. Levy*: CENTRAL
CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS
Richard S. Levy*, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, University of Illinois at
116
Chicago: LAGARDE, PAUL DE; MARR,
WILHELM
Louis Lewin, Dr.Phil., Rabbi;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Historian, Breslau: MAGDEBURG;
MANNHEIM
Martin Lewin*, M.S.L.S.; Librarian
(retired) Buffalo and Eric County
Public Library, Buffalo: BUFFALO
Nathan Lewin’, J.D.; Attorney,
Columbia Law School Adjunct
Faculty, Lewin and Lewin L.L.P,,
Washington, D.C.: BREYER, STEPHEN
GERALD; POSNER, RICHARD ALLEN
Yom-Tov Lewinski, Dr.Phil.;
Ethnographer, Tel Aviv: FOOD; GAMES
Tamar Lewinsky*, M.A.; Lecturer,
University of Munich, Germany:
DEMBLIN, BENJAMIN; FOX, CHAIM-LEIB;
FUCHS, ABRAHAM MOSHE; GRYNBERG,
BERL; HEILPERIN, FALK; OLITZKY; PERLOV,
YITSKHOK; WARSHAWSKI, MARK
Albert L. Lewis, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Haddonfield, New Jersey: SHOFAR
Bernard Lewis, Instructor in Films
and Filming, New York University
School of Continuing Education:
WINCHELL, WALTER
Mervyn M. Lewis, M.A.; Jerusalem:
DAVIDSON, SAMUEL
Guenter Lewy, Ph.D.; Professor
of Government, the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst: HOLOCAUST:
THE WORLD
Hildegard Lewy, Ph.D.; Visiting
Professor, Hebrew Union College,
Cincinnati, Ohio
Yohanan (Hans) Lewy, Dr.Phil.;
Senior Lecturer in Latin, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
Bent Lexner*, Rabbinical Diploma,
Chief Rabbi, Denmark: BESEKOW,
SAMUEL; FEIGENBERG, MEIR; FOIGHEL, ISI
Gideon Libson*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Law, Head of the Institute for
Research in Jewish Law, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: FIQH; HEREM
SETAM; LAW, JEWISH AND ISLAMIC LAW
Jacob Licht, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Biblical Studies,
Tel Aviv University: ABRAHAM,
APOCALYPSE OF; ADAM AND EVE, BOOK
OF THE LIFE OF; CALENDAR; DAY OF
THE LORD; DEAD SEA SCROLLS; ETHICS;
MENAHEM; SOLOMON, ODES OF
Jonathan Licht, B.A., M.EA.;
Writer, Jerusalem: AIMEE, ANOUK;
ALLEN, WOODY; ALPERT, HERB; ARKIN,
ALAN W;; BACALL, LAUREN; BALIN,
MARTY; BLOOM, CLAIRE; BOONE,
RICHARD; BROOKS, MEL; COBB, LEE J.;
CUKOR, GEORGE; DA SILVA, HOWARD;
DIAMOND, I. A. L.; DIAMOND, NEIL;
DOUGLAS, MELVYN; DOUGLAS, MICHAEL;
DREYFUSS, RICHARD; EPSTEIN, JULIUS J.
and PHILIP G.; FALK, PETER; FOGELBERG,
DAN; FORD, HARRISON; FORMAN, MILOS;
FRANKENHEIMER, JOHN MICHAEL;
FRIEDKIN, WILLIAM; GARFUNKEL,
ART; GEFFEN, DAVID; GOLDBLUM,
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LEVINE, JOSEPH E.; LEVINSON, BARRY;
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MATTHAU, WALTER; MAZURSKY, PAUL;
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SAMUEL P;; SPIELBERG, STEVEN; STONE,
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ELI; WELLER, MICHAEL; WILDER, GENE;
WINGER, DEBRA; WINTERS, SHELLEY;
WOLPER, DAVID LLOYD
Albert Lichtblau’*, Ph.D.; Historian,
University Professor, Vice Chair
of the Centre for Jewish Cultural
History, University Salzburg,
Austria: SOMMER, EMIL; SPITZER,
KARL HEINRICH; TODESCO, HERMANN;
VOGELSANG, KARL VON; WOLFE, FRUMET
Aaron Lichtenstein, Ph.D.;
Researcher, Baltimore: ASHINSKY,
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THEODOR; HENKIN, JOSEPH ELIJAH;
JEFFERSON, THOMAS; JESURUN; LAGOS;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
LEAO, GASPAR DE; NUNEZ; OPORTO;
PAM, HUGO; PORTUGAL; SCHUR, ISSAI;
SCHWARZ, SAMUEL; TOMAR; WERNER,
HEINZ
Murray (H.) Lichtenstein’,
Ph.D., M. Phil., B.A.; Dr. Professor
Emeritus, Hunter College, City
University of New York: Lots;
PROVERBS, BOOK OF; SHINAR; TERAH
David L. Lieber*, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Former President, the University of
Judaism; Los Angeles: BANISHMENT;
CENSUS; DIVORCE; DORFF, ELLIOT N.;
JEALOUSY; PILLAR OF CLOUD AND PILLAR
OF FIRE; POVERTY; RANSOM; SABBATICAL
YEAR AND JUBILEE; STRANGERS AND
GENTILES; VORSPAN, MAX
Esther (Zweig) Liebes, B.A.;
Jerusalem: BUNIN, HAYYIM ISAAC;
DAVID OF MAKOW; DOV BAER OF
MEZHIRECH; ELIMELECH OF LYZHANSK;
HANOKH OF ALEKSANDROW; ISAAC
THE BLIND; LOEBEL, ISRAEL; NAHMAN
OF HORODENKA; NAHMAN OF KOSOV;
PRZEDBORZ; RADOSHITSER, ISSACHAR
BAER; RAZA RABBA, SEFER; ROPSHITSER,
NAPHTALI ZEVI; RYMANOWER,
MENAHEM MENDEL; RYMANOWER, ZEVI
HIRSH; SPINKA, JOSEPH MEIR WEISS OF;
WARKA; ZEVI HIRSCH FRIEDMAN OF
LESKO
Hans Liebeschutz, Dr. Phil.,
ER.Hist.Soc.; Professor Extraord.
of Medieval Latin Literature, the
University of Hamburg; Emeritus
Reader in Medieval History, the
University of Liverpool: ABELARD,
PETER; ALBERTUS MAGNUS; ALEXANDER
OF HALES; AQUINAS, THOMAS; CUSA,
NICHOLAS OF; ECKHART, MEISTER;
WILLIAM OF AUVERGNE
Charles S. Liebman, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Political
Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
Seymour B. Liebman, M.A.,
Lecturer in Latin American History,
Florida Atlantic University, Boca
Raton
Pearl J. Lieff, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Sociology, Borough of
Manhattan Community College of
the City University of New York:
COSER, LEWIS A.; EISENSTADT, SAMUEL
NOAH
Chaim Lifschitz, Former Inspector,
Department of Religious Education,
Ministry of Education and Culture,
Jerusalem: COHEN, DAVID
Ezekiel Lifschutz, Archivist of the
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research,
New York: ALTER, VICTOR
B. (Berachyahu) Lifshitz*, Ph.D.;
Faculty of Law, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ASMAKHTA
David S. Lifson, Ph.D.; Professor
of English and of Humanities,
Monmouth College, Long Branch,
New Jersey: KALICH, BERTHA;
THOMASHEESKY, BORIS
Jacob Jay Lindenthal, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of History,
Rutgers University, Newark, New
Jersey: BLAU, PETER MICHAEL; ETZIONI,
AMITAI WERNER
Edward T. Linenthal*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History and Editor,
Journal of American History, Indiana
University, Bloomington, Indiana:
BERENBAUM, MICHAEL
Paul Link, M.Sc.; Emeritus
Professor of Textiles, Instituto
Superior Tecnologico, Buenos
Aires; Havazzelet Ha-Sharon, Israel:
LAWYERS; LIACHO, LAZARO; POLITICS;
SCHAULSON NUMHAUSER, JACOBO;
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE LITERATURE;
STEINBRUCH, AARAO
Elias Lipiner, B.A.; Journalist, Tel
Aviv
Edward Lipinski, D.D., D.Bibl.
St.; Professor of Ancient History,
of the History of Semitic Religions,
and of Comparative Grammar of
Semitic Languages, the Catholic
University of Louvain, Belgium:
ALLEGORY; JEREMIAH; LOVE; MALACHI,
BOOK OF; NAHUM; OBADIAH, BOOK OE;
REVELATION; SIGNS AND SYMBOLS; SIN
Sonia L. Lipman, B.A.; Writer,
London: GERTNER, LEVI and MEIR;
MONTEFIORE, JUDITH
Steven (Steve) Lipman’, B.A.,
M.A,; Staff Writer, The Jewish Week,
New York: ZLOTOWITZ, BERNARD M.
Vivian David Lipman, C.V.O.,
Ph.D.; Former Director of Ancient
Monuments and Historic Buildings,
London: AMES; BASEVI; BEARSTED,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MARCUS SAMUEL, FIRST VISCOUNT;
BOARD OF DEPUTIES OF BRITISH JEWS;
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DE; WORCESTER; YOUNG, STUART
Walter Lippmann, Demographer,
Melbourne: AUSTRALIA
Oded Lipschits*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Archaeology and
Biblical History, Tel Aviv University:
RAMAT RAHEL
Ora Lipschitz, M.A.; Jerusalem:
SINAI, MOUNT
Arye Lipshitz, Writer, Jerusalem:
BEYTH, HANS; FREIER, RECHA
Deborah E. Lipstadt, Ph.D.;
Professor, Modern Jewish History,
University of California at Los
Angeles: HOLOCAUST
Sol Liptzin, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Comparative Literature,
City College of the City University
of New York, Jerusalem: ADLER,
JACOB; ALTSCHUL, MOSES BEN HANOKH;
AVE-LALLEMANT, FRIEDRICH CHRISTIAN
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ISIDOR; BEER, MICHAEL; BEER-HOFMANN,
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117
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BERG, LEO; BERGNER, HERZ; BERMANN,
RICHARD ARNOLD; BERNSTEIN,
HERMAN; BERNSTEIN, IGNATZ; BICKEL,
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YIDDISH LANGUAGE CONFERENCE;
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118
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JOSEPH; ROSENBLATT, H; ROSSIN,
SAMUEL; RUBINSTEIN, JOSEPH;
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SAPHIR, MORITZ GOTTLIEB; SAPHIRE,
SAUL; SARASOHN, KASRIEL HERSCH;
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ISRAEL JACOB; SCHWARZ, LEO WALDER;
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SIMON, SHLOME; STERNBERG, JACOB;
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LOUIS; VARNHAGEN, RAHEL LEVIN;
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ZISHE; WEINREICH, MAX; WEISS, ERNST;
WEISSENBERG, ISAAC MEIR; WERFEL,
FRANZ; WIENER, LEO; WIHL, LUDWIG;
WOLFSKEHL, KARL; YAKNEHAZ;
YARMOLINSKY, AVRAHM; YEZIERSKA,
ANZIA; YIDDISH LITERATURE; YIVO
INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH;
YUNGE, DI; YUNG-VILNE; ZUNSER,
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Joanna Lisek*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Wroctaw University Polish
Philological Institute, Department
of Jewish Study; Study for the
Animators of Culture and
Librarians, Wroclaw, Poland: GRADE,
CHAIM
Dora Litani-Littman, M.A.;
Researcher, Jerusalem: ADERCA,
FELIX; BALTAZAR, CAMIL; BANUS,
MARIA; BARANGA, AUREL; BLECHER,
MARCEL; CHILDREN’S LITERATURE;
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ODESSA; PANA, SASA; PORUMBACU,
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RUDICH, MAYER; SANIELEVICI, HENRIC;
SEBASTIAN, MIHAIL; TZARA, TRISTAN;
VORONCA, ILARIE; WALD, HENRI
Stefan Litt*, Ph.D.; Fellow, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BOAS
Robert Littman*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Classics, University of Hawaii,
Honolulu, Hawaii: HAWAII
Meir Litvak, Ph.D.; Department of
Middle Eastern History and African
Studies, Tel Aviv University
Yosef Litvak, M.A.; Researcher,
Ministry of Absorption, Jerusalem:
HOLOCAUST, RESCUE FROM; ISRAEL,
STATE OF: ALIYAH
Emanuel Litvinoff, Writer and
Editor, London: RUSSIA
Jacob Liver, Ph.D.; Professor of
Bible, Tel Aviv University: Davip,
DYNASTY OF; DEBORAH; GEDALIAH;
GENEALOGY; HOSHEA; JEHOIACHIN;
JEHOIAKIM; JERUSALEM; JONATHAN;
KING, KINGSHIP; KORAH; MANASSEH;
MISHMAROT AND MAAMADOT;
SHESHBAZZAR
Linda Livna, Ben-Gurion
University, Beersheba: BEN-GURION
UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV
Eliezer Livneh: VAN VRIESLAND,
SIEGERIED ADOLF
Amira Liwer*, B.A., M.A.; Research
student, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ZADOK HA-KOHEN
RABINOWITZ OF LUBLIN
Darrell B. Lockhart*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Spanish,
University of Nevada, Reno:
GOLOBOEFE, GERARDO MARIO;
GRUNBERG, CARLOS MOISES; KOVADLOEF,
SANTIAGO; MUNIZ-HUBERMAN,
ANGELINA; RAWET, SAMUEL; ROSENCOE,
MAURICIO; ROZENMACHER, GERMAN;
SATZ, MARIO; SCLIAR, MOACYR; SHUA,
ANA MARIA; SNEH, SIMJA; STEIMBERG,
ALICIA; TIEMPO, CESAR; VERBITSKY,
BERNARDO; WECHSLER, ELINA
Amanda Lockitch*, B.A., M.A.;
Theatre, University of Toronto,
Canada: SHERMAN, JASON
Raphael Loewe, M.A.; Lecturer
in Hebrew, University College,
London: AINSWORTH, HENRY; ANDREW
OF SAINT- VICTOR; BACON, ROGER; BECK,
MATTHIAS FRIEDRICH; BECK, MICHAEL;
BERNARD, EDWARD; BIBLE; BIBLIANDER,
THEODOR; BODLEY, SIR THOMAS;
BOSHAM, HERBERT DE; BROUGHTON,
HUGH; CALLENBERG, JOHANN HEINRICH;
CAPITO, WOLFGANG FABRICIUS; CASTELL,
EDMUND; COCCEIUS, JOHANNES;
COWLEY, SIR ARTHUR ERNEST;
CUDWORTH, RALPH; DANBY, HERBERT;
EGIDIO DA VITERBO; ERPENIUS, THOMAS;
ETHERIDGE, JOHN WESLEY; FOREIRO,
FRANCISCO; HEBRAISTS, CHRISTIAN;
IMBONATI, CARLO GUISEPPE; NICHOLAS
DE LYRE; SCHILLER-SZINESSY, SOLOMON
MAYER
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Ayala Loewenstamm, M.A.; the
Academy of the Hebrew Language,
Jerusalem: ABU AL-FAT; ABU AL-HASAN
OF TYRE; AL-ASATIR; AMRAM DARAH;
BABA RABBAH; DUSTAN; MARKAH;
PENTATEUCH, SAMARITAN; SAMARITANS
Samuel Ephraim Loewenstamm,
Ph.D.; Professor of Bible, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ELKANAH; EWALD, HEINRICH GEORG
AUGUST; JEDAIAH; JEDUTHUN; JESSE
Kurt Loewenstein, Tel Aviv:
FOERDER, YESHAYAHU; LANDAUER,
GEORG; MOSES, SIEGFRIED; SENATOR,
DAVID WERNER
Rudolf Loewenthal, Ph.D.;
Historian, Bethesda, Maryland: a1
TIEN; CANTON; CHINA; HANGCHOW;
HARBIN; HONG KONG; KADOORIE;
KAIFENG; MONGOLIA; NINGSIA; PEKING;
SCHERESCHEWSKY, SAMUEL ISAAC
JOSEPH; YANG-CHOU
David Samuel Loewinger, Dr. Phil.,
Rabbi; Scholar, Former Professor
at the Jewish Theological Seminary
of Hungary; the Jewish National
and University Library, Jerusalem:
HELLER, BERNAT; IBN GAON, SHEM TOV
BEN ABRAHAM; LANDAUER, SAMUEL;
LONZANO, MENAHEM BEN JUDAH DE;
MAGYAR ZSIDO SZEMLE; MANUSCRIPTS,
HEBREW
Julie Simon Loftsgaarden’,
B.A. Print Journalism; Reporter/
Journalist; CBS News Corp.; Austin,
Texas: KLEIN, GERDA WEISSMANN and
KURT
Zvi Loker*, M.A.; Ambassador
(retired); Director, Even Tov
Archives, Jerusalem: ALBAHARI,
DAVID; DOHANJ, JULIJE; DUBROVNIK;
ELDAR, REUVEN; EVENTOV, YAKIR;
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MANDL, SAADIA; MARIBOR; MAURITIUS;
MONASTIR; NIS; NOVI SAD; OFNER,
FRANCIS-AMIR; OSIJEK; PAVELIC, ANTE;
PIJADE, MOSA; RIJEKA; ROTEM, CVI;
SARAJEVO; SENTA; SKOPLJE; SOMBOR;
SPLIT; SUBOTICA; TISMA, ALEKSANDAR;
TRAVNIK; VARAZDIN; YUGOSLAVIA;
ZAGREB; ZEMUN; ZENICA; ZRENJANIN
Massimo Longo Adorno’, Ph.D.;
Historical Researcher, University
of Messina, Italy: AZEGLIO, MASSIMO
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
TAPARELLI, MARCHESSE D’; BACHI,
ARMANDO; CARPI, LEONE; DELLA
SETA ALESSANDRO; FLORENCE;
GUASTALLA, ENRICO; MODENA, ANGELO;
OTTOLENGHI, GIUSEPPE; PUGLIESE,
EMANUELE; RASSEGNA MENSILE DI
ISRAEL, LA; ROMANIN JACUR, LEONE;
ROMANIN, SAMUELE; SCHANZER, CARLO;
SEGRE, ROBERTO; VESSILLO ISRAELITICO;
VOLTERRA, VITO; WOLLENBORG, LEONE
Peter Longreich*: HIMMLER,
HEINRICH
Haskel Lookstein*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Congregation Jeshurun, Principal,
Ramaz School, New York:
HOLOCAUST: THE WORLD; MARGOLIES,
MOSES ZEVULUN
Max Loppert, B.A.; Music Critic,
Financial Times, London: ABRAVANEL,
MAURICE; ANCONA, MARIO; BABIN,
VICTOR; BERGER, ARTHUR VICTOR;
BROWNING, JOHN; CHAGRIN, FRANCIS;
CHERKASSKY, SHURA; COSTA, SIR
MICHAEL; DICHTER, MISHA; DOBROVEN,
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PERAHIA, MURRAY; PREVIN, ANDRE;
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Netanel Lorch, M.A.; Lieutenant
Colonel (Res.), Israel Defense
Forces; Former Ambassador,
Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Jerusalem: BOLIVIA; CUBA; EYTAN,
WALTER; FISCHER, JEAN; HOCHSCHILD,
MAURICIO; SHALTIEL, DAVID; WAR OF
INDEPENDENCE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Giora Lotan, Dr.Jur.; Former
Director General of the National
Insurance Institute, of the Ministry
of Social Welfare, and of the
Ministry of Labor, Jerusalem:
KARMINSKI, HANNAH; OLLENDOREF,
FRIEDRICH
Arthur Lourie, LL.B., M.A.; Deputy
Director General of the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: ENGLAND
Misha Louvish, M.A.; Writer
and Journalist, Jerusalem: ALIYAH;
CAPITO, WOLFGANG FABRICIUS; GUR,
MORDECAI; ISRAEL, STATE OF: ALIYAH;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: HISTORICAL SURVEY;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: POLITICAL LIFE AND
PARTIES; KOLLEK, THEODORE; MA’BARAH;
MALBEN; MAPAI; RAFI; STOCKADE AND
WATCHTOWER; ZIONIST CONGRESSES
William (Zeev) Low, Ph.D.;
Professor of Physics, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem; former
Director of Jerusalem College of
Technology: TECHNOLOGY AND
HALAKHAH
Malcolm F. Lowe*, Ecumenical
Theological Research Fraternity in
Israel: NEW TESTAMENT
Steven (Mark) Lowenstein*, Ph.D.;
Levine Professor of Jewish History,
University of Judaism, Los Angeles:
BREUER, JOSEPH; NEW YORK CITY;
SCHWAB, SHIMON
Ernst Gottfried Lowenthal, Dr.rer.
Pol.; Berlin and London: PHILO
VERLAG; PRESS
Zdenko Lowenthal, M.D.; Professor
of the History of Medicine, the
University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia:
BIHALJI MERIN, OTO; DAVICO, OSCAR;
DEBRECENJI, JOZEF; ERLICH, VERA STEIN;
GLID, NANDOR; GOTTLIEB, HINKO; JUN-
BRODA, INA; KONFINO, ZAK; LEBOVIC,
DJORDJE
Heinz Lubacz, Waltham,
Massachusetts: MARCUSE, HERBERT
Benjamin Lubelski: KALLIR, MEIER
Lisa (Jane) Lubick-Daniel*,
Masters in Public Policy; McLean,
Virginia: EIZENSTAT, STUART
Roy Lubove, Ph.D.; Professor of
Social Welfare and History, the
University of Pittsburgh: BERNSTEIN,
119
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
LUDWIG BEHR; BILLIKOPF, JACOB; BOGEN,
BORIS DAVID; EPSTEIN, ABRAHAM;
FRANKEL, LEE KAUFER
Steven Luckert*, Ph.D.; Curator
of the Permanent Exhibition,
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, Washington, D.C.: VOYAGE
OF THE ST. LOUIS
Stefan Lutkiewicz, B.A.; Jerusalem:
HIRSZFELD, LUDWIK
Edythe Lutzker, M.A.; Writer, New
York: HAFFKINE, WALDEMAR MORDECAI
Jacob Lvavi (Babitzky),
Agricultural Engineer, Tel Aviv:
BIROBIDZHAN
Klara Maayan, M.A.; Tel Aviv:
RZESZOW
Hyam Maccoby, M.A.; Librarian
and Lecturer, Leo Baeck College,
London
John Macdonald, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew and Semitic Languages,
the University of Glasgow, Scotland:
PENTATEUCH, SAMARITAN;
SAMARITANS
Peter Machinist, B.A.; New Haven,
Connecticut: LEVIATHAN
Robert B. MacLeod, Ph.D.;
Professor of Psychology, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York: Katz,
DAVID
David M. Maeir, M.D.; Director,
Shaare Zedek Hospital, Jerusalem
Z. (Ze'ev) A. Maghen”, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer in Middle East
History and Persian Language, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan: HADITH;
MEDINA; YAHUD; YAHUD
Shaul Magid*, Ph.D.; Jay and Jeanie
Schottenstein Professor of Modern
Judaism, Indiana University,
Bloomington, Indiana: sCHACHTER-
SHALOMI, ZALMAN
Shulamit S. Magnus*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor in Jewish
Studies and History, Chair, Program
in Jewish Studies, Oberlin College,
Ohio: WENGEROEFE, PAULINE EPSTEIN
Raphael Mahler, Dr.Phil.; Emeritus
Professor of Jewish History, Tel Aviv
120
University: BALABAN, MEIR; JANOW
LUBELSKI; LECZNA; LUBACZOW
Joseph Maier, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, Rutgers University,
Newark, New Jersey: DURKHEIM,
EMILE; JOSEPH ISSACHAR BAER BEN
ELHANAN
J.F. Maillard, Agrege de Universite,
Chercheur, Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique, Paris:
RAPHAEL, MARK
Jacob Maimon, Jerusalem:
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Emmanuelle Main”: PESHER; STERN,
MENACHEM; YANNAI, ALEXANDER
Yitzchak Mais*, Historian, Museum
Consultant, Jerusalem and New
York: ARAD, YITZHAK; MUSEUM OF
JEWISH HERITAGE: A LIVING MEMORIAL
TO THE HOLOCAUST; STERN, DAVID
David Maisel, M.A.; Jerusalem:
COHEN; FEKETE, MICHAEL; SHENHAR,
YITZHAK
Jacob J. Maitlis, Dr.Phil.; Scholar,
London: MAYSE-BUKH
Donald J. Makovsky, M.A.;
Assistant Professor of History,
Forest Park Community College, St.
Louis, Missouri: MISSOURI
Yona Malachy, D.en D.;
Research Fellow, the Institute for
Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BLACKSTONE,
WILLIAM E.; ECKARDT, ROY A.;
PROTESTANTS; ZIONISM
Abraham Malamat, Ph.D.;
Professor of Ancient Jewish and
Biblical History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ARAM,
ARAMEANS; ARAM-DAMASCUS;
DAMASCUS; EXILE, ASSYRIAN; MARI
Irving Malin, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of English, City College
of the City University of New York:
SVETLOV, MIKHAIL; TRILLING, LIONEL
Michael Malina’, A.B., L.L.B.;
Harvard Law School, Scarsdale,
New York: BERMAN, JULIUS
Frances Malino*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Jewish Studies and History,
Wellesley College, Maryland:
ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE;
HOURWITZ, ZALKIND
Myriam M. Malinovich, Ph.D.;
Acting Assistant Professor of
Philosophy, San Diego State College,
California: KOJEVE, ALEXANDRE;
PERELMAN, BARON CHAIM
Nadia Malinovich*, Ph.D.,
Adjunct Professor, Institut d'Etudes
Politiques de Paris, France: HERSTEIN,
LILLIAN; STEIMER, MOLLY
Risa Mallin*, B.A.; Retired
Executive Director, Arizona
Jewish Historical Society, Phoenix,
Arizona: ARIZONA; PHOENIX
Aharon Maman’, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ABBREVIATIONS; BAR-ASHER,
MOSHE; BLAU JOSHUA; HAYYUJ, JUDAH
BEN DAVID; KADDARI, MENACHEM ZEVI;
LINGUISTIC LITERATURE, HEBREW;
SAREATTI, GAD B.
Peter (M.) Manasse*, Editor, 20th
Century Biographical Encyclopedia
of Jews in the Netherlands, Menasseh
ben Israel Institute/University of
Amsterdam, the Netherlands: vAN
RAALTE, EDUARD ELLIS
Arnold Mandel, L.es L.; Writer and
Critic, Paris: AREGA, LEON; BLOCH-
MICHEL, JEAN; CREMIEUX, BENJAMIN;
IKOR, ROGER; SARRAUTE, NATHALIE;
SPERBER, MANES
Meir Mandel, Ing.Agr., LA.N.;
Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim: GORDONIA
Bernard Mandelbaum, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Chancellor, Professor of
Homiletics, and Associate Professor
of Midrash, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York
Jane Mandelbaum™: pAssaIC-CLIFTON
Charles (H.) Manekin”*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Philosophy,
University of Maryland: BELIEF;
CATEGORIES
Daniel Mann’, B.A., M.A.; Retired
Jewish Communal Worker and
Educator: FARBAND; LABOR ZIONIST
ALLIANCE
Jacob Mann, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish History and
Talmud, the Hebrew Union
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati, Ohio: AARON BEN JOSEPH
HA-KOHEN SARGADO; ABRAHAM BEN
ISAAC HA-KOHEN BEN AL-FURAT
Giora Manor*, Dance Reviewer and
Writer; Founder and first editor of
the Israel Dance Review: AGADATI,
BARUCH; MARKOVA, ALICIA; ZEMACH,
BENJAMIN
Yohanan Manor, Ph.D.; Head,
Information Department, World
Zionist Organization, Jerusalem:
ANTI-ZIONISM, CONTEMPORARY
Menahem Mansoor, Ph.D.;
Professor of Hebrew and Semitic
Studies, the University of Wisconsin,
Madison: ESSENES; HASSIDEANS
Hugo Mantel, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Jewish
History, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: ODENATHUS AND ZENOBIA;
SANHEDRIN
Daniela Mantovan*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Yiddish
Language and Literature,
Hochschule fiir Jiidische Studien,
Heidelberg, Germany: DER NISTER
Haim Maor’*, Professor, Artist,
Curator and Art Lecturer, Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheva: ART: MODERN EREZ ISRAEL;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL LIFE
Yitzhak Maor, Ph.D.; Historian,
Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov (Ihud):
AN-SKI, S.; KHARKOV CONFERENCE;
KIRSHON, VLADIMIR MIKHAILOVICH;
LATVIA; LUNTS, LEV NATANOVICH;
MINSKI, NIKOLAI MAXIMOVICH;
SOBOL, ANDREY MIKHAILOVICH;
VOLYNSKI, AKIM LEVOVICH; ZASLAVSKY,
DAVID
Moshe Ma’oz*, Professor Emeritus
of Islamic and Middle Eastern
Studies, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ASAD, HAFEZ AL-; SYRIA
Evasio de Marcellis, M.A.; Teacher
in the Department of Ancient Near
Eastern Studies, Tel Aviv University:
EGYPT; GELB, IGNACE JAY
Frederick J. Marchant*, Ph.D.;
Professor of English and Director
of Creative Writing and the Poetry
Center, Suffolk University, Boston:
PINSKY, ROBERT
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Julius J. Marcke, J.D.; Professor
of Law and Law Librarian, New
York University School of Law:
CAHN, EDMOND NATHANIEL; CARDOZO,
BENJAMIN NATHAN; COHEN, BENJAMIN
VICTOR; FRANK, JEROME NEW; FREUND,
ERNST; FREUND, PAUL ABRAHAM;
FUCHSBERG, JACOB D.; GARMENT,
LEONARD; LAWYERS; LEVY, MOSES;
PFEFFER, LEO; REDLICH, NORMAN;
RODELL, FRED M.; SHULMAN, HARRY;
WECHSLER, HERBERT; WYZANSKI,
CHARLES EDWARD, JR.
David Marcus*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Bible, Jewish Theological Seminary,
New York: EZRA AND NEHEMIAH,
BOOKS OF
Jacob Rader Marcus, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of American
Jewish History, the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati, Ohio: AMERICAN JEWISH
ARCHIVES; UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
Joseph Marcus, M.D.; Jerusalem:
KANNER, LEO; SPITZ, RENE A.
Marcel Marcus, M.A., Rabbi;
Communal Rabbi of Berne, Lecturer
at the University of Berne
Simon Marcus, Dr.rer.Pol;
Historian, Jerusalem: ALBANIA;
ALTARAS, JOSEPH; ARTA; ASAEL, HAYYIM
BEN BENJAMIN; ATHENS; BEIRUT;
BULGARIA; CANEA; CAREGAL, HAYYIM
MOSES BEN ABRAHAM; CHALCIS; CHIOS;
CORFU; CORINTH; CRETE; CYPRUS;
DANON, ABRAHAM; DIDYMOTEIKHON;
DRAMA; DURAZZO; EDIRNE; FAITUSI,
JACOB BEN ABRAHAM; GAGIN, SHALOM
MOSES BEN HAYYIM ABRAHAM;
GALIPAPA, ELIJAH MEVORAKH;
GARMISON, SAMUEL; GHERON, YAKKIR
MORDECAI BEN ELIAKIM; GHIRON;
GOTA, MOSES ZERAHIAH BEN SHNEUR;
GRAZIANO, ABRAHAM JOSEPH SOLOMON
BEN MORDECAI; GREECE; HABIB, HAYYIM
BEN MOSES BEN SHEM TOV; HABIB,
MOSES BEN SOLOMON IBN; HABILLO,
ELISHA; HAMON; HANDALI, JOSHUA BEN
JOSEPH; HAYYIM ABRAHAM RAPHAEL
BEN ASHER; HAYYIM JUDAH BEN HAYYIM;
HAZZAN; HAZZAN, ISRAEL MOSES BEN
ELIEZER; IBN EZRA, SOLOMON BEN
MOSES; IBN JAMIL, ISAAC NISSIM; IBN
VERGA, JOSEPH; IOANNINA; ISTRUMSA,
HAYYIM ABRAHAM; JAVETZ, BARZILLAI
BEN BARUCH; KALAI, MORDECAI BEN
SOLOMON; KALAI, SAMUEL BEN MOSES;
KAPUZATO, MOSES HA-YEVANI; KASABI,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
JOSEPH BEN NISSIM; KASTORIA; KAVALLA;
KOLAROVGRAD; KORONE; KOS; KRISPIN,
JOSHUA ABRAHAM; KYUSTENDIL;
LARISSA; LEVI BEN HABIB; MODON;
MUSSAFIA, HAYYIM ISAAC; NAUPAKTOS;
NIKOPOL; NIS; OCHRIDA; PACIFICO,
DAVID; PATRAS; PHLORINA; PLEVEN;
PLOVDIV; RETHYMNON; ROMANIOTS;
RUSE; SAMOKOV; SERRAI; SOFIA; SPARTA;
STARA ZAGORA; THEBES; TRIKKALA;
VARNA; VEROIA; VIDIN; VOLOS;
YUGOSLAVIA; ZANTE
Eliezer Margaliot, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Scholar and Teacher, Jerusalem:
AHAI BEN JOSIAH; OSTROGORSKI, MOSES
Mordecai Margaliot, Ph.D.;
Professor of Geonic and Midrashic
Literature, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
AHA; DOSA BEN SAADIAH; HAI BAR
RAV DAVID GAON; HAI BEN NAHSHON;
HALAKHOT KEZUVOT; HALAKHOT
PESUKOT
David Margalith, M.D.; Former
Lecturer in the History of Medicine,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
COHN, TOBIAS BEN MOSES; FALAQUERA,
NATHAN BEN JOEL
Judith Margles*, Executive
Director, Oregon Jewish Museum,
Portland, Oregon: OREGON;
PORTLAND
Jill Margo*: WOLFENSOHN, JAMES
DAVID
Julius Margolinsky, Journalist,
Copenhagen: ADLER, DAVID BARUCH;
BALLIN, JOEL; BRANDES, LUDWIG ISRAEL;
COPENHAGEN; DENMARK; GLUECKSTADT,
ISAAC HARTVIG; HAMBRO, JOSEPH;
HANNOVER, ADOLPH; JACOBSEN,
ARNE EMIL; JACOBSON, LUDVIG
LEVIN; NATHANSON, MENDEL LEVIN;
SALOMONSEN, CARL JULIUS; SIMONSEN,
DAVID JACOB
Peter (S.) Margolis*, M.A.; the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
Gratz College, Philadelphia:
STRASSFELD, MICHAEL; STRASSFELD,
SHARON
Rebecca E. Margolis*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, Humanities
and Religious Studies, Vanier
College, Montreal, Canada:
MIRANSKY, PERETZ; RAVITCH, MELECH;
WASSERMAN, DORA AND BRYNA; WILDER,
HERTZ EMANUEL; WOLOFSKY, HIRSCH
121
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Yitzhak Margowsky, B.A.;
Jerusalem: WAR AND WARFARE
Marin Marian (-Balasa)*, Dr.Phil;
Principal Senior Researcher,
Musicologist, Writer, Romania
Academy of Sciences, Romania:
BRAUNER, HARRY; CARP, PAULA;
SULITEANU, GHISELA; VICOL, ADRIAN
Jonathan Mark’, B.A.; Associate
Editor, The Jewish Week, New York:
SCHNEERSOHN, MENACHEM MENDEL
Zvi Mark*, Ph.D.; Lecturer, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: NAHMAN OF
BRATSLAV
Shimon Markish, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Geneva University,
Geneva, Switzerland: ERASMUS OF
ROTTERDAM
Eugene Markovitz, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Adjunct Professor of American
History, Seton Hall University,
South Orange, New Jersey: MENDES
Arthur Marmorstein, Ph.D.;
Professor of Bible and Talmud,
Jews’ College, London: ANGELS AND
ANGELOLOGY
José Martinez (Delgado)*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Granada
University, Spain: GIKATILLA, MOSES
BEN SAMUEL HA-KOHEN
Yehuda Marton, Dr. rer Pol.;
Journalist, Jerusalem: ALBA IULIA;
AMIGO; ARAD; BAIA-MARE; BEZIDUL
NOU; BISTRITA; BORSA; BRASOV;
CAMPULUNG MOLDOVENESC; CAREI;
CHERNOVTSY; CLUJ; DARABANI;
DEJ; DEUTSCHKREUTZ; DOROHOI;
ENDRE, LASZLO; FAGARAS; FRANKEL,
LEO; FRIEDMANN, ABRAHAM; GURA-
HUMORULUI; JAMBOR, FERENC-IOSEF;
KASZTNER, REZSO RUDOLE; KISTARCSA;
KOMOLY, OTTO; LEVAI, JENO; LUGOJ;
MARGHITA; MARTON, ERNO JECHEZKEL;
MATTERSDORE, JEREMIAH BEN ISAAC;
MUENZ, MOSES BEN ISAAC HA-LEVI;
MUKACHEVO; NASAUD; NASNA; ORADEA;
ORSOVA; PANET, EZEKIEL BEN JOSEPH;
RADAUTI; RAPOPORT, BENJAMIN ZE'EV
WOLF HA-KOHEN BEN ISAAC; REBREANU;
REGHIN; SADGORA; SALAMON, ERNO;
SALONTA; SATU-MARE; SCHUECK, JENO;
SCHWERIN-GOETZ, ELIAKIM HA-KOHEN;
SEINI; SIBIU; SIGHET; SIMLEUL-SILVANIEI;
SIRET; SOMREI SABAT; SUCEAVA; SZTOJAY,
DOME; TALMACIU; TAM, JACOB BEN
MEIR; TARGU-MURES; TIMISOARA;
122
TISZAESZLAR; TRANSYLVANIA; TURDA; UJ
KELET; VATRA-DORNEI; VISEUL-DE-SUS;
WERFEL, FRANZ; WOLF, FRUMET
Martin E. Marty, Ph.D.; Professor
of Modern Church History, the
University of Chicago: NIEBUHR,
REINHOLD; TILLICH, PAUL JOHANNES
Will Maslow, A.B., J.D.; General
Counsel, American Jewish
Congress, New York: PEKELIS,
ALEXANDER HAIM
Daniel M. Master*: DOTHAN
J. Rolando (Roly) Matalon’*,
M.HLL., Rabbi; Congregation
Bnai Jeshurun, New York: MEYER,
MARSHALL T.
Lidia Domenica Matassa’*, B.A.;
School of Religions, Trinity College,
Dublin, Ireland: DELOS; ELEPHANTINE;
MAGDALA; SAMARITANS
Maritha Mathijsen*, Ph.D.;
Professor Dutch Literature,
University of Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: BRUGGEN, CARRY VAN;
MULISCH, HARRY; VROMAN, LEO
Jiirgen Matthaus*, Ph.D.; Historian,
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museums Center for Advanced
Holocaust Studies, Washington,
D.C.: FINAL SOLUTION
Amihai Mazar*, Ph.D.;
Professor, Eleazar Sukenik Chair
in Archaeology, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: JERUSALEM;
REHOV, TEL
Benjamin Mazar, Dr. Phil.; Pro-
Rector, former President and
Professor of Archaeology and
of Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: EN-GEDI;
LEBO-HAMATH
Michel Mazor, Dr.Jur.; Author,
Paris: CENTRE DE DOCUMENTATION
JUIVE CONTEMPORAINE
Y. (Yaakov) Mazor*, M.A.;
Associated Researcher, Jewish
Music Research Centre, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: FEIDMAN,
GIORA; HASIDISM
David P. McCarthy, Ph.D.;
Professor, Hebrew and Semitic
Studies, University of Wisconsin
Keren R. McGinity*, Ph.D.;
Historian, Brown University,
Newton, Massachusetts: ANTIN,
MARY; CHESLER, PHYLLIS
Blake McKelvey, Ph.D.; City
Historian of Rochester, New York:
ROCHESTER
Michael Meckler*, Ph.D.;
Permanent Fellow, Center for
Epigraphical and Palaeographical
Studies, the Ohio State University:
COLUMBUS
Meir Medan, M.A.; Chief Scientific
Secretary of the Academy of the
Hebrew Language, Jerusalem:
ABRAHAM HA-BAVLI; ACADEMY OF THE
HEBREW LANGUAGE; KLAUSNER, JOSEPH
GEDALIAH; LAWAT, ABRAHAM DAVID BEN
JUDAH LEIB; LEVITA, ELIJAH
Sheva Medjuck*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, Mount Saint Vincent
University, Halifax, Canada:
ATLANTIC CANADA
Elliott Hillel Medlov, B.A., Rabbi;
Highland Park, New Jersey: SAMUEL
HA-KATAN; SIMEON BEN PAZZI
Rafael Medoff*, Ph.D., Director,
The David S. Wyman Institute for
Holocaust Studies, Gratz College,
Melrose Park, Pennsylvania:
GOLINKIN, NOAH; KOOK, HILLEL; WAR
REFUGEE BOARD
Meron Medzini, Ph.D.; Author,
Journalist, Senior Lecturer, School
for Overseas Students, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: HISTADRUT;
ISRAEL, STATE OF: ALIYAH; ISRAEL, STATE
OF: DEFENSE FORCES; ISRAEL, STATE OF:
HISTORICAL SURVEY; KEREN HAYESOD;
POLLARD AFFAIR
Moshe Medzini, Journalist and
Writer, Jerusalem: NOVOMEYSKY,
MOSHE; RUTENBERG, PINHAS; ZIONISM
Matti Megged, M.A.; Critic and
Lecturer in Modern Hebrew
Literature, Haifa University and
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ALONI, NISSIM;
ALTERMAN, NATHAN; GOURI, HAIM;
YIZHAR, S.
Michal Meidan*, Ph.D.; Candidate,
Research Fellow and Lecturer, Asia
Centre France, Paris, University of
Haifa: CHINA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Levi Meier*, Ph.D., Rabbi; Jewish
Chaplain/Clinical Psychologist,
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los
Angeles: HOSPITALS
Richard Meier, Bach.Arch.;
Professor of Architecture, the
Cooper Union for the Advancement
of Science and Art, New York:
SYNAGOGUE
Alexander Meijer, M.D.; Lecturer
in Child Psychiatry, the Hebrew
University- Hadassah Medical
School, Jerusalem: TRAMER, MORITZ
Daphne Meijer(-Sangary)*, M.A.;
Journalist, Nieuw Israelietisch
Weekblad, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: DUTCH LITERATURE
Edmund Meir, Dr. Phil.; Historian,
Jerusalem: DARMSTADT; HYMANS, PAUL
Ephraim Meir*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: BUBER, MARTIN; DERRIDA,
JACQUES; EXISTENTIALISM; HESCHEL,
ABRAHAM JOSHUA; LEIBOWITZ,
YESHAYAHU; LEVINAS, EMMANUEL;
LYOTARD, JEAN-FRANCOIS; ROSENSTOCK-
HUESSY, EUGEN; ROSENZWEIG, FRANZ;
WITTGENSTEIN, LUDWIG
Isaac Meiseles, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Talmud, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan
Joseph Meisl, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Historian and former Director of
the Central Archives for the History
of the Jewish People, Jerusalem:
BERLIN; DUBNOW, SIMON
Pnina Meislish, B.A.; Ramat Gan:
HALBERSTAM; MEISELS, UZZIEL BEN ZEVI
HIRSCH
Abraham Melamed*, Ph.D.;
Professor, University of Haifa:
ABRABANEL, JUDAH; ASHKENAZI, SAUL
BEN MOSES HA-KOHEN; KING, KINGSHIP
Uri Melammed”*, Ph.D.; Researcher,
The Historical Dictionary Project
of the Academy of the Hebrew
Language, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and the Hebrew Language
Academy, Jerusalem: TIBBON, IBN
Bent Melchior, Chief Rabbi of
Denmark, Copenhagen: DENMARK;
FISCHER, JOSEF
Julian Louis Meltzer, Executive
Vice Chairman, Yad Chaim
Weizmann, Rehovot, Israel:
MARKS, SIMON, BARON; OPPENHEIMER,
HILLEL REINHARD; REICHERT, ISRAEL;
ROSENHEIM, MAX, BARON; SELA,
MICHAEL; THORN, SIR JULES; WOLFSON,
SIR ISAAC
Adam (David) Mendelsohn*,
B.A., M.A.; Brandeis University,
Boston: AARON, ISRAEL; ABRAMOWITZ,
DOV BAER; ADLER, JOSEPH; ADLER,
LIEBMAN; ALBUM, SIMON HIRSCH; ALPER,
MICHAEL; AMATEAU, ALBERT JEAN;
BLACK, ALGERNON DAVID; BRUCKMAN,
HENRIETTA; COHEN, MARY MATILDA
Ezra Mendelsohn, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Contemporary Jewry and in
Russian Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: LASERSON,
MAX; POLAND; SOCIALISM, JEWISH;
WOLFE, BERTRAM DAVID
Oskar Mendelsohn, M.A.;
Historian, Retired Teacher, Oslo:
BENKOW, JO; NORWAY; SCANDINAVIAN
LITERATURE; TAU, MAX; WERGELAND,
HENRIK ARNOLD
Paul Mendes-Flohr*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Modern Jewish
Thought, the Franz Rosenzweig
Minerva Research Center for
German-Jewish Literature and
Cultural History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: COHEN,
ARTHUR A.; ROTENSTREICH, NATHAN
Richard Menkis*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, University of British
Columbia, Canada: ABRAMOWITZ,
HERMAN; BECKER, LAVY M.; BELZBERG,
SAMUEL; CASS, SAMUEL; DIAMOND,
JACK; FEINBERG, ABRAHAM L.; FELDER,
GEDALIA; FINESTONE, SHEILA; GORDON,
NATHAN; GRAUBART, Y.L.; HOROWITZ;
JACOBS, SOLOMON; JOURNALISM;
KAHANOVITCH, ISRAEL ISAAC; LAWYERS;
ONTARIO; POLITICS; PRESS; PRICE,
ABRAHAM A.; RHINEWINE, ABRAHAM;
SASKATCHEWAN; SLONIM, REUBEN;
STERN, HARRY JOSHUA; TREPMAN,
PAUL
Itshak Meraz, M.A.; Jerusalem
Chen Merchavya, Ph.D.; Historian,
Jerusalem: RAZIM, SEFER HA
Peretz Merhav, Historian of the
Labor Movement, Kibbutz Bet Zera:
HA-SHOMER HA-ZAIR
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Irwin L. Merker, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Rutgers
University, Newark, New Jersey:
COHEN, ROBERT; EHRENBERG, VICTOR
LEOPOLD; FUKS, ALEXANDER; GLOTZ,
GUSTAVE; HIRSCHFELD, HEINRICH OTTO;
KATZ, SOLOMON; LEVY, PAUL; POSENER,
GEORGES HENRI; SAMTER, ERNST; STEIN,
ARTHUR; STEIN, HENRI
Yohanan Meroz, Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
AUSTRIA; BELGIUM; DENMARK; ITALY;
NETHERLANDS, THE
Joseph Mersand, Ph.D.; New
York: CHAYEFSKY, PADDY; HECHT, BEN;
KAUFMAN, GEORGE SIMON; MILLER,
ARTHUR; ODETS, CLIFFORD; RICE, ELMER
LEOPOLD; SHAW, IRWIN; WOUK, HERMAN
Daniel M. Metz*: SARPHATI, SAMUEL;
WERTHEIM, ABRAHAM CAREL
Bruce M. Metzger, Ph.D.; Professor
of New Testament Language and
Literature, Princeton Theological
Seminary, New Jersey: ESTHER,
ADDITIONS TO THE BOOK OF;
MANASSEH, PRAYER OF; SONG OF THE
THREE CHILDREN AND THE PRAYER
OF AZARIAH; SUSANNA AND
THE ELDERS
Baruch Mevorah, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ASSEMBLY OF JEWISH NOTABLES;
BAIL, CHARLES-JOSEPH; CLOOTS, JEAN
BAPTISTE DU VAL-DE-GRACE, BARON DE;
GREGOIRE, HENRI BAPTISTE; HOLBACH,
PAUL HENRI DIETRICH, BARON D’;
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE; SACY, ANTOINE
ISAAC SILVESTRE DE
Herrmann M. Z. Meyer, M.A.;
Scholar and Advocate, Berlin;
Jerusalem: INCUNABULA; JERUSALEM;
MAP MAKERS; SONCINO GESELLSCHAFT
DER FREUNDE DES JUEDISCHEN BUCHES
Ilya Meyer’, B.Ed.; Translator,
Transtext Ab, Gothenburg,
Sweden: BRICK, DANIEL; GONDOR,
FERENC; JAKUBOWSKI, JACKIE; MALMO;
NARROWE, MORTON; SCANDINAVIAN
LITERATURE; STOCKHOLM; SWEDEN
Isidore S. Meyer, M.A., Rabbi;
Historian, New York: ADAMS,
JOHN; AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL
SOCIETY; ERIEDENBERG, ALBERT MARX;
FRIEDMAN, LEE MAX; KOHLER, MAX
JAMES; LYONS, JACQUES JUDAH; MONIS,
123
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JUDAH; MONTEFIORE, JOSHUA; SIMSON;
WATTERS, LEON LAIZER
Michael A. Meyer*, Ph.D.; Adolph
S. Ochs Professor of Jewish
History, Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati, Ohio: ADLER, LAZARUS
LEVI; BEER, BERNHARD; BRILLING,
BERNHARD; GELBER, NATHAN
MICHAEL; HEBREW UNION COLLEGE-
JEWISH INSTITUTE OF RELIGION;
HOCHSCHULE FUER DIE WISSENSCHAFT
DES JUDENTUMS; INSTITUTUM
JUDAICUM DELITZSCHIANUM;
JUEDISCH-LITERARISCHE
GESELLSCHAFT; LEBRECHT,
FUERCHTEGOTT; LOEWENSTEIN,
LEOPOLD; OESTERREICHISCHE
NATIONALBIBLIOTHEK; SILBERNER,
EDMUND
Thomas Meyer*, Ph.D.; Writer,
Rosenzweig Minerva Research
Center for German-Jewish
Literature and Cultural History,
Jerusalem: CASSIRER, ERNST
Torben Meyer, Editor, Copenhagen:
BORCHSENIUS, POUL; NATHANSEN,
HENRI; WELNER, PINCHES
Carol Meyers*, Ph.D., Mary Grace
Wilson Professor, Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina:
MANDRAKE; WOMAN: BIBLE PERIOD
Eric M. Meyers*, A.B., M.A.,
Ph.D.; Bernice and Morton Lerner
Professor of Judaic Studies; Director
for Jewish Studies, President, The
American Schools of Oriental
Research, Duke University, Durham,
North Carolina: MERON; SEPPHORIS
Reuven Michael, M.A.; Kibbutz
Afikim: BAUER, BRUNO; CASSEL, PAULUS
STEPHANUS; DEUTSCH-ISRAELITISCHER
GEMEINDEBUND; FREDERICK II;
FREDERICK II OF HOHENSTAUEEN;
JACOBY, JOHANN; JUDE, DER; JUEDISCHE
FREISCHULE; KATZENELLENBOGEN;
KOENIGSBERG; RINDELEISCH; SAXONY;
SCHUDT, JOHANN JAKOB; SIMON, JAMES
Werner Michaelis, Ph.D.; Professor
of New Testament History, the
University of Berne: MOSES,
ASSUMPTION OF
Henry (D.) Michelman’, B.A.,
M.H.L., Rabbi; New York: GOLDFARB,
ISRAEL; SYNAGOGUE COUNCIL OF
AMERICA, THE
124
Dan Michman”, Ph.D.; Professor
of Modern Jewish History and
Chair, Finkler Institute of Holocaust
Research, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan; Chief Historian, Yad
Vashem, Jerusalem: AMSTERDAM;
ASSCHER, ABRAHAM; COHEN, DAVID;
NETHERLANDS, THE
Jozeph Michman (Melkman)”*,
Ph.D.; Formerly Director-General
of Yad Vashem; head of the
Department of Culture, Ministry
of Education and Culture; Founder
and Chairperson of the Institute
for Research on Dutch Jewry, Beth
Julian, Herzliya, Israel: AMSTERDAM;
ASSCHER, ABRAHAM; BERGEN-
BELSEN; BERNSTEIN, PEREZ; BOAS;
DENAZIFICATION; FELIX LIBERTATE;
JUDENRAT; KAPO; LEHREN; LEMANS,
MOSES; LEPROSY; MUSSERT, ANTON
ADRIAAN; NATIONAL SOCIALISM;
NETHERLANDS, THE; SEYSS-INQUART,
ARTHUR; SZALASI, FERENC; ZACUTO,
MOSES BEN MORDECAI
Ed Mickelson*: EDMONTON
Dushan Mihalek*, M.A., Ph.D.;
Director of Israeli Music Center,
Tel Aviv: BARDANASHVILI, JOSEE; BEN-
SHABETAI, ARI; MUSIC; YUGOSLAVIA
Eugene Mihaly, Ph.D.; Rabbi;
Professor of Midrash and of
Homiletics, the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati: GUTTMANN, ALEXANDER
Jacques K. Mikliszanski, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Halakhic
Literature, the Hebrew College,
Boston: ELISHA BAAL KENAFAYIM; ISSUR
GIYYORA; LEVI, ISRAEL; MASSEKHET;
SIMCHONI, JACOB NAFTALI HERTZ;
TCHERNOWITZ, CHAIM
Attilio Milano, Ph.D.; Historian,
Hod Ha-Sharon, Israel: ABENAFIA,
JOSEPH; ABRABANEL; ACQUI; ALGHERO;
AMBRON, SHABBETAI ISAAC; ANAU;
ANCONA; AQUILA; AQUILEIA; ASCOLI
PICENO; ASTI; BARI; BASILEA, SOLOMON
AVIAD SAR-SHALOM; BASSANO;
BENEVENTO; BERNARDINO DA SIENA;
BOLOGNA; BONAVOGLIA, MOSES
DE’ MEDICI; BONDAVIN, BONJUDAS;
BRINDISI; CANTARINI; CAPUA; CASES;
CATANIA; CATECHUMENS, HOUSE OF;
CESENA; CIVIDALE; COLOGNA, ABRAHAM
VITA; CONEGLIANO; CORCOS, HEZEKIAH
MANOAH HAYYIM THE YOUNGER;
COSENZA; CREMONA; DIENCHELELE;
FAENZA; FANO; FARAJ BEN SOLOMON
DA AGRIGENTO; FERRARA; FINALE
EMILIA; FINZI; FORLI; GALLICO; GENOA;
GORIZIA; ILFA; IMOLA; ITALY; LEGHORN;
LOMBARDY; LUCCA; LUGO; MAGINO,
MEIR; MANTINO, JACOB BEN SAMUEL;
MILAN; PAUL IV; PAVIA; PIACENZA;
PIERLEONI; PISA; SAN DANIELE DEL
FRIULI; VENOSA; VITERBO
Jonathan Milgram”, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Talmud
and Rabbinics, Jewish Theological
Seminary; New York
Jacob Milgrom, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Associate Professor of
Near Eastern Languages, the
University of California, Berkeley:
ABOMINATION; ALTAR; ANOINTING;
BLOOD; BLOODGUILT; DESECRATION;
’EGLAH ’ARUFAH; FASTING AND EAST
DAYS; FORGIVENESS; HALLAH; KIPPER;
LEVITICUS, BOOK OF; NAZIRITE
Jose Maria Millas-Vallicrosa,
Ph.D.; Professor of Hebrew Studies,
the University of Barcelona: RAMON
LULL
Rochelle L. Millen*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Religion, Wittenberg
University, Springfield, Ohio:
KADDISH
Irwin (J.) Miller*, Author;
Historian and Founding President,
The Jewish Historical Society
of Lower Fairfield County,
Connecticut: STAMFORD
Louis Miller, M.B.; Chief
National Psychiatrist, Ministry of
Health, Jerusalem: ERIKSON, ERIK
HOMBERGER; FEDERN, PAUL; FERENCZI,
SANDOR; FREUD, ANNA; GREENACRE,
PHYLLIS; GRINKER, ROY RICHARD Sr;
HITSCHMANN, EDWARD; HOFF, HANS;
HOFFER, WILLI; KARDINER, ABRAM;
KLEIN, MELANIE REIZES; KOMAROVSKY,
MIRRA; KRIS, ERNST; KUBIE, LAWRENCE;
LEWIS, SIR AUBREY JULIAN; MALZBERG,
BENJAMIN; MASSERMAN, JULES HYMEN;
MENTAL ILLNESS; MINKOWSI, EUGENE;
NUNBERG, HERMAN; RADO, SANDOR;
RANK, OTTO; REDL, FRITZ; REDLICH,
FREDERICK C.; REIK, THEODOR;
ROTHSCHILD, FRIEDRICH SALOMON;
SACHS, HANNS; SCHILDER, PAUL
FERDINAND; STEKEL, WILHELM; STENGEL,
ERWIN; TAUSK, VIKTOR; WINNIK, HENRY
ZNI; ZILBOORG, GREGORY
Marc Miller*, Ph.D.; Associate
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Professor of Jewish Studies, Emory
University, Atlanta, Georgia:
EDELSTADT, DAVID; ENTIN, JOEL;
FALKOWITSCH, JOEL BAERISCH;
FEIGENBAUM, BENJAMIN; GINZBURG,
ISER; GISER, MOSES DAVID; GLASMAN,
BARUCH; GLICK, HIRSH; GODINER,
SAMUEL NISSAN; GORIN, BERNARD;
GOTTLIEB, JACOB; GROSS, NAPHTALI;
GURSHTEIN, AARON; HELLER, BUNIM;
HIRSCHKAHN, ZVI; HORONTCHIK, SIMON;
HOROWITZ, BER; ICELAND, REUBEN;
JANOVSKY, SAUL JOSEPH; LATTEINER,
JOSEPH; LERER, YEHIEL; LIBIN, Z.; LICHT,
MICHAEL; LITVINE, M.; LUDWIG, REUBEN;
LUTZKY, A.; RABON, ISRAEL; ROSENFELD,
MORRIS; SWEATSHOP POETRY; TEPPER,
KOLYA; VINCHEVSKY, MORRIS; WEINPER,
ZISHE; YUNGE, DI
Samuel Aaron Miller, Ph.D.,
ER.LC.; Chemical Consultant;
President of the British Zionist
Federation, London: ABEL, EMIL; ABIR,
DAVID; ABRAHAM, MAX; AERONAUTICS,
AVIATION, AND ASTRONAUTICS;
ANDRADE, EDWARD NEVILLE DA
COSTA; ASKENASY, PAUL; BACHARACH,
ALFRED LOUIS; BAEYER, ADOLF VON;
BAMBERGER, EUGEN; BARD, BASIL
JOSEPH ASHER; BERGMANN, ERNST
DAVID; BERGMANN, MAX; BERLINER,
EMILE; BIKERMAN, JACOB JOSEPH;
BLAU, FRITZ; BLOCH, KONRAD; BOHR,
NIELS HENRIK DAVID; BORSOOK,
HENRY; BRAUDE, ERNEST ALEXANDER;
CALVIN, MELVIN; CARO, HEINRICH;
CARO, NIKODEM; CHAIN, SIR ERNEST
BORIS; COHEN, ERNST JULIUS; COHN,
EDWIN JOSEPH; COPISAROW, MAURICE;
DEUEL, HANS ERWIN; DONATH, EDUARD;
DROSDOFE, MATTHEW; DUSHMAN,
SAUL; ESTERMANN, IMMANUEL; FAJANS,
KASIMIR; FARKAS, LADISLAUS; FEIGL,
FRITZ; FLEISCHER, MICHAEL; FODOR,
ANDOR; FOX, SIR JOHN JACOB; FRANK,
ALBERT RUDOLPH; FREIDLINA, RAKHIL
KHATSKELEVNA; ERUMKIN, ALEKSANDR
NAUMOVICH; FUNK, CASIMIR;
GERHARDT, CHARLES FREDERIC;
GOLDBERG, ALEXANDER; GOLDSCHMIDT,
GUIDO; GOLDSCHMIDT, HANS;
GOLDSTEIN, SIDNEY; GOMBERG, MOSES;
GREENBERG, DAVID MORRIS; HABER,
FRITZ; HANDLER, PHILIP; HAVURAH;
HEIDELBERGER, MICHAEL; HEILBRON,
SIR IAN MORRIS; HERZOG, REGINALD
OLIVER; HEVESY, GEORGE CHARLES DE;
HIRSHBERG, YEHUDAH; ISAACS, JACOB;
JACOBSON, PAUL HENRICH; JOLLES,
ZVI ENRICO; KAZARNOVSKI, ISAAC
ABRAMOVICH; KREBS, SIR HANS ADOLF;
LADENBURG, ALBERT; LANDSTEINER,
KARL; LEVENE, PHOEBUS AARON
THEODOR; LEVI, GIORGIO RENATO; LEVI,
MARIO GIACOMO; LIEBEN, ADOLPH;
LIEBERMANN, CARL THEODOR; LIPMAN,
JACOB GOODALE; LIPMANN, FRITZ
ALBERT; LIPPMANN, EDMUND OSKAR
VON; LIPPMANN, EDUARD; LOEB,
JACQUES; LOEB, MORRIS; LOEWE, LUDWIG
and ISIDOR; LONDON, FRITZ; MAGNUS,
HEINRICH GUSTAV; MARCKWALD,
WILLY; MARCUS, SIEGFRIED; MEYER,
VICTOR; MEYERHOF, OTTO; MICHAELIS,
LEONOR; MOISSAN, HENRI; NAQUET,
ALFRED JOSEPH; NEUBERG, GUSTAV
EMBDEN CARL; NEUBERGER, ALBERT;
OPPENHEIMER, CARL; PANETH,
FRIEDRICH ADOLF; PERUTZ, MAX
FERDINAND; PICK, ERNST PETER;
RABINOWITCH, EUGENE; ROGINSKI,
SIMON ZALMANOVICH; RONA, PETER;
ROSENHEIM, OTTO; RUMPLER, EDUARD;
SCHOENHEIMER, RUDOLF; SCHWARZ,
DAVID; SERBIN, HYMAN; SHAPIRO,
ASCHER HERMAN; SILVERSTEIN, ABE;
SINGER, JOSEF; STEINMETZ, CHARLES
PROTEUS; STERN, KURT GUNTER;
SZWARC, MICHAEL; TRAUBE, ISIDOR;
WALLACH, OTTO; WARBURG, OTTO
HEINRICH; WEIGERT, FRITZ; WEIZMANN,
CHAIM; WILLSTAETTER, RICHARD;
ZUCROW, MAURICE JOSEPH
Matityahu Minc: MARSHAK, SAMUEL
YAKOVLEVICH
Sergio Itzhak Minerbi*, Ph.D.;
Former Ambassador to Belgium,
Luxembourg and the E.E.C.;
Visiting Professor at the University
of Haifa: DONATI, ANGELO; EUROPEAN
COMMUNITY, THE; HOLOCAUST: THE
WORLD; ITALY; ROME; VATICAN
Charles B. Mintzer, Writer, New
York: RAISA, ROSA
Victor A. Mirelman’*, Ph.D.; Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish History, River
Forest, Illinois: BENARDETE, MAIR JOSE;
BRIE, LUIS HARTWIG; BUENOS AIRES;
DIEZ MACHO, ALEJANDRO; JOSEPH,
HENRY; KAPLAN, ISAAC; LATIN AMERICA;
LEVY, ISIDORE; MIRELMAN; RAPOPORT,
SOLOMON JUDAH LEIB; ROMAN, JACOB
BEN ISAAC
Irwin Mirkin, B.A.; Communal
Worker and Writer, Los Angeles:
GOLDIN, HYMAN ELIAS
Dan Miron, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Modern Hebrew
Literature, Tel Aviv University:
FEIERBERG, MORDECAI ZE’EV; SADAN,
DOV
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Aharon Mirsky, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebrew Literature,
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: AL-HARIZI, JUDAH BEN
SOLOMON
David Mirsky, M.A., Rabbi;
Dean and Professor of English
and Hebrew Literature, Yeshiva
University, New York: HISTADRUT
IVRIT OF AMERICA
Samuel Kalman Mirsky, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Rabbinics,
Yeshiva University, New York: ELJAH
BEN SOLOMON ZALMAN
Moshe Mishkinsky, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in the History of Jewish
Labor Movements, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish History, Tel
Aviv University: ABRAMOWITZ, EMIL;
ABRAMOWITZ, GRIGORI; AGUDAT HA-
SOZYALISTIM HA-IVRIM; AMSTERDAM,
ABRAHAM MEIR; ARONSON, GRIGORI;
BROSS, JACOB; BUND; COMMUNISM;
DASHEWSKI, PINHAS; DOBIN, SHIMON;
EINAEUGLER, KAROL; EISENSTADT,
ISAIAH; ESTHER; FRUMKIN, BORIS
MARKOVICH; GHELERTER, LUDWIG
LITMAN; GORDON, ABRAHAM;
GOZHANSKY, SAMUEL; GROSSER,
BRONISLAW; GUREVICH, MOSHE; HA-
EMET; HERSCH, PESACH LIEBMAN;
INDEPENDENT JEWISH WORKERS
PARTY; JEWISH SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC
PARTY; JEWISH SOCIALIST WORKERS’
PARTY; KAHAN, BARUCH MORDECAI;
KOPELSON, ZEMAH; KREMER, ARKADI;
KURSKY, FRANZ; LEKERT, HIRSCH;
LESTSCHINSKY, JOSEPH; LIBER, MARC;
LIEBERMANN, AARON SAMUEL; LITWAK,
A. LUMINA; LVOVICH, DAVID; MEDEM,
VLADIMIR; MIKHALEVICH, BEINISH;
MILL, JOSEPH SOLOMON; MUTNIK,
ABRAHAM; PAT, JACOB; PESAHSON, ISAAC
MORDECAI; PORTNOY, JEKUTHIEL; RAFES,
MOSES; RATNER, MARC BORISOVICH;
ROSENTHAL, PAVEL; SHULMAN, VICTOR;
TSHEMERISKI, ALEXANDER; UNITED
JEWISH SOCIALIST WORKERS’ PARTY;
VOZROZHDENIYE; WECHSLER, MAX;
WEINSTEIN, AARON; ZIONIST SOCIALIST
WORKERS’ PARTY; ZYGELBOJM, SAMUEL
MORDECAI
Richard Mitten, Ph.D.; Historian,
Freelance Writer, Vienna: WALDHEIM
AFFAIR
Beverly Mizrachi, M.A.;
Sociologist, Jerusalem: BEN-DAVID,
JOSEPH; BROOKNER, ANITA
125
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Rachel Mizrahi*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil:
SAFRA
Zalmen Mlotek*, M.E.A.; Artistic
Director, National Yiddish Theater-
Folksbiene, New York: YIDDISH
THEATER FOLKSBIENE
Baruch Modan, M.D.; Tel Ha-
Shomer, Israel: SICKNESS
H.D. Modlinger: scHMELKES, ISAAC
JUDAH
Arnaldo Dante Momigliano,
D.Litt., EB.A.; Professor of History,
University College, London:
CLASSICAL SCHOLARSHIP, JEWS IN;
HELLENISM
Sidney Monas, Ph.D.; Professor of
History and of Slavic Languages, the
University of Texas, Austin: SHESTOV,
LEV
Shelomo Morag, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew Linguistics, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
PRONUNCIATIONS OF HEBREW
William L. Moran, Ph.D.; Professor
of Assyriology, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts: EL-
AMARNA; PHOENICIA, PHOENICIANS
Shmuel Moreh, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Modern Arabic Language and
Literature, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ALCEH, MATILDE;
BASRI, MEER; DARWISH, SHALOM;
IBRAHIM IBN SAHL AL-ANDALUSI
AL-ISRA'ILI; ISRAEL, STATE OF: ARAB
POPULATION; MARHAB AL-YAHUDI IBN
AL-HARITH; MIKHAIL, MURAD; NOM,
IBRAHIM; OBADYA, ABRAHAM; ORIENTAL
LITERATURE; PRESS; SAMUEL IBN
*ADIYA; SHAMOSH, YIZHAK; SHASHU,
SALIM
Simha Moretzky, Journalist, Bat
Yam, Israel: BAT YAM
Michael L. Morgan’, Ph.D.;
Chancellor’s Professor Philosophy
and Jewish Studies, Indiana
University, Bloomington, Indiana:
FACKENHEIM, EMIL
Susan (Weissglass) Morgan’,
B.A.; Public Relations Consultant,
Jewish Community Federation of
Richmond, Richmond, Virginia:
RICHMOND; VIRGINIA
126
Aryeh Morgenstern, B.A.; Teacher,
Netanyah
Goldie Morgentaler*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of English,
University of Lethbridge, Alberta,
Canada: ROSENEARB, CHAVA;
SHAYEVITSH, SIMKHA-BUNIM
Yehuda Moriel, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Talmud, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: EDUCATION, JEWISH
Bonnie J. Morris*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Women’s Studies, George
Washington University, Washington,
D.C.: HASIDISM
Richard B. Morris, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Columbia University,
New York: LEVY, LEONARD WILLIAMS
Larry Moses”, B.A., M.A.; M.S.W,;
The Wexner Foundation, Ohio:
WEXNER, LESLIE H.
Rafael Moses, M.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Social Work, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: HARTMANN,
HEINZ; LOEWENSTEIN, RUDOLPH
MAURICE
Wolf Moskovitz: KRIMCHAK
LANGUAGE
Robert Moskowitz": PAssAIc-
CLIFTON
Andrea Most*, M.A., Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of American
Literature, University of Toronto,
Canada: SPEWACK, BELLA
Gloria Mound, Researcher, Ibiza:
IBIZA and FORMENTERA
Andrew Muchin*, B.A;
Freelance Writer and Director
of the Wisconsin Small Jewish
Communities History Project,
Wisconsin Society for Jewish
Learning, Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
WISCONSIN
Arno Muenster*, Dr.Phil.; Professor
of Modern and Contemporary
Philosophy, Université de Picardie-
Jules Verne, Amiens, France: BLOCH,
ERNST
James Muilenburg, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Old Testament, San
Francisco Theological Seminary, San
Anselmo, California: BUDDE, KARL
FERDINAND REINHARD; BUHL, FRANZ
PEDER WILLIAM MEYER
Stefan Miiller-Doohm’, Dr.Phil.;
Professor, University of Oldenburg,
Germany: ADORNO, THEODOR W.
Aviva Muller-Lancet, L.es L.;
Curator of Jewish Ethnography, the
Israel Museum, Jerusalem:
BUKHARA
Robert A. Mullins*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible
and Ancient Near Eastern History,
Azusa Pacific University, Azusa,
California: BETH-SHAN
Lewis Mumford, Professor of
Humanities, Stanford University,
California; Professor of City and
Regional Planning, the University
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia:
ROSENFELD, PAUL
Suessmann Muntner, M.D.,
Visiting Professor of the History of
Medicine, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ABT, ISAAC ARTHUR;
ASAPH HA-ROFE; AVERROES; BAGINSKY,
ADOLF ARON; BAMBERGER, HEINRICH
VON; BLOCH, IWAN; BUCKY, GUSTAY;
COHNHEIM, JULIUS; CYON, ELIE
DE; DAMESHEK, WILLIAM; DE LEE,
JOSEPH B.; DONNOLO, SHABBETAI;
EDINGER, LUDWIG; ERLANGER,
JOSEPH; FINKELSTEIN, HEINRICH;
FRIEDEMANN, ULRICH; FRIGEIS,
LAZARO DE; FROEHLICH, ALFRED;
GOLDBERGER, JOSEPH; HAJEK, MARKUS;
HERZ, MARCUS; HIRSCH, AUGUST;
HIRSCH, RACHEL; JACOB HA-KATAN;
JADASSOHN, JOSEF; KAPOSI, MORITZ;
KATZENELSON, JUDAH LEIB BENJAMIN;
KISCH, BRUNO ZECHARIAS; KOLLER,
CARL; KOPLIK, HENRY; KRISTELLER,
SAMUEL; KRONECKER, HUGO; LASSAR,
OSCAR; LEVINSON, ABRAHAM; LOEB,
LEO; MACHT, DAVID L; MAIMONIDES;
MEDICINE; MEYERHOF, MAX; MUNK,
HERMANN; PAGEL, JULIUS LEOPOLD;
PLAUT, HUGO CARL; POLITZER, ADAM;
PREUSS, JULIUS; REMAK; ROMBERG,
MORITZ HEINRICH; RUFUS OF SAMARIA;
SACHS, BERNARD; SCHICK, BELA;
SENATOR, HERMANN; STARKENSTEIN,
EMIL; STEINACH, EUGEN; STERN, LINA
SOLOMONOVNA,; STILLING, BENEDICT;
TRAUBE, LUDWIG; UNNA, PAUL GERSON;
VALENTIN, GABRIEL GUSTAV; WECHSLER,
ISRAEL; ZONDEK
Museum of San Juan Staff, San
Juan, Puerto Rico: PUERTO RICO
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Alan E. Musgrave, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy, the University of
Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand:
POPPER, SIR KARL
David N. Myers*, Ph.D.; Professor,
University of California, Los
Angeles: ELLENSON, DAVID HARRY
Jacob M. Myers, Ph.D.; Professor
of Old Testament, the Lutheran
Theological Seminary, Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania: NEHEMIAH
Jody Myers*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Religious Studies, California State
University, Northridge: BERG, PHILIP;
HAGGADAH, PASSOVER; NEW MOON
Shlomo Naaman, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Social History, Tel Aviv
University: LASSALLE, FERDINAND
Israel T. Naamani, Ph.D.; Professor
of Political Science, the University of
Louisville, Kentucky
Jose Luis Nachenson, Ph.D.;
Director of Research and
Publications, Institute for Cultural
Relations Israel-Latin America,
Spain, and Portugal, Jerusalem:
GRINSPUN, BERNARDO; ISAACSON, JOSE;
PORTUGAL
Ada Nachmani: IHUD HABONIM
Amikam Nachmani’, Ph.D.;
Professor of International Relations,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
TURKEY
Jacob Nacht, Dr.Phil.; Scholar, Tel
Aviv: ISRU HAG
Amos Nadan*, Ph.D., Senior
Researcher, The Moshe Dayan
Center for Middle Eastern and
African Studies, Tel Aviv University:
GAZA STRIP
Mordekhai Nadav, Ph.D.; Head
of the Department of Manuscripts
and Archives, the Jewish National
and University Library; Lecturer
in Jewish History, the University
of the Negev, Beersheba: PINsk;
PUKHOVITSER, JUDAH LEIB; TROKI
Pamela S. Nadell*, Ph.D.; Professor
of History and Jewish Studies,
American University, Washington,
D.C.: ASKOWITH, DORA; JONAS, REGINA;
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF TEMPLE
SISTERHOODS; SCHECHTER, MATHILDE
ROTH; SEMIKHAH; WOMAN; WOMEN’S
LEAGUE FOR CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
Ludwig Nadelmann, M.A., Rabbi;
Lecturer in the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College, Philadelphia
Judah Nadich, D.H.L., Rabbi; New
York: EISENHOWER, DWIGHT DAVID
Micah H. Naftalin*, B.A., J.D.;
National Director (CEO), Union
of Councils for Jews in the Former
Soviet Union, Washington, D.C.:
UCS}
Gerard Nahon, Ph.D.; Charge de
Recherches au Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique, Paris:
REINACH
Iehiel Nahshon, B.A.; Ministry of
Education, Hod ha-Sharon, Israel:
SAPHIR, JACOB
Noemi Hervits de Najenson, Ph.D.;
Pedagogical Center, Nor Vehalutz,
Jerusalem: GRINSPUN, BERNARDO;
ISAACSON, JOSE; PORTUGAL
Reuven Nall, LL.B.; Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
PORTUGAL
Uri Naor, Dr.Phil.; Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
SELBSTWEHR
Yaakov Naparstek*, M.D.; Professor
and Chairman of Medicine,
Hadassah-Hebrew University
Medical Center, Jerusalem: MEDICINE
Daniel C. Napolitano*, M.A.;
Director, Division of Education,
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, Washington, D.C.:
HOLOCAUST
Albert Nar: GREEK LITERATURE,
MODERN
Shulamit Nardi, M.A.; Assistant to
the President of Israel, Jerusalem:
ENGLISH LITERATURE; KOPS, BERNARD;
PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL; RAPHAEL,
FREDERIC
Bezalel Narkiss, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in the History of Art, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ARK; BIBLE; DAVID; GOLDSMITHS AND
SILVERSMITHS; HAGGADAH, PASSOVER;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS, HEBREW;
ITALIA, SHALOM; JOEL BEN SIMEON;
JOSEPH HA-ZAREFATI; SHIVVITI; TEMPLE
Morton Narrowe, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Chief Rabbi of Sweden, Stockholm
Abraham Nasatir, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, San Diego State College,
California
Yaacov Nash, B.A.; Ministry of
Police, Tel Aviv: CRIME
Susan Nashman Fraiman’, M.A;
Lecturer in Art History, Emunah
Teacher's College, Jerusalem:
SABBATH
Ellis Nassour, M.A.; New York:
SELZNICK
John Alfred Nathan, B.A., LL.B.; Tel
Aviv: BENSAUDE
Pnina Nave, Ph.D.; Visiting
Professor of Jewish Studies,
Heidelberg University: BENDEMANN,
EDUARD JULIUS FRIEDRICH; BERGNER,
ELISABETH
Joseph Naveh, Ph.D.; Research
Fellow in West-Semitic Epigraphy,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
Jerusalem District Archaeologist,
Department of Antiquities,
Jerusalem: ALEF; ALPHABET, HEBREW;
"AYIN; BET; DALET; GIMMEL; HE; HET;
KAF; KOF; LACHISH OSTRACA; LAMED;
MEM; NUN; PE; RESH; SADE; SAMEKH;
SHIN; TAV; TET; VAV; YAVNEH-YAM, LEGAL
DOCUMENT FROM; YOD; ZAYIN
Yitzhak Navon, Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: CEYLON
Shmoyl Naydorf*: BoralsHa,
MENAHEM
Joseph Nedava, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Political Science,
University of Haifa: BEN-HORIN,
ELIAHU; BERIT HA-BIRYONIM; TEHOMI,
AVRAHAM; VON WEISL, ZE'EV
Joshua Leib Ne’eman, Lecturer
in Bible Cantillation, the Rubin
Academy of Music, Jerusalem: BEER,
AARON; BIRNBAUM, ABRAHAM BAER;
BLINDMAN, YERUHAM; BLUMENTHAL,
NISSAN; DEUTSCH, MORITZ; FRIEDMANN,
MORITZ; GEROVICH, ELIEZER MORDECAI
BEN ISAAC; GLANZ, LEIB; GOLDSTEIN,
JOSEF; HENLE, MORITZ; HERSCHMAN,
127
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MORDECHAI; JAPHET, ISRAEL MEYER;
JASSINOWSKY, PINCHAS; KARNIOL,
ALTER YEHIEL; KIRSCHNER, EMANUEL;
KOHN, MAIER; KOUSSEVITZKY, MOSHE;
KWARTIN, ZAVEL; MINKOWSKI, PINCHAS;
MOROGOWSKI, JACOB SAMUEL;
NOWAKOWSKI, DAVID; SPIVAK, NISSAN
Yuval Ne’eman”*, Ph.D.; Founder
and Director of the School of
Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv
University; President of Tel Aviv
University and director of its Sackler
Institute of Advanced Studies;
Director of the Center for Particle
Theory at the ae of Texas,
Austin; Founder and Chairman of
the Israeli Space Agency; Scientific
Director of the Soreq facility, Israel:
PHYSICS
Sharon Ne’emani, Magen David
Adom, Tel Aviv
Avraham Negev, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Classical Archaeology,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AVEDAT
Joseph Nehama, Historian,
Salonika: ATHENS; CARASSO,
EMMANUEL; SALEM, EMMANUEL
RAPHAEL
Andre Neher, Dr. Phil., M.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Jewish History
and Philosophy, the University of
Strasbourg and Tel Aviv University:
AMADO LEVY-VALENSI, ELIANE; ETHICS
Renee Neher-Bernheim, Ph.D.;
Research Fellow in Jewish History,
University of Strasbourg and Tel
Aviv University: GORDIN, JACOB; LOUIS
David Neiman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Theology,
Dean of the Academy for Higher
Jewish Learning, Boston: CANAAN,
CURSE OF
Joseph Neipris, D.S.W.; Senior
Teacher in Social Work, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ADLER-
RUDEL, SALOMON; CASPARY, EUGEN;
COHEN, WILBUR JOSEPH; FRIEDLANDER,
WALTER; FUERTH, HENRIETTE;
GINSBERG, MITCHELL I.; INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE OF JEWISH COMMUNAL
SERVICE; LEVY, SAM SAADI; PERLMAN,
HELEN HARRIS; SCHOTTLAND, CHARLES
IRWIN; STEIN, HERMAN D.
Mordkhai Neishtat, Journalist,
128
Tel Aviv: BAAZOV, HERZL;
BABALIKASHVILLI, NISSAN; GEORGIA;
MAMISTABOLOB, ABRAHAM; MOUNTAIN
JEWS; QUNAYTIRA, AL-
Leon Nemoy, Ph.D.; Scholar in
Residence, Dropsie University,
Philadelphia: AARON BEN ELIJAH;
AARON BEN JUDAH KUSDINI; ANAN
BEN DAVID; ASZOD; BASIR, JOSEPH
BEN ABRAHAM HA-KOHEN HARO’EH
AL-; CHWOLSON, DANIEL; DAVID BEN
HUSSEIN, ABU SULEIMAN; DAVID BEN
SOLOMON; HASAN BEN MASHTAH; IBN
AL-HITI, DAVID BEN SE’ADEL; ISAIAH BEN
UZZIAH HA-KOHEN; ISRAEL HA-DAYYAN
HA-MAARAVI; JACOB BEN SIMEON;
JAPHETH AL-BARQAMANTI,; JESHUA BEN
JUDAH; KARAITES; KIRKISANI, JACOB
AL-; MALIK AL-RAMLI; MALINOWSKI,
JOSEPH BEN MORDECAI; MENAHEM
BEN MICHAEL BEN JOSEPH; MORDECAI
BEN NISAN; MOSES BEN SAMUEL OF
DAMASCUS; NAH’AWENDI, BENJAMIN
BEN MOSES AL-; PINSKER, SIMHAH;
POSNANSKI; SAHL BEN MAZLPAH
HA-KOHEN ABU AL-SURRI; SAHL IBN
FADL; SALMON BEN JEROHAM; SAMUEL
BEN DAVID; SAMUEL BEN MOSES AL-
MAGHRIBI; SAUL BEN ANAN; TAWRIZI,
JUDAH MEIR BEN ABRAHAM
Moshe Nes EI*, Ph.D.; Researcher,
Freelancer, Amilat, Jerusalem:
BERDICHEVSKY SCHER, JOSE; BERMAN
BERMAN, NATALIO; CHAMUDES REITICH,
MARCOS; CHILE; COHEN GELLERSTEIN,
BENJAMIN; COLOMBIA; COSTA RICA;
FAIVOVICH HITZCOVICH, ANGEL;
HONDURAS; LIBEDINSKY TSCHORNE,
MARCOS; SCHAULSON BRODSKY, JORGE;
SCHAULSON NUMHAUSER, JACOBO;
TEITELBOIM VOLOSKY, VOLODIA
Sara Neshamith, M.A.; Kibbutz
Lohamei ha-Gettaot: BRZEZINY;
POLAND
Amnon Netzer’, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Iranian Studies, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ABADAN; ABBAS I; ABBAS II; AHWAZ;
AMINA; BABAI BEN FARHAD; BABAI
BEN LUTE; BUSHIRE; EMRANI; GILAN;
HAMADAN; IRAN; ISFAHAN; JUDAH BEN
ELEAZAR; KASHAN; KAZVIN; KERMAN;
KHOMEINI; KHURASAN; KURDISTAN;
LAR; MAZANDARAN; MESHED; MIZRAHI,
HANINAH; NADER SHAH; NAHAVAND;
PAHLAVI, MOHAMMAD REZA SHAH;
PAHLAVI, REZA SHAH; RASHID AL-
DIN; RIZAIEH; SA’D AL-DAWLA AL-SAFI
IBN HIBBATALLAH; SHAHIN; SHIRAZ;
SHUSHTAR; TABRIZ; TEHERAN; YEZD
Gideon Netzer*, Ph.D.;
International Expert in Counter
Terrorism and Conflict Crisis
Management, National Defense
of the I.D.S. College, Israel: ISRAEL,
STATE OF: DEFENSE FORCES
Nissan Netzer, M.A.; Former
Scientific Secretary, the Academy of
the Hebrew Language, Jerusalem:
GIKATILLA, ISAAC IBN; MOSES BEN HA-
NESIAH
Shlomo Netzer*, Ph.D.; Modern
East European Jewish History,
Tel Aviv University: BEDZIN;
BIELSK PODLASKI; BRZESC KUJAWSKI;
BRZEZINY; HARTGLAS, MAXIMILIAN
MEIR APOLINARY; JEWISH HISTORICAL
INSTITUTE, WARSAW; LESKOW
Michael J. (John) Neufeld*,
B.A., M.A., Ph.D.; Museum
Curator, National Air and Space
Museum, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.: AUSCHWITZ,
BOMBING CONTROVERSY
Siegbert Neufeld, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Ramat Hen, Israel: LEWIN, ADOLF;
TYKOCINSKI, HAYYIM
Jacob Neusner*, Ph.D.; Research
Professor of Theology, Bard College,
Annandale-on-Hudson, New
York: BABYLONIA; BOKSER, BARUCH
M.; COHEN, NATHAN EDWARD; KLEIN,
PHILIP; LOTAN, GIORA; SELF-HATRED,
JEWISH; ZAMARIS; ZURI, JACOB SAMUEL
Gidi (Gideon) Nevo*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor, The Ben-Gurion
Research Institute, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
MIRON, DAN
Joseph Nevo*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Middle East History, University
of Haifa: ABDULLAH IBN HUSSEIN;
AKABA; HUSSEIN; HUSSEINI, HAJJ AMIN
AL-; JORDAN, HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF;
TRANSJORDAN
Dika Newlin, Ph.D.; Professor of
Music, North Texas State University,
Denton: BLOCH, ERNEST; MAHLER,
GUSTAV; MENDELSSOHN, FELIX;
MEYERBEER, GIACOMO
Aryeh Newman, M.A.; Lecturer
in English, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: DESECRATION;
INDEPENDENCE DAY, ISRAEL; SACRILEGE;
YOM HA-ZIKKARON
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
David Newman, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Department of Geography
and Environmental Development,
Chairman, Urban Studies Program,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheba: GUSH EMUNIM; ISRAEL,
STATE OF: ALIYAH; PEACE MOVEMENTS,
RELIGIOUS.
Isaac Newman, B.A., Rabbi;
London: ESTHER, FAST OF
Sara (Joanne) Newman”, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of English,
Kent State University, Ohio: BRONER,
ESTHER M.
Hugh Nibley, Ph.D.; Professor of
History and Religion, Brigham
Young University, Provo, Utah:
JERUSALEM
Eliezer Niborski*, M.A.; Editing
Collaborator of the Index to Yiddish
Periodicals, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: DLUZHNOWSKY, MOSHE;
ESSELIN, ALTER; SIEMIATYCKI, CHAIM
Miriam Nick, B.A.; Curator of
the Museum of Ethnography and
Folklore, Haaretz Museum, Tel Aviv:
DRESS
Maren (Ruth) Niehoff*, Dr.; Senior
Lecturer, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: PHILO JUDAEUS
Eduard Nielson, Dr.Theol.;
Professor of Theology, Copenhagen
University, Denmark: PEDERSEN,
JOHANNES
Shemuel Niger (Charney), Writer
and Critic, New York: ASCH, SHOLEM;
BORAISHA, MENAHEM
Annegret Nippa*, Dr., PD;
University Lecturer; Institut fir
Ethnologie, Universitat Leipzig;
Leipzig, Germany: DRESDEN
Yeshayahu Nir, Ph.D.; Professor,
Institute of Communications, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BAR-AM, MICHA; GIDAL, TIM;
PHOTOGRAPHY
Nurit Nirel, M.A.; Ministry of
Labor, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
LABOR
Mordechai Nisan, Ph.D.; Academic
Director, Preparatory Program,
Rothberg School for Overseas
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Students, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: GULF WAR
David Niv, M.A.; Editor and
Historian, Jerusalem: AUSUBEL,
NATHAN; BEN-YOSEE, SHELOMO; BETAR;
FRIZZI, BENEDETTO; HELPERN, MICHAEL;
IRGUN ZEVAI LE’UMMI; KATZENELSON,
YOSEF; LOHAMEI HERUT ISRAEL; RAZIEL,
DAVID; STERN, AVRAHAM
Izhak Noan,, Eilat, Israel: ELATH
Mona Nobil, B.A.; Netanyah
Eric Nooter, Ph.D.; AJDC
Historian, New York
Anita Norich*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, University of Michigan:
GLANZ-LEYELES, AARON; GREENBERG,
ELIEZER; IN-ZIKH; MUKDONI, A.; SINGER,
ISRAEL JOSHUA
Abraham Novershtern: YIDDISH
LITERATURE
Anita Novinsky, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
History, Sao Paulo University, Brazil
Dov Noy, Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer in
Folklore and in Hebrew and Yiddish
Literature, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ABBREVIATIONS;
ABRACADABRA; ABSALOM; ADALBERG,
SAMUEL; ADEN; AFGHANISTAN;
AFIKOMAN; ALEF; ANGEL OF DEATH;
ANIMAL TALES; APOSTASY; ASS; ELIJAH;
EVIL EYE; FOLKLORE
Mendel Nun, Kibbutz Ein Gev
Perry E. Nussbaum, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Jackson, Mississippi: MISSISSIPPI
David Obadia, Rabbi; Member of
the Rabbinical Council of Jerusalem:
ABENDANAN; ABI-HASIRA; ATTAR, JUDAH
BEN JACOB IBN; BEN ZAQEN; BENAIM;
BERDUGO; ELBAZ
John M. O’Brien, Ph.D.; Professor
of Medieval History, Queens College
of the City University of New York:
MAXIMUS, MAGNUS CLEMENS
Aryeh Oded, Ph.D.; Department of
Middle East and African Studies, Tel
Aviv University
Bustanay Oded, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Jewish History, Haifa University:
AHAB; AMMON, AMMONITES;
ARPAD; BAALIS; BENJAMIN; CANAAN,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
LAND OF; CAPHTOR; CARCHEMISH;
CHEDORLAOMER; CHEMOSH; CUSHAN-
RISHATHAIM; CYPRUS; EGLON; EVIL-
MERODACH; GEZER CALENDAR;
GOLIATH; HEZEKIAH; ISH-BOSHETH;
JEHU; JEROBOAM; JOAB; LABAN;
MACHIR; MENAHEM; MERODACH-
BALADAN; MESHA; MESHA STELE; MOAB;
NEBUCHADNEZZAR; OMRI; PEKAH;
PEKAHIAH; REHOBOAM; REUBEN; SAUL;
SILOAM INSCRIPTION; SIMEON; TOB;
TRIBES, THE TWELVE; UZZIAH; ZEDEKIAH
Toni Oelsner, M.A., M.Soc.Sc.;
Historian, New York: CHEMNITZ;
CONSTANCE; DEPPING, GEORGES-
BERNARD; FREIBURG IM BREISGAU;
FRIEDBERG; FULDA; KARLSRUHE; KASSEL;
KOBLENZ; MEININGEN; MERSEBURG;
RAVENSBURG; SLAVE TRADE; STENDAL;
STOBBE, OTTO; STOECKER, ADOLE;
STRAUBING; STUTTGART; WAGNER,
RICHARD
Uriel Ofek, M.A.; Writer and Editor,
Tel Aviv
Zvi Ofer, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Kibbutz Yifat
A. (Adriaan) K. Offenberg*, Ph.D.;
Retired Curator of the Bibliotheca
Rosenthaliana, University of
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
ATHIAS, JOSEPH and IMMANUEL;
BENVENISTE, IMMANUEL; CASTRO
TARTAS, DAVID DE; MANASSEH BEN
ISRAEL; TEMPLO, JACOB JUDAH LEON
Yitzhak Ogen, Writer, Tel Aviv:
KARNI, YEHUDA
Ronald E. Ohl, M.A.; Dean of
Student Affairs, the Colorado
College, Colorado Springs: ABELSON,
HAROLD HERBERT; AUSUBEL, DAVID
PAUL; GRUENBERG, SIDONIE MATSNER;
JUSTMAN, JOSEPH; LIEBERMAN, MYRON
Levi A. Olan, B.A., Rabbi; Dallas,
Texas: DALLAS
Evelyne Oliel-Grausz*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor in Early Modern
and Jewish History, Université Paris
I Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris, France:
NAHON, GERARD
Aryeh Leo Olitzki, Dr. Phil.;
Emeritus Professor of Bacteriology,
the Hebrew University-Hadassah
Medical School, Jerusalem:
BESREDKA, ALEXANDER; EHRLICH, PAUL;
WASSERMANN, AUGUST VON
129
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Colette Olive*: LEVY, BENNY
David M. L. Olivestone, B.A.;
Jerusalem: KORNITZER, LEON;
PUTTERMAN, DAVID; RAVITZ, SHELOMO;
RAZUMNI, EPHRAIM ZALMAN; RIVLIN,
SHELOMO ZALMAN; ROSENBLATT,
JOSEF; SCHORR, BARUCH; SHULSINGER,
BEZALEL; SIROTA, GERSHON; WASSERZUG,
HAYYIM; ZILBERTS, ZAVEL
Ahron Oppenheimer, M.A.;
Lecturer in Jewish History and
Talmud, Tel Aviv University:
ELYASHAR, JACOB BEN HAYYIM JOSEPH;
HOLY CONGREGATION IN JERUSALEM;
KAMZA and BAR KAMZA; MEIR;
SIKARIKON; TERUMOT AND MA’ASEROT
Deborah Oppenheimer"*, D.F.A.;
Writer and Producer of Stories of the
Kindertransport: KINDERTRANSPORT
Vila Orbach, Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem: RUSSIA
Nissan Oren, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
International Relations, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BULGARIA
Shimon Oren, M.A.; Teacher in
Education, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: KRESSEL, GETZEL;
LILIENBLUM, MOSES LEIB
Eugene V. Orenstein”, B.A., M.A.,
Ph.D.; Associate Professor, McGill
University, Montreal, Canada:
CANADIAN LITERATURE; KIPNIS, ITZIK;
RIVKIN, BORUCH; ROLNICK, JOSEPH
Gustav Yaacob Ormann, Ph.D.;
Editor, Kirjath Sepher, Jerusalem:
ABNER
Haim Ormian, Ph.D.; Editor of
the Encyclopaedia of Education
(Hebrew), Jerusalem: LIPMANN, OTTO
Uzzi Ornan, Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer
in Hebrew Language, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: HEBREW
GRAMMAR; HEBREW LANGUAGE
Efraim Orni, M.A.; Geographer,
Jerusalem: ABU AWEIGILA; ACRE;
ADAMIT; ADORAIM; ADULLAM REGION;
AFIKIM; AFULAH; ALLONEI ABBA;
ALLONEI YIZHAK; ALLONIM; ALMAGOR;
ALMAH; ALUMMOT; AMAZYAH; AMIR;
AMIRIM; AMMI'AD; AMMINADAV; APHEK;
ARA; ARABA; ARARA; ARRABA; ARTAS;
ASHDOD; ASHDOT YAAKOV; ASHKELON;
ATAROT; ATHLIT; AVIGDOR; AVIHAYIL;
130
AYANOT; AYYELET HA-SHAHAR; AZOR;
BALFOURIYYAH; BAQA AL-GHARBIYYA;
BAQA AL SHARQIYYA; BARKAI; BAT
SHELOMO; BE’ER ORAH; BE’ER TOVIYYAH;
BE’ER YAAKOV; BE’ERI; BE’EROT YIZHAK;
BEERSHEBA; BEIT JANN; BEIT JIMAL;
BEN SHEMEN; BENEI DAROM; BENEI
DEROR; BENEI ZION; BEROR HAYIL; BET
ALFA; BET-ARABAH; BET-DAGON; BET
ESHEL; BET GUVRIN; BET HA-EMEK;
BET HA-LEVI; BET HERUT; BET HILLEL;
BETHLEHEM; BET IKSA; BET LEHEM; BET
MEIR; BET NEHEMYAH; BET OREN; BET
OVED; BET-SHEAN; BET-SHEMESH; BET-
SHITTAH; BET YANNAI; BET YEHOSHU’A;
BET YERAH; BET YIZHAK; BET YOSEF;
BET ZAYIT; BET ZERA; BINYAMINAH;
BIRANIT; BIRIYYAH; BITAN AHARON;
BIZZARON; BOZRAH; CAESAREA;
CARMEL, MOUNT; DABBURIYYA; DAFNAH;
DALIYAT AL-KARMIL; DALIYYAH;
DALTON; DAN; DEAD SEA; DEGANYAH;
DEIR AL-BALAH; DIMONAH; DOBRATH;
DOR; DOROT; EILON; EILOT; EIN GEV;
EIN HA-EMEK; EIN HA-HORESH; EIN
HA-MIFRAZ; EIN HA-NAZIV; EIN HA-
SHELOSHAH; EIN HA-SHOFET; EIN HOD;
EIN IRON; EIN SHEMER; EIN VERED;
EIN YAHAV; EIN ZEITIM; EIN ZURIM;
EL-ARISH; ELYASHIV; EN-DOR; EN-GEDI;
EN-HAROD; ESHTAOL; EVEN YIZHAK;
EVRON; EYAL; FASSUTA; FURAYDIS,
AL-; GAATON; GALILEE; GALON; GAN
HAYYIM; GAN SHELOMO; GAN SHEMU’EL;
GAN SHOMRON; GAN YAVNEH; GANNEI
YEHUDAH; GAT; GAZIT; GEDERAH; GELIL
YAM; GESHER; GESHER HA-ZIV; GE’ULEI
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SHAALBIM; SHAAR HA-AMAKIM; SHAAR
HA-GOLAN; SHA'AR HEFER-BEIT YIZHAK;
SHADMOT DEVORAH; SHAMIR; SHARM
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
EL-SHEIKH, TIRAN ISLAND, and TIRAN
STRAITS; SHARONAH; SHAVEI ZION;
SHE’AR YASHUV; SHEFAYIM; SHELUHOT;
SHIFTAN, ZE’EV; SHOMRAT; SHOVAL;
TAANACH; TAL SHAHAR; TAYYIBA, AL-;
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THEBEZ; TIBERIAS; TIMNA; TIRA, AL-;
TIRAT ZEVI; TUL KARM; UDIM; URIM;
USHA; YAARI, MENAHEM; YAD HANNAH;
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YARDENAH; YARKONAH; YAVNEH;
YAVNEH; YEDIDYAH; YESODOT; YESUD
HA-MAALAH; YIZRE'EL; ZOFIT;
ZORAH
Michal Oron*, Ph.D.; Deputy Head,
Department of Literature, Tel Aviv
University: ABULAFIA, ABRAHAM BEN
SAMUEL
Asher Oser*, M.A., Rabbi;
Congregation Brothers of Joseph,
Norwich, Connecticut: RABBINICAL
ALLIANCE OF AMERICA; RABBINICAL
COUNCIL OF AMERICA; TORAH
UMESORAH; UNION OF ORTHODOX
JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA;
UNION OF ORTHODOX RABBIS OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
Robin Ostow, Ph.D.; Resident
Fellow, Centre for Russian and East
European Studies, University of
Toronto
Jean Ouellette, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Semitic Languages,
Sir George Williams University,
Montreal: INCENSE AND PERFUMES;
VAUX, ROLAND DE
Neil Ovadia, M.A.; Lecturer in
History, City College of the City
University of New York: HART, ISAAC;
HART, JOEL; HART, MYER; HAYS; HAYS,
ISAAC; LEVY, AARON; LEVY, CHAPMAN;
LEVY, NATHAN; MOSES, MYER; SIMON,
JOSEPH; ZUNTZ, ALEXANDER
Willard Gurdon Oxtoby, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Religious
Studies, Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut: BABYLONIA
Avraham Oz*
Hilde Pach’, M.A., Ph.D.;
Researcher, University of
Amsterdam, Department of Hebrew,
Aramaic and Jewish Studies,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
LOGGEM, MANUEL VAN; MINCO, MARGA;
PRESS
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Mordechai Pachter*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish Thought,
University of Haifa: AZIKRI, ELEAZAR
BEN MOSES
Mark Padnos*, M.L.S., M.A.;
Assistant Professor, Librarian, Bronx
Community College and the City
University, New York: BRODY, ALTER;
ROSEN, NORMA; ROTH, HENRY
William Pages, Journalist, Newark,
New Jersey
Dan Pagis, Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer
in Hebrew Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: POETRY;
SCHIRMANN, JEFIM; VOGEL, DAVID
Naomi Paiss*: NEW ISRAEL FUND, THE
Mordecai Paldiel*, Ph.D.; Director
for Righteous Among the Nations,
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem: BECCARI,
ARRIGO; BENOIT, PIERRE-MARIE;
CALMEYER, HANS-GEORG; DOUWES,
ARNOLD; FOLEY, FRANCIS; FRY, VARIAN;
HAUTVAL, ADELAIDE; HO FENG-SHAN;
KARSKI, JAN; MENDES, ARISTIDES DE
SOUSA; NEVEJEAN, YVONNE; RIGHTEOUS
AMONG THE NATIONS; SANDBERG,
WILLEM JACOB; SENDLER, IRENA; STEFAN,
METROPOLITAN; SUGIHARA CHIUNE-
SEMPO; WESTERWEEL, JOHAN
Joanne Palmer* : HERTZBERG,
ARTHUR; UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF
CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
Lisa Palmieri-Billig, M.A.; Writer
and Journalist, ADL Representative
in Italy, Rome: ITALY; MILAN
Eliezer Palmor, M.A.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: BULGARIA;
HUNGARY; ROMANIA; ROSEN, MOSES;
RUSSIA; YUGOSLAVIA
Channah Palti, Jerusalem
David H. Panitz, M.A., Rabbi; Dean
of the Academy for Jewish Religion,
New York: BARNERT, NATHAN
Esther Panitz, M.A.; Writer,
Paterson, New Jersey: WOLE, SIMON
Michael Panitz*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Furman Professor of Judaic
Studies, Virginia Wesleyan College,
Norfolk, Virginia: COHEN, GERSON
D.; CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM; JEWISH
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY; NORFOLK;
SCHORSCH, ISMAR
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Ruth Panofsky*, Ph.D.; Associate
Director, Joint Graduate
Programme in Communication
and Culture, Ryerson University,
Toronto, Canada: BENNETT, AVIE J;
WADDINGTON, MIRIAM; WEINZWEIG,
HELEN; WISEMAN, ADELE
Sebastian Panwitz*, Dr.Phil.;
Historian, Moses Mendelssohn
Zentrum, Potsdam, Germany:
GEIGER, LUDWIG
Herbert H. Paper, Ph.D.; Professor
of Linguistics, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati, Ohio: BLOCH, JULES;
JUDEO-PERSIAN
Tudor Parfitt*, M.A., Dr.Phil.;
School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London,
England: BAYUDAYA; BENE EPHRAIM;
BENE MENASHE; BENJAMIN, YEHOSHUA;
BURMA; EZEKIEL, NISSIM; HOUSE OF
ISRAEL COMMUNITY; IBO; JAPAN;
KASHMIR; KODER, SHABDAI SAMUEL;
MAKUYA; SINGAPORE; TUTSI;
ZAKHOR
James W. Parkes, D.Phil; Historian,
Blandford, Dorset, England: ALaRIC
Il; HOLY PLACES; PROTESTANTS
Herbert Parzen, M.A., M.H.L.,
Rabbi; Historian, New York: DE
HAAS, JACOB; ZIONIST ORGANIZATION
OF AMERICA
Rachel Pasternak*, Ph.D., Senior
Lecturer of Behavioral Studies, The
College of Management Academic
Studies, Tel Aviv: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
EDUCATION
Melissa Patack*, J.D.,B.S.; Vice
President, State Government Affairs,
Motion Picture Association of
America, Inc., Encino, California:
GLICKMAN, DANIEL ROBERT
David Patterson, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Post-Biblical Hebrew, the University
of Oxford; Visiting Professor of
Hebrew Studies, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York: BRAUDES, REUBEN
ASHER; GOTTLOBER, ABRAHAM BAER;
MAPU, ABRAHAM; SMOLENSKIN, PEREZ
Arnold Paucker, M.A.; Director of
the Leo Baeck Institute, London:
BISCHOFE, ERICH
Benjamin Paul*: HOUSTON; ILLINOIS;
131
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JEWISH WAR VETERANS OF THE U.S.A.;
KANSAS; KANSAS CITY; LANCASTER
Shalom M. Paul, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Senior Lecturer in Bible, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
University: BOOK OF LIFE; BOOK OF
THE COVENANT; BOOK OF THE WARS OF
THE LORD; CHEBAR; CHERUB; CREATION
AND COSMOGONY; ECSTASY; EUPHEMISM
AND DYSPHEMISM; PROPHETS AND
PROPHECY; SERVANT OF THE LORD;
VIRGIN, VIRGINITY
Wolfgang Paulsen, Ph.D.; Professor
of German, the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst: STERNHEIM,
CARL
Moshe Pearlman, B.Sc.; Writer,
Jerusalem: WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
Peggy K. Pearlstein*, Ph.D.; Area
Specialist, Hebraic Section, Library
of Congress, Washington, D.C.:
FELDMAN, SANDRA; HARMAN, JANE
Birger A. Pearson, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Religious Studies,
Universities of California, Santa
Barbara: NAG HAMMADI CODICES
Abraham J. Peck*, Ph.D., Director,
Academic Council for Post
Holocaust, Christian, Jewish, and
Islamic Studies, University
of Southern Maine: ARCHIVES;
MAINE
Haviva Pedaya*: NAHMANIDES
Mark (J.) Pelavin*, J.D.; Associate
Director, Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism, Washington, D.C.:
SAPERSTEIN, DAVID N.; SAPERSTEIN,
HAROLD I.
Moshe Peled, B.A.; Colonel (Res.),
Israel Defense Forces; Ministry of
Transport, Jerusalem
Natan Peled, Minister of
Absorption, Kibbutz Sarid
Kristine Peleg*, Ph.D.; English
Lecturer, Century College,
Minneapolis, Minnesota: CALOR,
RACHEL BELLA KAHN
Gregor Pelger*, Ph.D.; Historian,
Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut
fiir deutsch-jiidische Geschichte,
Duisburg, Germany: GOLDENTHAL,
JACOB; OPPERT, GUSTAV SALOMON;
132
STEINSCHNEIDER, MORITZ; ZEDNER,
JOSEPH; ZUNZ, LEOPOLD
Penina Peli, Journalist, Writer,
Lecturer; Jerusalem: ADLERBLUM,
NIMA
Pinchas Hacohen Peli, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer in Jewish
Philosophy, the University of the
Negev, Beersheba; External Teacher
in Jewish Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ASCETICISM
Frank Pelleg, Pianist and
Musicologist, Haifa: OFFENBACH,
JACQUES
Rakhmiel Peltz*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociolinguistics and Director of
Judaic Studies, Drexel University,
Philadelphia: sprvak, ELYE; VEINGER,
MORDECAI
Shimon (H.) Pepper*, M.S.W,, M.A.;
Executive Director, Jewish Federation
of Rockland County, Monsey, New
York: ROCKLAND COUNTY
Josh Perelman”, Ph.D.; Historian,
National Museum of American
Jewish History; Post Doctoral
Fellow, National Museum of
American Jewish History/University
of Pennsylvania: NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY
Leon Perez, M.D.; Professor
of Social Psychiatry, National
University of the Litoral, Santa FM;
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, the
University of Buenos Aires: DAIA
Hiram Peri, Dr. Phil.; Professor of
Romance Languages, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABRABANEL,
JUDAH; ARIAS MONTANO, BENITO;
BENDA, JULIEN
Mark Perlgut, M.S.; Journalist, New
York: ARONSON, BORIS; KORDA, SIR
ALEXANDER; THEATER
Isa Perlis-Kressel, M.A.; Holon,
Israel: HERTZKA, THEODOR
Mark Perlman, Ph.D.; Professor
of Economics, the University of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: GINZBERG,
ELI; IDELSON, ABRAHAM; LEVANDA,
LEV OSIPOVICH; PERLMAN, SELIG;
RABINOVICH, OSIP ARONOVICH;
SELEKMAN, BENJAMIN MORRIS;
TSCHLENOW, JEHIEL
Shalom Perlman, Ph.D.; Professor
of Greek History, Tel Aviv
University: SCHWABE, MOSHE
Moshe Perlmann, Ph.D.; Professor
of Arabic, the University of
California, Los Angeles: APOsTASY;
IBN KAMMUNA, SA’D IBN MANSUR;
ISLAM; ISRAELSOHN, JACOB IZRAILEVICH;
KOKOVTSOV, PAUL KONSTANTINOVICH;
SCHREINER, MARTIN; WEIL, GUSTAV
Maurice L. Perlzweig, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Head of the International
Affairs Department, World Jewish
Congress, New York: ROBINSON,
JACOB; ROBINSON, NEHEMIAH
Jean Perrot, Directeur de Recherche
au Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, Paris; Director of the
Centre de Recherche Prehistorique
Francais, Jerusalem: AZOR
Jacob Petroff, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Senior Lecturer in Classics, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
ACRO, PSEUDO-; APULEIUS, LUCIUS;
ASINIUS POLLIO, GAIUS; CELSUS, AULUS
CORNELIUS; CLAUDIAN; CLEMENT OF
ALEXANDRIA; EUTROPIUS; EXCERPTA
VALESIANA; EZRA, GREEK BOOK OF;
FRONTO, MARCUS CORNELIUS; HISTORIA
AUGUSTA; HOLOFERNES; JUDAS;
JULIUS FLORUS; JUSTIN; LIVY; LUCAN;
MACROBIUS, AMBROSIUS; OVID; PERSIUS;
PETRONIUS ARBITER, GAIUS; POMPONIUS
MELA; QUINTILIAN; ROMAN LITERATURE;
RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS; SENECA THE
ELDER; SENECA THE YOUNGER; SILIUS
ITALICUS, TIBERIUS CATIUS ASCONIUS;
SOLINUS, CAIUS JULIUS; SOLOMON,
TESTAMENT OF; STATIUS, PUBLIUS
PAPINIUS; SULPICIUS SEVERUS; TACITUS;
TIBULLUS, ALBIUS; VALERIUS MAXIMUS;
VARRO, MARCUS TERENTIUS
Jakob J. Petuchowski, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Rabbinics and
of Jewish Theology, the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio: NIETO,
DAVID; ORGAN; STEINTHAL, HERMANN
HEYMANN; WIENER, MAX
Claire (Ruth) Pfann*, M.A.;
Academic Dean; Lecturer in New
Testament, University of the Holy
Land, Jerusalem: POPES;
PROTESTANTS
Stephen (J.) Pfann*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Second Temple Period
History and Literature, University
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of the Holy Land, Jerusalem: Lots;
NAZARETH; QUMRAN; SUNDIAL
Anshel Pfeffer*, Journalist,
Columnist, Editor and Author,
Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem: BARUCH,
ADAM; BEN-ZVI, SHLOMO
Israel Philipp, M.A.; Central
Zionist Archives, Jerusalem:
MACCABEANS, ORDER OF ANCIENT;
ROTHSCHILD, JAMES ARMAND DE
Marc Philonenko, Th.D.; Professor
of the History of Religions, the
University of Strasbourg: JOSEPH AND
ASENATH
Leo Picard, Dr.Phil., D.I.C., D.Sc.;
Emeritus Professor of Geology, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ISRAEL, LAND OF: GEOGRAPHICAL
SURVEY; LOEWINSON-LESSING, FRANZ
YULYEVICH; ROSENBUSCH, KARL HARRY
FERDINAND; SALOMON-CALVI, WILHELM;
SUESS, EDUARD
Michele Piccirillo*, Father, Studium
Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem:
FRANCISCANS
Walter Pinhas Pick, Editor, the
Encyclopaedia Hebraica, Jerusalem:
JERUSALEM; LATRUN
Jacob Picker, Dr.Jur.; Ministry of
Finance, Jerusalem
Judah Pilch, Ph.D.; Jewish Teachers’
Seminary and Peoples University,
New York; Lecturer in Education,
Dropsie University, Philadelphia:
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH
EDUCATION; BETH JACOB SCHOOLS;
BLAUSTEIN, DAVID; CHARNA, SHALOM
YONAH; CHIPKIN, ISRAEL; CHOMSKY,
WILLIAM; EDUCATION, JEWISH;
KAHNSHTAM, AHARON; KAZDAN,
HAYYIM SOLOMON; MORRIS,
NATHAN
Arieh Pilowsky, B.A.; External
Teacher in Foreign Languages, Haifa
University: RUBIN, HADASSAH
Shlomo Pines, Dr.Phil.; Professor
of General and Jewish Philosophy,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AL-MUKAMMIS, IBN MARWAN AL-RAQI
AL-SHIRAZI; AVERROES; AVICENNA;
ENOCH, SLAVONIC BOOK OF; FREE
WILL; GUTTMANN, JACOB; IBN
GABIROL, SOLOMON BEN JUDAH; SOUL,
IMMORTALITY OF; SPACE AND PLACE
Benjamin Pinkus, M.A.; Jerusalem:
"COSMOPOLITANS'"; LOZOVSKI, SOLOMON
ABRAMOVICH
Ludwig Pinner, Dr.Phil., Kefar
Shemaryahu, Israel: HAAVARA
Judith S. (Shira) Pinnolis*,
M.M., M.S.; Reference Librarian,
Information Desk Supervisor and
Training Coordinator, Brandeis
University Libraries, Waltham,
Massachusetts: FRIEDMAN, DEBORAH
LYNN; FUCHS, LILLIAN; GIDEON, MIRIAM;
KREMER, ISA; LIEBLING, ESTELLE;
MENDELSOHN HENSEL, FANNY
CAECILIE; MLOTEK, CHANA; OSTFELD,
BARBARA JEAN; RASKIN, JUDITH;
REISENBERG, NADIA; ROSSI, MADAMA
EUROPA De’; SCHAECHTER-GOTTESMAN,
BELLA; SCHLAMME, MARTHA
HAETEL
Kurt Pinthus, Ph.D.; Writer, New
York: HEYMANN, WALTHER
Mordechai Piron, M.A., Rabbi;
Brigadier General, Israel Defense
Forces; Chief Rabbi of the Israel
Defense Forces, Bat Yam: GOREN,
SHLOMO
Michael M. Pitkowsky*, M.A.,
Rabbi; Jewish Theological Seminary,
New York
Maurice S. Pitt, M.A.; Educator
and Journalist, Wellington, New
Zealand: AUCKLAND; BARNETT, SIR
LOUIS EDWARD; CHRISTCHURCH;
DUNEDIN; HORT, ABRAHAM; LEVIN,
NATHANIEL WILLIAM; MYERS, SIR
MICHAEL; NATHAN, DAVID; NATHAN,
JOSEPH EDWARD; POLACK, JOEL SAMUEL;
SELIG, PHINEAS
W. Gunther Plaut, Dr.Jur. Rabbi;
Historian, Toronto: FRANKEL,
HIRAM D.
Martin Meir Plessner, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of Semitics
and Islamic Studies, J.W. Goethe-
Universitat, Frankfurt on the Main;
Emeritus Professor of Islamic
Civilization, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: BERGSTRAESSER,
GOTTHELE; GALANTE, ABRAHAM;
GOLDZIHER, IGNAZ; GRUENBAUM, MAX;
ORIENTALISTS; ROSENTHAL, FRANZ;
YAHUDA, ABRAHAM SHALOM
Milton Plesur, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, the State
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
University of New York, Buffalo:
BUFFALO; JACOBSON, EDWARD
Hans Pohl, Dr. Phil.; Professor of
Constitutional, Social and Economic
History, the University of Bonn:
SUGAR INDUSTRY AND TRADE
Shmuel Pohoryles, Ph.D.; Professor,
Director General, Rural Planning
and Development Authority, Israel
Ministry of Agriculture, Tel Aviv
Milos Pojar*, Ph.D.; Director,
Education and Culture Centre of
the Jewish Museum in Prague: GAL,
FEDOR; BONDY, RUTH; BONN, HANUS;
BOR, JOSEF; CZECHOSLOVAK LITERATURE;
DAGAN, AVIGDOR; DEMETZ, PETER;
DOSTAL, ZENO; FIRT, JULIUS; FISCHER,
OTOKAR; FRYD, NORBERT; FUCHS,
ALFRED; GALSKY, DESIDER; GELLNER,
FRANTISEK; GOLDFLAM, ARNOST;
GOLDSTUECKER, EDUARD; GOTTLIEB,
FRANTISEK; GROSMAN, LADISLAV;
HILSNER CASE; HOSTOVSKY, EGON;
KLIMA, IVAN; KNIEZA, EMIL; KRAUS,
FRANTISEK R.; KRAUS, IVAN; KRAUS, OTA
B.; KULKA, ERICH; LANGER, FRANTISEK;
LANGER, JIR MORDECHAI; LAUB,
GABRIEL; LEDA, EDUARD; LISTOPAD,
FRANTISEK; LUSTIG, ARNOST; ORTEN, JIR{;
PAVEL, OTA; PICK, JIR{ ROBERT; POLAGEK,
KAREL; RAKOUS, VOJTECH; ROTTOVA,
INNA; SIDON, KAROL EFRAIM; SINGER,
LUDVIK; SPITZER, JURAJ; TIGRID, PAVEL;
UHDE, MILAN; VOHRYZEK, JOSEF; WEIL,
JIRI; ZEYER, JULIUS
Arthur Polak, M.D.; Amsterdam:
MEDALS
Abraham N. Poliak, Ph.D.;
Professor of Islamic History and
Research Professor of Khazar
Studies, Tel Aviv University: ALROY,
DAVID; ARMENIA; CRIMEA; HARKAVY,
ALBERT; HESSEN, JULIUS ISIDOROVICH;
IGNATYEV, COUNT NIKOLAI PAVLOVICH;
UZBEKISTAN; VINAWER, MAXIM;
VOZNITSYN, ALEXANDER ARTEMYEVICH;
WIELICZKA; WISCHNITZER, MARK
Leon Poliakov, D.es L.; Maitre de
Recherches au Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique, Paris:
ANTISEMITISM; ARGENS, JEAN BAPTISTE
DE BOYER; ELDERS OF ZION, PROTOCOLS
OF THE LEARNED; FRIES, JAKOB
FRIEDRICH; GOBINEAU, JOSEPH ARTHUR,
COMTE DE; GORDIN, JACOB; RACE,
THEORY OF; ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES;
TREITSCHKE, HEINRICH VON;
VOLTAIRE
133
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Jean Poliatchek, M.A., Rabbi;
Lecturer in French Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
FLEG, EDMOND
David Polish, Rabbi; Emeritus
Rabbi of the Free Synagogue,
Evanston, Illinois
Jonathan (Z.S.) Pollack*, Ph.D.;
Instructor, History, Madison
Area Technical College, Madison,
Wisconsin: MADISON
Peter Pollack, Lecturer and Writer
on photography, New York: 1z1s;
LAND, EDWIN H.; NEWMAN, ARNOLD;
PHOTOGRAPHY; RAY, MAN; SEYMOUR,
DAVID
Hans Jacob Polotsky, Dr.Phil.;
Professor of Egyptian and Semitic
Linguistics, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: BAUER, HANS; BENFEY,
THEODOR; HALEVY, JOSEPH
Sidney I. Pomerantz, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, City College
of the City University of New York:
MORRIS, RICHARD BRANDON
Sarah (Elizabeth) Ponichtera*,
M.A.; University of S. Texas-Austin:
CORALNIK, ABRAHAM; LEE, MALKE;
ULIANOVER, MIRIAM
Marvin H. Pope, Ph.D.; Professor
of Northwest Semitic Languages,
Yale University, New Haven,
Connecticut: ADAM; ANATH; BAAL
WORSHIP; EVE
Richard H. Popkin, Ph.D.;
Professor of Philosophy, the
University of California, San
Diego; Distinguished Professor of
Philosophy, the Herbert H. Lehman
College of the City University of
New York: ADLER, FELIX; ADLER,
MORTIMER JEROME; AIKEN, HENRY
DAVID; ARENDT, HANNAH; BOAS,
GEORGE; BRUNSWIG, ALFRED; CHERNISS,
HAROLD FREDRIK; COHEN, CHAPMAN;
COHEN, MORRIS RAPHAEL; COSTA, URIEL
DA; DESSAUER, FRIEDRICH; DUBISLAV,
WALTER ERNST OTTO; EDMAN, IRWIN;
EDWARDS, PAUL; FARBER, MARVIN;
FRANK, SEMYON LYUDVIGOVICH;
FRAUENSTAEDT, JULIUS; FRIEDLAENDER,
OSKAR EWALD; GOLDSTEIN, JULIUS;
HALEVY, ELIE; JANKELEVITCH, VLADIMIR;
JERUSALEM, KARL WILHELM; JERUSALEM,
WILHELM; JONAS, HANS; KAUFMANN,
134
FRITZ; KAUFMANN, WALTER; KOIGEN,
DAVID; KOYRE, ALEXANDRE; KRISTELLER,
PAUL OSKAR; LA BOETIE, ETIENNE DE;
LA PEYRERE, ISAAC; LASSON, ADOLF;
LEON, XAVIER; LIEBMANN, OTTO;
MARCK, SIEGFRIED; MARCUS, ERNST;
MONDOLFO, RODOLFO; OROBIO DE
CASTRO, ISAAC; PALAGYI, MENYHERT;
PHILOSOPHY; RAUH, FREDERIC; REINACH,
ADOLF; RICHTER, RAOUL; SANCHES,
FRANCISCO; SCHRECKER, PAUL; SCHUHL,
PIERRE-MAXIME; SHEFFER, HENRY
M.; SPIEGELBERG, HERBERT; SPITZER,
HUGO; STEIN, EDITH; STEIN, LUDWIG;
STERNBERG, KURT; WAHLE, RICHARD;
WALZER, RICHARD RUDOLF; WEININGER,
OTTO; WEISS, PAUL; WIENER, PHILIP PAUL
Dina Porat*, Ph.D.; Professor, Head
of Stephen Roth Institute for the
Study of Contemporary Racism and
Anti-Semitism, Chaim Rosenberg
School of Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv
University: ANTISEMITISM; BLOOD
LIBEL
Jonathan D. Porath*, B.A., M.A.,
M.HLL., Rabbi; Rabbi and Jewish
Educator, American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee, Jerusalem:
PORATH, ISRAEL
Yehoshua Porath, Ph.D.; Instructor
in the History of the Muslim
Peoples, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
HISTORICAL SURVEY
Bezalel Porten, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Teaching Fellow in Jewish
History, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Senior Lecturer in
Biblical Studies, Haifa University:
BELTESHAZZAR; BIZTHA; ELIASHIB; EXILE,
BABYLONIAN; HAMAN; HISTORY: FROM
THE DESTRUCTION TO ALEXANDER;
MITHREDATH; MORDECAI; REGEM-
MELECH; REHUM; SATRAP; SHADRACH,
MESHACH, ABED-NEGO; SHAREZER;
SHEALTIEL; TATTENAI; TEMPLE;
ZERUBBABEL
Jack Nusan Porter*, Ph.D.; Director,
The Spencer Institute for Social
Research, Newton, Massachusetts;
Newtonville, Mass.: HIRSCHFELD,
MAGNUS; NEO-NAZISM; SCHAPPES,
MORRIS U.; SONNENSCHEIN, ROSA
Edward Portnoy*, Ph.D.; Adjunct
Instructor of History, Jewish
Theological Seminary, New York:
GILBERT, SHLOMO; MARINOER, JACOB;
NADIR, MOYSHE
Israel Porush, O.B.E., Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Emeritus Rabbi of the Great
Synagogue of Sydney: ADELAIDE;
AUSTRALIA; BOAS, ABRAHAM TOBIAS;
BRISBANE; DANGLOW, JACOB; DAVIS,
ALEXANDER BARNARD; MELBOURNE;
MONTEFIORE, JOSEPH BARROW; PERTH;
SAMUEL, SIR SAUL; SYDNEY
Akiva Posner, Dr. Phil., Rabbi;
Scholar and Librarian, Jerusalem:
ALTONA; DRESDEN; EGER, AKIVA BEN
MOSES GUENS; EGER, SOLOMON BEN
AKIVA; EPPENSTEIN, SIMON; GIESSEN
Marcia Posner, PH.D.; Library
Consultant, Children’s Literature,
New York: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Raphael Posner, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Assistant Professor of Rabbinics,
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, Jerusalem: ABLUTION;
AHAVAH RABBAH, AHAVAT OLAM;
AMULET; ANAV, ZEDEKIAH BEN
ABRAHAM; ASHREI; CHARITY; HOLY
PLACES; JEW; MARRIAGE; SYNAGOGUE
Bernard Postal, Author and
Journalist, New York: iowa;
LICHT, FRANK; MANDEL, MARVIN;
MASSACHUSETTS; MILITARY SERVICE;
MONTANA; NEVADA; PHOENIX; PUBLIC
RELATIONS; SHAPIRO, SAMUEL HARVEY
Edward I. J. Poznanski, M.Phil.;
Visiting Senior Lecturer in
Philosophy, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: KOTARBINSKA, JANINA
Michael Pragai, B.A.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: BURMA
Joseph Prager, M.D.; Neurologist
and Psychiatrist, Haifa: oPPENHEIM,
HERMANN
Leonard Prager*, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of English and Yiddish,
University of Haifa: ABTSHUK,
AVRAHAM; ALFES, BENZION; BOVSHOVER,
JOSEPH; BRODER SINGERS; DANIEL, M.;
DER NISTER; FEYGENBERG, RAKHEL; FOX,
CHAIM-LEIB; FRAM, DAVID; FURMAN,
YISROEL; GEBIRTIG, MORDECHAI;
GLATSTEIN, JACOB; GOLDENE KEYT,
DI; GORDIN, ABBA; GORDIN, JACOB;
KOENIG, LEO; KOTIK, YEKHESKL; LURIA,
NOAH; MYER, MORRIS; OSHEROWITCH,
MENDL; OYVED, MOYSHE; PINES, MEYER
ISSER; PREGER, JACOB; RABON, ISRAEL;
RASHKIN, LEYB; REZNIK, LIPE; SALKIND,
JACOB MEIR; SELIKOVITCH, GEORGE;
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM; SHATZKY,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
JACOB; SHPIGLBLAT, ALEKSANDER;
SIEMIATYCKI, CHAIM; SINGER, ISAAC
BASHEVIS; SPIEGEL, ISAIAH; STENCL,
ABRAHAM NAHUM; TENENBAUM,
JOSHUA; TOLUSH; TOPLPUNKT:
FERTLYOR-SHRIFT FAR LITERATUR,
KUNST UN GEZELSCHAFTLEKHE
FRAGES; WEINSTEIN, BERISH; YIDDISH
LITERATURE; YUNGMAN, MOSHE;
ZYCHLINSKA, RAJZEL
Naftali Prat*, Editor, Shorter Jewish
Encyclopedia in Russian, Society of
Research on Jewish Communities,
Jerusalem: ABRAMOVICH, ROMAN
ARKADYEVICH; AMUSIN, JOSEPH; BELOV,
A.; BERDYANSK; BEREZOVSKY, BORIS
ABRAMOVICH; GOMELSKY, ALEXANDER
YAKOVLEVICH; GUSINSKY, VLADIMIR
ALEXANDROVICH; LIBERALISM AND THE
JEWS; NEVZLIN, LEONID BORISOVICH
Jeonathan Prato, Dr.Jur.; Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
RIBEIRO DOS SANTOS, ANTONIO; SPAIN
Leonid Preisman, Ph.D.; Scientific
Editor of The Shorter Jewish
Encyclopaedia in Russian, Jerusalem:
MOSCOW
Riv-Ellen Prell*, Ph.D., Professor,
University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota: MYERHOFE,
BARBARA GAY SIEGEL
Tovia Preschel, Rabbi; Professor
of Talmud, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
ALSHEKH, MOSES; ALTSCHULER, DAVID;
AMRAM BEN SHESHNA; DANIEL BEN
AZARIAH; DANIEL BEN ELEAZAR BEN
NETHANEL HIBBAT ALLAH; DANIEL BEN
HASDAI; DAVID BEN DANIEL; DAVID
BEN ZAKKAI; HYMAN, AARON; KAHANE,
ISAAK; LIEBERMAN, SAUL; MARGALIOT,
MORDECAI; MAT, MOSES; MEKLENBURG,
JACOB ZEVI; NAHMANIDES; PATAI,
RAPHAEL; PORTO, ABRAHAM MENAHEM
BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN; RABBINOVICZ,
RAPHAEL NATHAN NATA; RATNER,
DOV BAER; RIVISTA ISRAELITICA;
RIVKIND, ISAAC; ROSANES, SOLOMON
ABRAHAM; ROSENTHAL, JUDAH;
SLATKINE, MENAHEM MENDEL;
SUPERCOMMENTARIES ON THE
PENTATEUCH; TEMERLS, JACOB BEN
ELIEZER; TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS;
ZOMBER, DOV BAER
Walter Preuss, Dr.Phil., D.Econ.;
Economist, Tel Aviv: NAFTALI, PEREZ
Jonathan (J.) Price*, Ph.D.;
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Professor of Classics and Ancient
History, Tel Aviv University: ZEALOTS
AND SICARII
Ronald (David) Price*, M.A.,
Rabbi; Dean of Traditional Judaism;
Executive Vice President, Union for
Traditional Judaism, Teaneck, New
Jersey: INSTITUTE OF TRADITIONAL
JUDAISM, THE
Richard (A.) Primus*, Dr.Phil.;
Professor of Law, the University of
Michigan: sTROCHLITZ, SIGMUND
Kevin Proffitt*, M.A., M.S.L.S.;
Senior Archivist for Research
and Collections, The Jacob Rader
Marcus Center of the American
Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio:
SCHANEARBER, TOBIAS
Moshe Prywes, M.D.; Associate
Professor of Medical Education,
the Hebrew University - Hadassah
Medical School, Jerusalem; Vice
President of the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; President, University
of the Negev
Sharon Pucker Rivo*, M.A.;
Executive Director of the
National Center for Jewish Film,
Brandeis Univerisity, Waltham,
Massachusetts: KANIN, FAY MITCHELL;
LEVIEN, SONYA
Lotte Pulvermacher-Egers, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in the History of Art, the
Mannes College of Music, New
York: ART COLLECTORS AND ART
DEALERS
Herbert Pundik, Journalist, Tel
Aviv: MAHAL
Marcus Pyka*, Ph.D., Dr.; Abt. Fiir
Jiidische Geschichte und Kultur
Historisches Seminar, Universitat
Munchen: AGRARIAN LEAGUE;
ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG DES JUDENTUMS;
ALTENBERG, PETER; ANDREW OF
RINN; ARNDT, ADOLE; ARNDT,
ERNST MORITZ; ARNHEIM, FISCHEL;
ARNHEIM, HEYMANN; ARONIUS, JULIUS;
ASCHAFFENBURG, GUSTAV; AUERBACH,
BERTHOLD; AUERNHEIMER, RAOUL;
AUSPITZ; BADT, HERMANN; BAMBERGER,
LUDWIG; BAMBUS, WILLY; BARNAY,
LUDWIG; BECHER, SIEGERIED; BEER,
MICHAEL; BEN-GAVRIEL, MOSHE YAAKOV;
BERGNER, ELISABETH; BERNSTEIN, ARON
DAVID; BERNSTEIN, EDUARD; BISMARCK,
OTTO VON; BLEICHROEDER; BOERNE,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
LUDWIG; BRANDT, WILLY; BRESSLAU,
HARRY; BURCHARDUS DE MONTE SION;
BURG, MENO; CARO, GEORG MARTIN;
COHN, EMIL MOSES; DALMAN, GUSTAF
HERMANN; FRANKL, VIKTOR EMIL;
GRAETZ, HEINRICH; HEGEL, GEORG
WILHELM FRIEDRICH; HERDER, JOHANN
GOTTFRIED; HIRSCH, BARON MAURICE
DE; JOST, ISAAC MARCUS; MASSARY,
FRITZI; NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH WILHELM
Aldina Quintana (Rodriguez)*,
Ph.D.; Post-Doctoral Fellow, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
LADINO
Uri Ra’anan, M.A.; Professor of
International Politics, the Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts
University, Medford, Massachusetts:
ISRAEL, STATE OF: HISTORICAL SURVEY
Theodore K. Rabb, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Princeton
University, New Jersey: ELTON, SIR
GEOFFREY RUDOLPH; HEXTER, JACK H.;
MOSSE, GEORGE L.
Alfredo Mordechai Rabello*, Dott.
giurisp., Professor Emeritus of Law,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.:
ARTOM, ELIA SAMUELE; BERNHEIMER,
CARLO; CAMMEO, FEDERICO; CASTELLI,
DAVID; CATACOMBS; COLLATIO LEGUM
MOSAICARUM ET ROMANARUM;
COLLEGIO RABBINICO ITALIANO;
COLOMBO, SAMUEL; COLOMBO,
YOSEPH; COLORNI, VITTORE; DISEGNI,
DARIO; DOMENICO GEROSOLIMITANO;
DOMITIAN; HONORIUS FLAVIUS;
LAWYERS; MILANO, ATTILIO; MOSCATI,
SABATINO; NERVA; NORZI; OSTIA;
PACIFICI, ALFONSO; PACIFICI, RICCARDO;
PADUA; PARMA; PERREAU, PIETRO;
PIEDMONT; POMI, DE’; POMPEII;
REGGIO, ISACCO SAMUEL; RIETI; ROMAN
EMPERORS; ROVIGO; SALUZZO; SEGRE,
GINO; SERENI, ANGELO PIERO; SEVERUS,
SEPTIMIUS; SIERRA, SERGIO JOSEPH;
SOAVE, MOISE; TEDESCHI; THEODOSIUS
1; THEODOSIUS II; TURIN; ULPIAN;
VERCELLI; VICENZA; VITERBO, CARLO
ALBERTO; VITTA, CINO; VITTORIO
VENETO; VIVANTE, CESARE; VIVANTI,
DAVID ABRAHAM; VOLLI, GEMMA;
VOLTERRA, EDOARDO
Wladimir Rabi, M.A.; Judge and
Writer, Briancon, France: FONDANE,
BENJAMIN; TZARA, TRISTAN
Chaim M. Rabin, D.Phil., Dipl.O.S.;
Professor of Hebrew Language, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
135
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BEN-NAPHTALI, MOSES BEN DAVID;
BOESCHENSTEIN, JOHANN; BUXTORE,
JOHANNES; DUNASH BEN LABRAT;
HANAU, SOLOMON ZALMAN BEN JUDAH
LOEB HA-KOHEN
Dov Rabin, Researcher, Jerusalem:
GRODNO; NESVIZH; OSTRYNA; OZON;
RADOSHKOVICHI; RADUN; RUZHANY;
SIEMIATYCZE; SLONIM; SOKOLKA;
SUWALKI
Abraham Rabinovich, B.A.;
Journalist, Jerusalem: JERUSALEM
Aviva Rabinovich, M.Sc.;
Jerusalem: TRISTRAM, HENRY BAKER
Nachum L. Rabinovitch, B.Sc.,
Ph.D.; Principal, Jews’ College,
London
Aron Moshe K. Rabinowicz, Ph.D.,
M.C,].; Secretary of the Faculty
of Law, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: POLITISCHE GEMEINDE
Harry Rabinowicz, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Historian, London: BEDIKAT HAMEZ;
CREMATION; DEATH; DIETARY LAWS;
HAKKAFOT; HAMEZ, SALE OF; MELAVVEH
MALKAH; SHEHITAH
Oskar K. Rabinowicz, Dr.Phil.;
Historian, New York: AMERY,
LEOPOLD CHARLES MAURICE STENNETT;
BAMBUS, WILLY; BAR KOCHBA
ASSOCIATION; BEREGOVO; BONDY,
BOHUMIL; BRANDYS NAD LABEM;
BRECLAV; BREZNICE; BUCOVICE;
BUDYNE NAD OHRfI; CESKE BUDEJOVICE;
CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON LEONARD
SPENCER; EL-ARISH; FRIEDMANN,
PAUL; HERMANN, LEO; JACOBSON,
VICTOR; JIHLAVA; KARTELL JUEDISCHER
VERBINDUNGEN; KISCH, ALEXANDER;
KREMENETZKY, JOHANN; MARGULIES,
EMIL; MARMOREK, ALEXANDER;
TERRITORIALISM; TREBITSCH,
NEHEMIAH; TRIETSCH, DAVIS; USOV;
WEINMANN, JACOB; YORK-STEINER,
HEINRICH ELCHANAN
Wolf Zeev Rabinowitsch, M.D.;
Historian, Haifa: DAVID-GORODOK;
ISRAEL BEN PEREZ OF POLOTSK; KARLIN;
KOBRIN, MOSES BEN ISRAEL POLIER OF;
KOIDANOV; LACHOWICZE, MORDECAI
BEN NOAH OF; LYUBESHOV; SLONIM
Abraham Hirsch Rabinowitz,
M.A., Rabbi; Senior Chaplain to
the Israel Air Force, Jerusalem:
ADARBI, ISAAC BEN SAMUEL; ALEGRE,
136
ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON; AL-MADARI,
JUDAH HA-KOHEN BEN ELEAZAR
HE-HASID; ALMOSNINO, MOSES BEN
BARUCH; COLON, JOSEPH BEN SOLOMON;
COMMANDMENTS, THE 613; KEZAZAH
Chayim Reuven Rabinowitz, B.A.,
Rabbi; Writer, Jerusalem: FIGO,
AZARIAH; LIBOWITZ, SAMUEL NEHEMIAH
Dorothy Rabinowitz, Author, New
York: JHABVALA, RUTH PRAWER
Louis Isaac Rabinowitz, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Deputy Editor in Chief
of the Encyclopaedia Judaica (1st
ed.); Editor of Encyclopaedia
Judaica Year Books; Former Chief
Rabbi of the Transvaal and former
Professor of Hebrew, the University
of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg;
Former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem:
ABSALOM; AGRICULTURE; AMMON,
AMMONITES; ANOINTING; APIKOROS;
AUTOPSIES AND DISSECTION;
BANISHMENT; BEGGING AND BEGGARS;
BIBLE; BLEMISH; BLINDNESS; BLOOD;
BOOK OF LIFE; CAPITAL PUNISHMENT;
CARO, JOSEPH BEN EPHRAIM; CARTER,
JAMES EARL; CHEESE; CHERUB;
CONCUBINE; COSMOLOGY; CREATION
AND COSMOGONY; CROWNS,
DECORATIVE HEADDRESSES, AND
WREATHS; DAVID; DAYYAN; DEAF-
MUTE; DEMONS, DEMONOLOGY;
DERASH; DIVINATION; DRUNKENNESS;
EGGS; EGLAH ARUFAH; ENTEBBE RAID;
EUPHEMISM AND DYSPHEMISM; FAMILY;
FAMINE AND DROUGHT; FEAR OF GOD;
FEIGENBAUM, ISAAC HA-KOHEN; FERBER,
ZEVI HIRSCH; FIRE; FLESH; FLOOD, THE;
FOUR SPECIES; FREEDOM; GEMILUT
HASADIM; GERI, JACOB; GOD, NAMES OF;
HADRIAN, PUBLIUS AELIUS; HAFTARAH;
HAKHEL; HAMEZ; HEART; HEDER; HEVRA
KADDISHA; HONEY; HONOR; HUNTING;
IDOLATRY; INGATHERING OF THE EXILES;
IR HA-NIDDAHAT; ISRAEL; KIMBERLEY;
KING, KINGSHIP; KUNTERES; LABOR;
LEPROSY; LEVITES IN THE HALAKHAH;
LION; LOEWENSTAMM; LOTS; LUZ OF THE
SPINE; MAIMONIDES; MEAT; MEZUZAH;
MNEMONICS or MEMORA TECHNICA;
MOSES ISAAC; NAMES; OILS; ONKELOS
AND AQUILA; PARABLE; PEACE; PEACE
NOW; PENTATEUCH; PERLHEFTER,
ISSACHAR BEHR BEN JUDAH MOSES;
PESHAT; POVERTY; PROPHETS AND
PROPHECY; PROSELYTES; PSALMS, BOOK
OF; RABBI, RABBINATE; RABBINICAL
SEMINARIES; RIGHT AND LEFT; SALT;
SATAN; SCHACH, LEONARD LAZARUS;
SEA, SONG OF THE; SEFER HA-MA’ASIM
LI-VENEI EREZ YISRAEL; SEFER TORAH;
SELIHOT; SHULHAN ARUKH; SON OF
MAN; SUICIDE; SYNAGOGUE; TAITAZAK,
JOSEPH; TALMID HAKHAM; TALMUD,
JERUSALEM; TEN LOST TRIBES; TEXTILES;
VIRGIN, VIRGINITY; VOWS AND VOWING;
WRITING; YAD; YAHRZEIT; YOKE
Zvi Meir Rabinowitz, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Talmud,
Tel Aviv University: AARON OF
ZHITOMIR; ALEKSANDROW;: HAYYIM
BEN HANANEL HA-KOHEN; HEILPRIN,
JEHIEL BEN SOLOMON; HILLEL BEN
ELIAKIM; ISSACHAR DOV BAER BEN
ARYEH LEIB OF ZLOCZOW; JEHIEL MEIR
OF GOSTYNIN; RADOMSKO, SOLOMON
HA-KOHEN RABINOWICH OF; STRELISK,
URI BEN PHINEHAS OF; STRELISK, URI
BEN PHINEHAS OF; TWERSKY; WEIL,
NETHANEL BEN NAPHTALI ZEVI;
WILDMANN, ISAAC EISIK; ZECHARIAH
BEN BARACHEL; ZE'EV WOLF OF
ZHITOMIR
Mordechai Rabinson, Dr.Phil.,
Writer, Jerusalem: BRANDSTAEDTER,
MORDECAI DAVID
Arnold Rachlis*: ORANGE COUNTY
Sarlota Rachmuth-Gerstl, Ing.;
Jerusalem: GALANTA; HUMENNE
Emanuel Rackman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Chancellor, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: DOMESTIC PEACE
Howard B. Radest, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Philosophy, Ramapo
College, Mahwah, New Jersey:
NEUMANN, HENRY
Jihan (Jennifer) Radjai-
Ordoubadi*, M.A.; Trainee
in Jewish Studies, Heidelberg,
Germany: KOLLER-PINELL, BRONCIA;
KRESTIN, LAZAR; LEVY, RUDOLF; LILIEN,
EPHRAIM MOSES; OPPENHEIMER, JOSEPH;
ORLIK. EMIL; OSBORN, MAX; RICHTER,
HANS; SALOMON, CHARLOTTE; SEGAL,
ARTHUR; WOLE, GUSTAV: WOLLHEIM,
GERT H.
Amichai Radzyner*, Ph.D.,
Lecturer in Jewish Law, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: APPEAL
Arie Rafaeli-Zenziper, Director of
the Russian Zionist Archives, Tel
Aviv: PETROGRAD CONFERENCE
Bracha Rager*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Microbiology and Immunology,
Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheba; Ministry of Health,
Beersheba: ABIR, DAVID; ADLER,
CHARLES; ALTMAN, SIDNEY; ANGRIST,
ALFRED ALVIN; ARNON, RUTH; ATLAS,
DAVID; BALTIMORE, DAVID; BAUER,
SIMON HARVEY; BEN-ABRAHAM,
ZVI; BIRK, YEHUDITH; CHET, ILAN;
CIECHANOVER, AARON J.; COHEN, PAUL
JOSEPH; COHEN-TANNOUDJI CLAUDE;
DOREMAN, RALPH ISADORE; DORON,
HAIM; DVORETZKY, ARYEH; ELIEL,
ERNEST LUDWIG; FAHN, ABRAHAM;
FLEISCHER, MICHAEL; FRIEND,
CHARLOTTE; GLICK, DAVID; GREENBERG,
DAVID MORRIS; GROSSMAN, MORTON
IRVIN; GRUNBAUM, ADOLF; HALPERN,
JACK; HARARI, HAYYIM; HARRIS, MILTON;
HEIDELBERGER, MICHAEL; HELPERN,
MILTON; ISRAEL, STATE OF: HEALTH,
WELFARE, AND SOCIAL SECURITY; JAFFE,
LEONARD; JORTNER, JOSHUA; KARPLUS,
HEINRICH; KATZIR, AHARON; KATZIR,
EPHRAIM; KEDEM, ORA; LEVITZKL
ALEXANDER; MENDELSSOHN, KURT
ALFRED GEORG; NEUFELD, HENRY;
PADEH, BARUCH; PENZIAS, ARNO ALLAN;
PRYWES, MOSHE; RAGER, ITZHACK;
RAM, MOSHE; RAMOT, BRACHA; REVEL,
MICHEL; RICHTER, BURTON; SACHS, LEO;
SEGRE, EMILIO GINO; SHECHTMAN, DAN;
SZWARC, MICHAEL; TOBIAS, PHILLIP
VALLENTINE; WHITE, ROBERT MAYER;
WILLNER, ITAMAR; YONATH, ADA
Sanford Ragins, M.A., Rabbi;
Hartsdale, New York: NEBRASKA
Jay (Douglas, Philip) Rahn’, Ph.D.,
Professor of Music, York University,
Toronto, Canada: ADASKIN, MURRAY;
ANHALT, ISTVAN; CHERNEY, BRIAN;
FREEDMAN, HARRY; MORAWETZ, OSKAR;
WEINZWEIG, JOHN
Rosa Perla Raicher, M.A.; Tel Aviv:
URUGUAY; ZIONISM
Mark A. Raider*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Jewish History, incumbent of the
Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati
Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies,
and Head of the Department of
Judaic Studies at the University of
Cincinnati, Ohio: UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
Miriam B. Raider-Roth*, Ed. D.;
Assistant Professor of Educational
Theory and Practice, University at
Albany, State University of New
York: GILLIGAN, CAROL FRIEDMAN
Anson Rainey, Ph.D.; Associate
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Professor of Ancient Middle Eastern
Civilization, Tel Aviv University:
AHARONI, YOHANAN; CHALDEA,
CHALDEANS; CONCUBINE; FAMILY;
SACRIFICE; UGARIT; UGARITIC
Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff*, See
Aaron Rothkoff
Nahum Rakover, Dr. Jur.; Advisor
on Jewish Law, Ministry of Justice,
Jerusalem: AGENCY; ECOLOGY; LEASE
AND HIRE; SHALISH; SHOMERIM
Hanna Ram, M.A.; History
Museum of Tel Aviv: TEL AVIV-JAFFA
Shaul Ramati, M.A.; Lieutenant
Colonel (Res.), Israel Defense
Forces; Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Jerusalem: THAILAND
Naama Ramot*, M.A.;
Musicologist, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ADLER, LARRY; ANCERL,
KAREL; AX, EMANUEL; BACHAUER, GINA;
BARENBOIM, DANIEL; BELL, JOSHUA;
BENDIX, OTTO; BERGER, ARTHUR
VICTOR; BERTINI, GARY; BRAILOWSKY,
ALEXANDER; BRANT, HENRY DREYFUS;
BROD, MAX; BRONEMAN, YEFIM;
BROWNING, JOHN; COMISSIONA, SERGIU;
DICHTER, MISHA; EDEN-TAMIR; FISCHER,
ANNIE; FLEISHER, LEON; FRIED, MIRIAM;
GOLDBERG, SZYMON; GOTTSCHALK,
LOUIS MOREAU; HAENDEL, IDA; HASKIL,
CLARA; HINRICHSEN; ISSERLIS, STEVEN;
ISTOMIN, EUGENE; KALICHSTEIN,
JOSEPH; KATCHEN, JULIUS; KATZ,
MINDRU; KENTNER, LOUIS; KLEMPERER,
OTTO; KRAUS, LILI; KREISLER, FRITZ;
LANDOWSKA, WANDA; LEIGH, ADELE;
LEVI, YOEL; LOEWE, FREDERICK; MAAZEL,
LORIN; MEHTA, ZUBIN; MENUHIN,
HEPHZIBAH; MILLER, MITCH; MINTZ,
SHLOMO; PERAHIA, MURRAY; PERLMAN,
ITZHAK; PISK, PAUL AMADEUS; PRESSLER,
MENAHEM; SALZMAN, PNINA; SCHIFF,
ANDRAS; SCHIERIN, LALO; SERKIN,
PETER ADOLF; SHAHAM, GIL; SHMUELI,
HERZL; SILBERMANN, ALPHONS; SINGER,
GEORGE; SLATKIN, LEONARD; SMOIRA-
COHN, MICHAL; SOLTI, SIR GEORG;
SONDHEIM, STEPHEN; SPIVAKOVSKY,
TOSSY; STERN, ISAAC; STRANSKY, JOSEF;
STRAUSS II, JOHANN; SUSSKIND, WALTER;
SZELL, GEORGE; SZERYNG, HENRYK;
TUGAL, PIERRE; WEISSENBERG, ALEXIS;
ZUKERMAN, PINCHAS; ZUKOFSKY, PAUL
Gila Ramras-Rauch’, Ph.D.;
Weinstein Professor of Jewish
Literature, Hebrew College, Boston:
APPELFELD, AHARON
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Jo Ranson, Theater Critic, New
York: COHN, HARRY; CORWIN, NORMAN
LEWIS; FROHMAN; GLASS, MONTAGUE
MARSDEN; GOLDWYN, SAMUEL; GREEN,
ABEL; GREEN, ABEL; HARBURG, E.Y.;
JOLSON, AL
Amia Raphael, London: GoLDsMITHS
AND SILVERSMITHS; OFIR, ARIE
Chaim Raphael, Writer, London
Yitzchak Raphael, Ph.D.; Member
of the Knesset, Jerusalem: KOWALSKY,
JUDAH LEIB; MOSES LEIB OF SASOV;
ROZOVSKI, PINHAS
Nimrod Raphaeli, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Political Science, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: simon,
HERBERT ALEXANDER
Nessa Rapoport”, Writer, New
York: ROTENBERG, MATTIE LEVI
Solomon Rappaport, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Hebrew, the University
of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
South Africa: DIO CASSIUS; HERMETIC
WRITINGS; HOMER; MARTIAL; PSEUDO-
SCYLAX
Uriel Rappaport, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish History, Haifa
University: ANANIAS AND HELKIAS;
ARCHISYNAGOGOS; BAR GIORA, SIMEON;
BOSPHORUS, KINGDOM OF; CARTHAGE;
CHALCIS; CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS;
CYRUS; ELEAZAR BEN MATTATHIAS;
FLAVIUS, CLEMENS; HADRIAN, PUBLIUS
AELIUS; HERODIANS; HEVER HA-
YEHUDIM; HYRCANUS II; JADDUA;
JASON; JASON OF CYRENE; JOHANAN BEN
JEHOIADA; JOHANAN THE HASMONEAN;
KEFAR SHIHLAYIM; KOS; LAODICEA;
LEONTOPOLIS; LYSIAS; MARCUS AURELIUS
ANTONINUS; MENELAUS; MONOBAZ
I AND II; NICANOR; NICANOR'’S GATE;
PHAROS; QUIETUS, LUSIUS; SIMEON SON
OF ONIAS I; SIMEON THE HASMONEAN;
SIMEON THE JUST; SOLOMON, PSALMS OF;
SPARTA; THEOPHILUS; TITUS, ARCH OF;
ZENODORUS
Dennis Rapps”, M.A., J.D.;
Attorney, General Council, National
Jewish Commission on Law and
Public Affairs, New York: LEWIN,
NATHAN
Ariel Rathaus*, Ph.D.; Translator
and Researcher, Jerusalem:
FRANCES, JACOB BEN DAVID; SVEVO,
ITALO
137
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Annette Levy-Ratkin*, B.A., M.L.S.;
Archivist, Jewish Federation of
Nashville and Middle Tennessee,
Nashville: NASHVILLE
Sidney Ratner, Ph.D.; Professor of
History, Rutgers University, New
Brunswick, New Jersey: KALLEN,
HORACE MEYER
Yohanan Ratner, M.Sc.; Major
General (Res.), Israel Defense
Forces; Emeritus Professor of
Architecture, the Technion, Haifa
Yehuda Ratzaby, M.A.; Senior
Lecturer in Medieval Hebrew
Literature and in Jewish-Arabic
Literature, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: ABRAHAM BEN HALFON;
ABYAD, YIHYA BEN SHALOM; ADANI,
DAVID BEN AMRAM; ADANI, DAVID
BEN YESHA HA-LEVI; ADANI, MIZRAHI
SHALOM; ADANI, SAADIAH BEN DAVID;
ALSHEIKH, RAPHAEL BEN SHALOM;
BADIHI, YAHYA BEN JUDAH; BALIDEH,
MOSES; BARUCH BEN SAMUEL; BASHIRI,
YAHYA; DHAMARI, MANSUR SULEIMAN;
DHAMARI, SA’ID BEN DAVID; HABSHUSH,
SHALOM BEN YAHYA; HAMDI, LEVI BEN
YESHU’AH; IBN ZABARA, JOSEPH BEN
MEIR; IRAQI, ELEAZAR BEN AARON
HA-KOHEN; IRAQI, SHALOM HA-KOHEN;
IRAQI, SHALOM JOSEPH; JIZFAN, JUDAH
BEN JOSEPH; JOSEPH BEN ISRAEL; JOSEPH,
SAUL ABDALLAH; KAFAH, YIHYE BEN
SOLOMON; KAREH, SOLOMON; KORAH,
HAYYIM BEN JOSEPH; KORAH, YAHYA
BEN SHALOM; LAWANI, DA’'UD; LEVI, SAID
BEN SHALOM; MANSURAH, SAADIAH
BEN JUDAH; MANSURAH, SHALOM BEN
JUDAH; MAWZA;; MIZRAHI, DAVID BEN
SHALOM; NAJRAN; SAADI, JUDAH BEN
SOLOMON; SAADIAH; SALIH IBN YAHYA
IBN JOSEPH; SALIH, ABRAHAM; SALIH,
YAHYA BEN JOSEPH; SARUM, ABRAHAM;
SEFIRAH, SAADIAH BEN JOSEPH; SHABAZI,
SHALEM; SHARABI, SHALOM; WANNEH,
ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM; YIHYE, ISAAC
HA-LEVI; ZECHARIAH AL-DAHIRI,
ZECHARIAH BEN SOLOMON-ROFE; ZULAY,
MENAHEM
Benjamin (C.I.) Ravid*, Ph.D.,
Professor, Brandeis University:
BRIT IVRIT OLAMIT; BONFIL, ROBERT;
RAWIDOWICZ, SIMON; VENICE
Melech Ravitch, Writer, Montreal:
BERLINER, ISAAC; BIALOSTOTZKY,
BENJAMIN JACOB; BICKELS-SPITZER, ZVI;
BLUM, ELIEZER; BRODERZON, MOYSHE;
BURSZTYN, MICHAL; CHMELNITZKI,
MELECH; DILLON, ABRAHAM MOSES;
138
FEFER, ITZIK; FRUG, SHIMON SHMUEL;
GEBIRTIG, MORDECHAI; GILBERT,
SHLOMO; GISER, MOSES DAVID;
GLASMAN, BARUCH; GORDIN, ABBA;
GOTTESFELD, CHONE; GOTTLIEB, JACOB;
GRYNBERG, BERL; GUTMAN, CHAIM;
HOROWITZ, BER; JAFFE, LEIB; KACYZNE,
ALTER; KAGANOWSKI, EFRAIM; LANDAU,
ZISHE; LAPIN, BERL; LERER, YEHIEL;
MALACH, LEIB; MASTBAUM, JOEL;
NAIDUS, LEIB; NEUGROESCHEL, MENDEL;
NOMBERG, HERSH DAVID; PRYLUCKI,
NOAH; SCHNAPPER, BER; TEPPER, KOLYA;
WARSHAVSKY, YAKIR; WARSZAWSKI, OSER;
YEHOASH; YOFFE, MORDECAI; ZIVION
Aviezer Ravitzky*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Jewish Philosophy, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ZERAHIAH
BEN ISAAC BEN SHEALTIEL
Norman Rawvin"*, Ph.D.; Chair,
Canadian Jewish Studies, Concordia
University, Montreal, Canada:
COHEN, LEONARD; COHEN, MATT; KLEIN,
A.M.; KREISEL, HENRY; MANDEL, ELI;
RICHLER, MORDECAI
Shoey Raz*, M.A.; Ph.D. Doctoral
Student, Department of Philosophy,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
LATIF, ISAAC B. ABRAHAM IBN
Simha Raz, General Secretary, Brit
Ivrit Olamit, Jerusalem: LEVIN, ARYEH
Roberta Rebold, B.A.; Writer and
Researcher, Jerusalem: COALITION
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF JEWISH
EDUCATION
Shimon Redlich, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
History, the University of the Negev,
Beersheba: BIROBIDZHAN; STALIN,
JOSEPH VISSARIONOVICH
David (Allen) Rees”, B.A.;
Graduate Student (History),
eee ee
Munich, Germany: MARLE, ARNOLD
Uri Regev, L.L.B., Rabbi; Director,
The Israel Religious Action Center,
Jerusalem
Sidney L. Regner, B.A., Rabbi;
Executive Vice President, Central
Conference of American Rabbis,
New York: SYNAGOGUE COUNCIL OF
AMERICA, THE
Ronny Reich, Ph.D.; Director of
Documentation, Israel Antiquities
Authority, Jerusalem
Harry Reicher*, B.Econ., L.L.B.,
L.L.M.; Adjunct Professor of Law,
University of Pennsylvania Law
School; Member, United States
Holocaust Memorial Council,
Pennsylvania: WAR CRIMES TRIALS
Stefan C. Reif, Ph.D.; Director of
Genizah Unit and Head of Oriental
Department, Cambridge University
Library: GENIZAH, CAIRO
Manfred Reifer, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Tel Aviv: BUKOVINA
Elena Reikher (Temin)*, Ph.D.,
Musicology, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: BUKHARA
Jack Reimer, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Lecturer, Dept. of Judaic Studies,
University of Dayton, Ohio:
BETTELHEIM, ALBERT SIEGFRIED;
BLUMENTHAL, JOSEPH; BOKSER, BEN
ZION; BRAUDE, WILLIAM GORDON;
COHEN, MORTIMER JOSEPH; DAYTON;
DEMBITZ, LEWIS NAPHTALI; EISENDRATH,
MAURICE NATHAN; EISENSTEIN, IRA;
FRIEDMAN, THEODORE; GOLDIN, JUDAH;
GOLDMAN, SOLOMON; GORDIS, ROBERT;
GORDON, ALBERT 1; GORDON, HAROLD;
GREENBERG, SIMON; HOFFMAN,
CHARLES ISAIAH; JASTROW; KARP,
ABRAHAM J.; KOHN, EUGENE; KOHUT;
LEESER, ISAAC; LEVITSKY, LOUIS MOSES;
MoRAIS, SABATO; RAPHALL, MORRIS
JACOB
Bob Reinalda’*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in International Relations,
Radboud University Nijmegen, The
Netherlands: MIRANDA, SALOMON
RODRIGUES DE
Alvin J. Reines, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Philosophy, the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, New York: ABRABANEL,
ISAAC BEN JUDAH; DIESENDRUCK,
ZEVI; METAPHYSICS; NEUMARK,
DAVID; REDEMPTION; SKEPTICS AND
SKEPTICISM; TIME AND ETERNITY
Jehuda Reinharz, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, the University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor: FARBAND;
ZIONISM
Shulamit Reinharz*: sZoLp,
HENRIETTA
Joel (Ira) Reisman*, B.A.;
Healthcare Analyst, Edith Nourse
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Rogers Memorial Hospital, Bedford,
Massachusetts: ALASKA
Hanns G. Reissner, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, New York Institute of
Technology, Old Westbury, New
York: ABRAHAM; ALTMAN, BENJAMIN;
CARO, GEORG MARTIN; DREYFUS;
GIMBEL; GOLDMAN; HIRSCH, BARON
MAURICE DE; KUHN-LOEB; LAZARD;
LAZARUS; LEHMAN; MENDELSSOHN;
OPPENHEIM; SAINT-SIMONISM; SERING,
MAX; SPEYER; STRAUS; STRAUSS, LEVI;
VEIT
Alan Reitman, B.A.; Associate
Director of the American Civil
Liberties Union, New York: Hays,
ARTHUR GARFIELD
Elie Rekhess*, Ph.D., Senior
Research Fellow, Tel Aviv
University: ISRAEL, STATE OF: ARAB
POPULATION
Joel (E.) Rembaum”*, B.A., M.A.,
Ph.D., Rabbi; Senior Rabbi, Temple
Beth Am, Los Angeles: PRESSMAN,
JACOB
Gary A. Rendsburg*, Ph.D.,
Blanche and Irving Laurie Chair in
Jewish History, Rutgers University,
New Brunswick, New Jersey: EBLA
Yehuda Reshef, LL.B.; Ministry of
Justice, Haifa: BORMANN, MARTIN;
BUCHENWALD; DARQUIER DE PELLEPOIX,
LOUIS; EPPSTEIN, PAUL; FRANK, HANS
MICHAEL; FRANK, KARL HERMANN;
FRANKFURTER, DAVID; GERSTEIN, KURT;
GLOBOCNIK, ODILO; GLUECKS, RICHARD;
GOEBBELS, PAUL JOSEE; GOERING,
HERMANN WILHELM; HEYDRICH,
REINHARD TRISTAN; HIMMLER,
HEINRICH; HIRSCH, OTTO; JACOB,
BERTHOLD; KALTENBRUNNER, ERNST;
KATZMANN, FRIEDRICH; LAMBERT,
RAYMOND RAOUL; LUX, STEFAN;
MAUTHAUSEN; MUELLER, HEINRICH;
MUSELMANN; NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF;
POHL, OSWALD; RADEMACHER, FRANZ;
RAUTER, HANNS ALBIN; RAVENSBRUECK;
REICHSVEREINIGUNG; REICHSZENTRALE
FUER JUEDISCHE AUSWANDERUNG;
RIBBENTROP, JOACHIM VON; ROSENBERG,
ALFRED; RSHA; SACHSENHAUSEN-
ORANIENBURG; SAUCKEL, FRITZ;
SCHACHT PLAN; SCHELLENBERG,
WALTER; STROOP, JUERGEN; VALLAT,
XAVIER; WIENER LIBRARY: WIENER,
ALFRED; WISLICENY, DIETER
Rosa Perla Resnick*, Ph.D.;
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
University Professor, CUNY, Yeshiva
University, Columbia University,
New York: RESNICK, SALOMON
Gideon Reuveni*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
University of Melbourne, Australia
Shmuel Dov Revital, Dr.Jur.; State
Comptroller’s Office, Jerusalem:
PARTNERSHIP
Hanoch Reviv, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: aBIMELECH;
ALALAKH; ARCHIVES; ATHALIAH;
BAASHA; CITY; CORVEE; ELAH; HISTORY:
BEGINNING UNTIL THE MONARCHY;
HISTORY: KINGDOMS OF JUDAH
AND ISRAEL; NABOTH; TRADE AND
COMMERCE; ZEDEKIAH
Charles Reznikoff, LL.B.; Author,
New York: KONVITZ, MILTON RIDVAS;
PANKEN, JACOB
Harold U. Ribalow, B.S.; Writer,
New York: FAST, HOWARD MELVIN;
FERBER, EDNA; URIS, LEON
Arnold (David) Richards*,
M.D,; Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst,
New York University School of
Medicine Department of Psychiatry,
Psychoanalytic Institute, New York:
FREUD, SIGMUND
Elisheva Rigbi*, Ph.D.; Lecturer of
Musicology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: KATZ, RUTH
Bryan Mark Rigg*, Ph.D.; Private
Wealth Manager at Credit Suisse,
Dallas: NUREMBERG LAWS
Elimelech Rimalt, Ph.D.; Member
of the Knesset, Former Minister of
Posts, Ramat Gan: INNSBRUCK
Allie Rimer*: NEW BRUNSWICK
Chanoch Rinott, Ph.D.; Senior
Teacher and Director of the
Center for Jewish Education in the
Diaspora, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: YOUTH ALIYAH
Moshe Rinott, Ph.D.; Senior
Teacher in Education, Haifa
University: COHN-REISS,
EPHRAIM
Moses Rischin, Ph.D.; Professor of
History, San Francisco State College;
Director of the Western Jewish
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
History Center, Berkeley, California:
CAHAN, ABRAHAM
Yitzhak Rischin, B.A. (Hons.);
Managing Director of Keter
Publishing House Ltd., Jerusalem:
AUSTRALIA; MELBOURNE
Israel Ritov, Journalist, Tel Aviv: HE-
HALUTZ; Z.S.; ZE'IREI ZION
Paul Ritterband, M.H.L., Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Departments of
Sociology and Jewish Studies, City
University of New York
Marina Ritzarev*, Ph.D., Professor,
Musicologist, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: ABELIOVICH, LEV
MOYSSEYEVICH; ALSHVANG, ARNOLD
ALEKSANDROVICH; ALTSCHULER,
MODEST; ARONOVICH, YURI
MIKHAYLOVICH; ASHKENAZY, VLADIMIR
DAVIDOVICH; AVSHALOMOV, AARON;
BABIN, VICTOR; BARMAS, ISSAY; BELY,
VICTOR ARKADYEVICH; BLUMENFELD,
FELIX MIKHAYLOVICH; BRUSSILOVSKY,
YEVGENI GRIGORYEVICH; FEINBERG,
SAMUEL YEVGENYEVICH; KROSHNER,
MIKHAIL YEFIMOVICH; LEVITSKY,
MISCHA; LITINSKI, GENRIKH ILYICH;
MAYKAPAR, SAMUIL MOYSEYEVICH;
SLONIMSKY, NICOLAS; SLONIMSKY,
SERGEI MIKHAILOVICH; STEINBERG,
MAXIMILIAN OSSEJEVICH; TARUSKIN,
RICHARD; VEINBERG, MOISSEY
SAMUILOVICH; WEISSBERG, JULIA
LAZAREVNA; ZHITOMIRSKI, ALEXANDER
MATVEYEVICH
Benjamin Rivlin, Writer, Jerusalem:
DVORZETSKY, MARK MEIR; RIVLIN;
RIVLIN, JOSEPH JOEL
Ronald Robboy*, Former Senior
Researcher, The Thomashefsky
Project; Senior Researcher
Encyclopedia of Yiddish
Theater; Cellist, San Diego
Symphony Orchestra, San Diego:
THOMASHEFSKY, BESSIE
Marthe Robert, Researcher and
Writer, Paris: NEMIROVSKY, IRENE
B.J. Roberts, D.D.; Professor
of Hebrew and Biblical Studies,
University College of North Wales,
Bangor: KAHLE, PAUL ERNST
George Robinson’, B.A., M.FA.;
Film Critic, Music Critic, Author,
Jewish Week, New York; Inside
Magazine, Philadelphia: AMRAM,
139
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
DAVID; BRECKER BROTHERS; ELMAN,
ZIGGY; FEATHER, LEONARD; FLECK, BELA;
GETZ, STAN; GIBBS, TERRY; HENTOFF,
NAT; KESSEL, BARNEY; KLEIN, MANNIE;
KONITZ, LEE; LACY, STEVE; MANN,
HERBIE; MANNE, SHELLY; RICH, BUDDY;
RODNEY, RED; TORME, MEL
Ira Robinson’, Ph.D., Professor,
Concordia University, Montreal,
Quebec: COHEN, HIRSH; DENBURG,
CHAIM; HERSCHORN, JOSHUA HALEVY;
HIRSCHPRUNG, PINHAS; KAGE, JOSEPH;
ROSENBERG, YEHUDA YUDEL
Jacob Robinson, Dr.Jur.;
Coordinator of Research Activities
and Publications on the Holocaust
for Yad Vashem and YIVO, New
York: HOLOCAUST: BEHAVIOR OF THE
VICTIMS; NAZI-DEUTSCH
James T. Robinson”, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of the History of
Judaism, The University of Chicago,
The Divinity School, Chicago:
TIBBON, IBN
Leye Robinson*: BoRAISHA,
MENAHEM
Nehemiah Robinson, Dr.Phil.;
Director of the Institute of Jewish
Affairs, New York: GENOCIDE
CONVENTION
Samuele Rocca*, Ph.D., Lecturer in
Art History, Wizo College, Haifa:
ANCONA; ANCONA; AQUILEIA; ASCOLI,
ETTORE; BASSANO; FRIULI-VENEZIA
GIULIA; GORIZIA; ISTRIA; LEGIO; LEVI,
DORO; LOLLI, EUDE; LOMBROSO, CESARE;
LUZZATTO, EPHRAIM; MARGULIES,
SAMUEL HIRSCH; MILAN; MOSCATI,
SABATINO; NAPLES; OSTIA; POMPEII;
RAVENNA; ROME; ROVIGO; SAN DANIELE
DEL FRIULI; SERMONETA, JOSEPH
BARUCH; TREVISO; TRIESTE; TURIN
Robert Rockaway, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of American Urban
History, the University of Texas,
El Paso: BROWN, DAVID ABRAHAM;
DETROIT
Stuart Rockoff, Ph.D.; Director,
History Department, Goldring/
Woldenberg Institute of Southern
Jewish Life, Jackson, Mississippi:
GEORGIA; INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN
JEWISH LIFE, GOLDRING / WOLDENBERG;
MISSISSIPPI; NUSSBAUM, PERRY
Edouard Roditi, B.A.; Art
140
Critic, Paris: ADLER, JULES; BIHARI,
ALEXANDER; PARIS SCHOOL OF ART
Peretz (A.) Rodman*, M.A., Rabbi;
Jewish Educator, Independent
Scholar, Jerusalem: HAMMER,
REUVEN
Ilia (M.) Rodov*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
JERUSALEM
Linda Rodriguez*, M.A.; Former
Director, Women’s Center,
University of Missouri-Kansas City:
GLUCK, LOUISE
Nils Roemer*, Ph.D., Senior
Lecturer, University of
Southampton, England: vEREIN
FUER KULTUR UND WISSENSCHAFT DES
JUDENTUMS
Leonard (William) Rogoff*, Ph.D.,
Research Historian, Jewish Heritage
Foundation of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina:
CHARLOTTE; DURHAM; NORTH
CAROLINA
Stefan Rohrbacher*, Dr.Phil.;
Professor, Heinrich-Heine
Universitat, Diisseldorf, Germany:
AACHEN; AHLEM; ALTENSTADT;
ASCHAFFENBURG; AUGSBURG; BADEN;
BERLIN; DARMSTADT; DEGGENDORE;
DEUTZ; DUESSELDORE; DUISBURG;
EREURT; GERMANY; HAMBURG;
JEBENHAUSEN
Emilie Roi*, Writer, Jerusalem:
COHN, GEORG
Yaacov Ro’, M.A.; Visiting
Researcher in Middle Eastern
Studies, Tel Aviv University: RUSSIA
Betty Roitman, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of French and
Comparative Literature, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Avshalom Rokach, M.Sc.;
Agronomist, Jerusalem: LACHISH
REGION
Isaac Rokach, Managing Director of
the Pardess Syndicate, Herzliyyah:
CITRUS
David Rokeah, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Jewish History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: JULIAN THE
APOSTATE
Giorgio Romano, LL.D.; Journalist,
Tel Aviv: ASCARELLI, TULLIO;
BEDARIDA, GUIDO; BEMPORAD, ENRICO;
BOLAFFIO, LEONE; CAMERINI, EUGENIO
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Avraham Ronen, Dott. in lett.;
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NATTUF
Dan Ronen”, Ph.D.; Director,
Division of Culture and Arts
Ministry of Education and Culture,
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL
LIFE, MUSIC, FOLK DANCE
Omri Ronen, Ph.D., Senior
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Literature, Hebrew University,
Jerusalem: ALIGER, MARGARITA
YOSIFOVNA; BRIK, OSIP MAKSIMOVICH;
EICHENBAUM, BORIS MIKHAILOVICH;
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PARNAKH, VALENTIN YAKOVLEVICH;
ZHIRMUNSKY, VIKTOR MAKSIMOVICH
Meir Ronnen, B.F.A.; Journalist,
Jerusalem
Michael N. Rony*, M.A.; Ph.D.
Student, Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev, Beersheva: ARAMA, ISAAC
BEN MOSES
Emanuel Rose, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Portland, Oregon
Or N. Rose*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Dean, The Rabbinical
School of Hebrew College, Hebrew
College, Boston: GREEN, ARTHUR
Kenneth D. Roseman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Assistant Professor of American
Jewish History, the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio: FREIBERG;
GOLDSMITH, SAMUEL ABRAHAM; GREEN-
STEIN, HARRY; SHRODER, WILLIAM J.
Mark Roseman”, Ph.D.; Pat M.
Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies,
Indiana University: WANNSEE
CONFERENCE
Gladys Rosen, Ph.D.; Historical
Researcher, New York: DAVIS, MOSHE;
EPSTEIN, JUDITH; FREUND-ROSENTHAL,
MIRIAM KOTTLER; FRIEDENWALD;
HALPRIN, ROSE LURIA; LINDHEIM,
IRMA LEVY; MEYER, BARON DE HIRSCH;
NAROT, JOSEPH; ROSENSOHN, ETTA
LASKER; SATINSKY, SOL; SCHENK, FAYE L.;
SELIGSBERG, ALICE LILLIE; STEINBACH,
ALEXANDER ALAN; SZOLD, BENJAMIN;
TUSKA, SIMON
Janice Rosen*, M.A.; Archives
Director, Canadian Jewish Congress,
Montreal, Quebec: ROME, DAVID
Moshe Rosen, Jerusalem: ALI IBN
SAHL IBN RABBAN AL-TABARI
Pinchas Rosen, Former Minister
of Justice, Jerusalem: INDEPENDENT
LIBERAL PARTY
Michael Rosenak, Ph.D.; Former
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Director, Melton Center for Jewish
Education in the Diaspora, Mandel
Associate Professor for Jewish
Education, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
Helen Rosenau, Dr. Phil.; Art
Historian, London: ABRAHAM; ADAM;
ECCLESIA ET SYNAGOGA; JONAH, BOOK
OF
Miriam Rosen-Ayalon, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor in Islamic Art
and Archaeology; Head of the
Department of Islamic Civilization,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ETTINGHAUSEN, RICHARD
Fred S. Rosenbaum”, M.A.; History,
Founding Director, Lehrhaus
Judaica, Berkeley, California: ASHER,
JOSEPH; COHN, ELKAN; ECKMAN,
JULIUS; MAGNES MUSEUM, JUDAH
L.; ROSENMANN-TAUB, DAVID; SAN
FRANCISCO BAY AREA
Irving J. Rosenbaum, Rabbi; former
President, Hebrew Theological
College, Chicago; Davka Corp.
Jonathan Rosenbaum”, Ph.D.;
President and Professor of Religion,
Gratz College, Melrose Park,
Pennsylvania: GRATZ COLLEGE;
GRODZINSKY, ZVI HIRSCH
Dan (Daniel) S. Rosenberg’, B.A.,
M.A., Ph.D.; Rabbi; New York
University: FOUNDATIONS
Jennifer Rosenberg*, M.A.,
M.S.W;; Director of Research, UJA-
Federation of New York: NEW YORK
CITY
Louis Rosenberg, B.A., B.S.;
Research Director, the Canadian
Jewish Congress, Montreal, Canada
Pnina Rosenberg”, Ph.D.; Art
Curator, Lecturer, Art Historian,
specializing in the art of the
Holocaust, Ghetto Fighters’
House Museum, Tivon, Israel:
ART: IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND
GHETTOES
Shalom Rosenberg, M.A.;
Jerusalem
Stephen G. (Gabriel) Rosenberg”,
Ph.D., FRIBA; Fellow of Albright
Institute of Archaeological Research,
Jerusalem, and Honorary Secretary
141
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of Anglo-Israel Archaeological
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TOBIADS
Stuart E. Rosenberg, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Writer, Toronto: GENIZAH, CAIRO;
LAWYERS; POLITICS
Samuel Rosenblatt, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Oriental
Languages, Johns Hopkins
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SIMHAH; FREUND, SAMUEL BEN
ISSACHAR BAER; GALANTE; HAKDAMAH;
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HA-BA; PLUTARCH
Alvin H. Rosenfeld*, Ph.D.;
Professor of English and Jewish
Studies, Director of Institute for
Jewish Culture and the Arts, Indiana
University: FRANK, ANNE
Gavriel (D.) Rosenfeld*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Fairfield,
University, Connecticut:
FRIEDLAENDER, SAUL
Harry L. Rosenfeld, M.A., Rabbi;
rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom,
Anchorage, Alaska
Geraldine Rosenfield, M.A.; the
American Jewish Committee, New
York: SLAWSON, JOHN
Ariella M. Rosengard*, M.D.:
MIROWSKI, MICHEL
Dale Rosengarten*, Ph.D.;
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Charleston, South Carolina: souTH
CAROLINA
Anny Dayan Rosenman’,
Ph.D.; Maitre de conférence;
Université Paris7 — Denis Diderot.
Département de Lettres; Paris,
France: JABES, EDMOND; MODIANO,
PATRICK
Shabtai Rosenne, Ph.D.;
Ambassador, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: ARMISTICE
AGREEMENTS, ISRAEL-ARAB; GROTIUS,
HUGO
Menachem (Z.) Rosensaft*, B.A.
M.A., J.D.; Attorney, New York:
BERGEN-BELSEN
Joseph G. Rosenstein’, Ph.D.;
Professor of Mathematics, Rutgers
142
University, Highland Park,
New Jersey: NATIONAL HAVURAH
COMMITTEE
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Professor of Social Studies and
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College of the City University of
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NATHAN; BLAUSTEIN; BLOOMINGDALE;
BUTTENWIESER; COWEN, PHILIP;
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HAY, JOHN MILTON; JONAS, NATHAN
S.; KRAUS, ADOLF; LEWISOHN; MACK,
JULIAN WILLIAM; MARSHALL, LOUIS;
MORGENTHAU; ROSENWALD; SAPIRO,
AARON; SCHIEFE, JACOB HENRY;
UNTERMYER, SAMUEL; WARBURG
Erich Rosenthal, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, Queens College
of the City University of New
York: CHICAGO; MIXED MARRIAGE,
INTERMARRIAGE
Esther Rosenthal (Schneiderman),
Cand. Pedag. Sci.; Jerusalem:
CHATZKELS, HELENE
Irving Rosenthal, M.A.; Associate
Professor of Journalism, City
College of the City University
of New York: ADLER, JULIUS OCHS;
ANNENBERG, WALTER H.; CARTOONISTS;
FORMIGGINI, ANGELO FORTUNATO;
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EUGENE; NEWHOUSE, SAMUEL IRVING;
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JULIUS, FREIHERR VON; RICHARDS,
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Judah M. Rosenthal, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Former Professor of Biblical
Exegesis, the College of Jewish
Studies, Chicago; Jerusalem:
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CHRISTOPH; YUDGHAN
Moshe Rosetti, Former Clerk
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Gerald Rosin, Central African
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Fred Rosner, M.D.; Instructor
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Menahem Rosner, Ph.D.; Professor,
Department of Sociology and
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KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT
Jacob Joshua Ross, Ph.D., Rabbi;
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REVELATION
Daniel Rossing, M.T.S.; Director,
Melitz Center for Christian
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ISRAEL, STATE OF: RELIGIOUS LIFE AND
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Ruth Rossing*, B.A.; Secretary,
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Murray Roston, Ph.D.; Professor of
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SINKO, ERVIN; SIPRUTINI, EMANUEL;
STAMFORD; SUMBAL, SAMUEL;
TAXATION; TEMPLO, JACOB JUDAH
LEON; TOLAND, JOHN; TRASKE, JOHN;
TREBITSCH, MOSES LOEB BEN WOLF;
URBINO; VAEZ, ABRAHAM; VAN OVEN;
WARWICK; WINCHESTER; WOLF, LUCIEN;
XIMENES, SIR MORRIS; YOM TOV OF
JOIGNY; YORK
Ernst Roth, Ph.D., Rabbi; Chief
Rabbi of the State of Hesse,
Frankfurt on the Main: AACHEN
Lea Roth, M.A.; Jerusalem: ABBA
SIKRA; ALBINUS, LUCCEIUS; ANAN BEN
SETH; ANAN, SON OF ANAN; AVTINAS;
AZIZ; CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA;
CAIAPHAS, JOSEPH; CAPPADOCIA;
CESTIUS GALLUS; CHAEREMON;
CLAUDIUS; CLEOPATRA; COPONIUS;
CORINTH; CUMANUS VENTIDIUS;
CYPROS; CYPRUS; ELEAZAR BEN ANANIAS;
ELEAZAR BEN DINAI; EMESA; FADUS,
CUSPIUS; FELIX, ANTONIUS; FESTUS,
PORCIUS; FLACCUS, AVILLIUS AULUS;
GALATIA; GESSIUS FLORUS; HEZIR;
HIERAPOLIS; ISHMAEL BEN PHIABI II;
JOEZER, SON OF BOETHUS; JOHN OF
GISCALA; JONATHAN THE HASMONEAN;
JOSEPH; JULIUS SEVERUS; LYDIA, LYDIANS;
MENAHEM SON OF JUDAH; PAPPUS
AND JULIANUS; PETRONIUS, PUBLIUS;
PONTIUS PILATE; POPPAEA, SABINA;
PTOLEMY; SABINUS; SILVA, FLAVIUS;
SIMEON BEN BOETHUS; TINNEIUS RUFUS;
TITUS, FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS
Leon Roth, D.Phil, EB.A.; Former
Rector and Professor of Philosophy,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ALEXANDER, SAMUEL
Sol Roth, Ph.D., Rabbi; Lecturer in
143
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Philosophy, Yeshiva University, New
York: SLANDER
Sylvia Rothchild, Writer, Brookline,
Massachusetts: GOLD, HERBERT
Beno Rothenberg, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Archaeology, Tel Aviv
University: EZION-GEBER; TIMNA
Livia Rothkirchen, Ph.D.;
Historian, Jerusalem:
CZECHOSLOVAKIA; FLEISCHMANN,
GISI; FRIEDER, ARMIN; REIK, HAVIVAH;
SLOVAKIA; SZENES, HANNAH; TISO,
JOSEF; TUKA, VOJTECH; VASEK, ANTON;
WALLENBERG, RAOUL; WEISSMANDEL,
MICHAEL DOV
Aaron Rothkoff*, B.A., M.A.,
M.H.C., D.H.L., Rabbi; Professor
of Responsa Literature, Yeshiva
University - Gruss Kollel,
Jerusalem: ALPHABET, HEBREW, IN
MIDRASH, TALMUD, AND KABBALAH;
BAT KOL; BERLIN, HAYYIM; BET-
MIDRASH; DECALOGUE; FINZI-NORSA
CONTROVERSY; GOLDEN CALF;
GRAJEWSKI, ELIEZER ZALMAN; HAM;
HULDAH; ISAAC; JEREMIAH; JETHRO;
JUDAH; KALMANOWITZ, ABRAHAM;
KEFAR HABAD; KIDDUSH; KORAH;
KOZIENICE, ISRAEL BEN SHABBETAI
HAPSTEIN; MICHAEL AND GABRIEL;
MINHAH; MINOR TRACTATES; MIRIAM;
MITZVAH; MOSES; MOURNING; MUSAE;
NADAB; NAZIRITE; NEHEMIAH;
NEW MOON; PARENTS, HONOR OF;
POLACHEK, SOLOMON; PROFANITY;
PROSBUL; PUBERTY; RABBAH TOSFA’AH;
RACHEL; RACKMAN, EMANUEL; RASHI;
RUDERMAN, JACOB ISAAC; RUTH, BOOK
OF; SABBATICAL YEAR AND JUBILEE;
SACRIFICE; SAMBATYON; SAMSON;
SAMUEL; SARAH; SEFER TORAH;
SEMIKHAH; SHAATNEZ; SHATZKES,
MOSES; SHIR HA-YIHUD; SICK, VISITING
THE; SILVER, ELIEZER; SIMHAT TORAH;
SLOBODKA YESHIVAH; SODOM AND
GOMORRAH; SOLOMON; SOLOVEICHIK,
AARON; SOLOVEITCHIK, JOSEPH BAER;
TABERNACLE; TERAH; TITUS, FLAVIUS
VESPASIANUS; TOHOROT; TOKHEHAH;
WALKIN, AARON; WIEDENFELD,
DOV; WILLOWSKI, JACOB DAVID BEN
ZE’EV; YIGDAL; ZADDIK; ZEDEKIAH;
ZERUBBABEL; ZUR MI-SHELLO
Fritz A. Rothschild, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Associate Professor of the
Philosophy of Religion, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York: HESCHEL, ABRAHAM
JOSHUA
144
Jacob Rothschild, Dr.Phil.; Director
of the Graduate Library School, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
JACOB, BENNO; JACOBSON, ISRAEL;
JASTROW; JELLINEK, HERMANN; JOSEPH
BEN GERSHON OF ROSHEIM; LEHMANN,
MARCUS; LEIPZIG; LESZNO; LEVI, DAVID;
LEWY, ISRAEL; LOEWE, HEINRICH;
LUEBECK; LURIA; POPPERS, JACOB
BEN BENJAMIN HAKOHEN; SALFELD,
SIEGMUND; SELIGMANN, CAESAR
Janice Rothschild Blumberg”,
B.EA.; Author, Historian,
Independent Scholar, Washington,
D.C.: BROWNE, EDWARD B. M.
Jean-Pierre Rothschild*, H.D.R.;
Directeur de recherches au
C.N.R.S./ Directeur de études a
lEcole pratique des hautes etudes,
Paris, France: REVUE DES ETUDES
JUIVES; SEMINAIRE ISRAELITE DE
FRANCE; SOCIETE DES ETUDES JUIVES;
TOUATI, CHARLES; VAJDA, GEORGES
Raphael Rothstein, B.A.; Journalist,
New York: BRUSTEIN, ROBERT
SANFORD; CANTOR, EDDIE; CLURMAN,
HAROLD; MOSTEL, ZERO; SHUBERT;
STRASBERG, LEE
Gali Rotstein*: AXELROD, JULIUS;
COHEN, MORRIS; HARARI, OVADIAH;
HEEGER, ALAN; JUDA, WALTER;
MANDELBROT, BENOIT; TOBIAS, PHILLIP
VALLENTINE
Yechezkel Rottenberg, M.Jur.;
Assistant in Jewish Law, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: UNJUST
ENRICHMENT
Max Jonah Routtenberg, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Visiting Professor of
Homiletics, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
SIRKES, JOEL
Robert Rovinsky, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Germanic Languages,
University of Texas, Austin: COHN,
CILLA CYPORA
Marc Rozelaar, Dr.Phil.; Associate
Professor of Classical Studies, Tel
Aviv University: GOLDMARK, KARL
Marsha L. Rozenblit*, B.A., M.A.,
Ph.D.; Harvey M. Meyerhoff
Professor Jewish History, University
of Maryland: HIMMELFARB, GERTRUDE;
HISTORIANS; HYMAN, PAULA E.; LEVIN,
NORA
Robert Rozette, Researcher
and Writer, Jerusalem: BARBIE,
NIKOLAUS, TRIAL OF; GRAEBE, HERMANN
FRIEDRICH; HIRSCHMANN, IRA ARTHUR;
KORCZAK-MARLA, ROZKA; LUTZ, CARL;
PLOTNICKA, FRUMKA; WDOWINSKI,
DAVID
Alfred Rubens, ES.A., F.R.Hist.
Soc.; Historian of Jewish Art and
Costume, London: DRESS; HERALDRY
Betty R. (Rogers) Rubenstein’,
Ph.D.; Research Fellow, University
of Bridgeport, Connecticut:
AGREST, DIANA; ALSCHULER, ALFRED S.;
BREUER, MARCEL; BUNSHAFT, GORDON;
EIZENBERG, JULIE; FREED, JAMES INGO;
GANDELSONAS. MARIO; GEHRY, FRANK
OWEN; GORLIN, ALEXANDER; LAPIDUS,
MORRIS; LERNER, RALPH; LIBESKIND,
DANIEL; SAITOWITZ, STANLEY;
SCHWARTZ, FREDERIC; SORKIN, MICHAEL
Harry Rubenstein*: REED, LOU;
YARROW, PETER
Joshua Rubenstein*, Northeast
Regional Director of Amnesty
International and Associate
Professor of the Davis Center for
Russian and Eurasian Studies,
Harvard University: BONNER, ELENA
GEORGIEVNA
Richard L. Rubenstein, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Professor of Religion, Florida
State University, Tallahassee
Adam Rubin”, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor, Hebrew Union College,
Los Angeles
Jay L. Rubin*, B.A., M.A.; Executive
Vice President, Hillel International,
Washington, D.C.: HILLEL; JOEL,
RICHARD M.
Lawrence Rubin’, Executive Vice
Chairman (retired), Jewish Council
for Public Affairs, New York:
AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE
Uri Rubin*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Arabic and Islamic Studies, Tel Aviv
University: KORAN
Daniel Benito Rubinstein Novick,
National University of Buenos Aires:
MENDOZA; SANTA FE
Avraham Rubinstein, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish History, Bar-Ilan
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
University, Ramat Gan: ABRAHAM
JOSHUA HESCHEL OF APTA; ARYEH LEIB
SARAHS; CHABAD; DAVID OF TALNA;
HASIDISM; HAYYIM BEN SOLOMON TYRER
OF CZERNOWITZ; HOROWITZ, SAMUEL
SHMELKE OF NIKOLSBURG; ISRAEL BEN
ELIEZER BAAL SHEM TOV; JACOB ISAAC
HA-HOZEH MI-LUBLIN; JACOB JOSEPH OF
OSTROG; KAZIMIERZ; LEVI ISAAC BEN
MEIR OF BERDICHEV; LEVIN, MENAHEM
MENDEL; LVOV; MAHZIKE HADAS;
MENAHEM MENDEL OF PEREMYSHLANY;
MODZHITZ; RADZYMIN; TEITELBAUM;
TWERSKY; WARSAW
Daniel Rubinstein, B.A.; Journalist,
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: ARAB
POPULATION
Judah Rubinstein, M.A.; Research
Associate, Jewish Community
Federation of Cleveland: BAKER,
EDWARD MAX; BENESCH, ALFRED
ABRAHAM; SHAPIRO, EZRA Z.
William D. (David) Rubinstein”,
B.A., Ph.D., Professor of History,
University of Wales- Aberystwyth,
England: ABRAHAMS, GERALD;
ABRAHAMS, SIR LIONEL; ABSE,
DANNIE; ADELAIDE; ALDERMAN,
GEOFFREY; ALIENS ACT; ALVAREZ,
ALFRED; AMERY, LEOPOLD CHARLES
MAURICE STENNETT; APPLE, RAYMOND;
ASHKANASY, MAURICE; ASSIMILATION;
AUSTRALIA; BALOGH, THOMAS, BARON;
BARNETT, JOEL, BARON; BARON, JOSEPH
ALEXANDER; BART, LIONEL; BATTLE
OF CABLE STREET; BBAUME, PETER;
BELL, SIR FRANCIS HENRY DILLON;
BELOFE, MAX; BERMANT, CHAIM ICYK;
BLAUBAUM, ELIAS; BLOOM, CLAIRE; BOAS,
ABRAHAM TOBIAS; BOAS, FREDERICK
SAMUEL; BOGDANOR, VERNON;
BOTEACH, SHMUEL; BREVAL, LUCIENNE;
BRIGHTON; BRITTAN, LEON BARON;
BRODIE, SIR ISRAEL; BROOK, PETER
STEPHEN PAUL; CARO, SIR ANTHONY;
CASS, MOSES HENRY; CASSAB, JUDY;
CENTRAL BRITISH FUND; CESERANI,
DAVID; COHEN, BARRY; COHEN, HAROLD;
COHN, NORMAN; COHN-SHERBOK,
DAN; COTTON, JACK; COWEN, ZELMAN;
CURRIE, EDWINA; DANBY, MICHAEL;
DANGLOW, JACOB; DAVIS, HENRY
DAVID; DAVIS, SIR ERNEST HYAM; DELL,
EDMUND; DEUTSCH, ANDRE; DISRAELI,
BENJAMIN, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD;
D’ISRAELI, ISAAC; DUVEEN; EDELMAN,
MAURICE; EDEN, SIR ANTHONY, EARL
OF AVON; EINFELD, SYDNEY; ELIAS,
NORBERT; ELKAN, BENNO; ELKIN,
ADOLPHUS PETER; ELLMANN, RICHARD;
ELTON, SIR GEOFFREY RUDOLPH;
EPSTEIN, BRIAN; FELDMAN, MARTIN;
FINESTEIN, ISRAEL; FINK, THEODORE;
FINLEY, SIR MOSES; FISHMAN, WILLIAM;
FOX, EMANUEL PHILIPS; FRANKAU;
GARTNER, LLOYD P.; GAUNSE, JOACHIM;
GERSHON, KAREN; GIDEON, SAMSON;
GINGOLD, HERMIONE; GOLDHAR,
PINCHAS; GOLDSMID-STERN-SALOMONS,
SIR DAVID LIONEL; GOLOMBEK, HARRY;
GOMBRICH, SIR ERNST HANS; GOODMAN,
ARNOLD ABRAHAM, LORD; GOODMAN,
MARTIN DAVID; GRADE, LEW, BARON;
GRANT, BARON ALBERT; GREEN, PHILIP;
GRONER, DOVID YITZCHOK; GROSS,
JOHN JACOB; GUNSBERG, ISIDOR;
GUTNICK; HAHN, KURT; HAMBURGER,
MICHAEL; HAMBURGER, SIR SIDNEY;
HAMLYN, PAUL, BARON; HARRIS,
SIR PERCY ALFRED; HART, HERBERT
LIONEL ADOLPHUS; HATRY, CLARENCE
CHARLES; HIMMELWEIT, HILDEGARD;
HOBSBAWM, ERIC JOHN; HOWARD,
MICHAEL; INSTITUTE OF JEWISH
AFFAIRS; ISRAEL, JONATHAN; JACKSON,
BERNARD S.; JACOB, NAOMI ELLINGTON;
JACOBSON, NATHAN; JAMES, SIDNEY;
JANNER, BARNETT, LORD; “JEW BILL’
CONTROVERSY, ENGLAND; JEWISH
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND;
JOEL, SIR ASHER; JOLOWICZ, HERBERT
FELIX; JOURNALISM; KAGAN, JOSEPH,
BARON; KALMS, SIR STANLEY, BARON;
KATZ, DAVID S.; KATZ, DOVID; KAUFMAN,
SIR GERALD; KAYE, SIR EMMANUEL;
KISSIN, HARRY, BARON; KOCHAN, LIONEL;
KOPELOWITZ, LIONEL; KOSMIN, BARRY;
KOSSOFF, DAVID; KUSHNER, TONY;
LAKATOS, IMRE; LANDA, ABRAM; LASKI;
LAWYERS; LEAVIS, QUEENIE DOROTHY;
LEIBLER, ISI JOSEPH; LEITNER, GOTTLIEB
WILHEM; LEVENE, SIR PETER, BARON
LEVENE OF PORTSOKEN; LEVER, HAROLD,
BARON LEVER OF MANCHESTER; LEVI,
JOHN SIMON; LEVI, LEONE; LEVIN SMITH,
SIR ARCHIBALD; LEVIN, BERNARD; LEVY,
AMY; LEVY, BENN WOLFE; LEVY, MICHAEL
ABRAHAM, BARON LEVY OF MILL HILL;
LEWIS, SAMUEL; LIBERMAN, SERGE;
LINCOLN, TREBITSCH; LIPSON, EPHRAIM;
LITTMAN, JOSEPH AARON; LOCKSPEISER,
SIR BEN; LOWY, FRANK; MACCOBY,
HYAM; MAGNUS; MANCHESTER;
MANDELSON, PETER; MARRE, SIR ALAN;
MAXWELL, ROBERT; MAYER, SIR ROBERT;
MELBOURNE; MICHAELIS, SIR ARCHIE;
MIESES, JACQUES; MIKARDO, IAN;
MILIBAND, RALPH; MILLETT, SIR PETER,
BARON; MISHCON, VICTOR, BARON;
MOCATTA; MONTAGU; MOONMAN,
ERIC; MOSER, SIR CLAUDE, BARON;
MOSHINSKY, ELIJAH; NASSAUER, RUDOLF;
NEMON, OSCAR; NEWMAN, AUBREY;
NICHOLAS, EDWARD; NOVE, ALEC;
OPPE, ADOLPH PAUL; OPPENHEIM,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
SALLY, BARONESS OPPENHEIM-BARNES;
°SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM; OXFORD;
PACIFICO, DAVID; PARKER, JOHN; PERTH;
PHILLIPS, MARION; POLLARD, SIDNEY;
PORTER, SIR LESLIE; PRATT, RICHARD;
PRAWER, SIEGBERT; PRINGLE, MIA;
PROOPS, MARJORIE; PULVERMACHER,
OSCAR; PULZER, PETER G.J.; PYE, JAEL
HENRIETTA; RABIN, SAM; RACHMAN,
PETER; RAJAK, TESSA; RATHBONE,
ELEANOR; READING, FANNY; REISZ,
KAREL; REITLINGER, GERALD; RENE,
ROY; RICARDO, DAVID; RIE, DAME LUCIE;
RIFKIND, SIR MALCOLM; RODKER, JOHN;
ROMAIN, JONATHAN A.; RUTLAND,
SUZANNE; SAATCHI, CHARLES; SACHS,
ANDREW; SALOMONS, SIR JULIAN
EMANUEL; SAMUDA, JOSEPH D’AGUILAR;
SAMUEL, HOWARD; SAMUEL, RAPHAEL;
SAMUEL, SIR SAUL; SAMUEL, WILFRED
SAMPSON; SAMUELSON, SIR BERNHARD;
SASSOON, VIDAL; SAVILLE, VICTOR;
SCHAMA, SIMON; SCHAPIRO, LEONARD;
SHONFIELD, SIR ANDREW; SHORT,
RENEE; SHULMAN, MILTON; SIEFF,
ISRAEL MOSES, BARON; SILKIN, LEWIS,
FIRST BARON; SINGER, PETER; SLATER,
OSCAR; SMORGON; SONNTAG, JACOB;
SOSKICE, SIR FRANK, BARON STOW HILL;
SOUTHAMPTON; SPEYER, SIR EDGAR;
SPIELMAN; SRAFFA, PIERO; STERLING,
SIR JEFFREY; STERN; STERNBERG, SIR
SIGMUND; STRAUSS, GEORGE RUSSELL,
BARON; STUDENTS’ MOVEMENTS,
JEWISH; SUGAR, SIR ALAN; SUGERMAN,
SIR BERNARD; SYDNEY; SYMONDS, SAUL;
SYMONS, JULIAN; TASMANIA; TAYLOR, SIR
PETER MURRAY; THATCHER, MARGARET,
BARONESS; TONNA, CHARLOTTE
ELIZABETH; TUCK, RAPHAEL; WAGG;
WALSTON, SIR CHARLES; WARBURG,
FREDERICK; WARBURG, SIR SIEGMUND;
WATEN, JUDAH; WERTHEIMER, ASHER;
WILLIAMS, CHARLES; WILSON, HAROLD,;
WINSTON, ROBERT, BARON; WISTRICH,
ROBERT S.; WOLFENSOHN, JAMES D.;
WOLFF, GUSTAV; WOOLF, LEONARD;
WOOLF, SIR HARRY, BARON; WYNN,
SAMUEL; XIMENES, SIR MORRIS;
YARROW, SIR ALFRED, FIRST BARONET;
YOUNG, DAVID IVOR, BARON YOUNG
OF GRAFFHAM; YUDKIN, JOHN; ZEC,
PHILIP; ZELLICK, GRAHAM; ZUKERTORT,
JOHANNES
Walter Ruby*, M.A.; Journalist,
New York Jewish Week, New York
Daily News: NEW YORK CITY
David Rudavsky, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew Culture and Education,
Director of the Institute of Hebrew
Studies, New York University:
SACHAR, ABRAM LEON
145
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Marcia R. Rudin, M.A.; Author,
Lecturer, Expert on religious cults,
New York
Arik Rudnitzky*, B.A., M.B.A.;
Research Assistant, The Moshe
Dayan Center for Middle Eastern
and African Studies, Tel Aviv
University: ISRAEL, STATE OF: ARAB
POPULATION
Bernard G. Rudolph, Historian,
Syracuse, New York
Miriam Ruerup (Riirup)*,
M.A.; Historian, Zentrum fiir
Antisemitismusforschung,
Technische Universtat Berlin/Simon
Dubnow Institut, Leipzig, Germany:
KARTELL JUEDISCHER VERBINDUNGEN;
KARTELL-CONVENT DER VERBINDUNGEN
DEUTSCHER STUDENTEN JUEDISCHEN
GLAUBENS
Abraham Rutenberg, Engineer;
Former Director of the Israel
Electric Company, Haifa
Danya Ruttenberg *, B.A., M.A.;
Writer, Rabbinical Student at the
University of Judaism, Los Angeles:
BUTLER, JUDITH
S.J.E.R., see Shorter Jewish
Encyclopaedia in Russian, Jerusalem
Haim Saadoun’*, Ph.D.; The Dean,
The Open University of Israel, Tel
Aviv: ALAWIDS; ALGERIA; BERBERS; FEZ;
GABES; TUNIS, TUNISIA
Shalom Sabar*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Professor of Jewish Art
and Folklore, Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: AMULET; ART
HISTORIANS AND ART CRITICS; ART: NEW
DEVELOPMENTS; HERLINGEN, AARON
WOLFF OF GEWITSCH; ICONOGRAPHY;
NEW YEAR'S CARDS; SCROLL OF ESTHER;
SIMHAT TORAH
Rachel Sabath-Beit Halachmi*,
M.A.; Rabbi; Faculty Member of the
Shalom Hartman Institute, Director
of Lay Leadership Education,
Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, Jerusalem:
BOROWITZ, EUGENE B.
Lawrence Sabbath, Art Critic,
Montreal
Brad Sabin Hill*, Center for Jewish
History
146
Abram Leon Sachar, Ph.D.;
Chancellor, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts: GLATZER,
NAHUM NORBERT
Harry Sacher, M.A.; Attorney,
writer, and editor, London: sIEFE,
ISRAEL MOSES, BARON
Dov Sadan, Emeritus Professor of
Yiddish Literature and of Hebrew
Literature, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: SCHWADRON, ABRAHAM
Benjamin (Wells) Sadock*, M.A.;
Graduate Student, Columbia
University, New York: BERNSTEIN,
IGNATZ; TASHRAK
Monika Saelemaekers*, M.A.;
Assistant-Curator, Bibliotheca
Rosenthaliana, University of
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
BELINEANTE; HERTZVELD-HIJMANS,
ESTHELLA; JACOBS, ALETTA HENRIETTE;
NETHERLANDS, THE; SPATH, JOHANN
PETER
Angel Sdenz-Badillos*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Hebrew Language
and Literature, Universidad
Complutense, Madrid, Spain:
ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON OF TORRUTIEL;
ABULAFIA, TODROS BEN JUDAH HA-
LEVI; ACAN, MOSES DE TARREGA;
ALEXANDER THE GREAT; ALHADIB,
ISAAC BEN SOLOMON BEN ZADDIK;
AL-HARIZI, JUDAH BEN SOLOMON;
AVIGDOR, ABRAHAM; BONAFED,
SOLOMON BEN REUBEN; DE PIERA,
MESHULLAM BEN SOLOMON; DUNASH
BEN LABRAT; ELEAZAR BEN JACOB HA-
BAVLI; ELIJAH BEN SHEMAIAH; EZOBI,
JEHOSEPH BEN HANAN BEN NATHAN;
HISDAI IBN HISDAI, ABU AL-FADL; IBN
ALTABBAN, LEVI BEN JACOB; IBN BARZEL,
JOSEPH; IBN EZRA, ISAAC; IBN GABIROL,
SOLOMON BEN JUDAH; IBN GHAYYAT;
IBN KAPRON, ISAAC; IBN MAR SAUL,
ISAAC BEN LEVI; IBN PAQUDA, DAVID
BEN ELEAZAR; IBN SAHL, JOSEPH BEN
JACOB; IBN SASSON, SAMUEL BEN JOSEPH;
IBN SHUWAYK, ISAAC BEN ISRAEL; IBN
ZABARA, JOSEPH BEN MEIR; IBN ZAKBEL,
SOLOMON; IBN ZAKBEL, SOLOMON;
IMMANUEL OF ROME; INCUNABULA;
INSTITUTE FOR THE RESEARCH OF
MEDIEVAL HEBREW POETRY; ISAAC
BEN ABRAHAM HA-GORNI; ISAAC BEN
JUDAH HA-SENIRI; JACOB BEN JUDAH;
JOSEPH BEN TANHUM YERUSHALMI;
JOSHUA BEN ELIJAH HA-LEVI; JUDAH BEN
ISAAC IBN SHABBETAI; JUDAH HA-LEVI;
KALONYMUS BEN KALONYMUS; LETTERS
AND LETTER WRITERS; MAGIC; MAQAMA;
MATTATHIAS; PARABLE; PHINEHAS BEN
JACOB HA-KOHEN; PIYYUT; POETRY;
SAHULA, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON; SANTOB
DE CARRION; TRANSLATION AND
TRANSLATORS; YEHUDI BEN SHESHET;
YOM TOV OF JOIGNY; YOSE BEN YOSE
Shmuel Safrai, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Jewish
History, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ALLON, GEDALYA;
AMORA; AMORAIM; BET HILLEL AND
BET SHAMMAI; DOSA BEN HARKINAS;
ELEAZAR BEN ARAKH; ELEAZAR BEN
AZARIAH; ELEAZAR BEN PEDAT; ELEAZAR
BEN SHAMMUA; ELEAZAR BEN SIMEON;
ELEAZAR HA-KAPPAR; ELEAZAR OF
MODT'IN; HUNA; HUNA BEN AVIN HA-
KOHEN; ISAAC; ISAAC BEN AVDIMI; ISAAC
BEN ELEAZAR; ISHMAEL BEN ELISHA;
ISHMAEL BEN YOSE BEN HALAFTA;
ISRAEL, LAND OF: HISTORY; JACOB
BEN AHA; JACOB BEN IDI; JACOB BEN
KORSHAI; JEREMIAH BEN ABBA; JOHANAN
BEN NURI; JOHANAN BEN TORTA;
JOHANAN HA-SANDELAR;
JONAH; PILGRIMAGE; SABBATICAL
YEAR AND JUBILEE; TEMPLE; YOSE BEN
HALAFTA
Benjamin Sagalowitz, Dr. Jur;
Journalist, Zurich: swITZERLAND
Avi Sagi*, Professor, Head Program
for Hermeneutics; Professor of
Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: AKEDAH; GOLDMAN,
ELIEZER; HARTMAN, DAVID
David M. Sagiv*, Ph.D.; Researcher,
Lexicographer (Hebrew-Arabic/
Arabic Hebrew), the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BASRA
Rochelle G. Saidel, Ph.D.; Political
Scientist, Scientific Researcher,
Center for the Study of Women and
Gender, University of Sao Paulo,
Brazil
David (Yoram) Saks*, M.A.;
Acting National Director South
African Jewish Board of Deputies,
Johannesburg: AFRICAN JEWISH
CONGRESS.; BULAWAYO; CAPE TOWN;
CHASKALSON, ARTHUR; EAST LONDON;
EDUCATION, JEWISH; GOLDSTONE,
RICHARD JOSEPH; HARRIS, CYRIL
KITCHENER; JOHANNESBURG;
JOURNALISM; KASRILS, RONNIE;
KENTRIDGE, SIR SYDNEY; KIMBERLEY;
LEON, ANTHONY JAMES; MAURITIUS;
PRESS; SCHWARZ, HARRY HEINZ; SHILL,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
LOUIS; SLOVO, JOE; SOUTH AFRICA;
SUZMAN, HELEN; ZAMBIA; ZIMBABWE
Ida Kay Saks, M.A.; Gary, Indiana:
GARY
Zvi Saliternik, Ph.D.; Ministry of
Health, Jerusalem: KLIGLER, ISRAEL
JACOB
I.M. Salkind, Ph.D.; Scholar,
London: AVIGDOR, ABRAHAM
Herman Prins Salomon, Ph.D.;
Professor of French Literature,
the State University of New York,
Albany: RACINE, JEAN
Avrom Saltman, Ph.D., F.R.Hist.
Soc.; Professor of History, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: BLOCH, MARC
Moshe Shraga Samet, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in Jewish History and in
Sociology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: AZULAI, HAYYIM JOSEPH
DAVID; EMDEN, JACOB; ISHMAEL BEN
ABRAHAM ISAAC HA-KOHEN; LANDAU,
EZEKIEL BEN JUDAH; NEO-ORTHODOXY;
SOFER; SOFER, MOSES
Meyer Samra, B.A., LL.B., Ph.D.;
Lawyer, Dept. of Family and
Community Services (NSW State
Government), Sydney, Australia:
AUSTRALIA
Edwin Samuel, Second Viscount
Samuel, C.M.G., B.A.; Emeritus
Senior Lecturer in British
Institutions, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Principal of the Israel
Institute of Public Administration,
Jerusalem: AGRANAT, SHIMON;
ALLENBY, EDMUND HENRY HYNMAN,
VISCOUNT; EBAN, ABBA SOLOMON;
STORRS, SIR RONALD
Rinna Samuel, B.A.; Journalist,
Rehovot, Israel: WEISGAL, MEYER WOLF
Myron Samuelson, Ph.B., LL.B.;
Burlington, Vermont
Sheryl Sandberg*, A.B., M.B.A.;
Vice President, Global Online Sales
and Operation, Google, Mountain
View, California: SUMMERS, LAWRENCE
H.
Ira E. Sanders, M.A., Rabbi; Little
Rock, Arkansas
Samuel Sandmel, Ph.D., D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Professor of Bible and
Hellenistic Literature, the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion, Cincinnati: APOSTLE; FEIGIN,
SAMUEL ISAAC
Silviu Sanie*, Ph.D.; Senior
Researcher, Head of the Ancient
History, Archaeology Institute, Iasi,
Romania: SIRET; TIRGU-FRUMOS
David Saperstein*, MHL, JD,
Rabbi; Director and Counsel,
Religious Action Center for Reform
Judaism; Union for Reform Judaism,
Georgetown University Law Center,
Washington, DC: VoRSPAN, AL
Susan Sapiro*, M.A.; Research
Associate, DRG, New York: PRAYER:
WOMEN AND PRAYER
David Saraph, Tel Aviv: RATOSH,
YONATHAN
Jonathan D. Sarna*, Ph.D.; Joseph
H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of
American Jewish History, Brandeis
University: BOSTON; HISTORIOGRAPHY;
MARCUS, JACOB RADER
Nahum M. Sarna, Ph.D.; Professor
of Biblical Studies, Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts:
AARON; AARONIDES; ABIHU; ABIMELECH;
ABRAHAM; ACROSTICS; AKEDAH;
AMRAPHEL; ASENATH; BIBLE; BOAZ;
CAIN; DATHAN AND ABIRAM; DELILAH;
ENOCH; GENESIS, BOOK OF; GERSHOM;
GIDEON; HALLELUJAH; HUR; ICHABOD;
ISAAC; ITHAMAR; JACOB; JAEL; JAPHETH;
JEPHTHAH; JETHRO; JOCHEBED; JOSEPH;
JOTHAM; NADAB; NIMROD; ORPAH;
OTHNIEL; PATRIARCHS, THE; PSALMS,
BOOK OF; RACHEL; REBEKAH; SHAMGAR;
SHEM; ZIPPORAH
Gustav Saron, LL.B.; General
Secretary of the South African
Board of Deputies, Johannesburg:
BENDER, ALFRED PHILIP; DURBAN; FRAM,
DAVID; JOHANNESBURG; SOUTH AFRICA
Jennifer Sartori*, Ph.D.; Academic
Specialist, Northeastern University,
Boston: COHEN, NAOMI WIENER; DAVIS,
NATALIE ZEMON
Louis F. Sas, Ph.D.; Professor of
Romance Languages, City College
of the City University of New York:
GOTTSCHALL, MORTON
Ilana Sasson*, M.Sc., Ph.D.; Jewish
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Theological Seminary, New York:
BIBLE
Menahem Savidor, Lieutenant
Colonel (Ret.), Israel Defense
Forces; Former General Manager,
Israel Railways; Director of the
Citrus Products Export Board;
National Chairman, Maccabi Sports
Organization, Tel Aviv: MACCABI
WORLD UNION; MACCABIAH
Rohan Saxena, Writer, Researcher;
Jerusalem: ANNENBERG, WALTER H.;
ASHKENAZY, VLADIMIR DAVIDOVICH;
ASIMOV, ISAAC; BARR, ROSEANNE;
BROTHERS, JOYCE; CHAGALL, MARC;
CHOMSKY, NOAM AVRAM; DERSHOWITZ,
ALAN M.; DOUGLAS, KIRK; DOUGLAS,
MICHAEL; DREYFUSS, RICHARD;
EITAN, RAPHAEL; FAST, HOWARD
MELVIN; FRIEDMAN, MILTON; GEFFEN,
DAVID; GINSBERG, ALLEN; GOODMAN,
PERCIVAL; GREENSPAN, ALAN; GROSS,
CHAIM; GUR, MORDECAI; HABER,
WILLIAM; HOFSTADTER, ROBERT;
IONESCO, EUGENE; JAKOBOVITS, LORD
IMMANUEL; JHABVALA, RUTH PRAWER;
JONG, ERICA; KATZENBERG, JEFFREY;
KING, LARRY; KOCH, EDWARD IRVING;
KOLLEK, THEODORE; KRAMER, SAMUEL
NOAH; LEIBOWITZ, YESHAYAHU; LURIA,
SALVADOR EDWARD; MANDELBROT,
BENOIT; PATAI, RAPHAEL; PATTERSON,
DAVID; PICON, MOLLY; PINTER, HAROLD;
PIPES, RICHARD EDGAR; PREMINGER,
OTTO LUDWIG; RABB, MAXWELL
MILTON; RAPHAEL, FREDERIC; SEINFELD,
JERRY; SONTAG, SUSAN; STERN, ISAAC;
STREISAND, BARBRA; SZASZ, THOMAS
STEPHEN; WALTERS, BARBARA;
WESTHEIMER, RUTH
John H. Scammon, Th.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Hebrew and Old
Testament, Andover Newton
Theological School, Newton Centre,
Massachusetts: SAMUEL
Ann Schwartz Schaechner’, B.A.;
Retired Nonprofit Executive, El
Paso, Texas: EL PASO
Mordkhe Schaechter, Ph.D.; Jewish
Teachers’ Seminary, New York:
HARKAVY, ALEXANDER; JOFFE, JUDAH
ACHILLES; LANDAU, ALFRED; LEIBL,
DANIEL; LIFSHITS, SHIYE-MORDKHE;
MARK, YUDEL; SHTIF, NOKHEM;
WEINREICH, MAX; WEINREICH, URIEL;
ZARETZKI, ISAAC
Sara Schafler, M.A.; Educator,
Lecturer, and Researcher in
147
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Genealogy and Jewish Family
History, Chicago: GENEALOGY
Abraham Schalit, Dr. Phil.;
Emeritus Professor History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ABSALOM; AGRIPPA II; ALABARCH;
ALCIMUS; ALEXANDER; ALEXANDER
BALAS; ALEXANDER LYSIMACHUS;
ALEXANDER SON OF ARISTOBULUS II;
ALEXANDER THE GREAT; ALEXANDRA;
ALEXANDRA; ANDRONICUS SON OF
MESHULLAM; ANTIGONUS; ANTIGONUS
Il; ANTIPAS, HEROD; ANTIPATER;
ANTIPATER II or ANTIPAS; APION;
APOLLONIUS MOLON; ARCHELAUS;
ARCHON; ARETAS; ARISTOBULUS I;
ARISTOBULUS II; ARISTOBULUS III;
ARNONA; ARTAPANUS; ASIA MINOR;
BAGOHI; BERENICE; BITHYNIA; BOULE;
CTESIPHON; DELOS; DEMETRIUS I SOTER;
DEMETRIUS IJ; DEMETRIUS III EUKARIOS
THEOS PHILOPATER SOTER; DIODOTUS-
TRYPHON; DIONYSUS, CULT OF; ELEAZAR
BEN SIMEON; ELEPHANTINE; EPHESUS;
HANAMEL; HELENA; HELIODORUS;
HERODIAS; HEZEKIAH; IZATES I];
JEREMIAH, EPISTLE OF; JONATHAN BEN
ANAN; JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS; JOSHUA BEN
DAMNAI; JUDAH MACCABEE; JUDAH
THE GALILEAN; JULIAN THE APOSTATE;
JUSTUS OF TIBERIAS; SATRAP; VESPASIAN,
TITUS FLAVIUS
Lazaro Schallman, Director of the
Library of the Jewish Community
of Buenos Aires: ROSARIO; SAJAROFE,
MIGUEL; YARCHO, NOE
Isaac Schattner, Dr.Phil.; Emeritus
Associate Professor of Geography,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ISRAEL, LAND OF: GEOGRAPHICAL
SURVEY; MAPS OF EREZ ISRAEL
Josef Schawinski, Author, Tel Aviv:
HELLER, BUNIM; MANN, MENDEL
Cathy Schechter’, B.S.;
Writer, Consultant, Orchard
Communication, Inc., Austin Texas:
AUSTIN
Joseph B. Schechtman, Dr. Phil.;
Historian and Former Member
of the Jewish Agency Executive,
New York: JABOTINSKY, VLADIMIR;
PASMANIK, DANIEL; RAZSVET;
REVISIONISTS, ZIONIST
Jeff Scheckner*, Director of Jewish
Community Relations Council,
Jewish Federation of Greater
Middlesex County, South River,
148
New Jersey: LEAGUE FOR ISRAEL, THE
AMERICAN JEWISH; MIDDLESEX COUNTY,
NEW JERSEY
Wolfgang Scheffler, Dr.Phil.;
Senior Research Fellow in Political
Science, the University of Sussex
Centre for Research in Collective
Psychopathology, London:
JUDENREIN
Alexander Scheiber, Dr. Phil.,
Rabbi; Director and Professor of
the Jewish Theological Seminary
of Hungary, Budapest: ABONy;
ACSADY, IGNAC; AKIVA BEN MENAHEM
HA-KOHEN OF OFEN; ALBERTI-IRSA;
BALLAGI, MOR; BANOCZI; BERNSTEIN,
BELA; BLAU, LUDWIG LAJOS; BRILL,
AZRIEL; BUECHLER, ALEXANDER;
DEBRECEN; EISLER, MATYAS; GRUNVALD,
PHILIP; GYOR; HEVESI, SIMON;
HIRSCHLER, PAL; HODMEZOVASARHELY;
HUNGARIAN LITERATURE; IZRAELITA
MAGYAR IRODALMI TARSULAT;
KECSKEMET; KECSKEMETI, ARMIN;
KECSKEMETI, LIPOT; KOHN, SAMUEL;
LANDESRABBINERSCHULE; LOEW,
IMMANUEL; LOEW, LEOPOLD; MAKO;
MARCZALI, HENRIK; OBADIAH,
THE NORMAN PROSELYTE; POLLAK,
MIKSA; RICHTMANN, MOZES; SPITZER,
SOLOMON; SZOLNOK; SZOMBATHELY;
VENETIANER, LAJOS
Raymond P. Scheindlin, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Assistant Professor of
Jewish Studies, McGill University,
Montreal: MARCUS, JOSEPH;
OBERMANN, JULIAN JOEL
Samuel Scheps, Ph.D.; Economist,
Geneva: KLATZKIN, JACOB
Ben-Zion (Benno) Schereschewsky,
DrJur.; Judge of the District Court,
Jerusalem: AGUNAH; APOTROPOS;
BETROTHAL; BIGAMY AND POLYGAMY;
CHILD MARRIAGE; CIVIL MARRIAGE;
CONCUBINE; DIVORCE; DOWRY; EMBRYO;
FIRSTBORN; HUSBAND AND WIEE;
KETUBBAH; MAINTENANCE; MAMZER;
MARRIAGE; MARRIAGE, PROHIBITED;
MIXED MARRIAGE, INTERMARRIAGE;
PARENT AND CHILD; RAPE; WIDOW;
YUHASIN
Edward W. Schey*: PASSAIC-CLIFTON
Laura Burd Schiavo*, Ph.D.;
Director, Museum Programs,
Jewish Historical Society of Greater
Washington, D.C.: WASHINGTON,
D.C.
Marvin Schick*: BERNSTEIN, ZALMAN
CHAIM
Alvin Irwin Schiff, Ph.D.; Executive
Vice President, New York Board of
Jewish Education
Ellen Schiff, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus, Massachusetts College
of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts:
FRANKEN, ROSE DOROTHY LEWIN
Fritz Schiff, Dr. Phil.; Curator of
the Museum of Modern Art, Haifa:
BEN-ZVI, ZEEV
Mayer Schiller*, Rabbi; Maggid
Shiur, Mashgiach Ruhani, Yeshiva
University High School, New York:
LAKEWOOD
Henri Schilli, Chief Rabbi; Lecturer
in Midrash and Director of the
Séminaire Israélite de France, Paris:
SEMINAIRE ISRAELITE DE FRANCE
Ignacy Yizhak Schiper, Dr. Phil.;
Lecturer in Jewish Economic
History, the Institute of Jewish
Studies, Warsaw: AMELANDER,
MENAHEM MANN BEN SOLOMON HaA-
LEVI; BRESCH, JUDAH LOEB BEN MOSES
NAPHTALI; HEDEGARD, OSKAR DAVID
LEONARD
Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann,
Dr.Phil.; Emeritus Professor of
Hebrew Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABRAHAM
BEN HILLEL OF FOSTAT; ABRAHAM
BEN ISAAC; ABRAHAM OF SARTEANO;
ABULAFIA, TODROS BEN JUDAH HA-LEVI;
AHIMAAZ BEN PALTIEL; ALBARADANI,
JOSEPH; BEDERSI, ABRAHAM BEN
ISAAC; CARMI, ISAIAH HAI BEN
JOSEPH; CASPI, SAUL; DAR’I, MOSES BEN
ABRAHAM; DAVID BEN MESHULLAM
OF SPEYER; DE PIERA, MESHULLAM
BEN SOLOMON; ELIJAH BEN ELIEZER
PHILOSOPH HA-YERUSHALMI; ELIJAH
BEN SHEMAIAH; ELIJAH CHELEBI
HA-KOHEN OF ANATOLIA; ENSHEIM,
MOSES; FALKOWITSCH, JOEL BAERISCH;
FARISSOL, JACOB BEN HAYYIM; FIOGHI,
FABIANO; GALIPAPA, MAIMON; GALLEGO,
JOSEPH SHALOM; GAVISON; GERONDI,
ISAAC BEN JUDAH; HAMON, AARON BEN
ISAAC; HARIZI, ABU ISAAC ABRAHAM;
IBN ABITUR, JOSEPH BEN ISAAC; IBN
AL-TAQANA, MOSES; IBN EZRA, ISAAC;
IBN HASAN, JEKUTHIEL BEN ISAAC;
IBN KAPRON, ISAAC; IBN MAR SAUL,
ISAAC BEN LEVI; IBN PAQUDA, DAVID
BEN ELEAZAR; IBN SAHL, JOSEPH BEN
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
JACOB; IBN SHUWAYK, ISAAC BEN ISRAEL;
IBN ZAKBEL, SOLOMON; IBN ZAKBEL,
SOLOMON; IBN ZUR, JACOB BEN REUBEN;
INSTITUTE FOR THE RESEARCH OF
MEDIEVAL HEBREW POETRY; ISAAC BEN
ABRAHAM HA-GORNI; ISAAC BEN HAYYIM
BEN ABRAHAM; ISAAC BEN JUDAH;
ISRAEL BEN JOEL; JACOB BEN JUDAH;
JACOB BEN NAPHTALIT; JOAB THE GREEK;
JOHANAN BEN JOSHUA HA-KOHEN;
JOSEPH BAR NISSAN; JOSEPH BEN JACOB;
JOSEPH BEN SHESHET IBN LATIMI; JOSEPH
BEN SOLOMON OF CARCASSONNE;
JOSEPH BEN TANHUM YERUSHALMI;
JOSHUA; JOSHUA BEN ELIJAH HA-LEVI,
JOSIPHIAH THE PROSELYTE; JUDAH
BEN ISAAC IBN SHABBETAIT; JUDAH BEN
MENAHEM OF ROME; KALAI, JOSEPH B.
JACOB; LEVI, JOSHUA JOSEPH BEN DAVID;
LUNEL, JACOB DE; MARINI, SHABBETHAI
HAYYIM; YANNAI; YOSE BEN YOSE
Abraham Schischa, Letchworth,
England: BONYHAD; DUSCHINSKY,
JOSEPH ZEVI BEN ISRAEL; EHRENFELD,
SAMUEL BEN DAVID ZEVI; ERIED, AARON;
FRIEDLAENDER, SOLOMON JUDAH;
KAUDER, SAMUEL JUDAH BEN DAVID
Benjamin Schlesinger, Ph.D.;
Professor of Social Work, the
University of Toronto: VIRGIN
ISLANDS
Simon S. Schlesinger, Dr.Phil.;
Rabbi; Scholar and Educator,
Jerusalem: DANZIG, ABRAHAM BEN
JEHIEL MICHAL; DEREKH EREZ
Linda M. Schloff*, Ph.D.; Director
Jewish Historical Society of the
Upper Midwest, Minneapolis:
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL; MINNESOTA;
NORTH DAKOTA; SOUTH DAKOTA
Joachim Schlér*, Dr.Phil.Habil.;
Professor of History, University of
Southampton, England: GRONEMANN,
SAMUEL
Imre Schmelczer, M.A., Rabbi; St.
Gallen, Switzerland: WELLESZ, JULIUS
Usiel Oscar Schmelz, Ph.D.;
Research Fellow in Contemporary
Jewry, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: DEMOGRAPHY; MIGRATIONS;
STATISTICS; VITAL STATISTICS
Menahem Schmelzer, D.H.L.;
Librarian and Assistant Professor
of Medieval Hebrew Literature, the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, New York: AMZALAK, MOSES
BENSABAT; BIBLIOPHILES; EDELMANN,
RAPHAEL; FREIMANN, ARON; NEMOY,
LEON; STEINSCHNEIDER, MORITZ;
TRAVELERS AND EXPLORERS; VEINGER,
MORDECAI
Ephraim Schmidt, Antwerp:
ANTWERP
Morris M. Schnitzer, B.S., LL.B.;
Lecturer in Law, Rutgers University,
New Jersey: FORMAN, PHILLIP; NADAB
Randal F. Schnoor*, Ph.D.; Adjunct
Professor, York University, Toronto,
Canada: JOSEPH, NORMA BAUMEL;
LANDSBERG, MICHELE; MIRVISH
Barbara Schober’, M.A.; Ph.D.;
University of British Columbia:
BRITISH COLUMBIA; FRANKLIN, SELIM;
NATHAN, HENRY; NEMETZ, NATHAN
THEODORE; RANKIN, HARRY; SHULTZ,
SAMUEL; VANCOUVER; WOSK
Christian Schoelzel*, Dr.Phil.;
Managing Director of Culture and
More, an Agency for Services in
Historical Sciences, Munich and
Berlin, Germany: BALLIN, ALBERT;
BONN, MORITZ JULIUS; FUERSTENBERG,
CARL; MELCHIOR, CARL; RATHENAU,
EMIL MORITZ; RATHENAU, WALTHER;
RATHENAU, WALTHER; WARBURG, MAX
M.
Myron E. Schoen, Union of
American Hebrew Congregations,
New York: KLEIN, EDWARD E.
Stuart Schoenfeld*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Sociology, Glendon
College, York University, Canada:
TORONTO
William N. Schoenfeld, Ph.D.;
Professor of Psychology, Queens
College of the City University of
New York and Cornell University
Medical School, New York: KANTOR,
JACOB ROBERT; WEISS, ALBERT PAUL
Kenneth R. Scholberg, Ph.D.;
Professor of Romance Languages,
Michigan State University, East
Lansing: ACAN, MOSES DE TARREGA;
ALBORAYCOS; ALEMAN, MATEO; ALVAREZ
GATO, JUAN; AMADOR DE LOS RIOS,
JOSE; ARIAS, JOSEPH SEMAH; AUB, MAX;
BAENA, JUAN ALFONSO DE; BARRIOS,
DANIEL LEVI DE; BELMONTE; BERNAL;
BRUSSELS; BUENO; CACERES, FRANCISCO
DE; CASTRO QUESADA, AMERICO;
CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
CHIRINO; CORREA, ISABEL DE; COTA
DE MAGUAQUE, RODRIGO DE; CURIEL;
DUJOVNE, LEON; ENRIQUEZ BASURTO,
DIEGO; ENRIQUEZ GOMEZ, ANTONIO;
ENRIQUEZ, ISABEL; FERNANDES
VILLAREAL, MANOEL; GODINEZ, FELIPE;
GOMEZ DE SOSSA, ISAAC; HUARTE DE SAN
JUAN, JUAN; ISAACS, JORGE; JEWESS OF
TOLEDO; LARA, ISAAC COHEN DE; LEON,
LUIS DE; MONTORO, ANTON DE; OLIVER
Y FULLANA, NICOLAS DE; PENSO DE LA
VEGA, JOSEPH; PETRUS ALFONSI; PINTO
DELGADO, JOAO; RIBEIRO, BERNADIM;
ROJAS, FERNANDO DE; SANTOB DE
CARRION; SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE
LITERATURE
Gershom Scholem, Dr. Phil.;
Emeritus Professor of Jewish
Mysticism, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: ABRAHAM BEN
ALEXANDER OF COLOGNE; ABRAHAM
BEN ELIEZER HA-LEVI; ABRAHAM BEN
ISAAC OF GRANADA; ABRAHAM BEN
SIMEON OF WORMS; ACADEMY ON HIGH;
ADAM BAAL SHEM; ADAM KADMON;
ANTHROPOMORPHISM; ANTINOMIANISM;
AYLLON, SOLOMON BEN JACOB; AZILUT;
AZRIEL OF GERONA; BACHARACH,
NAPHTALI BEN JACOB ELHANAN;
BARUCH; BENJAMIN BEN ELIEZER HA-
KOHEN VITALE OF REGGIO; BENJAMIN,
WALTER; BLOCH, MATTATHIAS BEN
BENJAMIN ZE°EV ASHKENAZI; BONAFOUX,
DANIEL BEN ISRAEL; BOTAREL, MOSES
BEN ISAAC; BUZAGLO, SHALOM BEN
MOSES; CARDOZO, ABRAHAM MIGUEL;
CHIROMANCY; CHOTSH, ZEVI HIRSH
BEN JERAHMEEL; COMMANDMENTS,
REASONS FOR; DAVID; DAVID BEN
ABRAHAM HA-LAVAN; DAVID BEN JUDAH
HE-HASID; DEMONS, DEMONOLOGY;
DIBBUK; DOENMEH; EIN-SOF; ELIASHOV,
SOLOMON BEN HAYYIM; ELIEZER
FISCHEL BEN ISAAC OF STRZYZOW;
ESCHATOLOGY; EYBESCHUETZ,
JONATHAN; FRANK, JACOB, AND THE
FRANKISTS; GABBAI, MEIR BEN EZEKIEL
IBN; GEMATRIA; GIKATILLA, JOSEPH BEN
ABRAHAM; GILGUL; GOD; GOLDBERG,
OSCAR; GOLEM; GOTTLIEB, EPHRAIM;
HAYON, NEHEMIAH HIYYA BEN MOSES;
HAYYAT, JUDAH BEN JACOB; HAYYIM
BEN ABRAHAM HA-KOHEN; HIRSCHFELD,
EPHRAIM JOSEPH; ISAAC BEN JACOB
HA-KOHEN; JACOB BEN JACOB HA-
KOHEN; JELLINEK, ADOLF; JOEL, DAVID
HEYMANN; JONAH, MOSES; JOSEPH IBN
SHRAGA; JOSEPH IBN TABUL; JUDAH
HASID, HA-LEVI; KABBALAH; KNORR VON
ROSENROTH, CHRISTIAN; LABI, SIMEON;
LILITH; LURIA, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON;
MAGEN DAVID; MALAKH, HAYYIM BEN
SOLOMON; MEDITATION; METATRON;
149
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MOLITOR, FRANZ JOSEPH; MOSES BEN
SOLOMON BEN SIMEON OF BURGOS;
OSTROPOLER, SAMSON BEN PESAH;
PINHEIRO, MOSES; POPPERS, MEIR BEN
JUDAH LOEB HA-KOHEN; PRIMO, SAMUEL;
PROSSNITZ, JUDAH LEIB BEN JACOB
HOLLESCHAU; PROVIDENCE; QUERIDO,
JACOB; RAPHAEL; RAZIEL; REDEMPTION;
REUCHLIN, JOHANNES; ROVIGO,
ABRAHAM BEN MICHAEL; SAHULA,
MEIR BEN SOLOMON ABI; SAMAEL;
SANDALFON; SARUG, ISRAEL; SEFIROT;
SHABBETAI ZEVI; SHPUR KOMAH; SOUL,
IMMORTALITY OF; SPIRA, NATHAN NATA
BEN SOLOMON; VALLE, MOSES DAVID
BEN SAMUEL; VIDAS, ELYAH BEN MOSES
DE; VITAL, HAYYIM BEN JOSEPH; VITAL,
SAMUEL BEN HAYYIM; WORLDS, THE
FOUR; WORMSER, SECKEL; YAKHINI,
ABRAHAM BEN ELIJAH; YEZIRAH, SEFER;
YOM KIPPUR KATAN; ZACUTO, MOSES
BEN MORDECAI; ZOHAR; ZOREF, JOSHUA
HESHEL BEN JOSEPH
Julie Schonfeld*, B.A., Rabbi;
Director of Rabbinic Development,
The Rabbinical Assembly, New York:
EILBERG, AMY
Jeffrey Alan Schooley*, M.A.;
Research Fellow, Kent State
University, Ohio
Julia Schopflin, Researcher,
Institute of Jewish Affairs, London
Ismar Schorsch, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Assistant in Jewish History, the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, New York: GUEDEMANN,
MORITZ
Janos A. Schossberger, M.D.;
Psychiatric Director of Kfar Shaul
Work Village, Jerusalem: FROMM-
REICHMANN, FRIEDA
Keith N. Schoville, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Hebrew and Semitic
Studies, the University of Wisconsin,
Madison: SHULAMMITE, THE; SONG OF
SONGS
Heinz Schreckenberg, Dr. Phil.;
Department of Classical Antiquity,
University of Muenster, Westfalen:
SCHURER, EMIL
Lynne (Meredith) Schreiber*,
M.FA., B.A.; Writer, Author,
Freelance, Southfield, Michigan:
SEIGEL, JOSHUA; SILBER, SAUL;
TELUSHKIN, NISSAN; WINE, SHERWIN;
ZARCHI, ASHER
150
Theodore Schrire, M.A., M.B.,
ER.C.S., ER.S.S.Af; Senior Lecturer
in Surgery, the University of Cape
Town: AMULETS, SAMARITAN
Michael J. Schudrich*, M.A., Rabbi;
Chief Rabbi, Jewish Community
of Poland, Warsaw, Poland:
ANTISEMITISM; BESSER, CHASKEL O.
Alan Richard Schulman, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Ancient
History, Queens er of the City
University of New York: AKHENATON;
AMENOPHIS III; ANTONINUS PIUS; CUSH;
EGYPT; HELIOPOLIS; HOPHRA; HYKSOS;
MEMPHIS; MERNEPTAH; MIZRAYIM;
NECO; NILE; PATHROS; PHARAOH;
PITHOM; POTIPHAR; POTI-PHERA;
RAMSES; SETI I; THEBES; ZOAN
Elias Schulman, Ph.D.; the
Jewish Teachers’ Seminary, New
York: AXELROD, SELIK; AXENFELD,
ISRAEL; BOVSHOVER, JOSEPH; DIK,
ISAAC MEIR; ENTIN, JOEL; ERIK, MAX;
ETTINGER, SOLOMON; FININBERG,
EZRA; GINZBURG, ISER; GLICK, HIRSH;
GORIN, BERNARD; HAIMOWITZ, MORRIS
JONAH; HORONTCHIK, SIMON; HURWITZ,
CHAIM; IGNATOEF, DAVID; JANOVSKY,
SAUL JOSEPH; KACZERGINSKY, SZMERKE;
KALMANOVITCH, ZELIG; KATZENELSON,
ITZHAK; KHARIK, IZI; KOBRIN, LEON;
KUSHNIROV, AARON; KVITKO, LEIB; LIBIN,
7.; LIESSIN, ABRAHAM; LINETZKY, ISAAC
JOEL; MARMOR, KALMAN; NUSINOV,
ISAAC; OLGIN, MOSHE J.; SELIKOVITCH,
GEORGE; SHUB, DAVID; WARSHAWSKI,
MARK; WEITER, A.; ZINBERG, ISRAEL
Iehuda Schuster, Kibbutz Mefalsim:
NAHAL
Nachum Schutz-Adler*, M.A.;
Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: MONTEVIDEO; URUGUAY
Paul Schveiger*, Ph.D.; Linguist,
Retired, Raanana, Israel: ALBA IULIA;
ARAD; BAIA-MARE; BANAT; BEZIDUL
NOU; BISTRITA; BRAHAM, RANDOLPH
LOUIS; BRASOV; BUKOVINA; CARMILLY-
WEINBERGER, MOSHE; CILIBI MOISE;
CLUJ; DEJ; FAGARAS; GRAUR, ALEXANDRU;
LUGOJ; MARGHITA; NASAUD; ORADEA;
PAUKER, ANA; REGHIN; SALONTA;
SATU-MARE; SEINI; SIBIU; SIGHET;
TARGU-MURES; TRANSYLVANIA; WALD,
HENRI
George Schwab, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Modern History, City
College of the City University of
New York: BEERSHEBA; BERNAYS;
HAUSER, HENRI; MARKUS, LUDWIG;
PERLBACH, MAX; PRAWER, JOSHUA
Abraham Schwadron (Sharon),
Dr. Phil.; Writer and Collector,
Jerusalem: AUTOGRAPHS
Ernest Schwarcz, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy, Queens College of
the City University of New York:
BERKSON, ISAAC BAER; BONDY, CURT;
BORGHI, LAMBERTO; BROUDY, HARRY
SAMUEL; HARTOG, SIR PHILIP JOSEPH;
KLAPPER, PAUL; NAUMBURG, MARGARET;
RIVLIN, HARRY N.; RUBINSTEIN, SERGEY
LEONIDOVICH; SCHEFFLER, ISRAEL
Moshe Schwarcz, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Philosophy, Bar-
Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
FORMSTECHER, SOLOMON; KROCHMAL,
NACHMAN; LAZARUS, MORITZ
Barry Dov Schwartz, M.H.L.,
Rabbi; Perth Amboy, New Jersey:
MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
Carmi Schwartz, M.A., M.S.W;;
Associated Jewish Charities and
Welfare Fund, Baltimore, Maryland
Casey (Katherine) Schwartz*, B.A.;
Student, University of California,
Los Angeles: CHOPRA, JOYCE;
DEMILLE, CECIL B.; EPHRON, NORA;
FRELENG, ISADOR “ERIZ”; HECKERLING,
AMY; KATZ, MICKEY; LAMARR, HEDY;
LANDAU, MARTIN; LANDON, MICHAEL;
LEACHMAN, CLORIS; LEWIS, SHARI;
MENKEN, ALAN
Dov Schwartz*, Professor, Dean,
Faculty of Humanities, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: ABBA MARI
BEN MOSES BEN JOSEPH ASTRUC OF
LUNEL; ABBAS, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL IBN;
ANTINOMIANISM; ASCETICISM; LEVI BEN
ABRAHAM BEN HAYYIM; MAIMONIDEAN
CONTROVERSY; SOLOVEITCHIK, JOSEPH
BAER; ZARZA, SAMUEL IBN SENEH
Guri Schwartz*: FOSSOLI
Laurel Schwartz*, B.A.; Archives
Curator, Jewish Historical Society
of San Diego, Archives at San
Diego State University, San Diego,
California: SAN DIEGO
Marcus Mordecai Schwartz*, M.A.,
Ph.D., Rabbi; Adjunct Instructor
of Talmud, Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Matthew (B.) Schwartz*, Ph.D.;
Historian, Wayne State University,
Southfield, Michigan: DAVID w.
PETEGORSKY; MOSES, ADOLPH
Stan (Stanley) Schwartz*, B.B.A.;
President, Jewish Historical Society
of San Diego, Archives at San Diego
State University, California: san
DIEGO
Yigal Schwartz*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Head of Hebrew Literature
Department and Head of
Heksherim Research Center, Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev:
SHAKED, GERSHON
Jan Schwarz*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
University of Chicago: BIOGRAPHIES
AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES; GLATSTEIN,
JACOB; ROSENFELD, JONAH
Johannes Valentin Schwarz*,
Ph.D., M.A.; Historian, Potsdam
University, Germany: ALLGEMEINE
ZEITUNG DES JUDENTUMS; BACHER,
EDUARD; BAUMGARTEN, EMANUEL
MENDEL; BECKER, JULIUS; BEER, MAX;
BENEDIKT, MORITZ; BERNHARD, GEORG;
FEDER, ERNST; MENORAH; NEUZEIT,
DIE; PHILIPPSON; PHILO VERLAG;
REUTER, PAUL JULIUS, FREIHERR VON;
SIMON, HEINRICH; SIMONE, ANDRE;
SONNEMANN, LEOPOLD; WELT, DIE;
WOLFF, BERNHARD; WOLFE, THEODOR;
ZUKUNET, DIE
Karl Schwarz, Dr.Phil.; Art
Historian and Curator of the Tel
Aviv Museum: ANTOKOLSKI,
MARK
Leo W. Schwarz, B.A., Rabbi;
Author, New York: LOWENTHAL,
MARVIN
Simon R. Schwarzfuchs, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Associate Professor of
Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: ALLIANCE ISRAELITE
UNIVERSELLE; ANTWERP; BELGIUM;
CREMIEUX, ISAAC ADOLPHE; CRUSADES;
FRANCE; LAUSANNE; LAZARE, BERNARD;
LUCERNE; LUXEMBOURG; MALESHERBES,
CHRETIEN GUILLAUME DE LAMOIGNON
DE; ROTHSCHILD; SPAIN; SWITZERLAND;
ZURICH
Steven S. Schwarzschild, D.H.L.,
Rabbi; Professor of Jewish
Philosophy, Washington University,
St. Louis, Missouri: ATLAS, SAMUEL;
COVETOUSNESS; JUSTICE; NOACHIDE
LAWS; SLONIMSKY, HENRY; SUFFERING;
TRUTH
Eliezer Schweid, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish Philosophy and
Mysticism, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: AHAD HA-AM; AVINOAM,
REUVEN,; BAVLI, HILLEL; HEINEMANN,
YIZHAK; TCHERNICHOWSRY,
SAUL
Joseph Schweitzer, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Chief Rabbi of Pecs; Professor
of Jewish History, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of Hungary,
Budapest: PECs
Hanna Scolnicov*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Tel Aviv University: BERGMANN, FELIX
ELIEZER
Robert B.Y. Scott, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Religion, Princeton
University, New Jersey: BALANCE;
PARABLE; PROVERBS, BOOK OF; WISDOM;
WISDOM LITERATURE
Mel Scult*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus Brooklyn College,
C.U.N.Y, New York: KAPLAN,
MORDECAI MENAHEM
Fern Lee Seckbach, M.A.,
C.Phil.; Deputy Editor in Chief,
Encyclopaedia Judaica, CD-ROM
Edition: AHARONOV, YAKIR; EHRLICH,
SIMHA; EITAN, RAPHAEL; FEINBRUN-
DOTHAN, NAOMI; FROMAN, IAN;
GOLDBLUM, NATAN; GVATI, CHAIM;
KATZ, ELIHU; LEVI, MOSHE; LEVITZKI,
ALEXANDER; POLLACK, ISRAEL; SPIEGEL,
NATHAN; TARIE, AMIN; WEISS, MEIR;
WERSES, SAMUEL; YAVETS, ZVI; YEIVIN,
ISRAEL
Francois Secret, Directeur d’Etudes
al Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
(Sciences Religieuses), Sorbonne,
Paris: BONFRERE, JAQUES; GIORGIO,
FRANCESCO
Israel Sedaka, Holon, Israel: MEDALS
Ariel Segal*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Writer, Historian, International
Analyst, University of Miami:
IQUITOS
Arthur Segal*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Classical Archaeology, University of
Haifa: SUSITA OR HIPPOS
Bernard Segal, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Executive Vice President, the United
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Synagogue of America, New York:
ABBELL, MAXWELL
Eliezer L. (Lorne) Segal*, Ph.D.;
Professor of Religious Studies,
University of Calgary, Canada:
BERAKHOT; BIKKURIM; DEMAI
Jack Segal, D.H.L., Rabbi; Houston,
Texas: HOUSTON
Josef Segal, M.A.; Haifa: AMasa;
DOEG; GAD; ISHMAEL; OG; PASHHUR;
SHALLUM
Moshe Zevi (Moses Hirsch) Segal,
M.A.; Emeritus Professor of Bible,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ASTRUC, JEAN; BEN SIRA, SIMEON BEN
JESUS; BEN SIRA, WISDOM OF; EICHHORN,
JOHANN GOTTFRIED; GRESSMANN, HUGO
Ralph Segalman, Ph.D., A.C.S.W;;
Associate Professor of Sociology,
San Fernando Valley State College,
Northridge, California: EL PASO
Jonathan (Lee) Seidel*, M.A.,
Ph.D., Rabbi; Adjunct Professor,
University of Oregon, Eugene,
Oregon: CIRCUMCISION
Oskar Seidlin, Ph.D.; Professor
of German Literature, Ohio State
University, Columbus: BRAHM, OTTO
Hillel Seidman, Ph.D.; President
of the Beth Jacob Teachers’ College,
New York: sTEIN, EDMUND MENAHEM
Kalman Seigel, B.So.Sci.; Journalist,
New York: JOURNALISM
Robert A. Seigel, M.A., Rabbi;
Chicago: CRONBACH, ABRAHAM
Avraham Sela*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in International Relations,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ARAFAT, YASSER; PALESTINE LIBERATION
ORGANIZATION; PALESTINIAN
AUTHORITY
Michoel A. Seligson*, Rabbi;
Lecturer, Otzer Hachasidim
Publication House of Lubavitach,
Yeshiva Oholei Toraah, Seminary
Bais Rivka, New York: DWORKIN,
ZALMAN SHIMON
Bernard Semmel, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, the State University
of New York, Stony Brook:
MOMIGLIANO, ARNALDO DANTE
151
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Nora Seni*, Ph.D.; Maitre de
Conferences, French Institute on
Urbanism, University of Paris,
France: CAMONDO
Leonardo Senkman”, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, Latin American Studies
and Researcher at International
Center for University Teaching of
the Jewish Civilization, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AGUINIS,
MARCOS; PECAR, SAMUEL; TIMERMAN,
JACOBO
Gertrude C. Serata, M.L.S.;
Librarian, Honolulu: Hawal
Joseph Baruch Sermoneta, Ph.D.,
Dott.in Fil; Associate Professor of
Jewish Philosophy and Mysticism;
Senior Lecturer in Italian Language
and Literature and in Philosophy,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ANCONA; BACHI, RICCARDO; BACHI,
ROBERTO; DANTE ALIGHIERI;
DEBENEDETTI, GIACOMO; DEL MONTE,
CRESCENZO; HALPHEN, LOUIS; HILLEL
BEN SAMUEL; ITALIAN LITERATURE; JOHN
OF CAPUA; JUDEO-ITALIAN; LEVI, DAVID;
LEVI-PEROTTI, GIUSTINA; MOSES OF
PALERMO; SULLAM, SARA COPPIO; SVEVO,
ITALO
Ronit Seter*, Ph.D.; Adjunct
Assistant Professor, George
Washington University,
Washington, D.C.: FLEISCHER,
TSIPPI; SETER, MORDECAI; SHILOAH,
AMNON
David Sfard, Ph.D.; Jerusalem:
COOPERATIVES; POLAND; PRESS;
SMOLAR, HERSH
Bezalel Shachar, M.A.; Lecturer
in Adult Education, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: EDUCATION,
JEWISH
Eliyahu Shadmi, Kibbutz Maanit
Yosef Shadur, Midreshet Sedeh
Boker: SEDEH BOKER
Aaron Shaffer, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Assyriology, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AKKADIAN LANGUAGE; ESARHADDON;
FINKELSTEIN, JACOB JOEL; HAMMURAPI;
KRAMER, SAMUEL NOAH
William Shaffir’, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, McMaster University,
Hamilton, Canada: HAMILTON
152
John M. Shaftesley, O.B.E., B.A.,
ER.S.A.; Editor, London: ALKAN,
ALPHONSE; BERNSTEIN, SIDNEY LEWIS,
BARON; GESTETNER, DAVID; KAHN,
RICHARD FERDINAND, LORD; LEVY; LEVY,
SIR ALBERT; SIMON; SPIELMAN; STERN;
TYPOGRAPHERS
Natan Shahar*, Ph.D.; Music
Department, Beit Berl College,
Israel: ALBERSTEIN, HAVA;
HAZA, OFRA; HIRSH, NURIT; ISRAEL,
STATE OF: CULTURAL LIFE; MEDINA,
AVIHU; WILENSKY, MOSHE; ZEHAVI,
DAVID
Milton Shain, Ph.D., Associate
Professor, Department of Hebrew
and Jewish Studies; Director of
the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre
for Jewish Studies and Research,
University of Cape Town: CAPE
TOWN; SOUTH AFRICA
Gershon Shaked*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BERKOWITZ,
YITZHAK DOV; BRENNER, JOSEPH
HAYYIM; GROSSMAN, DAVID; HEBREW
LITERATURE, MODERN; SHAMIR,
MOSHE; SHOHAM, MATTITYAHU
MOSHE
Shaul Shaked”*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Iranian Studies and Comparative
Religion, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: JUDEO-PERSIAN; ZAND,
MICHAEL
Yuval Shaked*, Director Jewish
Music Center, Composer, Beth
Hatefutsoth, Haifa University,
Kibbutzim College, Tel Aviv:
LEEF, YINAM; RADZYNSKI, JAN; RAN,
SHULAMIT; SHERIFF, NOAM; STARER,
ROBERT
Aryeh Shalev, Former IDF
and Israel Ministry of Defense
Spokesman, Former Governor of
Judea and Samaria
Mordechai Shalev, M.A.; Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
MARZOUK, MOSHE; TIDHAR, DAVID
Levi Shalit, Editor, Johannesburg
Meir de Shalit, Former Director
General Ministry of Tourism, Tel
Aviv
Abraham Shaliv, M.A.; Director of
the Center for Industrial Planning,
Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, Jerusalem
Yehudith Shaltiel, Ph.D.;
Psychologist, Jerusalem: WOLBERG,
LEWIS ROBERT
Alice Shalvi, Ph.D.; Professor,
Department of English, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Avraham Shapira, Former Editor of
Shedemot, published by the Kibbutz
Movement
Dan (D.Y.) Shapira*, Ph.D.;
Professor, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: JUDEO-TAT
Ilana Shapira, M.A.; Jerusalem:
MELCHIZEDEK
Moshe Shapira, B.A.; Research
Assistant in the Institute for
Research in the History and
Culture of Oriental Jewry, Bar-Tlan
University, Ramat Gan: HEBRON;
RUBIO, MORDECAI
Alexander Shapiro, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Jewish History, the
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
MEISSEN; MERGENTHEIM; MOSBACH;
NIEDERSTETTEN; NORDHAUSEN;
PADERBORN; ROUSSILLON; SALZBURG;
SHUM; SPANDAU; TALHEIM; TRIER;
UEBERLINGEN; WETZLAR; ZUELZ
Haim Shapiro, Writer and
Journalist, Jerusalem: ISRAEL,
STATE OF: RELIGIOUS LIFE AND
COMMUNITIES
Harry L. Shapiro, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Chairman of the Department
of Anthropology, the American
Museum of Natural History;
Professor of Anthropology,
Columbia University, New York
Judah J. Shapiro, D.Ed.; Lecturer
in Jewish History and Sociology,
School of Jewish Communal
Service, the Hebrew Union
College - Jewish Institute of
Religion, New York
Leon Shapiro, Lecturer in Russian-
Jewish History, Rutgers University,
New Brunswick, New Jersey:
ABRAMOWITZ, RAPHAEL
Marc B. Shapiro*, Ph.D.; Weinberg
Chair in Judaic Studies, University
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of Scranton, Pennsylvania: ANI
MAAMIN; ATLAS, SAMUEL
Yosef Shapiro, Writer, Givatayim,
Israel: JOFFE, ELIEZER LIPA; SHOHAT,
ELIEZER
Andrew Sharf, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: BASIL |;
BYZANTINE EMPIRE; CIRCUS PARTIES;
CONSTANTINE VII PORPHYROGENITUS;
CONSTANTINOPLE; DANIEL, VISION
OF; EPIRUS; HERACLIUS; JUSTINIAN
I; LEO II; LEO VI; MANUEL I
COMNENUS; MICHAEL Il; MICHAEL VIII
PALAEOLOGUS; ROMANUS I LECAPENUS;
SEVERUS
I. Harold Sharfman, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Los Angeles: ILLOWY, BERNARD
Baila Round Shargel*, D.H.L.;
Adjunct Assistant Professor,
Manhattanville College, Purchase,
New York; The Ratner Center,
Jewish Theological Seminary,
Harrison, New York: FRIEDLAENDER,
ISRAEL; WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Rivka Shatz-Uffenheimer,
Ph.D.; Senior Lecturer in Jewish
Philosophy and Mysticism, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
HASIDISM
Ya’akov Shavit, Ph.D.; Historian,
Author, Senior Lecturer,
Department of History of the
Jewish People, Tel Aviv University:
REVISIONISTS, ZIONIST
Zohar Shavit*, Ph.D.; Professor
for Culture Research, Tel Aviv
University: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Rachel (Katznelson) Shazar, B.A.;
Wife of the President of Israel,
Writer and Editor, Jerusalem: BARON,
DEVORAH
Shneur Zalman Shazar, President
of the State of Israel, Jerusalem: BEN-
ZNI, IZHAK; KATZNELSON, BERL
Mark Shechner*, Ph.D.; Professor
of English, University at Buffalo,
Amherst, New York: ROSENFELD,
ISAAC
Alan Shefman*, B.A., M.A.;
Associate, York University, Centre
for Practical Ethics; Consultant,
The Edge Quality/Communications
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Consults; City Councillor, Vaughan,
Canada: B’NAI B’RITH
Mort Sheinman’, B.A.;
Journalism Teacher and Retired
Newspaperman, New York:
AUERBACH, BEATRICE FOX; CHAIKIN,
SOL C.; COLE, KENNETH; DREXLER,
MILLARD S.; ELIAS, ELI; FISHER,
DONALD; GOODMAN, ANDREW;
KARAN, DONNA; KIMMEL, SIDNEY;
KLEIN, ANNE; KLEIN, CALVIN RICHARD;
KOPELMAN, ARIE LEONARD; LAUREN,
RALPH; MARCUS, STANLEY; MAZUR,
JAY; NORELL, NORMAN; ORTENBERG,
ARTHUR; PERELMAN, RONALD OWEN;
POMERANTZ, FRED P.; RAYNOR, BRUCE;
ROSEN, CARL; SAKOWITZ, BERNARD;
SALTZMAN, MAURICE; SCAASI, ARNOLD;
SCHRADER, ABE; SCHWARTZ, DAVID;
SHAW, BENJAMIN; SPANEL, ABRAM
NATHANIEL; STULBERG, LOUIS; TRAUB,
MARVIN S.; TRIGERE, PAULINE; VON
FURSTENBERG, DIANE; WACHNER, LINDA
JOY; ZUCKERMAN, BEN
Ben-Zion Shek”, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
(University of Toronto); Professor
Emeritus, Department of French,
University of Toronto: KATTAN, NAIM;
ROBIN, REGINE
Matityahu Shelem, Composer,
Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan: KIBBUTZ
FESTIVALS
Richard EF. Shepard, Journalist, New
York: BUCHWALD, NATHANIEL; BULOFE,
JOSEPH; SCHWARTZ, MAURICE
Rona Sheramy*, Ph.D. Executive
Director Association for Jewish
Studies, New York: TEC, NECHAMA
Arnold Sherman, M.A.; Public
Relations Officer, El Al, Lydda
Airport: EL AL
Charles Bezalel Sherman, Professor
of Sociology, Yeshiva University and
the Jewish Teachers’ Seminary, New
York: CONGRESS FOR JEWISH CULTURE;
JEWISH LABOR COMMITTEE; JEWISH
SOCIALIST VERBAND; WORKMEN’S
CIRCLE
Joseph Sherman’, B.A., M.A.,
Ph.D., Dr. Oxford University,
England: BERGELSON, DAVID;
DIK, ISAAC MEIR; SOUTH AFRICAN
LITERATURE; WOLPE, DAVID E.
Moshe (D.) Sherman’, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Touro Graduate
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
School of Jewish Studies, New
York: ALPERSTEIN, AVRAHAM ELIEZER
BEN YESHAYA; ASH, ABRAHAM JOSEPH;
BIRNBAUM, PHILIP
Nancy Sherman*, MFA (Masters in
Fine Arts); Executive Vice President;
National Yiddish Book Center;
Amherst, Massachusetts: NATIONAL
YIDDISH BOOK CENTER
Jerome J. Shestack*, L.L.B.;
Lawyer; Past President American
Bar Association, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania: BECKER, EDWARD ROY
Murray Shiff, M.S.W.; Executive
Director (retired), Jewish Federation
of Greater Seattle
Margalit Shilo*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: HALUKKAH
Shmuel Shilo, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Instructor in Jewish Law, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
DINA DE-MALKHUTA DINA; LOAN;
MAJORITY RULE; ONA'AH; ONES;
SUCCESSION; WILLS
Amnon Shiloah*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Musicology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: ABU AL-FADL
HASDAY; AFRICA, NORTH: MUSICAL
TRADITIONS.; AHARON, EZRA; ALEPPO;
AL-GHARID AL-YAHUDI; AL-MANSUR
AL-YAHUDI; ARGOV, ZOHAR; ARLEN,
HAROLD; AVSHALOMOY, JACOB; BABILEE,
JEAN; BAKKASHAH; BAR, SHLOMO; BAYER,
BATHYA; BEN, ZEHAVA; BLOCH, ANDRE;
BORIS, RUTHANNA; BOUZAGLO, DAVID;
CANTILLATION; CHUJOY, ANATOLE;
COHEN, SELMA JEAN; COLONNE,
JULES EDOUARD; DANCE; DAVICO,
LUJO; DAVID; DAVID, ERNEST; DUQUE,
SIMON DAVID; EMSHEIMER, ERNST;
ESPINOSA, EDOUARD; FARABI, ABU
NASR MUHAMMAD, AL-; FARBER, VIOLA;
GASKELL, SONJA; GOLDSTEIN, RAYMOND;
HALPRIN, ANN; HAYDEN, MELISSA;
IBN ABI AL-SALT; IRAN, MUSICAL
TRADITION; JACOBSTHAL, GUSTAV;
JONAS, EMILE; KABBALAH; KATZ, ISRAEL
J. KIDD, MICHAEL; KIRSTEIN, LINCOLN;
KUWEITI, SALAH; LEVY; LEVY, LAZARE;
LOWINSKY, EDWARD ELIAS; MAQAM;
MARCEAU, MARCEL; MASLOW, SOPHIE;
MIZRAHI, ASHER; MURRAY, ARTHUR;
MUSIC; ORENSTEIN, ARBIE; PANOV,
VALERY; PLAMENAC, DRAGAN; RINGER,
ALEXANDER L.; ROBBINS, JEROME; ROSS,
HERBERT; SILLS, BEVERLY; SIMON, PAUL;
SPECTOR, JOHANNA; SPIVACKE, HAROLD;
153
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
STENN, REBECCA; TEMIANKA, HENRI;
VALABREGA, CESARE; WEINSTOCK,
HERBERT; WIENER, JEAN
Bina Shiloah*, B.Ed.; Dance
Coordinator-Rubin Conservatory of
Music and Dance, Jerusalem: KRAUS,
GERTRUD; LEVI-AGRON, HASSIA; LEVI-
TANNAI, SARA; SOKOLOW, ANNA
Zvi Shiloah, B.A.; Journalist,
Chairman of the Executive of the
Land of Israel Movement, Tel Aviv:
GUSH EMUNIM
Gideon Shimoni, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Institute for Contemporary
Jewry, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: GANDHI, MOHANDAS
KARAMCHAND; KALLENBACH, HERMANN
Yaacov Shimoni, Deputy Director
General, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: HUSSEINI, HAJJ
AMIN AL-; ISRAEL, STATE OF: ARAB
POPULATION
Felix Eliezer Shinnar, Dr.Jur.;
Economist and former Ambassador,
Tel Aviv: GERMANY; REPARATIONS,
GERMAN.
Chone Shmeruk, Ph.D.; Professor
of Yiddish Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: DER
NISTER; DINESON, JACOB; PURIM-SHPIL;
SOVETISH HEYMLAND; WIENER, MEIR;
YIDDISH LITERATURE
Joshua H. Shmidman, B.A.,
Rabbi; Instructor in Philosophy,
Yeshiva University; New York:
HATRED; INSULT; REBUKE AND REPROOF;
VENGEANCE; ZEKHUT AVOT
Aryeh Shmuelevitz*, Ph.D.;
Professor Emeritus, Moshe Dayan
Center for Middle Eastern and
African Studies, Tel Aviv University:
BAYAZID II; BURSA; EMESA; FARHI; KIERA
Efraim Shmueli, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy; Adjunct Professor
of Jewish History and Literature,
Cleveland State University:
WOYSLAWSKI, ZEVI
Herzl Shmueli, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Musicology, Tel Aviv
University: ADMON, YEDIDYAH;
AVIDOM, MENAHEM; BOSCOVITCH,
ALEXANDER URIYAH
David Shneer*, Ph.D.; Director
154
Center for Judaic Studies, Associate
Professor of History, University of
Denver: KHARIK, IZI; MARKISH, PERETZ
J. Lee Shneidman, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Adelphi
University, Garden City, New York:
ABENVIVES
Azriel Shochat, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of the History of the
Jewish People, Haifa University:
ALAMI, SOLOMON; ELDAD HA-DANI;
ERGAS, JOSEPH BEN EMANUEL; ESSEN;
HASKALAH; IBN VERGA, SOLOMON;
OSNABRUECK; OSTROG
Joseph Shochetman, B.A.;
Jerusalem: MOLCHO, SOLOMON
Debby (Deborah Anne Glaser)
Shoctor’*, B.A., B.J., M.L.LS.;
Archivist, The Jewish Archives and
Historical Society of Edmonton
and Northern Alberta, Canada:
EDMONTON
Baruch Shohetman, M.A.;
Bibliographer, Jerusalem: EISMANN,
MOSES; GLUECKSOHN, MOSHE; SOCIETY
FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF FULL CIVIL
RIGHTS FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN
RUSSIA; UVAROV, SERGEY SEMYONOVICH
Ana Shomlo-Ninic, M.A.; Writer
and Critic, Belgrade: SaMOKOVLIA,
ISAK; YUGOSLAV LITERATURE
Shorter Jewish Encyclopaedia
in Russian, Jerusalem: CRIMEAN
AFFAIR; DOMALSKY, L.; DONSKOY,
MARK SEMENOVICH; GEKHT, SEMEN
GRIGOREVICH; GEORGIA; GERY; GOTS;
GRULEV, MIKHAIL VLADIMIROVICH;
GUKOVSKY, GRIGORY ALEKSANDROVICH;
GUREVICH, MIKHAIL IOSIFOVICH;
GUSEV, SERGEI IVANOVICH; KALIK,
MIKHAIL; KANNEGISER, LEONID
AKIMOVICH; KANOVICH, GRIGORY;
KAUFMAN, AVRAHAM YOSIFOVICH;
KIPEN, ALEKSANDR ABRAMOVICH; KNUT,
DOVID; KOL'TSOV, MIKHAIL; KOMZET;
KOPYTMAN, MARK RUVIMOVICH;
KRIMCHAK LANGUAGE; KRIMCHAKS;
LEONIDOV, LEONID MIRONOVICH;
LOTMAN, YURI MIKHAILOVICH; LOYTER,
EFRAIM BARUKHOVICH; MANEVICH,
LEV YEFIMOVICH; MOUNTAIN JEWS;
YEVREYSKI KOMISSARIAT; ZELDOVICH,
YAKOV BORISOVICH; ZEMLYACHKA,
ROZALIYA SAMOYLOVNA
Robert Shosteck, M.A.; Curator
of the Bnai Brith Museum,
Washington, D. C.: COHEN, ALFRED
MORTON; ELLINGER, MORITZ; SEQUEYRA,
JOHN DE
Yehuda Shrenzel, Chess Columnist,
Tel Aviv: KASPAROV, GARY
Yisrael Shrenzel, Chess Columnist,
Tel Aviv
Shimon Shtober*, Dr.Phil.; Senior
Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: SAMBARI, JOSEPH BEN
ISAAC
Aaron Shub*, M.A.; Rabbinical
Student, University of Judaism, Los
Angeles: KOGEN, DAVID
Justin (Benjamin) Shubow’, B.A.,
M.A.; J.D. Candidate Yale Law
School, New Haven, Connecticut:
SHUBOW, JOSEPH SHALOM
Malka Hillel Shulewitz, Journalist,
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: HEALTH,
WELEARE, AND SOCIAL SECURITY
Joseph I. Shulim, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Brooklyn College of the
City University of New York: Gay,
PETER JACK
David Shulman*, Ph.D.; Professor
of India Studies, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: AKBAR THE
GREAT
Nisson E. Shulman, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Yonkers, New York: SLONIK, BENJAMIN
AARON BEN ABRAHAM
William (L.) Shulman*, Ed.D.;
President, Association of
Holocaust Organizations, New
York: ASSOCIATION OF HOLOCAUST
ORGANIZATIONS; HOLOCAUST
Shlomo Shunamiy, Dip.Lib.;
Bibliographer and Librarian, the
Jewish National and University
Library, Jerusalem: LIBRARY, JEWISH
NATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY; WORMANN,
CURT
Jonathan Shunary, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Hebrew and Biblical
Studies, the University of Wisconsin,
Madison: ALPHABET, HEBREW
Nili Shupak, B.A.; Jerusalem: JACHIN
AND BOAZ; KOHATH AND KOHATHITES;
LEAH; OREB AND ZEEB; SHEBNAH;
SHEMAIAH
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Shifra Shvarts*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, Chairwoman, Center of
Health Policy in the Negev, Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev,
Beersheva: ISRAEL, STATE OF: HEALTH,
WELFARE, AND SOCIAL SECURITY
Rafi Siano*: SAGALOWITZ, BENJAMIN
Albert A. Sicroff, D.del’U; Professor
of Romance Languages, Queens
College of the City University of
New York: LIMPIEZA DE SANGRE
Moshe Sicron, Ph.D.; Government
Statistician in the Central Bureau
of Statistics; Professor, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Bjoern (Bjérn) Siegel*, M.A., Ph.D.
Student, Chair of Jewish History
and Culture, Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universitat, Munich. Germany: BAB,
JULIUS; BONDY, CURT; BRAHM, OTTO;
CASTIGLIONI, CAMILLO; CHRISTIAN
SOCIAL PARTY, GERMAN; CONSERVATIVE
PARTY, GERMAN; EPPSTEIN, PAUL; ESRA;
FRANKENBURGER, WOLF; FREDERICK
I, FRIEDMANN, DESIDER; GELBER,
NATHAN MICHAEL; GIEHSE, THERESE;
GRANACH, ALEXANDER; GRUEBER,
HEINRICH; HEIMWEHR; HERMANN,
GEORG; HOROVITZ, JOSEF; JOSEPH II;
KAHLE, PAUL ERNST; KAUFMANN, OSKAR;
LABAND, PAUL; LADENBURG; LANDAU,
EUGEN; LANDSBERG, OTTO; LANDSHUT,
SIEGFRIED; LASKER, EDUARD; LASZLO,
PHILIP ALEXIUS DE LOMBOS; LAZARUS,
MORITZ; LEBRECHT, FUERCHTEGOTT;
LEVI, PAUL; LEVISON, WILHELM; LOEWE,
LUDWIG and ISIDOR; MARIA THERESA;
MARKUS, LUDWIG; MAYER, GUSTAV;
MITTWOCH, EUGEN; PAPPENHEIM,
BERTHA
Marcia B. Siegel, B.A.; Dance Critic,
New York: GASKELL, SONJA; HAYDEN,
MELISSA; KAYE, NORA; KIRSTEIN,
LINCOLN; LEVINSON, ANDRE; LICHINE,
DAVID; ROBBINS, JEROME; RUBINSTEIN,
IDA; SAINT-LEON, ARTHUR MICHEL;
SOKOLOW, ANNA; TAMIRIS, HELEN
Mark (A.) Siegel*, M.A., Ph.D.; Vice
President, Government Affairs, New
Century Financial Corporation;
former Deputy Assistant to the
President and Liaison to the Jewish
Community in the Carter White
House; Adjunct Professor of
Political Science, Graduate School of
Political Management, The George
Washington University: sTRAUSS,
ROBERT SCHWARZ
Richard (A.) Siegel*, M.A.;
Executive Director Emeritus,
National Foundation for Jewish
Culture, Los Angeles: NATIONAL
FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CULTURE
Seymour Siegel, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Professor of Theology and of Ethics
and Rabbinic Thought, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York: HIGGER, MICHAEL;
IMITATION OF GOD; RESURRECTION;
WAXMAN, MEYER; WINTER, PAUL
Sergio Joseph Sierra, M.A., Rabbi;
Lecturer in Hebrew Language and
Literature, the University of Turin:
MARSALA; MESSINA; PALERMO; SICILY;
SYRACUSE; TRAPANI
Myra J. Siff, M.A.; Instructor
in Religion and Bible, Wellesley
College, Massachusetts: BABEL,
TOWER OF; SAMSON; SARAH
Menahem Binyamin Andrew
Silberfeld, Ph.D., Rabbi; Librarian,
Jerusalem
David Silberklang*, Ph.D.;
Historian; Editor, Yad Vashem
Studies; Adjunct Lecturer, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BAUER, YEHUDA; GUTMAN, ISRAEL
Lou H. Silberman, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish Literature and
Thought, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, Tennessee: CHOSEN PEOPLE;
COMPASSION; GOD; JOY; SCHOEPS, HANS
JOACHIM
Eisig Silberschlag, Ph.D.; President
and Professor of Hebrew Literature,
the Hebrew College, Brookline,
Massachusetts: BERNSTEIN, ZVI
HIRSCH; BLANK, SAMUEL LEIB; BRAININ,
REUBEN; EINHORN, MOSES; EPSTEIN,
ABRAHAM; EPSTEIN, ABRAHAM;
FEINSTEIN, MOSES; FRIEDLAND,
ABRAHAM HYMAN; GERSONI, HENRY;
GINSBURG, JEKUTHIEL; GINZBURG,
SIMON; GOLDMAN, MOSES HA-KOHEN;
GREENWALD, JEKUTHIEL JUDAH; HALKIN,
SIMON; HEBREW LITERATURE, MODERN;
IMBER, NAPHTALI HERZ; KABAKOFF,
JACOB; LEAF, HAYIM; LISITZKY, EPHRAIM
E.; LOEWISOHN, SOLOMON; MAISELS,
MOSES HAYYIM; MALACHI, ELIEZER
RAPHAEL; MARKSON, AARON DAVID;
MAXIMON, SHALOM DOV BER; MIRSKY,
SAMUEL KALMAN; PERSKY, DANIEL;
PREIL, GABRIEL JOSHUA; RAISIN, JACOB
ZALMAN; RAISIN, MAX; REGELSON,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
ABRAHAM; RESSLER, BENJAMIN;
RIBALOW, MENACHEM; ROSENBERG,
ABRAHAM HAYYIM; ROSENFELD, SAMUEL;
ROSENZWEIG, GERSON; SACKLER,
HARRY; SCHARFSTEIN, ZEVI; SCHUR, ZEV
WOLF; SCHUR, ZEV WOLF; SCHWARTZ,
ABRAHAM SAMUEL; SCHWARZBERG,
SAMUEL BENJAMIN; SHMUELI, EPHRAIM;
SHULVASS, MOSES AVIGDOR; SILKINER,
BENJAMIN NAHUM; SOBEL, JACOB ZEVI;
SOLODAR, ABRAHAM; TOUROFF, NISSAN;
TOUROFF, NISSAN; TWERSKY, YOHANAN;
YINNON, MOSHE
Jon Silkin, B.A; Poet, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, England: ABSE, DANNIE;
FUCHS, ABRAHAM MOSHE; LITVINOFEF,
EMANUEL; ROSENBERG, ISAAC; SASSOON,
SIEGFRIED LORRAINE
Daniel Jeremy Silver, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Adjunct Professor of Religion,
Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland: HERESY
David L. Silver, B.A., Rabbi;
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Drew Silver*, Freelance Editor,
New York: BEIT-HALLAHMI, BENJAMIN;
BERCOVITCH, SACVAN; BRUNER,
JEROME SEYMOUR; DONIGER, WENDY;
FEYNMAN, RICHARD PHILLIPS; GELL-
MANN, MURRAY; GOFFMAN, ERVING
MANUAL; GOULD, STEPHEN JAY; HARRIS,
MARVIN; HIRSCH, ERIC DONALD,
JR.; LEWIS, ANTHONY; LOWENSTEIN,
ALLARD KENNETH; MEYER, MICHAEL
A.; MILGROM, JACOB; PERLE, RICHARD
NORMAN; REICH, ROBERT BERNARD;
REINHARZ, JEHUDA; RENDELL, EDWARD
GENE; RIVLIN, ALICE M.; SCHEINDLIN,
RAYMOND P.; SCHIFFMAN, LAWRENCE
H.; STILLMAN, NORMAN ARTHUR; TIGAY,
JEFFREY H; WELLSTONE, PAUL; YOUNG,
JAMES E.
Jesse Harold Silver, Sports Writer,
Surfside, Florida: HART, CECIL
M.; HENSHEL, HARRY D.; MENDOZA,
DANIEL; MOSBACHER, EMIL JR.; MYERS,
LAWRENCE E.; OLYMPIC GAMES; SEDRAN,
BARNEY; SOLOMONS, JACK; SPORTS
Catherine Silverman, Ph.D.;
Lecturer in History, City College
of the City University of New York:
TUCHMAN, BARBARA WERTHEIM
Godfrey Edmond Silverman,
M.A.; Jerusalem: BRITISH ISRAELITES;
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE; DU BARTAS,
GUILLAUME DE SALLUSTE; GALATINUS,
PIETRO COLUMNA; GENEBRARD, GILBERT;
155
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
GIUSTINIANI, AGOSTINO; GOLLER,
IZAK; GUEDALLA, PHILIP; GUIDACERIO,
AGACIO; HEINE, HEINRICH; HOCHHUTH,
ROLF; LE BE, GUILLAUME; LE FEVRE DE LA
BODERIE, GUY; LIGHTFOOT, JOHN; MAES,
ANDREAS; MERCIER, JEAN; MUENSTER,
SEBASTIAN; NOLA, ELJAH BEN MENAHEM
DA; NOSTRADAMUS; PAGNINI, SANTES;
PARAF, PIERRE; PAULI, JOHANNES;
PELLICANUS, CONRAD; PISTORIUS,
JOHANNES; PLANTAVIT DE LA PAUSE,
JEAN; PLANTIN, CHRISTOPHE; POCOCKE,
EDWARD; POSTEL, GUILLAUME; PSALMS,
BOOK OF; PUBLISHING; RABINOWITZ,
SAMUEL JACOB; RAFFALOVICH, ISAIAH;
REUCHLIN, JOHANNES; RICIUS, PAULUS;
SCALIGER, JOSEPH JUSTUS; SCHICKARD,
WILHELM; SLOTKI, ISRAEL WOLF;
SOLA, DE; STUDENTS’ MOVEMENTS,
JEWISH; TREMELLIUS, JOHN IMMANUEL;
TRITHEMIUS, JOHANNES; TRITHEMIUS,
JOHANNES; TYNDALE, WILLIAM;
VELTWYCK, GERARD; VIGENERE,
BLAISE DE; WAKEFIELD, ROBERT;
WIDMANSTETTER, JOHANN ALBRECHT;
WOLFE, FRIEDRICH; ZUCKMAYER, CARL
Lisa Silverman*, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, University of
Wisconsin, Milwaukee: BAUER, OTTO;
BEDA; BERMANN, RICHARD ARNOLD;
BRAUNTHAL, JULIUS; DONATH, ADOLPH;
KRAUS, KARL
Morris Silverman, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Hartford, Connecticut: HARTFORD;
KOPPLEMANN, HERMAN PAUL
Meir Silverstone, LL.B.; Attorney
and former Director General,
Ministry of the Interior, Jerusalem
Jakob Naphtali Hertz Simchoni,
Dr.Phil.; Encyclopaedia Judaica
(Germany); Historian, Berlin:
AARON SAMUEL BEN MOSES SHALOM OF
KREMENETS; ABBA MARI BEN ELIGDOR;
ABRAHAM BEN JOSIAH TROKI; ABRAHAM
BEN JOSIAH YERUSHALMI; ABRAHAM
BEN JUDAH BEN ABRAHAM; ELIJAH BEN
AARON BEN MOSES; LUZKI, ABRAHAM
BEN JOSEPH SOLOMON
Ernest E. Simke, Honorary
Consul-General of Israel, Manila,
Philippines: PHILIPPINES
Erica (B.) Simmons*, Ph.D.;
Historian, Toronto, Canada:
HADASSAH, THE WOMEN’S ZIONIST
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA; JACOBS,
ROSE GELL
Akiba Ernst Simon, Dr. Phil.;
156
Emeritus Professor of Education,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
BAECK, LEO
Aryeh Simon, B.A.; Educator,
Youth Village, Ben Shemen, Israel:
LEHMANN, SIEGERIED
Isidore Simon, M.D.; Professor of
the History of Hebrew Medicine,
Centre Universitaire d'Etudes Juives,
Paris: ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON OF
SAINT MAXIMIN; ACOSTA, CHRISTOBAL;
ISAAC BEN TODROS; JOSEPH BEN AHMAD
IBN HASDAI; NATHAN, MORDECAI
Michael Simon, Dr.Phil.; Former
Ambassador, Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, Jerusalem: FLAG
Rachel Simon*, Ph.D.; Princeton
University, New Jersey: BENGHAZI;
DJERBA; LIBYA; TRIPOLI; WOMAN:
MODERN PERIOD IN MUSLIM WORLD
Uriel Simon*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of Bible, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: IBN EZRA,
ABRAHAM BEN MEIR; RUDIN, JACOB
PHILIP
Perrine Simon-Nahum”: LES
COLLOQUES DES INTELLECTUELS JUIFS
DE LANGUE FRANGAISE; SIMON, PIERRE;
TRIGANO, SHMUEL
David Jacob Simonsen, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Chief Rabbi of Denmark,
Copenhagen: BIBLE
Shlomo Simonsohn, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish History, Tel Aviv
University: MANTUA; NEPPI, HANANEL;
TRENT; TREVISO; TRIESTE; VERONA
Uriel Simri, Ed.D.; Former
Scientific Director of the Wingate
Institute for Physical Education and
Sport, Netanyah: sports
Yuval Sinai*, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Netanya Academic College, Israel:
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE; WITNESS
Mendel Singer, Writer, Haifa:
SCHUSSHEIM, AARON LEIB
Moshe Singer, Moshav Beit
Yehoshua: HA-NO’AR HA-IVRL-AKIBA
Sikander Singh*, Dr.Phil.; Lecturer,
Heinrich-Heine- Universitat,
Duesseldorf, Germany: HEINE,
HEINRICH
Nancy Sinkoff*, Associate Professor
of Jewish Studies and History,
Rutgers, The State University of New
Jersey: SOCIALISM
Colette Sirat*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew Medieval Paleography
and Philosophy, Ecole Pratique des
Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne University,
Paris, France: AL-CONSTANTINI,
ENOCH BEN SOLOMON; BLUMENKRANZ,
BERNHARD; JACOB BEN MOSES OF
BAGNOLS; LEVI BEN ABRAHAM BEN
HAYYIM; SCHWAB, MOISE; SOCIETE DES
ETUDES JUIVES; WOGUE,
LAZARE ELIEZER
René Samuel Sirat*, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Chief Rabbi of the Central
Consistory and Vice Chairperson of
the Conference of European Rabbis,
Paris, France: DEL MEDICO, HENRI E.;
KRASUCKI, HENRI
Magdalena Sitarz*, German and
Yiddish Philologist, Institute of
German Philology, Jagiellonian
University: ASCH, SHOLEM
Harvard Sitkoff, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of American History,
Washington University, Saint Louis,
Missouri: JAVITS, JACOB KOPPEL
David Sitton, Chairman of the
Executive of the Jerusalem Council
of the Sephardi Community,
Jerusalem
Gabriel Sivan, Ph.D.; Author,
Educator, Former Director,
Information and Education
Department, South African Zionist
Federation, Jerusalem: SCHONFIELD,
HUGH JOSEPH
Tracy (Ellen) Sivitz*, M.A., M.
Phil., A.B.; Attorney, New York:
AMIT; RAKOVSKY, PUAH
Aaron Skaist, Ph.D., Rabbi; Senior
Lecturer in Bible and in Semitic
Languages, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: MESOPOTAMIA
Gretchen Skidmore*, M.A.;
Director, Civic and Defense
Initiatives Education Division,
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, Washington, D.C.:
KINDERTRANSPORT
Deborah Skolnick Einhorn*,
M.A.; Student, Brandeis University,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Waltham, Massachusetts:
PHILANTHROPY
Larry Skolnick*: DAYTON
Nathan Skolnick, M.A.; Bridgeport,
Connecticut
Fred Skolnik*, Editor in Chief,
Encyclopaedia Judaica Second
Edition: ASSIMILATION; EDUCATION,
JEWISH; HAREDIM; HISTORY: MODERN
TIMES - FROM THE 1880S TO THE EARLY
21ST CENTURY; ISRAEL, STATE OF: LABOR;
JEWISH IDENTITY; PEMBER, PHOEBE
YATES; VILNA; YOSEF, OVADIAH; ZIONIST
CONGRESSES
Richard Skolnik, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, City College
of the City University of New
York: CANTOR, JACOB AARON;
DICKSTEIN, SAMUEL; FRIEDSAM,
MICHAEL; GOLDSTEIN, JUDAH JAMISON;
GOLDWATER, SIGMUND SCHULZ; MOSES,
ROBERT
Karl Skorecki*, M.D.; Professor
of Medicine (Nephrology) and
Director of Research, Rappaport
Research Institute, Technion
- Israel Institute of Technology and
Rambam Medical Center, Haifa:
GENETIC ANCESTRY, JEWISH
Solomon Leon Skoss, Ph.D.;
Professor of Arabic, Dropsie College
for Hebrew and Cognate Learning,
Philadelphia: ALFASI, DAVID BEN
ABRAHAM
Menahem Slae, M.A., Rabbi;
The Responsa Project, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: HALAKHIC
PERIODICALS; INSURANCE; RESPONSA
Martin (E.) Sleeper*, Ed.D.;
Associate Director, Facing
History and Ourselves, Brookline,
Massachusetts: FACING HISTORY AND
OURSELVES
Nicolas Slonimsky, Musicologist,
Los Angeles: BERLIN, IRVING;
BERNSTEIN, LEONARD; BLITZSTEIN,
MARC; COPLAND, AARON; DIAMOND,
DAVID; FOSS, LUKAS; SAMINSKY, LAZARE;
WEILL, KURT
Yehuda Slutsky, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in the History of the
Israel Labor Movement, Tel
Aviv University: AARONSOHN;
ABKHAZ AUTONOMOUS SOVIET
SOCIALIST REPUBLIC; ACOSTA, JOAN
D’; AGURSKY, SAMUEL; AMZALAK,
HAYYIM; ANTEBI, ALBERT; ANTI-FASCIST
COMMITTEE, JEWISH; APPEL, JUDAH
LEIB; ARAZI, YEHUDA; ARCHANGEL;
ARTEMOVSK; ASHKHABAD; AVIGUR,
SHAUL; AZERBAIJAN; BAKHCHISARAI;
BALTA; BAR; BARANOVICHI; BARATZ,
HERMANN; BARNETT, ZERAH; BELAYA
TSERKOV; BELKIND; BELKOWSKY, ZEVI
HIRSCH; BELORUSSIA; BEN-GURION,
DAVID; BERLIN, ISRAEL; BERMANN,
VASILI; BERNSTEIN-KOGAN, JACOB;
BIENSTOK, JUDAH LEIB; BIRZAI; BLOOD
LIBEL; BOBRUISK; BOGUSLAV; BORISOV;
BRANDT, BORIS; BRAUNSTEIN, MENAHEM
MENDEL; BRODSKI; BRUCK, GRIGORI;
BRYANSK; BUCHBINDER, NAHUM;
BUCHMIL, JOSHUA HESHEL; CANDLE TAX;
CANTONISTS; CATHERINE II; CAUCASUS;
CHERKASSY; CHERNIGOV; CHERNOBYL;
CHORNY, JOSEPH JUDAH; CHWOLSON,
DANIEL; CRIMEA; DAUGAVPILS; DAYAN,
MOSHE; DECEMBRISTS; DENIKIN,
ANTON IVANOVICH; DENIKIN, ANTON
IVANOVICH; DEPUTIES OF THE JEWISH
PEOPLE; DERBENT; DIZENGOFF, MEIR;
DIZENGOFF, MEIR; DNEPROPETROVSK;
DORI, YAAKOV; DUBIN, MORDECAI;
DUBNO; DUBNOW, ZE'EV; DUBOSSARY;
DUBROVNO; DUMA; DUNAYEVTSY;
EBNER, MEIR; EISENBERG, AHARON
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
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PALE OF SETTLEMENT; PAPERNA,
157
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
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HENRY; PAVLOGRAD; PAVOLOCH;
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NAHUM SOLOMONOVICH; TAMARES,
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TRUMPELDOR, JOSEPH; TUGENDHOLD,
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VLADIVOSTOK; VOLOZHINER, ISAAC
BEN HAYYIM; VOSKHOD; WAY, LEWIS;
158
WENGEROFF, PAULINE; WILBUSCHEWITZ;
WILENSKY, YEHUDAH LEIB NISAN;
WITTE, SERGEY YULYEVICH, COUNT;
WLOCLAWEK; YEKOPO; YELLIN;
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ZAMOSC; ZEDERBAUM, ALEXANDER;
ZEITLIN, JOSHUA; ZELECHOW; ZITRON,
SAMUEL LEIB; ZLATOPOLSKY, HILLEL;
ZUCKERMANN, ELIEZER
Rudolf Smend, Dr. Theol.; Professor
of Old Testament, Georg-August-
Universitat zu Gottingen, Germany:
DUHM, BERNHARD; EISSFELDT, OTTO;
GEDDES, ALEXANDER; HOELSCHER,
GUSTAV; ILGEN, KARL DAVID; JIRKU,
ANTON; MICHAELIS, JOHANN DAVID;
RAD, GERHARD VON; REUSS, EDUARD;
SPINOZA, BARUCH DE; VOLZ, PAUL;
WELLHAUSEN, JULIUS; ZIMMERLI,
WALTHER
Herbert Allen Smith, M.A.;
Director of the Manpower Planning
Authority, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE
OF: LABOR
Louanna Smith, Concord, New
Hampshire
Mark L. Smith*, M.A.; Graduate
Student at University of California:
FISCHEL, ARNOLD; HOROWITZ, PINCHAS
DAVID HA-LEVI; MARTIN, BERNARD;
TRUNK, ISAIAH
Morton Smith, Ph.D., Th.D.;
Professor of History, Columbia
University, New York: BICKERMAN,
ELIAS JOSEPH; GOODENOUGH, ERWIN
RAMSDELL; MOORE, GEORGE FOOT
Michal Smoira-Cohn, Ph.Lic.;
Director of Music, the Israel
Broadcasting Authority, Jerusalem
Israel Smotricz, Ph.D.; Tel Aviv:
ENDLICH, QUIRIN
Norman Henry Snaith, D.D.;
Former Principal, Wesley College,
Leeds; Former Lecturer in Hebrew
and Old Testament, the University
of Leeds: BIBLE
Daniel C. Snell*, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, University of Oklahoma:
BABYLON; ELAM; NUZI
John M. Snoek, Reverend; Secretary
of the World Council of Churches’
Committee on the Church and the
Jewish People, Geneva: HOLOCAUST:
THE WORLD
Leonard V. Snowman, M.A.,
M.R.C.P,; London: CIRCUMCISION
Bernard Zvi Sobel, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Sociology, Haifa
University
Israel Soifer, B.A.; Jerusalem: ADLER,
ELMER; BLUMENTHAL, JOSEPH; DVIR;
KNOPF, ALFRED A.; LESLIE, ROBERT L.
PUBLISHING; SCHUSTER, MAX LINCOLN
Alan (M.) Sokobin’*, Ph.D.,
J.D., Rabbi; Lecturer in Law and
Associate Professor of History,
University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio:
TOLEDO
Moshe Zeev Sole, Dr.Phil., Rabbi;
Chief Secretary of the Rabbinical
Court, Jerusalem: KLATZKIN, JACOB
Shmuel Soler, General Federation
of Labor, Tel Aviv: BECKER, AHARON
David Solomon, M.A.; Researcher
in Jewish history, Jerusalem: CAESAR,
SEXTUS JULIUS; PHASAEL; POMPEY;
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MACRON
Isidor Solomon, Toorak, Victoria,
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ALFRED; LANDA, ABRAM; LAWYERS;
POLITICS; SALOMONS, SIR JULIAN
EMANUEL; SOLOMON; STONE, JULIUS
Jeffrey R. Solomon’, Ph.D.;
President, The Andrea and Charles
Bronfman Philanthropies, New
York: FOUNDATIONS
Normon Solomon, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Founder-Director of the Centre for
the Study of Judaism and Jewish/
Christian Relations, Birmingham,
England: CONSERVATION; JEWISH-
CHRISTIAN RELATIONS
Avraham Soltes, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Musicologist, New York: SANDLER,
JACOB KOPPEL
Isaiah Sonne: LIBRARIES
Walter Sorell, M.A.; Associate
in Dance and Theater History,
Columbia University, New York:
GUGLIELMO DA PESARO
Yaakov Soroker, Jerusalem
Symphony Orchestra: KOPYTMAN,
MARK RUVIMOVICH
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Arnold Sorsby, M.D., C.B.E.,
ER.C.S.; Emeritus Research
Professor of Ophthalmology,
the Royal College of Surgeons of
England, London: BLINDNESS
Henry Sosland, M.H.L., Rabbi; New
City, New York: GRUENING, ERNEST
HENRY
Edwin N. Soslow, M.A., Rabbi;
Lecturer in History and Literature,
the Hebrew Union College School
of Education, New York: pAssAIc-
CLIFTON
Claire Sotnick, B.A.; New York:
WOLFE
Henry (C.) Soussan*, Ph.D., Rabbi;
United States: GESELLSCHAFT ZUR
FOERDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFT DES
JUDENTUMS
Dora Leah Sowden, M.A.; Critic
and Journalist, Jerusalem: ARBATOVA,
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Lewis Sowden, M.A.; Writer
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Francesco Spagnolo”*, Laurea (in
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American Sephardi Federation, New
York: RIVISTA ISRAELITICA
Barry Spain, Ph.D.; Head of the
Department of Mathematics, City
of London Polytechnic: BESICOVITCH,
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HERMANN; CANTOR, MORITZ BENEDICT;
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JOSEPH
Otto Immanuel Spear, Writer on
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GOLDSCHMIDT, HENRIETTE; GOMPERZ,
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Heike Specht*, Ph.D.; Editor,
Publishing House Munich,
Germany: FEUCHTWANGER, LION
Johanna L. Spector, D.H.S.;
Professor of Musicology, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
New York: YEMEN
Shmuel Spector*, M.A.; Historian,
Jerusalem: ABKHAZ AUTONOMOUS
SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC;
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ALEKSANDRIYA; ANANYEV; ANTI-FASCIST
COMMITTEE, JEWISH; ARTEMOVSK;
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GORODOK; GORODOK; GRANDE,
BENZION MOISEEVICH; GROSSMAN,
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CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
LEONID PETROVICH; GROSSMAN, VASILI
SEMYONOVICH; GUZIK, HANNA; ILYA;
ISBAKH, ALEXANDER ABRAMOVICH;
IVANOVO; IVYE; IZMAIL; IZYASLAV;
JAUNIJELGAVA; JEKABPILS; JELGAVA;
JOCHELSON, VLADIMIR; JOFFE,
ADOLPH ABRAMOVICH; KAGANOVICH,
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KONOTOP; KORETS; KOROSTEN;
KORSUN-SHEVCHENKOVSKI; KOVEL;
KRASLAVA; KRASNODAR; KRASNOYE;
KREISER, JACOB GRIGORYEVICH;
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ROMNY; ROSTOV; ROVNO; SARNY;
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Charles Samuel Spencer, Art Critic,
London: ABRAHAMS, IVOR; BLACK, SIR
MISHA; BOMBERG, DAVID; CARO, SIR
ANTHONY; COHEN, BERNARD; COHEN,
HAROLD; DANIELS, ALFRED; EHRLICH,
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KREMEGNE, PINCHAS; LE WITT, JAN;
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ABRAHAM; NEIZVESTNY, ERNST;
NEWMAN, BARNETT; OYVED, MOYSHE;
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CLAUDE MAURICE; ROSENBERG, EUGENE;
ROSENBERG, LAZAR; ROTHENSTEIN,
MICHAEL; ROTHENSTEIN, SIR WILLIAM;
SCHOEFFER, NICOLAS; SCHOTTLANDER,
BERNARD; SCHOTZ, BENNO; SEROV,
VALENTIN; SONNABEND, YOLANDA;
STERN, ERNEST; SUTTON, PHILIP;
TOPOLSKI, FELIKS; WERNER, MICHAEL;
WILSON, “SCOTTIE; ZVIA
159
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Daniel Sperber*, Ph.D., ER.N.S.;
Senior Lecturer in Talmud, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: ANGARIA;
APOSTOMOS; ARNONA; BARAITA
DE-NIDDAH; COINS AND CURRENCY;
CONFLICT OF OPINION; COSMETICS;
DEREKH EREZ; GENTILE; HUNYA OF
BETH-HORON; KOI; MIN; MISHMAROT
AND MAAMADOT; MONEY CHANGERS;
NATIONS, THE SEVENTY; OENOMAUS
OF GADARA; PESIKTA RABBATI;
SAVORA, SAVORAIM; SIFREI HA-MINIM;
SYNAGOGUE, THE GREAT; TABI; TANNA,
TANNAIM; TAX GATHERERS; THEODOSIUS
OF ROME; TITLES; WEIGHTS AND
MEASURES
S. (Shalom) David Sperling’,
Ph.D.; Rabbi; Professor of Bible,
Hebrew Union College, New
York: ABRAHAM; ADRAMMELECH;
AKHENATON; AMALEKITES; ARARAT;
ASHIMA; BET-REHOB; BIBLE; BOOK
OF THE COVENANT; CANAAN, CURSE
OF; CHRONICLES, BOOK OF; CROWNS,
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GEORG AUGUST; EXODUS, BOOK OF;
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HENRI; GAD; GARDEN OF EDEN; GENESIS,
BOOK OF; GERSHON, GERSHONITES;
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GINSBERG, HAROLD LOUIS; GOD,
NAMES OF; GOLIATH; GORDIS, ROBERT;
GREENBERG, MOSHE; GRESSMANN,
HUGO; HABAKKUK; HADAD; HAGAR;
HAGGAI; HALLO, WILLIAM; HAM;
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HELD, MOSHE; HENGSTENBERG, ERNST
WILHELM; HEZEKIAH; HISTORIOGRAPHY;
HISTORY: BEGINNING UNTIL THE
MONARCHY; HISTORY: KINGDOMS
OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL; HITTITES;
HOELSCHER, GUSTAV; HOLINESS CODE;
HORSE; HOSHEA; HULDAH; HUNTING;
HUPFELD, HERMANN CHRISTIAN KARL;
HUR; HYKSOS; IDOLATRY; ILGEN, KARL
DAVID; ISAAC; JABIN; JACOB BEN HAYYIM
BEN ISAAC IBN ADONIJAH; JAEL; JAIR;
JAVAN; JEALOUSY; JEBUS, JEBUSITE;
JEHOAHAZ; JEHOIADA; JEHOIAKIM;
JEHOIARIB; JEREMIAH; JEROBOAM;
JEROBOAM II; JESSE; JETHRO; JEZEBEL;
JIRKU, ANTON; JOAB; JOASH; JOCHEBED;
JOEL; JONAH, BOOK OF; JONATHAN;
JONATHAN BEN UZZIEL; JOSHUA; JOSHUA,
BOOK OF; JOSIAH; JUDGES, THE BOOK
OF; KAUFMANN, YEHEZKEL; KENITE;
KETURAH; KING, KINGSHIP; KINGS, BOOK
OF; KITTEL, RUDOLF; KORAH; LEPROSY;
160
LEVINE, BARUCH; LEVITICUS, BOOK OF;
LEWY, JULIUS; LION; MALACHI, BOOK
OF; MALAMAT, ABRAHAM; MANASSEH;
MARTI, KARL; MAZAR, BENJAMIN; MEDES
AND MEDIA; MICAH; MIRIAM; MOLOCH,
CULT OF; MOSES; MOWINCKEL, SIGMUND
OLAF PLYTT; NAHUM; NEHUSHTAN;
OBADIAH, BOOK OF; PATRIARCHS, THE;
PHILISTINES; PHOENICIA, PHOENICIANS;
PROPHETS AND PROPHECY; RAB-
SARIS AND RAB-MAG; RAB-SHAKEH;
RED HEIFER; REPHAIM; REZIN; RUTH,
BOOK OF; SAMUEL; SARAH; SARNA,
NAHUM M.; SINAI, MOUNT; SOLOMON;
SONG OF SONGS; UGARITIC; WORSHIP;
ZECHARIAH; ZEPHANIAH
Ezra Spicehandler, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Hebrew Literature
and Director of Jewish Studies,
the Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, Jerusalem:
BIALIK, HAYYIM NAHMAN; BROIDO,
EPHRAIM; GOLDBERG, LEA; GREENBERG,
URI ZEVI; HEBREW LITERATURE,
MODERN; RAHEL; SCHORR, JOSHUA
HESCHEL
Renato Spiegel, B.A.; Jerusalem:
SAREATI
Howard Spier, Ph.D.; Researcher,
Institute of Jewish Affairs, London:
ANTISEMITISM
Samuel (J.) Spinner*, M.A.,
Columbia University, New York:
DINESON, JACOB; TSUKUNET
Judith Spitzer, B.A.; Jerusalem:
BEERI, TUVIA; BERNSTEIN, MOSHE;
BROWN, AIKA; FRENKEL, ITZHAK;
HALEVY, YOSEF; LIFSCHITZ, URI; MOREH,
MORDECA; NEIMAN, YEHUDAH; WEILL,
SHRAGA
Leo Spitzer*, Ph.D.; Kather Tappe
Vernon Professor of History,
Dartmouth College, Columbia
University, New York: BOLIVIA
Maurice Moshe Spitzer, Dr.Phil.;
Publisher, Jerusalem
Irving T. Spivack, M.A., M.S.;
Margate, New Jersey
Leon H. Spotts, Ph.D.; Executive
Director, Atlanta Bureau of Jewish
Education, Atlanta, Georgia: BEN-
HORIN, MEIR; BLUMENFIELD, SAMUEL;
DININ, SAMUEL; DUSHKIN, ALEXANDER
MORDECHAI; GAMORAN, EMANUEL;
HONOR, LEO L.; HURWICH, LOUIS;
KAPLAN, LOUIS LIONEL; SCHOOLMAN,
BERTHA S.
Simon Spungin*, Journalist,
Haaretz, Tel Aviv: SIMMONS, GENE
Leo Srole, Ph.D.; Professor of Social
Sciences, Columbia College of
Physicians and Surgeons, New York:
SICKNESS
David G. Stahl*, A.B., D.M.D.; Past
President, N.H. Historical Society,
Retired, New Hampshire Jewish
Federation: NEW HAMPSHIRE
Samuel (M.) Stahl*, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Beth-E],
San Antonio, Texas: SAN ANTONIO
Johann Jakob Stamm, Dr.Phil.,
Dr.Theol.; Professor of Old
Testament Studies and Ancient Near
Eastern Languages, the University of
Berne: NAMES
Shaul Stampfer, Jerusalem:
RABINOVICH, ISAAC JACOB
Lena Stanley-Clamp, B.A.;
Assistant Director, Institute of
Jewish Affairs, London: POLAND
Astrid Starck (-Adler)*, Dr.Phil.;
Professor for German and Yiddish,
Univérsité de Haute Alsace, France:
BASMAN BEN-HAYIM, RIVKE; BERINSKI,
LEV; EELZENBAUM, MICHAEL; MAYSE-
BUKH; WOOG, MAYER
Moshe Starkman, Writer, New
York: DEMBLIN, BENJAMIN; KASSEL,
DAVID; PINSKI, DAVID; REJZEN, ZALMAN;
ROSENFELD, JONAH; ROSENFELD, MORRIS;
SHOMER; SPECTOR, MORDECAI
Arthur F. Starr*, B.A., G,H.
L., M.A.H.L.; Rabbi, Hebrew
Congregation of St. Thomas, Virgin
Islands: VIRGIN ISLANDS
David Benjamin Starr*, Ph.D.;
Dean, Hebrew College, Boston:
HEBREW COLLEGE
Harry Starr, B.A., LL.B.;
President of the Lucius N. Littauer
Foundation, New York: LITTAUER,
LUCIUS NATHAN
Barbara Staudinger*, Ph.D.;
Historian, Institute for the History
of Jews in Austria, St. Poelter,
Austria: BURGENLAND; CARINTHIA
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Martina Steer*, Ph.D.; Historian,
University of Vienna, Austria: BADT-
STRAUSS, BERTHA
Sidney Steiman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Affiliate Professor of Religion, the
Christian Theological Seminary;
Lecturer in Sociology, Marian
College, Indianapolis, Indiana:
INDIANA; INDIANAPOLIS
Hannah Stein, Executive Director
of the National Council of Jewish
Women, New York: NATIONAL
COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN
Israela Stein*, B.A,; Student,
Assistant Librarian, Hebrew
University, Jewish National and
University Library, Department
of Jewish Music, Jerusalem: ABER,
ADOLF; ABRAHAM, OTTO; ALPERT,
HERB; APEL, WILLI; APPLEBAUM, LOUIS;
ATZMON, MOSHE; AVENARY, HANOCH;
BACHARACH, BURT; BENDIX, VICTOR
EMANUEL; BERLINSKI, HERMAN;
BERNSTEIN, LEONARD; BIE, OSCAR;
BOSCOVITCH, ALEXANDER URIYAH;
BRAUN, YEHEZKIEL; BROOK, BARRY
SHELLEY; BUCHWALD, THEO; BURLE
MARX, WALTER; CASTELNUOVO-
TEDESCO, MARIO; CHASINS, ABRAHAM;
CHURGIN, BATHIA; DA-OZ, RAM; DESSAU,
PAUL; DIAMOND, DAVID; DUSHKIN,
SAMUEL; EHRLICH, ABEL; ERLANGER,
CAMILLE; FANO, GUIDO ALBERTO;
FIEDLER, ARTHUR; FOGELBERG, DAN;
GEDALGE, ANDRE; GEIRINGER, KARL;
GILBOA, JACOB; GOULD, MORTON;
GRAZIANI, YITZHAK; HENDEL, NEHAMA;
HERRMANN, BERNARD; HERZOG,
GEORGE; INBAL, ELIAHU; JACOBI, ERWIN
REUBEN; JACOBI, HANOCH; JACOBS,
ARTHUR; KIRCHNER, LEON; KRIPS, JOSEF;
LAKNER, YEHOSHUA; LEAR, EVELYN;
LEFKOWITZ, DAVID; LERT, ERNST;
LEVINE, JAMES; LEVY, MARVIN DAVID;
LIEBERMANN, ROLF; LIST, EMANUEL;
LONDON, GEORGE; MACHABEY,
ARMAND; MAJOR, ERVIN; MENDEL,
ARTHUR; MENDELSSOHN, ARNOLD;
MEZZROW, MILTON; MIRON, ISSACHAR;
NATRA, SERGIU; PAULY, ROSA;
PERGAMENT, MOSES; POPPER, DAVID;
PORGES, HEINRICH; PREVIN, ANDRE;
QUELER, EVE; REINER, FRITZ; RESNIK,
REGINA; RICARDO, DAVID; RIETI,
VITTORIO; RODAN, MENDI; ROLL,
MICHAEL; RONLY-RIKLIS, SHALOM;
ROSENSTOCK, JOSEPH; ROSENTHAL,
HAROLD; ROSENTHAL, MANUEL; RUDEL,
JULIUS; RUDOLF, MAX; SADAI, YIZHAK;
SADIE, STANLEY; SAMUEL, HAROLD;
SCHULLER, GUNTHER; SCHWARZ,
RUDOLF; SEGAL, URI; SHALLON, DAVID;
SHAW, ARTIE
Judith S. Stein, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, City College
of the City University of New York:
SCHWIMMER, ROSIKA; STEINGUT
Leonard J. Stein, M.A.; Barrister
and Historian, London
Siegfried Stein, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew, University College,
London: MONEYLENDING
Stanley J. Stein, Ph.D.; Professor of
History, Princeton University, New
Jersey: NASATIR, ABRAHAM PHINEAS
Jonah C. (Chanan) Steinberg*,
Ph.D.; Director of Talmudic Studies,
Rabbinical School of Hebrew
College, Boston: HALIVNI, DAVID
WEISS
Lucien Steinberg, M.A.; Research
Worker, Centre de Documentation
Juive Contemporaine, Paris: BAUM,
HERBERT; FRANCE; PARIS
Ronit Steinberg*, Lecturer,
Jerusalem: AGAM, YAACOV; ARDON,
MORDECAI; ARIKHA, AVIGDOR; AROCH,
ARIE; BEZALEL; BEZEM, NAFTALI; CASTEL,
MOSHE; DANZIGER, ITZHAK; FIMA,
EFRAIM; GERSHUNI, MOSHE; GROSS,
MICHAEL; GUTMAN, NAHUM; JANCO,
MARCEL; KADISHMAN, MENASHE;
KAHANA, AHARON; KARAVAN, DANI;
KUPFERMAN, MOSHE; LAVIE, RAFFI;
LITVINOVSKY, PINCHAS; OFEK,
AVRAHAM; PANN, ABEL; RUBIN, REUVEN;
SCHATZ, BORIS; SHEMI, YEHIEL; SIMA,
MIRON; STREICHMAN, YEHEZKEL;
TAGGER, SIONAH; TEVET, NAHUM; TICHO,
ANNA; TUMARKIN, IGAEL; ULLMAN,
MICHA
Naomi (M.) Steinberger*, M.A.,
M.S.; Director of Library Services,
Library of the Jewish Theological
Seminary, New York: LIBRARIES
Meyer F Steinglass, B.A.; New York
Chanan Steinitz, Dr. Phil.;
Musicologist, Ramot Hashavim,
Israel: DUKAS, PAUL
Adin Steinsaltz, Rabbi; Scholar,
Jerusalem: AARON BEN MOSES HA-
LEVI OF STAROSIELCE; ABRAHAM DOV
BAER OF OVRUCH; ABRAHAM GERSHON
OF KUTOW; APTA, MEIR; ELIEZER BEN
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
JACOB HA-LEVI+B261 OF TARNOGROD;
JACOB SAMSON OF SHEPETOVKA; KALLO,
YIZHAK ISAAC; KAMENKA, ZEVI HIRSCH
OF; LAWAT, ABRAHAM DAVID BEN JUDAH
LEIB; LELOV; MARGOLIOUTH, MEIR OF
OSTRAHA; MEIR JEHIEL HA-LEVI OF
OSTROWIEC; ROTH, AARON; YESHIVOT;
ZHIDACHOV; ZUSYA OF HANIPOLI
Eleanor Sterling-Oppenheimer,
Ph.D.; Associate Professor of
Political Science, J.W. Goethe-
Universitat, Frankfurt on the Main:
FRANKFURT ON THE MAIN
David Stern*, B.A., Ph.D.; Ruth
Meltzer Professor of Classical
Hebrew Literature, University of
Pennsylvania: COHEN, ARTHUR A.
Ephraim Stern, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Archaeology, Tel Aviv University:
HAMOR; MIRIAM; PHINEHAS; WEIGHTS
AND MEASURES
Kenneth (S.) Stern*, A.B., J.D.;
Specialist on Antisemitism and
Extremism; Attorney; Author;
American Jewish Committee, New
York: HOLOCAUST DENIAL
Malcolm H. Stern, D.H.L., Rabbi;
New York: BERNSTEIN, PHILIP SIDNEY;
COHEN, JACOB RAPHAEL; HARBY, ISAAC;
MINIS; NASSY, DAVID DE ISAAC COHEN;
SAVANNAH; SHEFTALL; WASHINGTON,
GEORGE
Menahem Stern, Ph.D.;
Professor of Jewish History, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AGORANOMOS; ALEXANDER
POLYHISTOR; AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS;
ANANIAS BEN NEDEBEUS; ANTONIUS
JULIANUS; ATHENS; CAECILIUS OF
CALACTE; CALIGULA, CAIUS CAESAR
AUGUSTUS; CAPITO, MARCUS
HERENNIUS; CARACALLA, MARCUS
AURELIUS ANTONINUS; CELSUS;
CRASSUS, MARCUS LICINIUS; DIASPORA;
EPICTETUS; FISCUS JUDAICUS; FLACCUS,
VALERIUS; GREEK LITERATURE, ANCIENT;
HASMONEANS; HISTORY: EREZ ISRAEL
- SECOND TEMPLE; HYRCANUS, JOHN;
JANNES and JAMBRES; JERUSALEM;
JESHUA; JULIUS CAESAR; MANETHO;
MATTHIAS BEN THEOPHILUS; NERO;
NICHOLAS OF DAMASCUS; PLINY THE
ELDER; POMPEIUS TROGUS; PORPHYRY;
PRIESTS AND PRIESTHOOD; QUIRINIUS,
P, SULPICIUS; STRABO; SUETONIUS;
ZEALOTS AND SICARII; ZENO, PAPYRI OF
Moshe Stern, Jerusalem: HIDDUSHIM
161
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Norton B. Stern, O.D.; Editor,
Venice, California: ZELLERBACH
Samuel Miklos Stern, D.Phil.;
Fellow of All Souls College and
Lecturer in the History of Islamic
Civilization, the University of
Oxford: ABU AL-FARAJ HARUN IBN
AL-FARAJ; BANETH; BORISOV, ANDREY
YAKOVLEVICH; GERMANY; GOLDENTHAL,
JACOB
Walter Stern*: SILVERMAN, MORRIS
Manny Sternlicht, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Psychology, Yeshiva
University, New York: MasLow,
ABRAHAM H.
Bernard Sternsher, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Bowling Green State
University, Ohio: LILIENTHAL, DAVID
ELI; NILES, DAVID K.
Marie Joseph Stiassny, Lic. Th.;
Ratisbonne Monastery, Jerusalem:
RATISBONNE BROTHERS
Guy D. Stiebel*, Archaeologist,
Institute of Archaeology, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
MASADA
Ernest Stock, Ph.D.; Lecturer
in Politics and Director of the
Jacob Hiatt Institute of Brandeis
University, Jerusalem: JEWIsH
AGENCY
Silvio Shalom Stoessl, M.D.; Tel
Aviv: CARINTHIA
Jeremy Stolow*, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor, McMaster University,
Hamilton, Canada: ARTSCROLL
Bryan Edward Stone*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of History, Del
Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas:
TEXAS
Gerald Stone”, M.L.S.; Library and
Archives, Ottawa, Canada: OTTAWA
Kurt (Franklin) Stone’, B.A.,
M.A.HL.L., D.D.; Professor, Florida
Atlantic University, Boca Raton,
Florida: ACKERMAN, GARY; ANSORGE,
MARTIN CHARLES; BACHARACH, ISAAC;
BEILENSON, ANTHONY CHARLES;
BERKLEY, ROCHELLE; BERMAN, HOWARD
LAWRENCE; BOSCHWITZ, RUDOLPH
ELI; CANTOR, ERIC; CARDIN, BENJAMIN
LOUIS; CHUDOFFE, EARL; COHEN, JOHN
162
SANFORD; COHEN, WILLIAM S.; COHEN,
WILLIAM WOLFE; COPPERSMITH, SAM
Michael E. Stone, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Jewish Hellenism and
in Iranian and Armenian Studies,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ABEL-MAUL; ABRAHAM, OTHER BOOKS
OF; ADAM, OTHER BOOKS OF; AHIKAR,
BOOK OF; ANTICHRIST; BARUCH, BOOK
OF; BARUCH, REST OF THE WORDS OF;
BIBLE; DAMASCUS, BOOK OF COVENANT
OF; DANIEL, BOOKS OF; ELIJAH,
APOCALYPSE OF; EZEKIEL, APOCRYPHAL
BOOKS OF; EZRA, APOCALYPSE OF;
HABAKKUK, PROPHECY OF; ISAAC,
TESTAMENT OF; ISAIAH, MARTYRDOM
OF; JACOB, TESTAMENT OF; LAMECH;
LAMECH, BOOK OF; NOAH, BOOKS OF;
OIL OF LIFE; PROPHETS, LIVES OF THE;
SHADRACH, MESHACH, ABED-NEGO
Heinrich Strauss, Dr. Phil.; Art
Historian, Jerusalem: MENORAH
Herbert A. Strauss, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of History, City
College of the City University of
New York: BEGIN, EMILE-AUGUSTE;
BLOCH, CAMILLE; BUEDINGER, MAX;
FRIEDJUNG, HEINRICH; PHILIPPSON;
PHILIPPSON; PRIBRAM, ALFRED FRANCIS;
SALOMON, JULIUS
Lauren B. Strauss*, Ph.D.;
Independent Scholar and Professor,
Washington, D.C.: JEWISH WOMAN,
THE; GIKOW, RUTH; HARKAVY,
MINNA B.
Arie Strikovsky, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Talmud, the Technion, Haifa: RED
HEIFER; SIMONA
Avrum Stroll, Ph.D.; Professor
of Philosophy, the University of
California, San Diego: AL-HARIZI,
JUDAH BEN SOLOMON; BAR-HILLEL,
YEHOSHUA; BLACK, MAX; FEIGL,
HERBERT; GOODMAN, NELSON;
HART, HERBERT LIONEL ADOLPHUS;
HOOK, SIDNEY; KAUFMANN, FELIX;
LAZEROWITZ, MORRIS; NAGEL, ERNEST;
WAISMANN, FRIEDRICH; WHITE, MORTON
GABRIEL
John Strugnell, M.A.; Professor
of Christian Origins, Harvard
University: PHILO or LIBER
ANTIQUITATUM BIBLICARUM
Dirk Jan Struik, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of Mathematics,
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge: KOLMAN,
ARNOST
Susan Strul, Writer, Jerusalem:
ALTER, ROBERT B.; DAWIDOWICZ, LUCY;
DOCTOROW, EDGAR LAWRENCE; ELKIN,
STANLEY; FEIFFER, JULES; FRIEDAN,
BETTY; JONG, ERICA; KAPLAN, JOHANNA;
OLSEN, TILLIE; SINCLAIR. CLIVE
Harvey (Joel) Strum*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History and Political
Science, Sage College of Albany,
New York: ALBANY; SCHENECTADY
Bernard Suler, Dr. Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Berlin: ALCHEMY; AVERROES;
BONAFED, SOLOMON BEN REUBEN;
KASPI, NETHANEL BEN NEHEMIAH;
KELLERMANN, BENZION; LABI, SOLOMON;
LEVY, JACOB; MARGARITA, ANTON;
MARTINI, RAYMOND
Dror Franck Sullaper*, B.A.;
Journalist, Kol Israel, French
Language News Department,
Jerusalem: ABECASSIS, ELIETTE; ADLER,
ALEXANDRE; AMADO LEVY-VALENSI,
ELIANE; ARON, RAYMOND; ASHKENAZI,
LEON; ATLAN, HENRI; ATTALI, BERNARD;
ATTALI, JACQUES; BACRI, JEAN-PIERRE;
BADINTER, ELIZABETH; BADINTER,
ROBERT; BARBARA; BARUK, HENRI;
BENICHOU, PAUL; BENSOUSSAN,
GEORGES; BENVENISTE, EMILE; BERL,
EMMANUEL; BERNHEIM, GILLES;
BLANCHOT, MAURICE; BOBER, ROBERT;
BRENNER,FREDERIC; CALLE, SOPHIE;
CHOURAQUI, ANDRE; CIXOUS, HELENE;
COPE, JEAN-FRANCOIS; DIDI-HUBERMAN,
GEORGES; DRAI, RAPHAEL; DRAY, JULIEN;
ELKABBACH, JEAN-PIERRE; ELKANN,
JEAN-PAUL; FABIUS, LAURENT; FARHI,
DANIEL; FARHI, GABRIEL; FINKIELKRAUT,
ALAIN; GIROUD, FRANCOISE; GRAY,
MARTIN; GRESH, ALAIN; GRUMBACH,
ANTOINE; GRUMBERG, JEAN-CLAUDE;
HALTER, MAREK; IONESCO, EUGENE
Esther Sulman, New London,
Connecticut
Samuel L. Sumberg, Ph.D.;
Professor of Germanic and Slavic
Languages, City College of the
City University of New York: BAUM,
VICKI; FULDA, LUDWIG; HOLLAENDER;
KINGSLEY, SIDNEY; LOTHAR, ERNST;
LOTHAR, RUDOLF; MOSENTHAL,
SALOMON HERMANN; ROESSLER, CARL;
WAREIELD, DAVID
Frank N. Sundheim, M.A., Rabbi;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Lecturer in Religion, the University
of Tampa, Florida: AMERICAN
COUNCIL FOR JUDAISM
Monique Susskind Goldberg”,
MA., Rabbi; Schechter Institute for
Jewish Studies, Jerusalem: GOLINKIN,
DAVID
Joanna Sussman”, B.A.; University
of Minnesota, Director of Kar-Ben
Publishing, Minneapolis: KAR-BEN/
LERNER
Sara Sviri*, Ph.D.; Distinguished
Visiting Professor, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: SUFISM
Craig Svonkin*, M.A.; Lecturer,
University of California, Riverside:
BELLOW, SAUL; BLOOM, HAROLD;
CHABON, MICHAEL; GINSBERG, ALLEN;
OZICK, CYNTHIA; STEIN, GERTRUDE;
TRILLING, LIONEL
Deborah K. Swanson”*: CITY OF HOPE
NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
Manfred Eric Swarsensky, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Madison, Wisconsin:
TWERSKI, JACOB ISRAEL
Louis J. Swichkow, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Historian, Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
LEVITAN, SOLOMON; PADWAY, JOSEPH
ARTHUR; SCHEINFELD, SOLOMON
ISAAC
Donald Sylvan*: JEWISH EDUCATION
SERVICE OF NORTH AMERICA
Marie Syrkin, M.A.; Emeritus
Professor of English Literature,
Brandeis University, Waltham,
Massachusetts: ZUCKERMAN, BARUCH
Judith E. Szapor*, Ph.D.; Instructor,
York University, Toronto, Canada:
GRAY, HERBERT ESER; JACOBS, SAMUEL
WILLIAM; KANEE, SOL; STEIN, JANICE
GROSS
Yechiel (Sheintukh) Szeintuch’,
Ph.D.; Professor of Yiddish
Literature and Language; the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
PERLOV, YITSKHOK; STEIMAN, BEYNUSH;
STRIGLER, MORDECAI
Leon Aryeh Szeskin, Ph.D.;
Director, Department of Economic
Survey and Advice, Rural Planning
and Development Authority, Israel
Ministry of Agriculture, Tel Aviv:
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
COOPERATIVES; EGGED; HAMASHBIR
HAMERKAZI; TNUVA
David Szonyi, Program Associate,
Department of Community
Education, Jewish Theological
Seminary of America
Zvi H. Szubin, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Classical Languages
and Hebrew, City College of the City
University of New York: HUMILITY;
MERCY; RIGHTEOUSNESS
Robert P. Tabak*, Ph.D.; Rabbi.;
Chaplain, Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia:
HOSPITALS; LEVINTHAL; PENNSYLVANIA;
PHILADELPHIA; RECONSTRUCTIONIST
RABBINICAL COLLEGE; TEUTSCH, DAVID
Joseph Tabory*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Dean of Libraries, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan: AFIKOMAN
Gad Tadmor, M.D.; Savyon, Israel:
WOOLE, MOSHE
Hayim Tadmor, Ph.D.; Professor of
Assyriology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: CAMBYSES; ELAM;
JEHOAHAZ; JEHOASH; JEHORAM; JOASH;
LANDSBERGER, BENNO; LEWY, JULIUS
Emily Taitz*, Ph.D.; Author,
Historian, Great Neck, New York:
BACHARACH, EVA; CONAT, ABRAHAM
BEN SOLOMON; DREYZL, LEAH; ESTERKE;
FIRZOGERIN; FISHELS, ROIZL OF CRACOW;
GOLDSCHMIDT, JOHANNA SCHWABE;
MIRIAM BAT BENAYAH; SARAH OF
TURNOVO; STERNBERG, SARAH FRANKEL
Josef Tal, Composer and Senior
Lecturer in Musicology, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: DAVID,
FERDINAND; GERSHWIN, GEORGE;
HALEVY, JACQUES FROMENTAL ELIE;
HILLER, FERDINAND
Shlomo Tal, M.A., M.Jur., Rabbi;
Director of the Zeev Gold Institute,
Jerusalem: CLEVES GET; ISSERLES, MOSES
BEN ISRAEL; KATZENELLENBOGEN, MEIR
BEN ISAAC; LEVIN, ZEVI HIRSCH BEN
ARYEH LOEB; MINTZ, MOSES BEN ISAAC;
POLLACK, JACOB BEN JOSEPH; RESPONSA;
SAMUEL BEN DAVID MOSES HA-LEVI
Michael Adin Talbar, B.A.;
Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, Jerusalem
Cheryl Tallan*, M.A.; Independent
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Scholar, Toronto, Canada: BRANDEAU,
ESTHER; HAVA OF MANOSQUE; KANDLEIN
OF REGENSBURG; LAZA OF FRANKFURT;
LICORICIA OF WINCHESTER; MERECINA
OF GERONA; NATHAN, VENGUESSONE
Frank Talmage, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Medieval and Modern
Hebrew, the University of Toronto:
KIMHI, DAVID; KIMHI, JOSEPH; KIMHI,
MOSES; NETHANEL BEN AL-FAYYUMI
Jacob L. Talmon, Ph.D.; Professor
of Modern History, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: NAMIER, SIR
LEWIS
David Tamar, Ph.D.; Lecturer in
Jewish History, Haifa University:
CARO, JOSEPH BEN EPHRAIM; EPSTEIN,
MOSES MORDECAI; GALANTE, ABRAHAM
BEN MORDECAI; GALANTE, MOSES
BEN JONATHAN; GALANTE, MOSES
BEN MORDECAI; GALLICO, ELISHA BEN
GABRIEL; GEDALIAH HA-LEVI; GERSHON,
ISAAC; GRUENHUT, DAVID BEN NATHAN;
HAGIZ, JACOB; HAGIZ, MOSES; ISAIAH
HASID FROM ZBARAZH; JOSHUA IBN NUN;
KLAUSNER, ABRAHAM; KOIDONOVER,
AARON SAMUEL BEN ISRAEL;
PROVENGAL, DAVID BEN ABRAHAM
Ittai Joseph Tamari*, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, Ludwig-Maximilians-
Universitat, Munich: AUERBACH,
ERICH
Meir Tamari, Ph.D.; Chief
Economist, Office of the Governor
of the Bank of Israel, Jerusalem:
BUSINESS ETHICS
David Tanne, Chairman of the
Board of Directors, Tefahot-
Mortgage Bank; Former Director
General of the Ministry of Housing:
AMIDAR; ISRAEL, STATE OF: ALIYAH
Abraham J. Tannenbaum, Ph.D.;
Professor of Education, Columbia
University, New York: BETTELHEIM,
BRUNO; BLOOM, BENJAMIN SAMUEL;
CREMIN, LAWRENCE ARTHUR; LORGE,
IRVING; PASSOW, AARON HARRY:
SCHWAB, JOSEPH J.
Carlos A. Tapiero*, M.A.; Rabbi,
Director of Education, Maccabi
World Union, Ramat Gan:
GUATEMALA
Shimshon Tapuach, Ph.D.;
Ministry of Agriculture, Tel Aviv:
AGRICULTURE
163
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Judit Targarona (Borras)*, Ph.D.;
Profesora Titular, Universidad
Complutense, Madrid, Spain: DE
PIERA, SOLOMON BEN MESHULLAM
Noga Tarnopolsky*, A.B.;
Journalist, Freelancer, Jerusalem:
TARNOPOLSKY, SAMUEL
Esther Tarsi-Gay, Dr.Phil.; the
Graduate Library School of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Aryeh Tartakower, Ph.D., S.P.D.;
Former Lecturer in the Sociology of
the Jews, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem; Former Chairman of the
Israel Executive of the World Jewish
Congress, Jerusalem: BIENENSTOCK,
MAX; HITAHADUT; LEWITE, LEON;
REFUGEES; REICH, LEON; STAND, ADOLF;
THON, OSIAS
Israel Moses Ta-Shma, M.A.,
Rabbi; Editorial staff, Encyclopaedia
Hebraica, Jerusalem: ABRAHAM;
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC OF MONTPELLIER;
ABULAFIA, MEIR; AGHMATI, ZECHARIAH
BEN JUDAH; AGRAT BAT MAHALATH;
ALFASI, ISAAC BEN JACOB; ASHER BEN
SAUL; ASHKENAZI, DAN; BABEL, TOWER
OF; BARUCH BEN ISAAC OF ALEPPO;
BARUCH BEN ISAAC OF WORMS; BARUCH
BEN SAMUEL OF MAINZ; BONFILS, JOSEPH
BEN SAMUEL; DAVID; DAVID BEN LEVI OF
NARBONNE; DAVID BEN SAADIAH; DAY
AND NIGHT; DUEREN, ISAAC BEN MEIR;
ELHANAN BEN ISAAC OF DAMPIERRE;
ELIEZER BEN NATHAN OF MAINZ;
ELIEZER BEN SAMUEL OF METZ; ELIEZER
OF TOUL; ELIEZER OF TOUQUES; EZRA
OF MONTCONTOUR; GABBAI, MOSES
BEN SHEM-TOV; GENEALOGY; GERONDI,
SAMUEL BEN MESHULLAM; HAGOZER,
JACOB AND GERSHOM; HAKDAMAH;
HANANEL BEN HUSHPEL; HA-PARNAS,
SEFER; HASSAGOT; HAVDALAH; HAYYIM
BEN SAMUEL BEN DAVID OF TUDELA;
HAYYIM PALTIEL BEN JACOB; HEFEZ BEN
YAZLIAH; HUZPIT HA-METURGEMAN;
IBN MIGASH, JOSEPH BEN MEIR HA-LEVI;
IBN PLAT, JOSEPH; IBN SHUAIB, JOSHUA;
ISAAC BAR DORBELO; ISAAC BEN ELIEZER;
ISAAC BEN JOSEPH OF CORBEIL; ISAAC
BEN MENAHEM THE GREAT; ISAAC
BEN SAMUEL OF DAMPIERRE; ISAAC OF
EVREUX; ISAIAH BEN ELIJAH DI TRANI;
ISAIAH BEN MALI DI TRANI; ISRAELI,
ISRAEL; ISSUR VE-HETTER; JACOB BEN
SAMSON; JACOB BEN YAKAR; JACOB OF
CORBEIL; JACOB OF ORLEANS; JAMA,
SAMUEL IBN; JEHIEL BEN JOSEPH OF
PARIS; JEROHAM BEN MESHULLAM; JOB,
164
THE BOOK OF; JOEL BEN ISAAC HA-LEVI,
JONATHAN BEN AMRAM; JONATHAN BEN
DAVID HA-KOHEN OF LUNEL; JONATHAN
BEN ELEAZAR; JOSEPH BEN BARUCH OF
CLISSON; JOSEPH BEN HIYYA; JOSEPH
BEN JUSTU OF JAEN; JOSEPH BEN MOSES
OF TROYES; JOSEPH ROSH HA-SEDER;
JOSHUA HA-GARSI; JUDAH; JUDAH BEN
BARZILLAI, AL-BARGELONI; JUDAH
BEN KALONYMUS BEN MEIR; JUDAH
BEN MOSES HA-DARSHAN; JUDAH BEN
NATHAN; JUDAH BEN YAKAR; JUDAH
III; KARET; KASHER, MENAHEM; KIMHI,
MORDECAI; LANDAU, JACOB; LATTES,
JUDAH; LIMA, MOSES BEN ISAAC JUDAH;
LURIA, SOLOMON BEN JEHIEL; MACHIR
BEN JUDAH; MAIMON BEN JOSEPH;
MASNUT, SAMUEL BEN NISSIM; MEIR
BEN BARUCH HA-LEVI; MEIR BEN ISAAC
OF TRINQUETAILLE; MEIRI, MENAHEM
BEN SOLOMON; MEKIZE NIRDAMIM;
MENAHEM BEN SOLOMON; MENAHEM
OF MERSEBURG; MESHULLAM BEN
MOSES; MESHULLAM BEN NATHAN OF
MELUN; MINHAGIM BOOKS; MORDECAI
BEN HILLEL HA-KOHEN; MOSES BEN
ABRAHAM OF PONTOISE; MOSES BEN
JACOB OF COUCY; MOSES HA-DARSHAN;
MOSES OF EVREUX; MUELHAUSEN, YOM
TOV LIPMANN; NAHMANIDES; NAHMIAS,
JOSEPH BEN JOSEPH; NETHANEL BEN
ISAIAH; NETHANEL OF CHINON; NIDDAH;
NISSIM BEN JACOB BEN NISSIM IBN
SHAHIN; PEREZ BEN ELIJAH OF CORBEIL;
PETTER BEN JOSEPH; RAGOLER, ELIJAH
BEN JACOB; RASHI; RESPONSA; REUBEN
BEN HAYYIM; RISHONIM; SAADIAH GAON;
SAMSON BEN ELIEZER; SAMSON BEN
ISAAC OF CHINON; SAMSON BEN JOSEPH
OF FALAISE; SAMSON BEN SAMSON OF
COUCY; SAMUEL BEN NATRONAIT; SAMUEL
BEN SOLOMON OF FALAISE; SAMUEL OF
EVREUX; SEFER HA-NEYAR; SHEMAIAH OF
TROYES; SIMEON BEN MENASYA; SIMEON
BEN SAMUEL OF JOINVILLE; SOLOMON
BEN JUDAH “OF DREUX”; SOLOMON BEN
MEIR; SOLOMON BEN SAMSON; TOSAFOT;
VIDAL, CRESCAS; YOSE BEN JUDAH; YOSE
BEN KIPPAR; YOSE BEN MESHULLAM;
YOSE HA-GELILI
Yitzhak Julius Taub, B.A., M.Jur.;
Journalist; Former Secretary
General of the Bank of Israel;
Director of “The Bialik Institute,”
Jerusalem: BAR-YOSEF, YEHOSHUA;
COINS AND CURRENCY; HOROWITZ,
DAVID
Gerald E. Tauber, Ph.D.; Professor
of Mathematical Physics, Tel Aviv
University: EHRENFEST, PAUL; EINSTEIN,
ALBERT; MANDELSHTAM, LEONID
ISAAKOVICH
Oded Tavor, B.A.; the Shiloah
Center for Middle Eastern and
African Studies, Tel Aviv University:
SYRIA
Yossi Tavor*, B.Mus.; Journalist,
Culture Observer, Voice of Israel,
Israeli Broadcasting Authority,
Jerusalem: DANCE; EIFMAN, BORIS;
PLISETSKAYA, MAYA
Joan E. Taylor*, B.A., B.D., Ph.D.;
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Religious
Studies, University of Waikato,
Hamilton, New Zealand: EIN
FASHKHAH; THERAPEUTAE
Avigdor (Victor) Tcherikover,
Ph.D.; Professor of Ancient History,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ALEXANDRIA; ARISTEAS, LETTER OF
Guido (Gad) Tedeschi, D.Jur.;
Professor of Civil Law, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: EHRLICH,
EUGEN; GLASER, JULIUS ANTON;
OPPENHEIM, LASSA FRANCIS LAWRENCE
Tom Teicholz*, J.D., M.S.J.; Film
Producer/Journalist, Santa Monica,
California: DEMJANJUK, JOHN; MOTION
PICTURES
Sheldon Teitelbaum’, B.A.; Writer,
The Jerusalem Report, Agoura Hills,
California: KANTOR, MICHAEL; KRIPKE,
SAUL AARON; LAS VEGAS; LOS ANGELES;
NEVADA; SCIENCE FICTION AND
FANTASY, JEWISH
Sefton D. Temkin, Ph.D.; Rabbi;
Professor of Judaic Studies, State
University of New York at Albany:
COHEN; ADLER, CYRUS; ADLER, SAMUEL;
ALTHEIMER, BENJAMIN; AMERICAN
HEBREW, THE; AMERICAN ISRAELITE;
BENAS, BARON LOUIS; BERKOWITZ,
HENRY; BERNHEIM, ISAAC WOLFE;
BIRMINGHAM; BOSTON; BRICKNER,
BARNETT ROBERT; CEMETERY; COHON,
SAMUEL SOLOMON; COURANT,
RICHARD; DUKER, ABRAHAM GORDON;
ECKMAN, JULIUS; EINHORN, DAVID;
FELSENTHAL, BERNHARD; FOUNDATIONS;
FRANZBLAU, ABRAHAM NORMAN;
FRIEND, HUGO MORRIS; GOLD, HENRY
RAPHAEL; HACKENBURG, WILLIAM
BOWER; HEIDENHEIM, WOLF; HELLER;
HERTZ, EMANUEL; HOCHEIMER, HENRY;
JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW; KIRSTEIN,
LOUIS EDWARD; KOHLER, KAUFMANN;
KRAUSKOPFE, JOSEPH; LAZARON, MORRIS
SAMUEL; LEIPZIGER, EMIL WILLIAM;
LEVINTHAL; LIEBMAN, JOSHUA LOTH;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
MACAULAY, THOMAS BABINGTON;
MENDES; MERZBACHER, LEO; MESSEL;
MEYER, MARTIN ABRAHAM; MOSES,
ISAAC S.; PHILIPSON, DAVID; ROSENDALE,
SIMON WOLFE; SARACHEK, JOSEPH;
SCHINDLER, SOLOMON; SCHLOESSINGER,
MAX; SHANKMAN, JACOB K.; SHULMAN,
CHARLES E.; SINGER, ISIDORE;
TRACHTENBERG, JOSHUA; UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA; VOORSANGER,
JACOB; WALEY; WISE, JONAH
BONDI
David Tene, D.del’U; Senior
Lecturer in Hebrew Language, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem.: IBN
JANAH, JONAH; LINGUISTIC LITERATURE,
HEBREW; YEHUDI BEN SHESHET
Shelly Tenenbaum”, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Sociology,
Clark University, Worcester,
Massachusetts: LOW, MINNIE
Philipp Theisohn*, Ph.D.;
Research Associate, Eberhard Karls
University, Tubingen, Germany:
ANDERS, GUENTHER; AUSLAENDER,
ROSE; BEER-HOFMANN, RICHARD;
EINSTEIN, CARL; FRANZOS, KARL
EMIL; HEYM, STEFAN; HILDESHEIMER,
WOLFGANG; HOFMANNSTHAL, HUGO
VON; HOLITSCHER, ARTHUR; MOMBERT,
ALFRED; MOSENTHAL, SALOMON
HERMANN; MUEHSAM, ERICH; VAN
HODDIS, JAKOB; WINDER, LUDWIG
Pascal Themanlys, Writer,
Jerusalem: MILBAUER, JOSEPH
Jeffrey Howard Tigay, M.H.L.,
Rabbi; Hamden, Connecticut:
ABRECH; ADOPTION; ADULTERY;
ASENAPPER; BLINDNESS; DRUNKENNESS;
EBER; ETHAN; ETHBAAL; LAMENTATIONS,
BOOK OF; PARADISE
Jef Tingley*, B.A.; Marketing
Director, Jewish Federation of
Greater Dallas: DALLAS
Ofra Tirosh-Becker*, Ph.D.;
Lecturer, The Center for the Study
of Jewish Languages and Literatures,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CONSTANTINE
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson’*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, Arizona
State University, Tucson, Arizona:
BEATITUDE; PHILOSOPHY, JEWISH
Ariel Toaff, Ph.D., Rabbi; the
Rabbinical College of Italy, Rome:
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
CALABRIA; CATANZARO; DE’ ROSSI,
GIOVANNI BERNARDO; ELIJAH BEN
SHABBETAI BE’ER; ELIJAH OF PESARO;
JARE; LECCE; MODENA; NAPLES; ORVIETO;
OTRANTO; PERUGIA; PESARO; RAVENNA;
RECANATI; REGGIO DI CALABRIA; REGGIO
EMILIA; RIMINI; SALERNO; SAN MARINO;
SENIGALLIA; SFORNO, OBADIAH BEN
JACOB; SIENA; SINIGAGLIA; SIPONTO;
SPOLETO; TARANTO
Yosef Tobi*, Ph.D.; Professor,
University of Haifa: ABDALLAH, YUSEF;
ADANI, MAHALAL; ADANI, SAMUEL BEN
JOSEPH; ADEN; AMRAN; ARUSI, ABRAHAM
BEN MOSES HA-LEVI; BAYHAN; BENAYAH;
DHAMAR; GLASER, EDUARD; HABBAN;
HADRAMAWT; HAYDAN; HIBSHUSH,
HAYYIM; HIJAZ; JAMAL SULAYMAN;
KAWKABAN; KORAH, ‘AMRAM BEN YIHYE;
KORAH, SHALOM BEN YIHYE; KUHAYL,
SHUKR BEN SALIM; MANAKHAH; MAWZA;
MOCHA; NADDAE, ABRAHAM HAYYIM;
NIEBUHR, CARSTEN; QUEEN OF SHEBA;
RABI’ IBN ABI AL-HUQAYQ; SADAH; SADI,
SAID BEN SOHELOMO; SAN’A; SHAR'AB;
SHEIKH, ABRAHAM BEN SHALOM HA-LEVI
AL-; SHIBAM; TAYMA; YEMEN; YUSUF
AS'AR YATH'AR DHU NUWAS
Alexander Tobias, Ph.D.;
Librarian, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York:
ABRAHAM ABUSCH BEN ZEVI HIRSCH;
BUECHLER, ADOLF; CALENDAR
REFORM; HAHN, JOSEPH YUSPA BEN
PHINEHAS SELIGMANN; HAYYIM BEN
BEZALEL; KALMAN OF WORMS; KISCH,
BRUNO ZECHARIAS; KUBOVY, ARYEH
LEON; LUZZATTO, SAMUEL DAVID;
MARGOLIOUTH, MOSES; MARMORSTEIN,
ARTHUR; MILLER, LOUIS E.; PINNER,
EPHRAIM MOSES BEN ALEXANDER
SUSSKIND; ROSENBAUM, MORRIS;
ZEDNER, JOSEPH; ZIMMELS, HIRSCH
JACOB; ZUCKERMAN, BENEDICT
Henry J. Tobias*, Ph.D.; Professor
Emeritus of History, University of
Oklahoma: ALBUQUERQUE; KATZ,
MOSES; KRANTZ, PHILIP; MAGIDOV,
JACOB; NEW MEXICO; VINCHEVSKY,
MORRIS
Thomas J. Tobias, B.S.; Charleston,
South Carolina: AZUBY, ABRAHAM;
COHEN, PHILIP MELVIN; DA COSTA,
ISAAC; DE LA MOTTA, JACOB; DE LEON;
ELZAS, BARNETT ABRAHAM; MOISE,
ABRAHAM; MOISE, PENINA; MOSES,
RAPHAEL J.; SALVADOR; TOBIAS,
ABRAHAM; TOBIAS, JOSEPH
Theo Toebosch*, M.A.; Journalist/
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Writer, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: jiTTA, DANIEL JOSEPHUS
Uri (Erich) Toeplitz, Musician
and Teacher, Tel Aviv University -
Rubin Academy of Music:
ZUKERMAN, PINCHAS; AVNI, TZEV];
BRAUN, YEHEZKIEL; DA-OZ, RAM;
DAUS, AVRAHAM; EDEN-TAMIR; FRIED,
MIRIAM; GILBOA, JACOB; GRAZIANI,
YITZHAK; HEIFETZ, JASCHA; HOROVITZ,
VLADIMIR; HUBERMAN, BRONISLAW;
INBAL, ELIAHU; JACOBI, HANOCH; JAFFE,
ELI, KALICHSTEIN, JOSEPH; KLEMPERER,
OTTO; KOUSSEVITZKY, SERGE; LAKNER,
YEHOSHUA; MAAYANI, AMI; MENUHIN,
SIR YEHUDI; MILSTEIN, NATHAN; NATRA,
SERGIU; ORGAD, BEN ZION; PIATIGORSKY,
GREGOR; PRESSLER, MENAHEM; RONLY-
RIKLIS, SHALOM; RUBINSTEIN, ARTUR;
SADAI, YIZHAK; SCHIDLOWSKY, LEON;
SETER, MORDECHAI; SHMUELI, HERZL;
SMOIRA-COHN, MICHAL; STERN, ISAAC
Marvin Tokayer, M.A., Rabbi;
Former rabbi of Tokyo community;
Writer, Jerusalem: HAHN, JOSEPH BEN
MOSES; HEILBRONN, JOSEPH BEN DAVID
OF ESCHWEGE; JAPAN
Samuel Tolansky, Ph.D., D.Sc.,
D.I.C., ER.A.S., ER.S.; Professor of
Physics, Royal Holloway College,
the University of London
Bina Toledo Freiwald*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Concordia
University, Montreal, Canada:
MAYNARD, FREDELLE BRUSER
Jerucham Tolkes, Writer, Tel Aviv:
CHORIN, AARON; SALKIND, JACOB MEIR;
SILBERSCHLAG, EISIG; SONNE, ISAIAH;
WALLENROD, REUBEN; WEINBERG,
ZEVI ZEBULUN; WENDROFF, ZALMAN;
WUENSCHE, AUGUST KARL; ZHITLOWSKY,
CHAIM
William Toll*, Ph.D.; Adjunct
Professor, University of Oregon:
PISCO, SERAPHINE EPPSTEIN
Haim Toren, M.A.; Writer,
Jerusalem: ARICHA, YOSEF
Samuel Totten*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Genocide Studies, University of
Arkansas, Fayetteville; Member of
the Institute on the Holocaust and
Genocide, Jerusalem: HOLOCAUST
Charles Touati, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Assistant Professor of Jewish
Philosophy, Ecole Pratique des
165
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, Paris: LEVI
BEN GERSHOM; VAJDA, GEORGES
E.L. Touriel, M.D., Los Angeles:
PUGLIESE, UMBERTO
Jacob Toury, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Jewish History, Tel Aviv
University: ANTISEMITISM
Barry (C.) Trachtenberg*, Ph.D.;
Professor, University at Albany, New
York: ERIK, MAX; NIGER, SHMUEL
Henry Trachtenberg”, B.A., M.A.,
Ph.D.; Analyst Historian, Historic
Resources Branch of Culture,
Heritage and Tourism, Manitoba,
Canada: HEAPS, ABRAHAM ALBERT;
WEIDMAN, HIRAM AND MORDECAIS.
Leon Trahtemberg*, M.A.;
Principal, Leon Pinelo Jewish
School, National Council of
Education, Lima, Peru: LIMA; PERU
Barbara Trainin Blank*, Writer,
President of Blank Page Writing
and Editorial Services, Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania: HARRISBURG
Hans L. Trefousse, Ph.D.; Professor
of History, Brooklyn College
of the City University of New
York: HANDLIN, OSCAR; JOSEPHSON,
MATTHEW; MYERS, GUSTAVUS
Esther Trépanier*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Art History, University of
Quebec, Montreal: CAISERMAN-ROTH,
GHITTA; MUHLSTOCK, LOUIS
Emanuela Trevisan Semi*,
Professor in Modern Hebrew
and Jewish Studies, Ca’ Foscari
University, Venice, Italy: BETA ISRAEL;
FAITLOVITCH, JACQUES
Mirjam Triend] (-Zadoff)*, M.A.;
Junior Staff Member, Doctoral
Student, for Jewish History of
Culture, University of Munich,
Germany: BETTAUER, HUGO;
BILLROTH, THEODOR; BROD, MAX;
BUNZL; FREUD, ANNA; FRIEDELL, EGON;
HEIMANN, MORITZ; KADIMAH; KALEKO,
MASCHA; KERR, ALFRED; LUXEMBURG,
ROSA; SCHOLEM, WERNER; TORBERG,
FRIEDRICH; VEREIN ZUR ABWEHR DES
ANTISEMITISMUS; WOLF, GERSON
Harold Troper*, Ph.D.; Professor of
History and Education, University
of Toronto, Canada: ARNOLD, ABE;
166
ASPER, ISRAEL H.; AZRIELI, DAVID;
BARRETT, DAVID; BLANKSTEIN, CECIL;
BRONFMAN; CAPLAN, ELINOR; CARR,
JUDY FELD; CASS, FRANK; COHEN,
NATHAN; COTLER, IRWIN; DIAMOND,
JACK; GOTLIEB, ALLAN; HERZOG, SHIRA;
JOURNALISM; KOFFLER, MURRAY;
LAMBERT, PHYLLIS; LAWYERS; LEWIS,
STEPHEN; LITTMAN, SOL; ONTARIO;
POLITICS; PRESS; REICHMANN; SEGAL,
HUGH; SIEGEL, IDA LEWIS; TANENBAUM;
TORONTO
Amram Tropper™: AVOT
Daniel Tropper, Ph.D.; Director,
Gesher Foundation, Jerusalem
Isaiah Trunk, Historian, YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research, New
York: POLAND
Hiller Tryster, Film Critic and
Journalist, Jerusalem
Dan Tsalka, Writer and Critic, Tel
Aviv: AMICHAI, YEHUDA; GILBOA, AMIR
Tsemah Tsamriyon, Ph.D.;
Educator, Haifa: HAME’ASSEF
Benyamim Tsedaka, Writer,
Editor Aleph-Bet, Holon, Israel:
SAMARITANS
Jacob Tsur, Former Ambassador
and former Chairman of the Board
of Directors, the Jewish National
Fund, Jerusalem: ARIEL, JOSEPH;
BLUMEL, ANDRE; JEWISH NATIONAL
FUND
Tom Tugend*, M.A., Contributing
Editor, Jewish Journal of Greater Los
Angeles, Sherman Oaks, California:
HIER, MARVIN; SIMON WIESENTHAL
CENTER
Gerald (J.J.) Tulchinsky*, Ph.D.;
Emeritus Professor of History,
Queens University, Kingston,
Canada: ANSELL, DAVID ABRAHAM;
BERCOVICH, PETER; CAISERMAN, HANAE
MEIER; CANADA; COHEN, LYON; CROLL,
DAVID ARNOLD; DAVIS, MORTIMER B.;
DUNKELMAN, BENJAMIN; DUNKELMAN,
ROSE; PHILLIPS, LAZARUS; ROSE, FRED;
ROTHSCHILD, ROBERT PHINEAS
Joseph Turner*: sCHWEID, ELIEZER
Michael Turner*, Ph.D.; Professor,
UNESCO Chair for Urban Design
and Conservation Studies, Bezalel
Academy of Arts and Design,
Jerusalem: ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCES
Chava Turniansky, M.A.; Instructor
in Yiddish Language and Literature,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
TASHRAK; ZE’ENAH U-RE’ENAH
Naphtali Herz Tur-Sinai
(Torczyner), Dr. Phil.; Emeritus
Professor of Hebrew Language, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
President of the Academy of the
Hebrew Language, Jerusalem:
MUELLER, DAVID HEINRICH
Chasia Turtel, M.A.; Researcher
in Jewish History, Jerusalem: BEILIS,
MENAHEM MENDEL; BLONDES, DAVID;
BOPPARD; CLEVES; COTTBUS; DEUTZ;
FRANKEURT ON THE ODER; HANAU;
JUELICH; KIEL; KREFELD; KREUZNACH;
LANDAU
Shaul Tuval, M.A.; Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem: JAPAN;
PHILIPPINES
David Twersky*, B.A.; Contributing
Editor, NY Sun; Director
International Relations, American
Jewish Congress, West Orange, New
Jersey: NEW JERSEY
Isadore Twersky, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Hebrew Literature and
Philosophy, Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts:
ABRAHAM BEN DAVID OF POSQUIERES
Yohanan Twersky, Writer and
Editor, Tel Aviv: AMIR, ANDA
Gail Twersky Reimer*, Ph.D.;
Founding Director, Jewish Women’s
Archive, Brookline, Massachusetts:
SCHWARTZ, FELICE NIERENBERG
Ida Libert Uchill, B.A.; Denver,
Colorado
Jacob B. Ukeles*, Ph.D.; President,
Ukeles Associates, New York: NEW
YORK CITY
Ellen M. Umansky”*, Ph.D.; Carl
and Dorothy Professor of Judaic
Studies, Fairfield University,
Fairfield, Connecticut: ACKERMAN,
PAULA HERSKOVITZ; FRANK, RAY;
LICHTENSTEIN, TEHILLA; MONTAGU,
LILY; STERN, ELIZABETH GERTRUDE
LEVIN; THEOLOGY
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Rhoda K. Unger*, Ph.D.; Professor,
Resident Scholar, Women’s
Studies Research Center, Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts:
JAHODA, MARIE; MEDNICK, MARTHA
TAMARA SCHUCH; PSYCHOLOGY;
TOBACH, ETHEL
Moshe Unna, Dipl. Agr.; Former
Member of the Knesset, Kibbutz
Sedeh Eliyahu: HA-PO’EL HA-MIZRACHI;
KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT
Alan Unterman, Ph.D.; Jerusalem:
FORGIVENESS; LOPIAN, ELIJAH; RU’AH HA-
KODESH; SHEKHINAH
Morris Unterman, Rabbi; London:
SHERMAN, ARCHIE
Ephraim Elimelech Urbach, Dott.
inlett., Rabbi; Professor of Talmud,
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ABBAYE
Symcha Bunim Urbach, Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Jewish
Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: ZEITLIN, HILLEL
Ludmilla Uritskaya: AN-sk1
COLLECTIONS
Ann Ussishkin, M.A.; Jerusalem:
JEWISH COLONIZATION ASSOCIATION;
TEMPLERS
David Ussishkin*, Professor of
Archaeology, Tel Aviv University,
Tel Aviv: MEGIDDO
Baruch Uziel, Former Member of
the Knesset; Tel Aviv: ARDITI, ALBERT
JUDAH; BEN-AROYA, AVRAHAM
Bela Adalbert Vago, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in History, Haifa University
and the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: ARROW CROSS PARTY; BAKY,
LASZLO; CODREANU, CORNELIU ZELEA;
HUNGARY; IRON GUARD; SIMA, HORIA
Samuel Vaisrub, M.D. M.R.C.P;
Associate Professor, Chicago
Medical School; Senior Editor,
Journal of the American Medical
Association: MEDICINE
Georges Vajda, D.es L.; Professor of
Medieval Jewish Thought, Directeur
d Etudes al’Ecole Pratique des
Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, Paris:
ALBALAG, ISAAC; BAHYA BEN JOSEPH IBN
PAQUDA; BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE;
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
DUNASH IBN TAMIM; IBN MOTOT,
SAMUEL BEN SAADIAH; IBN WAQAR,
JOSEPH BEN ABRAHAM; MALKAH, JUDAH
BEN NISSIM IBN
Heather Valencia*, Ph.D.;
Honorary Research Fellow,
University of Stirling, Scotland:
HALPERN, MOYSHE-LEYB; KARPINOVITSH,
AVROM
Hugo Mauritz Valentin, Dr. Phil;
Professor of History, the University
of Uppsala, Sweden: BRICK, DANIEL;
EHRENPREIS, MARCUS; ELKAN, SOPHIE;
FRAENKEL, LOUIS; HECKSCHER, ELI
FILIP; ISAAC, AARON; JOSEPHSON; KLEIN,
GOTTLIEB; LAMM, MARTIN; LEVERTIN,
OSCAR IVAR; MANNHEIMER, THEODOR;
SWEDEN; WARBURG, KARL JOHAN;
WILHELM, KURT
W.J. (Willem Jan) van Asselt*,
Ph.D.; Associate Professor, Church
History, Theological Faculty Utrecht
University, The Netherlands:
COCCEIUS, JOHANNES
Wout (Wouter Jacques) van
Bekkum*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Semitic Languages and Cultures,
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen,
Germany: AMSTERDAM; NETHERLANDS,
THE
Adam Simon Van Der Woude,
M.A.; Professor of Old Testament,
the State University of Groningen,
the Netherlands: vRIEZEN,
THEODORUS CHRISTIAAN
Joris van Eijnatten*, Ph.D.;
Senior Lecturer, Early Modern
History, VU University
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
COSTA, ISAAC DA
H.EK. (Hendrik Frans Karel)
van Nierop*, Ph.D.; Professor of
Early Modern History, University
of Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
NIEROP, VAN
Robert Jan van Pelt*, Ph.D.;
Professor, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Canada: AUSCHWITZ
Peter van Rooden”*, Ph.D.; Chair,
Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, University of
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
EMPEREUR, CONSTANTIN L
Edward van Voolen, Ph.D., Rabbi;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Curator, Joods Historisch Museum,
Amsterdam
Elaine Varady, Israel Museum,
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: CULTURAL
LIFE
Benjamin (Benno) Varon (Weiser),
Abs. Med.; Ambassador, Ministry
for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC; PARAGUAY
Simon Vega, Ben Shemen, Israel:
BLANES, JACOB; DARMSTADT, JOSEPH;
MYERS, MOSES
Mervin FE, Verbit, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, Brooklyn College:
MIXED MARRIAGE, INTERMARRIAGE
Geza Vermes”, F.B.A.; Professor
of Jewish Studies, University of
Oxford, Oriental Institute, England:
SCHURER, EMIL
Saul Viener, M.A.; Richmond,
Virginia: CALISCH, EDWARD NATHAN;
ELCAN, MARCUS; ISAACS, ISAIAH; JACOBS,
SOLOMON; MYERS, SAMUEL
Claude (Andre) Vigée, Ph.D.;
Professor of French Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
CLAUDEL, PAUL; GOLL, YVAN; SCHWARZ-
BART, ANDRE
David Vinitzky, Givatayim, Israel:
BERLIAND, SHLOMO MEIR
Manfred H. Vogel, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of the History
and Literature of Religions,
Northwestern University,
Evanston, Illinois: KANT, IMMANUEL;
MONOTHEISM
Samuel Volkman, Rabbi;
Charleston, W. Virginia: WEST
VIRGINIA
Leon Volovici*, Ph.D.; Senior
Researcher, The Vidal Sassoon
International Center for the Study of
Anti-Semitism, Jerusalem, Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: BENADOR,
URY; CORNEA, PAUL; COSASU, RADU;
CROHMALNICEANU, OVID S$.; DUDA,
VIRGIL; ROMANIA
Eva M. von Dassow’*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor, University of
Minnesota: HURRIAN
Frauke von Rohden*, Ph.D.; Senior
167
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Lecturer, Freie Universitaet Berlin,
Germany: REBECCA BAT MEIR TIKTINER
Albert Vorspan*: SCHINDLER,
ALEXANDER M.
Max Vorspan, D.H.L., Rabbi; Vice
President, University of Judaism,
Los Angeles: BOYAR, LOUIS H.;
HELLMAN, ISAIAS WOLF; HOLLZER,
HARRY AARON; KOHN, JACOB; LOS
ANGELES; MAGNIN, EDGAR FOGEL;
NEWMARK; PACHT, ISAAC; SILBERBERG,
MENDEL; STROUSE, MYER; WEINSTOCK,
HARRIS
Carl Hermann Voss, Ph.D.,
Reverend; Author and Lecturer,
Jacksonville, Florida: wisE, STEPHEN
SAMUEL
Simon J. De Vries, Th.D.; Professor
of Old Testament, the Methodist
Theological School in Ohio,
Delaware: KUENEN, ABRAHAM
Ben Zion Wacholder, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics,
the Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, Cincinnati,
Ohio: ARISTEAS; BIBLE; CLEODEMUS
MALCHUS; DEMETRIUS; EUPOLEMUS;
HECATAEUS OF ABDERA; JOB, TESTAMENT
OE; PHILO; THALLUS; THEODOTUS
Miriam Dworkin Waddington,
M.A., M.S.W;; Associate Professor of
English Literature, York University,
Toronto
Michael Wade, B.A. (Hons.), Dipl.
Ed.; Instructor in English and in
African Literature, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem: JACOBSON,
DAN
Maurice Wagner, M.A.; General
Secretary of the Central African
Jewish Board of Deputies, Bulawayo,
Rhodesia: BULAWAYO; SALISBURY;
ZAMBIA; ZIMBABWE
Stanley M. Wagner*, Ph.D.;
D.H.L., Professor Emeritus; Rabbi
Emeritus, University of Denver;
BHM-BJ Congregation, Denver,
Colorado: DENVER; KAUVAR, CHARLES
ELIEZER HILLEL; KIRSHBLUM, MORDECAI;
MANDELBAUM, BERNARD; RACKMAN,
EMANUEL; WURZBURGER, WALTER S.
Felix Bernard Wahle, Tel Aviv
Shalom Salomon Wald*, Ph.D.;
168
The Jewish People Policy Planning
Institute, Jerusalem: CHINA
Stephen G. Wald”, Ph.D.; Talmud
and Rabbinics, Jerusalem: ABBA
HILKIAH; AGGADAH; AGRAT BAT
MAHALATH; AKIVA; AM HA-AREZ;
ANDROGYNOS; AVOT; BAR KAPPARA;
BARAITA DE-MELEKHET HA-MISHKAN;
BARAITA, BERAITOT; BAVA MEZIA; BEN
STADA; BERURYAH; DAMA, SON OF
NETINA; DRUNKENNESS; EDUYYOT;
ELEAZAR BEN ARAKH; ELEAZAR BEN
HANANIAH BEN HEZEKIAH; ELEAZAR
BEN HARSOM; ELIEZER BEN HYRCANUS;
ELISHA BEN AVUYAH; EZEKIEL;
GENESIS RABBAH; HAGIGAH; HALLAH;
HILLEL; IMMA SHALOM; JOHANAN BEN
GUDGADA; JOHANAN BEN NAPPAHA;
JOHANAN BEN ZAKKAI; JOHANAN HA-
SANDELAR; JOSHUA BEN HANANIAH;
JOSHUA BEN KORHA; JOSHUA BEN
PERAHYAH; JOSHUA HA-GARSI; JUDAH
BAR ILAI; JUDAH BEN BATHYRA; JUDAH
BEN BAVA; JUDAH BEN DOSOTHEOS;
JUDAH BEN GERIM; JUDAH BEN
SHAMMUA; JUDAH BEN TABBAI; JUDAH
BEN TEMA; JUDAH HA-NASI; KAHANA;
KILAYIM; MARTHA; MATTIAH BEN
HERESH; MEIR; MISHNAH; NAHUM OF
GiMZO; NATHAN HA-BAVLI; NEHEMIAH;
NEHORAI; NEHUNYA BEN HA-KANAH;
NEZIKIN; OSHAIAH RABBAH; PAPA;
RIGHT AND LEFT; SHEMAIAH; SIMEON
BAR YOHAI; SIMEON BEN NETHANEL;
SIMEON BEN SHETAH; TALMUD; TALMUD,
BABYLONIAN; TALMUD, JERUSALEM;
TOSEFTA
Solomon H. Waldenberg, M.A,
Rabbi; Santurce, Puerto Rico
Miriam Waldman*, Ph.D.; Head
of Department, Environmental
and Agricultural Research
Programs; Israel Ministry of
Science and Development; Tel Aviv:
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
James Walker*, Ph.D.; Professor
of History; University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, Canada: ABELLA, ROSALIE
SILBERMAN; BOROVOY, A. ALAN; COHEN,
MAXWELL; LASKIN, BORA; MATAS, DAVID
Jehuda Wallach, Ph.D.; Colonel
(Res.) Israel Defense Forces; Senior
Lecturer in Military History, Tel
Aviv University: BEER, ISRAEL; LASKOV,
HAYYIM; MARCUS, DAVID DANIEL; SINAI
CAMPAIGN; ZUR, ZEVI
Michael Wallach, B.Sc.; Assistant
Editor, Jewish Chronicle, London:
FISHER, SAMUEL, BARON FISHER
OF CAMDEN; GOODMAN, ARNOLD
ABRAHAM, LORD; GROSS, JOHN JACOB;
GUTTMANN, SIR LUDWIG; KISSIN, HARRY,
BARON; TOLANSKY, SAMUEL
Harold M. Waller*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Political Science, McGill
University, Montreal, Canada: EzRIN,
HERSHELL; MONTREAL; STEINBERG
Bart (Barend Theodoor) Wallet*,
M.A.; Junior Researcher, Hebrew,
Aramaic and Jewish Studies,
University of Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: AMELANDER, MENAHEM
MANN BEN SOLOMON HA-LEVI;
AMSTERDAM; ASSER; BERGH, VAN DEN;
BREGSTEIN, MARCEL HENRI; COHEN,
BENJAMIN; FELIX LIBERTATE; GODEFROI,
MICHAEL HENRI; GOUDSMIT, JOEL
EMANUEL; MEIJERS, EDUARD MAURITS;
MEYER, JONAS DANIEL; NETHERLANDS,
THE; OPPENHEIM, JACQUES; POLITICS;
VISSER, LODEWIJK ERNST
Kenneth Waltzer, Ph.D.; Teaching
Fellow in American History,
Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts: LOVESTONE, JAY;
PRESSMAN, LEE; ROSE, ALEX; ZARITSKY,
MAX
Chaim Wardi, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Christianity in the
Middle East and Africa, Tel
Aviv University: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
RELIGIOUS LIFE AND COMMUNITIES
Itamar Warhaftig*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University,
Ramat Gan: CONSUMER PROTECTION;
OBLIGATIONS, LAW OF; UNJUST
ENRICHMENT; WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Shillem Warhaftig, Dr.Jur.;
Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem:
LABOR LAW; NATHANSON, JOSEPH
SAUL; STRASHUN, MATHIAS; STRASHUN,
SAMUEL BEN JOSEPH
Iris Waskow*, B.A.; Senior Director
of Communications, University of
Judaism, Los Angeles: UNIVERSITY OF
JUDAISM, THE; WEXLER, ROBERT D.
Henry Wasserman, M.A.;
Everyman's University, Tel Aviv:
BADEN BEI WIEN; BISMARCK, OTTO VON;
BROKERS; CONSTRUCTION; DEPARTMENT
STORES; DIAMOND TRADE AND
INDUSTRY; DOBRUSCHKA-SCHOENFELD;
EPHRAIM; FERDINAND; GOLDSMITHS
AND SILVERSMITHS; GOMPERZ; GOSLAR;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
HEP! HEP!; HOENIGSBERG; JEITELES;
KLOSTERNEUBURG; LEIDESDORFER;
LINZ; LIVESTOCK, TRADE IN; MARKET
DAYS AND FAIRS; MECKLENBURG;
MEYER, SELIGMANN; MILITARY SERVICE;
MINTMASTERS AND MONEYERS; MURR,
ABRAHAM; NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH
WILHELM; OETTINGEN; OPPENHEIMER,
SAMUEL; OSTRAVA; PALATINATE;
PEDDLING; POMERANIA; PRUSSIA;
REGENSBURG; ROTHENBURG OB
DER TAUBER; ROTHSCHILD; SCHMID,
ANTON VON; SCHOENERER, GEORG
VON; SCHOTTLAENDER, BENDET;
SECONDHAND GOODS AND OLD
CLOTHES, TRADE IN; SHIPS AND SAILING;
SLAVE TRADE; STOCK EXCHANGES;
SUGAR INDUSTRY AND TRADE;
TAILORING; TEXTILES; THURINGIA;
TOBACCO TRADE AND INDUSTRIES;
ULM; VERBAND NATIONALDEUTSCHER
JUDEN; VEREIN ZUR ABWEHR DES
ANTISEMITISMUS; VORARLBERG; WEBER,
KOLOMAN
David J. Wasserstein*, Professor of
History and Jewish Studies, Director
of the Program in Jewish Studies,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville: asp
AL-HAQQ AL-ISLAMI; CALIPH; MULUK
AL-TAWAIE; SAMAU’AL BEN JUDAH IBN
"ABBAS AL-MAGHRIBI; STERN, SAMUEL
MIKLOS
James F. Watts, Jr., Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of History, City College
of the City University of New York:
EINSTEIN, LEWIS
Bernard Wax, M.A.; Director of the
American Jewish Historical Society,
Waltham, Massachusetts: FALL RIVER
James A. Wax, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Memphis, Tennessee: MEMPHIS;
TENNESSEE
Meyer Waxman, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Jewish Philosophy and
Literature, the Hebrew Theological
College of Chicago: LITERATURE,
JEWISH
Mordecai Waxman, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Great Neck, New York: LITERATURE,
JEWISH
George Julius Webber, LL.D.;
Barrister at Law, Former Reader
in English Law, the University of
London: LAWYERS
Annette Weber*, Ph.D.; Chair for
Jewish Art, Hochschule fiir Jiidische
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Studien, Heidelberg, Germany: art:
WESTERN EUROPE; DICKER-BRANDEIS,
FRIEDL; HIRSCHFELD-MACK, LUDWIG
Brom Weber, Ph.D.; Professor of
English, the University of California,
Davis: FRANK, WALDO DAVID;
GREENBERG, SAMUEL BERNARD; WEST,
NATHANAEL
Harold S. Wechsler, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Education,
University of Chicago
Fred (Frederick W.) Weidmann”*,
M.Div., Ph.D.; Director of the
Center for Church Life and
Professor of Biblical Studies,
Auburn Theological Seminary, New
York; Adjunct, Union Theological
Seminary; Pastoral Associate,
Advent Lutheran Church; Society
of Biblical Literature; American
Academy of Religion; New York:
BIBLE
Irwin Weil, Ph.D.; Professor of
Russian and Russian Literature,
Northwestern University, Evanston,
Illinois: GORKI, MAXIM
Shalva Weil, D.Phil.; Senior
Researcher, NCJW Research
Institute for Innovation in
Education, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
Asher Weill*, Editor and Publisher,
Editor, ARIEL -the Israel Review
of Arts and Letters, Jerusalem:
PUBLISHING; WEIDENFELD, GEORGE,
BARON
Georges Weill, M.A., Archiviste-
Paléographe; Directeur des Services
dArchives des Hauts-de-Seine,
France: ANCHEL, ROBERT; ARMLEDER;
BAR-LE-DUC; GROSS, HEINRICH; KAHN,
LEON; LEVY, ALFRED; LIBER, MAURICE;
LOEB, ISIDORE; REVUE DES ETUDES
JUIVES
Abraham Wein, M.A.; Historian,
Jerusalem: ARENDA; BERMAN, ADOLF
ABRAHAM; BERMAN, JAKUB; DIAMAND,
HERMAN; DICKSTEIN, SZYMON;
DROBNER, BOLESLAW; JOGICHES, LEON;
KATZ-SUCHY, JULIUSZ; LIEBERMAN,
HERMAN; MING, HILARY; SZYR,
EUGENIUSZ; WARSKI-WARSZAWSKI,
ADOLE; WOHL, HENRYK; ZAMBROWSKI,
ROMAN
David Weinberg*, Ph.D.; Professor
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of History and Director, Cohn-
Haddow Center for Judaic Studies,
Wayne State University, Detroit:
CENTRE DE DOCUMENTATION JUIVE
CONTEMPORAINE; COLMAR; FRANCE;
GRENOBLE; GURS; LANZMANN, CLAUDE;
LILLE; LYONS; MANS, LE; MARSEILLES;
METZ; MONTPELLIER; NANTES;
NATZWEILER-STRUTHOF; NICE; ROUEN;
TOULOUSE; TOURS; VERDUN-SUR-
GARONNE
David M. Weinberg, Spokesman,
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan: BAR-
ILAN UNIVERSITY
Gerhard (L.) Weinberg*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History Emeritus,
University of North Carolina:
HITLER, ADOLF
Jill Weinberg*, M.S.W.; Midwest
Director, United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, Highland Park,
Illinois: SCHAKOWSKY, JANICE D.
Werner Weinberg, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew Language and Literature,
the Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, Cincinnati,
Ohio: KABAK, AARON ABRAHAM;
LETTERIS, MEIR
Deborah (R.) Weiner*, Ph.D.;
Research Historian, Jewish Museum
of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland:
BALTIMORE
Hanna Weiner, B.A.; Kibbutz Neot
Mordekhai: ABIEZER; ADONIRAM;
AGAG; AHIMAN, SHESHAI, TALMAI
Hollace Ava Weiner*, M.A.; Writer,
Historian, Archivist, Fort Worth,
Texas: FRISCH, EPHRAIM; GOLDBERG,
JEANNETTE MIRIAM
Miriam Weiner’, B.A.; Genealogist,
Author and Historian, President,
Routes to Roots Foundation,
Inc, Secaucus, New Jersey:
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
JEWISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES
Morton Weinfeld*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Sociology, McGill University,
Montreal, Canada: CANADA;
ROSENBERG, LOUIS; SPECTOR,
NORMAN
Moshe Weinfeld, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer in Bible, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem:
CONGREGATION; COVENANT;
169
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
DEUTERONOMY; ELDER; JOSIAH;
MOLOCH, CULT OF; ORDEAL OF
JEALOUSY; PRESENCE, DIVINE; RUTH,
BOOK OF; TITHE
Samuel Weingarten-Hakohen,
Jerusalem: BETTELHEIM, SAMUEL;
BRATISLAVA; GRISHABER, ISAAC; HELLER,
ZEVI HIRSCH; JAFFE-MARGOLIOT, ISRAEL
DAVID; JOAB BEN JEREMIAH; PLAUT,
HEZEKIAH FEIVEL; PROSSTITZ, DANIEL;
SIDON, SIMEON; SINGER, PESAH; STEIN,
ELIEZER LIPMAN; UNGAR, JOEL OF
RECHNITZ; WEISS, JOSEPH MEIR; WEISZ,
MAX
Jacob Weingreen, Ph.D.; Former
Professor of Hebrew, University
of Dublin: HEBREW GRAMMAR, AN
INTRODUCTION TO
Uriel Weinreich, Ph.D.; Professor of
Linguistics and of Yiddish Studies,
Columbia University, New York:
YIDDISH LANGUAGE
Bernard Dov Sucher Weinryb,
Emeritus Professor of History and
of Economics, Dropsie University,
Philadelphia: MAINZ
Donald Weinstein, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, New
Jersey: SEGRE, ARTURO
Menachem Weinstein, M.A.;
Instructor in the Institute for
Research in the History and
Culture of Oriental Jewry, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan
Roni Weinstein*, Ph.D.; Research
Fellow, Modern and Contemporary
Department, Pisa University, Italy:
COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER
David Weinstock*, M.M.,
Ph.D.; Assistant Professor,
Communication/Journalism, Grand
Valley State University, Allendale,
Michigan: SAVANNAH; TRENTON; WOLF,
ERIC ROBERT
Phyllis Holman Weisbard*, M.A.,
M.Ed.; Women’s Studies Librarian,
University of Wisconsin: NEUGARTEN,
BERNICE
David B. Weisberg, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor of Bible and
Semitic Languages, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati, Ohio: MURASHU’S SONS
170
Dvora E. Weisberg*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of Rabbinics,
Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles:
AGGADAH
Meyer Wolf Weisgal, Chancellor of
the Weizmann Institute of Science,
Rehovot, Israel: WEIZMANN INSTITUTE
OF SCIENCE
Aharon Weiss, Ph.D.; Researcher,
Jerusalem: BARANOVICHI;
BERESTECHKO; BIELSK PODLASKI;
BORISLAV; BRASLAV; BUCHACH; BUSK;
CHORTKOV; DAVID-GORODOK; DISNA;
DOLGINOVO; DROGOBYCH; DRUYA;
GLINYANY; GLUBOKOYE; GORODENKA;
GORODOK; HOLOCAUST; ILYA; IVYE;
JAROSLAW; JUDENRAT; KALUSH;
KAMENKA-BUGSKAYA; KLETS; KOBRIN;
KOLOMYYA; KOMARNO; KORETS;
KOSOV; KOVEL; KREMENETS; KRYNKI;
KRZEPICE; KUTY; LACHVA; LANCUT;
LESHNEV; LEZAJSK; LIDA; LUBLIN; LUTSK;
LYAKHOVICHI; MIR; MONASTYRISKA;
NADVORNAYA; NESVIZH; NOVOGRUDOK;
OSHMYANY; OSTROG; OSTROLEKA;
PEREMYSHLYANY; PINSK; PODGAITSY;
PODVOLOCHISK; PRUZHANY; PRZEMYSL;
RADZIWILLOW; ROGATIN; ROPCZYCE;
ROVNO; ROZWADOW: RUZHANY;
RYMANOW; SAMBOR; SANOK; SARNY;
SIEMIATYCZE; SLONIM; SOKOLKA;
TARTAKOVER, SAVIELLY GRIGORYEVICH;
TYKOCIN; ZAMBROW; ZHOLKVA;
ZMIGROD NOWY; ZWOLEN
Andrea L. Weiss*, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Bible, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
New York: POETRY
Avi Weiss*, M.A., M.H.L.; Senior
Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of
Riverdale,; National President of the
AMCHA, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
Rabbinical School, Riverdale, New
York: STUDENT STRUGGLE FOR SOVIET
JEWRY
Avraham A. Weiss, Dr. Phil.;
Senior Clinical Lecturer in Clinical
Psychology, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: RAPAPORT, DAVID
Benjamin Weiss, New York:
MISHNAT HA-MIDDOT
Joseph G. Weiss, Ph.D.; Professor of
Jewish Studies, London University
Julius Weiss, B.A., LL.B.; New
York: PALESTINE ECONOMIC
CORPORATION
Raphael Weiss, M.A.; Instructor in
Bible, Tel Aviv University: EHRLICH,
ARNOLD BOGUMIL
Lee Shai Weissbach*, Ph.D.;
Professor of History, University of
Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky:
KENTUCKY; LOUISVILLE
Rivka Weiss-Blok*, M.A.; General
Director (retired), Jewish Historical
Museum, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: REMBRANDT VAN RIJN
Chava Weissler*, Ph.D.; Philip and
Muriel Berman Professor of Jewish
Civilization, Lehigh University,
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: BAS TOVIM,
SARAH; HOROWITZ, SARAH REBECCA
RACHEL LEAH; SERL BAS JACOB BEN WOLF
KRANZ; SHIFRAH OF BRODY; TEHINNAH;
TKHINES
Deborah R. Weissman, M.A.;
Lecturer, School for Overseas
Students and the Melton Center for
Jewish Education in the Diaspora,
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
Paul Weissman, Jerusalem:
ANTISEMITISM
Joseph Weitz, Writer and Former
Head of the Development Authority
of the Jewish National Fund,
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
ALIYAH
Raanan Weitz, Ph.D.; Member
of the World Zionist Executive;
Director of the Settlement Study
Center, Rehovot, Israel
Felix Weltsch, Writer and
Philosopher, the Jewish National
and University Library, Jerusalem:
BROD, MAX; KAFKA, FRANZ
Robert Weltsch, Dr.Jur.; Writer
and Director of the Leo Baeck
Institute, London: ADLER, FRIEDRICH;
ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG DES JUDENTUMS;
BAUER, OTTO; BERNSTEIN, ARON DAVID;
BERNSTEIN, EDUARD; BRAUNTHAL,
JULIUS; GERMANY; HAGGADAH,
PASSOVER
Beth S. Wenger*, Ph.D.; Katz
Family Term Chair in American
Jewish History; Associate
Professor of History, University of
Pennsylvania: SOLOMON, HANNAH
GREENEBAUM
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Charles Wengrov, Rabbi; Jerusalem:
HALICZ; KOHEN; SHAHOR
Eugen Werber, Writer, Scholar,
Lecturer on Judaica, Belgrade:
ALBAHARI, DAVID; KIS, DANILO; PAPO,
IZIDOR JOSEE
R.J. Zwi Werblowsky, D.es-
L.; Professor of Comparative
Religion, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Former Dean,
Faculty of the Humanities: AARON;
ANTHROPOMORPHISM; CAIN; CARO,
JOSEPH BEN EPHRAIM; CHRISTIANITY;
DUALISM; MANICHAEISM; OTTO,
RUDOLPH
Preben Wernberg-Moller, D.Phil;
Professorial Fellow of St. Peter's
College and Reader in Semitic
Philology, the University of Oxford:
DISCIPLINE, MANUAL OF
Alfred Werner, J.D.; Art Critic and
Writer, New York: ARONSON, NAUM
LVOVICH; BAKST, LEON; BERENSON,
BERNARD; CHAGALL, MARC; EPSTEIN,
SIR JACOB; FREUNDLICH, OTTO;
GLICENSTEIN, ENRICO; GOTTLIEB,
MAURYCY; GROSS, CHAIM; HART,
SOLOMON ALEXANDER; HOROVITZ,
LEOPOLD; JOSEPHSON; KAUFMANN,
ISIDOR; KISLING, MOISE; KOGAN, MOYSE;
KOLNIK, ARTHUR; KRAYN, HUGO;
LASANSKY, MAURICIO; LEVY, RUDOLF;
LIEBERMANN, MAX; LILIEN, EPHRAIM
MOSES; LIPCHITZ, JACQUES; LISMANN,
HERMANN; LISSITZKY, EL; MANE-KATZ;
MARCOUSSIS, LOUIS; MODIGLIANI,
AMEDEO; MUTER, MELA; MYERS,
MYER; NADELMAN, ELIE; OPPENHEIM,
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CHANA; PASCIN, JULES; PASTERNAK,
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CHAIM; SZYK, ARTHUR; URY, LESSER;
WALKOWITZ, ABRAHAM; WEBER, MAX;
ZADKINE, OSSIP
Samuel Werses, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Hebrew Literature, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
ERTER, ISAAC; HEBREW LITERATURE,
MODERN; KLAUSNER, JOSEPH GEDALIAH;
LACHOWER, YERUHAM FISHEL; PERL,
JOSEPH
Paul G. Werskey, M.A.; Lecturer
in Science Policy, the University of
Edinburgh: BERNAYS
Benjamin West, Writer, Tel Aviv:
KIEV
Robert (David) Wexler*, Ph.D.;
President and Colen Distinguished
Lecturer, University of Judaism, Los
Angeles: WOLPE, DAVID J.
D.H. White, Publisher, Houston:
HOUSTON
Libby (K.) White*, M.LS.,
M.A.L.S.; Director, Joseph
Meyerhoff Library, Hebrew
University, Baltimore: AMSTERDAM,
BIRDIE; BALABANOFF, ANGELICA;
BERNARD, JESSIE; KUNIN, MADELEINE
MAY
Stephen J. Whitfield*, Ph.D.;
Professor of American Studies,
Brandeis University, Watham,
Massachusetts: BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
Sally Whyte, Member, International
Association of Art Critics,
Conseil International de la Danse
(UNESCO), London: BERKOFE,
STEVEN; ISAACS, SIR JEREMY; MOSHINSKY,
ELIJAH; SHER, SIR ANTHONY; SUZMAN,
JANET
Aaron Wiener, M.A.; Engineer,
Director General of Tahal, Water
Planning for Israel, Tel Aviv:
MEKOROT WATER COMPANY; TAHAL
Theodore Wiener, M.H.L., Rabbi;
Washington, D.C.: BIOGRAPHIES AND
AUTOBIOGRAPHIES; ENCYCLOPEDIAS;
FESTSCHRIFTEN
Helene Wieruszowski, Ph.D.; New
York: KANTOROWICZ, ERNST HARTWIG;
LEVISON, WILHELM; LIEBERMANN, FELIX
Christian Wiese*, Dr. Habil.;
Associate Professor for Modern
Jewish History and Thought,
University of Erfurt, Erfurt,
Germany: DELITZSCH, FRANZ; JONAS,
HANS
Ephraim Jehudah Wiesenberg,
Ph.D., Rabbi; Reader in Hebrew,
the University of London: apar;
AV; CALENDAR; ELUL; IYYAR; KISLEV;
MARHESHVAN; NISAN; SHEVAT; SIVAN;
TAMMUZ; TEVET; TISHRI
Geoffrey Wigoder, D. Phil., Editor
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
in Chief of the Encyclopaedia
Judaica (1st ed.) print and CD-
Rom Edition; Director, Oral
History Division and Jewish Film
Archives, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem; History Consultant, Beth
Hatefutsoth, Tel Aviv; Jerusalem:
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA; AUSCHWITZ
CONVENT; BETH HATEFUTSOTH;
CHRISTIANITY; ISRAEL, STATE OF:
CULTURAL LIFE; MOTION PICTURES;
TERKEL, STUDS
Carsten (L.) Wilke*, Ph.D.;
Research Fellow, Salomon Ludwig
Steinheim Institute for German
Jewish History, University of
Duisburg and Essen, Germany:
REVAH, ISRAEL SALVATOR; SEPHIHA,
HAIM VIDAL
Jacqueline (B.) Williams”,
Researcher, Writer, Seattle,
Washington: SEATTLE; WASHINGTON
H.G.M. Williamson’, B.A.,
M.A., Ph.D., D.D.; Regius
Professor of Hebrew and Student
of Christ Church, University of
Oxford, England: ANGLO-ISRAEL
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Adam Wills*, Associate Editor,
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los
Angeles, Los Angeles: BENJAMIN,
RICHARD; BOGDANOVICH, PETER;
BROOKS, ALBERT; BROOKS, JAMES L.;
BRUCKHEIMER, JERRY; BURSTYN, MIKE;
CAAN, JAMES; CHETWYND, LIONEL;
CLAYBURGH, JILL; COEN, JOEL and
ETHAN; COOPER, JACKIE; CSUPO, GABOR;
CURTIS, JAMIE LEE; CURTIZ, MICHAEL;
DANGERFIELD, RODNEY; DAVIS, SAMMY
JR.; EISNER, MICHAEL DAMMANN;
ELFMAN, DANNY; EVANS, ROBERT;
FELDSHUH, TOVAH; FISHER, CARRIE
FRANCES; FULLER, SAMUEL MICHAEL;
FURIE, SIDNEY J.; GABOR, JOLIE, MAGDA,
ZSA ZSA, and EVA; GILBERT, MELISSA
ELLEN; GOLAN, MENAHEM; GOLDMAN,
WILLIAM; GOODRICH, FRANCES and
HACKETT, ALBERT; GORCEY, LEO; GOULD,
ELLIOTT; GRAZER BRIAN; GREENE,
SHECKY; GUGGENHEIM, CHARLES;
HEAD, EDITH; HERSKOVITZ, MARSHALL
and ZWICK, EDWARD; HILLER, ARTHUR;
JAGLOM, HENRY; KAUFMAN, PHILIP;
KEMPNER, AVIVA; KOPPLE, BARBARA;
LANSING, SHERRY LEE; LAWRENCE, STEVE
and GORME, EDYIE; LEVANT, OSCAR;
MALTIN, LEONARD; MANKIEWICZ,
HERMAN JACOB; MAY, ELAINE; MAYSLES,
ALBERT and DAVID PAUL; MEDVED,
MICHAEL; MICHAELS, LORNE; MONROE,
171
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Renee Winegarten, Ph.D.; Literary
Critic, London: GOLDING, LOUIS;
GOLLANCZ, SIR ISRAEL; LEVERSON, ADA;
WOOLF, LEONARD
Gershon Winer, New York:
HERZLIAH HEBREW TEACHERS’
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AND PEOPLE’S UNIVERSITY: MOTKE
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Heinrich Zwi Winnik, M.D.;
Associate Professor of Psychiatry,
the Hebrew University-Talbieh
Psychiatric Hospital, Jerusalem:
DEUTSCH, FELIX; DEUTSCH, HELENE;
EITINGON, MAX; SAKEL, MANFRED
JOSHUA
David Winston, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Hellenistic and Judaic
Studies, the Graduate Theological
Union, Berkeley, California:
LYSIMACHUS OF ALEXANDRIA; MOSES
Nathan H. Winter, Ph.D., J.D.;
Associate Professor of Hebrew
Culture and Education, New York
University: ASCOLI, BENDERLY, SAMSON
Chaim Wirszubski, Ph.D.;
Professor of Classical Studies, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA, GIOVANNI
Mark Wischnitzer, Dr.Phil.;
Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva
University, New York: CHIEFTAIN;
GUILDS; LABANO; OLYKA; OSWIECIM;
SANDOMIERZ
Rachel Wischnitzer, M.A., Dipl.
Arch.; Emeritus Professor of Fine
172
Arts, Yeshiva University, New York:
ARK
Kirk Wisemayer*: VINELAND
Ruth Wisse, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Yiddish Literature,
McGill University, Montreal:
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ROGOFF, HARRY; SHAPIRO, LAMED
Alfred Witkon, Dr. Jur.; Justice of
the Supreme Court, Jerusalem
Rebecca Wittmann*, Ph.D.;
Assistant Professor; University of
Toronto; Toronto, Canada: WAR
CRIMES TRIALS
Aharon Arnold Wiznitzer, Ph.D.,
D.H.L.; Historian, Los Angeles
Elli Wohlgelernter*, B.A.;
Journalist, Jerusalem: ABRAHAMS;
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PIERRE; DAVIS, AL; DAVIS, AL “BUMMY”;
DREYFUSS, BARNEY; ELLIOT, “MAMA”
CASS; EPSTEIN, BRIAN SAMUEL; FIELDS,
JACKIE; FISCHLER, STAN; FLAM, HERB;
FLEISCHER, NATHANIEL STANLEY;
FLEISHER, LARRY; FRANKLIN, SIDNEY;
FRIDMAN, GAL; FRIEDMAN, BENJAMIN;
FRIEDMAN, KINKY; GAYLORD, MITCHELL;
GOLDBERG, MARSHALL; GOLDENBERG,
CHARLES ROBERT; GOLDSTEIN, RUBY;
GOROKHOVSKAYA, MARIA; GOTTLIEB,
EDWARD; GRAHAM, BILL; GREEN, SHAWN
DAVID; GREENBERG, HENRY BENJAMIN;
GREENSPAN, BUD; GRUNFELD, ERNIE;
GUZIK, JACOB; HALBERSTAM, DAVID;
HARMATZ, WILLIAM; HARRISON,
LESTER; HERSHKOWITZ, VICTOR;
HOLLANDERSKY, ABRAHAM; HOLMAN,
NATHAN; HOLTZMAN, KENNETH DALE;
HOLZMAN, WILLIAM; HUGHES, SARAH
ELIZABETH; IZENBERG, JERRY; JACOBS,
HIRSCH; JACOBS, JAMES LESLIE; JACOBS,
JOE; JAFFEE, IRVING W.; JAY, ALLAN LOUIS
NEVILLE; KAHN, ROGER; KELETI, AGNES;
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KRAFT, ROBERT K.; KRAYZELBURG,
LENNY; KRISS, GRIGORI; LANSKY, MEYER;
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HARRY; LUCKMAN, SIDNEY; MATZAH;
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MIX, RONALD JACK; MODELL, ARTHUR
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J; SCHACHT, ALEXANDER; SCHULTZ,
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MICHAEL
Salomon Wolf, Ph.D.; Jerusalem:
KORNIK, MEIR BEN MOSES
Adela Wolfe, M.A.; Jerusalem: ADAM
Ronald Wolfson*: HOFFMAN,
LAWRENCE A.
Penny Diane Wolin*, B.EA.;
Photographer, Crazy Woman
Creek Press, Sebastopol, California:
WYOMING
William Wollheim, Writer, New
York
Jeffrey R. Woolf*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: COLON, JOSEPH BEN SOLOMON
Leon Wulman, M.D.; New York:
OZE or OSE
Max Wurmbrand, Ramat Gan:
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LEWIN; SALZ, ABRAHAM ADOLPH;
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LAZAR
Uri Shraga Wurzburger, M.Sc.;
Managing Director of the Timna
Copper Mines, Israel: METALS
AND MINING; PRECIOUS STONES AND
JEWELRY
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Walter S. Wurzburger, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Visiting Associate Professor
of Philosophy, Yeshiva University,
New York: ORTHODOXY; PIETY AND
THE PIOUS; PROPHETS AND PROPHECY;
REVELATION
Michael Wygoda*, Ph.D.; Senior
Director of Jewish Law, Ministry of
Justice, Jerusalem: AGENCY; LEASE AND
HIRE; LOST PROPERTY
Stanislaw Wygodzki, Writer,
Givatayim, Israel: BRANDYS,
KAZIMIERZ; HEMAR, MARIAN; JASIENSKI,
BRUNO; JASTRUN, MIECZYSLAW; LEC,
STANISLAW JERZY; LESMIAN, BOLESLAW;
PEIPER, TADEUSZ; RUDNICKI, ADOLE;
SCHULZ, BRUNO; SLONIMSKI, ANTONI;
STERN, ANATOL; STRYJKOWSKI, JULJAN;
WAT, ALEXANDER; WITTLIN, JOZEF
Veit Wyler, Dr.Jur.; Attorney and
Editor, Zurich: GUGGENHEIM, PAUL;
PRESS
Edith Wyschogrod, Ph.D.; Assistant
Professor of Philosophy, Queens
College of the City University of
New York
Xun Zhou’, Ph.D.; ESRC Research
Fellow, SOAS, University of London,
England: CHINA
Avraham Yaari, Writer and
bibliographer, Jerusalem: ABRAHAM
HA-LEVI; ALEXANDRIA; ALSHEIKH,
SHALOM BEN JOSEPH; ASHKENAZI, JONAH
BEN JACOB; BAGHDAD; BENJAMIN BEN
ELIJAH; BERDICHEV; BERMAN, SIMEON;
BING, ISAAC BEN SAMUEL; BULA,
RAPHAEL MOSES; CAIRO; CALCUTTA;
DAVID BEN JOSHUA; DAYYAN; DISKIN,
MORDEKHAI; DIWAN, JUDAH BEN
AMRAM; ELIJAH OF LA MASSA; ELISHA
HAYYIM BEN JACOB ASHKENAZI;
FELMAN, AHARON LEIB; GALANTE,
JEDIDIAH BEN MOSES; GEDALIAH OF
SIEMIATYCZE; GEDILIAH, ABRAHAM
BEN SAMUEL; HABILLO, DAVID; ISRAEL;
ISRAEL BEN SAMUEL OF SHKLOV; LURIA,
JEHIEL BEN ISRAEL ASHKENAZI; MALKHI,
EZRA BEN RAPHAEL MORDECAI; MALKHI,
MOSES; MALKHI, MOSES BEN RAPHAEL
MORDECAI; MEIR BEN HIYYA ROFE;
NAZIR, MOSES HA-LEVI; PETHAHIAH
OF REGENSBURG; PORGES, MOSES BEN
ISRAEL NAPHTALI; RAPPAPORT, ISAAC
BEN JUDAH HA-KOHEN; SAFED; SAMUEL
BEN SAMSON; SHALEM, SAMUEL; SIMHAH
BEN JOSHUA OF ZALOZHTSY; TOLEDO,
MOSES DE; URI BEN SIMEON OF BIALA;
VOLTERRA, MESHULLAM BEN MENAHEM,
DA; YIZHAKI, ABRAHAM BEN DAVID;
ZOREF, ABRAHAM SOLOMON ZALMAN
Nurith Yaari*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Tel Aviv University:
LEVIN, HANOCH; SOBOL, YEHOSHUA;
YERUSHALMI, RINA; YIZRAELY, YOSSI
Hanna (N.) Yablonka’*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor, Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, Beersheva:
EICHMANN, ADOLF OTTO
Yigael Yadin, Ph.D.; Lieutenant
General (Res.), Israel Defense
Forces; Professor of Archaeology,
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem: HAZOR; TEMPLE; TEMPLE
SCROLL
Aharon Yadlin, B.A.; Member of
the Knesset; Deputy Minister of
Education and Culture, Kibbutz
Hazerim: HEVRAT HA-OVEDIM
Leon J. Yagod, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Irvington, New Jersey: TRADITION
Chaim Yahil, Ph.D.; Director
General of the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs; Chairman of the Israel
Broadcasting Authority, Jerusalem:
BERLIN; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; EDELSTEIN,
JACOB; FINALY CASE; GENEVA; GERMANY;
GOLDMANN, NAHUM; ISRAEL, STATE
OF: HISTORICAL SURVEY; KAHN,
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POHORELICE; PRAGUE; RUFEISEN,
JOSEPH; SALONIKA; SCHMOLKA, MARIE;
SPIEGEL, LUDWIG; STEIN, AUGUST;
STEINER, HANNAH; SWEDEN; UHERSKE
HRADISTE; UNRRA; VALENTIN, HUGO
MAURICE; VAN DAM, HENDRIK GEORGE;
WINTER, GUSTAV; ZDOVSKA STRANA;
ZIDOVSKA STRANA; ZIONISM
Leni Yahil, Ph.D.; Historian,
Jerusalem: BERNADOTTE, FOLKE,
EARL OF WISBORG; BRANDES, GEORG;
DENMARK; GASSING; MADAGASCAR
PLAN; MENDELSSOHN, MOSES; NORWAY;
QUISLING, VIDKUN ABRAHAM
LAURITZ JONSSON; RIESSER, GABRIEL;
STOCKHOLM; WOLFF, ABRAHAM
ALEXANDER
Bracha Yaniv*, Ph.D.; Senior
Lecturer, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat
Gan: PAROKHET and KAPPORET; TORAH
ORNAMENTS
Yaacov Yannai, Commissioner
General of the National Parks
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Authority, Tel Aviv: NATIONAL PARKS
IN ISRAEL
Itamar Yaos-Kest, B.A.; Writer and
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DERY, TIBOR; RADNOTI, MIKLOS
Edith Yapou-Hoffmann, Ph.D.;
Instructor in Art History, Tel Aviv
University: ISRAELS, JOZEF
Jacob Yardeni, D.D.S.; Former
Senior Lecturer, the School of
Dentistry, the Hebrew University -
Hadassah Medical School,
Jerusalem: GOTTLIEB, BERNHARD
Galia Yardeni-Agmon, Ph.D.;
Writer, Jerusalem: GUTMANN, DAVID
MEIR; PINES, YEHIEL MICHAEL
Baruch Yaron, Dr. Phil.; Former
Librarian, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: BARACS, KAROLY; BIRO,
LAJOS; BRODY, ZSIGMOND; CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE; DENES, BELA; DOCZY,
LAJOS; EGYENLOSEG; EMOD, TAMAS;
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ADOLF; FRIEDMAN, DENES; GABOR,
IGNAC; GELLERI, ANDOR ENDRE; GERO,
ERNO; GISZKALAY, JANOS; GYONGYOS;
HAJDU, MIKLOS; HAJNAL, ANNA;
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HEVESI, SANDOR; HODMEZOVASARHELY;
HUNGARIAN LITERATURE; IGNOTUS,
HUGO; JASZI, OSZKAR; KACZER, ILLES;
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MENAHEM; KIRJATH SEPHER; KISS,
JOZSEF; KISVARDA; KOBOR, TAMAS;
KOHLBACH, BERTALAN; KOMLOS,
ALADAR; KORMENDI, FERENC; KRAUSZ,
ZSIGMOND; KUNEI, ZSIGMOND; LAKATOS,
LASZLO; LENGYEL, JOZSEF; LENGYEL,
MENYHERT; MEZOFI, VILMOS; MOHACSI,
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MUNKACSI, ERNO; NAGYBACZONI-
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PALAGYI, LAJOS; PAP, KAROLY; PATAI,
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MOZES; SANDOR, PAL; SATORALJAUJHELY;
SCHULHOF, ISAAC; SOMOGYI, BELA;
SOPRON; SPITZER, SAMUEL; STATUS
QUO ANTE; SZABO, IMRE; SZABOLCSI,
LAJOS; SZABOLCSI, MIKSA; SZEGED;
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SZENES, BELA; SZENES, ERZSI; SZEP,
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173
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Emuna Yaron’, Literary Executor,
Shmuel Yosef Agnon Papers and
Unpublished Works: AGNON, SHMUEL
YOSEF
Reuven Yaron, D.Phil.; Professor
of Roman Law and Ancient Near
Eastern Law, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem: TAUBENSCHLAG,
RAPHAEL
Hanri Yasova, Writer, Istanbul
Meir Ydit, Ph.D.; Dr.rer.Pol.,
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CHILDREN’S SERVICES; DIRINGER, DAVID;
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NORA ALILAH; HAZKARAT NESHAMOT;
HEAD, COVERING OF THE; HESPED;
HUKKAT HA-GOI; KABBALAT SHABBAT;
LAG BA-OMER; LEKHAH DODI; MEHIZAH;
MOON, BLESSING OF THE; SE’UDAH;
TAHANUN; TU BI-SHEVAT
Jacob Yehoshua, M.A.; Former
Director of the Moslem
Department, Ministry of Religious
Affairs, Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF:
RELIGIOUS LIFE AND COMMUNITIES
Zeev Yeivin, M.A.; Department of
Antiquities, Ministry of Education
and Culture, Jerusalem: BANNER;
BEARD AND SHAVING; BITUMEN;
CART AND CHARIOT; COOKING AND
BAKING; COSMETICS; CRAFTS; CROWNS,
DECORATIVE HEADDRESSES, AND
WREATHS; DOOR AND DOORPOST;
DRESS; FIRE; FOOD; IVORY; MILLSTONE;
PILLAR; SHIPS AND SAILING; THRONE;
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING; TOMBS AND
TOMBSTONES; WOOD; YOKE
Irwin Yellowitz, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of History, City
College of the City University of
New York: ABELSON, PAUL;
BRESSLER, DAVID MAURICE; DE LEON,
DANIEL; DYCHE, JOHN ALEXANDER;
GOLDMAN, EMMA; GOMPERS, SAMUEL;
HILLQUIT, MORRIS; LONDON, MEYER;
POTOFSKY, JACOB SAMUEL; RUBINOW,
ISAAC MAX; TAILORING; WALD,
LILLIAN
174
Meir Yoeli, M.Sc., M.D.; Professor
of Preventative Medicine, New York
University School of Medicine:
ADLER, SAUL AARON
Abraham Yoffe, Major General
(Res.), Israel Defense Forces;
Director of the Israel Nature
Reserves Authority, Tel Aviv:
LIPSCHUETZ, GEDALIAH BEN SOLOMON
ZALMAN; NATURE RESERVES IN ISRAEL
Abraham B. Yoffe, Critic and
Editor, Tel Aviv: SHLONSKY, ABRAHAM;
ZEMACH, SHLOMO
Gedalia Yogev, Ph.D.; Editor,
The Weizmann Letters, Jerusalem:
DIAMOND TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Mel and Cindy Yoken*, Ph.D.;
Chancellor Professor of French,
Officer dans l’Ordre des Palmes
Academiques, University of
Massachusetts, Dartmouth: NEW
BEDEORD
Nissim Yosha, M.A.; Center for
the Integration of the Heritage
of Oriental Jewry, Ministry of
Education, Jerusalem
Lillian Youman, Director, Jewish
Information and Referral Service,
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia, Philadelphia:
PHILADELPHIA
David A. Young, Jewish Federation
of St. Louis
Dwight Young, Ph.D.; Associate
Professor of Ancient Near Eastern
Civilization, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts: FLOOD,
THE; NOAH
Toni Young”, B.A., M.A.; Historian,
Author, Jewish Historical Society of
Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware:
DELAWARE; WILMINGTON
William (A.) Younglove*, Ed.D.;
Teacher Supervisor, California State
University Long Beach, California:
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Leon I. (Israel) Yudkin*, Ph.D.;
Lit. Author and Visiting Professor,
Honorary Fellow, University
College, London, England: sHABTAI,
YAAKOV
Natan Zach, B.A.; Lecturer in
Hebrew and Comparative Literature,
Tel Aviv University: FICHMAN, JACOB;
LENSKI, HAYYIM; POMERANTZ, BERL;
POMERANTZ, BERL; STEINBERG, JACOB;
STERN, NOAH
Efraim Zadoff*, Ph.D.; Historian,
Editor, Research on Latin American
Jews, Jerusalem: ALPERSOHN,
MARCOS; AMIA; ANGEL, AARON;
ARGENTINA; BARYLKO, JAIME; BEHAR,
LEON; BEIDERMAN, BERNARDO;
BENZAQUEN SAADIA; BERAJA, RUBEN
EZRA; BERGER, MEIR; BLEJER, DAVID;
BLEJER, MARIO ISRAEL; CHEHEBAR,
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CZENSTOCHOWSKI, WALTER; DAIA;
EDUCATION, JEWISH; ELNECAVE,
DAVID; FASTLICHT, ADOLFO; FELDMAN,
SHIMSHON SIMON; FINKELSTEIN,
CHAIM; GENEALOGY; GESANG, NATHAN-
NACHMAN; GOLDMAN, AHARON
HALEVI; GOLDMAN, MOISES; HARE,
HANNS; JOURNALISM; KAMENSZAIN,
TOBIAS; KITRON, MOSHE; LATIN
AMERICA; LERNER, JAIME; LEVY, ROBERT;
MILEVSKY, AHARON; NAJDORE, MIGUEL;
NICARAGUA; PARAGUAY; POLITICS;
RAFALIN, DAVID SHLOMO; ROSENBERG,
MOISHE; SCHLESINGER, GUILLERMO;
SEGALL, LASAR; SEROUSSI, ELIAS;
SINGERMAN, BERTA; SOURASKY; TURKOW,
MARC; YAGUPSKY, MAXIMO
Noam Zadoff*, M.A.; Doctoral
Student, Richard Koebuer Minerva
Center for German History, the
University of Jerusalem: ARAKHIN;
BEKHOROT; BLUMENEELD, KURT
YEHUDAH; BLUMENTHAL, OSKAR;
BRUCKNER, FERDINAND; CHRONEGK,
LUDWIG; DAWISON, BOGUMIL; DOMIN,
HILDE; HEIMANN, MORITZ; KALISCH,
DAVID; KASTEIN, JOSEF; KOEBNER,
RICHARD; LANDAUER, GUSTAV;
OPHUELS, MAX; OPPENHEIMER, FRANZ;
POLGAR, ALFRED; ROSENBERG, ARTHUR;
SALOMON, ALICE; SATANOW, ISAAC;
SCHILDKRAUT, RUDOLPH; SCHMID,
ANTON VON; SCHOTTLAENDER, BENDET;
VIERTEL, BERTHOLD; WEININGER, OTTO;
WEISS, JOSEPH G.
Haim Zafrani, Ph.D., D.es-
L.; Charge de Recherche au
Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique; Director of the Hebrew
Department of the University of
Paris- Vincennnes: ABITBOL; ANKAWA,
RAPHAEL BEN MORDECAI; HAGIZ; JUDEO-
ARABIC; SERERO, SAUL
David Zakay, Editor and Journalist,
Tel Aviv: ANOKHI, ZALMAN YIZHAK
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Michael Zand, Ph.D.; Professor
of Persian and Tajik Language and
Literature, The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem; Chief Scientific
Consultant to The Shorter Jewish
Encyclopaedia in Russian, Jerusalem:
BUKHARA; GAPONOYV, BORIS; GEORGIA;
KRIMCHAKS; MOUNTAIN JEWS;
WEISSMAN, BARUCH MORDECAI
Walter Zanger, M.A., Rabbi;
Jerusalem: EIN KEREM; PHILIPPINES
Melvin S. Zaret*, M.S.W;;
Consultant for Jewish Communities,
National Agencies and Executives
Milwaukee Jewish Federation
Executive Vice President, Emeritus
and Consultant, Milwaukee:
MILWAUKEE
Shaul Zarhi, M.Sc.; Economist, Tel
Aviv: COOPERATIVES
Leah Zazulyer*, M.S.; Writer,
Translator, School Psychologist
Teacher (retired), New York: EMIOT,
ISRAEL
Mark Zborowski, Ph.D.; Research
Associate in Medicine, Mount Zion
Hospital and Medical Center, San
Francisco, California: SHTETL
Jekutiel-Zwi Zehawi, Ph.D.;
Educator, Tel Aviv: RONAI, JANOS;
SCHOENFELD, JOSEPH
Moshe Zeidner, B.A.; Tel Aviv:
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, U-FARSIN
Nadia Zeldes*, Ph.D.; Researcher,
Institute of Judaic Studies, the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
AGRIGENTO; ALGHERO; AMALFI;
APULIA; BARI; BENEVENTO; BRINDISI;
CAGLIARI; CALABRIA; CAPUA; CATANIA;
CATANZARO; COSENZA; DIENCHELELE;
FREDERICK II OF HOHENSTAUEEN;
GAETA; LECCE; MARSALA; MESSINA;
MITHRIDATES, FLAVIUS; MOSES OF
PALERMO; PALERMO; SALERNO; SAN
NICANDRO; TARANTO; TRAPANI;
VENOSA
Joyce Zemans*, M.A.; University
Professor, York University, Toronto,
Canada: ETROG, SOREL; FRENKEL,
VERA; ISKOWITZ, GERSHON; PACHTER,
CHARLES
Carol Zemel*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Art History, York, University,
Toronto, Canada: SINGER, YVONNE
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
Hanna Zemer, B.A.; Editor of
Davar, Tel Aviv
Marcia Jo Zerivitz*, Founding
Executive Director and Chief
Curator, Jewish Museum of
Florida: BROWARD COUNTY; FLORIDA;
JACKSONVILLE; LEE AND CHARLOTTE
COUNTIES; MIAMI-DADE COUNTY;
NAPLES AND COLLIER COUNTY;
ORLANDO; PALM BEACH COUNTY; SAINT
PETERSBURG; SARASOTA; TALLAHASSEE;
TAMPA
Mordechay Zerkawod, Dr.Phil.;
Emeritus Professor of Bible, Bar-Ian
University, Ramat Gan: EHRENKRANZ,
BENJAMIN ZEEB
Charles Zibbell, M.S.; Associate
Executive Director, Council of
Jewish Federations, New York:
PHILANTHROPY
David L. Zielonka, M.A.H.L.,
Rabbi; Professor of Religion, the
University of Tampa, Florida
Wendy (Ilene) Zierler*, B.A., M.A.,
Ph.D.; Assistant Professor, Modern
Jewish Literature and Feminist
Studies, Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion, New
York: POGREBIN, LETTY COTTIN; SEID,
RUTH
Gershon Zilberberg, Editor of
Olam ha-Defuss, Tel Aviv: PRINTING,
HEBREW
Abraham Zimels, M.A., Rabbi;
Senior Lecturer in Bible, the
University of the Negev, Beersheba:
BIBLE
Hirsch Jacob Zimmels, Ph.D.,
Rabbi; Former Principal and
Lecturer in Jewish History and
Rabbinics, Jews’ College, London:
DAVID BEN SOLOMON IBN ABI ZIMRA;
DURAN, PROFIAT; DURAN, SIMEON
BEN ZEMAH; DURAN, SOLOMON BEN
SIMEON; DURAN, ZEMAH BEN SOLOMON;
EPSTEIN, ISIDORE; FREIMANN, JACOB;
IBN YAHYA, DAVID BEN JOSEPH; IBN
YAHYA, GEDALIAH BEN DAVID; IBN
YAHYA, JOSEPH BEN DAVID; ISAAC BEN
MELCHIZEDEK OF SIPONTO; ISAAC BEN
SHESHET PERFET; NORZI, JEDIDIAH
SOLOMON RAPHAEL BEN ABRAHAM;
TRANI, MOSES BEN JOSEPH; YA'ISH,
BARUCH BEN ISAAC IBN
Akiva Zimmerman, Lecturer
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
and Journalist on Hazzanut, Tel
Aviv: BACON, YIDEL; ACKERMAN,
SHABTAI; ALTER, ISRAEL; ARONI, TSVI;
BACON, HIRSCH LEIB; BACON, ISRAEL;
BACON, SHLOMO REUVEN; BAGLEY,
DAVID; BELGRADO, DAVID FERNANDO;
BEN-HAIM, YIGAL; BLOCH, CHARLES;
BRAUN, ARIE; DANTO, LOUIS; DI-ZAHAV,
EPHRAIM; EPHROS, GERSHON; ESHEL,
YITZHAK; GANCHOFF, MOSES; GANTMAN,
JUDAH LEIB; GERBER, MAYNARD;
GREENBLATT, ELIYAHU; HAINOVITZ,
ASHER; HAZZAN; HEILMANN, YITZHAK;
HERSTIK, NAFTALI; KALIB, SHOLOM;
KARMON, ISRAEL; KRAUS, MOSHE;
LEFKOWITZ, DAVID; LERER, JOSHUA;
LERER, SHMUEL; LUBIN, ABRAHAM;
MALOVANY, JOSEPH; MANDEL,
SHELOMOH; MEISELS, SAUL; MELAMED,
NISSAN COHEN; MENDELSON, JACOB
BEN-ZION; MENDELSON, SOLOMON;
MILLER, BEN-ZION; MULLER, BENJAMIN;
POLLAK, ZALMAN; PUTTERMAN,
DAVID; RABINOVICZ, HAIM BEN ZION;
RABINOVICZ, PINCHAS; RICARDO, DAVID;
ROSENFELD, ABRAHAM ISAAC JACOB;
SCHULHOF, MOSHE; SOBOL, MORDECHAI;
STERN, MOSHE; TALMON, ZVI; TAUBE,
MOSHE; TAUBE, SAMUEL BARUCH;
UNGAR, BENJAMIN; VIGODA, SAMUEL;
WEISGAL, ABBA JOSEPH; WOHLBERG,
MOSHE
Oren Zinder, Ph.D.; Jerusalem:
LANDAU, LEOPOLD
Zvi Harry Zinder, B.A.; Jerusalem:
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Zvi Zinger (Yaron), B.A., Rabbi; the
Jewish Agency, Jerusalem:
Avner Ziv, Ph.D.; Professor,
Department of Educational
Sciences, Tel Aviv University: HUMOR
Ari Z. Zivotofsky*, Rabbinic
Ordination, Ph.D.; Lecturer,
Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan:
MATZAH
Dov Zlotnick, D.H.L., Rabbi;
Associate Professor of Rabbinic
Literature, the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, New York
Moshe Nahum Zobel, Dr.Phil.;
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany);
Jerusalem: ABRAHAM BEN NATHAN;
AFENDOPOLO, CALEB BEN ELIJAH;
ALI BEN AMRAM; AL-NAKAWA, ISRAEL
BEN JOSEPH; AL-TARAS, SIDI IBN;
APTOWITZER, VICTOR; ASHI; ASSAE,
SIMHA; BACHER, WILHELM; BANET,
175
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MORDECAI BEN ABRAHAM; BANET,
NAPHTALI BEN MORDECAI; BARUCH
BEN ISAAC OF REGENSBURG; BEN
"ALAN, JOSHUA; BENVENISTE, HAYYIM
BEN ISRAEL; BLOCH, MOSES; BLOGG,
SOLOMON BEN EPHRAIM; BOSKOWITZ,
BENJAMIN ZE’EV HA-LEVI; BREUER,
SOLOMON; CONFORTE, DAVID; CRESCAS,
ASHER BEN ABRAHAM; GALEN,
CLAUDIUS; GOSLAR, NAPHTALI HIRSCH
BEN JACOB; GUNZBERG, ARYEH LEIB
BEN ASHER; IBN SHEM TOV, JOSEPH
BEN SHEM TOV; JONATHAN BEN JOSEPH
OF RUZHANY; JOSEPH BEN DAVID
HA-YEVANI; KAUFMANN, DAVID; NEW
CHRISTIANS
Danah Zohar, M.A.; Jerusalem:
BRILL, ABRAHAM ARDEN
Harry Zohn, Ph.D.; Professor
of German, Brandeis University,
Waltham, Massachusetts: ALTENBERG,
PETER; AUERNHEIMER, RAOUL;
FEUCHTWANGER, LION; FRIEDELL, EGON;
FRISCH, EFRAIM; HOFFMANN, CAMILL;
KAUEMANN, FRITZ MORDECAI, KOLMAR,
GERTRUD; KRAMER, THEODOR; KRAUS,
KARL; PERUTZ, LEO; POLGAR, ALFRED;
SACHS, NELLY; SAMPTER, JESSIE ETHEL;
TREBITSCH, SIEGFRIED; TUCHOLSKY,
KURT; VIERTEL, BERTHOLD; ZWEIG,
STEFAN
Gary P. (Phillip) Zola*, Ph.D.;
Associate Professor of the American
Jewish Experience, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion,
Cincinnati, Ohio: AMERICAN JEWISH
ARCHIVES; SARNA, JONATHAN DANIEL
Maurice Zolotow, B.A.; Los
Angeles: SCHWARTZ, DELMORE
Sharon Zrachya*, Administrative
Assistant, Hod Hasharon, Israel:
ARNON, DANIEL ISRAEL; AVIDOV, ZVI;
176
COHEN, SEYMOUR STANLEY; FEUER,
HENRY; WEIL, JOSEPH
Philipp Zschommler*, M.A.;
Jewish Studies, Trainee at the Dai
Damascus, Hochschule fiir Jiidische
Studien, Heidelberg, Germany:
ADLER, FRIEDRICH; BLAU, TINA;
FLECHTHEIM, ALFRED; FREUND, GISELE;
GRUNDIG, LEA and HANS; HEARTFIELD,
JOHN; KAHNWEILER, DANIEL-HENRY;
KATZ, HANNS LUDWIG; NUSSBAUM,
FELIX; NUSSBAUM, JAKOB; WOLPERT,
LUDWIG YEHUDA
Jeno Zsoldos, Ph.D.; Educator,
Budapest: AGAI, ADOLF; BALAZS,
BELA; BANETH, EZEKIEL BEN JACOB; BEN
CHANANJA; BERENY, ROBERT; BETTELHEIM;
BOKROS-BIRMAN, DEZSO; BRODY, SANDOR;
BUDAPEST; GOLDBERGER, IZIDOR; HIRSCH,
MARKUS; HIRSCHLER, IGNAC; HUNGARIAN
LITERATURE; ISTOCZY, GYOZO; KORNFELD,
ZSIGMOND; LANCZY, GYULA; LEDERER,
ABRAHAM; LOEWY, ISAAC; MEZEI,
MOR; MEZEY, FERENC; NAGYKANIZSA;
ROSENTHAL, NAPHTALI; SCHEIBER,
ALEXANDER; SCHWAB, LOW; SIMON,
JOSEPH; ULLMANN, ADOLPH; WAHRMANN,
ISRAEL; WAHRMANN, MORITZ; WEISS,
MANERED
Susan Zuccotti*, Ph.D.;
Independent Historian (retired),
New York: BOLZANO
Louis Zucker, Ph.D.; Emeritus
Professor of English, the University
of Utah, Salt Lake City: IDAHO
Moshe Zucker, Ph.D., Rabbi;
Professor of Biblical Exegesis, the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, New York
Menahem Zulay, Dr.Phil.; Scholar
of Medieval Hebrew poetry,
Jerusalem: HADUTA BEN ABRAHAM;
INSTITUTE FOR THE RESEARCH OF
MEDIEVAL HEBREW POETRY; JUDAH HA-
LEVI BEI-RABBI HILLEL; ZEBIDAH
Efraim Zuroff*, Ph.D.; Coordinator,
Nazi War Crimes Research Institute,
Director Israel Office, Simon
Wiesenthal Center, Jerusalem:
HOLOCAUST, RESCUE FROM; SAR, SAMUEL
L.; SARACHEK, BERNARD; VAAD HA-
HATZALAH; WIESENTHAL, SIMON
Itay (B.) Zutra*, Ph.D.; Student,
The Jewish Theological Seminary
of America, New York: FRIEDMAN,
JACOB; KULBAK, MOYSHE; SHTERN,
ISRAEL; WEINSTEIN, BERISH
Benjamin Zvieli, M.A., Rabbi;
Director of Religious Broadcasting,
Jerusalem: ISRAEL, STATE OF: RELIGIOUS
LIFE AND COMMUNITIES; SYNAGOGUE
Alexander Zvielli, Director,
Jerusalem Post Archives, Jerusalem:
HUMPHREY, HUBERT H.; LANDAU, MOSHE;
SHAMGAR, MEIR; SUSSMAN, YOEL;
WITKON, ALFRED
Aharon Zwergbaum, LL.D.;
Legal Adviser, World Zionist
Organization, Jerusalem: BASLE
PROGRAM; MAURITIUS; PALESTINE
OFFICE; PATRIA; SHEKEL; ZIONISM
Irene E. Zwiep*, Ph.D.; Professor
of Hebrew and Jewish Studies,
Universiteit van Amsterdam, The
Netherlands: ALTING, JACOBUS;
BELINEANTE, ISAAC BEN ELIAH COHEN;
CAMPEN, MICHEL HERMAN VAN;
CUNAEUS, PETRUS; DOZY, REINHART
PIETER ANNE; MULDER, SAMUEL ISRAEL;
ROEST, MEIJER MARCUS; SCHULTENS,
ALBERT; SEELIGMANN, SIGMUND;
SURENHUIS, WILHELM
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBREVIATIONS
GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS
This list contains abbreviations used in the Encyclopaedia (apart from the standard ones, such as geographical abbreviations,
points of compass, etc.). For names of organizations, institutions, etc., in abbreviation, see Index. For bibliographical abbrevia-
tions of books and authors in Rabbinical literature, see following lists.
* Cross reference; i-e., an article is to be found under the word(s) immediately
following the asterisk (*).
Before the title of an entry, indicates a non-Jew (post-biblical times).
+ Indicates reconstructed forms.
> The word following this sign is derived from the preceding one.
< The word preceding this sign is derived from the following one.
ad loc. ad locum, “at the place”; used in quotations of
commentaries.
A.H. Anno Hegirae, “in the year of Hegira, ie.,
according to the Muslim calendar.
Akk. Addadian.
A.M. anno mundi, “in the year (from the creation) of
the world”
anon. anonymous.
Ar. Arabic.
Aram. Aramaic.
Ass. Assyrian.
b. born; ben, bar.
Bab. Babylonian.
B.C.E. Before Common Era ( = B.C.).
bibl. bibliography.
Bul. Bulgarian.
C., Ca. Circa.
CLE. Common Era (= A.D.).
cf. confer, “compare.”
ch., chs. chapter, chapters.
comp. compiler, compiled by.
Cz. Czech.
D according to the documentary theory, the
Deuteronomy document.
d. died.
Dan. Danish.
diss., dissert, dissertation, thesis.
Du. Dutch.
E, according to the documentary theory, the Elohist
document (i.e., using Elohim as the name of God)
of the first five (or six) books of the Bible.
ed. editor, edited, edition.
eds. editors.
e.g. exempli gratia, “for example.”
Eng. English.
et al. et alibi, “and elsewhere’; or et alii, “and others’;
“others.”
f., ff. and following page(s).
fig. figure.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
fl.
fol., fols
Fr.
Ger.
Gr.
Heb.
Hg., Hung
ibid
incl. bibl.
introd.
It.
J
n.
n.d.
no., nos
Nov.
np.
op. cit.
rev.
flourished.
folio(s).
French.
German.
Greek.
Hebrew.
Hungarian.
Ibidem, “in the same place”
includes bibliography.
introduction.
Italian.
according to the documentary theory, the Jahwist
document (i.e., using YHWH as the name of God)
of the first five (or six) books of the Bible.
Latin.
literally.
Lithuanian.
loco citato, “in the [already] cited place?”
Manuscript(s).
note.
no date (of publication).
number(s).
Novellae (Heb. Hiddushim).
place of publication unknown.
opere citato, “in the previously mentioned work”
according to the documentary theory, the Priestly
document of the first five (or six) books of the
Bible.
page(s).
Persian.
plate(s).
Polish.
Potuguese.
part(s).
published.
Rabbi or Rav (before names); in Midrash (after an
abbreviation) — Rabbah.
recto, the first side of a manuscript page.
Responsa (Latin “answers,” Hebrew Sheelot u-
Teshuvot or Teshuvot), collections of rabbinic
decisions.
revised.
177
ABBREVIATIONS
Rom. Romanian.
Rus(s). Russian.
Slov. Slovak.
Sp. Spanish.
SV, sub verbo, sub voce, “under the (key) word”
Sum Sumerian.
summ. Summary.
suppl. supplement.
Swed. Swedish.
tr., trans(1). translator, translated, translation.
Turk. Turkish.
Ukr. Ukrainian.
V. WV. verso. The second side of a manuscript page; also
verse(s).
Yid. Yiddish.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN RABBINICAL LITERATURE
Adderet Eliyahu, Karaite treatise by Elijah b. Moses *Bashyazi.
Admat Kodesh, Resp. by Nissim Hayyim Moses b. Joseph Mizrahi.
Aguddah, Sefer ha-, Nov. by *Alexander Suslin ha-Kohen.
Ahavat Hesed, compilation by *Israel Meir ha-Kohen.
Aliyyot de-Rabbenu Yonah, Nov. by *Jonah b. Avraham Gerondi.
Arukh ha-Shulhan, codification by Jehiel Michel *Epstein.
Asayin ( = positive precepts), subdivision of: (1) *Maimonides, Sefer
ha-Mitzvot; (2) *Moses b. Jacob of Coucy, Semag.
Asefat Dinim, subdivision of Sedei Hemed by Hayyim Hezekiah
*Medini, an encyclopaedia of precepts and responsa.
Asheri = *Asher b. Jehiel.
Aeret Hakhamim, by Baruch *Frankel-Teomim; pt, 1: Resp. to Sh.
Ar pt2: Nov. to Talmud.
Ateret Zahav, subdivision of the Levush, a codification by
Mordecai b. Abraham (Levush) *Jaffe; Ateret Zahav parallels
Tur. YD.
Ateret Zevi, Comm. To Sh. Ar. by Zevi Hirsch b. Azriel.
Avir Yaakov, Resp. by Jacob Avigdor.
Avkat Rokhel, Resp. by Joseph b. Ephraim *Caro.
Avnei Millu’im, Comm. to Sh. Ar., EH, by *Aryeh Loeb b. Joseph
ha-Kohen.
Avnei Nezer, Resp. on Sh. Ar. by Abraham b. Zeev Nahum Born-
stein of *Sochaczew.
Avodat Massa, Compilation of Tax Law by Yoasha Abraham Judah.
Azei ha-Levanon, Resp. by Judah Leib *Zirelson.
Baal ha-Tanya - *Shneur Zalman of Lyady.
Baei Hayyei, Resp. by Hayyim b. Israel *Benveniste.
Baer Heitev, Comm. To Sh. Ar. The parts on OH and EH are by
Judah b. Simeon *Ashkenazi, the parts on YD AND HM by
*Zechariah Mendel b. Aryeh Leib. Printed in most editions of
Sh. Ar.
Bah = Joel *Sirkes.
Bah, usual abbreviation for Bayit Hadash, a commentary on Tur by
Joel *Sirkes; printed in most editions of Tur.
Bayit Hadash, see Bah.
Berab = Jacob Berab, also called Ri Berav.
Bedek ha-Bayit, by Joseph b. Ephraim *Caro, additions to his Beit
Yosef (a comm. to Tur). Printed sometimes inside Beit Yosef, in
smaller type. Appears in most editions of Tur.
Beer ha-Golah, Commentary to Sh. Ar. By Moses b. Naphtali Hirsch
*Rivkes; printed in most editions of Sh. Ar.
178
Beer Mayim, Resp. by Raphael b. Abraham Manasseh Jacob.
Beer Mayim Hayyim, Resp. by Samuel b. Hayyim * Vital.
Beer Yizhak, Resp. by Isaac Elhanan *Spector.
Beit ha-Behirah, Comm. to Talmud by Menahem b. Solomon
*Meiri.
Beit Me’ir, Nov. on Sh. Ar. by Meir b. Judah Leib Posner.
Beit Shelomo, Resp. by Solomon b. Aaron Hason (the younger).
Beit Shemuel, Comm. to Sh. Ar., EH, by *Samuel b. Uri Shraga
Phoebus.
Beit Yaakov, by Jacob b. Jacob Moses *Lorberbaum; pt.1: Nov. to
Ket.; pt.2: Comm. to EH.
Beit Yisrael, collective name for the commentaries Derishah, Per-
ishah, and Be'urim by Joshua b. Alexander ha-Kohen *Falk. See
under the names of the commentaries.
Beit Yizhak, Resp. by Isaac *Schmelkes.
Beit Yosef: (1) Comm. on Tur by Joseph b. Ephraim *Caro; printed
in most editions of Tur; (2) Resp. by the same.
Ben Yehudah, Resp. by Abraham b. Judah Litsch (wu’?) Rosen-
baum.
Bertinoro, Standard commentary to Mishnah by Obadiah *Berti-
noro. Printed in most editions of the Mishnah.
[Be’urei] Ha-Gra, Comm. to Bible, Talmud, and Sh. Ar. By *Elijah
b. Solomon Zalmon (Gaon of Vilna); printed in major editions
of the mentioned works.
Be‘urim, Glosses to Isserles Darkhei Moshe (a comm. on Tur) by
Joshua b. Alexander ha-Kohen *Falk; printed in many editions
of Tur.
Binyamin Zeev, Resp. by *Benjamin Zeev b. Mattathias of Arta.
Birkei Yosef, Nov. by Hayyim Joseph David *Azulai.
Ha-Buz ve-ha-Argaman, subdivision of the Levush (a codification
by Mordecai b. Abraham (Levush) *Jaffe); Ha-Buz ve-ha-Ar-
gaman parallels Tur, EH.
Comm. = Commentary
Daat Kohen, Resp. by Abraham Isaac ha-Kohen. *Kook.
Darkhei Moshe, Comm. on Tur Moses b. Israel *Isserles; printed in
most editions of Tur.
Darkhei Noam, Resp. by *Mordecai b. Judah ha-Levi.
Darkhei Teshuvah, Nov. by Zevi *Shapiro; printed in the major edi-
tions of Sh. Ar.
Deah ve-Haskel, Resp. by Obadiah Hadaya (see Yaskil Avdi).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Derashot Ran, Sermons by *Nissim b. Reuben Gerondi.
Derekh Hayyim, Comm. to Avot by *Judah Loew (Lob., Liwa) b.
Bezalel (Maharal) of Prague.
Derishah, by Joshua b. Alexander ha-Kohen *Falk; additions
to his Perishah (comm. on Tur); printed in many editions of
Tur.
Derushei ha-Zelah, Sermons, by Ezekiel b. Judah Halevi *Landau.
Devar Avraham, Resp. by Abraham *Shapira.
Devar Shemuel, Resp. by Samuel *Aboab.
Devar Yehoshua, Resp. by Joshua Menahem b. Isaac Aryeh Eh-
renberg.
Dikdukei Soferim, variae lections of the talmudic text by Raphael
Nathan*Rabbinowicz.
Divrei Emet, Resp. by Isaac Bekhor David.
Divrei Geonim, Digest of responsa by Hayyim Aryeh b. Jehiel Zevi
*Kahana.
Divrei Hamudot, Comm. on Piskei ha-Rosh by Yom Tov Lipmann
b. Nathan ha-Levi *Heller; printed in major editions of the Tal-
mud.
Divrei Hayyim several works by Hayyim *Halberstamm; if quoted
alone refers to his Responsa.
Divrei Malkhiel, Resp. by Malchiel Tenebaum.
Divrei Rivot, Resp. by Isaac b. Samuel *Adarbi.
Divrei Shemuel, Resp. by Samuel Raphael Arditi.
Edut be- Yaakov, Resp. by Jacob b. Abraham *Boton.
Edut bi-Yhosef, Resp. by Joseph b. Isaac *Almosnino.
Ein Yaakov, Digest of talmudic aggadot by Jacob (Ibn) *Habib.
Ein Yizhak, Resp. by Isaac Elhanan *Spector.
Ephraim of Lentshitz = Solomon *Luntschitz.
Erekh Lehem, Nov. and glosses to Sh. Ar. by Jacob b. Abraham
*Castro.
Eshkol, Sefer ha-, Digest of halakhot by *Abraham b. Isaac of Nar-
bonne.
Et Sofer, Treatise on Law Court documents by Abraham b. Mordecai
*Ankawa, in the 2nd vol. of his Resp. Kerem Hamar.
Etan ha-Ezrahi, Resp. by Abraham b. Israel Jehiel (Shrenzl) *Ra-
paport.
Even ha-Ezel, Nov. to Maimonides’ Yad Hazakah by Isser Zalman
*Meltzer.
Even ha-Ezer, also called Raban of Zafenat Pa’neah, rabbinical work
with varied contents by *Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz; not identi-
cal with the subdivision of Tur, Shulhan Arukh, etc.
Ezrat Yehudah, Resp. by *Isaar Judah b. Nechemiah of Brisk.
Gan Eden, Karaite treatise by *Aaron b. Elijah of Nicomedia.
Gersonides = *Levi b. Gershom, also called Leo Hebraecus, or
Ralbag.
Ginnat Veradim, Resp. by *Abraham b. Mordecai ha-Levi.
Haggahot, another name for Rema.
Haggahot Asheri, glosses to Piskei ha-Rosh by *Israel of Krems;
printed in most Talmud editions.
Haggahot Maimuniyyot, Comm,. to Maimonides’ Yad Hazakah by
*Meir ha-Kohen; printed in most eds. of Yad.
Haggahot Mordekhai, glosses to Mordekhai by Samuel *Schlettstadt;
printed in most editions of the Talmud after Mordekhai.
Haggahot ha-Rashash on Tosafot, annotations of Samuel *Strashun
on the Tosafot (printed in major editions of the Talmud).
Ha-Gra = *Elijah b. Solomon Zalman (Gaon of Vilna).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBREVIATIONS
Ha-Gra, Commentaries on Bible, Talmud, and Sh. Ar. respectively,
by *Elijah b. Solomon Zalman (Gaon of Vilna); printed in major
editions of the mentioned works.
Hai Gaon, Comm. = his comm. on Mishnah.
Hakham Zevi, Resp. by Zevi Hirsch b. Jacob *Ashkenazi.
Halakhot = Rif, Halakhot. Compilation and abstract of the Talmud
by Isaac b. Jacob ha-Kohen *Alfasi; printed in most editions of
the Talmud.
Halakhot Gedolot, compilation of halakhot from the Geonic period,
arranged acc. to the Talmud. Here cited acc. to ed. Warsaw (1874).
Author probably *Simeon Kayyara of Basra.
Halakhot Pesukot le-Rav Yehudai Gaon compilation of halakhot.
Halakhot Pesukot min ha-Geonim, compilation of halakhot from
the geonic period by different authors.
Hananel, Comm. to Talmud by *Hananel b. Hushiel; printed in
some editions of the Talmud.
Harei Besamim, Resp. by Aryeh Leib b. Isaac *Horowitz.
Hassidim, Sefer, Ethical maxims by *Judah b. Samuel he-Hasid.
Hassagot Rabad on Rif, Glosses on Rif, Halakhot, by *Abraham b.
David of Posquiéres.
Hassagot Rabad [on Yad], Glosses on Maimonides, Yad Hazakah,
by *Abraham b. David of Posquiéres.
Hassagot Ramban, Glosses by Nahmanides on Maimonides’ Sefer
ha-Mitzvot; usually printed together with Sefer ha-Mitzvot.
Hatam Sofer = Moses *Sofer.
Havvot Ya’ir, Resp. and varia by Jair Hayyim *Bacharach
Hayyim Or Zaru’a = *Hayyim (Eliezer) b. Isaac.
Hazon Ish = Abraham Isaiah *Karelitz.
Hazon Ish, Nov. by Abraham Isaiah *Karelitz
Hedvat Yaakov, Resp. by Aryeh Judah Jacob b. David Dov Meisels
(article under his father’s name).
Heikhal Yizhak, Resp. by Isaac ha-Levi *Herzog.
Helkat Mehokek, Comm. to Sh. Ar., by Moses b. Isaac Judah
*Lima.
Helkat Yaakov, Resp. by Mordecai Jacob Breisch.
Hemdah Genuzah, , Resp. from the geonic period by different au-
thors.
Hemdat Shelomo, Resp. by Solomon Zalman *Lipschitz.
Hida = Hayyim Joseph David *Azulai.
Hiddushei Halakhot ve-Aggadot, Nov. by Samuel Eliezer b. Judah
ha-Levi *Edels.
Hikekei Lev, Resp. by Hayyim *Palaggi.
Hikrei Lev, Nov. to Sh. Ar. by Joseph Raphael b. Hayyim Joseph
Hazzan (see article *Hazzan Family).
Hil. = Hilkhot ... (e.g. Hilkhot Shabbat).
Hinnukh, Sefer ha-, List and explanation of precepts attributed
(probably erroneously) to Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona (see ar-
ticle *Ha-Hinnukh).
Hok Yaakov, Comm. to Hil. Pesah in Sh. Ar., OH, by Jacob b. Jo-
seph *Reicher.
Hokhmat Sehlomo (1), Glosses to Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot by
Solomon b. Jehiel “Maharshal”) *Luria; printed in many edi-
tions of the Talmud.
Hokhmat Sehlomo (2), Glosses and Nov. to Sh. Ar. by Solomon b.
Judah Aaron *Kluger printed in many editions of Sh. Ar.
Hur, subdivision of the Levush, a codification by Mordecai b. Abra-
ham (Levush) *Jafte; Hur (or Levush ha-Hur) parallels Tur, OH,
242-697.
Hut ha-Meshullash, fourth part of the Tashbez (Resp.), by Simeon
b. Zemah *Duran.
79
ABBREVIATIONS
Ibn Ezra, Comm. to the Bible by Abraham *Ibn Ezra; printed in the
major editions of the Bible (“Mikraot Gedolot”).
Imrei Yosher, Resp. by Meir b. Aaron Judah *Arik.
Ir Shushan, Subdivision of the Levush, a codification by Mordecai b.
Abraham (Levush) *Jaffe; Ir Shushan parallels Tur, HM.
Israel of Bruna = Israel b. Hayyim *Bruna.
Ittur. Treatise on precepts by *Isaac b. Abba Mari of Marseilles.
Jacob Be Rab = *Be Rab.
Jacob b. Jacob Moses of Lissa = Jacob b. Jacob Moses *Lorberbaum.
Judah B. Simeon = Judah b. Simeon *Ashkenazi.
Judah Minz = Judah b. Eliezer ha-Levi *Minz.
Kappei Aharon, Resp. by Aaron Azriel.
Kehillat Yaakov, Talmudic methodology, definitions etc. by Israel
Jacob b. Yom Tov *Algazi.
Kelei Hemdah, Nov. and pilpulim by Meir Dan *Plotzki of Ostrova,
arranged acc. to the Torah.
Keli Yakar, Annotations to the Torah by Solomon *Luntschitz.
Keneh Hokhmah, Sermons by Judah Loeb *Pochwitzer.
Keneset ha-Gedolah, Digest of halakhot by Hayyim b. Israel *Ben-
veniste; subdivided into annotations to Beit Yosef and annota-
tions to Tur.
Keneset Yisrael, Resp. by Ezekiel b. Abraham Katzenellenbogen (see
article *Katzenellenbogen Family).
Kerem Hamar, Resp. and varia by Abraham b. Mordecai *Ankawa.
Kerem Shelmo. Resp. by Solomon b. Joseph *Amarillo.
Keritut, [Sefer], Methodology of the Talmud by *Samson b. Isaac
of Chinon.
Kesef ha-Kedoshim, Comm. to Sh. Ar., HM, by Abraham *Wahr-
mann; printed in major editions of Sh. Ar.
Kesef Mishneh, Comm. to Maimonides, Yad Hazakah, by Joseph b.
Ephraim *Caro; printed in most editions of Yad Hazakah.
Kezot ha-Hoshen, Comm. to Sh. Ar., HM, by *Aryeh Loeb b. Joseph
ha-Kohen; printed in major editions of Sh. Ar.
Kol Bo [Sefer], Anonymous collection of ritual rules; also called
Sefer ha-Likkutim.
Kol Mevasser, Resp. by Meshullam *Rath.
Korban Aharon, Comm. to Sifra by Aaron b. Abraham *Ibn Hayyim;
pt. 1is called: Middot Aharon.
Korban Edah, Comm. to Jer. Talmud by David *Fraenkel; with ad-
ditions: Shiyyurei Korban; printed in most editions of Jer. Tal-
mud.
Kunteres ha-Kelalim, subdivision of Sedei Hemed, an encyclopaedia
of precepts and responsa by Hayyim Hezekiah *Medini.
Kunteres ha-Semikhah, a treatise by *Levi b. Habib; printed at the
end of his responsa.
Kunteres Tikkun Olam, part of Mispat Shalom (Nov. by Shalom
Mordecai b. Moses *Schwadron).
Lavin (negative precepts), subdivision of: (1) *Maimonides, Sefer
ha-Mitzvot; (2) *Moses b. Jacob of Coucy, Semag.
Lehem Mishneh, Comm. to Maimonides, Yad Hazakah, by Abra-
ham [Hiyya] b. Moses *Boton; printed in most editions of Yad
Hazakah.
Lehem Ray, Resp. by Abraham [Hiyya] b. Moses *Boton.
Leket Yosher, Resp and varia by Israel b. Pethahiah *Isserlein, col-
lected by *Joseph (Joselein) b. Moses.
Leo Hebraeus = *Levi b. Gershom, also called Ralbag or Ger-
sonides.
180
Levush = Mordecai b. Abraham *Jaffe.
Levush [Malkhut], Codification by Mordecai b. Abraham (Levush)
*Jaffe, with subdivisions: [Levush ha-] Tekhelet (parallels Tur OH
1-241); [Levush ha-] Hur (parallels Tur OH 242-697); [Levush]
Ateret Zahav (parallels Tur YD); [Levush ha-Buz ve-ha-Argaman
(parallels Tur EH ); [Levush] Ir Shushan (parallels Tur HM); un-
der the name Levush the author wrote also other works.
Li-Leshonot ha-Rambam, fifth part (nos. 1374-1700) of Resp. by
*David b. Solomon ibn Abi Zimra (Radbaz).
Likkutim, Sefer ha-, another name for [Sefer] Kol Bo.
Maadanei Yom Tov, Comm. on Piskei ha-Rosh by Yom Tov Lip-
mann b. Nathan ha-Levi *Heller; printed in many editions of
the Talmud.
Mabit = Moses b. Joseph *Trani.
Magen Avot, Comm. to Avot by Simeon b. Zemah *Duran.
Magen Avraham, Comm. to Sh. Ar., OH, by Abraham Abele b.
Hayyim ha-Levi *Gombiner; printed in many editions of Sh.
Ar, OH.
Maggid Mishneh, Comm. to Maimonides, Yad Hazakah, by *Vi-
dal Yom Tov of Tolosa; printed in most editions of the Yad
Hazakah.
Mahaneh Efrayim, Resp. and Nov., arranged acc. to Maimonides’
Yad Hazakah , by Ephraim b. Aaron *Navon.
Maharai = Israel b. Pethahiah *Isserlein.
Maharal of Prague = *Judah Loew (Lob, Liwa), b. Bezalel.
Maharalbah = *Levi b. Habib.
Maharam Alashkar = Moses b. Isaac *Alashkar.
Maharam Alshekh = Moses b. Hayyim *Alashekh.
Maharam Mintz = Moses *Mintz.
Maharam of Lublin = *Meir b. Gedaliah of Lublin.
Maharam of Padua = Meir *Katzenellenbogen.
Maharam of Rothenburg = *Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg.
Maharam Shik = Moses b. Joseph Schick.
Maharash Engel = Samuel b. Ze'ev Wolf Engel.
Maharashdam = Samuel b. Moses *Medina.
Maharhash = Hayyim (ben) Shabbetai.
Mahari Basan = Jehiel b. Hayyim Basan.
Mahari b. Lev = Joseph ibn Lev.
Mahari’az = Jekuthiel Asher Zalman Ensil Zusmir.
Maharibal = *Joseph ibn Lev.
Maharih = Jacob (Israel) *Hagiz.
Maharik = Joseph b. Solomon *Colon.
Maharikash = Jacob b. Abraham *Castro.
Maharil = Jacob b. Moses *Moellin.
Maharimat = Joseph b. Moses di Trani (not identical with the Ma-
harit).
Maharit = Joseph b. Moses *Trani.
Maharitaz = Yom Tov b. Akiva Zahalon. (See article *Zahalon
Family).
Maharsha = Samuel Eliezer b. Judah ha-Levi *Edels.
Maharshag = Simeon b. Judah Gruenfeld.
Maharshak = Samson b. Isaac of Chinon.
Maharshakh = *Solomon b. Abraham.
Maharshal = Solomon b. Jehiel *Luria.
Mahasham = Shalom Mordecai b. Moses *Sschwadron.
Maharyu = Jacob b. Judah *Weil.
Mahazeh Avraham, Resp. by Abraham Nebagen v. Meir ha-Levi
Steinberg.
Mahazik Berakhah, Nov. by Hayyim Joseph David *Azulai.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
*Maimonides = Moses b. Maimon, or Rambam.
*Malbim = Meir Loeb b. Jehiel Michael.
Malbim = Malbim’s comm. to the Bible; printed in the major edi-
tions.
Malbushei Yom Tov, Nov. on Levush, OH, by Yom Tov Lipmann b.
Nathan ha-Levi *Heller.
Mappah, another name for Rema.
Mareh ha-Panim, Comm. to Jer. Talmud by Moses b. Simeon *Mar-
golies; printed in most editions of Jer. Talmud.
Margaliyyot ha-Yam, Nov. by Reuben *Margoliot.
Masat Binyamin, Resp. by Benjamin Aaron b. Abraham *Slonik
Mashbir, Ha- = *Joseph Samuel b. Isaac Rodi.
Massa Hayyim, Tax halakhot by Hayyim *Palaggi, with the subdivi-
sions Missim ve-Arnomiyyot and Torat ha-Minhagot.
Massa Melekh, Compilation of Tax Law by Joseph b. Isaac *Ibn Ezra
with concluding part Ne’ilat Shearim.
Matteh Asher, Resp. by Asher b. Emanuel Shalem.
Matteh Shimon, Digest of Resp. and Nov. to Tur and Beit Yosef, HM,
by Mordecai Simeon b. Solomon.
Matteh Yosef, Resp. by Joseph b. Moses ha-Levi Nazir (see article
under his father’s name).
Mayim Amukkim, Resp. by Elijah b. Abraham * Mizrahi.
Mayim Hayyim, Resp. by Hayyim b. Dov Beresh Rapaport.
Mayim Rabbim, , Resp. by Raphael *Meldola.
Me-Emek ha-Bakha, , Resp. by Simeon b. Jekuthiel Ephrati.
Me’irat Einayim, usual abbreviation: Sma (from: Sefer Me’irat Ein-
ayim); comm. to Sh. Ar. By Joshua b. Alexander ha-Kohen *Falk;
printed in most editions of the Sh. Ar.
Melammed le-Ho’il, Resp. by David Zevi *Hoffmann.
Meisharim, [Sefer], Rabbinical treatise by *Jeroham b. Meshul-
lam.
Meshiv Davar, Resp. by Naphtali Zevi Judah *Berlin.
Mi-Gei ha-Haregah, Resp. by Simeon b. Jekuthiel Ephrati.
Mi-Maamakim, Resp. by Ephraim Oshry.
Middot Aharon, first part of Korban Aharon, a comm. to Sifra by
Aaron b. Abraham *Ibn Hayyim.
Migdal Oz, Comm. to Maimonides, Yad Hazakah, by *Ibn Gaon
Shem Tov b. Abraham; printed in most editions of the Yad
Hazakah.
Mikhtam le-David, Resp. by David Samuel b. Jacob *Pardo.
Mikkah ve-ha-Mimkar, Sefer ha-, Rabbinical treatise by *Hai
Gaon.
Milhamot ha-Shem, Glosses to Rif, Halakhot, by *Nahmanides.
Minhat Hinnukh, Comm. to Sefer ha-Hinnukh, by Joseph b. Moses
*Babad.
Minhat Yizhak, Resp. by Isaac Jacob b. Joseph Judah Weiss.
Misgeret ha-Shulhan, Comm. to Sh. Ar., HM, by Benjamin Zeev
Wolf b. Shabbetai; printed in most editions of Sh. Ar.
Mishkenot ha-Ro’im, Halakhot in alphabetical order by Uzziel
Alshekh.
Mishnah Berurah, Comm. to Sh. Ar., OH, by *Israel Meir ha-
Kohen.
Mishneh le-Melekh, Comm. to Maimonides, Yad Hazakah, by Judah
*Rosanes; printed in most editions of Yad Hazakah.
Mishpat ha-Kohanim, Nov. to Sh. Ar., HM, by Jacob Moses *Lorber-
baum, part of his Netivot ha-Mishpat; printed in major editions
of Sh. Ar,
Mishpat Kohen, Resp. by Abraham Isaac ha-Kohen *Kook.
Mishpat Shalom, Nov. by Shalom Mordecai b. Moses *Schwadron;
contains: Kunteres Tikkun Olam.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBREVIATIONS
Mishpat u-Zedakah be-Yaakov, Resp. by Jacob b. Reuben *Ibn
Zur.
Mishpat ha-Urim, Comm. to Sh. Ar., HM by Jacob b. Jacob Moses
*Lorberbaum, part of his Netivot ha-Mishpat; printed in major
editons of Sh. Ar.
Mishpat Zedek, Resp. by *Melammed Meir b. Shem Tov.
Mishpatim Yesharim, Resp. by Raphael b. Mordecai *Berdugo.
Mishpetei Shemuel, Resp. by Samuel b. Moses *Kalai (Kal’i).
Mishpetei ha-Tanna’im, Kunteres, Nov on Levush, OH by Yom Tov
Lipmann b. Nathan ha-Levi *Heller.
Mishpetei Uzziel (Uziel), Resp. by Ben-Zion Meir Hai *Ouziel.
Missim ve-Arnoniyyot, Tax halakhot by Hayyim *Palaggi, a subdivi-
sion of his work Massa Hayyim on the same subject.
Mitzvot, Sefer ha-, Elucidation of precepts by *Maimonides; sub-
divided into Lavin (negative precepts) and Asayin (positive pre-
cepts).
Mitzvot Gadol, Sefer, Elucidation of precepts by *Moses b. Jacob
of Coucy, subdivided into Lavin (negative precepts) and Asayin
(positive precepts); the usual abbreviation is Semag.
Mitzvot Katan, Sefer, Elucidation of precepts by *Isaac b. Joseph of
Corbeil; the usual, abbreviation is Semak.
Moadim u-Zemannim, Rabbinical treatises by Moses Sternbuch.
Modigliano, Joseph Samuel = *Joseph Samuel b. Isaac, Rodi (Ha-
Mashbir).
Mordekhai (Mordecai), halakhic compilation by *Mordecai b. Hillel;
printed in most editions of the Talmud after the texts.
Moses b. Maimon = *Maimonides, also called Rambam.
Moses b. Nahman = Nahmanides, also called Ramban.
Muram = Isaiah Menahem b. Isaac (from: Morenu R. Mendel).
Nahal Yizhak, Comm. on Sh. Ar., HM, by Isaac Elhanan *Spec-
tor.
Nahalah li- Yhoshua, Resp. by Joshua Zunzin.
Nahalat Shivah, collection of legal forms by *Samuel b. David
Moses ha-Levi.
*Nahmanides = Moses b. Nahman, also called Ramban.
Naziv = Naphtali Zevi Judah *Berlin.
Neeman Shemuel, Resp. by Samuel Isaac *Modigilano.
Ne’ilat Shearim, concluding part of Massa Melekh (a work on Tax
Law) by Joseph b. Isaac *Ibn Ezra, containing an exposition of
customary law and subdivided into Minhagei Issur and Min-
hagei Mamon.
Ner Maaravi, Resp. by Jacob b. Malka.
Netivot ha-Mishpat, by Jacob b. Jacob Moses *Lorberbaum; sub-
divided into Mishpat ha-Kohanim, Nov. to Sh. Ar., HM, and
Mishpat ha-Urim, a comm. on the same; printed in major edi-
tions of Sh. Ar.
Netivot Olam, Saying of the Sages by *Judah Loew (Lob, Liwa) b.
Bezalel.
Nimmukei Menahem of Merseburg, Tax halakhot by the same,
printed at the end of Resp. Maharyu.
Nimmukei Yosef, Comm. to Rif. Halakhot, by Joseph *Habib
(Habiba); printed in many editions of the Talmud.
Noda bi-Yhudah, Resp. by Ezekiel b. Judah ha-Levi *Landau; there
is a first collection (Mahadura Kamma) and a second collection
(Mahadura Tinyana).
Nov. = Novellae, Hiddushim.
Ohel Moshe (1), Notes to Talmud, Midrash Rabbah, Yad, Sifrei and
to several Resp., by Eleazar *Horowitz.
181
ABBREVIATIONS
Ohel Moshe (2), Resp. by Moses Jonah Zweig.
Oholei Tam. Resp. by *Tam ibn Yahya Jacob b. David; printed in
the rabbinical collection Tummat Yesharim.
Oholei Yaakov, Resp. by Jacob de *Castro.
Or ha-Me’ir Resp by Judah Meir b. Jacob Samson Shapiro.
Or Sameah, Comm. to Maimonides, Yad Hazakah, by *Meir
Simhah ha-Kohen of Dvinsk; printed in many editions of the
Yad Hazakah.
Or Zarw [the father] = *Isaac b. Moses of Vienna.
Or Zaru’a [the son] = *Hayyim (Eliezer) b. Isaac.
Or Zarua, Nov. by *Isaac b. Moses of Vienna.
Orah, Sefer ha-, Compilation of ritual precepts by *Rashi.
Orah la-Zaddik, Resp. by Abraham Hayyim Rodrigues.
Ozar ha-Posekim, Digest of Responsa.
Pahad Yizhak, Rabbinical encyclopaedia by Isaac *Lampronti.
Panim Me’irot, Resp. by Meir b. Isaac *Eisenstadt.
Parashat Mordekhai, Resp. by Mordecai b. Abraham Naphtali
*Banet.
Peat ha-Sadeh la-Dinim and Peat ha-Sadeh la-Kelalim, subdivisions
of the Sedei Hemed, an encyclopaedia of precepts and responsa,
by Hayyim Hezekaih *Medini.
Penei Moshe (1), Resp. by Moses *Benveniste.
Penei Moshe (2), Comm. to Jer. Talmud by Moses b. Simeon *Mar-
golies; printed in most editions of the Jer. Talmud.
Penei Moshe (3), Comm. on the aggadic passages of 18 treatises of
the Bab. and Jer. Talmud, by Moses b. Isaiah Katz.
Penei Yehoshua, Nov. by Jacob Joshua b. Zevi Hirsch *Falk.
Peri Hadash, Comm. on Sh. Ar. By Hezekiah da *Silva.
Perishah, Comm. on Tur by Joshua b. Alexander ha-Kohen *Falk;
printed in major edition of Tur; forms together with Derishah
and Be’urim (by the same author) the Beit Yisrael.
Pesakim u-Khetavim, 2nd part of the Terumat ha-Deshen by Israel
b. Pethahiah *Isserleim also called Piskei Maharai.
Pilpula Harifta, Comm. to Piskei ha-Rosh, Seder Nezikin, by Yom
Tov Lipmann b. Nathan ha-Levi *Heller; printed in major edi-
tions of the Talmud.
Piskei Maharai, see Terumat ha-Deshen, 2nd part; also called Pe-
sakim u-Khetavim.
Piskei ha-Rosh, a compilation of halakhot, arranged on the Talmud,
by *Asher b. Jehiel (Rosh); printed in major Talmud editions.
Pithei Teshuvah, Comm. to Sh. Ar. by Abraham Hirsch b. Jacob
*Eisenstadt; printed in major editions of the Sh. Ar.
Rabad = *Abraham b. David of Posquiéres (Rabad IIL).
Raban = *Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz.
Raban, also called Zafenat Pa’neah or Even ha-Ezer, see under the
last name.
Rabi Abad = *Abraham b. Isaac of Narbonne.
Radad = David Dov. b. Aryeh Judah Jacob *Meisels.
Radam = Dov Berush b. Isaac Meisels.
Radbaz = *David b Solomon ibn Abi Ziumra.
Radbaz, Comm. to Maimonides, Yad Hazakah, by *David b. Solo-
mon ibn Abi Zimra.
Ralbag = *Levi b. Gershom, also called Gersonides, or Leo He-
braeus.
Ralbag, Bible comm. by *Levi b. Gershon.
Rama [da Fano] = Menahem Azariah *Fano.
Ramah = Meir b. Todros [ha-Levi] *Abulafia.
Ramam = *Menaham of Merseburg.
182
Rambam = *Maimonides; real name: Moses b. Maimon.
Ramban = *Nahmanides; real name Moses b. Nahman.
Ramban, Comm. to Torah by *Nahmanides; printed in major edi-
tions. (“Mikraot Gedolot”).
Ran = *Nissim b. Reuben Gerondi.
Ran of Rif, Comm. on Rif, Halakhot, by Nissim b. Reuben Gerondi.
Ranah = *Elijah b. Hayyim.
Rash = *Samson b. Abraham of Sens.
Rash, Comm. to Mishnah, by *Samson b. Abraham of Sens; printed
in major Talmud editions.
Rashash = Samuel *Strashun.
Rashba = Solomon b. Abraham *Adret.
Rashba, Resp., see also; Sefer Teshuvot ha-Rashba ha-Meyuhasot le-
ha-Ramban, by Solomon b. Abraham *Adret.
Rashbad = Samuel b. David.
Rashbam = *Samuel b. Meir.
Rashbam = Comm. on Bible and Talmud by *Samuel b. Meir; printed
in major editions of Bible and most editions of Talmud.
Rashbash = Solomon b. Simeon *Duran.
*Rashi = Solomon b. Isaac of Troyes.
Rashi, Comm. on Bible and Talmud by *Rashi; printed in almost
all Bible and Talmud editions.
Raviah = Eliezer b. Joel ha-Levi.
Redak = David *Kimhi.
Redak, Comm. to Bible by David *Kimhi.
Redakh = *David b. Hayyim ha-Kohen of Corfu.
Reem = Elijah b. Abraham *Mizrahi.
Rema = Moses b. Israel *Isserles.
Rema, Glosses to Sh. Ar. by Moses b. Israel *Isserles; printed in al-
most all editions of the Sh. Ar. inside the text in Rashi type; also
called Mappah or Haggahot.
Remek = Moses Kimhi.
Remakh = Moses ha-Kohen mi-Lunel.
Reshakh = *Solomon b. Abraham; also called Maharshakh.
Resp. = Responsa, Sheelot u-Teshuvot.
Ri Berav = *Berab.
Ri Escapa = Joseph b. Saul *Escapa.
Ri Migash = Joseph b. Meir ha-Levi *Ibn Migash.
Riba = Isaac b. Asher ha-Levi; Riba II (Riba ha-Bahur) = his grand-
son with the same name.
Ribam = Isaac b. Mordecai (or: Isaac b. Meir).
Ribash = *Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet (or: Barfat).
Rid= *Isaiah b. Mali di Trani the Elder.
Ridbaz = Jacob David b. Zeev * Willowski.
Rif = Isaac b. Jacob ha-Kohen *Alfasi.
Rif, Halakhot, Compilation and abstract of the Talmud by Isaac b.
Jacob ha-Kohen *Alfasi.
Ritba = Yom Tov b. Abraham *Ishbili.
Rizbam = Isaac b. Mordecai.
Rosh = *Asher b. Jehiel, also called Asheri.
Rosh Mashbir, Resp. by *Joseph Samuel b. Isaac, Rodi.
Sedei Hemed, Encyclopaedia of precepts and responsa by Hayyim
Hezekiah *Medini; subdivisions: Asefat Dinim, Kunteres ha-Ke-
lalim, Peat ha-Sadeh la-Dinim, Peat ha-Sadeh la-Kelalim.
Semag, Usual abbreviation of Sefer Mitzvot Gadol, elucidation of
precepts by *Moses b. Jacob of Coucy; subdivided into Lavin
(negative precepts) Asayin (positive precepts).
Semak, Usual abbreviation of Sefer Mitzvot Katan, elucidation of
precepts by *Isaac b. Joseph of Corbeil.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Sh. Ar. = Shulhan Arukh, code by Joseph b. Ephraim *Caro.
Shaar Mishpat, Comm. to Sh. Ar., HM. By Israel Isser b. Zeev
Wolf.
Shaarei Shevuot, Treatise on the law of oaths by *David b. Saa-
diah; usually printed together with Rif, Halakhot; also called:
Shearim of R. Alfasi.
Shaarei Teshuvah, Collection of resp. from Geonic period, by dif-
ferent authors.
Shaarei Uzziel, Rabbinical treatise by Ben-Zion Meir Ha *Ouziel.
Shaarei Zedek, Collection of resp. from Geonic period, by differ-
ent authors.
Shadal [or Shedal] = Samuel David *Luzzatto.
Shai la-Moreh, Resp. by Shabbetai Jonah.
Shakh, Usual abbreviation of Siftei Kohen, a comm. to Sh. Ar., YD
and HM by *Shabbetai b. Meir ha-Kohen; printed in most edi-
tions of Sh. Ar.
Shaot-de-Rabbanan, Resp. by *Solomon b. Judah ha-Kohen.
Shearim of R. Alfasi see Shaarei Shevuot.
Shedal, see Shadal.
Sheelot u-Teshuvot ha-Geonim, Collection of resp. by different au-
thors.
Sheerit Yisrael, Resp. by Israel Zeev Mintzberg.
Sheerit Yosef, Resp. by *Joseph b. Mordecai Gershon ha-Kohen.
She’ilat Yavez, Resp. by Jacob *Emden (Yavez).
She’iltot, Compilation arranged acc. to the Torah by *Aha (Ahai)
of Shabha.
Shem Aryeh, Resp. by Aryeh Leib *Lipschutz.
Shemesh Zedakah, Resp. by Samson *Morpurgo.
Shenei ha-Meorot ha-Gedolim, Resp. by Elijah *Covo.
Shetarot, Sefer ha-, Collection of legal forms by *Judah b. Barzil-
lai al-Bargeloni.
Shevut Yaakov, Resp. by Jacob b. Joseph Reicher.
Shibbolei ha-Leket Compilation on ritual by Zedekiah b. Avra-
ham *Anav.
Shiltei Gibborim, Comm. to Rif, Halakhot, by *Joshua Boaz b.
Simeon; printed in major editions of the Talmud.
Shittah Mekubbezet, Compilation of talmudical commentaries by
Bezalel *Ashkenazi.
Shivat Ziyyon, Resp. by Samuel b. Ezekiel *Landau.
Shiyyurei Korban, by David *Fraenkel; additions to his comm. to
Jer. Talmud Korban Edah; both printed in most editions of Jer.
Talmud.
Shoel u-Meshiv, Resp. by Joseph Saul ha-Levi *Nathanson.
Sh[ulhan] Ar[ukh] [of Baal ha-Tanyal], Code by *Shneur Zalman
of Lyady; not identical with the code by Joseph Caro.
Siftei Kohen, Comm. to Sh. Ar., YD and HM by *Shabbetai b. Meir
ha-Kohen; printed in most editions of Sh. Ar; usual abbrevia-
tion: Shakh.
Simhat Yom Tov, Resp. by Tom Tov b. Jacob *Algazi.
Simlah Hadashah, Treatise on Shehitah by Alexander Sender b.
Ephraim Zalman *Schor; see also Tevuot Shor.
Simeon b. Zemah = Simeon b. Zemah *Duran.
Sma, Comm. to Sh. Ar. by Joshua b. Alexander ha-Kohen *Falk;
the full title is: Sefer Me’irat Einayim; printed in most editions
of Sh. Ar.
Solomon b. Isaac ha-Levi = Solomon b. Isaac *Levy.
Solomon b. Isaac of Troyes = *Rashi.
Tal Orot, Rabbinical work with various contents, by Joseph ibn
Gioia.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBREVIATIONS
Tam, Rabbenu = *Tam Jacob b. Meir.
Tashbaz = Samson b. Zadok.
Tashbez = Simeon b. Zemah *Duran, sometimes also abbreviation
for Samson b. Zadok, usually known as Tashbaz.
Tashbez [Sefer ha-], Resp. by Simeon b. Zemah *Duran; the fourth
part of this work is called: Hut ha-Meshullash.
Taz, Usual abbreviation of Turei Zahav, comm., to Sh. Ar. by *David
b. Samnuel ha-Levi; printed in most editions of Sh. Ar.
(Ha)-Tekhelet, subdivision of the Levush (a codification by Mor-
decai b. Abraham (Levush) *Jaffe); Ha-Tekhelet parallels Tur,
OH 1-241.
Terumat ha-Deshen, by Israel b. Pethahiah *Isserlein; subdivided
into a part containing responsa, and a second part called Pesa-
kim u-Khetavim or Piskei Maharai.
Terumot, Sefer ha-, Compilation of halakhot by Samuel b. Isaac
*Sardi.
Teshuvot Baalei ha-Tosafot, Collection of responsa by the Tosaf-
ists.
Teshjvot Geonei Mizrah u-Maaav, Collection of responsa.
Teshuvot ha-Geonim, Collection of responsa from Geonic period.
Teshuvot Hakhmei Provinzyah, Collection of responsa by different
Provencal authors.
Teshuvot Hakhmei Zarefat ve-Loter, Collection of responsa by dif-
ferent French authors.
Teshuvot Maimuniyyot, Resp. pertaining to Maimonides’ Yad
Hazakah; printed in major editions of this work after the text;
authorship uncertain.
Tevuot Shor, by Alexander Sender b. Ephraim Zalman *Schor, a
comm. to his Simlah Hadashah, a work on Shehitah.
Tiferet Zevi, Resp. by Zevi Hirsch of the “AHW” Communities (Al-
tona, Hamburg, Wandsbeck).
Tiktin, Judah b. Simeon = Judah b. Simeon * Ashkenazi.
Toledot Adam ve-Havvah, Codification by *Jeroham b. Meshul-
lam.
Torat Emet, Resp. by Aaron b. Joseph *Sasson.
Torat Hayyim, , Resp. by Hayyim (ben) Shabbetai.
Torat ha-Minhagot, subdivision of the Massa Hayyim (a work on
tax law) by Hayyim *Palaggi, containing an exposition of cus-
tomary law.
Tosafot Rid, Explanations to the Talmud and decisions by *Isaiah
b. Mali di Trani the Elder.
Tosefot Yom Tov, comm. to Mishnah by Yom Tov Lipmann b. Na-
than ha-Levi *Heller; printed in most editions of the Mishnah.
Tummim, subdivision of the comm. to Sh. Ar., HM, Urim ve-Tum-
mim by Jonathan *Eybeschuetz; printed in the major editions
of Sh. Ar.
Tur, usual abbreviation for the Arbaah Turim of *Jacob b. Asher.
Turei Zahav, Comm. to Sh. Ar. by *David b. Samuel ha-Levi; printed
in most editions of Sh. Ar; usual abbreviation: Taz.
Urim, subdivision of the following.
Urim ve-Tummim, Comm. to Sh. Ar., HM, by Jonathan *Eybe-
schuetz; printed in the major editions of Sh. Ar.; subdivided in
places into Urim and Tummim.
Vikkuah Mayim Hayyim, Polemics against Isserles and Caro by
Hayyim b. Bezalel.
Yad Malakhi, Methodological treatise by *Malachi b. Jacob ha-
Kohen.
183
ABBREVIATIONS
Yad Ramah, Nov. by Meir b. Todros [ha-Levi] *Abulafia.
Yakhin u-Voaz, Resp. by Zemah b. Solomon *Duran.
Yam ha-Gadol, Resp. by Jacob Moses *Toledano.
Yam shel Shelomo, Compilation arranged acc. to Talmud by Solo-
mon b. Jehiel (Maharshal) *Luria.
Yashar, Sefer ha-, by *Tam, Jacob b. Meir (Rabbenu Tam); 1st pt.:
Resp.; 2nd pt.: Nov.
Yaskil Avdi, Resp. by Obadiah Hadaya (printed together with his
Resp. Deah ve-Haskel).
Yavez = Jacob *Emden.
Yehudah Yaaleh, Resp. by Judah b. Israel *Aszod.
Yekar Tiferet, Comm. to Maimonides’ Yad Hazakah,by David b.
Solomon ibn Zimra, printed in most editions of Yad Haza-
kah.
Yere’im [ha-Shalem], [Sefer], Treatise on precepts by *Eliezer b.
Samuel of Metz.
Yeshuot Yaakov, Resp. by Jacob Meshullam b. Mordecai Ze'ev *Or-
nstein.
Yizhak Reiah, Resp. by Isaac b. Samuel Abendanan (see article
*Abendanam Family).
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS
Zafenat Pa’neah (1), also called Raban or Even ha-Ezer, see under
the last name.
Zafenat Pa’neah (2), Resp. by Joseph *Rozin.
Zayit Raanan, Resp. by Moses Judah Leib b. Benjamin Auerbach.
Zeidah la-Derekh, Codification by *Menahem b. Aaron ibn Zerah.
Zedakah u-Mishpat, Resp. by Zedakah b. Saadiah Huzin.
Zekan Aharon, Resp. by Elijah b. Benjamin ha-Levi.
Zekher Zaddik, Sermons by Eliezer *Katzenellenbogen.
Zemah Zedek (1) Resp. by Menaham Mendel Shneersohn (see un-
der *Shneersohn Family).
Zera Avraham, Resp. by Abraham b. David *Yizhaki.
Zera Emet Resp. by *Ishmael b. Abaham Isaac ha-Kohen.
Zevi la-Zaddik, Resp. by Zevi Elimelech b. David Shapira.
Zikhron Yehudah, Resp. by *Judah b. Asher
Zikhron Yosef, Resp. by Joseph b. Menahem *Steinhardt.
Zikhronot, Sefer ha-, Sermons on several precepts by Samuel
*Aboab.
Zikkaron la-Rishonim . . ., by Albert (Abraham Elijah) *Harkavy;
contains in vol. 1 pt. 4 (1887) a collection of Geonic responsa.
Ziz Eliezer, Resp. by Eliezer Judah b. Jacob Gedaliah Waldenberg.
Bibliographies in English and other languages have been extensively updated, with English translations cited where available.
In order to help the reader, the language of books or articles is given where not obvious from titles of books or names of peri-
odicals. Titles of books and periodicals in languages with alphabets other than Latin, are given in transliteration, even where
there is a title page in English. Titles of articles in periodicals are not given. Names of Hebrew and Yiddish periodicals well
known in English-speaking countries or in Israel under their masthead in Latin characters are given in this form, even when
contrary to transliteration rules. Names of authors writing in languages with non-Latin alphabets are given in their Latin al-
phabet form wherever known; otherwise the names are transliterated. Initials are generally not given for authors of articles in
periodicals, except to avoid confusion. Non-abbreviated book titles and names of periodicals are printed in italics. Abbrevia-
tions are given in the list below.
AASOR Annual of the American School of Oriental
Research (1919ff.).
AB Analecta Biblica (1952ff.).
Abel, Géog E-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, 2
vols. (1933-38).
ABR Australian Biblical Review (1951ff.).
Abr. Philo, De Abrahamo.
Abrahams, I. Abrahams, Companion to the Authorised
Companion Daily Prayer Book (rev. ed. 1922).
Abramson, Merkazim S. Abramson, Ba-Merkazim u-va-Tefuzot
bi-Tekufat ha-Geonim (1965).
Acts Acts of the Apostles (New Testament).
ACUM Who is who in ACUM [Aguddat
Kompozitorim u-Mehabbrim].
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities,
Jordan (1951ff.).
Adam Adam and Eve (Pseudepigrapha).
ADB Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 56 vols.
(1875-1912).
Add. Esth. The Addition to Esther (Apocrypha).
184
Adler, Prat Mus 1. Adler, La pratique musicale savante dans
quelques communauteés juives en Europe au
XVIle et XVIIle siécles, 2 vols. (1966).
H.M. Adler and A. Davis (ed. and tr.),
Service of the Synagogue, a New Edition
of the Festival Prayers with an English
Translation in Prose and Verse, 6 vols.
Adler-Davis
(1905-06).
Aet. Philo, De Aeternitate Mundi.
AFO Archiv fuer Orientforschung (first two
volumes under the name Archiv fuer
Keilschriftforschung) (1923ff.).
Ag. Ber Aggadat Bereshit (ed. Buber, 1902).
Agr. Philo, De Agricultura.
Ag. Sam. Aggadat Samuel.
Ag. Song Aggadat Shir ha-Shirim (Schechter ed.,
1896).
Aharoni, Erez Y. Aharoni, Erez Yisrael bi-Tekufat ha-
Mikra: Geografyah Historit (1962).
Aharoni, Land Y. Aharoni, Land of the Bible (1966).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Ahikar
Al
AJA
AJHSP
AJHSQ
AJSLL
AJYB
AKM
Albright, Arch
Albright, Arch Bib
Albright, Arch Rel
Albright, Stone
Alon, Mehkarim
Alon, Toledot
ALOR
Alt, KI Schr
Alt, Landnahme
Ant.
Aq.
Artist.
ARN!
ARN?
Aronius, Regesten
ARW
AS
Ashtor, Korot
Ashtor, Toledot
Assaf, Géonim
Ahikar (Pseudepigrapha).
Archives Israélites de France (1840-1936).
American Jewish Archives (1948ff.).
American Jewish Historical Society -
Publications (after vol. 50 = AJHSQ).
American Jewish Historical (Society)
Quarterly (before vol. 50 =AJHSP).
American Journal of Semitic Languages
and Literature (1884-95 under the title
Hebraica, since 1942 JNES).
American Jewish Year Book (1899ff.).
Abhandlungen fuer die Kunde des
Morgenlandes (series).
WE Albright, Archaeology of Palestine
(rev. ed. 1960).
WE Albright, Archaeology of Palestine and
the Bible (1935°).
WE Albright, Archaeology and the Religion
of Israel (1953”).
W.F. Albright, From the Stone Age to
Christianity (19577).
G. Alon, Mehkarim be-Toledot Yisrael bi-
Ymei Bayit Sheni u-vi-Tekufat ha-Mishnah
ve-ha Talmud, 2 vols. (1957-58).
G. Alon, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Erez
Yisrael bi-Tekufat ha-Mishnah ve-ha-
Talmud, I (1958°), (19617).
Alter Orient (series).
A. Alt, Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des
Volkes Israel, 3 vols. (1953-59).
A. Alt, Landnahme der Israeliten in
Palaestina (1925); also in Alt, KI Schr, 1
(1953), 89-125.
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities (Loeb Classics
ed.).
Acta Orientalia (1922ff.).
Analecta Orientalia (1931ff.).
American Oriental Series.
Josephus, Against Apion (Loeb Classics
ed.).
Aquila’s Greek translation of the Bible.
Arakhin (talmudic tractate).
Letter of Aristeas (Pseudepigrapha).
Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, version (1) ed.
Schechter, 1887.
Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, version (2) ed.
Schechter, 1945.
I. Aronius, Regesten zur Geschichte der
Juden im fraenkischen und deutschen
Reiche bis zum Jahre 1273 (1902).
Archiv fuer Religionswissenschaft (1898-
1941/42).
Assyrological Studies (1931ff.).
E. Ashtor (Strauss), Korot ha-Yehudim bi-
Sefarad ha-Muslemit, 1(1966°), 2(1966).
E. Ashtor (Strauss), Toledot ha-Yehudim
be-Mizrayim ve-Suryah Tahat Shilton ha-
Mamlukim, 3 vols. (1944-70).
S. Assaf, Tekufat ha-Geonim ve-Sifrutah
(1955).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Assaf, Mekorot
Ass. Mos.
ATA
ATANT
AUJW
AV
Avad.
Avi-Yonah, Geog
Avi-Yonah, Land
Avot
Av. Zar.
AWJD
AZDJ
Azulai
BA
Bacher, Bab Amor
Bacher, Pal Amor
Bacher, Tann
Bacher, Trad
Baer, Spain
Baer, Studien
Baer, Toledot
Baer, Urkunden
Baer S., Seder
BAIU
Baker, Biog Dict
I Bar.
II Bar.
III Bar.
BAR
Baron, Community
ABBREVIATIONS
S. Assaf, Mekorot le-Toledot ha-Hinnukh
be- Yisrael, 4 vols. (1925-43).
Assumption of Moses (Pseudepigrapha).
Alttestamentliche Abhandlungen (series).
Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten
und Neuen Testaments (series).
Allgemeine unabhaengige juedische
Wochenzeitung (till 1966 = AWJD).
Authorized Version of the Bible.
Avadim (post-talmudic tractate).
M. Avi-Yonah, Geografyah Historit shel
Erez Yisrael (1962°).
M. Avi-Yonah, The Holy Land from the
Persian to the Arab conquest (536 B.C. to
A.D. 640) (1960).
Avot (talmudic tractate).
Avodah Zarah (talmudic tractate).
Allgemeine Wochenzeitung der Juden in
Deutschland (since 1967 = AUJW).
Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums.
H.Y.D. Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim, ed. by
LE. Benjacob, 2 pts. (1852) (and other
editions).
Biblical Archaeologist (1938ff.).
W. Bacher, Agada der babylonischen
Amoraeer (1913).
W. Bacher, Agada der palaestinensischen
Amoraeer (Heb. ed. Aggadat Amoraei Erez
Yisrael), 2 vols. (1892-99).
W. Bacher, Agada der Tannaiten (Heb. ed.
Aggadot ha-Tanna’im, vol. 1, pt. 1 and 2
(1903); vol. 2 (1890).
W. Bacher, Tradition und Tradenten in den
Schulen Palaestinas und Babyloniens (1914).
Yitzhak (Fritz) Baer, History of the Jews in
Christian Spain, 2 vols. (1961-66).
Yitzhak (Fritz) Baer, Studien zur Geschichte
der Juden im Koenigreich Aragonien
waehrend des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts
(1913).
Yitzhak (Fritz) Baer, Toledot ha-Yehudim
bi-Sefarad ha-Nozerit mi-Tehillatan shel
ha-Kehillot ad ha-Gerush, 2 vols. (19597).
Yitzhak (Fritz) Baer, Die Juden im
christlichen Spanien, 2 vols. (1929-36).
S.I. Baer, Seder Avodat Yisrael (1868 and
reprints).
Bulletin de V’Alliance Israélite Universelle
(1861-1913).
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of
Musicians, revised by N. Slonimsky (1958°;
with Supplement 1965).
I Baruch (Apocrypha).
II Baruch (Pseudepigrapha).
III Baruch (Pseudepigrapha).
Biblical Archaeology Review.
S.W. Baron, The Jewish Community, its
History and Structure to the American
Revolution, 3 vols. (1942).
185
ABBREVIATIONS
Baron, Social
Barthélemy-Milik
BASOR
Bauer-Leander
BB
BBB
BBLA
BBSAJ
BDASI
Begrich, Chronologie
Bek.
Bel
Benjacob, Ozar
Ben Sira
Ben-Yehuda, Millon
Benzinger,
Archaeologie
Ben Zvi, Eretz Israel
Ben Zvi, Erez Israel
BJRL
BK
186
S.W. Baron, Social and Religious History of
the Jews, 3 vols. (1937); enlarged, 1-2(19527),
3-14 (1957-69).
D. Barthélemy and J.T. Milik, Dead Sea
Scrolls: Discoveries in the Judean Desert,
vol. 1 Qumram Cave I (1955).
Bulletin of the American School of Oriental
Research.
H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des
Biblisch-Aramaeischen (1927; repr. 1962).
(1) Bava Batra (talmudic tractate).
(2) Biblische Beitraege (1943ff.).
Bonner biblische Beitraege (series).
Beitraege zur biblischen Landes- und
Altertumskunde (until 1949-ZDPV).
Bulletin, British School of Archaeology,
Jerusalem (1922-25; after 1927 included in
PEFQS).
Alon (since 1948) or Hadashot
Arkheologiyyot (since 1961), bulletin of the
Department of Antiquities of the State of
Israel.
J. Begrich, Chronologie der Koenige von
Israel und Juda (1929).
Bekhorot (talmudic tractate).
Bel and the Dragon (Apocrypha).
I.E. Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim (1880; repr.
1956).
see Ecclus.
E. Ben-Yedhuda, Millon ha-Lashon ha-
rit, 16 vols (1908-59; repr. in 8 vols.,
1959).
I. Benzinger, Hebraeische Archaeologie
(1927°).
I. Ben-Zvi, Eretz Israel under Ottoman
Rule (1960; offprint from L. Finkelstein
(ed.), The Jews, their History, Culture and
Religion (vol. 1).
I. Ben-Zvi, Erez Israel bi- Ymei ha-Shilton
ha-Ottomani (1955).
Berakhot (talmudic tractate).
Bezah (talmudic tractate).
Bulletin of the Israel Exploration Society,
see below BJPES.
Bikkurim (talmudic tractate).
Bibliography of Jewish Communities in
Europe, catalog at General Archives for the
History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem.
Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine
Exploration Society - English name of the
Hebrew periodical known as:
1. Yediot ha-Hevrah ha-Ivrit la-Hakirat
Erez Yisrael va-Attikoteha (1933-1954);
2. Yediot ha-Hevrah la-Hakirat Erez
Yisrael va-Attikoteha (1954-1962);
3. Yediot ba-Hakirat Erez Yisrael va-
Attikoteha (1962ff.).
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
(1914ff.).
Bava Kamma (talmudic tractate).
BLBI
BM
BO
Bondy-Dworsky
BOR
Borée, Ortsnamen
Bousset, Religion
Bousset-Gressmann
BR
BRCI
BRE
BRF
Briggs, Psalms
Bright, Hist
Brockelmann, Arab Lit
Bruell, Jahrbuecher
Brugmans-Frank
BTS
Bull, Index
BW
BWANT
BZ
BZAW
BZIH
CAB
CAD
CAH
CAH?
Calwer, Lexikon
Cant.
Bulletin of the Leo Baeck Institute (1957ff.).
(1) Bava Mezia (talmudic tractate).
(2) Beit Mikra (1955/56ff.).
(3) British Museum.
Bibbia e Oriente (1959ff.).
G. Bondy and F. Dworsky, Regesten zur
Geschichte der Juden in Boehmen, Maehren
und Schlesien von 906 bis 1620, 2 vols.
(1906).
Bibliotheca Orientalis (19 43ff.).
W. Borée Die alten Ortsnamen Palaestinas
(1930).
W. Bousset, Die Religion des Judentums im
neutestamentlichen Zeitalter (19067).
W. Bousset, Die Religion des Judentums im
spaethellenistischen Zeitalter (1966°).
Biblical Review (1916-25).
Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel
(1951/52-1954/55; then divided).
Biblical Research (1956ff.).
Bulletin of the Rabinowitz Fund for
the Exploration of Ancient Synagogues
(1949ff.).
Ch. A. and E.G. Briggs, Critical and
Exegetical Commentary on the Book of
Psalms, 2 vols. (ICC, 1906-07).
J. Bright, A History of Israel (1959).
K. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen
Literatur, 2 vols. 1898-1902 ), supplement,
3 vols. (1937-42).
Jahrbuecher fuer juedische Geschichte und
Litteratur, ed. by N. Bruell, Frankfurt
(1874-90).
H. Brugmans and A. Frank (eds.),
Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland
(1940).
Bible et Terre Sainte (1958ff.).
S. Bull, Index to Biographies of
Contemporary Composers (1964).
Biblical World (1882-1920).
Beitraege zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und
Neuen Testament (1926ff.).
Biblische Zeitschrift (1903ff.).
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fuer die
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, supplement
to ZAW (1896ff.).
Biuletyn Zydowskiego Instytutu
Historycznego
(1950ff.).
Cahiers darchéologie biblique (1953ff.).
The [Chicago] Assyrian Dictionary
(1956ff.).
Cambridge Ancient History, 12 vols.
(1923-39)
Cambridge Ancient History, second edition,
14 vols. (1962-2005).
Calwer, Bibellexikon.
Canticles, usually given as Song ( = Song
of Songs).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Cantera-Millas,
Inscripciones
CBQ
CCARY
CD
Charles, Apocrypha
Cher.
I (or I) Chron.
CIG
cy
CIL
CIS
CJ.
Clermont-Ganneau,
Arch
CNFI
Cod. Just.
Cod. Theod.
Col.
Conder, Survey
Conder-Kitchener
Conf.
Conforte, Kore
Cong.
Cont.
I (or I) Cor.
Cowley, Aramic
Colwey, Cat
CRB
Crowfoot-Kenyon
C.T.
DAB
Daiches, Jews
Dalman, Arbeit
Dan
Davidson, Ozar
E. Cantera and J.M. Millas, Las
Inscripciones Hebraicas de Espana (1956).
Catholic Biblical Quarterly (1939ff.).
Central Conference of American Rabbis,
Yearbook (1890/91ff.).
Damascus Document from the Cairo
Genizah (published by S. Schechter,
Fragments of a Zadokite Work, 1910).
R.H. Charles, Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha . . ., 2 vols. (1913; repr.
1963-66).
Philo, De Cherubim.
Chronicles, book I and II (Bible).
Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.
Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, 2 vols.
(1936-52).
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.
Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum
(1881ff.).
Codex Justinianus.
Ch. Clermont-Ganneau, Archaeological
Researches in Palestine, 2 vols. (1896-99).
Christian News from Israel (1949ff.).
Codex Justinianus.
Codex Theodosinanus.
Epistle to the Colosssians (New
Testament).
Palestine Exploration Fund, Survey of
Eastern Palestine, vol. 1, pt. I (1889) = C.R.
Conder, Memoirs of the .. . Survey.
Palestine Exploration Fund, Survey of
Western Palestine, vol. 1, pts. 1-3 (1881-
83) = C.R. Conder and H.H. Kitchener,
Memoirs.
Philo, De Confusione Linguarum.
D. Conforte, Kore ha-Dorot (18427).
Philo, De Congressu Quaerendae
Eruditionis Gratia.
Philo, De Vita Contemplativa.
Epistles to the Corinthians (New
Testament).
A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth
Century B.C. (1923).
A.E. Cowley, A Concise Catalogue of the
Hebrew Printed Books in the Bodleian
Library (1929).
Cahiers de la Revue Biblique (196 4ff.).
J.W. Crowfoot, K.M. Kenyon and E.L.
Sukenik, Buildings of Samaria (1942).
Codex Theodosianus.
Dictionary of American Biography (1928-
58).
S. Daiches, Jews in Babylonia (1910).
G. Dalman, Arbeit und Sitte in Palaestina,
7 vols.in 8 (1928-42 repr. 1964).
Daniel (Bible).
I. Davidson, Ozar ha-Shirah ve-ha-Piyyut,
4 vols. (1924-33); Supplement in: HUCA,
12-13 (1937/38), 715-823.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
DB
DBI
Decal.
Dem.
DER
Derenbourg, Hist
Det.
Deus
Deut.
Deut. R.
DEZ
DHGE
Dik. Sof
Dinur, Golah
Dinur, Haganah
Diringer, Iscr
Discoveries
DNB
Dubnow, Divrei
Dubnow, Hasidut
Dubnow, Hist
Dubnow, Hist Russ
Dubnow, Outline
Dubnow, Weltgesch
Dukes, Poesie
Dunlop, Khazars
EA
EB
EBI
EBIB
Ebr.
Eccles.
Eccles. R.
Ecclus.
Eduy.
ABBREVIATIONS
J. Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols.
(1963”).
EG. Vigoureaux et al. (eds.), Dictionnaire
de la Bible, 5 vols. in 10 (1912); Supplement,
8 vols. (1928-66)
Philo, De Decalogo.
Demai (talmudic tractate).
Derekh Erez Rabbah (post-talmudic
tractate).
J. Derenbourg Essai sur histoire et la
géographie de la Palestine (1867).
Philo, Quod deterius potiori insidiari solet.
Philo, Quod Deus immutabilis sit.
Deuteronomy (Bible).
Deuteronomy Rabbah.
Derekh Erez Zuta (post-talmudic tractate).
Dictionnaire @histoire et de géographie
ecclésiastiques, ed. by A. Baudrillart et al.,
17 vols (1912-68).
Dikdukei Soferim, variae lections of
the talmudic text by Raphael Nathan
Rabbinovitz (16 vols., 1867-97).
B. Dinur (Dinaburg), Yisrael ba-Golah, 2
vols. in 7 (1959-68) = vols. 5 and 6 of his
Toledot Yisrael, second series.
B. Dinur (ed.), Sefer Toledot ha-Haganah
(1954ff.).
D. Diringer, Iscrizioni antico-ebraiche
palestinesi (1934).
Discoveries in the Judean Desert (195sff.).
Dictionary of National Biography, 66 vols.
(1921-222) with Supplements.
S. Dubnow, Divrei Yemei Am Olam, 11 vols
(1923-38 and further editions).
S. Dubnow, Toledot ha-Hasidut (19607).
S. Dubnow, History of the Jews (1967).
S. Dubnow, History of the Jews in Russia
and Poland, 3 vols. (1916 20).
S. Dubnow, An Outline of Jewish History, 3
vols. (1925-29).
S. Dubnow, Weltgeschichte des juedischen
Volkes 10 vols. (1925-29).
L. Dukes, Zur Kenntnis der
neuhebraeischen religioesen Poesie (1842).
D. H. Dunlop, History of the Jewish
Khazars (1954).
El Amarna Letters (edited by J.A.
Knudtzon), Die El-Amarna Tafel, 2 vols.
(1907 14).
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Estudios biblicos (19 41ff.).
T.K. Cheyne and J.S. Black, Encyclopaedi
Biblica, 4 vols. (1899-1903).
Philo, De Ebrietate.
Ecclesiastes (Bible).
Ecclesiastes Rabbah.
Ecclesiasticus or Wisdom of Ben Sira (or
Sirach; Apocrypha).
Eduyyot (mishanic tractate).
187
ABBREVIATIONS
EG
EH
EHA
EI
EIS
EIS?
Eisenstein, Dinim
Eisenstein, Yisrael
EIV
EJ
EJC
Elbogen, Century
Elbogen, Gottesdienst
Elon, Mafte’ah
EM
I (or ID) En.
EncRel
Eph.
Ephros, Cant
Ep. Jer.
Epstein, Amoraim
Epstein, Marriage
Epstein, Mishnah
Epstein, Tannaim
ER
Er.
ERE
ErlIsr
I Esd.
II Esd.
ESE
ESN
ESS
Esth.
Est. R.
ET
Eusebius, Onom.
Ex.
188
Enziklopedyah shel Galuyyot (1953¢f.).
Even ha-Ezer.
Enziklopedyah la-Hafirot Arkheologiyyot
be-Erez Yisrael, 2 vols. (1970).
Enzyklopaedie des Islams, 4 vols. (1905-14).
Supplement vol. (1938).
Encyclopaedia of Islam, 4 vols. (1913-36;
repr. 1954-68).
Encyclopaedia of Islam, second edition
(1960-2000).
J.D. Eisenstein, Ozar Dinim u-Minhagim
(1917; several reprints).
J.D. Eisenstein, Ozar Yisrael (10 vols, 1907-
13; repr. with several additions 1951).
Enziklopedyah Ivrit (1949ff.).
Encyclopaedia Judaica (German, A-L only),
10 vols. (1928-34).
Enciclopedia Judaica Castellana, 10 vols.
(1948-51).
I Elbogen, A Century of Jewish Life (19607).
I Elbogen, Der juedische Gottesdienst ...
(1931°, repr. 1962).
M. Elon (ed.), Mafteah ha-Sheelot ve-ha-
Teshuvot ha-Rosh (1965).
Enziklopedyah Mikra’it (1950ff.).
I and II Enoch (Pseudepigrapha).
Encyclopedia of Religion, 15 vols. (1987,
20057).
Epistle to the Ephesians (New Testament).
G. Ephros, Cantorial Anthology, 5 vols.
(1929-57).
Epistle of Jeremy (Apocrypha).
J N. Epstein, Mevoot le-Sifrut ha-Amoraim
(1962).
LM. Epstein, Marriage Laws in the Bible
and the Talmud (1942).
J. N. Epstein, Mavo le-Nusah ha-Mishnah,
2 vols. (19647).
J. N. Epstein, Mavo le-Sifruth ha-Tanna’im.
(1947).
Ecumenical Review.
Eruvin (talmudic tractate).
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, 13
vols. (1908-26); reprinted.
Eretz-Israel, Israel Exploration Society.
I Esdras (Apocrypha) ( = IT] Ezra).
II Esdras (Apocrypha) ( = IV Ezra).
Ephemeris fuer semitische Epigraphik, ed.
by M. Lidzbarski.
Encyclopaedia Sefaradica Neerlandica, 2
pts. (1949).
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, 15 vols.
(1930-35); reprinted in 8 vols. (1948-49).
Esther (Bible).
Esther Rabbah.
Enziklopedyah Talmudit (1947ff.).
E. Klostermann (ed.), Das Onomastikon
(1904), Greek with Hieronymus’ Latin
translation.
Exodus (Bible).
Ex. R.
Exs
EZD
Ezek.
Ezra
III Ezra
IV Ezra
Feliks, Ha-Zome’ah
Finkelstein, Middle
Ages
Fischel, Islam
EJW
Frankel, Mevo
Frankel, Mishnah
Frazer, Folk-Lore
Frey, Corpus
Friedmann,
Lebensbilder
FRLT
Frumkin-Rivlin
Fuenn, Keneset
Fuerst, Bibliotheca
Fuerst, Karaeertum
Fug.
Gal.
Galling, Reallexikon
Gardiner, Onomastica
Geiger, Mikra
Geiger, Urschrift
Gen.
Gen. R.
Ger.
Germ Jud
Exodus Rabbah.
Philo, De Exsecrationibus.
Enziklopeday shel ha-Ziyyonut ha-Datit
(1951ff.).
Ezekiel (Bible).
Ezra (Bible).
III Ezra (Pseudepigrapha).
IV Ezra (Pseudepigrapha).
J. Feliks, Ha-Zome'ah ve-ha-Hai ba-
Mishnah (1983).
L. Finkelstein, Jewish Self-Government in
the Middle Ages (1924).
W,J. Fischel, Jews in the Economic and
Political Life of Mediaeval Islam (1937;
reprint with introduction “The Court Jew
in the Islamic World,” 1969).
Fuehrer durch die juedische
Gemeindeverwaltung und Wohlfahrtspflege
in Deutschland (1927/28).
Z. Frankel, Mevo ha-Yerushalmi (1870;
reprint 1967).
Z. Frankel, Darkhei ha-Mishnah (19597;
reprint 1959”).
J.G. Frazer, Folk-Lore in the Old Testament,
3 vols. (1918-19).
J.-B. Frey, Corpus Inscriptionum
Iudaicarum, 2 vols. (1936-52).
A. Friedmann, Lebensbilder beruehmter
Kantoren, 3 vols. (1918-27).
Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur
des Alten und Neuen Testaments (series)
(1950ff.).
A.L. Frumkin and E. Rivlin, Toledot
Hakhmei Yerushalayim, 3 vols. (1928-30),
Supplement vol. (1930).
SJ. Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, 4 vols. (1887-
go).
J. Fuerst, Bibliotheca Judaica, 2 vols. (1863;
repr. 1960).
J. Fuerst, Geschichte des Karaeertums, 3
vols. (1862-69).
Philo, De Fuga et Inventione.
Epistle to the Galatians (New Testament).
K. Galling, Biblisches Reallexikon (1937).
A.H. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian
Onomastica, 3 vols. (1947).
A. Geiger, Ha-Mikra ve-Targumay, tr. by
J.L. Baruch (1949).
A. Geiger, Urschrift und Uebersetzungen
der Bibel 19287).
Genesis (Bible).
Genesis Rabbah.
Gerim (post-talmudic tractate).
M. Brann, I. Elbogen, A. Freimann, and H.
Tykocinski (eds.), Germania Judaica, vol.
1 (1917; repr. 1934 and 1963); vol. 2, in 2 pts.
(1917-68), ed. by Z. Avneri.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GHAT
Ghirondi-Neppi
Gig.
Ginzberg, Legends
Git.
Glueck, Explorations
Goell, Bibliography
Goodenough, Symbols
Gordon, Textbook
Graetz, Gesch
Graetz, Hist
Graetz, Psalmen
Graetz, Rabbinowitz
Gray, Names
Gressmann, Bilder
Gressmann, Texte
Gross, Gal Jud
Grove, Dict
Guedemann, Gesch
Erz
Guedemann,
Quellenschr
Guide
Gulak, Ozar
Gulak, Yesodei
Guttmann, Mafte’ah
Guttmann,
Philosophies
Hab.
Hag.
Haggai
Hal.
Goettinger Handkommentar zum Alten
Testament (1917-22).
M.S. Ghirondi and G.H. Neppi, Toledot
Gedolei Yisrael u-Geonei Italyah ... u-
Ve'urim al Sefer Zekher Zaddikim li-
Verakhah . . .(1853), index in ZHB, 17
(1914), 171-83.
Philo, De Gigantibus.
L. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 7 vols.
(1909-38; and many reprints).
Gittin (talmudic tractate).
N. Gleuck, Explorations in Eastern
Palestine, 2 vols. (1951).
Y. Goell, Bibliography of Modern Hebrew
Literature in English Translation (1968).
E.R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the
Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols. (1953-68).
C.H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (1965;
repr. 1967).
H. Graetz, Geschichte der Juden (last
edition 1874-1908).
H. Graetz, History of the Jews, 6 vols.
(1891-1902).
H. Graetz, Kritischer Commentar zu den
Psalmen, 2 vols. in 1 (1882-83).
H. Graetz, Divrei Yemei Yisrael, tr. by S.P.
Rabbinowitz. (1928 19297).
G.B. Gray, Studies in Hebrew Proper Names
(1896).
H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Bilder zum
Alten Testament (19277).
H. Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte zum
Alten Testament (19267).
H. Gross, Gallia Judaica (1897; repr. with
add. 1969).
Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians,
ed. by E. Blum 9 vols. (1954°) and suppl.
(1961°).
M. Guedemann, Geschichte des
Erziehungswesens und der Cultur der
abendlaendischen Juden, 3 vols. (1880-88).
M. Guedemann, Quellenschriften zur
Geschichte des Unterrichts und der
Erziehung bei den deutschen Juden (1873,
1891).
Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed.
A. Gulak, Ozar ha-Shetarot ha-Nehugim
be- Yisrael (1926).
A. Gulak, Yesodei ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri,
Seder Dinei Mamonot be- Yisrael, al pi
Mekorot ha-Talmud ve-ha-Posekim, 4 vols.
(1922; repr. 1967).
M. Guttmann, Mafteah ha-Talmud, 3 vols.
(1906-30).
J. Guttmann, Philosophies of Judaism
(1964).
Habakkuk (Bible).
Hagigah (talmudic tractate).
Haggai (Bible).
Hallah (talmudic tractate).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Halevy, Dorot
Halpern, Pinkas
Hananel-Eskenazi
HB
Heb.
Heilprin, Dorot
Her.
Hertz, Prayer
Herzog, Instit
Herzog-Hauck
HHY
Hirschberg, Afrikah
HJ
HL
HM
Hommel, Ueberliefer.
Hor.
Horodezky, Hasidut
Horowitz, Erez Yis
Hos.
HTR
HUCA
Hul.
Husik, Philosophy
Hyman, Toledot
Ibn Daud, Tradition
ICC
IDB
Idelsohn, Litugy
Idelsohn, Melodien
Idelsohn, Music
ABBREVIATIONS
I. Halevy, Dorot ha-Rishonim, 6 vols.
(1897-1939).
I. Halpern (Halperin), Pinkas Vaad Arba
Arazot (1945).
A. Hananel and E&kenazi (eds.), Fontes
Hebraici ad res oeconomicas socialesque
terrarum balcanicarum saeculo XVI
pertinentes, 2 vols, (1958-60; in Bulgarian).
Hebraeische Bibliographie (1858-82).
Epistle to the Hebrews (New Testament).
J. Heilprin (Heilperin), Seder ha-Dorot, 3
vols. (1882; repr. 1956).
Philo, Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres.
J.H. Hertz (ed.), Authorised Daily Prayer
Book (rev. ed. 1948; repr. 1963).
I. Herzog, The Main Institutions of Jewish
Law, 2 vols. (1936-39; repr. 1967).
J.J. Herzog and A. Hauch (eds.), Real
encycklopaedie fuer protestantische
Theologie (1896-1913°).
Ha-Zofeh le-Hokhmat Yisrael (first four
volumes under the title Ha-Zofeh me-Erez
Hagar) (1910/11-13).
H.Z. Hirschberg, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-
Afrikah ha-Zofonit, 2 vols. (1965).
Historia Judaica (1938-61).
Das Heilige Land (1857ff.)
Hoshen Mishpat.
E Hommel, Die altisraelitische
Ueberlieferung in inschriftlicher
Beleuchtung (1897).
Horayot (talmudic tractate).
S.A. Horodezky, Ha-Hasidut ve-ha-
Hasidim, 4 vols. (1923).
I.W. Horowitz, Erez Yisrael u-Shekhenoteha
(1923).
Hosea (Bible).
Harvard Theological Review (1908ff.).
Hebrew Union College Annual (1904;
192.4ff.)
Hullin (talmudic tractate).
I. Husik, History of Medieval Jewish
Philosophy (19327).
A. Hyman, Toledot Tanna’im ve-Amoraim
(1910; repr. 1964).
Abraham Ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Qabbalah
- The Book of Tradition, ed. and tr. By G.D.
Cohen (1967).
International Critical Commentary on
the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments (series, 1908ff.).
Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols.
(1962).
A. Z. Idelsohn, Jewish Liturgy and its
Development (1932; paperback repr. 1967)
A. Z. Idelsohn, Hebraeisch-orientalischer
Melodienschatz, 10 vols. (1914 32).
A. Z. Idelsohn, Jewish Music in its
Historical Development (1929; paperback
repr. 1967).
189
ABBREVIATIONS
IEJ
IESS
IG
IGYB
ILR
IMIT
IMT
INB
INJ
los
Isa.
ITHL
IZBG
JA
James
JAOS
Jastrow, Dict
JBA
JBL
JBR
Jc
Jcs
JE
Jer.
Jeremias, Alte Test
JGGJC
JHSEM
JHSET
JJGL
JJLG
ys
JJSO
JV
JL
JMES
JNES
JINUL.
Job
Joel
190
Israel Exploration Journal (1950ff.).
International Encyclopedia of the Social
Sciences (various eds.).
Inscriptiones Graecae, ed. by the Prussian
Academy.
Israel Government Year Book (1949/
5off.).
Israel Law Review (1966ff.).
Izraelita Magyar Irodalmi Tarsulat Evkényv
(1895 1948).
International Military Tribunal.
Israel Numismatic Bulletin (1962-63).
Israel Numismatic Journal (1963ff.).
Philo, De Iosepho.
Isaiah (Bible).
Institute for the Translation of Hebrew
Literature.
Internationale Zeitschriftenschau fuer
Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete
(1951ff.).
Journal asiatique (1822ff.).
Epistle of James (New Testament).
Journal of the American Oriental Society
(c. 1850ff.)
M. Jastrow, Dictionary of the Targumim,
the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the
Midrashic literature, 2 vols. (1886 1902 and
reprints).
Jewish Book Annual (19242ff.).
Journal of Biblical Literature (1881ff.).
Journal of Bible and Religion (1933ff.).
Jewish Chronicle (1841ff.).
Journal of Cuneiform Studies (1947ff.).
Jewish Encyclopedia, 12 vols. (1901-05
several reprints).
Jeremiah (Bible).
A. Jeremias, Das Alte Testament im Lichte
des alten Orients 1930*).
Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fuer Geschichte
der Juden in der Cechoslovakischen
Republik (1929-38).
Jewish Historical Society of England,
Miscellanies (1925ff.).
Jewish Historical Society of England,
Transactions (1893ff.).
Jahrbuch fuer juedische Geschichte und
Literatur (Berlin) (1898-1938).
Jahrbuch derr juedische-literarischen
Gesellschaft (Frankfurt) (1903-32).
Journal of Jewish Studies (1948ff.).
Jewish Journal of Sociology (1959ff.).
Jahrbuch fuer juedische Volkskunde (1898-
1924).
Juedisches Lexikon, 5 vols. (1927-30).
Journal of the Middle East Society (1947ff.).
Journal of Near Eastern Studies
(continuation of AJSLL) (1942ff.).
Jewish National and University Library.
Job (Bible).
Joel (Bible).
John
I, Il. and II John
Jos., Ant
Jos. Apion
Jos., index
Jos., Life
Jos, Wars
Josh.
JPESB
JPESJ
JPOS
Juster, Juifs
JYB
JZWL
Kal.
Kal. R.
Katz, England
Kaufmann, Schriften
Kaufmann Y.,
Religion
Kaufmann Y., Toledot
KAW]
Kayserling, Bibl
Kelim
Ker.
Ket.
Gospel according to John (New
Testament).
Epistles of John (New Testament).
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities (Loeb Classics
ed.).
Josephus, Against Apion (Loeb Classics
ed.).
Josephus Works, Loeb Classics ed., index
of names.
Josephus, Life (ed. Loeb Classics).
Josephus, The Jewish Wars (Loeb Classics
ed.).
Joshua (Bible).
Jewish Palestine Exploration Society
Bulletin, see BJPES.
Jewish Palestine Exploration Society
Journal - Eng. Title of the Hebrew
periodical Kovez ha-Hevrah ha-Ivrit la-
Hakirat Erez Yisrael va-Attikoteha.
Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society
(1920-48).
Jewish Publication Society of America, The
Torah (1962, 19677); The Holy Scriptures
(1917).
Jewish Quarterly Review (1889ff.).
Journal of Religion (1921ff.).
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1838ff.).
Journal of Religious History (1960/61ff.).
Jewish Social Studies (1939ff.).
Jouranl of Semitic Studies (1956ff.).
Journal of Theological Studies (1900ff.).
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
(also abbreviated as JTS).
Jubilees (Pseudepigrapha).
Judges (Bible).
Book of Judith (Apocrypha).
J. Juster, Les Juifs dans lEmpire Romain, 2
vols. (1914).
Jewish Year Book (1896ff.).
Juedische Zeitschift fuer Wissenschaft und
Leben (1862-75).
Kallah (post-talmudic tractate).
Kallah Rabbati (post-talmudic tractate).
The Jews in the History of England, 1485-
1850 (1994).
D. Kaufmann, Gesammelte Schriften, 3
vols. (1908 15).
Y. Kaufmann, The Religion of Israel (1960),
abridged tr. of his Toledot.
Y. Kaufmann, Toledot ha-Emunah ha-
Yisreelit, 4 vols. (1937 57).
Korrespondenzblatt des Vereins zur
Gruendung und Erhaltung der Akademie
fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums (1920
30).
M. Kayserling, Biblioteca Espajiola-
Portugueza-Judaica (1880; repr. 1961).
Kelim (mishnaic tractate).
Keritot (talmudic tractate).
Ketubbot (talmudic tractate).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Kid.
Kil.
Kin.
Kisch, Germany
Kittel, Gesch
Klausner, Bayit Sheni
Klausner, Sifrut
Klein, corpus
Koehler-Baumgartner
Kohut, Arukh
Krauss, Tal Arch
Kressel, Leksikon
KS
Kut.
LA
L.A.
Lachower, Sifrut
Lam.
Lam. R.
Landshuth, Ammudei
Legat.
Lehmann, Nova Bibl
Lev.
Lev. R.
Levy, Antologia
Levy J., Chald Targ
Levy J., Nuehebr Tal
Lewin, Ozar
Lewysohn, Zool
Lidzbarski, Handbuch
Life
LNYL
Loew, Flora
LSI
Luckenbill, Records
Kiddushim (talmudic tractate).
Kilayim (talmudic tractate).
Kinnim (mishnaic tractate).
G. Kisch, Jews in Medieval Germany
(1949).
R. Kittel, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, 3
vols. (1922-28).
J. Klausner, Historyah shel ha-Bayit ha-
Sheni, 5 vols. (1950/512).
J. Klausner, Historyah shel haSifrut ha-Ivrit
ha-Hadashah, 6 vols. (1952-582).
S. Klein (ed.), Juedisch-palaestinisches
Corpus Inscriptionum (1920).
L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in
Veteris Testamenti libros (1953).
H.J.A. Kohut (ed.), Sefer he-Arukh ha-
Shalem, by Nathan b. Jehiel of Rome, 8
vols. (1876-92; Supplement by S. Krauss et
al., 1936; repr. 1955).
S. Krauss, Talmudische Archaeologie, 3 vols.
(1910-12; repr. 1966).
G. Kressel, Leksikon ha-Sifrut ha-Ivrit ba-
Dorot ha-Aharonim, 2 vols. (1965-67).
Kirjath Sepher (1923/4ff.).
Kuttim (post-talmudic tractate).
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Liber
Annuus (1951ff.).
Philo, Legum allegoriae.
E Lachower, Toledot ha-Sifrut ha-Ivrit
ha-Hadashah, 4 vols. (1947-48; several
reprints).
Lamentations (Bible).
Lamentations Rabbah.
L. Landshuth, Ammudei ha-Avodah (1857-
62; repr. with index, 1965).
Philo, De Legatione ad Caium.
R.P. Lehmann, Nova Bibliotheca Anglo-
Judaica (1961).
Leviticus (Bible).
Leviticus Rabbah.
I. Levy, Antologia de liturgia judeo-
espanola (1965ff.).
J. Levy, Chaldaeisches Woerterbuch ueber
die Targumim, 2 vols. (1967-68; repr. 1959).
J. Levy, Neuhebraeisches und chaldaeisches
Woerterbuch ueber die Talmudim ..., 4
vols. (1875-89; repr. 1963).
Lewin, Ozar ha-Geonim, 12 vols. (1928-43).
L. Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds
(1858).
M. Lidzbarski, Handbuch der
nordsemitischen Epigraphik, 2 vols (1898).
Josephus, Life (Loeb Classis ed.).
Leksikon fun der Nayer Yidisher Literatur
(1956ff.).
I. Loew, Die Flora der Juden, 4 vols. (1924
34; repr. 1967).
Laws of the State of Israel (19 48ff.).
D.D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria
and Babylonia, 2 vols. (1926).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Luke
LXX
Maas.
Maas. Sh.
I, IJ, I, and IVMacc.
Maimonides, Guide
Maim., Yad
Maisler,
Untersuchungen
Mak.
Makhsh.
Mal.
Mann, Egypt
Mann, Texts
Mansi
Margalioth, Gedolei
Margalioth, Hakhmei
Margalioth, Cat
Mark
Mart. Isa.
Mas.
Matt.
Mayer, Art
MB
MEAH
Meg.
Meg. Taan.
Meil
MEJ
Mehk.
Mekh. SbY
Men.
MER
Meyer, Gesch
Meyer, Ursp
Mez.
MGADJ
MGG
ABBREVIATIONS
Gospel according to Luke (New
Testament)
Septuagint (Greek translation of the Bible).
Maaserot (talmudic tractate).
Maase Sheni (talmudic tractate).
Maccabees, I, II, III (Apocrypha), IV
(Pseudepigrapha).
Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed.
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah (Yad
Hazakah).
B. Maisler (Mazar), Untersuchungen zur
alten Geschichte und Ethnographie Syriens
und Palaestinas, 1 (1930).
Makkot (talmudic tractate).
Makhshrin (mishnaic tractate).
Malachi (Bible).
J. Mann, Jews in Egypt in Palestine under
the Fatimid Caliphs, 2 vols. (1920-22).
J. Mann, Texts and Studies, 2 vols
(1931-35).
G.D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova
et amplissima collectio, 53 vols. in 60 (1901-
27; repr. 1960).
M. Margalioth, Enziklopedyah le-Toledot
Gedolei Yisrael, 4 vols. (1946-50).
M. Margalioth, Enziklopedyah le-Hakhmei
ha-Talmud ve-ha-Geonim, 2 vols. (1945).
G. Margalioth, Catalogue of the Hebrew
and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British
Museum, 4 vols. (1899-1935).
Gospel according to Mark (New
Testament).
Martyrdom of Isaiah (Pseudepigrapha).
Masorah.
Gospel according to Matthew (New
Testameant).
L.A. Mayer, Bibliography of Jewish Art
(1967).
Wochenzeitung (formerly Mitteilungsblatt)
des Irgun Olej Merkas Europa (1933ff.).
Misceldnea de estudios drabes y hebraicos
(1952ff.).
Megillah (talmudic tractate).
Megillat Taanit (in HUCA, 8 9 (1931-32),
318-51).
Me’ilah (mishnaic tractate).
Middle East Journal (1947ff.).
Mekhilta de-R. Ishmael.
Mekhilta de-R. Simeon bar Yohai.
Menahot (talmudic tractate).
Middle East Record (1960ff.).
E. Meyer, Geschichte des Alterums, 5 vols.
in 9 (1925-58).
E. Meyer, Urspring und Anfaenge des
Christentums (1921).
Mezuzah (post-talmudic tractate).
Mitteilungen des Gesamtarchivs der
deutschen Juden (1909-12).
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 14
vols. (1949-68).
191
ABBREVIATIONS
MGG@
MGH
MGJV
MGW]
MHJ
Michael, Or
Mid.
Mid. Ag.
Mid. Hag.
Mid. Job.
Mid. Jonah
Mid. Lek. Tov
Mid. Prov.
Mid. Ps.
Mid. Sam.
Mid. Song
Mid. Tan.
Miége, Maroc
Mig.
Mik.
Milano, Bibliotheca
Milano, Italia
MIO
Mish.
MJ
MJC
MK
MNDPV
Mortara, Indice
Mos
Moscati, Epig
MT
Mueller, Musiker
Munk, Mélanges
Mut.
MWJ
Nah.
Naz.
NDB
192
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart,
2nd edition (1994)
Monumenta Germaniae Historica (1826ff.).
Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fuer juedische
Volkskunde (1898-1929); title varies, see
also JJV.
Monatsschrift fuer Geschichte und
Wissenschaft des Judentums (1851-1939).
Momumenta Hungariae Judaica, 11 vols.
(1903-67).
H.H. Michael, Or ha-Hayyim: Hakhmei
Yisrael ve-Sifreihem, ed. by S.Z. H.
Halberstam and N. Ben-Menahem (19657).
Middot (mishnaic tractate).
Midrash Aggadah.
Midrash ha-Gadol.
Midrash Job.
Midrash Jonah.
Midrash Lekah Tov.
Midrash Proverbs.
Midrash Tehillim (Eng tr. The Midrash on
Psalms (JPS, 1959).
Midrash Samuel.
Midrash Shir ha-Shirim.
Midrash Tanna’im on Deuteronomy.
J.L. Miége, Le Maroc et l'Europe, 3 vols.
(1961 62).
Philo, De Migratione Abrahami.
Mikvaot (mishnaic tractate).
A. Milano, Bibliotheca Historica Italo-
Judaica (1954); supplement for 1954-63
(1964); supplement for 1964-66 in RMI,
32 (1966).
A. Milano, Storia degli Ebrei in Italia
(1963).
Mitteilungen des Instituts fuer
Orientforschung 1953ff.).
Mishnah.
Le Monde Juif (1946ff.).
see Neubauer, Chronicles.
Moed Katan (talmudic tractate).
Mitteilungen und Nachrichten des
deutschen Palaestinavereins (1895-1912).
M. Mortara, Indice Alfabetico dei Rabbini e
Scrittori Israeliti ... in Italia ... (1886).
Philo, De Vita Mosis.
S, Moscati, Epigrafia ebaica antica 1935-
1950 (1951).
Masoretic Text of the Bible.
[E.H. Mueller], Deutisches Musiker-
Lexikon (1929)
S. Munk, Mélanges de philosophie juive et
arabe (1859; repr. 1955).
Philo, De Mutatione Nominum.
Magazin fuer die Wissenshaft des
Judentums (18745 93).
Nahum (Bible).
Nazir (talmudic tractate).
Neue Deutsche Biographie (1953ff.).
Nuebauer, Cat
Neubauer, Géogr
Neuman, Spain
Neusner, Babylonia
Nid.
Noah
Noth, Hist Isr
Noth, Ueberlief
Noth, Welt
Nowack, Lehrbuch
NT
Num.
Num R.
Obad.
ODNB online
OH
Oho.
Olmstead
Or. Sibyll.
OS
OTS
PAAJR
Pap 4QS°
Par.
Pauly-Wissowa
Neubauer, Chronicles
Nedarim (talmudic tractate).
Nega’im (mishnaic tractate).
Nehemiah (Bible).
New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians (2001).
A. Neubauer, Catalogue of the Hebrew
Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library ..., 2
vols. (1886-1906).
A. Neubauer, Mediaeval Jewish Chronicles,
2 vols. (Heb., 1887-95; repr. 1965), Eng.
title of Seder ha-Hakhamim ve-Korot ha-
Yamim.
A. Neubauer, La géographie du Talmud
(1868).
A.A. Neuman, The Jews in Spain, their
Social, Political, and Cultural Life
During the Middle Ages, 2 vols.
(1942).
J. Neusner, History of the Jews in Babylonia,
5 vols. 1965-70), 2nd revised printing
1960ff.).
Niddah (talmudic tractate).
Fragment of Book of Noah
(Pseudepigrapha).
M. Noth, History of Israel (1958).
Noth, Personennamen M. Noth, Die israelitischen Personennamen.
.. (1928).
M. Noth, Ueberlieferungsgeschichte des
Pentateuchs (1949).
M. Noth, Die Welt des Alten Testaments
(1957°).
W. Nowack, Lehrbuch der hebraeischen
Archaeologie, 2 vols (1894).
New Testament.
Numbers (Bible).
Numbers Rabbah.
Obadiah (Bible).
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Orah Hayyim.
Oholot (mishnaic tractate).
H.T. Olmstead, History of Palestine and
Syria (1931; repr. 1965).
Orientalistische Literaturzeitung (1898ff.)
Eusebius, Onomasticon.
Philo, De Opificio Mundi.
Osef Piskei Din shel ha-Rabbanut ha-Rashit
le-Erez Yisrael, Bet ha-Din ha-Gadol le-
Trurim (1950).
Orlah (talmudic tractate).
Sibylline Oracles (Pseudepigrapha).
LOrient Syrien (1956ff.)
Oudtestamentische Studien (1942ff.).
Proceedings of the American Academy for
Jewish Research (1930ff.)
A papyrus exemplar of IQS.
Parah (mishnaic tractate).
AF, Pauly, Realencyklopaedie der klassichen
Alertumswissenschaft, ed. by G. Wissowa et
al. (1864ff.)
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
PD
PDR
PdRE
PdRK
Peah
Peake, Commentary
Pedersen, Israel
PEFQS
PEQ
Perles, Beitaege
Pes.
Pesh.
Pesher Hab.
land II Pet.
Pfeiffer, Introd
PG
Phil.
Philem.
PIASH
PJB
PK
PL
Plant
PO
Pool, Prayer
Post
PR
Praem.
Prawer, Zalbanim
Press, Erez
Pritchard, Pictures
Pritchard, Texts
Piskei Din shel Bet ha-Mishpat ha-Elyon le-
Yisrael (1948 ff.)
Piskei Din shel Battei ha-Din ha-
Rabbaniyyim be- Yisrael.
Pirkei de-R. Eliezer (Eng. tr. 1916. (19657).
Pesikta de-Rav Kahana.
Peah (talmudic tractate).
AJ. Peake (ed.), Commentary on the Bible
(1919; rev. 1962).
J. Pedersen, Israel, Its Life and Culture, 4
vols. in 2 (1926-40).
Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly
Statement (1869-1937; since 1938—PEQ).
Palestine Exploration Quarterly (until
1937 PEFQS; after 1927 includes
BBSAJ).
J. Perles, Beitraege zur rabbinischen
Sprachund Alterthumskunde (1893).
Pesahim (talmudic tractate).
Peshitta (Syriac translation of the Bible).
Commentary to Habakkuk from Qumran;
see 1Qp Hab.
Epistles of Peter (New Testament).
R.H. Pfeiffer, Introduction to the Old
Testament (1948).
J.P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Graeca, 161
vols. (1866-86).
Epistle to the Philippians (New
Testament).
Epistle to the Philemon (New Testament).
Proceedings of the Israel Academy of
Sciences and Humanities (1963/7ff.).
Palaestinajahrbuch des deutschen
evangelischen Institutes fuer
Altertumswissenschaft, Jerusalem (1905-
1933).
Pinkas ha-Kehillot, encyclopedia of
Jewish communities, published in over
30 volumes by Yad Vashem from 1970
and arranged by countries, regions and
localities. For 3-vol. English edition see
Spector, Jewish Life.
J.P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Latina 221 vols.
(1844-64).
Philo, De Plantatione.
R. Graffin and F. Nau (eds.), Patrologia
Orientalis (1903ff.)
D. de Sola Pool, Traditional Prayer Book
for Sabbath and Festivals (1960).
Philo, De Posteritate Caini.
Pesikta Rabbati.
Philo, De Praemiis et Poenis.
J. Prawer, Toledot Mamlekhet ha-Zalbanim
be-Erez Yisrael, 2 vols. (1963).
I. Press, Erez- Yisrael, Enziklopedyah
Topografit-Historit, 4 vols. (1951-55).
J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near East in
Pictures (1954, 1970).
J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near East Texts
... (1970°).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Pr. Man.
Prob.
Prov.
PS
Ps.
PSBA
Ps. of Sol
IQ Apoc
6QD
QDAP
4QDeut. 32
4QEx*
4QEx*
4QFlor
QGJD
1QH
IQIs*
IQIs>
1QM
4QpNah
IQphyl
4Q Prayer of
Nabonidus
IQS
ABBREVIATIONS
Prayer of Manasses (Apocrypha).
Philo, Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit.
Proverbs (Bible).
Palestinsky Sbornik (Russ. (1881 1916,
1954ff).
Psalms (Bible).
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology (1878-1918).
Psalms of Solomon (Pseudepigrapha).
The Genesis Apocryphon from Qumran,
cave one, ed. by N. Avigad and Y. Yadin
(1956).
Damascus Document or Sefer Berit
Dammesk from Qumran, cave six, ed. by
M. Baillet, in RB, 63 (1956), 513-23 (see
also CD).
Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities
in Palestine (1932ff.).
Manuscript of Deuteronomy 32 from
Qumran, cave four (ed. by P.W. Skehan, in
BASOR, 136 (1954), 12-15).
Exodus manuscript in Jewish script from
Qumran, cave four.
Exodus manuscript in Paleo-Hebrew
script from Qumran, cave four (partially
ed. by P.W. Skehan, in JBL, 74 (1955),
182-7).
Florilegium, a miscellany from Qumran,
cave four (ed. by J.M. Allegro, in JBL, 75
(1956), 176-77 and 77 (1958), 350-54).).
Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in
Deutschland 1888-98).
Thanksgiving Psalms of Hodayot from
Qumran, cave one (ed. by E.L. Sukenik
and N. Avigad, Ozar ha-Megillot ha-
Genuzot (1954).
Scroll of Isaiah from Qumran, cave one
(ed. by N. Burrows et al., Dead Sea
Scrolls ..., 1 (1950).
Scroll of Isaiah from Qumran, cave one
(ed. E.L. Sukenik and N. Avigad, Ozar ha-
Megillot ha-Genuzot (1954).
The War Scroll or Serekh ha-Milhamah (ed.
by E.L. Sukenik and N. Avigad, Ozar ha-
Megillot ha-Genuzot (1954).
Commentary on Nahum from Qumran,
cave four (partially ed. by J.M. Allegro, in
JBL, 75 (1956), 89-95).
Phylacteries (tefillin) from Qumran, cave
one (ed. by Y. Yadin, in Eretz Israel, 9
(1969), 60-85).
A document from Qumran, cave
four, belonging to a lost Daniel
literature (ed. by J.T. Milik, in RB, 63
(1956), 407-15).
Manual of Discipline or Serekh ha-Yahad
from Qumran, cave one (ed. by M.
Burrows et al., Dead Sea Scrolls ..., 2, pt. 2
(1951).
193
ABBREVIATIONS
1QS
IQS
4QSam*
4QSam>
4QTestimonia
4QT.Levi
Rabinovitz, Dik Sof
Régné, Cat
Reinach, Textes
REJ
Rejzen, Leksikon
Renan, Ecrivains
Renan, Rabbins
RES
Rev.
RGG?
RH
RHJE
RHMH
RHPR
RHR
RI
Riemann-Einstein
Riemann-Gurlitt
Rigg-Jenkinson,
Exchequer
194
The Rule of the Congregation or Serekh
ha-Edah from Qumran, cave one (ed. by
Burrows et al., Dead Sea Scrolls ..., 1 (1950),
under the abbreviation IQ28a).
Blessings or Divrei Berakhot from Qumran,
cave one (ed. by Burrows et al., Dead Sea
Scrolls ..., 1 (1950), under the abbreviation
1Q28b).
Manuscript of I and II Samuel from
Qumran, cave four (partially ed. by EM.
Cross, in BASOR, 132 (1953), 15-26).
Manuscript of I and II Samuel from
Qumran, cave four (partially ed. by EM.
Cross, in JBL, 74 (1955), 147-72).
Sheet of Testimony from Qumran, cave
four (ed. by J.M. Allegro, in JBL, 75 (1956),
174-87).).
Testament of Levi from Qumran, cave four
(partially ed. by J.T. Milik, in RB, 62 (1955),
398-406).
See Dik Sof.
Revue biblique (1892ff.)
Recherches bibliques (1954ff.)
Revista de cultura biblica (Sao Paulo )
(1957ff.)
J. Régné, Catalogue des actes .. . des rois
d Aragon, concernant les Juifs (1213-1327),
in: RE], vols. 60 70, 73, 75-78 (1910-24).
T. Reinach, Textes dauteurs Grecs et
Romains relatifs au Judaisme (1895; repr.
1963).
Revue des études juives (1880ff.).
Z. Rejzen, Leksikon fun der Yidisher
Literature, 4 vols. (1927-29).
A. Neubauer and E. Renan, Les écrivains
juifs francais ... (1893).
A. Neubauer and E. Renan, Les rabbins
francais (1877).
Revue des étude sémitiques et Babyloniaca
(1934-45).
Revelation (New Testament).
Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart,
7 vols. (1957-65°).
Rosh Ha-Shanah (talmudic tractate).
Revue de histoire juive en Egypte (1947ff.).
Revue dhistoire de la médecine hébraique
(1948ff.).
Revue dhistoire et de philosophie religieuses
(1921ff.).
Revue dhistoire des religions (1880ff.).
Rivista Israelitica (1904-12).
Hugo Riemanns Musiklexikon, ed. by A.
Einstein (19291?).
Hugo Riemanns Musiklexikon, ed. by W.
Gurlitt (1959-67'”), Personenteil.
J.M. Rigg, H. Jenkinson and H.G.
Richardson (eds.), Calendar of the Pleas
Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews, 4 vols.
(1905-1970); cf. in each instance also J.M.
Rigg (ed.), Select Pleas ... (1902).
RMI
Rom.
Rosanes, Togarmah
Rosenbloom, Biogr
Dict
Roth, Art
Roth, Dark Ages
Roth, England
Roth, Italy
Roth, Mag Bibl
Roth, Marranos
Rowley, Old Test
RS
RSO
RSV
Rubinstein, Australia I
Rubinstein, Australia II
Ruth
Ruth R.
RV
Sac.
Salfeld, Martyrol
I and II Sam.
Sanh.
SBA
SBB
SBE
SBT
SBU
Schirmann, Italyah
Schirmann, Sefarad
Scholem, Mysticism
Scholem, Shabbetai
Zevi
Schrader, Keilinschr
Schuerer, Gesch
Rassegna Mensile di Israel (1925ff.).
Epistle to the Romans (New Testament).
S.A. Rosanes, Divrei Yemei Yisrael be-
Togarmah, 6 vols. (1907-45), and in 3 vols.
(1930-387).
J.R. Rosenbloom, Biographical Dictionary
of Early American Jews (1960).
C. Roth, Jewish Art (1961).
C. Roth (ed.), World History of the Jewish
People, second series, vol. 2, Dark Ages
(1966).
C. Roth, History of the Jews in England
(1964).
C. Roth, History of the Jews in Italy (1946).
C. Roth, Magna Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica
(1937).
C. Roth, History of the Marranos (and rev.
ed 1959; reprint 1966).
H.H. Rowley, Old Testament and Modern
Study (1951; repr. 1961).
Revue sémitiques dépigraphie et d’histoire
ancienne (1893/94ff.).
Rivista degli studi orientali (1907ff.).
Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
H.L. Rubinstein, The Jews in Australia, A
Thematic History, Vol. I (1991).
W.D. Rubinstein, The Jews in Australia, A
Thematic History, Vol. II (1991).
Ruth (Bible).
Ruth Rabbah.
Revised Version of the Bible.
Philo, De Sacrificiis Abelis et Caini.
S. Salfeld, Martyrologium des Nuernberger
Memorbuches (1898).
Samuel, book I and II (Bible).
Sanhedrin (talmudic tractate).
Society of Biblical Archaeology.
Studies in Bibliography and Booklore
(1953ff.).
Semana Biblica Espanola.
Studies in Biblical Theology (1951ff.).
Svenkst Bibliskt Uppslogsvesk, 2 vols. (1962-
63°).
J.H. Schirmann, Ha-Shirah ha-Ivrit be-
Italyah (1934).
J.H. Schirmann, Ha-Shirah ha-Ivrit bi-
Sefarad u-vi-Provence, 2 vols. (1954-56).
G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish
Mysticism (rev. ed. 1946; paperback
ed. with additional bibliography
1961).
G. Scholem, Shabbetai Zevi ve-ha-Tenuah
ha-Shabbeta’it bi-Ymei Hayyav, 2 vols.
(1967).
E. Schrader, Keilinschriften und das Alte
Testament (1903°).
E. Schuerer, Geschichte des juedischen
Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, 3 vols. and
index-vol. (1901-11').
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Schuerer, Hist
Set. T.
Sem.
Sendrey, Music
SER
SEZ
Shab
Sh. Ar.
Shek.
Shev.
Shevu.
Shunami, Bibl
Sif.
Sif. Num.
Sifra
Sif, Zut.
SIHM
Silverman, Prayer
Singer, Prayer
Sob.
Sof.
Som.
Song
Song. Ch.
Song R.
SOR
Sot.
SOZ
Spec.
Spector, Jewish Life
Steinschneider, Arab
lit
Steinschneider, Cat
Bod
Steinschneider,
Hanbuch
Steinschneider,
Uebersetzungen
Stern, Americans
van Straalen, Cat
Suarez Fernandez,
Docmentos
E. Schuerer, History of the Jewish People
in the Time of Jesus, ed. by N.N. Glatzer,
abridged paperback edition (1961).
Sefer Torah (post-talmudic tractate).
Semahot (post-talmudic tractate).
A. Sendrey, Bibliography of Jewish Music
(1951).
Seder Eliyahu Rabbah.
Seder Eliyahu Zuta.
Shabbat (talmudic tractate).
J. Caro Shulhan Arukh.
OH - Orah Hayyim
YD - Yoreh Deah
EH - Even ha-Ezer
HM - Hoshen Mishpat.
Shekalim (talmudic tractate).
Shevi it (talmudic tractate).
Shevuot (talmudic tractate).
S. Shunami, Bibliography of Jewish
Bibliographies (19657).
Sifrei Deuteronomy.
Sifrei Numbers.
Sifra on Leviticus.
Sifrei Zuta.
Sources inédites de histoire du Maroc
(series).
M. Silverman (ed.), Sabbath and Festival
Prayer Book (1946).
S. Singer Authorised Daily Prayer Book
(19437).
Philo, De Sobrietate.
Soferim (post-talmudic tractate).
Philo, De Somniis.
Song of Songs (Bible).
Song of the Three Children (Apocrypha).
Song of Songs Rabbah.
Seder Olam Rabbah.
Sotah (talmudic tractate).
Seder Olam Zuta.
Philo, De Specialibus Legibus.
S. Spector (ed.), Encyclopedia of Jewish Life
Before and After the Holocaust (2001).
M. Steinschneider, Die arabische Literatur
der Juden (1902).
M. Steinschneider, Catalogus Librorum
Hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, 3
vols. (1852-60; reprints 1931 and 1964).
M. Steinschneider, Bibliographisches
Handbuch ueber die... Literatur fuer
hebraeische Sprachkunde (1859; repr. with
additions 1937).
M. Steinschneider, Die hebraeischen
Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters (1893).
M.H. Stern, Americans of Jewish Descent
(1960).
S. van Straalen, Catalogue of Hebrew Books
in the British Museum Acquired During the
Years 1868-1892 (1894).
L. Suarez Fernandez, Documentos acerca de
la expulsion de los Judios de Espana (1964).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Suk.
Sus.
SY
Sym.
SZNG
Taan.
Tam.
Tanh.
Tanh. B.
Targ. Jon
Targ. Onk.
Targ. Yer.
TB
Tcherikover, Corpus
Tef.
Tem.
Ter.
Test. Patr.
Iand II
Thieme-Becker
Tidhar
I and II Timothy
Tit.
TJ
Tob.
Toh.
Torczyner, Bundeslade
Tos.
Tosef.
Tristram, Nat Hist
Tristram, Survey
ABBREVIATIONS
Sukkah (talmudic tractate).
Susanna (Apocrypha).
Sefer Yezirah.
Symmachus’ Greek translation of the
Bible.
Studien zur neueren Geschichte.
Taanit (talmudic tractate).
Tamid (mishnaic tractate).
Tanhuma.
Tanhuma. Buber ed (1885).
Targum Jonathan (Aramaic version of the
Prophets).
Targum Onkelos (Aramaic version of the
Pentateuch).
Targum Yerushalmi.
Babylonian Talmud or Talmud Bavli.
V. Tcherikover, A. Fuks, and M. Stern,
Corpus Papyrorum Judaicorum, 3 vols.
(1957-60).
Tefillin (post-talmudic tractate).
Temurah (mishnaic tractate).
Terumah (talmudic tractate).
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
(Pseudepigrapha).
Ash. - Asher
Ben. - Benjamin
Dan - Dan
Gad - Gad
Iss. — Issachar
Joseph - Joseph
Judah - Judah
Levi - Levi
Naph. - Naphtali
Reu. — Reuben
Sim. - Simeon
Zeb. - Zebulun.
Epistle to the Thessalonians (New
Testament).
U. Thieme and FE. Becker (eds.),
Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden
Kuenstler von der Antike bis zur
Gegenwart, 37 vols. (1907-50).
D. Tidhar (ed.), Enziklopedyah la-Halutzei
ha-Yishuv u-Vonav (1947ff.).
Epistles to Timothy (New Testament).
Epistle to Titus (New Testament).
Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi.
Tobit (Apocrypha).
Tohorot (mishnaic tractate).
H. Torczyner, Die Bundeslade und die
Anfaenge der Religion Israels (1930°).
Tosafot.
Tosefta.
H.B. Tristram, Natural History of the Bible
(1877).
Palestine Exploration Fund, Survey of
Western Palestine, vol. 4 (1884) = Fauna
and Flora by H.B. Tristram.
Terra Santa (1943ff.).
195
ABBREVIATIONS
TSBA
TY
UBSB
UJE
Uk.
Urbach, Tosafot
de Vaux, Anc Isr
de Vaux, Instit
Virt.
Vogelstein,
Chronology
Vogelstein-Rieger
VT
VTS
Vulg.
Wars
Watzinger,
Denkmaeler
Waxman, Literature
Weiss, Dor
Wellhausen, Proleg
WI
Winniger, Biog
Wisd.
WLB
Wolf, Bibliotheca
Wright, Bible
Wright, Atlas
www]
WZJT
WZKM
Yaari, Sheluhei
Yad
Yad
Yal.
Yal. Mak.
Yal. Reub.
¥D
YE
Yev.
196
Transactions of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology (1872-93).
Tevul Yom (mishnaic tractate).
United Bible Society, Bulletin.
Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, 10 vols.
(1939-43).
Ukzin (mishnaic tractate).
E.E. Urbach, Baalei ha-Tosafot (1957’).
R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel: its Life and
Institutions (1961; paperback 1965).
R. de Vaux, Institutions de ’Ancien
Testament, 2 vols. (1958 60).
Philo, De Virtutibus.
M. Volgelstein, Biblical Chronology (1944).
H. Vogelstein and P. Rieger, Geschichte der
Juden in Rom, 2 vols. (1895-96).
Vetus Testamentum (19511ff.).
Vetus Testamentum Supplements (1953ff.).
Vulgate (Latin translation of the Bible).
Josephus, The Jewish Wars.
K. Watzinger, Denkmaeler Palaestinas, 2
vols. (1933-35).
M. Waxman, History of Jewish Literature, 5
vols. (19607).
I.H. Weiss, Dor, Dor ve-Doreshay, 5 vols.
(1904*).
J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena zur Geschichte
Israels (1927°).
Die Welt des Islams (19136f.).
S. Wininger, Grosse juedische National-
Biographie ..., 7 vols. (1925-36).
Wisdom of Solomon (Apocrypha)
Wiener Library Bulletin (1958ff.).
J.C. Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraea, 4 vols.
(1715-33).
G.E. Wright, Westminster Historical Atlas
to the Bible (1945).
G.E. Wright, The Bible and the Ancient
Near East (1961).
Whos Who in the World Jewry (New York,
1955, 1965”).
Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fuer juedische
Theologie (1835-37).
Wiener Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des
Morgenlandes (1887ff.).
A. Yaari, Sheluhei Erez Yisrael (1951).
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah (Yad
Hazakah).
Yadayim (mishnaic tractate).
Yalkut Shimoni.
Yalkut Makhiri.
Yalkut Reubeni.
Yoreh Deah.
Yevreyskaya Entsiklopediya, 14 vols. (c.
1910).
Yevamot (talmudic tractate).
YIVOA
YLBI
YMHEY
YMHSI
YMMY
Yoma
ZA
Zav.
ZAW
ZAWB
ZDMG
ZDPV
Zech.
Zedner, Cat
Zeitlin, Bibliotheca
Zeph.
Zev.
ZGGJT
ZGJD
ZHB
Zinberg, Sifrut
Ziz.
ZNW
ZS
Zunz, Gesch
Zunz, Gesch
Zunz, Poesie
Zunz, Ritus
Zunz, Schr
Zunz, Vortraege
Zunz-Albeck,
Derashot
YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Studies
(1946ff.).
Year Book of the Leo Baeck Institute
(1956ff.).
See BJPES.
Yediot ha-Makhon le-Heker ha-Shirah ha-
Ivrit (1935/36ff.).
Yediot ha-Makhon le-Maddaei ha-Yahadut
(1924/25ff.).
Yoma (talmudic tractate).
Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie (1886/87ff.).
Zavim (mishnaic tractate).
Zeitschrift fuer die alttestamentliche
Wissenschaft und die Kunde des
nachbiblishchen Judentums (1881ff.).
Beihefte (supplements) to ZAW.
Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft (1846ff.).
Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palaestina-
Vereins (1878-1949; from 1949 =
BBLA).
Zechariah (Bible).
J. Zedner, Catalogue of Hebrew Books in
the Library of the British Museum (1867;
repr. 1964).
W. Zeitlin, Bibliotheca Hebraica Post-
Mendelssohniana (1891-95).
Zephaniah (Bible).
Zevahim (talmudic tractate).
Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fuer
die Geschichte der Juden in der
Tschechoslowakei (1930-38).
Zeitschrift fuer die Geschichte der Juden in
Deutschland (1887-92).
Zeitschrift fuer hebraeische Bibliographie
(1896-1920).
I. Zinberg, Toledot Sifrut Yisrael, 6 vols.
(1955-60).
Zizit (post-talmudic tractate).
Zeitschrift fuer die neutestamentliche
Wissenschaft (1901ff.).
Zeitschrift fuer Semitistik und verwandte
Gebiete (1922ff.).
L. Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur
(1845).
L. Zunz, Literaturgeschichte der
synagogalen Poesie (1865; Supplement,
1867; repr. 1966).
L. Zunz, Synogogale Posie des Mittelalters,
ed. by Freimann (19207; repr. 1967).
L. Zunz, Ritus des synagogalen
Gottesdienstes (1859; repr. 1967).
L. Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften, 3 vols.
(1875-76).
L. Zunz, Gottesdienstliche vortraege der
Juden ... 18927; repr. 1966).
L. Zunz, Ha-Derashot be- Yisrael, Heb.
Tr. of Zunz Vortraege by H. Albeck
(19547).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
TRANSLITERATION RULES
1. The letters X and Y are not transliterated.
An apostrophe (’) between vowels indicates that they do not form a
diphthong and are to be pronounced separately.
2. Dagesh hazak (forte) is indicated by doubling of the letter, except for the
letter W.
3. Names. Biblical names and biblical place names are rendered according
to the Bible translation of the Jewish Publication Society of America.
Post-biblical Hebrew names are transliterated; contemporary names
are transliterated or rendered as used by the person. Place names are
transliterated or rendered by the accepted spelling. Names and some words
with an accepted English form are usually not transliterated.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
goatee
wa
~oweoi wu
uU
K
YuG¢euvyvrxasauwxed
wis
4]
HEBREW AND SEMITIC LANGUAGES:
General
not transliterated"
b
Vv
&
d
h
v — when not a vowel
Zz
h
t
y - when vowel and at
end of words — i
k
kh
1
n
Ss
not transliterated’
only sheva na is
transliterated
i
u
ei; biblical e
Scientific
IN <¢ & 1 A 09:08
“Most
+
“op BOER
=
DK A
n
Nc GQc It ot
ax
o, 6 (short)
a (long)
© p> po
a,@
€, 6, €
x, a, €
ce, é, ©
a, é, e; only sheva na
transliterated
reconstructed forms of
words
197
TRANSLITERATION RULES
YIDDISH
x not transliterated
x a
x te)
2 b
3 Vv
4 8
5 d
n h
1,1 u
n Vv
a oy
t Zz
wT zh
n kh
t
wo tsh, ch
’ (consonant) y
(vowel) i
° i
. ss
» ay
> k
3,2 kh
5 1
oO, m
TA n
fe) Ss
y e
5 P
5,5 f
ars ts
P k
4 t
7] sh
wv s
n t
n Ss
1. Yiddish transliteration rendered according to U. Weinreich’s Modern
English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary.
2. Hebrew words in Yiddish are usually transliterated according to standard
Yiddish pronunciation, e.g., 031M = khazones.
LADINO
Ladino and Judeo-Spanish words written in Hebrew char-
acters are transliterated phonetically, following the General
Rules of Hebrew transliteration (see above) whenever the ac-
cepted spelling in Latin characters could not be ascertained.
198
ARABIC
fi a’ ua d
= b L t
a t b Z
fen th & c
ej co: we
z h a f
a a 4
Q d J k
3 dh J 1
9 r a m
5 Zz O n
uA s ° h
ui sh 5 w
us : $ Yy
. a G \e a
- 1 G = 1
= u 5° a
re aw oe iyy”
oa ay ve uww?
1. not indicated when initial
2. see note (f)
a) The EJ follows the Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer and the Times Atlas
in transliteration of Arabic place names. Sites that appear in neither are
transliterated according to the table above, and subject to the following
notes.
b) The EJ follows the Columbia Encyclopedia in transliteration of Arabic
names. Personal names that do not therein appear are transliterated
according to the table above and subject to the following notes (e.g., Ali
rather than ‘Ali, Suleiman rather than Sulayman).
c) The EJ follows the Webster's Third International Dictionary, Unabridged in
transliteration of Arabic terms that have been integrated into the English
language.
d) The term “Abu” will thus appear, usually in disregard of inflection.
e) Nunnation (end vowels, fanwin) are dropped in transliteration.
f) Gemination (tashdid) is indicated by the doubling of the geminated letter,
unless an end letter, in which case the gemination is dropped.
g) The definitive article al- will always be thus transliterated, unless subject
to one of the modifying notes (e.g., El-Arish rather than al-‘Arish;
modification according to note (a)).
h) The Arabic transliteration disregards the Sun Letters (the antero-palatals
(al-Hurif al-Shamsiyya).
i) The ta-marbita (0) is omitted in transliteration, unless in construct-stage
(e.g., Khirba but Khirbat Mishmish).
These modifying notes may lead to various inconsistencies in the Arabic
transliteration, but this policy has deliberately been adopted to gain smoother
reading of Arabic terms and names.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
TRANSLITERATION RULES
GREEK
Ancient Greek Modern Greek Greek Letters
a a A; a; a
b v B; B
8 gh; g By
d dh A; 6
e e E;¢€
Zz Z ZC
ee i A; 43
th th 0; 6
i i Tu
k; ky K; «
1 l A;X
m m M3 pu
n n N;v
x x EE
te) te) O; 0
P P I
r; rh r P; p; p
S 5 23036
t t T:T
Wy i You
ph f ®; ~
ch kh XX
ps ps By
030 te) OD; w; @
ai e al
ei i él
oi i ol
ui i UL
ou ou ov
eu ev év
eu; eu lv Hv
- j re
nt d; nd VT
mp b; mb yn
ngk g YK
ng ng vy
‘ 7 :
Wi i R
RUSSIAN
KO
MoOHYDDOZZOAR
Sh
Shch
omitted; see note *
Y
omitted; see note *
E
Yu
Ya
MROUVPEP REE CHE XK SKS HOVER OTE NANNOMMME DT WD
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Ye at the beginning of a word; after all vowels except bl; and after ‘b and
B.
O after Y, I and II.
Omitted after BI, and in names of people after U1.
. Many first names have an accepted English or quasi-English form which
has been preferred to transliteration.
. Place names have been given according to the Columbia Lippincott
Gazeteer.
. Pre-revolutionary spelling has been ignored.
. Other languages using the Cyrillic alphabet (e.g., Bulgarian, Ukrainian),
inasmuch as they appear, have been phonetically transliterated in
conformity with the principles of this table.
199
GLOSSARY
Asterisked terms have separate entries in the Encyclopaedia.
Actions Committee, early name of the Zionist General Council,
the supreme institution of the World Zionist Organization in the
interim between Congresses. The Zionist Executive's name was
then the “Small Actions Committee.”
* Adar, twelfth month of the Jewish religious year, sixth of the civil,
approximating to February-March.
*Aggadah, name given to those sections of Talmud and Midrash con-
taining homiletic expositions of the Bible, stories, legends, folklore,
anecdotes, or maxims. In contradistinction to *halakhah.
*Agunah, woman unable to remarry according to Jewish law, be-
cause of desertion by her husband or inability to accept pre-
sumption of death.
*Aharonim, later rabbinic authorities. In contradistinction to *ris-
honim (“early ones”).
Ahavah, liturgical poem inserted in the second benediction of the
morning prayer (*Ahavah Rabbah) of the festivals and/or spe-
cial Sabbaths.
Aktion (Ger.), operation involving the mass assembly, deportation,
and murder of Jews by the Nazis during the *Holocaust.
*Aliyah, (1) being called to Reading of the Law in synagogue; (2)
immigration to Erez Israel; (3) one of the waves of immigration
to Erez Israel from the early 1880s.
*Amidah, main prayer recited at all services; also known as She-
moneh Esreh and Tefillah.
*Amora (pl. amoraim), title given to the Jewish scholars in Erez
Israel and Babylonia in the third to sixth centuries who were re-
sponsible for the *Gemara.
Aravah, the *willow; one of the *Four Species used on *Sukkot (“fes-
tival of Tabernacles”) together with the *etrog, hadas, and *lulav.
*Arvit, evening prayer.
Asarah be-Tevet, fast on the 10th of Tevet commemorating the
commencement of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
Asefat ha-Nivharim, representative assembly elected by Jews in
Palestine during the period of the British Mandate (1920-48).
*Ashkenaz, name applied generally in medieval rabbinical litera-
ture to Germany.
*Ashkenazi (pl. Ashkenazim), German or West-, Central-, or East-
European Jew(s), as contrasted with *Sephardi(m).
* Av, fifth month of the Jewish religious year, eleventh of the civil,
approximating to July-August.
* Av bet din, vice president of the supreme court (bet din ha-gadol)
in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period; later, title given to
communal rabbis as heads of the religious courts (see *bet din).
*Badhan, jester, particularly at traditional Jewish weddings in
Eastern Europe.
*Bakkashah (Heb. “supplication”), type of petitionary prayer,
mainly recited in the Sephardi rite on Rosh Ha-Shanah and the
Day of Atonement.
Bar, “son of... ”; frequently appearing in personal names.
*Baraita (pl. beraitot), statement of *tanna not found in
*Mishnah.
*Bar mitzvah, ceremony marking the initiation of a boy at the age
of 13 into the Jewish religious community.
200
Ben, “son of ...”, frequently appearing in personal names.
Berakhah (pl. berakhot), *benediction, blessing; formula of praise
and thanksgiving.
*Bet din (pl. battei din), rabbinic court of law.
*Bet ha-midrash, school for higher rabbinic learning; often at-
tached to or serving as a synagogue.
*Bilu, first modern movement for pioneering and agricultural set-
tlement in Erez Israel, founded in 1882 at Kharkov, Russia.
*Bund, Jewish socialist party founded in Vilna in 1897, supporting
Jewish national rights; Yiddishist, and anti-Zionist.
Cohen (pl. Cohanim), see Kohen.
*Conservative Judaism, trend in Judaism developed in the United
States in the 20" century which, while opposing extreme changes
in traditional observances, permits certain modifications of hala-
khah in response to the changing needs of the Jewish people.
*Consistory (Fr. consistoire), governing body of a Jewish commu-
nal district in France and certain other countries.
*Converso(s), term applied in Spain and Portugal to converted
Jew(s), and sometimes more loosely to their descendants.
*Crypto-Jew, term applied to a person who although observing
outwardly Christianity (or some other religion) was at heart a Jew
and maintained Jewish observances as far as possible (see Con-
verso; Marrano; Neofiti; New Christian; Jadid al-Islam).
*Dayyan, member of rabbinic court.
Decisor, equivalent to the Hebrew posek (pl. *posekim), the rabbi
who gives the decision (halakhah) in Jewish law or practice.
*Devekut, “devotion”; attachment or adhesion to God; commu-
nion with God.
*Diaspora, Jews living in the “dispersion” outside Erez Israel; area
of Jewish settlement outside Erez Israel.
Din, a law (both secular and religious), legal decision, or lawsuit.
Divan, diwan, collection of poems, especially in Hebrew, Arabic,
or Persian.
Dunam, unit of land area (1,000 sq. m., c. % acre), used in Israel.
Einsatzgruppen, mobile units of Nazi S.S. and S.D.; in U.S.S.R. and
Serbia, mobile killing units.
*Ein-Sof, “without end”; “the infinite”; hidden, impersonal aspect
of God; also used as a Divine Name.
*Elul, sixth month of the Jewish religious calendar, 12" of the civil,
precedes the High Holiday season in the fall.
Endloesung, see *Final Solution.
*Erez Israel, Land of Israel; Palestine.
*Eruv, technical term for rabbinical provision permitting the alle-
viation of certain restrictions.
*Etrog, citron; one of the *Four Species used on *Sukkot together
with the *lulav, hadas, and aravah.
Even ha-Ezer, see Shulhan Arukh.
*Exilarch, lay head of Jewish community in Babylonia (see also
resh galuta), and elsewhere.
*Final Solution (Ger. Endloesung), in Nazi terminology, the Nazi-
planned mass murder and total annihilation of the Jews.
*Gabbai, official of a Jewish congregation; originally a charity col-
lector.
*Galut, “exile”; the condition of the Jewish people in dispersion.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
*Gaon (pl. geonim), head of academy in post-talmudic period, es-
pecially in Babylonia.
Gaonate, office of *gaon.
*Gemara, traditions, discussions, and rulings of the *amoraim,
commenting on and supplementing the *Mishnah, and forming
part of the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds (see Talmud).
*Gematria, interpretation of Hebrew word according to the nu-
merical value of its letters.
General Government, territory in Poland administered by a Ger-
man civilian governor-general with headquarters in Cracow af-
ter the German occupation in World War II.
*Genizah, depository for sacred books. The best known was dis-
covered in the synagogue of Fostat (old Cairo).
Get, bill of *divorce.
*Geullah, hymn inserted after the *Shema into the benediction of
the morning prayer of the festivals and special Sabbaths.
*Gilgul, metempsychosis; transmigration of souls.
*Golem, automaton, especially in human form, created by magical
means and endowed with life.
*Habad, initials of hokhmah, binah, daat: “wisdom, understand-
ing, knowledge”; hasidic movement founded in Belorussia by
*Shneur Zalman of Lyady.
Hadas, *myrtle; one of the *Four Species used on Sukkot together
with the *etrog, *lulav, and aravah.
*Haftarah (pl. haftarot), designation of the portion from the pro-
phetical books of the Bible recited after the synagogue reading
from the Pentateuch on Sabbaths and holidays.
*Haganah, clandestine Jewish organization for armed self-de-
fense in Erez Israel under the British Mandate, which eventu-
ally evolved into a people’s militia and became the basis for the
Israel army.
*Haggadah, ritual recited in the home on *Passover eve at seder
table.
Hahan, title of chief rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese congre-
gations in London, England.
*Hakham, title of rabbi of *Sephardi congregation.
*Hakham bashi, title in the 15" century and modern times of the
chief rabbi in the Ottoman Empire, residing in Constantinople
(Istanbul), also applied to principal rabbis in provincial towns.
Hakhsharah (“preparation”), organized training in the Diaspora of
pioneers for agricultural settlement in Erez Israel.
*Halakhah (pl. halakhot), an accepted decision in rabbinic law.
Also refers to those parts of the *Talmud concerned with legal
matters. In contradistinction to *aggadah.
Halizah, biblically prescribed ceremony (Deut. 25:9-10) performed
when a man refuses to marry his brother’s childless widow, en-
abling her to remarry.
*Hallel, term referring to Psalms 113-18 in liturgical use.
*Halukkah, system of financing the maintenance of Jewish commu-
nities in the holy cities of Erez Israel by collections made abroad,
mainly in the pre-Zionist era (see kolel).
Halutz (pl. halutzim), pioneer, especially in agriculture, in Erez
Israel.
Halutziyyut, pioneering.
*Hanukkah, eight-day celebration commemorating the victory of
*Judah Maccabee over the Syrian king *Antiochus Epiphanes
and the subsequent rededication of the Temple.
Hasid, adherent of *Hasidism.
*Hasidei Ashkenaz, medieval pietist movement among the Jews
of Germany.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GLOSSARY
*Hasidism, (1) religious revivalist movement of popular mysticism
among Jews of Germany in the Middle Ages; (2) religious move-
ment founded by *Israel ben Eliezer Ba’al Shem Tov in the first
half of the 18» century.
*Haskalah, “enlightenment”; movement for spreading modern
European culture among Jews c. 1750-1880. See maskil.
*Havdalah, ceremony marking the end of Sabbath or festival.
*Hazzan, precentor who intones the liturgy and leads the prayers
in synagogue; in earlier times a synagogue official.
*Heder (lit. “room”), school for teaching children Jewish religious
observance.
Heikhalot, “palaces”; tradition in Jewish mysticism centering on
mystical journeys through the heavenly spheres and palaces to
the Divine Chariot (see Merkabah).
*Herem, excommunication, imposed by rabbinical authorities for
purposes of religious and/or communal discipline; originally,
in biblical times, that which is separated from common use ei-
ther because it was an abomination or because it was conse-
crated to God.
Heshvan, see Marheshvan.
*Hevra kaddisha, title applied to charitable confraternity (*hevrah),
now generally limited to associations for burial of the dead.
*Hibbat Zion, see Hovevei Zion.
*Histadrut (abbr. For Heb. Ha-Histadrut ha-Kelalit shel ha-
Ovedim ha-Ivriyyim be-Erez Israel). Erez Israel Jewish Labor
Federation, founded in 1920; subsequently renamed Histadrut
ha-Ovedim be-Erez Israel.
*Holocaust, the organized mass persecution and annihilation of
European Jewry by the Nazis (1933-1945).
*Hoshana Rabba, the seventh day of *Sukkot on which special ob-
servances are held.
Hoshen Mishpat, see Shulhan Arukh.
Hovevei Zion, federation of *Hibbat Zion, early (pre-*Herzl)
Zionist movement in Russia.
Illui, outstanding scholar or genius, especially a young prodigy in
talmudic learning.
*Iyyar, second month of the Jewish religious year, eighth of the
civil, approximating to April-May.
I.Z.L. (initials of Heb. *Irgun Zeva’i Le'ummi; “National Mili-
tary Organization”), underground Jewish organization in Erez
Israel founded in 1931, which engaged from 1937 in retaliatory
acts against Arab attacks and later against the British manda-
tory authorities.
*Jadid al-Islam (Ar.), a person practicing the Jewish religion in se-
cret although outwardly observing Islam.
*Jewish Legion, Jewish units in British army during World War
I.
*Jihad (Ar.), in Muslim religious law, holy war waged against in-
fidels.
*Judenrat (Ger. “Jewish council”), council set up in Jewish commu-
nities and ghettos under the Nazis to execute their instructions.
*Judenrein (Ger. “clean of Jews”), in Nazi terminology the condi-
tion of a locality from which all Jews had been eliminated.
*Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition:
Kabbala iyyunit, speculative Kabbalah;
Kabbala ma’asit, practical Kabbalah;
Kabbala nevwwit, prophetic Kabbalah.
Kabbalist, student of Kabbalah.
*Kaddish, liturgical doxology.
Kahal, Jewish congregation; among Ashkenazim, kehillah.
201
GLOSSARY
*Kalam (Ar.), science of Muslim theology; adherents of the Kalam
are called mutakallimin.
*Karaite, member of a Jewish sect originating in the eighth cen-
tury which rejected rabbinic (*Rabbanite) Judaism and claimed
to accept only Scripture as authoritative.
*Kasher, ritually permissible food.
Kashrut, Jewish *dietary laws.
*Kavvanah, “intention”; term denoting the spiritual concentra-
tion accompanying prayer and the performance of ritual or of
a commandment.
*Kedushah, main addition to the third blessing in the reader’s rep-
etition of the Amidah in which the public responds to the pre-
centor’s introduction.
Kefar, village; first part of name of many settlements in Israel.
Kehillah, congregation; see kahal.
Kelippah (pl. kelippot), “husk(s)”; mystical term denoting force(s)
of evil.
*Keneset Yisrael, comprehensive communal organization of the
Jews in Palestine during the British Mandate.
Keri, variants in the masoretic (*masorah) text of the Bible between
the spelling (ketiv) and its pronunciation (keri).
*Kerovah (collective plural (corrupted) from kerovez), poem(s)
incorporated into the *Amidah.
Ketiv, see keri.
*Ketubbah, marriage contract, stipulating husband’s obligations
to wife.
Kevuzah, small commune of pioneers constituting an agricultural
settlement in Erez Israel (evolved later into *kibbutz).
*Kibbutz (pl. kibbutzim), larger-size commune constituting a set-
tlement in Erez Israel based mainly on agriculture but engaging
also in industry.
*Kiddush, prayer of sanctification, recited over wine or bread on
eve of Sabbaths and festivals.
*Kiddush ha-Shem, term connoting martyrdom or act of strict in-
tegrity in support of Judaic principles.
*Kinah (pl. kinot), lamentation dirge(s) for the Ninth of Av and
other fast days.
*Kislev, ninth month of the Jewish religious year, third of the civil,
approximating to November-December.
Klaus, name given in Central and Eastern Europe to an institution,
usually with synagogue attached, where *Talmud was studied
perpetually by adults; applied by Hasidim to their synagogue
(“kloyz”).
*Knesset, parliament of the State of Israel.
K(c)ohen (pl. K(c)ohanim), Jew(s) of priestly (Aaronide) de-
scent.
*Kolel, (1) community in Erez Israel of persons from a particular
country or locality, often supported by their fellow countrymen
in the Diaspora; (2) institution for higher Torah study.
Kosher, see kasher.
*Kristallnacht (Ger. “crystal night,” meaning “night of broken
glass”), organized destruction of synagogues, Jewish houses,
and shops, accompanied by mass arrests of Jews, which took
place in Germany and Austria under the Nazis on the night of
Nov. 9-10, 1938.
*Lag ba-Omer, 33rd (Heb. lag) day of the *Omer period falling on
the 18th of *Iyyar; a semi-holiday.
Lehi (abbr. For Heb. *Lohamei Herut Israel, “Fighters for the Free-
dom of Israel”), radically anti-British armed underground organi-
zation in Palestine, founded in 1940 by dissidents from *1.Z.L.
202
Levir, husband’s brother.
*Levirate marriage (Heb. yibbum), marriage of childless widow
(yevamah) by brother (yavam) of the deceased husband (in ac-
cordance with Deut. 25:5); release from such an obligation is ef-
fected through halizah.
LHY, see Lehi.
*Lulav, palm branch; one of the *Four Species used on *Sukkot to-
gether with the *etrog, hadas, and aravah.
*Maaravot, hymns inserted into the evening prayer of the three
festivals, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.
Maariv, evening prayer; also called *arvit.
*Ma barah, transition camp; temporary settlement for newcomers
in Israel during the period of mass immigration following 1948.
*Maftir, reader of the concluding portion of the Pentateuchal sec-
tion on Sabbaths and holidays in synagogue; reader of the por-
tion of the prophetical books of the Bible (*haftarah).
*Maggid, popular preacher.
*Mahzor (pl. mahzorim), festival prayer book.
*Mamzer, bastard; according to Jewish law, the offspring of an in-
cestuous relationship.
*Mandate, Palestine, responsibility for the administration of Pales-
tine conferred on Britain by the League of Nations in 1922; man-
datory government: the British administration of Palestine.
*Maqama (Ar. pl. maqamat), poetic form (rhymed prose) which, in
its classical arrangement, has rigid rules of form and content.
*Marheshvan, popularly called Heshvan; eighth month of the Jew-
ish religious year, second of the civil, approximating to Octo-
ber-November.
*Marrano(s), descendant(s) of Jew(s) in Spain and Portugal whose
ancestors had been converted to Christianity under pressure but
who secretly observed Jewish rituals.
Maskil (pl. maskilim), adherent of *Haskalah (“Enlightenment”)
movement.
*Masorah, body of traditions regarding the correct spelling, writ-
ing, and reading of the Hebrew Bible.
Masorete, scholar of the masoretic tradition.
Masoretic, in accordance with the masorah.
Melizah, in Middle Ages, elegant style; modern usage, florid style
using biblical or talmudic phraseology.
Mellah, *Jewish quarter in North African towns.
*Menorah, candelabrum; seven-branched oil lamp used in the
Tabernacle and Temple; also eight-branched candelabrum used
on *Hanukkah.
Me’orah, hymn inserted into the first benediction of the morning
prayer (Yozer ha-Meorot).
*Merkabah, merkavah, “chariot”; mystical discipline associated
with Ezekiel’s vision of the Divine Throne-Chariot (Ezek. 1).
Meshullah, emissary sent to conduct propaganda or raise funds for
rabbinical academies or charitable institutions.
*Mezuzah (pl. mezuzot), parchment scroll with selected Torah
verses placed in container and affixed to gates and doorposts of
houses occupied by Jews.
*Midrash, method of interpreting Scripture to elucidate legal points
(Midrash Halakhah) or to bring out lessons by stories or homi-
letics (Midrash Aggadah). Also the name for a collection of such
rabbinic interpretations.
*Mikveh, ritual bath.
*Minhag (pl. minhagim), ritual custom(s); synagogal rite(s); es-
pecially of a specific sector of Jewry.
*Minhah, afternoon prayer; originally meal offering in Temple.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
*Minyan, group of ten male adult Jews, the minimum required for
communal prayer.
*Mishnah, earliest codification of Jewish Oral Law.
Mishnah (pl. mishnayot), subdivision of tractates of the Mishnah.
Mitnagged (pl. *Mitnaggedim), originally, opponents of *Hasidism
in Eastern Europe.
*Mitzvah, biblical or rabbinic injunction; applied also to good or
charitable deeds.
Mohel, official performing circumcisions.
*Moshav, smallholders’ cooperative agricultural settlement in
Israel, see moshav ovedim.
Moshavah, earliest type of Jewish village in modern Erez Israel in
which farming is conducted on individual farms mostly on pri-
vately owned land.
Moshav ovedim (“workers’ moshav’), agricultural village in Israel
whose inhabitants possess individual homes and holdings but
cooperate in the purchase of equipment, sale of produce, mu-
tual aid, etc.
*Moshav shittufi (“collective moshav”), agricultural village in Israel
whose members possess individual homesteads but where the ag-
riculture and economy are conducted as a collective unit.
Mostegab (Ar.), poem with biblical verse at beginning of each
stanza.
*Mugqaddam (Ar., pl. muqaddamin), “leader; “head of the com-
munity,”
*Musaf, additional service on Sabbath and festivals; originally the
additional sacrifice offered in the Temple.
Musar, traditional ethical literature.
*Musar movement, ethical movement developing in the latter part
of the 19th century among Orthodox Jewish groups in Lithuania;
founded by R. Israel *Lipkin (Salanter).
*Nagid (pl. negidim), title applied in Muslim (and some Christian)
countries in the Middle Ages to a leader recognized by the state
as head of the Jewish community.
Nakdan (pl. nakdanim), “punctuator”; scholar of the 9th to 14th
centuries who provided biblical manuscripts with masoretic ap-
paratus, vowels, and accents.
*Nasi (pl. nesi’im), talmudic term for president of the Sanhedrin,
who was also the spiritual head and later, political representative
of the Jewish people; from second century a descendant of Hil-
lel recognized by the Roman authorities as patriarch of the Jews.
Now applied to the president of the State of Israel.
*Negev, the southern, mostly arid, area of Israel.
*Neilah, concluding service on the *Day of Atonement.
Neofiti, term applied in southern Italy to converts to Christian-
ity from Judaism and their descendants who were suspected of
maintaining secret allegiance to Judaism.
*Neology; Neolog; Neologism, trend of *Reform Judaism in Hun-
gary forming separate congregations after 1868.
*Nevelah (lit. “carcass”), meat forbidden by the *dietary laws on
account of the absence of, or defect in, the act of *shehitah (rit-
ual slaughter).
*New Christians, term applied especially in Spain and Portugal to
converts from Judaism (and from Islam) and their descendants;
“Half New Christian” designated a person one of whose parents
was of full Jewish blood.
*Niddah (“menstruous woman”), woman during the period of
menstruation.
*Nisan, first month of the Jewish religious year, seventh of the civil,
approximating to March-April.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GLOSSARY
Nizozot, “sparks”; mystical term for sparks of the holy light im-
prisoned in all matter.
Nosah (nusah) “version”; (1) textual variant; (2) term applied to
distinguish the various prayer rites, e.g., nosah Ashkenaz; (3) the
accepted tradition of synagogue melody.
*Notarikon, method of abbreviating Hebrew works or phrases by
acronym.
Novella(e) (Heb. *hiddush (im)), commentary on talmudic and
later rabbinic subjects that derives new facts or principles from
the implications of the text.
*Nuremberg Laws, Nazi laws excluding Jews from German citi-
zenship, and imposing other restrictions.
Ofan, hymns inserted into a passage of the morning prayer.
*Omer, first sheaf cut during the barley harvest, offered in the Tem-
ple on the second day of Passover.
Omer, Counting of (Heb. Sefirat ha-Omer), 49 days counted from
the day on which the omer was first offered in the Temple (accord-
ing to the rabbis the 16th of Nisan, ie., the second day of Passover)
until the festival of Shavuot; now a period of semi-mourning.
Orah Hayyim, see Shulhan Arukh.
*Orthodoxy (Orthodox Judaism), modern term for the strictly tra-
ditional sector of Jewry.
*Pale of Settlement, 25 provinces of czarist Russia where Jews were
permitted permanent residence.
*Palmah (abbr. for Heb. peluggot mahaz; “shock companies”), strik-
ing arm of the *Haganah.
*Pardes, medieval biblical exegesis giving the literal, allegorical,
homiletical, and esoteric interpretations.
*Parnas, chief synagogue functionary, originally vested with both
religious and administrative functions; subsequently an elected
lay leader.
Partition plan(s), proposals for dividing Erez Israel into autono-
mous areas.
Paytan, composer of *piyyut (liturgical poetry).
*Peel Commission, British Royal Commission appointed by the
British government in 1936 to inquire into the Palestine problem
and make recommendations for its solution.
Pesah, * Passover.
*Pilpul, in talmudic and rabbinic literature, a sharp dialectic used
particularly by talmudists in Poland from the 16th century.
*Pinkas, community register or minute-book.
*Piyyut, (pl. piyyutim), Hebrew liturgical poetry.
*Pizmon, poem with refrain.
Posek (pl. *posekim), decisor; codifier or rabbinic scholar who pro-
nounces decisions in disputes and on questions of Jewish law.
*Prosbul, legal method of overcoming the cancelation of debts with
the advent of the *sabbatical year.
*Purim, festival held on Adar 14 or 15 in commemoration of the
delivery of the Jews of Persia in the time of *Esther.
Rabban, honorific title higher than that of rabbi, applied to heads
of the *Sanhedrin in mishnaic times.
*Rabbanite, adherent of rabbinic Judaism. In contradistinction
to *Karaite.
Reb, rebbe, Yiddish form for rabbi, applied generally to a teacher
or hasidic rabbi.
*Reconstructionism, trend in Jewish thought originating in the
United States.
*Reform Judaism, trend in Judaism advocating modification of
*Orthodoxy in conformity with the exigencies of contemporary
life and thought.
203
GLOSSARY
Resh galuta, lay head of Babylonian Jewry (see exilarch).
Responsum (pl. *responsa), written opinion (feshuvah) given to
question (sheélah) on aspects of Jewish law by qualified author-
ities; pl. collection of such queries and opinions in book form
(sheelot u-teshuvot).
*Rishonim, older rabbinical authorities. Distinguished from later
authorities (*aharonim).
*Rishon le-Zion, title given to Sephardi chief rabbi of Erez
Israel.
*Rosh Ha-Shanah, two-day holiday (one day in biblical and early
mishnaic times) at the beginning of the month of *Tishri (Sep-
tember—October), traditionally the New Year.
Rosh Hodesh, *New Moon, marking the beginning of the He-
brew month.
Rosh Yeshivah, see *Yeshivah.
*R.S.H.A. (initials of Ger. Reichssicherheitshauptamt: “Reich Secu-
rity Main Office”), the central security department of the Ger-
man Reich, formed in 1939, and combining the security police
(Gestapo and Kripo) and the S.D.
*Sanhedrin, the assembly of ordained scholars which functioned
both as a supreme court and as a legislature before 70 C.E. In
modern times the name was given to the body of representative
Jews convoked by Napoleon in 1807.
*Savora (pl. savoraim), name given to the Babylonian scholars
of the period between the *amoraim and the *geonim, approxi-
mately 500-700 C.E.
S.D. (initials of Ger. Sicherheitsdienst: “security service”), security
service of the *S.S. formed in 1932 as the sole intelligence orga-
nization of the Nazi party.
Seder, ceremony observed in the Jewish home on the first night of
Passover (outside Erez Israel first two nights), when the *Hag-
gadah is recited.
*Sefer Torah, manuscript scroll of the Pentateuch for public read-
ing in synagogue.
*Sefirot, the ten, the ten “Numbers”; mystical term denoting the ten
spheres or emanations through which the Divine manifests itself;
elements of the world; dimensions, primordial numbers.
Selektion (Ger.), (1) in ghettos and other Jewish settlements, the
drawing up by Nazis of lists of deportees; (2) separation of in-
coming victims to concentration camps into two categories
-— those destined for immediate killing and those to be sent for
forced labor.
Selihah (pl. *selihot), penitential prayer.
*Semikhah, ordination conferring the title “rabbi” and permission
to give decisions in matters of ritual and law.
Sephardi (pl. *Sephardim), Jew(s) of Spain and Portugal and
their descendants, wherever resident, as contrasted with
* Ashkenazi(m).
Shabbatean, adherent of the pseudo-messiah *Shabbetai Zevi
(17th century).
Shaddai, name of God found frequently in the Bible and commonly
translated “Almighty,”
*Shaharit, morning service.
Shali’ah (pl. shelihim), in Jewish law, messenger, agent; in modern
times, an emissary from Erez Israel to Jewish communities or or-
ganizations abroad for the purpose of fund-raising, organizing
pioneer immigrants, education, etc.
Shalmonit, poetic meter introduced by the liturgical poet *Solo-
mon ha-Bavli.
*Shammash, synagogue beadle.
204
*Shavuot, Pentecost; Festival of Weeks; second of the three annual
pilgrim festivals, commemorating the receiving of the Torah at
Mt. Sinai.
*Shehitah, ritual slaughtering of animals.
*Shekhinah, Divine Presence.
Shelishit, poem with three-line stanzas.
*Sheluhei Erez Israel (or shadarim), emissaries from Erez Israel.
*Shema ([Yisrael]; “hear... [O Israel],” Deut. 6:4), Judaism’s confes-
sion of faith, proclaiming the absolute unity of God.
Shemini Azeret, final festal day (in the Diaspora, final two days)
at the conclusion of *Sukkot.
Shemittah, *Sabbatical year.
Sheniyyah, poem with two-line stanzas.
*Shephelah, southern part of the coastal plain of Erez Israel.
*Shevat, eleventh month of the Jewish religious year, fifth of the
civil, approximating to January-February.
*Shi’ur Komah, Hebrew mystical work (c. eighth century) contain-
ing a physical description of God’s dimensions; term denoting
enormous spacial measurement used in speculations concern-
ing the body of the *Shekhinah.
Shivah, the “seven days” of *mourning following burial of a rela-
tive.
*Shofar, horn of the ram (or any other ritually clean animal ex-
cepting the cow) sounded for the memorial blowing on *Rosh
Ha-Shanah, and other occasions.
Shohet, person qualified to perform *shehitah.
Shomer, *Ha-Shomer, organization of Jewish workers in Erez Israel
founded in 1909 to defend Jewish settlements.
*Shtadlan, Jewish representative or negotiator with access to dig-
nitaries of state, active at royal courts, etc.
*Shtetl, Jewish small-town community in Eastern Europe.
*Shulhan Arukh, Joseph *Caro’s code of Jewish law in four parts:
Orah Hayyim, laws relating to prayers, Sabbath, festivals, and
fasts;
Yoreh Deah, dietary laws, etc;
Even ha-Ezer, laws dealing with women, marriage, etc;
Hoshen Mishpat, civil, criminal law, court procedure, etc.
Siddur, among Ashkenazim, the volume containing the daily
prayers (in distinction to the *mahzor containing those for the
festivals).
*Simhat Torah, holiday marking the completion in the synagogue
of the annual cycle of reading the Pentateuch; in Erez Israel ob-
served on Shemini Azeret (outside Erez Israel on the follow-
ing day).
*Sinai Campaign, brief campaign in October-November 1956
when Israel army reacted to Egyptian terrorist attacks and block-
ade by occupying the Sinai peninsula.
Sitra ahra, “the other side” (of God); left side; the demoniac and
satanic powers.
*Sivan, third month of the Jewish religious year, ninth of the civil,
approximating to May-June.
*Six-Day War, rapid war in June 1967 when Israel reacted to Arab
threats and blockade by defeating the Egyptian, Jordanian, and
Syrian armies.
*S.S. (initials of Ger. Schutzstaffel: “protection detachment”), Nazi
formation established in 1925 which later became the “elite” or-
ganization of the Nazi Party and carried out central tasks in the
“Final Solution”
*Status quo ante community, community in Hungary retaining
the status it had held before the convention of the General Jew-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ish Congress there in 1868 and the resultant split in Hungar-
ian Jewry.
*Sukkah, booth or tabernacle erected for *Sukkot when, for seven
days, religious Jews “dwell” or at least eat in the sukkah (Lev.
23:42).
*Sukkot, festival of Tabernacles; last of the three pilgrim festivals,
beginning on the 15" of Tishri.
Sara (Ar.), chapter of the Koran.
Ta’anit Esther (Fast of *Esther), fast on the 136 of Adar, the day
preceding Purim.
Takkanah (pl. *takkanot), regulation supplementing the law of
the Torah; regulations governing the internal life of communi-
ties and congregations.
*Tallit (gadol), four-cornered prayer shawl with fringes (zizit) at
each corner.
*Tallit katan, garment with fringes (zizit) appended, worn by ob-
servant male Jews under their outer garments.
*Talmud, “teaching”; compendium of discussion on the Mishnah
by generations of scholars and jurists in many academies over a
period of several centuries. The Jerusalem (or Palestinian) Tal-
mud mainly contains the discussions of the Palestinian sages.
The Babylonian Talmud incorporates the parallel discussion in
the Babylonian academies.
Talmud torah, term generally applied to Jewish religious (and ul-
timately to talmudic) study; also to traditional Jewish religious
public schools.
*Tammuz, fourth month of the Jewish religious year, tenth of the
civil, approximating to June-July.
Tanna (pl. *tannaim), rabbinic teacher of mishnaic period.
*Targum, Aramaic translation of the Bible.
*Tefillin, phylacteries, small leather cases containing passages from
Scripture and affixed on the forehead and arm by male Jews dur-
ing the recital of morning prayers.
Tell (Ar. “mound,” “hillock”), ancient mound in the Middle East
composed of remains of successive settlements.
*Terefah, food that is not *kasher, owing to a defect on the ani-
mal.
*Territorialism, 20th century movement supporting the creation
of an autonomous territory for Jewish mass-settlement outside
Erez Israel.
*Tevet, tenth month of the Jewish religious year, fourth of the civil,
approximating to December-January.
Tikkun (“restitution,” “reintegration”), (1) order of service for cer-
tain occasions, mostly recited at night; (2) mystical term denot-
ing restoration of the right order and true unity after the spiritual
“catastrophe” which occurred in the cosmos.
Tishah be-Av, Ninth of *Av, fast day commemorating the destruc-
tion of the First and Second Temples.
*Tishri, seventh month of the Jewish religious year, first of the civil,
approximating to September—October.
Tokhehah, reproof sections of the Pentateuch (Lev. 26 and Deut.
28); poem of reproof.
*Torah, Pentateuch or the Pentateuchal scroll for reading in syn-
agogue; entire body of traditional Jewish teaching and litera-
ture.
Tosafist, talmudic glossator, mainly French (12-14' centuries),
bringing additions to the commentary by *Rashi.
*Tosafot, glosses supplied by tosafist.
*Tosefta, a collection of teachings and traditions of the tannaim,
closely related to the Mishnah.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
GLOSSARY
Tradent, person who hands down a talmudic statement on the
name of his teacher or other earlier authority.
*Tu bi-Shevat, the 15th day of Shevat, the New Year for Trees; date
marking a dividing line for fruit tithing; in modern Israel cel-
ebrated as arbor day.
*Uganda Scheme, plan suggested by the British government in
1903 to establish an autonomous Jewish settlement area in East
Africa.
*Vaad Le’ummi, national council of the Jewish community in Erez
Israel during the period of the British *Mandate.
*Wannsee Conference, Nazi conference held on Jan. 20, 1942,
at which the planned annihilation of European Jewry was en-
dorsed.
Wagf (Ar.), (1) a Muslim charitable pious foundation; (2) state
lands and other property passed to the Muslim community for
public welfare.
*War of Independence, war of 1947-49 when the Jews of Israel
fought off Arab invading armies and ensured the establishment
of the new State.
*White Paper(s), report(s) issued by British government, frequently
statements of policy, as issued in connection with Palestine dur-
ing the *Mandate period.
*Wissenschaft des Judentums (Ger. “Science of Judaism”), move-
ment in Europe beginning in the 19th century for scientific study
of Jewish history, religion, and literature.
*Yad Vashem, Israel official authority for commemorating the
*Holocaust in the Nazi era and Jewish resistance and heroism
at that time.
Yeshivah (pl. *yeshivot), Jewish traditional academy devoted pri-
marily to study of rabbinic literature; rosh yeshivah, head of the
yeshivah.
YHWH, the letters of the holy name of God, the Tetragramma-
ton.
Yibbum, see levirate marriage.
Yihud, “union”; mystical term for intention which causes the union
of God with the *Shekhinah.
Yishuv, settlement; more specifically, the Jewish community of Erez
Israel in the pre-State period. The pre-Zionist community is gen-
erally designated the “old yishuv” and the community evolving
from 1880, the “new yishuv.”
Yom Kippur, Yom ha-Kippurim, *Day of Atonement, solemn fast
day observed on the 1oth of Tishri.
Yoreh De’ah, see Shulhan Arukh.
Yozer, hymns inserted in the first benediction (Yozer Or) of the
morning *Shema.
*Zaddik, person outstanding for his faith and piety; especially a
hasidic rabbi or leader.
Zimzum, “contraction”; mystical term denoting the process
whereby God withdraws or contracts within Himself so leaving
a primordial vacuum in which creation can take place; primor-
dial exile or self-limitation of God.
*Zionist Commission (1918), commission appointed in 1918 by the
British government to advise the British military authorities in
Palestine on the implementation of the *Balfour Declaration.
Zyyonei Zion, the organized opposition to Herzl in connection
with the *Uganda Scheme.
*Zizit, fringes attached to the *tallit and *tallit katan.
*Zohar, mystical commentary on the Pentateuch; main textbook
of *Kabbalah.
Zulat, hymn inserted after the *Shema in the morning service.
205
’N CIPIT. LIBER
IVDIE: .
REFAXATH
WAqUE TEx mhe_--
down: fubiu
TAUEPAv mul
cat gerry’ tt
porto fite~
J\ oy tpteedifr —
)\ CAT CHU
Fs rey
Cx Lapidib: qua ear a ides foe
Initial “A” at the opening of the Book of
Judith in a bible from Citeau, Eastern
France, 1109, showing Judith decapitating
Holofernes. Dijon, Bibliotheque Munici-
pale, Ms. 14, fol. 158.
AA-ALP
AACHEN (Aix-la-Chapelle; in Jewish sources: YX ,NDX8 ,WX),
city on the German-Belgian border; former capital of the Car-
olingian Empire. The delegation sent by *Charlemagne to the
caliph Harun al-Rashid in 797 included a Jew, Isaac, who prob-
ably acted as interpreter or guide, and subsequently reported
back to Aachen. Jewish merchants were active in Aachen by
about 820. A “Jews’ street” is known to have existed from
the 11" century. The Aachen community, which paid only 15
marks in tax to the emperor in 12.41, cannot have been large.
In 1349 the Jews were “given” to the count of Juelich, who re-
ceived their taxes and authorized Jewish residence in Aachen.
The Jews were expelled from Aachen in 1629, most settling
in neighboring Burtscheid. However, Jewish moneylenders
were again active in Aachen about ten years later. They were
included in the municipal jurisdiction in 1777. Prior to the in-
auguration of a Jewish cemetery in 1823, the Jews of Aachen
buried their dead in Vaals across the border in the Nether-
lands. In 1847 the community was organized under the Prus-
sian Jewish Community Statute. A Jewish elementary school
was founded in 1845. The synagogue, built in 1862, was de-
stroyed in the 1938 *Kristallnacht.
The Jewish population had increased from 114 in 1816 to
1,345 by 1933. In 1939, after emigration and arrests, there were
782 Jews living in the city. Others subsequently managed to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
flee and the rest were deported between March 1942 and Sep-
tember 1944. After the war, there were 62 Jews in Aachen. A
new synagogue and communal center were built at the ex-
pense of the German government in 1957. In 1966 the Jewish
community of Aachen and environs numbered 163. As a result
of the immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union, the
number of community members increased from 326 in 1989 to
1,434 in 2003. Another new synagogue and community center
were inaugurated in 1995.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Jaulus, Geschichte der Aachener Juden
(1924). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Bierganz, A. Kreutz, Juden in
Aachen (1988); H. Lepper, Von der Emanzipation zum Holocaust. Die
Israelitische Synagogengemeinde Aachen 1801-1942, 2 vols. (1994).
{Ernst Roth / Stefan Rohrbacher (2"4 ed.)]
AARGAJU, canton of northern Switzerland. A few Jewish fam-
ilies are known to have lived there during the Middle Ages.
From the 17 to the mid-19"" centuries Aargau remained the
sole area of permanent Jewish settlement in Switzerland; Jews
lived in the two communities of *Endingen and Lengnau, and
it was they who waged the struggle for Jewish *emancipation
in Switzerland. In the 18" century Aargau Jews obtained rights
of residence and movement; these were conferred by special
safe conducts and letters of protection against the payment
207
AARON
of high imposts, usually granted for a 16-year period. Jewish
occupations were restricted to participation in the markets,
the cattle and horse trade, peddling, and estate brokerage.
Both communities possessed their own synagogues, sharing
a cemetery and rabbi. The Jews in Aargau continued to pay
the special taxes until their abolition by the Helvetic Repub-
lic in 1798. Rights of residence, trade, and ownership of real
estate were granted to the Jews by the Helvetic government
but were later revoked by the Judengesetz (Jews’ Law) in 1809.
The independent canton of Aargau was founded in 1798/1803.
A law regularizing the status of the Jewish communities was
passed in 1824 and, in conjunction with the General Educa-
tion Act of 1835, regulated Jewish life and communal orga-
nization on the same principles as those governing similar
non-Jewish institutions in the canton. In the 1850s two new
synagogues were built, one in Endingen and one in Lengnau,
and were later declared cantonal monuments. However, since
the Jewish communities were not recognized as communi-
ties of local citizens, their members were debarred from can-
ton citizenship. The Great Council of Canton Aargau autho-
rized Jewish emancipation in 1862, but was bitterly opposed
by the popular anti-Jewish movement and was subsequently
repealed. The Jews of Aargau only obtained full rights of citi-
zenship in 1878 after the Swiss federal parliament had inter-
vened in their favor. Jews began to leave the region for other
parts of Switzerland in the middle of the 19" century, their
numbers dwindling from 1,562 in 1850 to 990 in 1900 and to
496 in 1950. In 1859 in the town of Baden a Jewish community
was founded which built its synagogue in 1913 and erected a
cemetery (1879). Between 1900 and the 1940s a small yeshivah
was active under Rabbi Akiba Krausz. A Jewish Swiss Home
for the Aged was established in Lengnau in 1903. At the turn
of the 20" century services were sometimes held in the syn-
agogues on Rosh Hodesh and for marriages. Aargau Jewish
history came to public attention with the appointment of the
first Jewish member of the Swiss governement, Ruth *Drei-
fuss. In 2000, 342 Jews lived in Aargau.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Haller, Die rechtliche Stellung der Juden
im Kanton Aargau (1900); A. Steinberg, Studien zur Geschichte der
Juden in der Schweiz waehrend des Mittelalters (1902); F. Wyler, Die
staatsrechtliche Stellung der israelitischen Religionsgenossenschaften in
der Schweiz (1929); F. Guggenheim-Gruenberg, in: 150 Jahre Kanton
Aargau... (1954); idem, Die Juden in der Schweiz (1961); A. Weldler-
Steinberg and F. Guggenheim-Gruenberg, Geschichte der Juden in der
Schweiz vom 16. Jahrhundert bis nach der Emanzipation (1966 and
1970). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Frenkel, Baden, eine jiidische Klein-
gemeinde. Fragmente aus der Geschichte 1859-1947 (2003).
[Florence Guggenheim-Gruenberg / Uri Kaufmann (2"¢ ed.)]
AARON (Heb. }138), brother of *Moses and *Miriam; founder
of the priesthood in Israel.
Biblical Information
Aaron belonged to the tribe of *Levi (Ex. 4:14) and was the
elder son of Amram and *Jochebed (ibid. 6:20; Num. 26:59;
1 Chron. 5:29; 23:13). He was senior to Moses by three years
208
(Ex. 7:7), but younger than his sister (as may be inferred from
Ex. 2:4). There is no narrative recounting Aaron’s birth and
nothing is known of his early life and upbringing. He appar-
ently stayed in Egypt all the time Moses was in Midian and
became known as an eloquent speaker (4:14). Aaron’s mar-
riage to Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab (6:23), allied him
with one of the most distinguished families of the important
tribe of Judah. His brother-in-law, Nahshon, was a chieftain
of that tribe (Num. 1:7; 2:3; 7:12,17; 10:14) and a lineal ancestor
of David (Ruth 4:19; 1 Chron. 2:10). The marital union thus
symbolized the religio-political union of the two main heredi-
tary institutions of ancient Israel, the house of David and the
house of Aaron. Four sons were born of the marriage, Nadab,
Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar (Ex. 6:23; 28:1; Num. 3:2; 26:60;
1 Chron. 5:29; 24:1).
The biblical narrative assigns Aaron a role subordinate
to that of Moses. No mention is made of him in the initial
theophany (Ex. 3:18; 4:12), and he is introduced into the events
of the Exodus only because Moses resists the divine commis-
sion (4:14-16). He is to be Moses’ spokesman (“prophet”) to
Israel (4:15-16) and to Pharaoh (7:1-2). He receives a revela-
tion from God to go to meet Moses returning from Midian
(4:27), and together the two brothers appear before the people,
with Aaron performing his signs in their presence (4:28-30).
Later, he performs wonders before Pharaoh. His rod turns
into a serpent that swallows the serpent rods of the Egyptian
magicians (7:9-12). In the ten plagues that befall the Egyp-
tians, Aaron acts jointly with Moses in the first plague (7:19 ff.),
operates alone only in the next two (8:1ff., 12ff.), is involved
with Moses in the sixth and eighth (9:8 ff; 10:3ff.), and does
not appear at all in the fifth and ninth (9:1-7; 10:21ff.). For the
rest, he is merely a passive associate of his brother. Although
Aaron functions whenever the Egyptian magicians are pres-
ent, it is significant that even where he plays an active role in
performing the marvels, it is not by virtue of any innate abil-
ity or individual initiative, but solely by divine command me-
diated through Moses. Aaror’s sons do not inherit either his
wondrous powers or his potent rod. The secondary nature
of Aaron's activities in the cycle of plagues is further demon-
strated by the circumstance that he never speaks to Pharaoh
alone and that only Moses actually entreats God to remove the
plagues, although Pharaoh frequently addresses his request to
both brothers (8:4, 8, 21, 25-26; 9:27 ff., 33; 10:16 ff.).
Strangely, Aaron plays no part at all in the events immedi-
ately attending the escape from Egypt, the crossing of the Red
Sea, the victory hymns, and the water crisis at Marah (13:17;
16:1). He reappears again in connection with the incident of
the manna (16:2-36), and at the battle with the Amalekites
when, jointly with Hur, he supports Moses’ hands stretched
heavenward to ensure victory (17:10-13). Together with the el-
ders of Israel, he participates in Jethro’s sacrificial meal (18:12),
but plays no role in the subsequent organization of the judi-
cial administration. He does, however, again jointly with Hur,
deputize for Moses in his judicial capacity while the latter goes
up to the Mount of God to receive the Tablets (24:14). At the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
revelation at Sinai, Aaron again is a minor participant. He is
distinguished from the “priests” and the people in being al-
lowed to ascend the mount (19:24), but has the same status as
his two sons, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel
in having to maintain a distance from Moses, although they
all “see the God of Israel” and survive (24:1, 9 ff.).
It was during his brother’s prolonged absence on the
mount that, yielding to popular insistence, he fashioned a
golden calf that became a cause of apostasy (ch. 32). On the
one hand, the text stresses the grave responsibility of Aaron
in this incident. He makes no attempt to dissuade the would-
be idolaters, but himself issues instructions, produces the
molten image, builds an altar, and proclaims a religious fes-
tival (32:2-5). His culpability is thrice emphasized (32:2, 25,
35), and the contrast between his actions and the zealous fi-
delity of the tribe of Levi is apparent (32:26-29). On the one
hand, God wanted to destroy Aaron, but he was saved by vir-
tue of Moses’ intercession on his behalf (Deut. 9:20). On the
other hand, there is a perceptible tendency to de-emphasize
Aaron’s share in the episode. The initiative for the idol comes
from the people who approach Aaron menacingly (Ex. 32:1).
They, not he, identify the calf with a divinity (32:4). He does
not participate in the worship and is not mentioned in God's
indictment of the people (32:7ff.); nor is his name mentioned
in Moses’ intercession (32:11-14, 31-32). The making of the calf
is attributed to the people (32:20; cf. Deut. 9:21) and is also de-
scribed as though the particular bovine form emerged almost
accidentally (Ex. 32:24). Despite Aaron's involvement, he was
neither punished nor disqualified from the priesthood. The
same inclination to play down Aaron's participation in the calf
cult is present in the poetic version of the story (Ps. 106:19-22;
cf. 106:16; Neh. 9:18).
When it comes to constructing the portable sanctuary,
Aaron is conspicuously absent, but he and his sons are ap-
pointed priests and are consecrated into that office by Moses
(Ex. 28-29; Lev. 8-9). During the ceremonies marking the in-
vestiture, his two sons, Nadab and Abihu, died mysteriously, a
calamity that he bore in silent resignation (Lev. 10:1-3; Num.
3:4; 26:61; cf. 1 Chron. 24:2). Aaron’s other two sons continued
to serve in the priestly office (Num. 3:4; 1 Chron. 24:2) and
Eleazar succeeded his father as high priest (Num. 20:25-28;
Deut. 10:6; cf. Josh. 24:33). No reason is given for the selec-
tion of Aaron as the archetypal high priest and founder of a
hereditary priesthood to the extent that “the house of Aaron”
became synonymous with the only legitimate priestly line (see
*Aaronides). After his induction as high priest, Aaron is no
longer the attendant of Moses, nor does he occupy a position
of secular authority, his activities being restricted to the area
of the cult. Yet even here, it is Moses, not Aaron, who is the
real founder of the cult and who generally receives the divine
instructions relative to the priestly duties (cf. Lev. 6:1, 12, 173
et al.). It is to him, too, that the priests are answerable (cf. Lev.
10:16-20). But on one occasion Aaron corrected Moses’ un-
derstanding of a sacrificial law (ibid.).
Nevertheless, Aaron undoubtedly held an outstanding
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARON
position of leadership, as may be determined by the fact that
God often addresses Moses and Aaron jointly (Ex. 9:8-10;
12:1, 43; Lev. 11:1; 13:1; 14:33; 15:1; et al.) and, sometimes, even
Aaron alone (Lev. 10:8; Num. 18:1, 8). With Moses, Aaron
shares the popular hostility to authority (Ex. 16:2-36; Num.
14:1-45} 16:3; 20:1-13). In the extra-pentateuchal literature his
name is coupled with that of his brother as bearers of the di-
vine mission (Josh. 24:5; 1 Sam. 12:6, 8; Micah 6:4; Ps. 77:21;
105:26; 106:16; cf. 99:6). Significantly, the period of national
mourning at his death is the same as that for Moses (Num.
20:29; cf. Deut. 34:8) and throughout biblical literature the
name Aaron remains unique to this one personality. A hint of
friction between Moses and his brother is apparent from one
narrative in which Aaron and his sister were involved in some
act of opposition to Moses’ prophetic preeminence. Probably
because of priestly immunity he escaped divine punishment,
but Miriam was stricken. At Aaron’s behest, Moses success-
fully interceded with God on her behalf (Num. 12).
On another occasion, Aaron, together with Moses, was
the target of a widespread insurrection against the monopoly
of leadership. The exclusive priestly privileges of Aaron and
his family against the challenge of Korah and his associates
were upheld in a trial by ordeal, which led to the destruction
of the rebels (Num. 16). This aroused the indignation of the
people which, in turn, brought down upon them divine anger
in the form ofa plague. Through an incense offering, brought
at Moses’ directive, Aaron was able to make expiation for the
people and to check the outbreak (Num. 17:1-15). This event
necessitated a further vindication of Aaron's priestly preemi-
nence. Twelve staffs, one from each tribe and each inscribed
with the name of the tribal chieftain, were deposited in the
Tent of Meeting. The following day, that of Levi, on which
Aaron’s name was written, sprouted blossoms and almonds.
Henceforth, Aaron’s staff lay in the Tent of Meeting as a wit-
ness to his unchallengeable priestly supremacy (17:16-26; cf.
20:8 ff.). Further, the subordination of the Levites to Aaron and
his sons and their respective duties and privileges in the ser-
vice of the sanctuary were unequivocally defined (17:18).
Aaron died on the first day of the fifth month at the age
of 123 years (33:38-39). The account of his passing is unusu-
ally detailed, doubtlessly due to the fact that it involved the
all-important matter of priestly succession. The Israelites ar-
rived at Mount Hor from Kadesh and, by divine decree, Aaron
ascended the mount accompanied by Moses and Eleazar. The
high priest was stripped of the garments of his office and his
son was invested in his stead. Aaron then died on the sum-
mit of the mount and a 30-day mourning period was held by
the entire community (20:22-29; cf. 33:37-38; Deut. 32:50). It
should be noted that another tradition has the place of Aaron's
death as Moserah (Deut. 10:6), which was seven stages behind
Mount Hor in the wilderness wanderings (Num. 33:31-37).
Like Moses, Aaron was not permitted to enter the promised
land in punishment for disobeying the divine command in
connection with the waters of Meribah (20:12, 24; 27:13-14;
cf. Deut. 32:50-51), although no clear account of Aaron’s role
209
AARON
in that incident has been preserved (Num. 20:10). A poetic
digest of the narrative mentions only Moses as suffering the
consequences of the people’s provocation (Ps. 106:32). No ex-
planation for Aaron’s death in the wilderness is given in either
Numbers 33:37-38 or Deuteronomy 10:6, except that the latter
passage follows the story of the golden calf and the sequence
may possibly imply a connection between the two events.
Critical View
The difficulty of reconstructing a comprehensive biography
and evaluation of Aaron is due to the meager and fragmen-
tary nature of the data available. It is aggravated by the fact
that the details are scattered over several originally indepen-
dent sources which, in the form they have come down to us,
represent an interweaving of various traditions. This explains
the differences in approach, emphasis, and detail, outlined
above. Moreover, consideration has to be given to the pos-
sibility that the picture of Aaron, the archetypal high priest,
may well be the idealized retrojection of a later period, and
that subsequent developments have influenced the narratives
in the Pentateuch. While there is no unanimity among schol-
ars of the source critical school as to the proper distribution
of many passages among the different pentateuchal sources,
especially in regard to those relating to J and £, there is a wide
measure of agreement that in the original J and f documents
Aaron was neither a priest nor a levite, and that he had no
part in the narrative of the ten plagues. In fact, it is regarded
as likely that y did not originally mention Aaron. To E is at-
tributed the picture of Aaron as Miriam’s brother, as Moses’
attendant, as participating in the war with Amalek, Jethro’s
sacrifice, and the golden calf, as well as acting together with
Miriam in opposition to Moses. The redactor who combined
JE introduced the story of Aaron as a levite and as Moses’
brother and spokesman and, possibly, portrayed him as as-
sisting in the plagues. There is no agreement as to whether D
originally mentioned Aaron, or as to the source of the few ref-
erences to him in that document. To the P source is assigned
the exalted image of Aaron as the archetypal and only legiti-
mate levitical high priest, and a leader of the people. Here,
too, is the source of the Aaronite genealogies and the notices
of his age and his death.
[Nahum M. Sarna]
In the Aggadah
The many praises heaped on Aaron in the aggadah are due to
the desire to minimize his guilt with regard to the sin of the
golden calf and to explain why, despite it, he was worthy to
be appointed high priest (see: Sif. Deut. 307).
Aaron had great love for Moses. He was completely free
of envy and rejoiced in his success. Moses was reluctant to as-
sume his call (Ex. 4:14), because Aaron had for long been the
prophet and spokesman of the Jews in Egypt, and Moses was
unwilling to supplant him, until God told him to assume the
leadership. Far from resenting it, Aaron was glad. For this he
was given the reward of wearing the holy breastplate (Urim
and Thummim) upon his heart (Tanh. Ex. 27). Aaron is espe-
210
cially praised for his love of peace. Unlike Moses, whose at-
titude was “let the law bend the mountain” (i.e., the law must
be applied), Aaron loved peace and pursued peace.
Aaron never reproached a person by telling him that he
had sinned, but employed every stratagem in order to recon-
cile disputes (ARN? 48) especially between man and wife (ibid.,
emended text p. 50). According to one account this love for
peace determined Aaron's attitude toward the golden calf. He
could have put to death all those who worshiped it, as Moses
did, but his love and compassion for the people prevented
him. He regarded peaceful persuasion as the best way of in-
culcating love of the Torah, and thus Hillel declared: “Be of the
disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving
one’s fellow men and bringing them nigh to the Torah” (Avot
1:12). For this behavior Aaron was chosen to be the high priest;
God knew that his intentions were honorable (Ex. R. 37:2). Ac-
cording to other accounts Aaron agreed to make the golden
calf after procrastinating as much as possible, because his life
was threatened, and he feared the same fate as overtook Hur,
who according to the Midrash, was assassinated by the peo-
ple when he opposed them (Ex. R. 41:9; Sanh. 7a). Aaron’s rod
possessed the same miraculous powers as the staff of Moses
and some aggadic sayings make them identical (Yal. Ps. 869).
With it, Aaron brought about the first three of the Ten Plagues
because the water of the Nile, that shielded Moses as an infant,
should not suffer through Moses, by being turned into blood
or bringing forth frogs, and the earth that afforded Moses pro-
tection when it concealed the slain Egyptian overseer (Ex. 2:12)
should not bring forth lice by his action. Both the aggadah
and Josephus emphasize the great spiritual strength of Aaron
at the death of his two sons Nadab and Abihu; he saw his two
“chickens” bathed in blood and kept silent (Lev. R. 20:4). “He
withstood his ordeal with great courage because his soul was
inured to every calamity” (Jos., Ant., 3:208). He did not ques-
tion God's dealing with him, as Abraham did not when or-
dered to sacrifice his only son Isaac (Sifra 46a).
Aaron was one of those who died not on account of sin
“but through the machinations of the serpent” (Sif. Deut.
338-9). When Aaron died “all the house of Israel” wept for
him (Num. 20:29), while after the death of Moses, the stern
leader who reprimanded them by harsh words, only part of
the people, “the men,” bewailed him (Sifra 45d).
[Elimelech Epstein Halevy]
In Christian Tradition
As the ancestor and founder of the one priesthood entitled to
offer acceptable sacrifice to God, Aaron was taken as the type
of Christ in the New Testament and later Christian tradition:
he offers sacrifice, mediates between the people and God, and
ministers in the Holy of Holies. The typology is developed es-
pecially in the Epistle to the Hebrews which stresses the supe-
riority of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice to the animal sacrifices of the
Aaronic priesthood. Jesus, the high priest of the New Cov-
enant, is foreshadowed by Aaron, the high priest of the Old
Covenant, but Christ’s priesthood, which is “after the order of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Melchizedek,” supersedes and replaces the inferior priesthood
of Aaron (see Heb. 5:25; 7:11-12; 8:23-27). Influenced by this
distinction, the Mormons distinguished in their hierarchy be-
tween a lesser, Aaronic priesthood, and the office of high priest
which is according to the order of Melchizedek.
[R.J. Zwi Werblowsky]
In the Koran and in Islamic Literature
Like some other biblical figures, Aaron (Arabic: Hartin)
only became known to Muhammad gradually. In the Koran
(37:114-20), Moses and Aaron appear together as those who
were redeemed (from Egyptian slavery) at the head of their
people and to whom the Book was given. In 20:29-30, Moses
requests, in a general way, that his brother Aaron be his helper
(wazir; cf. also 25:37; see below). In 26:12, he voices his fear that
he might be inhibited and unable to speak. Finally, in 28:35
Moses prays to God: “Aaron is more eloquent than I am; send
him to strengthen me.’ Just as the Midrash tries in various ways
to exonerate Aaron from all blame in the incident of the golden
calf, so the Koran account of that incident assigns him the role
of an onlooker and administrator rather than that of chief par-
ticipant, and attributes the actual making of the golden calf to
one Samiri (20:96-7; perhaps meaning “a Samaritan”; see the
detailed discussion by H. Speyer, pp. 329-32). The post-koranic
Islamic legend describes, in a number of fanciful variations,
how Moses demonstrated to the children of Israel that he had
not killed his brother, as they suspected, but that he had died
a natural death. The relationship of these legends to similar
stories in the late Midrash still needs elucidation. An attempt
to explain why Mary, the mother of Jesus, is addressed dur-
ing her pregnancy as “sister of Aaron” (Koran 19:27-29, cf. Ex.
15:20) is made by H. Speyer (p. 243, where further literature
is available). The Koran never mentions the fact that Aaron
was the father of the priestly tribe of the Kohanim; the an-
cient biographer of Muhammad, however, was aware of this
fact. The two main Jewish tribes in Medina, the Quraiza and
*Nadir, were called al-Kahinan, “the two priestly tribes.” When
Muhammad's Jewish spouse, Safiyya, was insulted by one of
the Prophet's other wives, he allegedly advised her to retort:
“My father was Aaron and my uncle Moses.” The word wazir,
by which Aaron’s subordination to Moses is designated in the
Koran, became the title “vizier,” a kind of prime minister with
wide or full powers in Islamic states.
[Shelomo Dov Goitein]
For Aaron in Art, see *Moses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aberbach and Smolar, in: JBL, 86 (1967),
129-40; Albright, Arch Rel, 109-10, 119; Kennett, in: Ts, 6 (1904-05),
161-8; S.E. Loewenstamm, Masoret Yeziat Mizrayim be-Hishtalshelu-
tah (1965), 60-64; Meek, in: AJSL, 45 (1928-29), 144-66; idem,Hebrew
Origins (1960), 119-47; North, in: zaw, 66 (1954), 191-9;H. Oort,
in: Theologisch Tijdschrift, 18 (1884), 235-89; Westphal, in: zaw,
26 (1906), 201-30. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Gevirtz, in: Biblica,
65 (1984), 377-81; S.D. Sperling, The Original Torah (1998), 103-21.
AGGADAH: Ginzberg, Legends, index; Guttmann, Mafte’ah, 2 (1917),
37-55. ISLAMIC LITERATURE: J.W. Hirschberg, Juedische und christli-
che Lehren im vor- und fruehislamischen Arabien (1939), 61ff., 129-30;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARON BEN AMRAM
S.D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions (1966), 168-96;
H. Speyer, Die biblischen Erzaehlungen im Qoran (1961), 260ff., 323-6;
Schwarzbaum, in: Fabula, 5 (1962-63), 185-227.ADD. BIBLIOGRA-
PHY: EIS? III (1971), 231-32, S.v. Haran (incl. bibl.).
AARON, ISRAEL (1859-1912), U.S. rabbi. Aaron was born
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but at the age of 16 moved to Cin-
cinnati to join the first class of students entering the Hebrew
Union College. There was little in his background to sug-
gest a rabbinical career. He attended public schools and his
parents were immigrants from Hesse-Darmstadt, where his
father had served as a junior officer in the military. In 1883,
Aaron, together with Henry *Berkowitz, Joseph *Krauskopf,
and David *Philipson, formed the first cohort of students to
graduate from the new seminary. He later received a doctor-
ate in divinity from the same institution. After graduating,
Aaron served the synagogue in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for four
years before assuming the pulpit of Temple Beth Zion in Buf-
falo, New York. Aaron thrived in this latter setting. He was a
keen advocate of the reintroduction of congregational singing,
seeking to extend the success of his own endeavors in Buffalo
to the wider Reform movement. Aaron was also a scholar of
medieval Jewry, writing about Muslim-Jewish relations dur-
ing the Renaissance, and the Iberian Jewish community. As
with many of his contemporaries in the Reform rabbinate, he
was also active in the civic and cultural life of his city. Aaron
was an immensely successful pulpit rabbi, overseeing both the
building of a new temple and the enlargement of its member-
ship. This new temple, designed by Edward Kent, an architect
who later perished in the Titanic disaster, was also ill-omened
for Aaron. Barely four days after a celebration organized by his
congregation to honor his 25" year of service to Temple Beth
Zion, Aaron died at age 52 of an ear infection. David Philip-
son, a lifelong friend, officiated at both services.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Israelite (May 16, 1912); American
Jewish Year Book, 5 (1903-4); CCAR Yearbook, 23 (1913); New York
Times (May 16, 1912); Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (1948).
[Adam Mendelsohn (2"4 ed.)]
AARON BEN AMRAM (ninth-tenth centuries), court
banker in Baghdad. Having built up a position of wealth and
influence as private bankers, Aaron and his partner Joseph
b. Phinehas were eventually accorded the official position of
jahbadh, whose functions involved the collecting of state rev-
enues, the issue of bills of exchange on behalf of the govern-
ment, and long-term loans to the caliph’s administration. At
the same time, Aaron and his firm acted as private bankers
for the vizier and other high officials, who transacted through
them their sometimes shady business. The firm attracted the
patronage of Jewish merchants, both in Baghdad, where there
was a special banking quarter, and from the provinces of the
Islamic empire, and beyond. Their banking transactions in-
volved them deeply in international trade. The contributions
of Diaspora communities to the upkeep of the talmudical
academies in Babylonia were conveyed by letters of credit
211
AARON BEN BATASH
drawn on such banking houses as that of Aaron b. Amram and
his partner. The influence which Aaron and his friends com-
manded in the Jewish community was commensurate with
his position at court and in the economic life of the caliphate.
Aaron sided with *Aaron b. Meir, the gaon in Erez Israel, in his
controversy with *Saadiah b. Joseph, over the supremacy of
the Palestinian authorities in proclaiming the religious feasts.
His sons and heirs, who inherited his official position and in-
fluence, enjoyed the confidence of Saadiah, who made use of
their services in dealing with the government.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Harkavy, Teshuvot ha-Geonim, 4 (1887),
NOS. 423, 548, 552; L. Ginzberg, Geonica, 2 (1909), 87-88; Fischel, Is-
lam, 6-44.
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
AARON BEN BATASH (Ben Senton-Ben Shem Tov; Haran
al-Yahadi; d. 1465), vizier in Morocco. Aaron was a member
of a family of Spanish origin who settled in *Fez. He served as
banker and adviser to ‘Abd al-Haqq, sultan of Morocco, later
becoming his vizier. He appointed a relative, Saul b. Batash, in-
tendant of the palace and chief of police. Aaron is mentioned as
a scholar and writer. He imposed heavy taxes and was accused
of distributing the revenue among his impoverished coreli-
gionists. Anti-Jewish agitation by Muslim divines induced a
mob attack on the Jewish quarter in Fez. The sultan and his
vizier were assassinated in May 1465. (See *Morocco.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Brunschvig, Deux récits de voyage in-
édits ... (1936), 113-21; A. Cour, Etablissement des dynasties des Chérifs
au Maroc (1904), 36-38; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 1 (1965), 290-6.
[David Corcos]
AARON BEN DAVID COHEN OF RAGUSA (d. 1656),
rabbi and merchant in Ragusa (Dubrovnik). After studying in
Venice, Aaron returned to his native city. There he engaged in
commerce, his import and export business becoming the most
important Jewish commercial house in the city. At the time of
the blood accusation against Isaac Jesurun in 1622, Aaron and
his father were arrested. In his will, Aaron gave his children
guidance for moral behavior and regular study. He also pro-
vided for the publication of the Zekan Aharon (Venice, 1657),
which included his own discourses on the Bible and those of
his grandfather (and predecessor in the Ragusa rabbinate),
Solomon Ohev (Oef), which were entitled Shemen ha-Tov. He
appended an account of the blood accusation and a poem of
thanksgiving for recital on the annual commemoration of the
occurrence. This appendix was reprinted separately under the
title Maaseh Nissim (Venice, 1798). The will, of unique interest
for the history of Hebrew publishing, provided for the printing
of 800 copies of the work of which 600 were to be exported.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Tadi¢, Jevreji u Dubrovniku (1937), 329-453
453-4 (French abstract); 431-4 (text of will).
AARON BEN ELIJAH (13282-1369), Karaite scholar, philos-
opher, and jurist. Aaron, who lived in Nicomedia (near pres-
ent-day Izmir, in Turkish Asia Minor), was called Aaron the
212
Younger to distinguish him from Aaron ben Joseph, or Aaron
the Elder, who lived a century earlier. Aaron died in an epi-
demic, apparently in Constantinople.
Aaron's greatest work is a massive Hebrew trilogy of
Karaite learning. The trilogy consists of Ez Hayyim (“Tree
of Life”), dealing with philosophy of religion, composed in
1346; Gan Eden (“Garden of Eden”), dealing with Karaite law,
composed in 1354; and Keter Torah (“Crown of the Law”), a
commentary on the Pentateuch, written in 1362. According
to Karaite tradition, Aaron wrote Ez Hayyim when he was 18
years old. This would place his birth in 1328, but it was prob-
ably earlier. The trilogy displays fully his great learning in both
Karaite and Rabbanite literature. Aaron quotes of course the
Karaite authorities, notably the 10" and 11'* centuries Jeru-
salem scholars (his access to their Arabic writings was prob-
ably through Hebrew translations and abridgements). But he
frequently quotes also the Talmud, Saadia, Rashi, Abraham
Ibn Ezra, David Kimhi, Maimonides, Nahmanides, the ear-
lier grammarians Judah ibn *Quraysh, Judah Hayyuj, Jonah
ibn Janah, and others. His Hebrew style, though tinted with
arabisms, is clear and fluent.
Legal Teachings
As a jurist, Aaron followed mainly in the footsteps of his Kara-
ite predecessors. He generally opposed any relaxation of the
letter of scriptural law, even when it involved great exertion
and hardship, except in cases of clear and evident danger to
life. Yet on the other hand he accepted Jeshuah ben *Judah’s
reform of the Karaite law of incest, and rejected the excessive
restrictions advocated by Karaite ascetics, such as the prohi-
bition of eating meat in the Diaspora.
Biblical Exegesis
As a biblical commentator, Aaron followed the general Kara-
ite policy of preferring the literal meaning of the biblical text,
except where this meaning seemed to lead to conclusions that
were blasphemous or illogical. However, this did not prevent
him from indulging his philosophical bent by introducing al-
legorical and metaphorical interpretations where they seemed
to him to be more suitable or advisable. His commentary on
the Pentateuch has become the standard reference in all Kara-
ite communities.
Philosophy
Aaron's Ez Hayyim was undoubtedly undertaken by him with
the aim of creating a Karaite counterpart to *Maimonides’
Guide of the Perplexed. Unlike Maimonides, Aaron did not
venture to cut a new Aristotelian path for Karaite theologi-
cal-philosophical thought. Instead, he remained attached to
the Mu‘tazilite philosophy (see *Kalam) which dominated his
Karaite predecessors, as well as a number of pre-Maimoni-
dean Rabbanite philosophers. Aaron is more orderly, clear,
and logical than his Karaite forerunners, but he to a large ex-
tent rephrases what the latter had already said. Occasionally
he avoids taking a definite stand on some points, and does not
refrain from adopting some Aristotelian terminology and ar-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
gumentation. Accordingly, and under the influence of Aaron
b. Joseph, he attempted to forge some sort of reconciliation
between traditional Karaite Kalamic positions, regarding it
as his duty to stand by the tradition of his predecessors, and
more Modern positions.
Although Aaron had to deal with religion in a rational
fashion, he begins his philosophical work with a wholesale
condemnation of the Greek philosophers and of their brain-
child, philosophy, in general. The teachings of the Mu‘tazilite
“investigators” (the term “philosopher” is objectionable to
Aaron), on the other hand, are in accord with Scripture (as
interpreted by the Karaites), while most Rabbanite thinkers,
particularly Maimonides, follow the philosophers and thus of-
ten run counter to the true principles of the Torah. Reason is
the chief instrument of true knowledge, hence God exists, for
His existence was deduced rationally already by the patriarch
Abraham. God is one, and is neither corporeal nor character-
ized by any corporeal qualities. His attributes are both nega-
tive and positive - indeed every negation implies a positive
assertion — and not exclusively negative, as asserted by Mai-
monides. His providence and justice extend to all creatures,
both human and subhuman. His revelations were given to His
prophets for transmission to mankind as a guide to righteous
life. The world (i.e., matter) is not eternal (as the Aristotelians
taught) but created - this is the chief proof of God’s existence -
and consequently natural law is not immutable. The universe
is made up of indivisible atoms having no magnitude and not
eternal, and creation signifies combination of atoms, while dis-
solution signifies their separation. The atomic theory of mat-
ter, rejected by the Aristotelians, is thus reasserted by Aaron.
Anthropomorphic descriptions of God in the Bible must be
interpreted allegorically. God is all-knowing, but man’s will is
free, hence no evil can be charged to God; though God fore-
knows that the wicked will choose evil, the blame is theirs,
not Gods. Free will necessarily involves retribution according
to each man’s deserts. Scriptural ordinances are divided into
revelational, whose necessity is so sublime that it is beyond
rational explanation; and rational, whose necessity is deduc-
ible by reason. Good and evil are inherently so, and are not
so merely because God approves of the former and condemns
the latter. His approval or condemnation simply assists man
in recognizing what is good and what is evil. Divine chastise-
ment is not always punishment for antecedent sin: in the case
of a righteous person like Job it is a Divine favor intended to
increase the sufferer’s reward in the world to come. This ex-
plains the prosperity of the wicked and the misery of the righ-
teous on earth. Besides, physical bliss is, at best, a base and
fleeting enjoyment, hence a more sublime spiritual reward
must be postulated in the hereafter. This serves as one of the
evidences of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection
of the dead. All these philosophical problems are treated with
constant reference to, and mostly refutation of, the teachings
of the Aristotelians, as set forth by Maimonides.
Aaron also composed a number of poems and hymns,
some of which were included in the official Karaite liturgy.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARON BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN OF LUNEL
Gan Eden was published in Eupatoria, 1864 and 1866; Ramle
1972. Ez Hayyim was edited by Franz Delitzsch (Leipzig, 1841),
and was re-edited, with an extensive commentary, by the Kara-
ite scholar Simhah Isaac Lutzky (Eupatoria, 1847). Extracts
from these two works, in English translation, are found in L.
Nemoy (ed.), Karaite Anthology (New Haven, 1952), 172-95,
and most chapters of the latter in two Ph.D. dissertations
mentioned below; Keter Torah was published in 1867 in Eu-
patoria; Ramle 1972.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Husik, Philosophy, 362-87; Guttmann, Phi-
losophies, 81-83; ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Charner, “Aaron ben
Elijah, The tree of life: First half (chapter 1-78) / Translated from the
Hebrew with introd. and notes’, 1949, Ph.D. Thesis, Columbia Uni-
versity; S.B. Bowman, The Jews of Byzantium (1204-1453), 1985, index;
H. Ben-Shammai, “Studies in Karaite Atomism’, Jerusalem Studies in
Arabic and Islam, 6 (1985), pp. 280-285; D. Lasker, in Da‘at, 17 (1986)
33-42 (Heb.); D. Frank, “The religious philosophy of the Karaite
Aaron ben Elijah: the problem of divine justice’, 1991 (Includes Eng-
lish translation of: Sefer Ets Hayyim: chapters seventy-nine through
ninety), Ph.D. Thesis, Harvard University; M. Polliack (ed.), Karaite
Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary Sources, (2003), index.
[Leon Nemoy]
AARON (Arnd) BEN ISAAC BENJAMIN WOLF (c. 1670-
1721), rabbi in Germany; nephew and son-in-law of the court
Jew Jost *Liebmann, who appointed him head of the yeshivah
he founded in Berlin. In 1697 Aaron became deputy rabbi and
in 1709 rabbi of Berlin. Berlin Jewry was then rent by inter-
nal strife in which Aaron supported Liebman’s widow in her
struggle for leadership of the community against the court
Jew Markus Magnus. When in 1713 the Magnus faction pre-
vailed, Aaron left Berlin to become rabbi of Frankfurt on the
Oder, which had been detached from the Berlin rabbinate to
enable him to officiate there. Aaron was suspected of Shab-
batean sympathies. In 1713 he approbated two works by Ne-
hemiah *Hayon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Graetz, Gesch, 10 (1896), 322-3, n. 6, 481-510;
Graetz, Hist, 5 (1949), 219, 220; Sachs, in: Juedische Familien-For-
schung, 2 (1928-30), 15-16, 40-41.
AARON BEN JACOB HA-KOHEN OF LUNEL (end of
13 and first half of 14" century), Provengal scholar. Despite
his name, he was probably not from Lunel but from Nar-
bonne, where his forefathers lived. In his well-known work
Orhot Hayyim he makes frequent mention of the customs of
Narbonne and often cites the opinions of its scholars. Aaron’s
grandfather, David, wrote a work on the laws of terefot (Orhot
Hayyim, 2:420), and his great-grandfather, Isaac, was a pupil
of *Abraham b. David of Posquiéres and wrote a commentary
on the Jerusalem Talmud (Meiri, Beit ha-Behirah on Avot, ed.
by B.Z. Prag (1964), 56). Aaron was among those exiled from
France by Philip rv in 1306 and apparently reached Spain,
subsequently proceeding to Majorca. Orhot Hayyim is for the
most part a compilation of halakhot taken verbatim from ear-
lier halakhic works sometimes without indicating the source
(e.g., extracts from Nathan b. Judah’s Ha-Mahkim and David
213
AARON BEN JOSEPH HA-KOHEN SARGADO
b. Levi's Mikhtam). It is a work of great importance and cites
halakhot not found in any other source. Halakhic authorities
esteemed it greatly, and it was cited by Jeroham b. Meshullam,
Isaac b. Sheshet, Simeon Duran, Levi ibn Habib, Joseph Caro,
and others. Its sources are extremely varied. Though based on
Maimonides, it contains statements of German, French, Pro-
vencal, and Spanish scholars. Some (Joseph Caro, Azulai, and
others) consider the anonymous work Kol Bo (1490) to be an
abbreviated version of Orhot Hayyim. This view, however, is
controverted by a comparison of the two works. Benjacob and
S.D. Luzzatto are more correct in maintaining that Kol Bo is
the editio princeps of Orhot Hayyim, probably representing an
early stage of that book, and antedating the three manuscripts
mentioned below.
Part 1 of Orhot Hayyim was first published in Spain be-
fore 1492, but no complete copy of it is extant (for part of
the missing introduction see A. Freimann, Thesaurus Typo-
graphiae Hebraicae (1931) B37, 1-2). The existing edition first
appeared in Florence in 1750, although the manuscript had
already been sent for publication by Elijah Capsali of Candia
to Meir of Padua in Venice in the middle of the 16" century
(Responsa Maharam Padua, no. 77). The order of the halakhot
is very similar to that of the Tur, Orah Hayyim of *Jacob b.
Asher, Aaron's younger contemporary. The Tur quickly gained
wide acceptance at the expense of Orhot Hayyim. Its second
part, dealing with laws of marriage, damages, things ritually
prescribed or permitted, and the like was published by M.
Schlesinger in Berlin in 1902 from the Warsaw Communal Li-
brary Ms. (a copy of the Jerusalem Ms. of 1455) after a rather
inadequate comparison with another earlier manuscript, now
in the Montefiore Library, London. There are significant dif-
ferences between these two manuscripts, and between a third
(in the Guenzburg Collection, Moscow, copied in 1329) which
was not used by Schlesinger and which represents the earli-
est version of the work, having been written apparently before
Aaron went to Majorca, since it omits all the passages (at least
15) referring to that island and to Shem Tov Falkon, the local
rabbi. It contains however 12 more chapters than the 73 in the
printed version. These deal with faith, philosophy, messianic
legends, paradise, hell, the natural sciences, the formulae for
documents, and (in a lengthy chapter) the principle of inter-
calation. The date 1313, given in this chapter, shows that the
manuscript was not composed before this date.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benjacob, in: Kerem Hemed, 8 (1854), 167 ff;
Benjacob, Ozar, 51, no. 984, 239, no. 118; S.D. Luzzatto, Meged Yerahim,
1 (1855), 5-10; idem, Iggerot Shadal, 8 (1892), 1232-40, no. 562; Gross,
in: MGwy, 18 (1869), 433-50, 531-41; Gross, Gal Jud, 290, 420; Zunz,
Ritus, 31-32, 179-80; M. Schlesinger (ed.), Sefer Orhot Hayyim, pt. 2
(1902), introd.; J. Freimann, in: Ha-Eshkol, 6 (1919), 107-9.
[Shlomoh Zalman Havlin]
AARON BEN JOSEPH HA-KOHEN SARGADO (also
known as Halaf ibn Sargado), gaon and head of the academy
at Pumbedita, 942-60. His antagonist *Saadiah Gaon slander-
ously altered his Arabic first name, Halaf, to read Kelev (“dog”)
214
and it appears in this erroneous form in the Hebrew transla-
tion of Nathan ha-Bavli’s chronicle. No satisfactory explana-
tion has yet been found for the surname Sargado.
The gaon Mevasser (916/7-925/6) appointed Aaron resh
kallah (“head of the kallah”) although he did not come from
a family of scholars. He was the son-in-law of Bishr b. Aaron,
one of Baghdad’s wealthiest and most respected citizens. Ac-
cording to the tenth-century chronicler Nathan ha-Bavli, who
does not seem to have admired Aaron, Aaron was very elo-
quent and erudite, but Saadiah was a much greater scholar
and Aaron envied him for his superior learning. In the cam-
paign against Saadiah, led by the exilarch David b. Zakkai,
Aaron took the exilarch’s side and attacked Saadiah in a ma-
licious epistle. Upon the death of Gaon Hananiah (Hanina),
the father of *Sherira Gaon, Aaron assumed the direction of
the academy, although Amram b. Meswi, Sherira’s uncle, who
was the av bet din, was more deserving of the gaonate. Aaron
was a self-righteous and willful person, and his term of office
was marked by endless quarrels. Many years later a rival gaon,
Nehemiah b. Kohen Zedek, was nominated, but he was unable
to assert himself against Aaron who, according to Sherira, ex-
celled him in scholarship. Sherira’s son Hai, who later became
gaon, was Aaron’s pupil in his youth.
Only fragments of Aaron’s literary work have been pre-
served; the Teshuvot ha-Geonim contain four responsa as-
cribed to him (Hemdah Genuzah (1863), no. 37-40, and Rashi
Pardes, ed. by H.Y. Ehrenreich (1924), 118-22), but only one
of these is definitely by Aaron. Another responsum by Aaron
was published in Jeschurun, 12 (1925), 50-51. Sherira and
Hai Gaon mention Aaron’s interpretation of a passage in the
tractate Yevamot in one of their legal opinions (L. Ginzberg,
Geonica, 2 (1909), 67). Aaron also wrote an Arabic commen-
tary on the Pentateuch, in the same style as that of his rival
Saadiah. The few existing fragments are inadequate to judge
the character of this work, or its relationship to Saadiah’s ex-
egesis. Aaron’s commentary on Deuteronomy (beginning
with the weekly portion Shofetim) is also mentioned. Frag-
ments of his commentary on other parts of the Pentateuch are
cited in Abraham Ibn Ezra’s commentary on the Pentateuch.
Maimonides mentions Aaron among the older Jewish schol-
ars who opposed the view of the Greek philosophers that the
universe is eternal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Malter, Saadia Gaon (Eng., 1921), 113-7,
126-82, 428; Neubauer, Chronicles, 1 (1965), 66; (1965), 80ff.; Stein-
schneider, Arab Lit, 71; B. Lewin (ed.), Iggeret Sherira Gaon (1921),
130-4; Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), index; idem, in: Tarbiz, 5 (1933/34), 174-53
idem, in: JQR, 11 (1920/21), 426; A. Harkavy, Zikhron la-Rishonim, 1,
pt. 5 (1892), 222; S. Poznaniski, in: JQR, 13 (1922/23), 377-8; idem, in:
Ha-Goren, 6 (1906), 63.
[Jacob Mann]
AARON BEN JOSEPH HA-LEVI (HaRAH, initials of his
name Ha-Rav Aharon ha-Levi; c. 1235-1300), Spanish rabbi
and halakhist. Aaron was a descendant of *Zerahiah b. Isaac
ha-Levi. His principal teachers were his brother Phinehas
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
and Moses b. Nahman (*Nahmanides). He had many disci-
ples in his native Barcelona; the most famous was Yom Tov b.
Abraham of Seville. In 1278 Aaron and Solomon b. Abraham
*Adret were designated by Pedro 111 to settle a dispute in the
community of Saragossa. In 1284, on the instructions of the
king, he was appointed rabbi of that town for the purpose of
ending the continuous dissensions in Saragossa. On Aaron's
advice, the community enacted several important ordinances;
some were vigorously contested both during his lifetime and
in subsequent generations (Isaac b. Sheshet, Responsa, 388).
After some time he returned to Barcelona where he apparently
engaged in business. In 1286 he went to Toledo and remained
there briefly. He returned to Barcelona.
Noted for his originality, Aaron would defer neither to
the majority nor to the traditional authorities. At times, both
he and Solomon b. Abraham Adret, who had many mutual
disciples, were consulted on the same legal question, and an-
swered jointly. Their personalities clashed and they often dis-
agreed. On one occasion they requested French scholars to
pronounce a final decision (Yom Tov b. Abraham of Seville, re-
sponsa, ed. by Y. Kafah (1959), 79). When Adret published his
Torat ha-Bayit (“Law of the House”) Aaron wrote critical com-
ments called Bedek ha-Bayit (“Repair of the House”) which
were printed together with the former work (Venice, 1608 and
in all subsequent editions). His introduction and notes were
written in an inoffensive and respectful tone. Adret hastily
wrote a sharp rejoinder called Mishmeret ha-Bayit (“Guard of
the House”), which was issued anonymously. However, Adret
admits his authorship in one of his responsa. Most of his at-
tacks were based on statements of the early legal authorities
whom Aaron had ignored.
Aaron wrote several independent books. Of his novellae
to the Talmud, only those to three tractates have survived -
Ketubbot (Prague, 1734), Bezah (published in the Mareh ha-
Ofannim of Jacob Faitusi, Leghorn, 1810), and Sukkah (1962);
the novellae on Kiddushin (1904) are erroneously ascribed to
him. A large part of his novellae to Shabbat is preserved in the
pseudo-R. Nissim commentary to this tractate. Of his com-
mentaries on the halakhot of Alfasi, only those on tractates
Berakhot and Taanit have survived (Pekuddat ha-Leviyyim,
1874; new edition M. Blau, 1957). In his preface Aaron men-
tioned that he wrote a short commentary on the Talmud called
Nezer ha-Kodesh in which he gives the halakhah without the
accompanying discussion. The work is no longer extant. Of
his legal decisions, only his Kelalei Yein Nesekh on the prohibi-
tion of wine prepared by Gentiles (published as an appendix to
Adret’s Avodat ha-Kodesh, (Venice, 1602)), and Hilkhot Niddah
(1967), have survived. The Sefer ha-Hinnukh of Aaron ha-Levi
of Barcelona has been wrongly ascribed to him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Perles, R. Salomo b. Abraham b. Adereth
(Ger., 1863), 62-63, n. 17; S. and N. Bamberger (eds.), Pekuddat ha-
Leviyyim (1874), 5-10 (introd.); Michael, Or, no. 293; Graetz, Gesch,
8, pt. 2, 148-9; Gross, Gal Jud, 329-31, no. 20; Baer, Spain, 1 (1961),
224-5, 240, 418 n. 81; Shiloh, in: Sinai, 61 (1966/67), 291-7.
[Simha Assaf]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARON BEN JOSEPH HA-ROFE
AARON BEN JOSEPH HA-ROFE (“the physician”) “the El-
der” (c. 1250-1320), *Karaite scholar and writer. Born appar-
ently in Solkhat, Crimea. In 1279 he disputed there with the
Rabbanites concerning the method of determining the New
Moon of Tishri (see *Calendar). Apparently he also lived in
Constantinople. The influence of the Talmud and Rabbanite
scholars and philosophers is seen in his writings. His views
were based on the Muslim *Kalam philosophical system, but
he inclined toward Aristotelianism. In 1293 he completed his
commentary on the Pentateuch, Sefer ha-Mivhar (1835), widely
used by the Karaites in the 14" and 15‘ centuries; several su-
percommentaries were written on it, the last, Tirat Kesef, by
Joseph Solomon *Luzki. Usually preferring the plain meaning
of the Bible, Aaron occasionally also uses aggadic interpreta-
tions, taken as a rule from *Rashi. He frequently quotes his
Karaite and Rabbanite predecessors, notably Abraham ibn
Ezra. Aaron sometimes interpreted the halakhah of his sect le-
niently, for instance permitting Karaite residents of Jerusalem
to eat meat; however this ruling was not accepted. He also
disagreed with the “catenary” theory of forbidden marriage
(rikkuv) which extended the laws against incest to extremely
remote relationships, on the ground that it ran counter to the
Karaite principle that no addition should be made to bibli-
cal injunctions. In these laws, he differed from the Rabban-
ites only in upholding the Karaite interdict of marrying one’s
niece. He may have preferred a permanent system of calenda-
tion instead the one based on lunar observation. Aaron also
wrote commentaries on the Former Prophets and Isaiah 1-59
(Mivhar Yesharim, 1836), and on Psalms 1-71 (several Mss. In
Leyden and yrs, New York). He refers to an apparently lost
commentary he wrote on Job. An unfinished Hebrew gram-
mar (Kelil Yofi, printed Gozlow 1847), recognizably influenced
by Jonah ibn *Janah, was completed by Isaac b. Judah Tishbi.
His polemics against Rabbanite practices and the *Kabbalah
(entitled Moreh Aharon and Sefer Mitzvot) have not been pre-
served. Aaron’s redaction of the Karaite liturgy remains the of-
ficial order of Karaite service. He introduced into it piyyutim
by Solomon ibn *Gabirol, Judah *Halevi, and *Abraham and
Moses ibn *Ezra. Aaron himself wrote liturgical poems for
Sabbaths and holy days, many of which have been included
in the Karaite prayer book, notably those written according
to the weekly reading of the Torah. A late commentary on
these poems entitled Tuv Taam, has appeared in a non-criti-
cal edition (Ramle 2000). He had a marked influence upon
later Karaite writers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuerst, Karaeertum, 2 (1865), 238-9; Danon,
in: JQR (1926/27), 165-6, 265-6; Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 359; Mann,
Texts, 2 (1935), index; Z. Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium (1959), in-
dex; ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.B. Bowman, The Jews of Byzan-
tium (1204-1453), 1985, index; J-C. Attias, Le commentaire biblique:
Mordekhai Komtino ou l’hermeneutique du dialogue, Paris, 1991, in-
dex; D.J. Lasker, “Aaron ben Joseph and the transformation of Karaite
thought’, in: Torah and Wisdom (1992) 121-128; G. Brinn, Beit Mikra,
47,4 (2002), 305-321 (Heb.); L. Charlap, Journal of Jewish Studies, 56,1
(2005) 80-100; idem, Peamim, 101-102 (2005), 199-220 (Heb.); M.
215
AARON BEN JUDAH KUSDINI
Polliack (ed.), Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary
Sources, (2003), index.
[Zvi Avneri]
AARON BEN JUDAH KUSDINI (or Kosdani, i.e., “of Con-
stantinopole”; end of 12"* century), Karaite scholar. Of his
works only a responsum addressed to Solomon b. David, the
Karaite nasi in Cairo, concerning the law of incest is known.
In it Aaron reveals himself a zealous partisan of the highly
restrictive catenary (rikkuv) theory of forbidden marriages
favored by the early Karaite authorities. Solomon rejected
his views. The responsum is quoted by Karaite writers, who
call Aaron baal ha-derashot (“the author of homilies”) but no
homilies from his pen have as yet been found.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Neubauer, Aus der Petersburger Bibliothek
(1866), 55, 117; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), 140-1, 291.
[Leon Nemoy]
AARON BEN MEIR BRISKER (d. 1807), Polish rabbini-
cal scholar and author. Aaron's father was one of the leaders
(allufim) of the Brest-Litovsk (Brisk) community and one of
the signatories to a letter sent in 1752 to Jonathan Eybeschuetz,
whom he supported in the dispute with Jacob *Emden. Aaron
studied under Eleazar b. Eleazar Kallir, author of Or Hadash.
He refused to accept a rabbinical position and devoted himself
exclusively to his studies. Aaron was delegate to the conference
of Jewish notables of Poland which assembled in Warsaw in
1791 to deliberate on the problems of Polish Jewry. He wrote
Minhat Aharon, novellae on tractate Sanhedrin (Novydvor,
1792) with an appendix entitled Minhah Belulah containing
responsa and talmudical treatises. Other responsa (Anaf Ez
Avot) were included in Mekor Mayim Hayyim (1839) by his
grandson Jacob Meir, whose father Hayyim had adopted the
surname Padua. In his work Aaron shows himself a master of
the casuistic method of Talmud study known as pilpul.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.T. Efrussi, Toledot Anshei Shem (1875), 50;
A.L. Feinstein, Ir Tehillah (1886), 33, 37, 224; M. Wischnitzer, Istoriya
Yevreyskogo Naroda, 11 (1914), 101; I.T. Eisenstadt and S. Wiener, Daat
Kedoshim (1898), 12.4f.; EG, 2 (1954), 153.
AARON BEN MESHULLAM OF LUNEL (d. c. 1210), one
of the leading scholars of Lunel. He was the son of *Meshul-
lam b. Jacob of Lunel. Aaron studied under *Abraham b. David
of Posquiéres, with whom he subsequently corresponded. A
book on the laws of terefot is attributed to him, but it is likely
that this treatise is an extract from his work on the Talmud
or on the halakhot of Alfasi on tractate Hullin. *Meshullam
b. Moses, son of Aaron's sister, mentions these novellae of his
uncle in his Sefer ha-Hashlamah. Aaron was expert in astron-
omy and the computation of the calendar and wrote a book-
let comparing the Hebrew and Christian calendars. Judah b.
Saul ibn *Tibbon, in his will, urges his son Samuel to study
this subject with Aaron and to rely upon him and upon his
brother Asher. Aaron was an admirer of Maimonides. In the
controversy which arose following the criticism by Meir ha-
216
Levi *Abulafia of Maimonides’ views on resurrection, Aaron
vigorously defended Maimonides in the name of the “sages
of Lunel,” lauding him as “Prince (nasi) and rabbi, unequaled
in East or in West?
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sefer ha-Hashlamah le-Seder Nezikin, ed. by
J. Lubetzky, 1 (1885), viii-x; Meir ha-Levi Abulafia, Kitab al-Rasail, ed.
by J. Brill (1871), 25-40; Benedikt, in: Sinai, 33 (1953), 62-74; I. Twer-
sky, Rabad of Posquiéres (1962), 251-3.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
AARON BEN MOSES HA-LEVI (Horwitz) OF STA-
ROSIELCE (1766-1828), leader of a dissenting group in the
*Chabad branch of Lithuanian Hasidism. Born in Orshva
Aaron was a descendant of the family of Isaiah Leib *Horwitz
(Shelah; 1555-1630) and was considered both a brilliant inter-
preter of hasidic teachings and a prominent mystical innova-
tor. He was the most prominent disciple of *Shneur Zalman of
Lyady, founder of Chabad Hasidism (1745-1813), with whom
he remained close friends for 30 years between 1783 and 1813.
Personal and subsequently ideological disputes estranged him
from Shneur Zalman’s elder son and successor Dov Ber (see
*Schneersohn, 1773-1827), who assumed Chabad leadership
in a period of ensuing conflict. After Shneur Zalman’s death
in 1813, Aaron headed a major trend of Chabad which was
marked and differentiated from the mainstream movement
in questions concerning spiritual authority and ecstatic reli-
gious expression in prayer. While the importance of the intel-
lectual approach to religious worship (hitbonenut in Chabad
vocabulary) was accepted by all the followers of Shneur Zal-
man, the role of mystical rapture and the ecstatic-emotional
approach, referring to communion with God known and as
devekut or hitpaalut, was intensely disputed. Dov Ber main-
tained a distinction between proper and improper states of
ecstasy and stages of mystical rapture, claiming that his per-
ception expressed his father’s position. R. Aaron maintained,
on the contrary, that he was the true follower of R. Shneur Zal-
man, who favored unrestricted exaltation in meditation and
emotional prayer, which he considered conducive to love and
reverence of God, a position which Dov Ber refused to accept.
The debate is argued forcefully in the books of R. Aaron de-
tailed below and the two tracts by R. Dov Ber - Kuntres ha-
Hitpaalut (“Tract on Ecstasy”) and Kuntres ha-Hitbonenut
(“Tract on Contemplation’). Aaron’s most important works
are (1) Shaarei ha-Yihud ve-ha-Emunah (Shklov, 1820), a
commentary completing the second (unfinished) part of the
Tanya, the main work of Shneur Zalman; (2) Shaarei ha-Avo-
dah (Shklov, 1821) with a forward known as petah hateshuvah,
explaining and defending his approach, considered the true
path set by Shneur Zalman; (3) Avodat ha-Levi, a compendium
of sermons, letters, and miscellaneous works, published post-
humously in 1842 in three volumes (Lemberg ed. and in 1866,
Warsaw ed.). The composition of some of the most beautiful
Habad melodies is attributed to him. Although one of Aar-
on’s sons attempted to continue his spiritual leadership in his
court after his father death, most of his disciples left him to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
join the main Chabad movement led by Menahem Mendel of
Lubavitch or other hasidic groups.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Jacobs, Seeker of Unity (1966A. Horodezky,
Hasidut, 3 (1953), 115-25; H.M. Heilman, Beit Rabbi (1902), 134-5,
187-190. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Elior, Torat ha-Elohut ba-Dor
ha-Sheni shel Hasidut Habad (1982); idem, The Paradoxical Ascent to
God (1992); R. Elior, “Ha-Maheloket al Moreshet Habad} in Tarbtz,
49 (1980), 166-86; N. Loewenthal, Communicating the Infinite (1990);
L. Jacobs, Tract on Ecstasy (1963), 9-12.
[Adin Steinsaltz / Rachel Elior (2nd ed.)]
AARON BEN SAMUEL (c. 1620-1701), German rabbini-
cal author. He is best known for his concordance Beit Aharon
(Frankfurt on the Oder, 1690-91) in which he assembled all
biblical passages cited or explained in the Talmud, the mi-
drashim, and the many religious-philosophical, homiletic,
and kabbalistic writings, with exact references for each quo-
tation. The Beit Aharon is based on such works as *Aaron of
Pesaro’ Toledot Aharon (1581), Simeon b. Isaac ha-Levi’s Mas-
oret ha-Mikra (1572), and Jacob *Sasportas’ Toledot Yaakov
(1652). It was published in the Vilna and Grodno edition of
the Prophets and Hagiographa in 1780. An enlarged edition
by Abraham David Lavat appeared under the title Beit Aha-
ron ve-Hosafot (1880). Aaron’s other works include Sisra Torah
(a pun on the Ashkenazi pronunciation of “Sitrei Torah”), a
homiletic commentary on Judges 4 and 5 (on Sisera and Jael);
Shaloah Manot, a short commentary on the Babylonian Tal-
mud; Megillah (both lost); and Hibbur Masorah, a midrashic
commentary on the masorah. Some excerpts of the latter ap-
peared as an appendix to the Beit Aharon. At the request of his
wife Aaron translated into Yiddish the Midrash Petirat Moshe
(Frankfurt on the Oder, 1693), which was popular among
women in Poland and Russia. Aaron also wrote a commen-
tary on *Perek Shirah which appeared as an appendix to the
Berlin prayer book (1701).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 320.
[Jehuda Feliks]
AARON BEN SAMUEL (of Hergerhausen; 1665-c. 1732),
author of Liebliche Tefillah, a volume of prayers and suppli-
cations in Yiddish. Aaron was an orphan supported by char-
ity. Later he was a distiller of brandy for sale in his tavern. He
had little schooling, but in 1709 he came to the conclusion
that prayers should be recited in the current Jewish vernacu-
lar (Yiddish-Taitch) since the public was ignorant of Hebrew,
and in pursuit of this aim published (Frankfurt a-M., 1709)
his Liebliche Tefillah in that language and in his introduction
urges that children be taught to pray in that language. It con-
sists of selections from the Prayer Book, Psalms, and a num-
ber of personal supplications which include “a beautiful prayer
for a servant or maid” and one “...for husband and wife that
they live in harmony.’
The book was completely forgotten but in 1846 Leopold
Stein published an article in which he stated that some 20 years
previously thousands of copies had been found in the attics
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARONIDES
of synagogues and buried. This gave rise to the statement that
the book was placed under a ban of the rabbis because it ad-
vocated Reform, but despite intensive research no evidence of
any such ban has been found and it is probable that the book
simply did not take on.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Shohat, Im Hilufei Tekufot (1960); M.
Piekarz, in: Die Goldene Keyt, 49 (1964), 168; M. Weinreich, His-
tory of Yiddish (1973); M. Klarberg, in: Working Papers, y1vo (1980)
with bibliography. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Erik, Di Geshikhte
fun der Yiddisher Literatur fun di Eltste Tsaytn biz der Haskole-Tkufe
(1929), 212-14.
[Manfred Klarberg]
AARON BERECHIAH BEN MOSES OF MODENA
(d. 1639), Italian kabbalistic writer and compiler. Aaron was
a cousin on his mother’s side of Leone *Modena. For the ben-
efit of the pious members of his native Modena, Aaron com-
piled his Maavar Yabbok (“The Crossing of the Jabbok” (cf.
Gen. 32:22), Venice, 1626, and often reprinted) comprising
the readings, laws, and customs relating to the sick, death-
bed, burial, and mourning rites. David Savivi of Siena pub-
lished an abridged version under the title Magen David (Ven-
ice, 1676), and Samuel David b. Jehiel *Ottolengo, another
entitled Keriah Neemanah (ibid., 1715). Aaron also compiled
Ashmoret ha-Boker (“The Morning Watch,’ Mantua, 1624;
Venice, 1720), containing prayers and supplications for the use
of the pious confraternity Me’irei Shahar in Modena, as well as
Me’il Zedakah and Bigdei Kodesh (both Pisa, 1785), containing
prayers and passages for study.
[Shmuel Ashkenazi]
AARON HAKIMAN (14" century), poet; lived in Baghdad.
His prolific works include the incomplete divan presently
in the Firkovich collection (Catalog der hebraeischen und
samaritanischen Handschriften, 2 (1875), no. 72) in St. Peters-
burg; this contains a kinah on the persecution of the Jews of
Baghdad in 1344 which describes the destruction of the city’s
synagogues and the desecration of Torah scrolls. Outstand-
ing among the poems of the divan are those in honor of resh
galuta Sar Shalom (b. Phinehas); also included are several
brief maqamas. His poems demonstrate the author's expert
knowledge of classical Spanish poetry and the Bible, but they
lack originality.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.H. Schirmann, Shirim Hadashim min ha-
Genizah (1966), 139-46.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
AARONIDES, members of the *priesthood in Israel. The
traditional view is that throughout its history the legitimate
priesthood comprised only those members of the tribe of
*Levi descended directly from *Aaron, the first *high priest.
The notion is anticipated in the Pentateuch by the use of such
phrases as “for all time” and “throughout the ages” in connec-
tion with legislation of concern to “Aaron and his sons” (Ex.
27:21; 28:43; 30:8, 10, 19-21; Lev. 6:11, 15; 7:34 ff; 10:15 et al.). It
217
AARONIDES
Neh. 11:11 | Chr 9: 10-11 | Chr 5: 28-41 Ezra 7: 1-3 | Chr 6: 35-38
AARON AARON AARON
ELEAZAR ELEAZAR ELEAZAR
PHINEHAS PHINEHAS PHINEHAS
ABISHUA ABISHUA ABISHUA
BUKKI BUKKI BUKKI
UZZI UZZI UZZI
ZERAHIAH ZERAHIAH ZERAHIAH
MERAITOH MERAIOTH MERAIOTH
AZARIAH
AMARIAH AMARIAH AMARIAH
AHITUB AHITUB AHITUB AHITUB AHITUB
MERAIOTH MERAIOTH
ZADOK ZADOK ZADOK ZADOK ZADOK
AHIMAAZ AHIMAAZ
AZARIAH
JOHANAN
AZARIAH
AMARIAH
AHITUB
ZADOK
MESHULLAM MESHULLAM SHALLUM SHALLUM
HILKIAH HILKIAH HILKIAH HILKIAH
AZARIAH AZARIAH AZARIAH
SERAIAH SERAIAH SERAIAH
JEHOZADAK
EZRA
Genealogies of the Aaronides.
is made explicit in the sharp distinction between the Aaro-
nides and the other Levites who are made subordinate to them
(Num. 3:10; 17:5; 18:1-7), and it is implicit in the designation
of the priesthood in general by such terms as “the son(s) of
Aaron” (Josh. 21:4, 10, 13, 19; Neh. 10:39; 12:47; 1 Chron. 6:39,
423 12:27; 15:4; 23:28, 32; 24:1; cf. 1 Chron. 13:9; 26:28; 29:21;
31:19; 35:14), “the House of Aaron” (Ps. 115:10, 12; 118:3; 135:19),
and, occasionally, simply “Aaron” (11 Chron. 12:27; 27:17; cf.
Ps. 133:2). This same situation is assumed by the chronicler in
the classification of the priestly clans according to the lines of
Eleazar and Ithamar, sons of Aaron (1 Chron. 24:1-4). It is also
reflected in the various genealogical lists of the high priests
(Ezra 7:1-5; 1 Chron. 5:28—41; 6:35-38).
The Critical View
This picture of the history of the priesthood is regarded as an
oversimplification of a very complex situation that can no lon-
ger be reconstructed with any degree of confidence. It is pos-
sible, however, to isolate the complexities. In the first place, the
218
construction “sons of Aaron,’ in itself, like the terms “sons of
Korah’ and “sons of Asaph,” may just as well refer to a profes-
sional class or guild as to blood kinship. That there were non-
Aaronide priests, who were most likely incorporated into the
Aaronide guild, may be inferred from the mention of priests
prior to the Sinaitic revelation (Ex. 19:22, 24). Further, in the
lifetime of Eleazar, son of Aaron, Joshua is said to have allot-
ted 13 Canaanite cities with their pasture lands to the “sons of
Aaron, the priests” (Josh. 21:19; cf. 21:4, 10, 13), an impossible
situation unless the description “sons of Aaron” is not to be
understood literally. Secondly, the exclusive priestly legitimacy
of the Aaronides is characteristic of the p document, and is
found elsewhere only in the book of Joshua and in the post-
Exilic Nehemiah and Chronicles. It is not to be found in p,
which seems to confer priestly status and privileges upon the
entire tribe of Levi (Deut. 10:8-9, 18:6-7) and to postdate the
selection of that tribe to the death of Aaron. Nor are the “sons
of Aaron” mentioned in Judges, Samuel, Kings, or the proph-
ets. Ezekiel never refers to them, only to the “levitical priests,
the sons of Zadok” (Ezek. 40:46; 43:19; 44:15; cf. 48:11), with-
out ever mentioning their Aaronic ancestry.
As to the clear differentiation between Aaronides and
Levites, this may well argue against the historicity of the claim
to an original levitical ancestry. One of the strands in the nar-
rative of the revolt of Korah seems to reflect an Aaronide-
Levite struggle for priestly prerogatives and to derive from a
period before the levitical or Aaronic genealogizing of priests
was effected (Num. 16; esp. 1 and 7-10). The same tension be-
tween the tribe of Levi and the Aaronides is apparent in the
golden calf episode (Ex. 32:26-29). In this connection, it is
regarded as significant that Aaron’s son Eleazar was buried at
Gibeah, a town in the hill country of Ephraim belonging to his
son, the high priest Phinehas (Josh. 24:33). It was precisely the
bull-cult, with which the name of Aaron was associated, that
was a characteristic of the religion of northern Israel (1 Kings
12:28-29). This suggests to some the possibility that the Aaro-
nides were close to the Ephraimites and accounted for at least
some of the priests of Beth-El (cf. ibid. 31; Judg. 20:26 ff.). In
this case, the description of Moses’ brother as “Aaron the Lev-
ite” (Ex. 4:14) would be a later insertion into the text, it being
in fact superfluous in its present context.
The post-Exilic genealogical lists of the Aaronide high
priesthood present numerous problems. Missing entirely are
the high priests Amariah (11 Chron. 19:11), Jehoiada (11 Kings
11:4; 12:10; 11 Chron. 23:1; 24:20), and Urijah (11 Kings 16:10-11,
15). The registers of 1 Chronicles (5:29-41 and 6:35-38) both
list Ahimaaz, but not Azariah, while that of Ezra (7:1-6) re-
cords the latter, but omits the former. All three lists, however,
have 12 generations between Aaron and the building of Sol-
omon's temple, which suggests schematization to accommo-
date the 480 years (or 12 40-year generations) supposed to
have elapsed between the Exodus and the construction of the
sanctuary (1 Kings 6:1). Further, 1 Chronicles (5:36-41) presup-
poses exactly another 12 generations between Solomon and
the first high priest after the Restoration, but the repetition
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of Amariah, Ahitub, and Zadok (ibid. 33-34, 37-38) is suspi-
cious. The genealogy of Ezra from Aaron lists only four high
priests between Zadok of Solomon's time and Ezra (Ezra 7:2).
The fragmentary lists of 1 Chronicles (9:10-11) and Nehemiah
(11:11) differ slightly from each other, and both vary from the
other lists. Completely ignored in these genealogical tables is
the line of Ithamar to which the Eli priesthood belonged. It is
quite possible that the lists are interested only in the Zadokite
high priests. At any rate, they cannot be used uncritically as
source material for the history of the Aaronides.
Some scholars believe that the Aaronides constituted a
priestly clan that had its origins in Egypt in pre-Mosaic times
and very early embraced the new faith of Moses, anticipating
in this respect the tribe of Levi. It used its prestige and influ-
ence among the people to gain support for Moses. This is re-
garded as being the real situation behind Exodus 4:14 ff., 27-31.
Further corroboration of this theory is seen in the fact that
in contrast to the justification for the selection of the clan of
Phinehas (Num. 25:10-13) and the tribe of Levi (Ex. 32:26-29;
Num. 3:12-13, 41, 45; 8:13-17), no reason is given for the choice
of Aaron. The priesthood seems to come naturally to him. An-
other link in the chain of evidence is found in 1 Sam. 2:27-28,
which tells of the selection of the house of Eli, undoubtedly
considered Aaronide (1 Sam. 22:20; 1 Chron. 24:3), already
in Egypt where it was the recipient of a divine revelation. No
mention is made of any wilderness events or of the Levites. It
is noted further that Egyptian names figure prominently in
the Aaronide priesthood, viz., Hophni (1 Sam. 1:3), Phinehas
(Ex. 6:25; 1 Sam. 1:3), Putiel (Ex. 6:25), Pashhur (Jer. 20:1; 21:1;
Ezra 2:38), and Hanamel (Jer. 32:7). At some period, and in
circumstances that can no longer be determined, the Aaro-
nide priesthood amalgamated with the Levites and became the
dominant priestly family. Its great antiquity and prestige ulti-
mately generated the pattern of Aaronic genealogizing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Katzenstein, in: JBL, 81 (1962), 377-84; for
further bibliography see *Aaron.
[Nahum M. Sarna]
AARON OF BAGHDAD (c. mid-ninth century), Babylonian
scholar, described as the son of a certain R. Samuel, who lived
in Jewish communities in southern Italy. In the sources he is
referred to either as Aaron, or Abu Aaron, or Master Aaron
(which might be a corrupted version of Abu Aaron). He met
with several scholars in Oria, Lucca, and other communi-
ties, and many stories were told about his wisdom as well as
his magical powers. His appearance is described in Megillat
“Ahimaaz, which is a literary chronicle of the *Kalonymus fam-
ily in Italy, and in a document, written by Eliezer ben Judah
of Worms in the second or third decade of the 13 century,
tracing the history of the tradition of exegesis of prayers used
by Eleazar and his teacher, *Judah b. Samuel he-Hasid. These
two sources agree in attributing to Aaron, who is described
by R. Eleazar as av kol ha-sodot (“father of all the secrets”), the
transmission of certain doctrines and methods from the East
to the West, to the Kalonymus family in Italy and Germany. As
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARON OF NEUSTADT
to the nature of these secrets, it is clear from Megillat Ahimaaz
that before the arrival of Aaron, Jewish scholars in Italy were
studying early mystical, eastern works, especially the mysti-
cism of the Heikhalot and Merkabah. Eleazar’s words seem to
prove that Aaron contributed to the Ashkenazi hasidic tradi-
tion of prayer exegesis. The stories in Megillat Ahimaaz sug-
gest that he may have transmitted some magical formulae, as
magic was one of the fields of study (usually secret) of both
the Italian and the Ashkenazi scholars. There is no evidence
that Aaron contributed anything to the development of theo-
logical doctrines or mystical speculations in these areas. Nor
is there proof that any known book was written by Aaron or
contained a contribution by him. However, in the traditions
of the Kalonymus family, Aaron serves as the link connecting
its own western culture with the revered centers of learning
in Babylonia of the geonic period.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Neubauer, in: REJ, 23 (1891), 230-7; H.
Gross, in: MGW], 49 (1905), 692-700; Kaufmann, Schriften, 3 (1915),
5-11; Scholem, Mysticism, 41, 84; idem, in: Tarbiz, 32 (1962/63), 252-65;
Weinstock, ibid., 153-9; J. Dan, in: Roth, Dark Ages, 282-90.
[Joseph Dan]
AARON OF LINCOLN (c. 1123-1186), English financier.
Aaron probably went to England from France as an adult. His
recorded transactions extended over a great part of England
and his clients included bishops, earls, barons, and the king of
Scotland. Aaron advanced money to the crown on the security
of future county revenues (“ferm of the shires”), as well as to
various ecclesiastical foundations, such as the Monastery of
St. Alban’s, for their ambitious building programs. Nine Cis-
tercian abbeys owed him 6,400 marks for their acquisition of
properties upon which he held mortgages. At one time Aaron
worked in partnership with a rival Jewish financier, Le Brun
of London. After Aaron’s death, his vast estate, which might
have totaled as much as £100,000, was seized by the king.
A special branch of the exchequer, the Scaccarium Aaronis,
was established and administered the estate until 1191. Some
of his debts were later resold to his son Elias. Aaron had no
connection with the ancient house in Lincoln which now
bears his name.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.W.F. Hill, Medieval Lincoln (1948), 217-22;
H.G. Richardson, English Jewry under Angevin Kings (1960), 247-53,
passim; Roth, England, 15-17. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB on-
line.
[Cecil Roth]
AARON OF NEUSTADT (Blumlein; d. 1421), rabbinical
scholar of Krems (Lower Austria). Aaron was a brother-in-law
of Abraham *Klausner. He was a student, and then a colleague
of Sar Shalom of Vienna (Wiener-Neustadt), and also of Jacob
(Jekel) of Eger, rabbi in Vienna. Aaron was rabbi in Wiener-
Neustadt and then in Vienna. A halakhic controversy arose
between Aaron and Jacob on the question of non-Jews sup-
plying Jewish prisoners with food on the Sabbath, a practice
permitted by Aaron (Leket Yosher, ed. by J. Freimann, 1 (1903),
219
AARON OF PESARO
64). Aaron’s nephew and outstanding pupil was Israel b.
Pethahiah *Isserlein, who often quotes his master’s biblical
and talmudic teachings, in his Pesakim u-Khetavim (1519)
and in his Be’urim (1519). He refers, in particular, to Hilkhot
Niddah, a halakhic compendium by Aaron. Among Aaron’s
famous followers were Jacob b. Moses *Moellin (Maharil)
and Isaac Tyrnau, author of Minhagim (1566), all of whom
quote him. During the Vienna persecutions of 1420 Aaron
was imprisoned and suffered severe tortures, from which he
died.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 277; J. Freimann (ed.),
Leket Yosher, 2 (1904), 20-21, no. 14; S. Eidelberg, Jewish Life in Aus-
tria (1962), index.
AARON OF PESARO (d. 1563), Italian lay scholar and bib-
liophile. A wealthy businessman of Novellara in northern
Italy (not Nicolara, as in some works of reference), he later
extended his interests to Gonzaga in the duchy of Mantua,
where he was authorized to open a loan-bank in 1557. From
a manuscript in his rich library the Mirkevet ha-Mishneh of
Isaac Abrabanel was published in Sabionetta in 1551, the first
Hebrew book printed there. His only known work is Toledot
Aharon, a concordance of biblical passages cited in the Baby-
lonian Talmud, arranged in the order of the Bible. After his
death, his three sons, who succeeded him in his business, sent
the manuscript of the work to the wandering Hebrew printer,
Israel Zifroni, who published it at Freiburg in 1583-84, and
Venice in 1591-92. Jacob *Sasportas appended to the work
references from the Jerusalem Talmud (Toledot Yaakov, Am-
sterdam, 1652) while Aaron b. Samuel added references from
other rabbinic and kabbalistic works (Beit Aharon, Frankfurt
on the Oder, 1690-91). Toledot Aharon is printed in abbrevi-
ated form in most editions of the rabbinic Bible.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Castelli, Banchi feneratizi ebraici nel Man-
tovano (1959), 207; N. Ben-Menahem, Be-Shaarei Sefer (1967), 17; A.
Carlebach, in: Sinai, 62 (1967/68), 75 ff.
[Alexander Carlebach]
AARON OF YORK (1190-1268), English financier, son of
*Josce of York. Aaron was one of the wealthiest and most
active English Jews living during the reign of Henry 111. In
12.41 his estate was valued for taxation at £40,000, an incred-
ible sum. He was *Presbyter Judaeorum of English Jewry
in 1236-43. During these years, as he complained to the
chronicler Matthew Paris, he was compelled to pay the
king over 30,000 marks; he relinquished the office and died
impoverished. He was styled nadiv (“benefactor”) in Heb-
rew, an indication that he was probably a patron of scholar-
ship.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Adler, Jews of Medieval England (1939),
127-73; Birnbaum, in: JHSET, 19 (1955-59), 199-205; H.G. Richardson,
English Jewry under Angevin Kings (1960), passim; Roth, England,
48-49, passim. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online.
[Cecil Roth]
220
AARON OF ZHITOMIR (d. 1817), hasidic preacher in
Zhitomir and other communities in Russia. His homilies on
the weekly portions (parashiyyot) were recorded by his pu-
pil Levi of Zhitomir and published in Toledot Aharon (Ber-
dichev, 1817). In these, Aaron refrains from learned com-
mentary and teaches “morality and pursuit of the service of
God.” Particular emphasis is given to devekut or adhesion
to God.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Horodezky, Hasidut, 2 (1953*), 194-6; Y. Ra-
phael, Sefer ha-Hasidut (1955*), 221-5.
[Zvi Meir Rabinowitz]
AARON SAMUEL BEN MOSES SHALOM OF KRE-
MENETS (d. c. 1620), rabbi and author. A pupil of *Ephraim
Solomon b. Aaron Luntschits when the latter was rabbi at
Lemberg, Aaron Samuel was forced to immigrate to Ger-
many as a youth. Toward the end of 1606 he was preaching
in Fuerth. In 1611 he was in Eibelstadt (not, as often stated,
Eisenstadt), Lower Franconia, where he wrote an ethical
treatise entitled Nishmat Adam, on the origin and essence of
the soul, the purpose of human life, and divine retribution
(Hanau, 1611; Wilmersdorf, 1732). In 1615 he became rabbi in
Fulda, where he wrote an introduction and notes to a hom-
ily on the Decalogue by Baruch Axelrod (Hanau, 1616). In
his Nishmat Adam he mentions three unpublished works on
ethical and religio-philosophical problems (Beer Sheva, Or
Torah, and Ein Mishpat), as well as novellae to the Talmud,
entitled Kitvei Kodesh.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Loewenstein, in: JJLG, 6 (1908), 154, n. 1;
J.J. Gruenwald, Ha-Yehudim be-Ungarya (1912), 18-19 (and A. Frei-
mann’s note, p. 14).
[Jakob Naphtali Hertz Simchoni]
AARON SAMUEL BEN NAPHTALI HERZ HA-KOHEN
(1740-1814), Polish rabbi. He served as rabbi to the commu-
nities of Stefan, Ostrog, Yampol, and Belaya Tserkov. He was
an ardent follower of *Dov Baer of Mezhirech and Phinehas
Shapira of Korets and was influenced by them in his views
on Hasidism. He collected extracts from their statements
in his books, Kodesh Hillulim (Lemberg, 1864). His talmu-
dic novellae and his responsa were destroyed by fire. Only
Kore me-Rosh, a commentary on the Midrash Rabbah, of
which a portion only (part of Genesis) has been published
(Berdichev, 1811), and Ve-Zivvah ha-Kohen, an ethical will
to his children preceded by an anthology of homiletical and
esoteric thoughts (Belaya Tserkov, 1823; Jerusalem, 1953),
have survived.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.M. Biber, Mazkeret li-Gedolei Ostraha
(1907), 254-60.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
AARON SELIG BEN MOSES OF ZOLKIEW (d. 1643),
kabbalist. His father, Moses Hillel, was president of the Jewish
community in Brest-Litovsk; his brother Samuel was a parnas
(“delegate”) in the Council of the Four Lands. Aaron wrote a
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
compendium of the Zohar entitled Ammudei Sheva (“Seven-
fold Pillars,” Cracow, 1635), in five volumes, with an introduc-
tion. The work comprises (1) a commentary, glosses, and ex-
planations of difficult words in the Zohar, based on the works
of Meir ibn *Gabbai, Moses *Cordovero, Judah *Hayyat, Me-
nahem *Recanati, Elijah de *Vidas, Shabbetai Sheftel * Horow-
itz, and on the notes to the Zohar by Menahem Tiktin in the
margin of his copy; (2) sections from the Mantua edition of the
Zohar of 1558-60 which are missing in the Cremona edition
of 1558; (3) an index indicating where the various chapters of
the Zohar are commented upon by the six authors mentioned
above; (4) a similar index for the Tikkunei Zohar; (5) a list of
39 parallel passages in the Zohar with their variant readings.
The last volume is extremely rare.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Buber, Kiryah Nisgavah (1903), 24; A.L.
Feinstein, Ir Tehillah (1886), 177; G. Scholem, Bibliographia Kabbal-
istica (19337), 185, no. 4.
[Isaak Dov Ber Markon]
AARON SIMEON BEN JACOB ABRAHAM OF COPEN-
HAGEN (late 18" century), secretary of the Jewish commu-
nity of Cologne. Aaron is known for his participation in the
important controversy known as the *Cleves get. Having per-
sonal knowledge of the entire case from its inception, Aaron
sought to reverse the decision of Tevele Hess of Mannheim
and of the Frankfurt rabbinate who had declared the divorce
invalid. In conjunction with Israel b. Eliezer Lipschuetz, he
appealed to all rabbis of authority in Germany, Holland, and
Poland to permit the divorced woman, Leah Gunzhausen, to
remarry. The majority expressed agreement with his point of
view. He collected expert opinions and published them under
the title Or ha- Yashar (Amsterdam, 1769; reprinted Lemberg,
1902, with notes by Jekuthiel Zalman Schor entitled Nizozei
Or). Aaron also wrote Bekhi Neharot, a description of the flood
at Bonn in 1784 (Amsterdam, 1784).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Brisch, Geschichte der Juden in Koeln und
Umgebung, 2 (1882), 137-45; M. Horovitz, Frankfurter Rabbinen, 3
(1884), 67-78; S. Tal, in: Sinai, 24 (1948/49), 152-67, 214-30.
[Heinrich Haim Brody]
AARONSOHN, family of pioneers in Erez Israel. EFRAYIM
FISHEL (1849-1939), one of the founders of Zikhron Yaakov,
was the father of the leaders of *Nili, AARON, ALEXANDER,
and sARAH. Born in Falticeni, Romania, he went to Erez
Israel with his wife Malkah in 1882. He was a gifted farmer,
which was an occupation he continued until the end of his
long life.
AARON (1876-1919), agronomist, researcher, and founder of
the Nili intelligence organization. Born in Romania, he was
brought to Erez Israel by his parents at the age of six and grew
up in Zikhron Yaakov. He was an unusual personality whose
achievements and service to his people have not been fully
appreciated.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARONSOHN
His outstanding talents became evident from early child-
hood, and Baron Edmund de *Rothschild, the colony’s patron,
generously sponsored his academic education at universities
in France, Germany, and the United States.
The experimental station in *Athlit, near Haifa, which
Aaronsohn founded on his return to Palestine, was a pioneer-
ing venture. It was there that his discovery of the ancestry of
the wheat grain established his international reputation as an
agricultural scientist.
Aaronsohn’s range of interests, however, far transcended
his daily research. The social and political problems of his
people always competed for his attention, but his greatest
passion was for Palestine. His knowledge of the country and
those adjacent to it, and of the habits of life of Jew and Arab,
was unparalleled.
During World War 1 and afterwards, when he threw
himself into the mainstream of Zionist political activity, this
knowledge stood him in good stead, broadening his Weltan-
schauung. But Aaronsohn was not a popular leader. Though
endowed with remarkable qualities, which put him head and
shoulders above his contemporaries, his individualism oper-
ated against him. Temperamental and militant by nature, he
was not an easy person to work with.
Aaronsohn’s conviction that the Zionist enterprise could
flourish best under British protection had matured as early as
1912-13, when he was in New York. He refrained from pub-
lishing his views lest they embarrass the Berlin-based Zionist
leadership. However, the brutal expulsion of Russian Jews
from Jaffa in December 1914 finally shattered his hope that a
modus vivendi with the Turk was possible.
During 1915-16 Palestine and its adjacent countries were
infested with locusts. Djemal Pasha, the commander of the
Ottoman Fourth Army, found that the only specialist com-
petent to organize chemical warfare against the plague was
Aaronsohn. ‘The latter’s forthright manner and skill won the
Pasha’s confidence but the closer their relationship became,
the more concerned Aaronsohn grew about the future of his
people.
With the tragedy that had befallen the Armenians at the
back of his mind, he feared that at the slightest provocation
Djemal would not hesitate to put an end to Zionist coloniza-
tion. He therefore reached the radical conclusion that unless
Palestine was speedily conquered by the British, the prospect
for the survival of the Yishuv was slender.
It was for this reason that he made his way, by devious
means, to England, leaving behind him a well-organized net-
work of espionage. His second objective was to elicit some as-
surances of British sympathy for Zionist aspirations. On neither
count was he successful at this stage, but unwittingly he con-
verted his interlocutors at Military Intelligence to his cause.
Among those who fell under Aaronsohn’s spell should
be mentioned: Major Walter Gribbon, the officer in charge
of Turkish affairs at GHQ; his close assistant, Captain Charles
Webster; and Sir Mark Sykes.
221
AARONSOHN
Forty years later Sir Charles Webster testified how much
his sympathy for the Jewish national ideal had deepened as a
result of his admiration for Aaronsohn and his career:
It was he who gave me my first real contact with one of the
Yishuv and I cannot forbear to mention how deep that impres-
sion was. It was made not only by the story of his great adven-
ture during the war, but his unexampled knowledge of Palestine
and his complete faith that this land could be made to blossom
like the rose by Jewish skill and industry.
Such assurances were all the more important at that time be-
cause one of the arguments most frequently used was that it
was quite impossible for Palestine to accommodate more than
a fraction of the numbers which the Zionists claimed could
be settled there.
Aaronsohn was equally successful in making converts
among British officers both in political and military intelli-
gence in Cairo, which he joined late in 1916. William Orsmsby-
Gore, Wyndham Deedes, and Richard Meinerzhagen in par-
ticular, proved a source of strength to the Zionists.
Uppermost in Aaronsohn’s mind was a swift invasion of
Palestine, to crush the Turk and deliver the Yishuv from disas-
ter. It was he who alerted world public opinion to the evacua-
tion of the Jewish population of Jaffa/Tel Aviv in April 1917; a
policy which if followed to its conclusion could have resulted
in a catastrophe. Exasperated by the sluggish British military
advance, Aaronsohn was convinced that if properly handled,
a blitz on the Palestinian front was possible.
British Intelligence was faulty and, in spite of all efforts,
very little news could be elicited about enemy movements.
Even when some information did filter through, it was too
stale to be of any use. By contrast, not only did Aaronsohn
gather a great deal of information, but by re-establishing con-
tact with his group in Zikhron Yaakov, he was able to furnish
first-hand reports on Turkish troop movements, morale,
and conditions behind enemy lines. Moreover, with his well-
trained mind, he was able to give useful advice to the British
on other matters, including military questions, so much so
that it was humorously commented among the General Staff
that “Aaronsohn is running the GHQ.” A co-author of the Pal-
estine Handbook, an indispensable military guide, he was also
invited to write for the prestigious Arab Bulletin.
It was not before the arrival of General *Allenby that full
use was made of Aaronsohn’s suggestions. Allenby based his
Beersheba operation on exhaustive intelligence data provided
by the Aaronsohn group from behind the Turkish lines, which
pointed to that sector as the weakest link in the enemy’s de-
fenses and one where a British onslaught was least expected.
Perhaps the most crucial information was that the wells in the
region had been left untouched.
The British won a resounding victory but the Aaron-
sohn group was less fortunate. Their ring was uncovered by
the Turkish authorities at the end of September. Eighteen
months later Ormsby-Gore, paying tribute to the Aaronsohn
family, wrote:
222
They were ... the most valuable nucleus of our intelligence ser-
vice in Palestine during the war. Aaronsohn’s sister was caught
by the Turks and tortured to death, and the British Govern-
ment owes a very deep debt of gratitude to the Aaronsohn
family for all they did for us in the war ... Nothing we can do
for them ... will repay the work they have done and what they
have suffered for us.
General Macdonogh, the director of Military Intelligence,
confirmed that Allenby’s victory would not have been pos-
sible without the information supplied by the Aaronsohn
group.
In Brigadier Gribbon’s opinion it saved 30,000 British
lives in the Palestine campaign. General Clayton considered
the group's service “invaluable,” while Allenby singled out
Aaronsohn as the staff officer chiefly responsible for the for-
mation of Field Intelligence behind the Turkish lines. Sir Mark
Sykes acknowledged that it was Aaronsohn’s idea of outflank-
ing Gaza and capturing Beersheba by surprise that was the key
to Allenby’s success.
The Foreign Office, too, had formed a high opinion of
him, and his presence in London in autumn 1917, when the
Balfour Declaration was still in the balance, assisted in creat-
ing a favorable climate of opinion for the Zionist cause.
Aaronsohn made a valuable contribution to the work of
the Zionist Commission in Palestine in 1918, and his exper-
tise was eagerly sought by the British and Zionist delegations
to the Paris Peace Conference.
On May 15, 1919, Aaronsohn died tragically when a mili-
tary aircraft taking him from London to Paris crashed in the
Channel.
[Isaiah Friedman (2"4 ed.)]
ALEXANDER (1888-1948), one of the founders of Nili. In
1913 he founded a short-lived semi-clandestine group for
sons of farmers, called Gidonim, in his birthplace Zikhron
Yaakov. A precursor of Nili, the group had as one of its pur-
poses the defense of the settlement. In 1915 he went to Egypt
as an emissary of Nili to establish contact with the British
Command. From there he went to the U.S., where he was
active as an anti-Turkish and pro-Ally propagandist, and
wrote With the Turks in Palestine (1917), a book on his per-
sonal experiences, exposing the evils of Turkish rule. Af-
ter World War 1 he founded and for a time headed *Benei
Binyamin, an organization of second-generation farmers
in Palestine. He contributed to the Jerusalem newspaper
Doar ha-Yom and published his memoirs, as well as book-
lets on Nili and its members. During World War 11 he served
with the British Intelligence Service in its operations against
Germany.
SARAH (1890-1917), martyr heroine of Nili. Born and edu-
cated in Zikhron Yaakov, she married Hayyim Abraham, a
Bulgarian Jew, in 1914, and moved to Constantinople. Her
married life was unhappy and, in 1915, during World War 1, she
returned to her family’s home. En route, she passed through
Anatolia and Syria, and was an eyewitness to the savage per-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
secution of the Armenians by the Turkish authorities. On her
return to Zikhron Yaakov, her brother Aaron enlisted her into
Nili’s intelligence activities against Turkey. When he left the
country, she supervised the agents’ operations and relayed in-
formation to the British in Egypt. Later, she was responsible
for receipt of the gold sent through the Nili organization for
help to the yishuv. In April 1917 she secretly visited Egypt to
consult with her brother Aaron and the British Command.
Warning her of the danger that threatened her in Erez Israel,
they begged her to remain in Egypt, but she refused, and re-
turned in June. In September, on learning that the espionage
network had been uncovered by the Turkish authorities, she
ordered its members to disperse, while she remained at home
in Zikhron Yaakov to avoid incriminating rumors, thus fa-
cilitating the escape of her fellow members. Arrested in her
home on Oct. 1, 1917, she was subjected to brutal torture for
four days, but disclosed nothing, and finally put an end to her
suffering by shooting herself. In reverence to her memory,
pilgrimages are made to her grave in Zikhron Yaakov on the
i f her death.
anniversary of her dea [Yehuda Slutsky]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Engle, Nili Spies (1959); H. Yoffe, Dor
Ma’pilim (1939), 586-90; A. Aaronsohn (Hayyal Pashut, pseud.),
Sarah Shalhevet Nili (19437); M. Smilansky, Mishpahat ha-Adamah,
2 (19547), 82-88; Dinur, Haganah, 1, pt. 1 (1954), 358-72; pt. 2 (1956),
730-373 2, pt. 3 (19647), index; E. Livneh (ed.), Nili, Toledoteha shel
Heazah Medinit (1961). AARON: Dinur, Haganah, 1, pt. 2 (1956); 2, pt.
3 (19647), index; M.b.H. Hacohen, Milhemet Ammim, 1-5 (1929-30),
index; M. Smilansky, Mishpahat ha-Adamah, 2 (19547), 95-98; E.
Livneh, Aaron Aaronsohn (Heb., 1969). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: I.
Friedman, The Question of Palestine, 1914-1918: British-Jewish-Arab
Relations (19927), 120-23, 127, 130, 184, 187, 203-5, 207, 272-74, 280,
300.
AARONSOHN, MICHAEL (1896-1976), U.S. rabbi. Born
in Baltimore, Aaronsohn attended the University of Cin-
cinnati (B.A., 1923) and was ordained the same year at He-
brew Union College. When the U.S. entered World War 1 in
April 1917, Aaronsohn, who was entitled to a clerical exemp-
tion from military service, enlisted the following month.
When his parent expressed anxiety over his decision he wrote
them that “as good Jews, you should [trust] in God implic-
itly ... without a word of doubt or discouragement.” An-
tisemitism in the U.S. was on the rise during the war and
one of the most common accusations was that Jews shirked
military service. Aaronsohn, who rose to the rank of battal-
ion sergeant-major (he served with the 147" Infantry Regi-
ment, 39't Division of the AEF), expressed disgust at Jewish
draftees who claimed that they were ineligible for overseas
duty because they were foreign born, telling his parents that
“while I am a Jew and love everything that Judaism stands
for, nevertheless I cannot stand for a hypocrite or a low down
coward.”
While attempting to pull a wounded comrade to safety
during the Meuse-Argonne offensive (September 29, 1918),
Aaronsohn was blinded by an artillery shell. After eight
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AARONSOHN, MOSES
months at the Red Cross school for the blind he returned to
Hebrew Union College and was able to complete his studies
when the college hired his sister Dora to be his note taker.
During his rabbinic career Aaronsohn promoted a number of
causes associated with the mental and physically disabled, for
example serving a term as president of the Hamilton County
(Ohio) Council for Retarded Children. He was instrumental
in founding the Jewish Braille Institute in 1931, which made
Jewish texts such as the Bible and Talmud more widely ac-
cessible through a free monthly magazine called the Jewish
Braille Review.
Aaronsohn also served as a chaplain to several orga-
nizations, such as the Disabled American Veterans and the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. An active member of the Republi-
can Party, he gave the invocation at the Republican National
Convention in 1940 and unsuccessfully ran for Cincinnati
City Council in 1949, where he campaigned for “a scientific
system of taxation.” Aaronsohn was the author of numerous
articles and three books, including Broken Lights (1946), an
tobi hical 1.
See ee ane [Frederic Krome (24 ed.)]
AARONSOHN, MOSES (1805-1875), preacher, rabbi, and
scholar. Born in Salant, Lithuania, Aaronsohn was a preacher
(maggid) in Eastern Europe (Vishtinetz, Brotski, and Mir)
and was recognized for his scholarship by 1836, when he pub-
lished Pardes ha-Hokhmah, a book of sermons. He later pub-
lished Pardes ha-Binah, a book of sermons with responsa.
Aaronsohn arrived in the United States c. 1860, living on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, where he held services in his
home and was known as “The East Broadway Maggid.” For
four years, he served as a preacher in a number of established
synagogues, including Chevrat Vizhaner and the Allen Street
Beth Hamedrash, which had split from the Beis Medrash
Hagadol. In 1864, he became the rabbi at Congregation Adath
Yeshurun in New York City. He continued to write responsa
and also included the opinions of those rabbis in Eastern Eu-
rope with whom he corresponded regarding contemporary
halakhic issues.
Aaronsohn was a strong personality with definite opin-
ions, which eventually erupted into major controversies. He
attacked the scholarship and practices of two New York rab-
bis who were eminent talmudic scholars, Rabbi Abraham
Joseph *Ash and Rabbi Judah Mittleman, calling into ques-
tion divorces written by Rabbi Ash and the kashrut of the
animals slaughtered under the supervision of Rabbi Mittle-
man - whom he accused of allowing improper bloodlet-
ting before shehitah. By 1873, when he criticized the kashrut
of certain California wines, the hostility he created in the
clergy caused him to be excommunicated by Ash and Mit-
tleman, and he was forced to leave New York. For a time,
he served as an itinerant preacher and finally settled in
Chicago, where he died. His book on American responsa,
Mattaei Mosheh, was published posthumously in 1878 in
Jerusalem.
223
AARONSON, LAZARUS LEONARD
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Approbations in Pardes ha-Binah (1842);
Z.H. Bernstein, Yalkut Maaravi 1 (1904), 129-30; J.D. Eisenstein,
Ozer Yisrael (1907), 167; idem, Ozer Zikhronotai (1929), 24; Y.Y. Gre-
enwald, Ha-Shohet ve-ha-Shehitah ba-Sifrut ha-Rabbanit (1955), 6-10;
M. Sherman, Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Diction-
ary and Sourcebook (1996), 13-14.
[Jeanette Friedman (24 ed.)]
AARONSON, LAZARUS LEONARD (1894-1966), English
poet. A lecturer in economics at London University, Aaron-
son published several verse collections, including Poems (1933)
and The Homeward Journey (1946). Aaronson dealt at length
with his conversion in Christ in the Synagogue (1930) but re-
mained preoccupied with his spiritual duality as a Jew and an
Englishman in a late poem, “The Jew” (1956).
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Dickson and S. MacDougall, “The
Whitechapel Boys,” in: Jewish Quarterly, 195 (Autumn 2004).
ABADAN,, island and seaport located in the province of
Khuzistan at the southwest corner of Iran on the left bank
of Shatt al-Arab and about 60 km from the Persian Gulf. It
grew into a big city because of its oil refinery. During World
War 11 there were about 25,000 refinery employees out of a to-
tal population of 100,000. This was a period in which Abadan
attracted a relatively large number of Jews from several cities
in Iran, mainly from *Isfahan, *Bushire, *Shiraz, and *Ker-
manshah. According to one source (Alam-e Yahud), at this
time there were 200 Jewish families (about 800 people) liv-
ing in Abadan, some of whom were Iraqi Jews. In addition, it
has been reported that 300 out of 1,700 foreign professional
refinery employees were Palestinian Jews belonging to *Solel
Boneh. For this reason, one may say that the post-Reza Shah
(1925-41) *He-Halutz movement and Zionist activities in
Iran had, to some degree, their roots in the Jewish community
of Abadan. Abadan played an important role in rescue mis-
sions of the Iraqi Jews during and after the independence of
Israel. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, Jews began to leave
the city. At the beginning of the 21° century there were few
Jewish families living in Abadan, numbering fewer than 20
people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: ‘Abadan, in: Encyclopedia Iranica (ed. E.
Yarshater), 1 (1982), 51-57; Alam-e Yahud, 21 (Jan. 8, 1946), 362; Y.
Yazdani, Records on Iranian Jews’ Immigration to Palestine, 1921-1951
(1996), 61, 67, 110.
[Amnon Netzer (2™ ed.)]
ABADDON (Heb. 11738; “place of destruction”). It is men-
tioned in the Wisdom literature of the Bible (Job 26:6; 28:22;
31:12; Prov. 15:11; Ps. 88:12); and it occurs also in the New Tes-
tament (Rev. 11:11) where, however, it is personified as the an-
gel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Greek is “Apollyon”
(AntodAvwv, “destroyer”). In the Talmud (Er. 19a) it is given as
the second of the seven names of Gehenna (*Gehinnom), the
proof verse being Psalms 88:12, while Midrash Konen makes
it the actual second department of Gehenna.
224
ABARBANELL, LINA (1879-1963), star of European light
opera and Broadway doyenne. Born in Berlin to a prominent
Sephardi family active in the professional theater, Abarbanell
debuted as Adele in the Berlin Court Opera’s production of
Die Fledermaus in 1904, at the age of 15. As a young woman,
she toured European concert halls and theaters, establishing
a career as a vocalist and actress. She won especial renown in
the world of Viennese operetta, where luminaries of the scene,
such as Franz Lehar and Oscar Straus, composed works for
her. She spent a season in New York with the Metropolitan
Grand Opera in 1905, appearing as Hansel in the American
premiere of Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel. Abarbanell and
her husband, Edward Goldbeck, an editorialist and cultural
commentator, and their young daughter settled in Chicago
soon after, returning to New York after World War 1.
In America, Abarbanell introduced the Viennese light
musical repertoire to popular audiences and won fame and
critical plaudits with starring roles in Lehar’s The Merry
Widow, among other works. A fashionable, graceful, and vi-
vacious personality, she helped popularize songs and dances
of the musicals and light operas in which she appeared. With
her husband, she hosted a weekly salon in her Chicago home
for European and American artists and writers. Abarbanell
essentially supported the family through her theater career,
seeing them through bankruptcy in 1921. After the death of
her husband in 1934, she transformed herself from performer
to producer and director. Her daughter Eva Goldbeck, a fic-
tion writer and reviewer who published in periodicals such
as the New Republic, died in 1935 at the age of 34. Abarbanell
maintained a close relationship with her son-in-law, the com-
poser Marc Blitzstein (The Cradle Will Rock), for the rest of
her life. She established a successful second career as casting
director for Blitzstein and others, in theater (Porgy and Bess)
and in film (Carmen Jones), and remained actively involved
in the theater world until her death from heart failure shortly
after her 84" birthday.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.A. Gordon, Mark the Music: The Life and
Work of Marc Blitzstein (1989); “Abarbanell, Lina,’ in: PE. Hyman and
D. Dash Moore (eds.), Jewish Women in America: An Historical Ency-
clopedia, 1 (1997), 3-4; Variety Obituaries, vol. 5 (1957-63).
[Emily Alice Katz (2"4 ed.)]
ABBA (Heb. 838), Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew (ay, 28;
“father”). The term was in common use from the first century
onward (cf. Mark 14:36). In the early centuries of the Chris-
tian era it was used in both Jewish and Christian sources in
addressing God, and in talmudic times as a prefix to Hebrew
names, probably to designate an esteemed scholar (cf. Abba
Hilkiah, Abba Saul). K. *Kohler, however, was of the opinion
that the title referred specifically to Essenes. Because of its
honorable association, it was forbidden to call slaves by this
name (Ber. 16b). It often occurs independently, sometimes
perhaps as an abbreviation of Abraham. Its fusion with the
prefix “rav” (for “rabbi”) gave rise in Babylonia to the names
“Rabbah,” “Rava,” and to their abbreviated forms, “Ba” and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
« »
a’ in Palestine. It is a common name among Ashkenazi
Jews in Eastern Europe and Israel, often used as an agno-
men of Abraham. The word survives in European languages
as an ecclesiastical designation (Abbas, Abt, Abbot), while in
modern Hebrew it has largely displaced the Hebrew av as the
popular term for “father.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Klein, in: Leshonenu, 1 (1928/29), 326; Kohler,
in: JQR, 13 (1900/01), 567-80 (but see Urbach, in: PIASH, 2, pt. 4
66), 17-36).
(1966), 17-36) [Cecil Roth]
ABBA (Ba), two amoraim are known by this name.
(1) ABBA (late third and early fourth centuries), in his
youth probably knew Rav and Samuel, the founders of rab-
binic learning in Babylonia. He was, however, primarily a dis-
ciple of R. Huna and R. Judah, and frequently is mentioned
together with their other disciples. Like R. Zeira, Abba ignored
R. Judah's prohibition to leave Babylonia and emigrated to
Erez Israel (Ber. 24b). In Erez Israel Abba was a close friend of
R. Zeira and other Palestinian scholars. In Tiberias he studied
with R. Johanan’s chief disciples, R. Eleazar and Resh Lakish.
After the death of Eleazar, leadership passed to R. Ammi and
R. Assi, but Abba was considered equally great and was re-
ferred to in the Babylonian academies as “our teacher in the
land of Israel” (Sanh. 17b). Abba dealt in silk (BK 117b) and
became very wealthy. This enabled him to honor the Sabbath
by buying 13 choice cuts from 13 butchers (Shab. 119a). A very
charitable man, he never embarrassed the poor and would
put money in his scarf which he would hang behind his back,
so that the poor might take the money without him seeing
their faces (Ket. 67b). He frequently revisited Babylonia, but
always returned to Erez Israel for the festivals. Thus he trans-
mitted Babylonian teaching and traditions to Erez Israel and
vice versa (TJ, Shev. 10:2,39c; Ned. 8:1,40d; BM 107a). When
the body of his teacher Huna was brought from Babylonia for
burial, Abba eulogized him, saying “Our teacher deserved to
have the Shekhinah rest upon him, were it not that he lived
in Babylonia” (mx 25a). Influential in both halakhah and
aggadah, Abba’s teachings are found in the Babylonian and
Palestinian Talmuds, as well as in the Midrash. (For a critical
analysis of the traditions relating to the death and burial of Rav
Huna, see S. Friedman, Historical Aggadah, pp. 146ff.)
(2) ABBA (THE LATER; fourth—fifth centuries), Pales-
tinian amora. Abba went to Babylonia, probably during the
anti-Jewish reaction following the death of *Julian the Apos-
tate in 363 c.E. Abba is mentioned together with R. Ashi, to
whom he transmitted the Palestinian tradition (BK 27b). He
is also quoted as saying to R. Ashi: “You have derived teach-
ing from this source, we derive it from a different one, as it
is written: ‘A land whose stones are iron [Deut. 8:9], Do not
read ‘whose stones’ [77°12X, avaneha] but rather ‘whose build-
ers’ [77)3, boneha, i.e., sages]”, meaning that a scholar who is
not as hard as iron is no scholar (Taan. 4a; cf. Bek. 55a). He is
not mentioned in the Palestinian Talmud.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) Bacher, Pal Amor; Hyman, Toledot, 3-8.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBA BAR AVINA
(2) A. Harkavy (ed.), Teshuvot ha-Geonim, 4 (1887), no. 248; Halevy,
Dorot, 2 (1923), 573-6; Hyman, Toledot, 9 ff.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ABBA (Rava, Rabbah; eighth century), rabbinical scholar;
disciple of *Yehudai Gaon and possibly also of *Aha of Shabha,
the author of Sheiltot. Abba is the author of Halakhot Pesukot,
a juridical tract in the vein of She’iltot from which it appar-
ently quotes. It was published in segments twice - first by S.
Schechter and then by J.N. Epstein. A small monograph on
the laws of phylacteries (probably part of a larger work), which
has been attributed to Abba, was appended by *Asher b. Je-
hiel - who calls it the work of a gaon — to his own laws on the
subject, under the title Shimmusha Rabbah (“Rabbah’s Legal
Practice”); it was printed in the Vilna edition of the Talmud
in Asher’s Halakhot Ketannot at the end of tractate Menahot.
*Judah b. Barzillai pointed out that many of its utterances run
counter to talmudic regulations, a phenomenon which he at-
tributed to errors by pupils and copyists. Among Abbas best-
known pupils was *Pirkoi b. Baboi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Schechter, in: Festschrift ... David Hoff-
mann (1914), 261-6 (Heb. sect.); Baron, Social’, 6 (1958), 339-40, n. 43,
356, n. 72; J.N. Epstein, in: Maddaei ha- Yahadut, 2 (1927), 147-63.
[Meir Havazelet]
ABBA BAR AHA (third century), amora. He was born in
Erez Israel and emigrated to Babylonia (J, Ber. 1:9,3d). Sev-
eral halakhot are quoted by him in the Jerusalem Talmud in
the name of “Rabbi” (Judah ha-Nasi) and in the Babylonian
in that of “Rabbenu’”; therefore he may have been a pupil of
Judah ha-Nasi. In the Jerusalem Talmud (loc. cit.) Abba b. Aha
is quoted as saying in the name of Rabbi (according to Ber.
49a, cf. Dik. Sof. 258, in the name of Rabbenu): “If one fails to
mention ‘covenant [i.e., the phrase ‘for Thy covenant which
Thou has sealed in our flesh’] in the Blessing for the Land or
‘the kingdom of the House of David’ in the blessing ‘who re-
buildest Jerusalem’ [both in the Grace after Meals], it must
be repeated correctly.’ R. Ilai reports decisions in his name
(Ber. 49a, et al.). He is the author of the statement, “The na-
ture of this people [Israel] is incomprehensible. Approached
on behalf of the golden calf, they contribute; approached on
behalf of the tabernacle, they contribute toward it too” (TJ,
Shek. 1.145d).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 15; Abraham Zacut, Sefer
Yuhasin ha-Shalem (19247), 99-100. [Zvi Kaplan]
ABBA BAR AVINA (third century), Palestinian amora.
He was also called Abba b. Binah, Abba b. Minah, or simply
Buna. He was of Babylonian origin and studied there at the
academy of *Rav (cf. TJ, Sanh. 3:3,2la) but later immigrated
to Erez Israel. Among his pupils were R. *Abba b. Zavda and
R. Berechiah. Most of his sayings are quoted in the Jerusalem
Talmud and in the Midrash (e.g., Lev. R. 20:12); he is men-
tioned only once in the Babylonian Talmud (Shab. 60b). Abba
225
ABBA BAR KAHANA
b. Avina was consulted in legal questions (TJ, ibid.) and seems
to have officiated as a judge (TJ, BM, 5:2,10a). He interpreted
1 Chronicles 22:14: “Behold in my straits I have prepared for
the house of the Lord ... etc.” to teach that wealth does not
matter before the Creator of the universe. A moving confes-
sion, composed by him, is quoted at the end of Jerusalem
Talmud (Yoma 8:10,45c): “My God, I have sinned and done
wicked things. I have persisted in my bad disposition and fol-
lowed its direction. What I have done I will do no more. May
it be Thy will, O Everlasting God, that Thou mayest blot out
my iniquities, forgive all my transgressions, and pardon all
my sins.” The Palestinian amora, R. Higrah, was his brother
(TJ, Meg. 1:11,71¢).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bacher, Pal Amor; Hyman, Toledot, 14.
ABBA BAR KAHANA (late third century), Palestinian
amora. It is possible that he was the son of Kahana the Baby-
lonian, the pupil of Rav who immigrated to Erez Israel. Abba
quotes halakhot in the name of Hanina b. Hama and Hiyya b.
Ashi (Shab. 121b; TJ, Ber. 6:6, 10d), but his talents lay largely
in the realm of aggadah and, with his contemporary R. Levi,
he was regarded as one of its greatest exponents (TJ, Mais.
3:10,5 la). Early aggadic traditions of leading tannaim such
as *Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, *Simeon b. Yohai, *Judah b. Ilai, and
*Phinehas b. Jair were known to Abba. Among his statements
are “Such is the way of the righteous: they say little and do
much” (Deut. R. 1:11) and “No serpent ever bites below unless
it is incited from above ... nor does a government persecute
a man unless it is incited from above” (Eccles. R. 10:11). This
statement probably reflects the persecutions of the Jews of his
time, to which there may also be a reference in the observa-
tion “The removal of the ring by Ahasuerus [Esth. 3:10] was
more effective than the 48 prophets and seven prophetesses
who prophesied to Israel but were unable to lead Israel back
to better ways” (Meg. 14a). His homiletical interpretations
deal with biblical exegesis; he identifies anonymous biblical
personalities (e.g., Dinah was the wife of Job: Gen. R. 19:12,
etc.) as well as geographical sites whose location was not clear
(Kid. 72a). He embellishes the biblical narrative with tales and
aggadot (Gen. R. 78:16; Eccles. R. 2:5, etc.). His statements re-
flect the contemporary hardships and persecutions suffered
by the Jews (Lev. R. 15:9). Abba expresses his expectation of
redemption in the remark that “if you see the student benches
in Erez Israel filled with sectarians [Babylonians], look for-
ward to the approaching steps of the Messiah” (Lam. R. 1:41);
ibid., ed. Buber, 39a, however reads “every day” (Heb. 0” 59a)
instead of “Babylonians” (Heb. 0°°722).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 48-50; Bacher, Pal Amor;
A. Marmorstein, in: Jeschurun, 13 (1926), 369ff.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ABBA BAR MARTA (third and first half fourth centuries),
Babylonian amora. Some suggest that he was named after his
mother because she cured him as a child after hed been bitten
226
by a mad dog (Yoma 84a). He owed a debt to the exilarch and
was seized by his men on a Sabbath. However, the exilarch set
him free because he was a scholar (Shab. 121b). In another inci-
dent Abba b. Marta managed to outwit the exilarch’s men who
sought to hold him prisoner because of his debt (Yev. 120).
In another instance Abba b. Marta owed money to Rabbah,
the head of the Pumbedita academy. He went to Rabbah with
the intention of repaying his debt during the sabbatical year.
Rabbah answered in accordance with the halakhah. “T cancel
it” Abba b. Marta took the money back, instead of saying, as
the procedure demanded, “Nevertheless, I insist...” Only af-
ter the intervention of Abbaye did he realize that he had not
acted properly and repaid the debt (Git. 37b). Another con-
temporary scholar, Abba b. Menyamin (Menyomi, Benjamin)
b. Hiyya, who expounded Mishnayot and asked a halakhic
question of Huna b. Hiyya (Sot. 38b, Hul. 80a), is sometimes
identified with Abba b. Marta.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 53; Bacher, Trad, 243.
[Moshe Beer]
ABBA BAR MEMEL (third and the beginning of the fourth
centuries), Palestinian amora. Some scholars consider that
Memel refers to his place of residence, Mamla or Malah in
Lower Galilee. He posed questions to R. Oshaya in Cae-
sarea who may have been his teacher (TJ, BK 2:1, 2d). Eleazar
b. Pedat, one of his eminent contemporaries, refers to Abba
Memel as his master (Ket. 111a). He discussed halakhic prob-
lems with R. Ammi, R. Assi, R. Zeira, and others, and hala-
khot are quoted in his name by many Palestinian sages. He is
the author of several principles concerning the interpretation
of the biblical text. A gezerah shavah (“inference from a simi-
larity of phrases in texts”) may be established to confirm but
not to invalidate a teaching. One may deduce a kal va-homer
(inference from minor to major) of one’s accord, but not a
gezerah shavah. An argument may be refuted on the basis ofa
kal va-homer, but not on the basis of a gezerah shavah (1, Pes.
6:1, 33a). He also stated, “If I had someone who would agree
with my view, I would permit ... work to be done on the in-
termediate days of the festival. The reason why work is then
prohibited is to enable people to eat and drink and study the
Torah; but instead they eat and drink and engage in frivol-
ity ...” (TJ, MK 2:3, 81b).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mevo, 67a-b; Hyman, Toledot, 50-
52; Bacher, Pal Amor.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ABBA BAR ZAVDA (third century), Palestinian amora.
Abba studied in Babylonia, first under Rav and later under
R. Huna. He returned to Erez Israel, where he became one
of the leading scholars at the yeshivah of Tiberias. He quotes
halakhot in the name of the last of the tannaim: R. Simeon b.
Halafta, R. Judah ha-Nasi, and R. Hiyya as well as R. Hanina,
R. Johanan, and Resh Lakish. After the deaths of R. Johanan
and R. Eleazar b. Pedat, Abba b. Zavda became one of the most
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
prominent sages in Erez Israel. At the yeshivah of Tiberias he
was given the honor of opening the lecture which Ammi and
Assi closed (TJ, Sanh. 1:4, 18c). His humility is stressed by the
sages (ibid., 3:5, 21a). His saying, “A Jew, even though he sins,
remains a Jew” (Sanh. 44a) is well known. In a sermon deliv-
ered on a public fast day, Abba b. Zavda called on those who
wished to repent first to mend their evil ways, for “if a man
holds an unclean reptile in his hand, he can never become
clean, even though he bathes in the waters of Shiloah or in the
waters of creation” (TJ, Taan. 2:1; in TB, Taan. 16a, the state-
ment with slight variations is ascribed to Abba b. Ahavah).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 43-44; Frankel, Mevo,
66b.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ABBA BAR ZEMINA (also Zimna, Zimona, Zevina; fourth
century), Palestinian amora. His father was probably the Zem-
ina who acted as “elder” of the Jews of Tyre (TJ, Bik. 3:3, 65d).
Abba’s principal teacher was Zeira. While working as a tailor
in Rome, his employer offered him meat which had not been
ritually slaughtered and threatened to kill him if he refused
to eat it. When Abba chose death, his employer informed him
that had he eaten, he would have killed him, saying, “if you are
a Jew, be a Jew, if a Roman be a Roman” (TJ, Shev. 4:2, 35a-b).
The statement, “if our predecessors were as angels, we are as
men; if they were men, we are as donkeys,’ is quoted by Abba
b. Zemina in the name of Zeira (TJ, Dem. 1:3, 21d; in Shabbat
112a, by Zeira in the name of Rabbah b. Zemina).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mevo, 56b-57; Bacher, Pal Amor;
Hyman, Toledot, 44-45.
[Abraham Goldberg]
ABBA BEN ABBA HA-KOHEN (early third century), Baby-
lonian scholar during the transition from the tannaitic to the
amoraic period. Abba is overshadowed by his famous son
Samuel, and therefore is always referred to in the Babylonian
Talmud as “the father of Samuel” (cf. Bezah 16b). He was a na-
tive of Nehardea and decided issues of Jewish law there (Ket.
23a). He subsequently emigrated to Palestine and continued
his studies in the academy of R. Judah ha-Nasi (TJ, RH 3:6, 59a;
TJ, BM 4:1, 9c). Even after his return to Babylon, he addressed
halakhic inquiries to him and maintained contact with his
grandson R. Judah Nesia. He was a colleague of R. Levi b. Sisi
and their opinions are often cited together (Shab. 108b; MK
26b). Mention is made of a divine revelation granted to the
two when they were studying Torah together in the ancient
synagogue Shaf ve-Yativ in Nehardea (Meg. 29a). The Jeru-
salem Talmud (Ber. 2:8, 5c) quotes the funeral oration Abba
delivered over his friend. When Rav returned to Babylon, he
deferred to Abba by refusing to head the community during
the latter’s lifetime. Rav engaged in halakhic discussions with
Abba, whom he highly respected (Ket. 51b). Abba derived
his livelihood from trading in silk and also owned property.
Highly charitable, he supported orphans and redeemed cap-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBA GURYON OF SIDON
tives, and in all his actions attempted to go beyond the mere
letter of the law.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mevo, 56ab; Hyman, Toledot, 11;
Epstein, Mishnah, 211.
[Zvi Kaplan]
ABBA BENJAMIN, tanna of unknown date. Four aggadic
statements are quoted in his name (Ber. 5b-6a). They include:
“A person's prayer is heard [by God] only in the synagogue.”
“If two enter [a synagogue] to pray, and one of them finishes
his prayers first, and leaves without waiting for the other, his
prayers are torn up before his face. “If the eye had the power
to see the demons, no creature would be able to endure them.”
He has been identified with Benjamin the Righteous who was
in charge of a charity fund. Once, when the fund was depleted
during a famine, he supported a woman and her seven sons
from his own pocket. Later he became gravely ill and was
about to die, whereupon the ministering angels addressed
the Almighty: “Sovereign of the universe, Thou hast said that
he who saves one soul is regarded as having saved the whole
world. Shall Benjamin the Righteous who saved a woman and
her seven sons die so young?” Immediately the decree against
him was annulled and a further twenty-two years were added
to his life (BB 11a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ABBA GULISH. Legendary figure mentioned in midrashic
literature (Mid. Hag. to Ex. 2:16). Abba Gulish was a priest at
a heathen temple in Damascus. However, on one occasion,
when in great distress, he supplicated his idol without success.
Disappointed with idol worship, he went to Tiberias where he
converted to Judaism, zealously observing the precepts. He
was there appointed overseer for the poor, but he embezzled
the money entrusted to him and was punished by blindness,
first of one eye and later of both. An object of contempt, he
returned to Damascus where his former friends, regarding his
blindness as a punishment for his apostasy, reproached him for
his unfaithfulness. He thereupon assembled the people in the
shrine for the ostensible purpose of apologizing to the idol, but
instead he told them that an idol which is unable to see could
not have punished him with blindness; it was the work of the
omniscient God. As he descended from the dais, his sight was
restored, as a result of which thousands of heathens became
proselytes. It is not possible to determine whether there is any
historical basis for this legend.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Krauss, in: OLZ, 20 (1917), 110.
ABBA GURYON OF SIDON (second century), talmudic
sage. Only two of his statements, both quoted in the name of
other sages, have been preserved. One (Kid. 4:14) is “a man
should not teach his son the occupation of an ass driver, camel
driver, barber, sailor, shepherd, or tavern keeper, these being
the trades of robbers.” The second is contained in the introduc-
227
ABBA HILKIAH
tion (ix) to a late Midrash on Esther known as Midrash Abba
Guryon (ed. by S. Buber, 1886), taken apparently from Esther
Rabbah. “With the increase of false judges, false witnesses in-
creased; of informers, the wealth of violent men increased; of
impudence, respect for human beings ceased; when the be-
loved children provoked their heavenly Father to anger, He
set an arbitrary king over them.” The “arbitrary king” is prob-
ably Domitian (89-96 c.£.) and the reference to “informers”
may be reflected in the coin struck by his successor Nerva to
commemorate the abolition of the calumny connected with
the Jewish tax.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Klein (ed.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 1 (1939), 1293
Hyman, Toledot, 302.
[Bialik Myron Lerner]
ABBA HILKIAH, according to the aggadah (Taan. 23a-b)
a saint who lived in the first century c.£. Like many narra-
tives concerning saints in the ancient world, Abba Hilkiah
was famous for his miraculous ability to bring rain in times
of drought (Kalmin, 212). The Talmud describes him not as
a learned sage, but rather as a common worker to whom the
sages turned in time of need. Once when a pair of scholars
came to ask him to pray for rain, he was not at home, and they
finally found him hoeing in a field. They greeted him, but he
did not return their greeting. Toward evening he gathered
wood for his fire, put the wood and his hoe on one shoulder
and his cloak on the other. All the way home he wore shoes,
but when he passed through water he removed them. When
he approached thorns and thistles he raised up his garment.
And so the story goes on describing his apparently eccentric
behavior, which puzzled the two sages, who nevertheless fol-
lowed him into his home. Without speaking to the sages he
and his wife went up to roof and prayed, and his wife’s prayer
was answered first. Despite the disclaimers of the humble and
saintly man, the sages thanked him for bringing the much
needed rain. Before they left, they asked him about his puz-
zling behavior, and he explained how every element reflected
some aspect of practical wisdom or ethical concern. For ex-
ample his refusal to return their greeting was explained by the
fact as a day laborer, he feared to take time off during his work
hours lest by so doing he would be defrauding his employer.
Similarly, he put the wood and his hoe on one shoulder and
the cloak on the other because the cloak was borrowed, and
the owner of the cloak had not given him permission to rest
wood or a hoe on his cloak, and so on.
The story belongs to a genre of tales of the saints, com-
mon in the pagan and Christian world in antiquity. It is some-
what remarkable in the talmudic context because its hero,
though not himself a sage, turns out to exemplify many of the
most noble values which the sages admired, and was even ca-
pable of instructing the sages through his behavior regarding
these values (Kalmin, 225-232).
In line with its principle of “creative historiography,’ the
Talmud informs us that this saintly figure, Abba Hilkiah, was
228
in fact the grandson (son of the son) of *Honi ha-Me'aggel,
the famous “rainmaker” mentioned in Mishnah Taan. 3:8.
Similarly, the Talmud tells us that Hanan ha-Nahbah, an-
other saintly rainmaker who is the protagonist of the fol-
lowing story in Taan. 23b, was also the grandson (son of the
daughter!) of Honi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.; R. Kalmin, in: L.I.
Levine (ed.), Continuity and Change (Hebrew) (2004), 210-232.
[Stephen G. Wald (24 ed.)]
ABBAHU or Avahu (c. 300), usually counted a second gen-
eration Palestinian amora. He is often presented as the disciple
of R. Johanan who purportedly called him “Abbahu my son”
He also is said to have studied with Resh Lakish (See *Simeon
b. Lakish) and *Eleazar b. Pedat. Abbahu most likely lived in
Caesarea, then the center of Roman rule and of Palestinian
Christianity. He seems to have been an important halakhic
figure and his aggadic sayings are significant in the fields of
religion, ethics, and philosophy. Abbahu is presented in rab-
binic literature as learned in mathematics, rhetoric, and Greek,
which, we are informed, he taught his daughters. Tradition
also endows him with good looks and physical strength and
great wealth. It is reported that the Romans “showed favor to
his generation for his sake,’ perhaps a token of the great es-
teem in which they may have held him. His access to govern-
ment circles may have given him a special position among
his colleagues.
The Babylonian Talmud (Sot. 40a) tells us that Abbahu
declined academic leadership in favor of *Abba of Acre be-
cause the latter was poor and debt ridden. This legend goes
on to show Abbahu concealing his true reasons. Various pas-
sages also depict him in the following ways: He was a peace-
maker even when others gave offense. He judged all men fa-
vorably and appreciated even a single merit of a sinner. He
had special esteem for the scholars and taught that a scholar
who had committed an offense deserving niddui (“the minor
ban”), should be treated with consideration (TJ, MK 3:4, 81d).
He enjoyed a position of honor in the community. He was an
ordained judge, entitled to sit in judgment alone, but earned
his livelihood in trade. He was apparently head of a group of
scholars known as “the rabbis of Caesarea” and trained many
outstanding disciples, among them the amoraim R. Jeremiah,
R. *Jonah, and R. *Yose. He enacted ordinances, issued proc-
lamations, and introduced usages such as the now accepted
order of blowing the shofar on Rosh Ha-Shanah (Ru 34a).
Because of his position within the Jewish community and his
connections with the authorities he made many official trips,
both in Erez Israel and abroad. On such occasions he always
deferred respect to the customs of the local community.
His aphorisms include: “Where the penitent stand, the
wholly righteous cannot reach” (Ber. 34b); “A man should
never tyrannize his household” (Git. 7a); “Be among the per-
secuted rather than persecutors” (BK 93a); “The world endures
only on account of the man who utterly abases himself” (Hul.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
89a). A prayer ascribed to him reflects the times in which he
lived: “May it be Thy will ... to save us from the arrogance
and harshness of the evil times which threaten to overtake
the world” (TJ, Ber. 5:1, 8d).
With regard to Christianity he said, “If a man tells you ‘I
am God; he is lying; ‘I am the son of man; he will eventually
regret it; ‘I shall go up to heaven, he promises but will not ful-
fill” (rj, Taan. 2:1,65b). Similarly he explained the verse (Isa.
44:6) “I am the first” means “I have no father”; “I am the last”
means “I have no son’; “and beside me there is no God” means
“T have no brother” (Ex. R. 29:5). It is stated in his name: “it
was ordained [some say, in Usha] that ‘Blessed be the name of
His glorious kingdom for ever and ever’ be recited in a loud
voice-to offset any false charges by sectarians” (Pes. 56a; Rashi
explains “lest they say that we add something improper in a
low voice”). Abbahu isolated the Samaritan priests in his town
from the Jewish community and decreed that they should be
regarded as Gentiles in all ritual matters. When the Samaritans
asked him “Your fathers found our food and wine acceptable,
why not you?” he answered, “Your fathers did not corrupt their
ways, but you have yours” (TJ, Av. Zar. 5:4, 44d).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mevo, 58b-60a; Weiss, Dor, 3
(1904*), 91-93; Halevy, Dorot, 2 (1923), 350-6; Bacher, Pal Amor, 2;
Hyman, Toledot, 62-71; S. Lieberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine (1942),
21-33; S. Klein (ed.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 1 (1939), 145-8; Lachs, Samuel
Tobias “Rabbi Abbahu and the minim, in: Jar, 60 (1970) 197-212;
Perlitz, in: MGwy, 36 (1887), 60-88; Alon, Mehkarim, 2 (1958), 255-8.
L.I. Levine, “R. Abbahu of Caesarea,’ in: Smith rv (1975) 56-76;
[Simha Assaf]
ABBA KOHEN BARDELA (second century), tanna. He is
not mentioned in the Mishnah but is quoted by Abba Yose b.
Hanin in the Sifrei (Deut. 2). Resh Lakish cites his views on
several principles of the laws of acquisition; one is that within
a public domain a person may acquire ownership of chattels
in a radius of four cubits around him (BM 10a). One of his
many aggadic statements is, “Woe to us for the day of judg-
ment. Woe to us for the day of rebuke. Balaam was a wise man
of the Gentiles, but could not withstand the rebuke of his ass
[cf. Num. 22:30]. Joseph was the youngest of the tribes, but his
brothers were unable to bear his rebuke [cf. Gen. 45:3]. When
God will rebuke each one of us for what he is, how much less
will we be able to bear it” (Gen. R. 93. 10).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 56; Bacher, Tann.
[Abraham Goldberg]
ABBA KOLON, legendary person mentioned in midrashic
literature as the founder of a city, called “Rome-Babylon.” It is
related of him (Song R. 1:64): “On the day that Jeroboam, son
of Nebat, installed the two golden calves, two huts were built in
Rome, yet each time they were erected they collapsed. A wise
man, Abba Kolon by name, was present. He told them that
unless water from the Euphrates was mixed with the mortar,
the buildings would not stand. He volunteered to fetch some
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBA MARI BEN ELIGDOR
and, disguised as a cooper, journeyed afar until he reached
his destination. There he drew water from the Euphrates,
brought it back and mixed it with the mortar. The huts now
remained standing. Henceforth people would say: ‘A city with-
out Abba Kolon is unworthy of the name.” They called this
city Rome-Babylon. The moral of this aggadah is that Rome
was founded as a result of the iniquities of the kings of Israel.
According to one opinion the name, Abba Kolon, is derived
from Deucalion in Greco-Roman mythology. According to
another, he is identified with Ablaccon, a magician in the time
of Emperor Tiberius, who is said to have saved the city of An-
tioch from inundation. It has also been suggested that there
is a double allusion in this name: father of “a colony” and “of
kalon” (“shame”).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Krauss, Griechische und Lateinische Lehn-
woerter im Talmud, 2 (1899), S.v.; N. Bruell, in: Jeschurun, 7 (1871), 3
(Ger. section); Ginzberg, Legends, 6 (1959), 280.
ABBA MARI BEN ELIGDOR (Sen Astruc de Noves or de
Sen Negre; 14" century), French philosopher, astronomer,
physicist, talmudist, and exegete. Born in Noves near Avi-
gnon, about 1320 he resided in Salon where Samuel b. Judah
of Marseilles studied astronomy under him. In 1335 the latter
mentions his teacher as still alive and very old. According to
the conjecture of Perles and Gross, he is to be identified with
Abba Mari of Salon, whom *Kalonymus b. Kalonymus men-
tions as his teacher and whose refutation of the philosophic
views contained in Joseph *Kaspi’s Sefer ha-Sod is quoted by
Kalonymus (Responsa 5, 11, 13). Isaac b. Jacob de Lattes states
in his Shaarei Ziyyon that Abba Mari wrote commentaries on
various tractates of the Talmud “combining interpretation of
the text with halakhic decisions,” as well as a commentary on
the Pentateuch, an exhaustive interpretation of the Pirkei de-
R. Eliezer, and various treatises on logic, metaphysics, and sci-
ence. Abba Mari’s commentary on Job (and on the story of the
Creation), which follows the spirit of the religious-philosophi-
cal speculations of Maimonides, is extant (Mss. in Parma, De
Rossi, no. 1372, and Rome, Vatican, no. 244). A philosophical
commentary on the Song of Songs (Neubauer, Cat, 1 (1886),
794, no. 2282 and Ms. Cambridge, Schiller-Szinessy, 215) may
also be ascribed to Abba Mari. He may also be the author
of a commentary to the “Introduction” of Euclid’s Elements
which is to be found at the beginning of the Ms. Munich, no.
91. Graetz’s assertion that Abba Mari was arrested in Beau-
caire together with Samuel b. Judah of Marseilles is based on
a misunderstanding.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 2, and Berliner’s adden-
dum, 610; Renan, Ecrivains, 548-52; Gross, Gal Jud, 380, 389-91,
655, 657; idem, in: REJ, 4 (1882), 207; 9 (1884), 59; idem, in: MGwJ, 28
(1879), 471; HB, 21 (1881/82), 116 ff.; Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen,
508, 543ff.; Munk, Mélanges, 489; J. Perles (ed.), Kalonymos b. Kal-
onymos, Sendschreiben ... (1879), 10-11; I. Lattes, Shaarei Ziyyon, ed.
by S. Buber (1885), 76.
[Jakob Naphtali Hertz Simchoni]
229
ABBA MARI BEN ISAAC OF ST. GILLES
ABBA MARI BEN ISAAC OF ST. GILLES (near Lunel,
southern France; c. 1165), bailiff or agent of Count Raymond vi
of Toulouse (pakid ha-shilton Ramon). He is mentioned by the
12"*-century traveler *Benjamin of Tudela, who met him in St.
Gilles. Possibly Abba Mari was the father of *Isaac b. Abba
Mari, author of the legal codex Ittur.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: MLN. Adler (ed.), Itinerary of Benjamin of
Tudela (1907), 4; Graetz, Hist, 3 (1949), 399; Gross, Gal Jud, 372, 651;
Renan, Ecrivains, 520; S. Grayzel, Church and the Jews (1933), in-
dex.
ABBA MARI BEN MOSES BEN JOSEPH ASTRUC OF
LUNEL (c. 1300), writer who opposed extreme rationalism.
He especially attacked the spread of philosophical allegori-
zation of Scripture in popular sermons and the use of astral
magic for healing. Abba Mari lived in Montpellier where the
dispute over Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed had broken
out as early as 1232-33 and where the controversy between the
philosophical and the traditionalist schools of thought per-
sisted up to the beginning of the 14" century. In order to coun-
teract the rationalistic method of biblical exegesis, which in
his view undermined belief, Abba Mari laid down three basic
principles of Judaism: the existence, unity, and incorporeality
of God; the creation of the world by God; and God’s special
providence. In his polemical work Sefer ha-Yareah (yerah =
“moon’; an allusion to his native city Lunel), Abba Mari in-
terprets biblical sayings and stories from the point of view of
these three principles. As the leader of the traditionalists in
the struggle against their opponents, Abba Mari conducted
a vehement propaganda campaign and attempted to induce
Solomon b. Abraham *Adret of Barcelona and Kalonymos
b. Todros to combine in taking steps against the “corrupt-
ers of the holy tradition” (see *Maimonidean controversy).
Abba Mari did not succeed, however, in inducing Solomon
b. Abraham Adret to oppose publicly the use of astral magic
and was barely able to persuade him to join the opposition to
allegoristic sermons. Ultimately Adret did join the struggle
against rationalism.
After negotiations lasting three years, a 50-year ban was
pronounced in the synagogue of Barcelona on the Sabbath
before the Ninth of Av, July 1305, against all those who be-
fore their 25" birthday engaged in the study of science and of
metaphysics. In a special letter to the Provengal communities,
this anathema was extended to include those who indulged
in rationalistic exegesis and the philosophic interpretation of
the aggadah. Abba Mari’s opponents, led by Jacob b. Machir
ibn Tibbon of Montpellier, realizing that this movement was
directed against the extreme rationalists, issued a counter-
ban. Menahem *Meiri of Perpignan sent Abba Mari a sharp
rejoinder, and *Jedaiah ha-Penini Bedersi addressed him-
self in a like manner to Adret. Abba Mari obtained rabbinic
opinions concerning the ban and counter-ban and received
many favorable comments on his position, among others from
the rabbis of Toledo, headed by *Asher b. Jehiel. This contro-
versy, however, came to an abrupt end when the Jews were
230
expelled from France by Phillip the Fair in 1306. Abba Mari
then moved to Arles and after that to Perpignan. His enemies
sought to prevent his settling in that city. The leaders of the
Jewish community, Samuel b. Asher and his son Moses, how-
ever, espoused his cause and befriended him. The letters and
pamphlets of this controversy were collected by Abba Mari in
his work Minhat Kenaot (Pressburg, 1838). The halakhic cor-
respondence between Abba Mari and Adret is contained in
the responsa of the latter - Sheelot u-Teshuvot ha-Rashba, 1
(1480; no. 167, 825, in conjunction with no. 413, 424-28; for the
correspondence with Asher b. Jehiel, see the latter's Responsa
no. 24). Abba Mari wrote a kinah for the Ninth of Av as well
as a commentary on a Purim song in Aramaic, composed by
Isaac ibn Ghayyat (Venice, 1632). Presumably, the piyyut, pub-
lished by S.D. Luzzatto in Kerem Hemed 4 (1839), 30, is also by
Abba Mari (cf. Zunz, against this view, Lit Poesie, 537), and
similarly the one written entirely in Aramaic, mentioned in
Nahalat Shadal 2 (1879), 4, but omitted in Davidson’s Ozar. J.
*Jabez, at the end of his book Or ha-Hayyim (1554) includes
excerpts from Sefer ha-Yareah without mentioning Abba Mari,
but occasionally referring to the author as “one of the disciples
of Ben Adret” (Kerem Hemed, 9 (1856), 47).
A critical edition of Minhat Kenaot and other pertinent
responsa was published by Hayyim Zalman Dimitrowsky, in
Teshuvot ha-Rashba (1990), vol. 2.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 289 ff.; D.J. Silver, Mai-
monidean Criticism and the Maimonidean Controversy 1180-1240
(1965), 42-43; J. Sarachek, Faith and Reason (1935), 195-264; Zunz,
Gesch, 477; Weiss, Dor, 5 (1891), ch. 4; Renan, Rabbins, 647; Gross,
in: REJ, 4 (1882), 192-207; Gross, Gal Jud, 286, 331, 461, 466; David-
son, Ozar 1 (1924), 7, NO. 121; 115, NO. 2429. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
D. Schwartz, “Changing Fronts toward Science in the Medieval De-
bates over Philosophy,’ in: Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy
7 (1997), 61-82; idem, Faith and Reason: Debates in Medieval Jewish
Philosophy (Heb., 2001); idem, Studies on Astral Magic in Medieval
Jewish Thought (2005).
[Jacob Freimann / Dov Schwartz (2"4 ed.)]
ABBA OF AKKO (Acre; third—fourth centuries), Palestinian
amora. Abba apparently served as a rabbi in Acre. None of his
halakhic statements has been preserved. The Midrash (Gen.
R. 15:7) quotes a solitary comment to the fact that “the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9) was an etrog (“cit-
ron’). He was so humble that even when the amora (the official
interpreter of the lecture) introduced into it his own explana-
tion which differed from his, Abba did not protest (Sot. 40a).
Since he was poor, his intimate friend R. Abbahu declined to
be nominated as head of the yeshivah and instead proposed
Abba for the position in order to provide him with a source
of livelihood (ibid., loc. cit.; see Rashi ad loc.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 55-56; Bacher, Pal. Amor.
[Moshe Beer]
ABBA OSHAYA (Hoshaya) OF TIRIAH (a village in Galilee,
near Nazareth), probably lived in Palestine during the fourth
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
century c.g. (Gen. R. 58:2). None of his halakhot or aggadot
has been preserved; but he was remembered for his piety. Abba
Oshaya was a launderer who was meticulous in his work. Ac-
cording to the law the launderer could keep the few threads
which detached themselves during the wash. Abba Oshaya
however refrained from this practice (TJ, BK 10:11, 7c). An-
other incident tells of a queen who was bathing where Abba
Oshaya worked. She lost her jewelry and relinquished all claim
to it. Abba Oshaya, however, found it and insisted on returning
it to her (TJ, BM 2:5, 8c). Because of his piety he was regarded
as being especially beloved of God. The Midrash (Lev. R. 30:1)
relates that “When Abba Oshaya died, his bed was seen float-
ing in the air, and the people applied to him the verse ‘Ifa man
would give all the substance of his house for love’ - the refer-
ence being to the love which God bestowed on Abba Oshaya
of Tiriah - he would utterly be desposed” (Song 8:7). Abba
Oshaya is an example of the influence which some scholars
had, not as a result of their teaching, but on account of their
exemplary lives. S. Liebermann, however, is of the opinion that
Abba Oshaya the launderer is to be identified with the tanna
“Isaiah of Tarichae” mentioned in Tosafot (BK 11:14) as a man
of exceptional piety and not with the later amora (The Talmud
of Caesarea, Musaf le-Tarbiz, 2 no. 4, p. 85 note 12).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 117; S. Klein (ed.), Sefer
ha-Yishuv, 1 (1939), 73-
[Moshe Beer]
°ABBAS I (reigned 1588-1629), regarded as the mightiest king
of the Safavid period (1501-1736). In 1598 he transferred his
capital from Kazvin to *Isfahan, which he transformed into
one of the most magnificent cities in the world by construct-
ing monumental mosques and beautiful avenues and squares.
He is mentioned as a great builder of roads and carvanserais,
a renowned conqueror, an able organizer of the army, and an
austere punisher of his opponents. He was famed for his cruel
punishment of disloyal officers and, as a fanatical Muslim,
was responsible for the assassination of several Jewish rabbis
and for the forced conversion of many Jews in Isfahan and in
other cities of Iran. His persecutions of the Jews of Iran are re-
corded in the Chronicle of Babai ben Lutf of Kashan, accord-
ing to which there were three waves of forced conversion to
Islam between 1613 and 1629, but many of the Jews returned
to Judaism afterwards.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Falsafi, Zendegani-ye Shah Abbas Avval,
5 vols. (1955-62); A. Netzer, “Redifot u-Shemadot be-Toledot Yehudei
Tran ba-Meah ha-17,”” in: Pe‘amim 6 (1980), 32-56; V.B. Moreen, Ira-
nian Jewry’s Hour of Peril and Heroism (1987); H. Levy, Comprehen-
sive History of the Jews of Iran (1999), 302 ff.
[Amnon Netzer (2™ ed.)]
°ABBAS II (reigned 1642-1666), son of Shah Safi; regarded,
like his great-grandfather *Abbas 1, as an able administrator
and builder. Abbas 11 treated any kind of malfeasance with se-
vere punishment. Iranian sources picture him as generally tol-
erant in religious matters, possibly because he allowed mem-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBAS, MOSES BEN SAMUEL
bers of the Catholic orders in his empire freedom of action.
This tolerance may have to do with his policy of establishing
friendly relations with European states in order to win allies
against Iran’s most formidable enemy, the Ottoman Empire.
He died at the age of 36 from alcoholism and syphilis. His
cruel treatment of the Jews and forced conversions in many
cities of Iran are narrated by *Babai ben Lutf of Kashan, who
probably witnessed them. He reported a wave of forced con-
versions to Islam between 1656 and 1662, after which, however,
many Jews returned to Judaism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Emad al-Dawla Mirza Mohammad Taher
Vahid Qazvini, Abbds-Nameh (ed., E. Dehqan, 1950); A. Netzer,
“Redifot u-Shemadot be-Toledot Yehudei Iran ba-Meah ha-17,” in:
Pe‘amim, 6 (1980), 32-56; V.B. Moreen, Iranian Jewry’s Hour of Peril
and Heroism (1987); H. Levy, Comprehensive History of the Jews of
Tran (1999), 302ff.
[Amnon Netzer (2™ ed.)]
ABBAS, JUDAH BEN SAMUEL IBN, moderate rational-
ist author active sometime between the 13" and 15‘ centuries.
Ibn Abbas’ most important contribution was the rationalist-
ethical and educational work Ya’ir Nativ (“He Will Light the
Way”). Ibn Abbas also wrote a short book on ethics, Mekor
Hayyim (“Fountain of Life”), and two other books which have
not survived, Me’ir Einayim (“Light of the Eyes”), on the rea-
sons for the commandments, and a commentary on Aristo-
tle’s Organon.
In Yair Nativ, Ibn Abbas criticized the extremists on both
sides of the controversy over philosophy. On the one hand,
he criticized the extreme rationalists for their philosophical
*antinomianism and for their laxity in, or even mocking, ob-
servance of the commandments. On the other hand, he was
critical of the “talmudist” rabbis who studied only Talmud and
not philosophy. He was thus a model of the moderate ratio-
nalism of the period. Ibn Abbas became famous for the cur-
riculum of studies presented in Yair Nativ. The curriculum
was printed several times.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Asaf, in: S. Glueck (ed.), Sources for the
History of Education in Israel (1961), 65-69; D. Schwartz, in: Tarbiz,
62 (1993), 585-615.
[Dov Schwartz (2"¢ ed.)]
ABBAS (Abenabez, Abenavez), MOSES BEN SAMUEL
(c. 1350-c. 1420), talmudist, poet, and communal leader in
Saragossa, Spain. Moses was born in Tudela and studied under
*Solomon b. Hasdai, settling in Saragossa after 1370. He was a
close friend of the poet Solomon b. Meshullam *da Piera, with
whom he corresponded in Hebrew and Spanish, and some
of his poems have been included in collections of the latter’s
works. Moses was repeatedly elected to the office of muqad-
dam, or administrative officer, of the Saragossa community
between 1380 and 1420, representing it at court for the first
time in 1389. After the massacres of 1391 Moses did much to
relieve the survivors. He represented Saragossa at the dispu-
tation of *Tortosa (1413-14).
231
ABBAS, MOSES JUDAH BEN MEIR
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index s.v. Moses abn Abez; Baer,
Urkunden, index; M. Serrano y Sanz, Origenes de la dominacion Es-
panola en América (1918), 453ff.; A. Pacios Lopez, La Disputa de
Tortosa, 1 (1957), index; S. ben Meshullam Dapiera, Divan, ed. by S.
Bernstein, 1 (1943), xi, 38-40; S. ibn Verga, Shevet Yehudah, ed. by
E. Shohat (1947), 95; A.M. Habermann, in: Ozar Yehudei Sefarad, 7
(1964), 24-42.
ABBAS, MOSES JUDAH BEN MEIR (c. 1601-1671), tal-
mudist, halakhist, and poet. Abbas came from a Spanish fam-
ily which, after settling in Salonika, spread throughout Tur-
key. He himself was born in Salonika. From his youth onward
Abbas endured poverty and illness. His rabbis were Mordecai
Kalsy, Jonah Adelie, and Solomon (111) b. Isaac (Bet ha-Levi)
*Levi. Appointed rabbi in Egypt, he founded a yeshivah and
talmud torah from which he earned his living. To enlist the
necessary financial support he traveled extensively, and wrote
appeals to those towns he was unable to visit. In the last years
of his life he was a rabbi of Rosetta, where, in about 1669, his
house was plundered and he lost all his possessions. Abbas
wrote many responsa, most of them in Rosetta, and some
during his travels. Two volumes are still extant in manuscript.
He wrote Kisse Kavod (now at Jews’ College, London), a com-
mentary on the minor tractates Kallah, Soferim, and Semahot.
While still a youth, Abbas corresponded and exchanged po-
ems with Jewish notables in Turkey. As a poet, he was supe-
rior to his contemporaries, but did not reach the heights of
the Spanish school. He encouraged young poets, correcting
their efforts and couching his replies in verse form. His po-
ems, which employ the meter and language of the Spanish po-
ets, express his sufferings and hopes. According to Conforte,
Abbas compiled two volumes of poetry. Some of his secular
poems were published by Wallenstein (see bibliography), but
hundreds of his scattered poems are still in manuscript. In
some of his poems, the name MaShYA (an abbreviation for
MoShe Yehudah Abbas) appears as an acrostic.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Benayahu, in: Zion, 12 (1946-47), 41-42;
M. Wallenstein, in: Melilah, 1 (1944), 54-68; 2 (1946), 135-48; 3-4
(1950), 240-54.
ABBA SAUL, mid-second century tanna. Quoted frequently
in the Mishnah and Tosefta, he was probably a disciple of R.
Akiva (in view of the fact that he quotes several halakhot in
his name; Tosef., Sanh. 12:10). Abba Saul was the colleague of
R. Judah b. Iai and R. Meir (Men. 11:5). He is not usually men-
tioned with other tannaim, nor are halakhot transmitted in his
name by later tannaim (see *Abba Guryon). His terminology
often differed from that normally used, not only in relation
to burial tools (TJ, Shek. 8:2, 51a) but in other areas as well,
so that, for example, one who was commonly called a shetuki
(“one whose father is not known’), he calls beduki (“one re-
quiring examination,’ Kid. 4:2). He often declared: “The rule
is just the opposite” (Git. 5:4) indicating that his version of a
tradition differed from that of other tannaim. Generally his
opinion is quoted as an adjunct to a Mishnah (Sanh. 10:1; et
232
al.). On the basis of these differences, it has been suggested
that there was a different “Mishnah of Abba Saul? which Judah
ha-Nasi had used. He transmitted traditions with regard to
the pathology and growth of the human embryo (TJ, Nid. 3:3,
50d), and especially with regard to the structure and utensils
of the Temple (Mid. 2:5; 5:4; Shek. 4:2; et al.). One of his few
aggadic statements is his comment on “This is my God, and I
will glorify Him” (Ex. 15:2), which he interpreted as mean-
ing that man should strive to imitate God, endeavoring — like
Him - to be gracious and merciful (Shab. 133b; Mekh., Shi-
rah, 3). Later traditions suggest that his father’s name may
have been Nannos (ARN’ 29, 87; cf. Nid. 24b, 25b), and his
mother’s Imma Miriam (Ket. 87a). The Talmud describes
him as “the baker for the family of Rabbi [Judah ha-Nasi]”
(Pes. 34a), but in another place his occupation was given as
a gravedigger (Nid. 24b) and he described prevailing burial
customs, reporting how a grave was located in the rock at
Beth-Horon (Nid. 61a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mishnah, 186-7; I. Lewy, in: Berichte
der Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft des Judenthums in Berlin (1876);
Hyman, Toledot, s.v.; Epstein, Tanna’im, 160-3.
[Bialik Myron Lerner]
ABBA SAUL BEN BATNIT (first century c.£.), mentioned a
number of times in tannaitic sources. According to Bezah 3:8,
Abba Saul was a shopkeeper in Jerusalem who had the cus-
tom of filling his measuring vessels with oil and wine before
a festival for the convenience of his customers. Praised for his
honesty, the Tosefta (ibid., 3:8) reports that he once brought as
a gift to the Temple three hundred jars of oil which had accu-
mulated from the drops left in the measuring vessels, to which
he had no right. When he was ill and the sages came to visit
him, he showed them his right hand, and exclaimed: “See this
right hand which always gave honest measure” (TJ, Bezah 3:9,
62b). His name is associated with a halakhic precedent at the
end of Mishnah Shabbat (24:5), and Tosefta Menahot (13:21,
Pes. 57a) mentions him in connection with a series of criti-
cisms of the conduct of the high priestly class in the last de-
cades of the Second Temple.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.; A. Buechler, Types of
Jewish-Palestinian Piety (1922), 203.
[Abraham Goldberg]
ABBASI (incorrectly Akasi and Aksai), JACOB BEN
MOSES IBN (second half of 13" century), Hebrew transla-
tor. Abbasi was born probably in Béziers in southern France,
but he lived in *Huesca, Spain. There in 1297-98 he translated
Maimonides’ commentary on the third order of the Mishnah
(Nashim) from the original Arabic into Hebrew. As he relates
in his introduction, the Jews of Rome had sent an emissary,
R. Simhah, to Spain to obtain a translation of the Mishnah
commentary; the emissary was directed to Huesca with rec-
ommendations from Solomon b. Abraham *Adret of Barce-
lona and other Spanish rabbinical authorities. The Huesca
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
community agreed to provide translations of the first three
orders of Maimonides’ commentary, and commissioned the
third to Abbasi with the assistance of Hayyim b. Solomon b.
Baka, the physician.
In his introduction Abbasi set down his views on the re-
lation of Judaism to philosophy. Citing Ecclesiastes 7:23, “... I
said: ‘I will get wisdom’; but it was far from me,’ he declared
that the powers of man’s mind are limited; neither philoso-
phy nor natural science can reveal the essence of things. The
Greek philosophers, whom Abbasi quotes, admitted this.
Perfection can be achieved only by the study of the Torah
and the observance of its commandments. There are secrets
in prophecy that man cannot always penetrate, but the merit
of divinely commanded action is evident and leads to deeper
knowledge. Abbasi considered men in relation to the Torah
in three categories: those who study and observe it, those who
study but do not observe it, and those who observe but do
not study it. He classified the commandments of the Torah in
three categories as well; commandments involving the mind
and the soul, commandments pertaining to the body, and
commandments dealing with one’s possessions. Abbasi con-
tinued his discussion describing the importance of the Oral
Law as the indispensable and authoritative interpretation of
Scripture; he explained the nature of Mishnah, Gemara, and
certain works codifying the law, and stressed the importance
of Maimonides’ commentary for the understanding of the
Mishnah and establishing halakhah. Thus, he praised the Jew-
ish community of Rome for their initiative in commissioning
the translation, which he considered of great importance for
the future as well.
Abbasi wrote a short preface in which he explained the
principles followed in his work, which for the most part are the
same as those followed by other contemporary translators. He
states that the translation is strictly literal; only rarely did he
expand the text for clarity. He corrected obvious mistakes of
transcription in the Arabic manuscript according to talmudic
sources and Maimonides’ other writings, but did not attempt
to harmonize this commentary with Maimonides’ Mishneh
Torah. He also wrote a letter to Solomon b. Abraham Adret
submitting his translation for approval. Abbasi’s translation
was included in the first edition of the complete Mishnah
commentary (Naples, 1492), and after that often appeared in
editions of the Mishnah and Talmud.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 924; idem,
in: JQR, 11 (1898/99), 333; Vogelstein-Rieger, 420ff.; Gross, Gal Jud,
105.
ABBASIDS, second dynasty in Islam, ruling from 750 to 1258,
mostly from their capital of Baghdad. At its height (eighth-
ninth centuries) the Abbasid realm extended from Central
Asia in the east through North Africa in the west. It thus en-
compassed virtually all the Jewish communities then known,
save those in Europe.
The new dynasts came to power after some 50 years of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBASIDS
clandestine revolutionary activity resulted in an open re-
volt (747-50). The ensuing conflict toppled the Umayyads
(661-750), usurpers of the Prophet Muhammad’s authority.
The change of dynasty has long been regarded as a major wa-
tershed in the history of the Islamic state, albeit for different
reasons.
Previous generations of Orientalists saw the rise of the
Abbasids in the light of 19" century notions of nationalism
and race and society. The emergence of the Abbasids was thus
depicted as the culmination of a long struggle between the
Syria-based “Arab” kingdom of the Umayyads and the con-
quered people of an Iranian empire that was shattered with
the rise of Islam. The conflict was thus seen as being between
a ruling institution predicated on the special privilege of a
relatively small Arab/Muslim aristocracy and a more broadly
defined coalition of forces whose ethnic origins were said to
have been in the former Iranian provinces to the east, most
especially the great land of *Khurasan. With that, there devel-
oped the seductive notion that Islamic government became
increasingly Iranized under the Abbasids. In sum, it was be-
lieved that the Abbasid triumph heralded the creation of a new
political and social order in which a narrowly defined ruling
Arab society was replaced by a polity of more universal out-
look and composition.
The traditional view has given way to a new consensus.
Historians now stress the central role played by Arabs from
the eastern provinces, particularly in leading the revolt. It is
now believed that the struggle between the rebels and the
Umayyads was not to restore an Iranian empire and civiliza-
tion in Islamized garb, but to restore the pristine Islam of the
Prophet's time under caliphs chosen from the House of the
Prophet (Hashimites).
In any case, the Abbasid revolution was not a palace coup
in which one family displaced another for reasons of personal
aggrandizement only to see business continue as usual. A new
age had dawned, or so the advocates of the regime claimed in
hyperbolic language spiced with apocalyptical symbols. The
Abbasid rulers adopted regnal titles suggesting that the mes-
sianic age was at hand and they were the chosen instruments
of this manifest destiny. The messiah did not arrive but the
new rulers altered the political and social landscape dramati-
cally. With unexpected swiftness, the Abbasids redefined an
Islamic state that had been founded on Arab privilege and
beset by tribal xenophobia. They replaced it with a broadly
based polity aspiring to universal outlook and recognition.
Viewed as a whole, the deliberate restructuring of Abbasid
society seems radical and far reaching. Whether one speaks
of new networks of social relationships, a complete overhaul
of the military from tribal to regionally based professional
units, innovations in provincial administration that allowed
for greater representation of non-family affiliates among the
governors and sub-governors, or the creation of a highly cen-
tralized and massive bureaucracy that employed many non-
Arabs, the changes instituted by the new regime represented
233
ABBA SIKRA
an ambitious departure in the style and substance of rule hith-
erto known amongst the Muslims.
To legitimize these dramatic changes, the new ruling
order built a magnificent capital at Baghdad in central Iraq.
Never before had so grand a city been built. Completed in
766 as a glorified administrative complex, the city eventually
grew to an urban area of some 7,000 hectares that was by all
accounts densely populated throughout the eighth-tenth cen-
turies. Population estimates vary, but a settlement of well over
half a million is certainly possible. With the building of a sec-
ond imperial center, Samarra, some 55 years later, the Abbasids
completely altered the demographic landscape of Iraq, partic-
ularly the central region. The vast majority of the inhabitants
now lived in major cities and towns, signifying a dramatic shift
from agricultural hinterland to urban environment.
Although we lack firm evidence, we can surmise that the
increasing urbanization saw a shift in the pattern of Jewish
settlement in the region. Babylonian Jews, previously engaged
in agriculture and small crafts, must have been attracted, like
their Muslim and Christian neighbors, from the declining
villages and small towns to the cities where the Abbasid rul-
ers encouraged urban development and expanded commerce
and trade. Jews thus became part of the changing economic
environment, and eventually played a central role in long-dis-
tance trade throughout the Islamic world and beyond. In the
ninth century, a group of Jewish merchants called Radhanites
after a district in the vicinity of Baghdad traded from China
to the Iberian Peninsula. Although business of this sort was
not the archetypal Jewish profession, it was a métier to which
they readily adapted and with communities of co-religionists
dispersed throughout the Islamic world and in Europe, they
were able to create an effective business network that included
commerce, trade, and also banking.
In the tenth century, a number of Christian and Jewish
bankers were employed by various Abbasid functionaries, in-
cluding the caliphs in Baghdad. Their task was to manage the
fortunes of state officials and of the caliph himself. One might
ask to what extent the activities of the Jewish bankers in Bagh-
dad had similar parallels elsewhere in the Islamic world. The
contemporary Muslim geographer al-Muqaddasi reports that
most of the bankers and moneychangers in Egypt were Jews.
However, the broad picture of Jewish involvement in the finan-
cial transactions of the times has yet to be fully researched.
The Abbasid state could not sustain the political stability
of its early decades. Civil war broke out towards the end of the
eighth century and military revolts were common in the ninth.
By the latter part of the tenth century, the Abbasid empire wit-
nessed the loss of North Africa and Egypt to the *Fatimids,
a Shi‘ite dynasty that originated in North Africa. To the east,
various petty dynasts recognized the suzerainty of the Abba-
sid caliphs but withheld the tax revenues for themselves. As
a result, economic conditions declined throughout the trun-
cated realm. Already in the ninth century, the state, strapped
for revenues, confiscated vast wealth from rich Christians (and
presumably Jews) and during the reign of the caliph al-Muta-
234
wakkil (847-61) went so far as to invoke the discriminatory
legislation against the Christians and Jews that had long been
Islamic law but was seldom put into effect.
With conditions deteriorating in the Abbasid heartland,
many Jews migrated westward to Egypt, North Africa, and
more distant lands. Their path was made easier by the relative
tolerance they experienced in Egypt and North Africa. Slowly,
the center of Jewish commercial activity as well as scholarly
enterprise shifted westward. Abbasid Iraq, which had been
the home of the *exilarchs and of the geonim (see *Gaon), the
leading political and scholarly figures of world Jewry, as well
as the seat of the great academies of Sura and Pumbedita, was
forced to share its preeminence as a Jewish center with rapidly
developing communities elsewhere.
Over the centuries the power of the caliphs declined al-
though the empire itself, however truncated, was more or less
kept intact. When Baghdad was conquered by the *Mongols in
1258, to all intents and purposes, the Abbasid caliphate came
to an end. The Mongol conquest would seem to have created
expectations of more relaxed times among Christians and
Jews. But the conversion of the Mongols to Islam ended any
hopes of dramatic change in the relations among the mono-
theists.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Lassner, The Shaping of Abbasid Rule
(1980); idem, Remembering the Middle East (2000); S.D. Goitein
and P. Sanders, A Mediterranean Society, 6 (1993), indices, s.v. Bagh-
dad and Iraq.
[Jacob Lassner (2"4 ed.)]
ABBA SIKRA (or Sakkara), talmudic name of one of the
leaders in the defense of Jerusalem against the Romans in
66-70 C.E. “Abba Sikra” is regarded by some scholars as an
epithet meaning “chief of the *Sicarii.” Jastrow, however, be-
lieves the word sikra means “red paint” or the act of “leaping”;
Sikr is also recorded as a name for Arabs. In the two parallel
accounts of his activities, the Talmud (Git. 56a) calls him Abba
Sikra whereas the Midrash (Lam. R. 1:5 no. 31), refers to him as
Ben Batiah, but there is no doubt that both refer to the same
person. The Talmud calls him “chief of the biryonim in Jeru-
salem,’ seemingly in a deprecatory sense, since this term is fre-
quently used in connection with robbers and brigands (Sanh.
37a; Ber. 10a). He is linked with two episodes; the burning of
the storehouses in Jerusalem, and the smuggling of his uncle,
Johanan b. Zakkai, out of the city during the siege. The burn-
ing is recorded in connection with a dispute between the sages
and the *Zealots. The sages wished to sue for peace, while the
latter wished to do battle with the Romans. No conclusion
was reached; but Ben Batiah, who was in charge of the store-
houses in Jerusalem, burnt them all, to R. Johanan’s distress.
The resultant famine led R. Johanan to seek the assistance of
Abba Sikra in his plan to leave the beleaguered city. Abba Si-
kra proposed that R. Johanan feign illness and then death.
He accompanied the coffin, borne by Eliezer and Joshua, the
disciples of R. Johanan, and prevented the guards at the gate
from stabbing the body.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.J.L. Rapoport, Erekh Millin, 1 (1852), 1;
Derenbourg, Hist, 280; Guttmann, Mafte’ah, 1 (1906), 115; Klausner,
Bayit Sheni, 5 (1951), 229-30; Alon, Mehkarim, 1 (1957), 249-50. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity.
Part 1: Palestine 330 BCE-200 CE (2002), 397, S.V. Siqra.
[Lea Roth / Shimon Gibson (2"¢ ed.)]
ABBA UMANA (Heb. 737218 838; fourth century c.£.), Bab-
ylonian bloodletter (hence his cognomen). Abba Umana was
distinguished for his exceptional piety and, according to leg-
end, daily received a greeting from the Heavenly Academy,
a distinction accorded to Abbaye only once a week, and to
Rava only once a year. Abbaye, grieved at not being consid-
ered as worthy as Abba Umana, was told: “You cannot do what
Abba Umana does.’ In treating women, he conducted himself
with the utmost modesty. In order not to put poor patients to
shame, he arranged for his fee to be deposited in a place hid-
den from public view. He never accepted any remuneration
from a scholar but instead would give him money to enable
him to recuperate. Once Abbaye sent two sages to test him.
Abba Umana gave them food and drink, and in the evening
prepared mattresses for them. The following morning they
took them to the market to sell. On meeting Abba Umana
they asked him of what he suspected them. Abba Umana re-
plied that when he missed the mattresses he assumed that they
needed money for the redemption of captives. He refused to
take the mattresses back, saying that he already devoted them
to charity (Taan. 21b-22a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 10.
ABBAYE (278-338 c.£.), Babylonian amora of the fourth
generation; chief of scholars of *Pumbedita. Abbaye was of
priestly descent and was reputed to be a descendant of *Eli,
the high priest. His father, whose name apparently was Keilil
(Zev. 118b), died before, and his mother, at his birth (Kid. 31b).
He was raised by his uncle, *Rabbah b. Nahmani, and by a fos-
ter mother whom he frequently quoted, calling her “mother.
His true name is not known. According to R. Sherira Gaon,
he was called “Nahmani” after his paternal grandfather, and
Abbaye, then, was a nickname. While he was still a child, his
uncle recognized Abbaye’s intellectual capacity, and endeav-
ored to educate him appropriately (Ber. 33b). He continued
his studies under R. Joseph who apparently succeeded Rab-
bah as the head of Pumbedita’s circle of scholars. There is
a legend that Abbaye later helped R. Joseph recall what he
had forgotten as the result of illness. Abbaye debated legal
points with the leading talmudic scholars of the day, such as
Judah and *uIspa (Taian. 11b-12a). In his youth he was poor
and watered his fields at night to enable him to study by day
(Git. 60b), but later he employed tenant farmers (Ket. 60b)
and traded in wine (Ber. 56a). Upon Joseph's death (333 c.£.),
Abbaye succeeded him as head in Pumbedita and held this
position for the rest of his life. Until relatively recently, most
modern scholars presumed that his most prominent colleague
was *Rava, and that their agreements (“Both Abbaye and Rava
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBAYE
say ...”) and disagreements constituted a major element of
the Talmud. Today the predominant view is that direct dia-
logues between Abbaye and Rava are extremely rare. Nearly
all of their presumed dialogues, previously thought to form
the backbone of the Babylonian Talmud, are, in fact, discus-
sions between Abbaye and his teacher, Rabbah. This misap-
prehension resulted from the widespread confusion between
the names Rava and Rabbah in the manuscripts and printed
editions of the Talmud. Indeed, face-to-face contact between
fourth generation Babylonian masters has now been shown
to be generally infrequent, leading to the conclusion that they
may have studied in disciple circles rather than academies. It
seems that the editors of the Talmud in a later period gathered
issues of law on which Abbaye and Rava’s independently ad-
duced positions contradicted. These contradictions were then
hashed out by the anonymous editorial voice of the Talmud.
However, actual historically authentic dispute dialogue be-
tween Abbaye and Rava is almost nonexistent. In the Talmud’s
discussions of their contradictory opinions, generally Rava’s
view was accepted as law; only in six instances did Abbaye’s
view prevail (BM 22b; etc.). The Talmudic term, “Discussions
of Abbaye and Rava” became a general term appellation for
the entire system of talmudic dialectics. Abbaye’s method of
halakhic study combined erudition with keen, logical analy-
sis. Yet, in contrast to his colleague - Rava — he was said to
have preferred to rely on transmitted knowledge rather than
on independent reasoning (Er. 3a). Discovering similar prin-
ciples underlying the opinions of various sages, Abbaye would
formulate terse general rules and find support for his opin-
ion and that of others in baraitot. He also classified difficult
passages in earlier sources and included in his studies laws
no longer in force (Zev. 44b). He had a large stock of popu-
lar sayings, which he prepared with “People say ....” Some of
his own remarks became popular maxims; among them, “Go
outside and see what the people say ...,” i.e., follow popular
tradition. Through his foster-mother he became familiar with
remedies and justified their use by the rule that whatever is
done for healing is not considered “ways of the Amorites” (i.e.,
pagan superstition; Shab. 67a). In the field of aggadah, Joseph's
influence on Abbaye can be seen, but the former sometimes
deferred to his pupil's exposition of a different verse. Abbaye
was also responsible for reversing Joseph’s negative attitude to
the book of Ben Sira (Sanh. 100b). He took over aggadot and
interpretations brought by Dimi from Erez Israel to Babylon
(Sanh. 44b). He was the first to discriminate explicitly between
the plain contextual meaning of Scripture and its interpreta-
tion use for Midrash (Hul. 133a). Especially noteworthy is his
quotation (from a baraita) of an exposition of the verse (Deut.
6:5): “And thou shalt love the Lord, thy God,” meaning that
“the Name of Heaven should be loved on account of you.” One
should study Scripture, learn halakhot, be apprenticed to a
sage, and deal honorably with one’s fellowmen. Then people
will say “How pleasant are the ways of this person who has
studied Torah, how proper his conduct” (Yoma 86a). In the
discussion between the tannaim as to whether man should
235
ABBAYE KASHISHA
devote his time to the study of Torah to the exclusion of ev-
erything else (according to the view of Simeon b. Yohai) or
whether one should study as well as live a productive life (the
opinion of Ishmael), Abbaye concurred with the latter (Ber.
35b). Whenever one of his disciples had completed a tractate
he would arrange a feast for scholars, thus showing his appre-
ciation and concern for his students (Shab. 188b-119a). He of-
ten stressed the importance of “A soft answer turning away
wrath,’ and of promoting goodwill among men “so that one
may be beloved above and well-liked below ...” (Ber. 17a). His
second wife, Homa, who was the great-granddaughter of R.
Judah, was famous for her beauty (Ket. 65a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Weiss, Dor, 3 (1904*), 174 ff; Hyman, Toledot,
s. v., Bacher, Bab Amor, 107-13. R. Kalmin, in: HUCA, 61 (1990), 125-58;
D. Weiss-Halivni, Midrash, Mishnah, and Gemara: The Jewish Predi-
lection for Justified Law (1985), 70-78; A. Weiss, Hithavvut ha-Talmud
bi-Shlemuto (1943), 14-56.
[Ephraim Elimelech Urbach]
ABBAYE KASHISHA (“Abbaye the Elder”; c. 300), Baby-
lonian amora. He is called “the elder” in order to differen-
tiate him from the better known *Abbaye of a later genera-
tion. He taught and interpreted halakhic beraitot (Yev. 24a;
Ket. 94a, 96b), but also dealt with aggadic topics (Shab. 56a).
He compared dissension and controversy to “the planks of a
bridge which at first are loose but ultimately become fixed in
place through constant treading” (Sanh. 7a). The later Abbaye
quotes a baraita transmitted by his namesake (Ket. 94a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.
[Abraham Goldberg]
ABBA YOSE BEN DOSTAI (Dosai; second century c.£.),
Palestinian tanna. He is not mentioned in the Mishnah, but
he transmitted halakhic statements in the names of R. *Eliezer
and R. *Yose ha-Gelili (Tosef., Pe’ah 4:2; Ta’an. 2:6; cf. Tosefta
ki-Feshutah. 1 (1955), 180, 5 (1962), 1080). He was a contempo-
rary of *Yose b. Meshullam, and halakhic remarks are quoted
jointly in their names (Tosef., Kelim, BK 6:18; Makhsh. 2:10).
Aggadot dealing with the reconciliation of contradictory bib-
lical passages are cited in his name by Judah ha-Nasi (Sif.
Num. 42).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bacher, Tann, 2 (1890), 388-9, 489; Hyman,
Toledot, 720-1 Z.k.
ABBA YOSE (Isi) BEN HANIN (Hanan, Johanan; second
half of first century c.£.), tanna who transmitted details of
the number and location of the Temple court gates (Mid. 2:6)
and the order of the Temple service (Tosef., Suk. 4:15). Several
of his statements on halakhah have been preserved (Tosef.,
Er, end; Sif. Num. 8; Sot. 2ob). He denounced the priestly
families and their corrupt behavior: “Woe is me because of
the house of Boethus, woe is me because of their staves! Woe
is me because of the house of Kathros, woe is me because of
their pens! Woe is me because of the house of Elhanan, woe
236
is me because of their whisperings! Woe is me because of the
house of Elisha, woe is me because of their fists! Woe is me
because of the house of Ishmael b. Phabi, for they are high
priests, and their sons are Temple treasurers, and their sons-
in-law trustees, and their servants come and beat us with
staves!” (Tosef., Men. 13:21; Pes. 57a). According to some later
traditions (DEZz 9, end; cf. Sperber, DEZ, 152), Abba Yose trans-
mitted an aggadah conveying the significance of the Temple,
in the name of *Samuel ha-Katan: “This world is like the hu-
man eyeball. Its white typifies the ocean, which surrounds the
world. Its black typifies the world. The pupil of the eye sym-
bolizes Jerusalem. The image in the pupil of the eye symbol-
izes the Temple, may it speedily be rebuilt.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 726; Epstein, Tannaim,
47.
[Zvi Kaplan]
ABBELL, MAXWELL (1902-1957), U.S. communal worker,
lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. Abbell, who was
born in Slonim, Poland, was taken to the U.S. at the age of
three by his parents, who settled in Chelsea, Mass. Moving
to Chicago, Abbell worked first for the Jewish Social Ser-
vice Bureau, then as assistant executive director of the Jew-
ish Charities of Chicago (1925-37). In 1937 he established his
own accounting firm, and in 1944 he became senior partner
of the law firm of Abbell and Schanfeld. He entered the real
estate business as well, eventually establishing Abbell Hotels,
a large nationwide chain, which he continued to manage un-
til his death. Highly active in local and national Jewish life,
Abbell was chairman of the Chicago College of Jewish Stud-
ies (1950-54), president of the United Synagogue of America
(1950-53), and a founder of the World Council of Synagogues
in 1957. His philanthropical activities were devoted mainly
to the State of Israel and the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America. In 1955 President Eisenhower appointed him chair-
man of the President’s Committee on Government Employ-
ment Policy.
[Bernard Segal]
ABBOTT, BUD (William Abbott; 1895-1974), U.S. actor.
Famous for playing the straight man in the legendary com-
edy duo “Abbott and Costello” with longtime partner Lou
Costello, Abbott was born to Ringling Brothers’ Circus per-
formers in Asbury Park, New Jersey. After dropping out of
school in 1909, he began working in carnivals and theaters
around the U.S. Eventually he became the manager of the Na-
tional Theater in Detroit, where he honed his skills playing the
straight man alongside vaudeville performers Harry Steepe
and Harry Evanson. In 1931, Abbott was working as a cashier
at the Brooklyn Theater when he substituted for Lou Costello's
usual straight man, who was ill, and what would become one
of comedy’s most celebrated teams was formed. The duo’ first
national exposure came in 1938, with an appearance on The
Kate Smith Hour radio show that led to a contract with Uni-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
versal the following year. In 1940, Abbott and Costello secured
their place in comedic history with their unforgettable sup-
porting role in Universal’s One Night in the Tropics, in which
they performed their signature “Who’s on First?” routine.
Abbott and Costello’ first starring role with Universal came
in the comedy Buck Privates (1941). The unexpected success
of Buck Privates led to a string of starring roles in slapstick
comedies such as In the Navy (1941), Hold That Ghost (1941),
Keep ’Em Flying (1941), Ride Em Cowboy (1942), Who Done It?
(1942), Hit the Ice (1943), and In Society (1944). The duo con-
tinued to rely upon their trademark fast-paced, cross-talking
formula in more than a dozen other films throughout the lat-
ter half of the 1940s and into the early 1950s, when they also
began to appear on the television shows The Colgate Comedy
Hour (1951-54) and The Abbott and Costello Show (1952-54). In
1956, Abbott and Costello finally parted ways following an 1Rs
investigation that left both men in dire financial straits. Ab-
bott attempted to revive his career with a new partner, Candy
Candido, during the 1960s but found little success. In his fi-
nal performance, Abbott provided his own voice for the 1966
animated television series, Abbott and Costello.
[Walter Driver (2™4 ed.)]
ABBREVIATIONS. The abbreviation of words originated
in antiquity, probably soon after the alphabet developed from
ideographic pictures. While originally rare, their use increased
with the general growth in the transmission of ideas by writ-
ing. They relieved the shortage of space and precious writing
materials, served the convenience of the scribe, and preserved
a certain degree of secrecy. An abbreviation also obviated the
constant repetition of the full Divine Name. Various methods
of abbreviating evolved in the course of time and, when exten-
sively used, they economized in space and materials, although
occasionally causing confusion and misunderstandings.
Terminology
The expression notarikon (derived from the Greek term for
stenography) occurs in the Mishnah (Shab. 12:5) and refers to
the use of initial letters, dots, and dashes to indicate abbrevia-
tion. It is used in the Talmud to indicate memory devices and
is one of the 32 *hermeneutics rules of the aggadah (H.G. En-
elow (ed.), Mishnat R. Eliezer (1933), 39) and one of the most
popular and frequently used. By the third century the terms
siman (Heb. 12°90; Gr. sémeion) and alef bet (n°3 PR) were
current and applied to mnemonics, as in “Torah can only be
acquired with [the aid of] mnemonic signs” (Er. 54b), while
the Talmud also refers to serugin (774170; Yoma 38a, etc.), a
system of abbreviation called trellis-writing, whereby only
the initial word or letter is used when quoting a biblical verse.
This system has been found in Bible fragments recovered
from the Cairo *Genizah. The term rashei otiyyot is found
only in Tanhuma (B., Ex. 54); rashei tevot first in Tanhuma
Haazinu 5; while the expression sofei tevot occurs in the post-
talmudic masorah. The grammarian Elijah Levita (1468-1549)
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBREVIATIONS
speaks of “... abbreviated, broken words, expressions written
in notarikon and initials...”
History
As the Hebrews wrote at an early stage of their history, the
early invention of abbreviations could be assumed. They ap-
pear on sixth-century Semitic inscriptions, fifth-century Ar-
amaic documents, and on Samarian jar handles. To mark
ownership, for Temple and other sacred purposes, such abbre-
viations were used well into talmudic times. Although not usu-
ally found in official manuscripts of the Bible, abbreviations
appear in masoretic writings, Midrash, Mishnah, and Talmud,
and they abound in post-tannaitic literature. It has been sug-
gested that the translators of the Septuagint used a Hebrew
text with abbreviations. It became one of the main concerns
of the masoretic scholars to eliminate ambiguities caused by
abbreviations, so that in printed Bibles there are generally no
abbreviations; modern Bible commentators, however, while
seeking to explain obscure passages, offer emendations sug-
gesting that certain words are actually abbreviations (e.g., J.H.
Greenstone in his commentary on Num. 23:3).
Abbreviations appear on Jewish *coins of the Jewish War
(66-70) and the Bar Kokhba War (132-135; e.g., ,/2W — ‘2 7
qn? - nvm?); on documents recovered from the Dead Sea
Caves and Masada; and on ossuaries of the talmudic period
‘1 — 21), as does the Talmud (see Pes. 102b-103a) in a discus-
sion on the order of the blessings known as yaknehaz (3"03}”).
Rashi, commenting on Numbers 5:11ff. in Gittin 60a and Yoma
37b-38a, discusses various forms of abbreviations mentioned
in the Talmuds. The mnemonic simanim were used to group
together different halakhot with a common denominator such
as authorship (e.g., halakhot, all by Abbaye, known as 027 by;
BK 73a). Abbreviations were used extensively as formulas of
the calendar system (e.g., WN 1”"TN 82, “Rosh Ha-Shanah can-
not fall on Sundays, Wednesdays, or Fridays”). In the Middle
Ages, the names of frequently quoted scholars and/or their
works were abbreviated and made pronounceable, e.g., Rashi
(R. Shelomo Yizhaki), Rambam (R. Moses b. Maimon), Rosh
(Rabbenu Asher). It was also the practice in the medieval
and post-medieval periods to append eulogistic terms in ab-
breviated forms (e.g., ¥”1 — Ty inil, “he rests in paradise”) or
for martyrs (7° — 397 D1? 0, “may God avenge his blood”);
among Sephardim 0”0 was used meaning 210 1Di0 (“may his
end be good”) and is applied to the living as well, standing
for Tin¥ "77190, “of pure Sephardi descent.’ Current also were
abbreviated eulogistic phrases in Spanish and Portuguese on
tombstones, supplementing or replacing the traditional He-
brew. Abbreviations were also known in the communities of
the Marrano Diaspora, e.g., Amsterdam, where there were
transliterations into the Latin alphabet of accepted Hebrew
abbreviations (e.g., K.K.T.T. — THA TWH WiTP PAP, “Holy
Congregation Talmud Torah-” as an abbreviation for the Am-
sterdam Sephardi congregation). The use of abbreviations has
continued to grow, particularly in all fields of Jewish scholar-
237
ABBREVIATIONS
ship. It has been estimated, for example, that in the siddur of
Jacob *Emden there are approximately 1,700 abbreviations.
Famous personalities continued to be called by an abbrevia-
tion such as the Baal Shem Tov (Besht, 0” Wy3) and Elijah of
Vilna (8/147 — 3799X /9 J1N37).
Since the 19 century some authors’ initials have al-
most superseded their actual names (e.g., the poet Judah Leib
*Gordon is commonly known as 3"2°). The initials with which
the historian and journalist Shneur Zalman Rubashov (later
president of the State of Israel) signed his articles eventually
became his Hebrew name (IW, *Shazar).
Many 19"- and 20'-century Jewish organizations and
institutions have become known by their abbreviated titles,
e.g., *Alliance Israélite Universelle (73 — D°730 Oxi 59); or
the *Bilu pioneers (1773 for 793) 19? 3py? m2). The Hasidic
movement emanating from Lubavitch is known by the initials
of their motto Habad (7’3n — NY7 AYA ,79n, “wisdom, under-
standing, knowledge”). Jewish organizations have also taken
names from non-Hebrew initials, such as HIAS and *w1zo. The
habit of calling international bodies by their initials (e.g., UN,
UNESCO, UNSCOP) has found an echo in the Hebrew 038 for
NTN NidX (United Nations). In Israel constant use is made
of abbreviations (e.g., *Mapai, N39 — PNW? PIN "PVID NIPDN,
“the Israel Labor Party”; Zahal, bray — Sew 7347 833, “Israel
Defense Forces”). These groups have adopted abbreviations
which have virtually become independent words. Military
ranks, units, and equipment are expressed almost exclu-
sively by abbreviations, and so are most public enterprises
(e.g., *Tahal, bran - Ox tee 0°77 Jian, “Water Planning for
Israel”). A member of the Israeli parliament is abbreviated
2”n] — NO3D 120; a publisher S11 — TiN? N-vin; Land of Israel,
“x — ONT? TIN; the rest of the world is ?”1n — yINX? yin.
Cities with a compound name are often abbreviated (e.g.,
Nn - 27x Yn, Tel Aviv). Various methods have been used to
indicate abbreviations and several types are distinguishable.
By the Middle Ages various systems of dots and strokes were
known. The modern method uses a single stroke if one word
is abbreviated (e.g., 079 — N07) and double strokes before the
final letter of the abbreviation if there are more (e.g., WI7PT
apn — NIT 713).
Types of Abbreviations
Two types of abbreviations are distinguishable. The first type
is when one word is abbreviated: (1) tevot mogzarot: the end
of the word is dropped (e.g., ’IW@ — TANI); (2) tevot nishbarot:
the middle of the word is dropped (e.g., 8X — NPN); (3) emzaei
tevot: the middle letter represents a word (e.g., ’1 for the
Tetragrammaton); (4) sofei tevot: the beginning of the word
is dropped (e.g., ]’ — J28). The second type is when a group of
words is abbreviated: (1) rashei tevot: the initial letters are used
(e.g., 7”°X — OWT T¥7 ON); (2) two letters are used of one or sev-
eral words (e.g., WIN — FWRI DIN sw — NiawN NNW);
(3) when one of the words is very short, it is retained (e.g.,
nw — M1 XW); (4) when an abbreviation is formed of a group
of words, it may itself be divided (e.g., 721) IPT 1 TAN 772
238
VOPR TDN "ND — ST PINSD WIP WR OvivT). Such groups
with the addition of vowels have often been rendered pro-
nounceable (e.g., "OW YI? — NIT} ,3iw Ww AY WN Yip,
initial letters of verses recited before the shofar is blown);
(5) such abbreviations are really “acrostics. In large groups,
words may be left unrepresented (e.g., in the abbreviation
for the Ten Plagues, 2”0N2 w”'Ty 7/37, the Passover Haggadah
omits the word n3/ before the 2 standing for 6) ;(N17122) sofei
tevot: the abbreviation is formed by a combination of final let-
ters (e.g., NOX — nivy? DTN 8132, see also no. 10); (7) serugin
(trellis-writing): where only the initial word or letter is used
when quoting a biblical verse; (8) zeruf: mystic combination
of letters (see below); (9) combination of middle letters (e.g.,
Pp — Ay PH AYININ AY }PN); (10) initial letters in reverse or-
der (e.g., NOX — APR wD o>an); (11) occasionally vernacular
proper nouns and other words have been accepted and abbre-
viated in Hebrew (e.g., Yahrzeit, 3° — 037778").
Abbreviation of the Name of God
The name of God is probably the most often abbreviated word,
due to its frequent appearance in Jewish writing and the rev-
erence which is accorded it. It was abbreviated in antiquity,
mishnaic, and talmudic times as '5 or ”; in Targum Onkelos
as ‘1 and "J; and in the Middle Ages it was represented by 1
and varying numbers of yod’s, vav’s, strokes, and dots, from
which developed the use of yod’s. It has been estimated that
there are over 80 substitutes for the Divine Name.
Abbreviation of Names
These are found in connection with euphemisms for the living
and eulogies for the dead, in prayers, letters, etc. The Talmud
(Git. 36a) reports that the amoraim Hisda and Hoshaya signed
themselves ’D and 'Y, respectively, and other names were ab-
breviated in talmudic times (e.g, Resh Lakish for R. Simeon
b. Lakish). In medieval times the names of famous rabbis
were abbreviated, vowels added, and the resultant abbrevi-
ation pronounced (e.g., x7 — o1w73 72°12 721), a practice
also adopted by and for later scholars and their families (e.g.,
2” m97 — Tosi? On Aw 797 52779 — 2 TTT 79742). The gen-
eral term for the talmudic sages was ?”IN — 1972? ODT 7997.
In the emancipation period, when the Jews had to adopt sur-
names, Hebrew abbreviations often formed the basis of “sec-
ular” names (e.g., Baeck, 2”2 - Ni? V3 or WI? 712). Hasidic
leaders were referred to as V’WO7N — 32271 171 32)78. The
name Katz (7”2 — 78 2) stood for families of priestly de-
scent, and Segal (9”39 — 1°17 130) for those of levite origin.
On talmudic ossuaries the letters ’X - OX and ’w — of?w ap-
pear after the name of the deceased, while on later tomb-
stones 7”231N — O° T7182 77798 iW) AN (see 1 Sam. 25:29),
7”D — 13/71 75, and 0”) — 7170 AD (meaning “here lies buried”)
are common. When referring in letters to deceased persons,
it is customary to attach eulogistic abbreviations, such as
a” — 123! NID P19, used by children during the year of
mourning (Kid. 31b; Sh. Ar, yD 240:9); DIRT — 7273? PTS 133
2” — 7972? 131791 (Prov. 10:7); 7” — OVW P?2y; in correspon-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
dence it became usual to prefix *letters and occasionally also
printed matter and books with 92 ,A”ya ,A”ya — ‘7A nya
(“With the help of God”) or nw - Pan "Ta? TM W (“T
have set the Lord always before me”; Ps. 16:8). The addressee
may be greeted with 1’? — fN12) TS INWW? or NONI AIwI
"13 — 7972791, both meaning “May God protect him.” The for-
mula 9”1702 — 01¥/7 11277 0773 was used to affirm the se-
crecy of letters. The final greeting in the modern idiom is
wy — ofoy nwt and 0”) or 0”0D — 210 92 or N70 Dv YD.
Names of Towns
The letters 8’? - DTN vy mY (“May God's city be rebuilt?
referring to Jerusalem) are appended after the name of any
city; after the name of a city in Israel (1’N — ]213N) 72M);
and after mentioning Jerusalem (7777792 JIN) Tan UW TP Vy
N22 NPY — JON 1 or NINN — wPy2 TWA WM 7).
The names of Diaspora towns mentioned in Hebrew writing
are also abbreviated, e.g., 0”1W for Speyer, Worms, and Mainz;
w”1 for Nikolsburg; 0755 for Frankfurt on the Main; and 7X
for the triple community of Altona-Hamburg-Wandsbeck.
Book Titles
The best-known abbreviations for *book titles are those for
the Hebrew Bible, 7”3n, composed of the initial letters of
DIN) OI Tn, and ow - oD NW for the Babylo-
nian Talmud. Some Jewish classics have become known by
the abbreviated form of their titles, thus almost completely
obscuring the author’s name and book title; thus the "3%
maa nimi? of Isaiah b. Abraham *Horowitz is invariably
referred to as the 7”?W, as is its author. At the beginning
of books frequently appear abbreviations such as Nix23 7
OD” NIDYRA — 120 Ipy? eX w? Jaw way or NYiy OVD “TY
Vwy "py — pix) ow, while the Ashkenazi Jews often end
with y"22win — oiy N12 YX? nw O2wI) ON. In the Mid-
dle Ages manuscripts were often completed with Jn11 7173
212 - 119 19°", derived from Isa. 40:29 (see *Hebrew Book
Titles; *Manuscripts).
In Kabbalah
In medieval kabbalistic literature a combination of letters was
termed zeruf otiyyot (cf. Ber. 55a, etc.), while the term gilgul
was introduced later. Abbreviations were used for frequently
recurring concepts (e.g., Y”71N — TY 071 077 WR, “fire, wind,
water, earth”) and the notarikon 0”71D — TiD WIT 1797 UW»
(“plain, symbolic, homiletic, esoteric”), describing the four
types of biblical hermeneutics. The spread of mysticism led
to an increasing use of abbreviation similar to the talmudic
simanim (e.g., WWN12 — DN O°? OW YP] N12); such terms
are considered as possessing particularly profound and se-
cret qualities (see *Magic). Abbreviations also appear on
“amulets.
Misunderstandings and Misinterpretations
The increasing and inconsistent use of abbreviations has in-
evitably led to occasional confusion and made the study of
Hebrew texts more difficult, a fact recognized in the 16 cen-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABBREVIATIONS
tury by Solomon Luria (Yam shel Shelomo, Hul. 6:6). Misinter-
pretations have occurred when ambiguous abbreviations were
printed in full. In any case, difficulties arise when an abbrevia-
tion can be read in more than one way, so that, e.g., in a biblio-
graphical context 1”7 could be read as AN’S’P) O1DT (“Printed
in Venice”), or 1711 01D7 (“Printed in Warsaw”), or 1377) DIDJ
(“Printed in Vilna”), or 73°) 01D7 (“Printed in Vienna”). Be-
cause of the risk of misrepresentation, no abbreviations may be
used in a bill of divorce (Git. 36a and Sh. Ar., EH 126) or other
religious documents. Misrepresentations have also occurred
in the work of censors and Christian scholars (e.g., three yod’s
have been taken to denote the trinity). Hebrew abbreviations
have been found on Christian amulets, and Christian writers
have used kabbalistic methods, such as regarding a complete
word as notarikon (e.g., 812 as 1X 117 72). Because of the many
obscurities in Hebrew writings, which Christian scholars were
anxious to study, a guide to abbreviations was needed and it
was a non-Jew, Johannes *Buxtorf the Elder, who produced
the pioneer work De Abbreviaturis Hebraicis (1613). The first
Jewish work of this kind, by Elijah *Levita, concentrated
mainly on the masoretic ambiguities; lists of abbreviations
were eventually added to Hebrew works and were followed
by independent, comprehensive compilations. Of these, the
following are the most important: J. Ezekiel, Kethonet Yoseph:
A Handbook of Hebrew Abbreviations (Heb.-Eng., 1887); G.H.
Haendler, Erkhei ha-Notarikon (1897); M. Heilprin, Ha-No-
tarikon ... (1872, 1930); A. Stern, Sefer Rashei Tevot (1926); S.
Chajes, Ozar Beduyei ha-Shem (pseudonyms; 1933); S. Ashke-
nazi and D. Jarden, Ozar Rashei Tevot ... (1965; 1978); S. Ash-
kenazi, Mefaneah Nelamim (1969); A. Steinsalz, Rashei Tevot
ve-Kizzurim be-Sifrut ha-Hasidut ve-ha-Kabbalah (1968); U.
Tadmor, Ha-Notarikin ba-Ivrit ha-Yisreelit, Leshonenu La-Am
39, 225-57; Y. Ben-Tolila, Ha-Iivrit ha-Medubberet, Leshonenu
L-Aam 40-41 (1990), 266-78.
[Ruth P. Lehmann]
Abbreviations in Jewish Folklore
Many abbreviations were misinterpreted (often quite inten-
tionally) and caused misunderstandings which became part
of the Jewish folklore. For example, the Yaknehaz abbreviation
in the Passover Haggadah, denoting the order of the bene-
dictions (yayin, kiddush, ner, havdalah, zeman), was under-
stood as the German jagn Has (“hunt the hare”) and pictures
of a hare hunt accompany the relevant passage in the printed
Haggadah. Many folk etymologies are based upon the notion
that the obscure word is an abbreviation; so, e.g., the word
afikoman is explained by the Yemenite Haggadah as an abbre-
viation of egozim (“nuts”), perot (“fruits”), yayin (“wine”), keli-
yyot (“parched grain’), u-vasar (“and meat”), mayim (“water”),
nerd (“spices”). The abbreviation of Akum for Oved Kokhavim
u-Mazzalot (“worshiper of the stars and constellations”) was
interpreted by antisemitic propaganda (Rohling) as Oved
Christum u-Miryam (“Worshiper of Christ and Mary”).
[Dov Noy]
239
‘ABD AL-HAQQ AL-ISLAMI
Abbreviations in Learning
Many abbreviations were set up to help students memorize
rules such as in Hebrew grammar or in Halakhah. Of this type
are bg’d kf”t, Imn’r, in classifying Hebrew characters which
show the same phonetic behavior, or shemelakhto bina to
mark the group of 11 servile letters as against the other 11 let-
ters that only appear as radicals. These are well known. Here
and there can be found local acronyms, as in Tetouan (Mo-
rocco), where the word romah based on “wayiqqah ROMAH
beyado” (Num. 25:7) was adapted to summarize the halakhot
that deal with the conditions under which a shofar’s hole can
be repaired: rubbo (if the greater part of the shofar was kept
untouched), mino (the hole can only be filled with a material
of the shofar’s type), hazar (the original sound of the shofar
did not change after the repair).
[Aharon Maman (2 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Simonsen, in: ZHB, 4 (1900), 87-92; Loew-
enstein, in: Festschrift ... A. Berliner (1903), 255-64; J.R. Marcus, in:
Jubilee Volume ... A. Marx (Eng. vol., 1950), 447-80; Elijah Levitas,
Masoret ha-Masoret, ed. by C.D. Ginsburg (1867), 3, 244-68; Steinsch-
neider, in: Archiv fuer Stenographie (1887), nos. 466, 467; Neubauer,
in: JQR, 7 (1894/95), 361-4; F. Perles, Analekten ..., 1 (1895), 4-353 S.
Schechter and S. Singer (ed.), Talmudical Fragments in the Bodleian
Library (1896); W. Bacher, Exegetische Terminologie ..., 1 (1899), 125-8;
2 (1905), 124; G.R. Driver, in: Textus, 1 (1960), 112-31; 4 (1964), 76-94;
idem, Judaean Scrolls (1965), 335-46; Yeda-Am, 2, no. 30 (1966), in-
dex, 189, s.v. Notarikon.
‘ABD AL-HAQQ AL-ISLAMI (end of 14" century), Jewish
convert to Islam. ‘Abd al-Haqq was apparently a Moroccan Jew
(the surname indicates a convert to Islam). We know next to
nothing of his identity or his background. Towards the end
of the 14" century, at the age of about 40, he converted to Is-
lam. Sixteen years later he wrote a work in Arabic, The Sword
Extended in Refutation of the Rabbis of the Jews, attacking the
Jews and demonstrating the falsity of their beliefs. The text is
an unsophisticated manual for disputations with Jews, and
uses standard arguments of Islamic anti-Jewish polemic.
‘Abd al-Haqq claims that the *dhimma, or contract, be-
tween Islam and the Jews has been abrogated by the Jews
themselves, as they are no longer genuine monotheists. Mis-
treatment of the prophets by Jews of biblical times shows this,
as does the introduction of post-biblical feasts. The transmis-
sion of their Scriptures from early times cannot be trusted,
and they have introduced falsifications into the texts, as can
be seen from the presence of anthropomorphic passages in
the Bible. The books of the Jews, in particular the biblical
texts, he asserts, should thus be censored. Nonetheless, like
other polemicists (e.g., *Samau’al al-Maghribi), ‘Abd al-Haqq
is able to claim authenticity for the biblical text when it agrees
with his case, and, making use of knowledge from his Jewish
background, he appeals to gematria to show that Muhammad
and Mecca are referred to in the Bible — thus, in Genesis 12:9,
where Abraham is said to have gone “towards the south,” ha-
negbah in Hebrew, ‘Abd al-Haqq points out that the numeri-
240
cal value of the letters in this word, 65, is the same as that of
the letters in the name of the city of *Mecca. By similar means
he shows that king Ahab (in 1 Kings 20:6 and 22:35) was a be-
liever in Muhammad.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Perlmann, “Abd al-Hakk al-Islami, a
Jewish Convert,’ in: sar, New Series 31, (1940/41), 171-91; E. Al-
fonso (ed. and trans., with intro. and notes), Al-Sayf al-Mamdiud fi
al-radd ‘ala ahbar al-Yahid. Espada extendida para refutar a los sa-
bios judios (1998).
[David J. Wasserstein (2™4 ed.)]
ABDALLAH, YUSEF (late 19'-early 20" century), char-
latan who revived messianic activity in Yemen in the 1890s.
He began his activities no later than 1888 as the herald of the
messiah. The leaders of the Jewish community in Sana, led by
Hayyim *Hibshush, actively opposed him until they succeeded
in persuading the police chief and the Turkish authorities in
San/a to deport him from the city (1895) to the town of Shibam
northwest of Sana, where he remained with little influence
until his death. Abdallah struggled against his opponents by
means of letters and poems. The latter-day discovery and pub-
lication of a three-page manuscript of his includes four poems
which do not exhibit any extraordinary talent, being in fact
trivial in comparison to run-of-the-mill Yemenite poetry. Sur-
prisingly, its content is far from revealing messianic tenden-
cies. It does not offer the slightest suggestion of his supposed
status as a messiah, or as the messenger of the messiah. All that
appears in the poetry in this respect is a plea for redemption
and the hastening of the arrival of the messiah, motifs familiar
in Hebrew poetry throughout the generations. What can be
found there are complaints about his opponents in the Jewish
community and the Turkish and Muslim authorities. As op-
posed to the negative picture described by Hibshush, Korah
and most scholars (apart from Nini) find no deviation from
the Jewish tradition of messianic expectations and observance
of religious law in the poems.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Kafah, “Hayyim Hibshush, in: Sefunot,
2 (1958), 278-79; A. Yaari, Shevut Teiman (1945), 124-48; Y. Tobi,
Pirkei Shirah, 4 (2005); Y. Nini, The Jews of Yemen, 1880-1914 (1991),
145-50; B. Eraqi Klorman, The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Cen-
tury (1993), 158-64; A. Korah, Saarat Teiman, 53-55; Y. Ratzahbi, Boi
Teman (1967), 204-13.
[Yosef Tobi (2™4 ed.)]
ABDALLAH IBN SABA’ (also called Ibn al-Sawda; seventh
century), supposedly a Jew of south Arabian origin, and re-
garded as the founder of the Shi‘ite sect (one of the two main
branches of Islam) shortly after Muhammad's death. The re-
ports by Arab historians concerning his role are contradictory
and perhaps reflect the tendency to charge a Jew with partial
responsibility for the internal feuds of the Islamic community.
Abdallah asserted that Muhammad is the Messiah, who will
appear a second time. Meanwhile, ‘Ali, the son-in-law of Mu-
hammad, is his representative. After the assassination of ‘Ali
(661), Abdallah allegedly denied that ‘Ali had died, asserting
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
that the slain man was a demon who had taken on ‘Ali's fea-
tures; ‘Ali himself was hiding among the clouds, and would
return to earth later to establish the Kingdom of Justice. The
doctrine that not ‘Ali, but someone of similar appearance, had
been murdered, has its precedent in the teachings of a Chris-
tian sect which denied the crucifixion of Jesus, a belief which
persists in the Christology of the *Koran (Stra 4: 156). But the
messianic concepts ascribed to Abdallah show traces of Jew-
ish (two Messiahs) and Christian origin and differ from the
messianic concepts which became generally recognized within
the Shi‘a. In these, the Messiah (who was identical not with
‘Ali himself, but with one of his descendants) was hiding in a
mountain in the vicinity of *Kafa (in Iraq).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Friedlaender, in: ZA, 23 (1909), 296-327; 24
(1910), 1-46; Levi della Vida, in: RSO, 6 (1913), 504; C. van Arendonk,
De Opkomst van het Zaidietsche Imamaat. (1919), 7; Hirschberg, in:
Vienna Jewish Theological Seminary Memorial Volume (1946), 122-3;
EIS”, 1 (1960), 51 (includes bibliography).
[Josef Horovitz]
ABDALLAH IBN SALAM (seventh century c.£.), one of
Muhammad’s Jewish followers. The name of his father, Salam,
was used only among Jews in the Arabia of that time. Ab-
dallah’s family is usually regarded as belonging to the Banu
*Qaynuqa, one of the Jewish clans of Yathrib (Medina), al-
though some associated it with the typically Arabic clan of the
Zayd al-Lat, which implies that they were under the protec-
tion of the latter. Abdallah is said to have been converted by
Muhammad soon after the latter’s arrival in Medina. When his
former coreligionists told Muhammad “He [Abdallah] is our
master and the son of our master” Muhammad invited them
to follow Abdallah’s example. The Jews refused, and only his
immediate family, notably his aunt Khalida, embraced Islam.
According to other versions, Abdallah’s conversion occurred
because of the strength of Muhammad's answers to his ques-
tions. Another account, which places Abdallah’s conversion
at a much later date, has more intrinsic plausibility. After
Muhammad's death Abdallah was in the entourage of Caliph
‘Uthman and made a vain attempt to prevent his assassina-
tion. A year later he warned ‘Ali against leaving Medina. If all
the obviously legendary and biased accounts about Abdallah
are eliminated, not much concrete information remains. His
relationship to Ahmad ibn Abdallah ibn Salam, a translator of
biblical writings, is unclear. Originally the Jewish scholars of
Medina were presented as the questioners of Muhammad, and
only later did Abdallah figure. The three questions ascribed
to him form the core of the volume entitled Questions of Ab-
dallah ibn Salam, first mentioned in 963, which is known ina
number of adaptations as A Thousand Questions. Outside the
context of this work Abdallah is repeatedly mentioned as the
source for tales from biblical times. Genizah fragments have
recently yielded a Jewish version of the Abdallah legend in
which he appears as *Absalom.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Hisham (‘Abd al-Malik), The Life of Mu-
hammad, tr. by A. Guillaume (1955), 240, 262, 267; Waqidi, Kitab al
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABDUCTION
Maghazi, ed. by J. Wellhausen (Ger., 1882), 164, 215; Ibn Sa‘d (Muham-
mad), Biographien Muhammeds, 2, pt. 2 (1912), 111; (al-) Tabari (Mu-
hammad ibn Jarir), Annales, 1 (Ar., 1879), index; Baladhuri (Ahmad
ibn Yahya), Ansdb al-Ashrdaf, 5 (Ar., 1936), 74-76, 90; Goitein, in:
Zion, 1 (1936), 77-78; Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 8-9; Chapira, in: REJ,
69 (1919), 91; Mann, in: JQR, 12 (1921/22), 127-8; Brockelmann, Arab
Lit, 1 (1943), 209; EIS”, 1 (1960), 52.
[Josef Horovitz]
°ABD AL-MALIK IBN MARWAN (ruled 685-705), *Uma-
yyad caliph who restored the unity of the young Arab Empire
after years of civil wars. ‘Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the
Rockand the al-Aqsa Mosque in the Temple area in Jerusalem.
The building of the Dome was an act of propaganda for the
Muslim faith, partly directed against the still strong Christian
community, as is proved by the inscriptions inside the Dome.
The restoration of the Temple site to a state of splendor im-
pressed mystically inclined Jewish circles. There is no infor-
mation about the general situation of the Jews under ‘Abd al-
Malik’s rule. According to the majority of sources the armed
rising of the Jewish pseudo-messiah Abt ‘Isa of Isfahan was
suppressed during his reign. The Jew Sumayr was master of the
mint in Iraq during the monetary reforms of ‘Abd al-Malik.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and
Institutions (1966), 135-48; idem, in: Zion, 1 (1935), 80-81; Hirschberg,
in: Rocznik Orientalistyczny, 17 (1951-52), 314-50. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: EIS”, 1 (1960), 70-71, bibl.
[Shelomo Dov Goitein]
ABDON (Heb. 71724), a name occurring in the Bible in several
different contexts. (1) Abdon the son of Hillel, a minor judge,
who came from a town in Ephraim, possibly to be identified
with the village Fara‘ata southwest of Shechem (Judg. 12:13-15).
He “judged” Israel for eight years. The Bible states that “he had
40 sons and 30 grandsons, making 70 descendants who rode
on 70 donkeys.” This statement may be intended to indicate
that Abdon and his descendants had widespread influence and
wealth. (2) Abdon the son of Micah (11 Chron. 34:20), proba-
bly corrupt for *Achbor the son of Micaiah (11 Kings 22:12-14).
(3) A Benjamite family (1 Chron. 8:12, 30; 9:36).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Kaufmann, Sefer Shofetim (1962), 234;
M.Z. Segal, Sifrei Shemuéel (1964), 88; Noth, Personennamen, index;
Hertzberg, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, 79 (1954).
ABDUCTION (or Manstealing; Heb. #1233, genevat ne-
fesh), stealing of a human being for capital gain. According
to the Bible, abduction is a capital offense. “He who kidnaps a
man - whether he has sold him or is still holding him - shall
be put to death” (Ex. 21:16); and, “Ifa man is found to have
kidnapped a fellow Israelite, enslaving him or selling him,
that kidnapper shall die” (Deut. 24:7). The first passage ap-
pears to prohibit the abduction of any person, while the lat-
ter is confined to Israelites only; the first appears to outlaw
any abduction, however motivated (cf. Codex Hammurapi,
14), while the latter requires either enslavement or sale as an
241
ABDUCTION
essential element to constitute the offense. Talmudic law, in
order to reconcile these conflicting scriptural texts or to ren-
der prosecution for this capital offense more difficult (or for
both purposes), made the detention, the enslavement, and
the sale of the abducted person all necessary elements of the
offense, giving the Hebrew “and” (which in the translation
quoted above is rendered as “or”) its cumulative meaning
(Sanh. 85b, 86a). Thus, abduction without detention or en-
slavement or sale, like enslavement or sale or detention with-
out abduction, however morally reprehensible, was not pun-
ishable (even by *flogging), because none of these acts was
in itself a completed offense. On the other hand, even the
slightest, most harmless, and casual use of the abducted per-
son would amount to “enslavement”; and as for the “sale,” it
does not matter that the sale of any human being (other than
a slave) is legally void (BK 68b). In this context, any attempt
at selling the person, by delivering him or her into the hands
of a purchaser, would suffice. However, the attempted sale has
to be proved in addition to the purchaser’s custody, because
giving away the abducted person as a gift would not be a “sale”
even for this purpose (Rashba to BK 78b). The term rendered
in the translation quoted above as “kidnap” is ganov (“steal”).
The injunction of the Decalogue, “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex.
20:13), has been interpreted to refer to the stealing of persons
rather than the stealing of chattels. The reason for this is both
because the latter is proscribed elsewhere (Lev. 19:11), and be-
cause of the context of the command next to the interdictions
of murder and adultery, both of which are capital offenses and
offenses against the human person (Mekh. Mishpatim 5). It
has been said that this interpretation reflects the abhorrence
with which the talmudic jurists viewed this particular crime;
alternatively, it has been maintained that the reliance on the
general words “Thou shalt not steal” made the interdiction of
manstealing applicable also to non-Jews and hence amounted
to a repudiation of slave trading, which in other legal systems
of the period was considered wholly legitimate.
There is no recorded instance of any prosecution for ab-
duction - not, presumably, because no abductions occurred,
but because it proved difficult, if not impossible, to find the re-
quired groups of *witnesses. These would have been required
not only for each of the constituent elements of the offense, but
also for the prescribed warnings that first had to be adminis-
tered to the accused in respect of the abduction, the detention,
the enslavement, and the sale, separately. The classical instance
of abduction reported in the Bible is Joseph's sale into slavery
(Gen. 37; cf. 40:15, “I was kidnapped from the land of the He-
brews”). In the Talmud there is a report from Alexandria that
brides were abducted from under the canopy (BM 1048; Tosef.
Ket. 4:9), not necessarily for enslavement or sale, but (as it ap-
pears from the context) for marriage to the abductors.
[Haim Hermann Cohn]
In Israeli Law
TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS TO ENGAGE IN PROSTI-
TUTION. At the beginning of 2000, in the framework of
242
Amendment 56 of the Penal Law, provisions were enacted
that prohibited trafficking in human beings for engagement
in prostitution. Pursuant to this amendment, section 2034 of
the Penal Law established a maximum punishment of 16 years’
imprisonment for anyone who “sells or purchases a person in
order to engage him in prostitution or serving as a middleman
in the selling or purchasing of a person for this purpose.”
Trafficking in human beings has been prohibited since
the very dawn of the history of Jewish Law, in the frame-
work of the commandment of “Thou shall not steal” (Ex.
20:12; Deut. 5:16) and the prohibitions concerning abduction
mentioned above. “Joseph's sale by his brothers was an igno-
minious episode of Jewish history and was regarded as hav-
ing sealed the fate of the Ten Martyrs” (see Rubinstein). The
Knesset’s enactment of the aforementioned amendment was
in accordance with Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom,
sec. 2 of which states: “There shall be no violation of the life,
body, or dignity of any person as such,’ while sec. 4 states
that “All persons are entitled to protection of their life, body,
and dignity.”
Jewish Law’s prohibition of abduction and the death
penalty imposed on the abductor are only applicable upon
the satisfaction of four cumulative conditions: an abduction
of a human being; the abductee’s detention in the abductor’s
premises; the abductee’s enslavement by the abductor; and the
abductee’s subsequent sale to another (Maim., Yad, Genevah
9:2). Some of the geonim were lenient regarding the require-
ment that all four conditions be satisfied and convicted the
abductor where he had abducted and sold, or abducted and
enslaved (see in detail Halakhah Berurah, Sanh. 85b).
The Israeli legislator broadened the prohibition to in-
clude serving as a middleman, in addition to the elements of
abduction, detention, and sale. Under Israeli Law both the ab-
ductor-seller and the buyer are equally culpable and share the
same punishment, whereas under Jewish law the abductor is
the sole offender. The need for deterrence led the Israeli leg-
islator to broaden the circle of offenders, imposing criminal
liability upon the seller, the middleman, and the buyer. With
respect to punishment for trading in women, this facilitates
punishment even if only some of those involved in the offense
are actually caught, and even if the prime actor — the seller — is
still at large (occasionally abroad) and hence difficult to cap-
ture. The Supreme Court stressed that the prohibition of trad-
ing in human beings is intended to prevent violations of hu-
man dignity, especially that of women sold for prostitution.
Hence, section 203A of the Penal Law should be constructed
broadly and applied to any transaction that results in a per-
son being treated as property, be it by way of sale, day-hiring,
borrowing, partnership, or any other creation of a proprietary
connection to a person (Cr. A 11196/02 Prodental v. State of
Israel, 57 (6) 40, per Justice Beinish).
CHILD ABDUCTION. The Hague Convention on the Civil As-
pects of International Child Abduction was signed in 1980.
In 1991, Israel incorporated the Convention’s provisions into
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Knesset legislation and empowered the Family Courts to en-
force them. The goal of the Convention was to secure the
prompt return of illegally abducted children to their countries
of residence prior to their abduction.
We already find a claim of child abduction in the Bible,
where Laban complains about Jacob’s flight from Aram Na-
haraim together with his wives and children (i.e., Laban’s
daughters and grandchildren). Upon finding Jacob at Mt. Gil-
ead, Laban cries: “What have you done, that you have cheated
me, and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword.
Why did you flee secretly, and cheat me, and did not tell me,
so that I might have sent thee away with mirth and songs, with
timbrel and lyre? And why did you not permit me to kiss my
sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done fool-
ishly” (Gen. 31:26-28).
The Convention's point of departure is the provision that
abduction is a violation of one of the parent’s custodial rights,
“under the law of the State in which the child was habitually
resident immediately before the removal or the retention” of
the child (Article 3(a) of the Convention). Consequently, car-
dinal importance attaches to the determination of where the
minor's habitual place of residence was, prior to the abduc-
tion. In one of the judgments given in the Jerusalem District
Court, an halakhic principle was invoked in order to deter-
mine the minor’s customary place of residence. The minor's
parents were observant Jews. The father - then resident with
his family in Oxford while writing his doctoral thesis - did
not observe the Second Day of Festivals ordinarily observed
by Jews living outside Israel. His adherence to the Israeli cus-
tom in this respect led the Court to infer that the locus of his
life had remained in Israel. Consequently, the child’s removal
to Israel could not be regarded as abduction (F.A. 575/04 (Jer.)
Anon. v. Anon.). In reaching this conclusion the Court ad-
duced extensive halakhic material, from the Talmud (TB Pes.
51a, 52), Maimonides (Yad, Yom Tov 8:2), Shulhan Arukh (oH
493:3), and the responsa (Radbaz, 4:73).
The Convention provides that there may be a justifica-
tion for not returning the child if “it finds that the child ob-
jects to being returned and has attained an age and degree
of maturity at which it is appropriate to take account of its
views” (Article 13 of Convention, concluding phrase). One of
the judgments includes a comprehensive discussion of how to
determine whether the child is of an age and level that justi-
fies taking account of his views. The Court noted that “in the
State of Israel, as a Jewish state, consideration is accorded to
the Jewish heritage, where the matter concerns consideration
for the children’s wishes and the age at which the law gives
effect to the expression of their position” (F.a. (Jer) 621/04
Anon. v. Anon.). One of the sources upon which the decision
was based was the mishnah in Niddah 5:6. This mishnah states
that vows made by a girl aged 12 are considered efficacious,
while between the ages of 11 and 12 the girl’s level of intellec-
tual maturity and comprehension are “examined.” In the case
of boys, his standing vis-a-vis vows is examined between the
ages of 12 and 13, while after age 13 his vows too are fully ef-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABDULLAH IBN HUSSEIN
ficacious, like those of a girl at age 12. The Babylonian Tal-
mud ad loc. states that “the Holy One Blessed be He endowed
woman with greater wisdom than the man,’ in light of the fact
that the girl reaches maturity before the boy (cf. Torah Temi-
mah, Gen. 2:22, $48). The District Court concluded that in
the case in question, two of the four daughters were capable
of expressing their position - which was against returning to
the United States and in favor of staying in Israel. This posi-
tion was adopted in consideration of their age, which is the
age at which an undertaking for a vow is binding under Jewish
Law. As such it is also an age at which the Court can form its
impression that their wishes are of a nature that ought to be
respected, pursuant to Article 13 of the Convention
The very enactment of the Hague Convention Law in
Israel may be viewed as the endorsement of a fundamental
principle of Jewish Law, namely, that the child is not an ob-
ject to be moved from country to country, and abducted by
one parent against the wishes of the second parent; but an in-
dependent legal entity, vested with both standing and rights
(see also *Parent and Child).
[Moshe Drori (2™ ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Daube, Studies in Biblical Law (1947);
ET, 5 (1953), 386-93; S. Mendelsohn, Criminal Jurisprudence of the
Ancient Hebrews (19687), 52, 126. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Rubin-
stein, Sakhar be-Venei Adam la-Asok be-Zenut - Sugiyyot be-Mish-
pat ha-Zibburi be- Yisrael (2003), 360-364; A. Ha-Cohen, “And There
»
Shall You Be Sold to Your Enemies as Bondsman...” in: Parashat ha-
Shavua, Ki-Tavo, vol. 179 (2004) - Ministry of Justice, Department
of Jewish Law, and the Center for the Instruction and Research of
Jewish Law, Sha/arei Mishpat College.
“ABDULLAH IBN HUSSEIN (1882-1951), first king of the
Hashemite Kingdom of *Jordan. Abdullah was born in Mecca,
the second son of the sharif Hussein ibn Ali, into the Hash-
emite family that traced its descent from the prophet Muham-
mad and had been rulers of Mecca from the 11" century C.E.
He grew up in Constantinople, where he received the tradi-
tional education of a Muslim gentleman and became, in ef-
fect, his father’s political secretary. After Hussein had been
installed as emir of Mecca in 1908, Abdullah was instrumental
in the secret negotiations with the British that resulted in the
“Arab Revolt” of 1916 and in the Allies’ recognition of Hus-
sein as king of the Hejaz. Toward the end of 1920 Abdullah
moved north with a Bedouin army with the avowed intent of
restoring his brother Faisal, who had just been evicted by the
French, to the throne of Syria. At a meeting in Jerusalem in
March 1921, Winston *Churchill, then British colonial secre-
tary, offered Abdullah the administration of Transjordan. Out
of this tentative arrangement grew the emirate of Transjordan,
with Abdullah as hereditary ruler, under the general terms of
the British mandate over Palestine, which comprised Trans-
jordan, but with the clauses pertaining to the Jewish National
Home expressly deleted. The police of the emirate, soon styled
the “Arab Legion,” developed into a field force during World
War 1 under John B. Glubb and took on a Bedouin character
243
ABDUL MEJID I
more and more. In 1946 a treaty with Britain awarded Abdul-
lah formal independence, and he assumed the royal title forth-
with. In 1948 the Arab Legion, with British connivance, oc-
cupied the greater part of Samaria and Judea (designated by
the uN resolution of Nov. 29, 1947, as part of an independent
Arab State). This was secured by Abdullah in the 1949 armi-
stice with Israel, and he incorporated these territories into his
kingdom, henceforth called Jordan. On July 20, 1951, Abdullah
was assassinated as he left al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. His
murder was generally ascribed to revenge for his readiness to
negotiate with Israel for the partition of Palestine and the an-
nexation of its Arab sections. It was also the culmination of
his long-standing feud with the Husseini family and its head
Hajj Amin, the former Mufti of Jerusalem.
Ever since he had arrived in Transjordan Abdullah had
been dissatisfied with the barren, desolate piece of land al-
lotted to him by the British and, from the outset, sought to
expand his realm. His prime vision was of a multinational
Hashemite Greater Syria, but as a pragmatist, he was ready
to settle for Palestine or even for its Arab sections alone.
Hence, even though Abdullah’s published views of the Pales-
tine problem did not deviate from those of Arab nationalists
in general, his moderate style when addressing Westerners
made them, if anything, more effective. In the Israeli War of
Independence, the Arab Legion proved the most dangerous
enemy Israel faced in the field. However, for much of the 30-
year period of his political activity, Abdullah maintained se-
cret contacts with Jewish leaders, assuring them of his readi-
ness to cooperate on his own terms. The highlights of these
contacts were an agreement in 1933 with the *Jewish Agency
(subsequently disavowed by Abdullah) to lease about 70,000
dunams of crown land in the Jordan Valley and intermittent
talks between Abdullah and certain Jewish leaders (prominent
among whom were Golda *Meir and Eliyahu *Sasson) dur-
ing the War of Independence. All these contacts were without
tangible result, with the exception of the modifications in the
1949 armistice line with Jordan. Yet he continued his nego-
tiations with Israel for a peace treaty or for a non-aggression
pact until 1950. Abdullah was a confirmed Arab nationalist,
but, self-possessed and of an ancient ruling family, he lacked
that admixture of frustration and hatred that became a char-
acteristic of the next generation's nationalism. Moreover, even
before World War 1, Arab nationalism had been welded to his
vision of Hashemite aggrandizement, and this twin concept
never lost its hold on him. Abdullah is best understood as
an opportunistic politician, short-range realist, and dynastic
dreamer, also in his dealings with the Jews of Erez Israel. The
1950 annexation of Arab Palestine (the “West Bank”) not only
led to his eventual murder but also completely changed the
nature and the future of Jordan. He wrote Memoirs of King
Abdullah of Transjordan (English tr., 1950) and My Memoirs
Completed (English tr., 1954).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.B. Glubb, A Soldier with the Arabs (1957),
index; idem, Story of the Arab Legion (1948), index; A. al-Tall, Karithat
244
Filastin (1949) (Hebrew tr. Zikhronot Abdallah al-Tall, 1960), passim.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: K.T. Nimri, Abdullah Ibn Hussein, A Study
in Arab Political Leadership (1977); M.C. Wilson, King Abdullah, Brit-
ain and the Making of Jordan (1987).
[Uriel Dann / Joseph Nevo (2"4 ed.)]
°ABDUL MBEJID I (1823-1861), 315t sultan of the Ottoman
Empire; the elder son of Mahmud 11 and his favorite wife,
Bezm-i ‘Alem. On November 3, 1839, four months after he
ascended the throne, he proclaimed the Hatt-i Sherif of Gul-
hane, which inaugurated the Tanzimat period and in which
he pledged the security of life, honor, and property for all the
subjects of the empire. Following this, many reforms were un-
dertaken to implement the contents of the edict. During his
reign the Crimean War broke out (1853-56). Under the pres-
sure of England and France, his allies in the war, the Porte
abolished the poll tax (1855), which had been levied upon
Jews and Christians since the Arab conquest. Instead, a tax
called Bedel-i Askeri (substitute for military service) was lev-
ied from non-Muslim conscripts in lieu of military service.
The crisis which led to the war brought the rise of a new gen-
eration of statesmen at the Porte, led by Ali and Fu’ad Pashas,
who were more open toward the west than their predecessors.
In February 1856, just before the war ended, the sultan pro-
claimed a new reform edict (the Hatti-Humayun) in which
he granted civil and political equality for his non-Muslim
subjects in breach of the Muslim Law (the shari‘a), which
aroused much resentment among the Muslim majority. Dur-
ing Abdul Mejid’s reign important reforms were undertaken
in the army and in education (mainly to prepare government
functionaries), in the currency, and above all in the adminis-
tration of the provinces.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.J. Shaw & E.K. Shaw, History of the Ottoman
Empire and Modern Turkey, 2 (1977), 55ff.; B. Abu-Manneh, Studies
on Islam and the Ottoman Empire in the 19" Century (1826-1876)
(2001), 73-97.
[Butrus Abu-Maneh (2 ed.)]
ABECASSIS, ELIETTE (1969- ), French writer. Born in
Strasbourg to a Sephardi family of Moroccan origin, Eliette
is the daughter of French thinker Armand Abécassis, author
of La pensée juive. Deeply imbued with the religious atmo-
sphere of her childhood, Eliette Abécassis, after completeing
her studies in philosophy and literature at the prestigious Ecole
Normale Supérieure, published her first novel in 1996. Qum-
ran, a metaphysical and archaeological thriller, whose hero is
a young Orthodox Jew and whose plot revolves around the
famous Dead Sea Scrolls, was an instant bestseller. Her next
two books were centered on the theme of evil and its conta-
gion: Lor et la cendre (1997), a novel, and “Petite métaphy-
sique du meurtre” (1998), an essay. To write the screenplay
for Amos Gitai’s Franco-Israeli film Kaddosh, Abécassis im-
mersed herself for six months in the ultra-Orthodox Jeru-
salem neighborhood of Me’ah She’arim, an experience which,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
in addition to the screenplay, provided her with the plot of a
novel, La repudiée (2000). She also directed a short film, La
nuit de noces (2001).
[Dror Franck Sullaper (274 ed.)]
ABEL (Heb. 7217), the second son of Adam and Eve, murdered
by Cain, his older brother (Gen. 4:1-9). According to the bibli-
cal story, Abel was a shepherd and Cain worked the soil. Each
brought an offering to the Lord from fruits of his labor. Abel’s
sacrifice was accepted by the Lord, but Cain’s offering was re-
jected. Cain, in his jealousy, killed his brother. Explanations of
this story are usually sought in a traditional conflict between
agriculture and nomadism. Thus the preferential treatment
accorded Abel's sacrifice is seen as reflecting a supposed pas-
toral ideal in Israel. The narrative, however, does not in any
way support the existence of such an ideal, nor is there any
denigration of farming. On the contrary, working the land
seems to be considered man’s natural occupation (Gen. 2:15).
The antithesis between the brothers is therefore less one of
occupations than of qualities of offerings. Whereas Cain’s of-
fering is described simply as “of the fruits of the soil,” Abel is
recorded as having brought “of the choicest of the firstlings
of his flock.” The story, however, seems to be abbreviated. It
lacks any description of the initial motivation and the occa-
sion for the sacrifices and it fails to give the reasons for the
rejection of Cain's offering. Neither does it explain how the
Lord’s response became known to the brothers. The etymol-
ogy of Abel’s name is not clear. There may be some intended
connection with hevel (“breath, vapor, futility”), symbolizing
the tragic brevity of his life (cf., e.g., Eccles. 1:2), though for
some reason the derivation of the name is not given, as is the
case with Cain. There may also be some relation to the Akka-
dian aplu or ablu (“son”), parallel to the usage of the names
*Adam and *Enosh.
For Abel in aggadah, see *Cain.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N.M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis (1966),
28-32; E.A. Speiser, Genesis (1964), 29-33; U. Cassuto, Mi-Adam ad
Noah (1953), 131-9.
ABEL, AVEL (Heb. 738). (1) Name, appearing either alone or
with the addition of a further indicative place-name, of many
places in Erez Israel and Syria. Four cities with this name are
mentioned in the lists of Thutmose 111. Its meaning is appar-
ently “place of abundant water” (cf. Dan. 8:2-6, “stream”).
(2) Avel was a town in ancient Erez Israel which was situated
at the origin of the aqueduct of Sepphoris in the mishnaic
period (Er. 8:7; Tosef. Er. 9[6]:26). It is the present-day village
of al-Rayna, about 3 mi. (5 km.) S.E. of *Sepphoris.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ABEL, ELIE (1920-2004), U.S. journalist. Born in Montreal,
Canada, Abel received a bachelor’s degree from McGill Uni-
versity and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia
University (New York) in 1942. He began his career in jour-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABEL, EMIL
nalism at the Windsor, Ontario, Daily Star and at the Montreal
Gazette. During World War 11 he served in the Royal Canadian
Air Force. Abel was correspondent in Europe for the North
American Newspaper Alliance and also worked for the Over-
seas News Agency. In 1949, he joined the New York Times and
served for ten years in Washington, Detroit, Europe, and India.
In 1961, he moved into broadcasting, becoming a regular cor-
respondent on the NBC evening news program The Huntley-
Brinkley Report. During the 1960s, he covered the State De-
partment and served as the network’s London bureau chief
and chief diplomatic correspondent. After working with the
Detroit News and nBc, he was named dean of the Graduate
School of Journalism at Columbia (1969-79). He then moved
to Stanford University (1979-91), serving as chairman of the
Communications Department from 1983 to 1986. He also
served as Faculty Senate chair (1985-86) and directed the uni-
versity’s program in Washington, D.c. (1993).
Among his many accolades, Abel was awarded the Pu-
litzer Prize (1958), a Peabody Award (1967), and two Over-
seas Press Club awards (1969 and 1970). In 1998 he received
the Grand Prize for Press Freedom of the Inter-American
Press Association for his efforts to fight proposed regulation
of journalists.
Abel wrote many books, articles, and reviews. His first
book, Missile Crisis, appeared in 1966 and was considered the
definitive text on the Cuban crisis for decades after its publi-
cation. Abel is quoted as saying, “How close we came to Ar-
mageddon I did not fully realize until I started researching
this book” Roots of Involvement: The US. in Asia 1784-1971,
which he wrote with Marvin * Kalb, was published in 1971. His
book about Averell Harriman, Special Envoy to Churchill and
Stalin, 1941-1946, which he co-authored with Harriman, was
published in 1975. Abel’s last book, The Shattered Bloc: Behind
the Upheaval in Eastern Europe, was published in 1990.
[Ruth Beloff (2™4 ed.)]
ABEL, EMIL (1875-1958), Austrian physical chemist. He was
born in Vienna, where in 1908 he became the first profes-
sor of physical chemistry at the Technische Hochschule and
head of the Institute attached to the chair, and he established
a large and vigorous school. In 1938 he was dismissed under
the Nuremberg Laws and found refuge in England, where, un-
til his retirement, he was in charge of the research laboratory
of the Ever Ready Co. In an early series of brilliant papers on
homogeneous catalysis, he insisted that “it is reactions which
catalyse, not substances.” Later he contributed many publica-
tions on the reactions which occur in the lead chamber pro-
cess for making sulfuric acid. In England he worked on the
basic mechanism of the dry battery cell and wrote on mecha-
nisms based on electron transfer reactions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G.M. Schwab, in: Zeitschrift fuer Elektro-
chemie, 59 (1955), 591-2; P. Cross, ibid., 62 (1958), 831-3; Nature, 181
(1958), 1765-66.
[Samuel Aaron Miller]
245
ABEL, LOUIS FELIX
°ABEL, LOUIS FELIX (1878-1953), French archaeologist.
Abel was born in Saint-Uze (Drome), France, joined the
Dominican Order in 1898, and served as professor at the Ecole
Biblique in Jerusalem from 1903 until his death. His principal
work was Géographie de la Palestine, 2 vols. (1934), the first
dealing with physical geography, and the second with politi-
cal geography and topography. With L.H. *Vincent, he wrote
Jerusalem ancienne et nouvelle (1912-14), regarded as one of
the best monographs on Christian Jerusalem. He also col-
laborated with Vincent in monographs on Bethlehem, Em-
maus, and Hebron. Toward the end of his life, Abel published
his Histoire de la Palestine, 2 vols. (1952), covering the period
from Alexander the Great to the Arab conquest. His other
works include studies on the topography of the Hasmonean
Wars, an account of travels in the Jordan Valley and in the
Dead Sea area, as well as a grammar of the Septuagint and
the New Testament.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
°ABELARD (Abaelard), PETER (1079-1142), French phi-
losopher and theologian. Abelard composed the Dialogus
inter Philosophum. Judaeum et Christianum (1141; published
in PL, 178 (1855), 1611-82). In it a Jew and a Christian, who
accept revelation as adequate justification of their creed, are
challenged by a philosopher, an Arab by nationality, who ac-
cepts only reason and natural law as a basis for the discus-
sion. The dialogue does not offer a final conclusion, but this
might possibly reflect the author’s emphasis on the method of
discussion rather than on its results. In the dialogue the Jew
accepts belief in God’s revelation as the only norm for faith
and conduct; he asks the philosopher, who leads the debate,
to prove that such an attitude contradicts reason. In doing so
he expresses his people's confidence that God will finally ful-
fill the biblical promises of a blissful future and compensate
them for their depressed position in contemporary society,
which he describes in realistic detail. Being forced to pay for
survival is an everyday experience for the Jews. In contem-
porary circumstances they were unable to earn a livelihood
from agricultural property; they had to rely on profits from
money lending, an occupation which made them more odious
to their environment. In his reply the philosopher emphasizes
the contrast between this situation and the promise of pros-
perity in this world, which the Bible holds out for loyal obe-
dience. He concludes that either the Jews have not lived and
acted in accordance with divine command or their Law is not
the truth. The Christian, according to Abelard’s description,
although a believer in the authority of revelation, explains his
belief in spiritual values as the summun bonum in philosophi-
cal terms. Abelard used the apologetic writers of the patristic
age as his source, wishing to prove that his own attitude as a
philosophical interpreter of Christianity corresponded to the
classical tradition of the church. The contemporary Jew in his
Dialogus takes the place of the defender of particular tradi-
tions - Jewish or pagan — as depicted in the ancient ecclesias-
246
tical treatises adopting philosophical argument; this presenta-
tion precludes the possibility that Abelard intended to report
a contemporary exchange of arguments. His work is an apol-
ogy for his own life, and its fictional character is pointed out
by the description of the narrative as a dream. On the other
hand, the whole design indicates that such conversations with
Jews were not unusual in his time. Abelard indeed had some
personal contact with Jews and was present when one inter-
preted the Book of Kings. Abelard’s knowledge of Hebrew was
restricted to the word lists contained in the biblical studies of
St. Jerome. But the educational program of this church father
inspired Abelard’s recommendation to his former wife Helo-
ise that she and the nuns under her charge learn Hebrew for
a genuine understanding of Scripture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.G. Sikes, Peter Abailard (Eng., 1932); G.
Misch, Geschichte der Autobiographie, 3 pt. 2/1 (1959), 523-7193 H. Li-
ebeschutz, in: JJs, 12 (1961), 1-18; B. Smalley, Study of the Bible in the
Middle Ages (19522), index; E. Gilson, History of Christian Philosophy
in the Middle Ages (1955), 153-63.
[Hans Liebeschutz]
ABEL-BETH-MAACAH (Heb. 72¥77na an), also called
Abel-Maim (11 Chron. 16: 4) or simply Abel (11 Sam. 20:18).
It is the present Tell Abil (Abil al-Qamh) northeast of Kefar
Giladi and south of Metullah. Pottery found on the surface
of the tell dates to the Early Bronze Age and later periods.
It may be one of the cities mentioned in the Egyptian Ex-
ecration Texts (inscribed on figurines) from the early 18
century B.c.E. and is apparently also referred to in the list
of cities (no. 92) captured by Thutmose 111 in Palestine and
southern Syria in his first campaign (c. 1469 B.c.£.). In the
12*h-11" centuries, it may have passed into the possession of
the Danites when they settled in the north of the country,
but it subsequently was considered part of (Beth-) Maacah,
whose center comprised northern Golan and Bashan. In the
days of David, it was a fortified place and “a city and a mother
in Israel” (11 Sam. 20:19) in which the rebel Sheba, the son of
Bichri, was besieged when he fled from Joab’s army. It was
captured by the Arameans during the reign of Baasa, king of
Israel (early ninth century) together with Ijon, Dan, and the
rest of the northeastern part of the Israelite kingdom (1 Kings
15:20; 11 Chron. 16:4). In the days of Pekah the son of Rema-
liah, Tiglath-Pileser 111, king of Assyria, conquered all the
eastern and northern parts of Israel and the capture of Abel-
Beth-Maacah is specifically mentioned (11 Kings 15:29). This
event is also recorded in Assyrian inscriptions which describe
this king’s campaign of 733/32 B.c.E. and the annexation of the
conquered areas to Assyria (these contain a reference to Abil
(m) akka). The city was apparently included in the province
of Megiddo. No subsequent mention is made of Abel-Beth-
Maacah in ancient sources.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Horowitz, Erez Yis, 3-4; B. Maisler (Mazar),
in: BJPES, 1 (1933), 53 J. Braslavi (Braslavski), in: BJPES, 2 (1935), 43-443
S. Klein, Erez ha-Galil (1946); N. Glueck, River Jordan (1946); W.F. Al-
bright, in: AAsoR, 6 (1926), 19; Abel, Geog, 1 (1933), 249; 2 (1938), 2333
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
B. Maisler (Mazar), in: Bulletin des études historiques juives, 1 (1946),
56; Aharoni, Land, passim.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ABELES, OTTO (1879-1945), author and Zionist worker in
Austria and Holland. Abeles, who was born in Bruen (Brno),
Moravia, was a founder of the Jewish students’ organization
Veritas. He was also a founder of the Zionist movement in
Bohemia and Moravia. After completing his studies at the
University of Vienna, he became legal advisor to the Austrian
railways. Abeles contributed articles to the Zionist newspa-
per Die *Welt and other Zionist newspapers in German, and
was an editor of the organ of the Zionist movement in Austria
Juedische Zeitung. Together with Robert Stricker he founded
the Zionist daily newspaper Wiener Morgenzeitung, working
on its staff until 1926, when he became an emissary for *Keren
Hayesod and traveled through Western Europe as a lecturer.
From 1930 he was director of Keren Hayesod in Amsterdam.
He was deported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and
died immediately after its liberation. Among his works are
Besuch in Eretz Yisrael (1926), impressions of his first jour-
ney to Palestine; Die Genesung (1920), a book of poems; and
Zehn Juedinnen (1931), a book about famous Jewish women.
With L. Bato he edited the almanac Juedischer Nationalkalen-
der (1915/16-1921/22).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Haolam (Aug. 30, 1945 and Sept. 6, 1945);
Haaretz (Aug. 24, 1945); Davar (Aug. 24, 1945).
[Getzel Kressel]
ABELES, SIMON (Simele; 1682-1694), alleged Christian
martyr. The Jesuit chronicler John Eder relates that Simon,
who was born into a Prague Jewish family, wanted to embrace
Christianity at the age of 12. His father Lazar, a glover, was
accused of having murdered him. During the investigation
Lazar allegedly hanged himself in prison, and a fellow Jew,
Loebel Kurtzhandel, was executed as his accomplice. Simon,
although not baptized, was buried with honors in the Tyn
(Thein) church where his grave may still be seen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Processus inquisitorius ... Abeles (1728); R.A.
Novotny, Staroprazské sensace (1937), 13-15; Polak, in: CeskoZidovsky
kalendat (1912/13).
ABELIOVICH, LEV MOYSSEYEVICH (1912-1985), Be-
lorussian composer. Born in Vilna, Abeliovich studied at the
Warsaw Conservatory with Kazimierz Sikorski (composition)
in 1935-39, and when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, he fled
to Minsk and studied composition at the National Conserva-
tory with Vasily Zolotarev, graduating in 1941. After World
War 11, he devoted himself to composition and was later en-
gaged in the study of Belorussian folk music. His composi-
tions include four symphonies (1962, 1964, 1967, and 1970);
Symphonic Pictures (1958); Heroic Poem (1957); three sonatas
and the two-book cycle Frescoes (1972) for piano; three sonatas
for violin and piano; and chamber music and songs.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABELLA, ROSALIE SILBERMAN
BIBLIOGRAPHY: NG’, s.v.; N. Kalesnikava, Lev Abeliovich
(1970); T.A. Dubkova, in: Belarusskaya simfoniya (1974), 162-87; N.
Zarenok et al. (ed.), in: Vopos kul’tur i iskusstva Belorussii (1982),
23-8.
[Marina Rizarev (2™ ed.)]
ABELLA, ROSALIE SILBERMAN (1946- ), jurist, Cana-
dian Supreme Court justice. Rosalie Abella was born in a *dis-
placed persons camp in Stuttgart, Germany. She migrated to
Toronto with her family in 1950. Her father, Jacob Silberman,
had been a lawyer in Poland but was admitted to Canada as
a garment worker as part of a government labor importation
scheme. Many of her family, including an older sibling, were
murdered in the Holocaust. She grew up “with a passion for
justice,’ and, as she explains, “As a Jew, I feel that, through
the Holocaust, I have lost the right to stand silent in the face
of injustice.”
She studied classical piano at the Royal Conservatory of
Music, remaining an accomplished pianist, and attended the
University of Toronto, where she earned a law degree in 1970.
She practiced civil and criminal litigation until 1976, when
she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court, becoming the
youngest, the first female, and the first pregnant Jewish judge
in Canadian history. While on the Family Court she served
on the Ontario Human Rights Commission (1975-80) and the
Premier's Advisory Committee on Confederation (1977-82),
chaired the Ontario Labour Relations Board (1984-89), and
was sole commissioner for the Royal Commission on Equal-
ity in Employment (1983-84) in which she made “employment
equity” a strategy for reducing employment barriers unfairly
imposed by “race, gender or disability.” “Employment equity”
was subsequently implemented by the governments of Can-
ada, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, and South Africa.
Leaving the Family Court in 1987, Abella became Boul-
ton Visiting Professor at the McGill Law School (1988-92)
and Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the University of To-
ronto Law School (1989-92), chaired the Ontario Law Re-
form Commission (1989-92), and was director of the Insti-
tute for Research on Pubic Policy (1987-92). In 1992 she was
appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, where she gained
a reputation as a reform-minded judge and an internationally
recognized expert on human rights. Believing that democ-
racy is enhanced by an activist judiciary, Abella championed
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and participated in rul-
ings extending the rights of Metis, racialized minorities, and
gays. Sometimes regarded as controversial, she nevertheless
finds it “unforgivable” for judges, in her words, “to exchange
their independence for state approval” as happened during
the Third Reich.
Abella served as a director of the International Commis-
sion of Jurists, the Canadian Institute for the Administration
of Justice, and the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada,
and she was a member of the Hebrew University International
Board of Governors and the Committee on Conscience, U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Council. She is a frequent and highly en-
247
ABELMANN, ILYA SOLOMOVITCH
gaging speaker on equality issues and a committed promoter
of Canadian culture. In 2004 she was elevated to the Supreme
Court of Canada. The author or editor of four books and over
70 articles, Abella has received 20 honorary degrees, is a spe-
cially elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has
been honored by the Canadian Bar Association, the Interna-
tional Commission of Jurists, and B’nai Brith. She is married
to the distinguished Canadian historian Irving Abella.
[James Walker (24 ed.)]
ABELMANN, ILYA SOLOMOVITCH (1866-1898), Russian
astronomer. Abelmann, who was born in Dvinsk, worked at
several Russian observatories, mainly on the complex prob-
lems connected with the properties of meteor streams. He
was concerned with the calculation of secular orbital pertur-
bations exercised on these streams by the effects of planetary
attraction. Abelmann was also well known for his efforts to
spread the appreciation of astronomy, which he did through
numerous popular articles.
[Arthur Beer]
ABEL-MAUL (Gr. ’ABeAuawvA), a city cited in the apoca-
lyptic work the Greek Testament of Levi 2:3, 5 as the place
where Levi received a vision of the seven heavens. The name
is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Abel-Meholah,” mentioned
in Judges 7:22 and in 1 Kings 4:12; 19:16. Abel-Meholah was
situated in the mountains of Ephraim, a fact which calls into
question the text of Testament of Levi 2:5 which associates it
with the Sirion mountain (“the mountain of the shield,” a false
etymology from Shiryon). In the Dead Sea fragment of Testa-
ment of Levi, however, the place where Levi received the vi-
sion is Abel-Main, an alternate form of Abel-Maim, the name
which replaced the earlier *Abel-Beth-Maacah (cf. 1 Kings
15:26, 11 Chron. 16:4). Abel-Maim is in fact situated in the very
northern part of Palestine and could easily be connected with
the Sirion, the Anti-Lebanon. The confusion in Greek Testa-
ment of Levi is evidently the translator's.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Milik, in: RB, 62 (1955), 398 ff.; Charles,
Apocrypha, 2 (1913), 304; Press, Erez, 1 (1951), 5; Avi- Yonah, Land,
153, S.v. Abelmea.
[Michael E. Stone]
ABEL-MEHOLAH (Heb. 7?in# bax), ancient city in the
Jordan Valley that was the birthplace of the prophet *Elisha
(1 Kings 19:16). Abel-Meholah also appears in the Bible as a
place through which the Midianites passed in their flight from
*Gideon (Judg. 7:22) and as part of Solomon’s fifth adminis-
trative district, which comprised the towns of the Jezreel and
Beth-Shean valleys (1 Kings 4:12). Eusebius identified the place
in the Onomasticon with Bethmaela, 10 (Roman) mi. south of
Beth-Shean. Accordingly, it is generally accepted that Abel-
Meholah lay west of the Jordan at the southern end of the
Beth-Shean Valley, apparently in the neighborhood of “Ayn
248
al-Hilwa near the point where the Wadi al-Malih enters the
Jordan, perhaps Tell Abu Sifri or Tell Abu Sus. Glueck sug-
gested locating it in Transjordan and to identify it with Tell al-
Madqlib, but this has not been generally accepted.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Glueck, River Jordan (1946), 168ff.; idem,
in: BASOR, 90 (1943), 9ff.; 91 (1943), 8, 15; idem, in: AASOR, 25-28
(1951), 211ff.; M. Naor, in: BJPES, 13 (1947), 89ff.; A. Alt, in: pyB, 24
(1928), 45, 99; 28 (1932), 39 ff.; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 234; EM, s.v.; Aha-
roni, Land, 241, 278; Zobel, in: zDPV, 82 (1966), 83-108; N. Zori, in:
BIES, 31 (1967), 132-5.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ABEL SHITTIM or SHITTIM (Heb. D°0W7 93x), a town in
the plains of Moab where the Israelites camped before cross-
ing the Jordan (Num. 33:49; Josh. 2:1, 3:1). Several notewor-
thy events are connected with the place and its surroundings.
Here Balaam attempted to curse the tribes (Num. 22-24; Mi-
cah 6:5) and the Israelites sinned with the daughters of Moab
and were punished by a plague (Num. 25). Abel-Shittim is also
mentioned in later sources. Zeno (259 B.C.E.) purchased wheat
there for his Egyptian master. It was a flourishing town during
the period of the Second Temple, renowned for its fertile date
groves and grain fields. Josephus mentions a town Abila 60 ris
(about 7 mi.) from the Jordan (Jos., Ant., 4:1; 5:1). The early
city has been identified by Glueck with Tell al-Hammam at the
outlet of Wadi al-Kafrayn which runs from the Mountains of
Moab to the Jordan Valley. Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age 1
pottery and an abundance of potsherds from the Iron Ages 1
and 11 have been found on the tell. In the Hellenistic period,
the inhabitants moved to a spot in the Jordan Valley to which
they transferred the name of their previous settlement, today
Khirbat al-Kafrayn. Captured by the Romans, Abel-Shittim
escaped destruction during the Jewish War (66-70) and it was
populated at least until the end of the Byzantine period.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Horowitz, Erez Yis, s.v.; Press, Erez, 1 (1951),
3; N. Glueck, River Jordan (1946), passim; idem, in: BASOR, 91 (1943),
13-18; idem, in: AASOR, 25-28 (1951), 371ff.; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 234.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: K. Prag, in: Levant 23 (1991), 55-66.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ABELSON, HAROLD HERBERT (1904-2003), U.S. edu-
cator. Born in New York, he began his teaching career at City
College in 1924, advancing from assistant psychologist in the
educational clinic to professor in 1948, and dean of the school
of education in 1952. His book The Art of Educational Research,
Its Problems and Procedures (1933), his articles, and his inves-
tigations and interest in personality development reflect his
belief that educational research should proceed on the ba-
sis of scientific principles. In 1944 he was appointed consul-
tant to the office of the Adjutant General and in 1962 became
president of the Interstate Teacher Educational Conference.
Other books by Abelson include The Improvement of Intelli-
gence Testing (1927) and Putting Knowledge to Use: Facilitating
the Diffusion of Knowledge and the Implementation of Planned
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Change (with E.M. Glaser and K.N. Garrison, 1983). The CCNY
School of Education has established the Abelson Award for
Excellence in Research, which is given annually for the most
creative use of educational measurement in the Graduate Re-
search Project.
[Ronald E. Ohl / Ruth Beloff (24 ed.)]
ABELSON, JOSHUA (1873-1940), English minister. Born
in Merthyr Tydfil (Wales), Abelson was ordained at *Jews’
College in London, and occupied pulpits in Cardiff and Bris-
tol. He became principal of the Jewish theological prepara-
tory school Aria College in Portsmouth, after which he was
appointed minister to the United Hebrew Congregation of
Leeds. Abelson’s works include The Immanence of God in Rab-
binical Literature (1912), in which he examined the theory of
the Shekhinah in the rabbinic sources, and its connection with
the later development of Jewish mysticism. This work was fol-
lowed by Jewish Mysticism (1913), the earliest serious study of
the subject in English. He assisted Chief Rabbi Joseph *Hertz
in the editing of Hertz’s Commentary on the Pentateuch, pub-
lished in 1929-36.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: JYB (1903-04, 1940); G. Scholem, Biblio-
graphia Kabbalistica (19337), no. 2; Scholem, Mysticism (19467), 55.
[Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany)]
ABELSON, PAUL (1878-1953), U.S. labor arbitrator. Abel-
son, who was born in Kovno, Lithuania, immigrated to the
United States at the age of 14. He studied at the City College
of New York and Columbia University and in 1906 published
‘The Seven Liberal Arts: A Study in Medieval Culture. Abelson
was deeply interested in adult education for immigrants. He
lectured in Yiddish for the New York City Board of Educa-
tion (1902-09), headed programs for adult education at the
Educational Alliance, helped establish the Madison House
Settlement (1899), and edited the English-Yiddish Encyclo-
pedic Dictionary (1915). Abelson’s career as a labor arbitrator
began in 1910. He was appointed to the staff established by
the agreement that settled the New York cloakmakers’ strike
of that year. The settlement introduced the concept of arbi-
tration into the ladies’ garment trade, and a form of impartial
adjudication subsequently marked labor-management rela-
tions in much of New York City’s apparel industry. Abelson
later held posts as an arbitrator in the fur, millinery, men’s hat,
hosiery, Jewish baking, and jewelry trades, among others. Af-
ter the passage of the National Recovery Act (1933), Abelson
was appointed by President Roosevelt as government repre-
sentative on seven apparel trades boards. He often served as
impartial chairman in early stages of arbitration agreements,
and his decisions built the precedents and procedures that
became the customary law in these industries. His impartial-
ity and mastery of the detailed situation within each industry
were instrumental in his success.
[Irwin Yellowitz]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABENAES, SOLOMON
ABENAES, SOLOMON (Abenaish, Abenyaex, Aben-Ayesh;
Heb. Even Yaish; c. 1520-1603), Marrano statesman. Born
as Alvaro Mendes to a Converso family of Tavira, Portugal,
Abenaes made a fortune in India by farming the diamond
mines of the kingdom of Narsinghgrah. Still ostensibly a
Christian, he returned to Europe, becoming a knight of San-
tiago, and lived successively in Madrid, Florence, Paris, and
London. When the Spaniards seized Portugal in 1580, he em-
braced the cause of the pretender to the Portuguese throne
Dom Antonio, prior of Crato, and became one of his most ac-
tive supporters. In 1585 he settled in Turkey where he reverted
to Judaism under the name Solomon Abenaes. Because of his
wealth, experience, and connections, he came to be highly re-
garded at the Turkish court, renewing the position of Joseph
*Nasi, who had died in 1579. He farmed the Turkish customs
revenue and was created duke of Mytilene, one of the largest
Aegean islands. He succeeded in maintaining his position,
notwithstanding constant intrigues, for some 20 years. Like
Nasi he had an elaborate information service all over Europe
which proved highly useful to the Turkish government. Above
all, Abenaes devoted himself to the cause of an Anglo-Turk-
ish alliance against Spain, as the support of the claims of Dom
Antonio to the Portuguese throne depended on this. For this
purpose he maintained close contact with the Marrano group
in England, headed by Dr. Hector *Nufiez and the queen’s
physician Roderigo *Lopez, his relative by marriage. Through
them Abenaes was able to bring the Turkish government the
first news of the defeat of the Great Armada in 1588. At one
time he put forward the audacious plan of establishing Dom
Antonio in the Portuguese dominions in India, from where
he would be able to sail with strong forces and gain control
of Portugal itself, Dom Antonio proved, however, weak and
vacillating, and Abenaes accordingly broke with him; Dom
Antonio in turn accused him of treachery. In 1591 Abenaes
sent a personal representative, Solomon Cormano, to London
to present his case before the queen, and in 1592 Judah Zarefati
(Serfatim), with the same object. The execution of Roderigo
Lopez in 1594 on the charge of attempting to poison the
queen did not seriously affect Abenaes’ position nor did the
intrigues against him in Constantinople by David Passy, his
Jewish rival, instigated by Dom Antonio and the French am-
bassador.
Abenaes was one of the architects of the Anglo-Turkish
alliance which stemmed the menacing advance of the Span-
ish power at the close of the 16" century.
Shortly after his arrival in Turkey Abenaes secured the
renewal, in his own favor, of the grant of *Tiberias and seven
adjoining townships that had originally been made to Nasi.
His name is thus associated with this important attempt to
reestablish an autonomous Jewish life in Erez Israel. His son
JACOB ABENAES (formerly Francisco Mendes) actually set-
tled in Tiberias, but to his father’s disappointment, instead of
helping in political and administrative organization, spent
his time in study.
249
ABENAFIA, JOSEPH
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, The Duke of Naxos (1948), 133-4,
205-16, 248-9; Wolf, in: JHSET, 11 (1924-27), 1-91; A. Galante, Don
Solomon Aben-Yaéche, Duc de Mételin (1936).
[Cecil Roth]
ABENAFIA, JOSEPH (d. 1408), rabbi and physician. Aben-
afia, who was born in Catalonia, accompanied Martin 1 of
Aragon to Sicily as his personal medical attendant and settled
there in 1391. In 1396 he was appointed *dienchelele (dayyan
kelali). In 1399 he petitioned the king on behalf of all the Si-
cilian communities about certain proposed reforms. In 1404
he was nominated examiner of Jewish medical practitioners.
Probably because his activities were connected with the king’s
interests, they encountered opposition within the community
and in 1406 the Palermo community asked to be exempted
from his authority.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roth, Italy, 236-8; Milano, Italia, 176, 482,
624; Baer, Urkunden, 1 (1929), index; B. and G. Lagumina (eds.),
Codice diplomatico dei giudei di Sicilia, 1 (1884).
[Attilio Milano]
ABENATAR MELO, DAVID (d. c. 1646), Marrano poet.
Abenatar was born in the Iberian Peninsula, probably as An-
tonio Rodriguez Mello. He was arrested by the Inquisition and
survived years of imprisonment and torture. After appearing
as a penitent at an auto-de-fé, he escaped to Amsterdam and
reverted to Judaism. In 1616 he was a founding member of the
talmud torah (Ez Hayyim) society there and in the following
year subsidized the publication of a prayer book in Spanish
(Orden de Roshasana y Kipur); in 1622 he similarly printed
a Passover Haggadah. In 1626 he published a remarkable
translation of the Book of Psalms into Spanish verse (Los cL.
Psalmos de David: in lengua espanola en uarias rimas) dedi-
cated to “The Blessed God and the Holy Company of Israel
and Judah, scattered through the world” The prologue con-
tains an account of his sufferings. The work is more a para-
phrase than a translation and contains several allusions to
current events and the tyrannies of the Inquisition (cf. Psalm
30, at the end of which he mentions the auto-de-fé at which
he himself appeared when 11 Judaizers were burned). He was
probably the father of IMMANUEL ABENATAR MELO, hazzan
of the Sephardi community of Rotterdam until 1682 and then
of Amsterdam, and grandfather of DAVID ABENATAR MELO,
member of the Yesiba de los Pintos and subsequently preacher
and hazzan in Amsterdam. To the same family presumably
belonged Diego Henriques Melo who, after trial by the Toledo
Inquisition, escaped in 1618 to Amsterdam with his father, sis-
ter, and nephew.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Kayserling, Sephardim (1859), 169 ff.;
Kayserling, Bibl, 67-68; Roth, Marranos, 329-30, 397; M. Menéndez
y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos espanoles, 2 (1956), 256-8; H.L.
Bloom, Jews of Amsterdam (1937), 10; ESN, 8; S. Seeligmann, Biblio-
graphie en Historie (Dutch, 1927), 50-57.
[Cecil Roth]
250
ABENDANA, Sephardi family, with members widely dis-
persed among the ex-Marrano communities of Northern
Europe. The name Abendana is Arabic in origin, commonly
written in Hebrew N37-]28 ,817’]. Various branches of the
family became differentiated by the cognomens Osorio, Bel-
monte, Nahmias, Mendes (numerous in Hamburg), or, espe-
cially, de Brito. Isaac da Costa's statement that they were all
descended from Heitor Mendes de Brito, who lived in Lis-
bon in the second half of the 16" century, is inaccurate. The
Hamburg branch was founded by FERNANDO (Abraha) and
MANOEL, sons of Manoel Pereira Coutinho of Lisbon whose
five daughters were nuns at the convent of La Esperanga.
The earliest known member of the family in Amsterdam was
Francisco Nufiez Pereira or Homem (d. 1625), who is reported
to have arrived in Holland with the earliest (legendary) party
of Marrano immigrants in 1598. Francisco entered the Jew-
ish community under the name DAVID ABENDANA, after the
death of his two sons, considered by his wife Justa (Abigail) to
be the outcome of divine punishment for his sin in not having
undergone circumcision. He was one of the founding mem-
bers of the first Amsterdam synagogue. His son, IMMANUEL
(1667), became hazzan of the community.
The family is also found at an early date in America. A
DAVID ABENDANA lived in New York in 1681, and a MORDECAI
ABENDANA died there in 1690.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Kellenbenz, Sephardim an der unteren
Elbe (1958), index (genealogical trees, 488 ff.); Roth, Marranos, 383;
Rosenbloom, Biogr Dict; I. da Costa, Noble Families among the Se-
phardic Jews (1936), 83, 115-6, 144; Kayserling, Bibl., 1, 2; ESN, 8-10.
[Cecil Roth]
ABENDANA, ISAAC (c. 1640-c. 1710), scholar of Marrano
origin, younger brother of Jacob b. Joseph *Abendana. In 1662
Isaac went to England, where from 1663 he taught Hebrew
at Cambridge and prepared for the university a translation
of the Mishnah into Latin, receiving much encouragement
from the local scholars. The work was completed in 1671 but
remained unpublished; the manuscript, in six quarto volumes,
is preserved in the Cambridge University Library. During
this time, Isaac had been selling Hebrew books and manu-
scripts to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and he moved to
that city in 1689, teaching Hebrew at Magdalen College and
elsewhere. From 1692 to 1699 he published a series of annual
Jewish almanacs for Christian use, with learned supplements
which he collected and republished later in a single volume
entitled Discourses on the Ecclesiastical and Civil Policy of the
Jews (Oxford, 1706; 2"4 ed., 1709). He was in correspondence
with several outstanding English scholars, especially Ralph
Cudworth, master of Christ’s College and regius professor of
Hebrew at Cambridge. There is no authority for the statement
that he studied medicine in his youth.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roth, Mag Bibl., 157-8, 330, 426.
[Cecil Roth]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABENDANA, ISAAC SARDO (c. 1662-1709), diamond
merchant. Abendana, who was originally from Holland, went
to India from London in about 1702. He settled in Pulicat
on the Coromandel Coast before moving to Fort St. George
(Madras). In the records of the British East India Company
there he is referred to as a freeman. As a diamond expert and
jeweler his advice was much sought. Thomas Pitt, governor of
Fort St. George, with whom he became friendly, also consulted
him. Abendana’s testament is described in the court records as
written in “certain characters and other numerous abbrevia-
tions unknown to all of us,’ probably a reference to Hebrew.
It stipulates that his widow was to remarry, if at all, only “in
a city where there is a synagogue.” She remarried a German
Lutheran in 1712, and the ensuing litigation is detailed in the
Madras Record Office.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.J. Cotton, List of Inscriptions on Tombstones
and Monuments in Madras (1915), 123; D.A. Lehmann, Alte Briefe aus
Indien (1965); WJ. Fischel, in: Journal of Economic and Social History
of the Orient, 3 (1960), 191ff. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Arbell, in:
Los Muestros, 41 (2000), 12-13.
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
ABENDANA, JACOB BEN JOSEPH (1630-1685), biblical
commentator and polemist, elder brother of Isaac *Abendana;
probably born in Hamburg, of Portuguese parents. Together
with Joshua Pardo and Imanuel Abenatar Melo he studied at
the Academia de los Pintos in Rotterdam. In 1655 he became
principal of the Maskil el Dal fraternity in Amsterdam, where
he delivered a memorial address on the inquisitional martyr
Abraham Nufiez Bernal. In 1658, after completing his studies,
he was appointed haham in Amsterdam.
Around 1660 he was in contact with Adam Boreel, the
continental Christian Hebraist of the circle dominated by John
Dury and Samuel Hartlib, who commissioned him to translate
the Mishnah into Spanish. The translation made by Abendana
was used by later Christian scholars such as Surenhusius, but
was never printed and is now regarded to be lost.
In 1660/1661, Jacob and Isaac published Solomon ibn
Melekh’s Bible commentary, Mikhlol Yofi, with a supercom-
mentary, Lekket Shikhah (3° ed., 1965), on the Pentateuch,
Joshua, and part of Judges (Vienna, 1818). The work was pub-
lished with the approbations of Christian scholars, including
the celebrated Johannes *Buxtorf of Basel. Jacob Abendana
followed up his success with a Spanish translation of Judah
Halevi'’s philosophical work Kuzari (published in Amsterdam,
1663, with a dedication to the British merchant-diplomat Sir
William Davidson).
By the beginning of 1668, Jacob had joined his brother
Isaac in England, and with him set about selling Hebrew books
to a devoted clientele that included Henry Oldenburg, Robert
Boyle, and Thomas Barlow of the Bodleian Library.
In 1681 Jacob became haham of the Spanish and Portu-
guese synagogue in London (which he had already visited in
1667-68). In that year he was host to Princess Anne, who came
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABENDANAN
to the synagogue during Passover, the first occasion on which
a member of the royal family visited the Jews at prayer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: MGwWyj, 9 (1860), 30ff.; Solomons, in: JHSET,
12 (1931), 21-24, 39-40; Samuel, ibid., 14 (1939), 39ff.; ESN, S.v.; P.T.
van Rooden and J.W. Wesselius, in: Quaerendo, 16 (1986) 110-30; D.S.
Katz, in: Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 40 (1989), 28-52; idem, in:
C.S. Nicholls (ed.), The Dictionary of National Biography: Missing
Persons (1993), 2.
[Harm den Boer (2 ed.)]
ABENDANAN (Ibn Danan or Ibn Dannan), Moroccan fam-
ily of rabbis and scholars. The first known members of the
family are ASASE, who emigrated from Morocco to Aragon
in 1249, and MAIMON, who was apparently one of the refugees
after the anti-Jewish massacres of 1391. Maimon went to Fez
with his son MOSES, who became known as the “Rambam of
Fez” and wrote many commentaries on the Talmud (which
have remained in manuscript). In 1438, Moses was accused
of attacking Islam and was sentenced to death; he narrowly
escaped this fate, but was compelled to flee the country. It is
likely that Maimon 11, son of Moses, remained in Fez. His son
(or grandson) Saadiah was born there. sAADIAH *IBN DANAN
was a physician, halakhist, exegete, grammarian, lexicogra-
pher, philosopher, and poet. MaiMoN, son of Saadiah, died
a martyr’s death before 1502 and was buried in Fez. His son
SAMUEL (d. after 1566) was rabbi of Constantine (in Algeria),
and was instrumental in passing important takkanot. Accord-
ing to tradition he was one of the 200 rabbis who ordained
Joseph b. Ephraim *Caro. Samuel was the author of responsa
and novellae, some of which were published in Minhat ha-
Omer (Djerba, 1950). His signature appears on numerous
documents between 1526 and 1551, and he was the author of
many interesting tales (J.M. Toledano, Ozar Genazim, 1960,
13-16). SAADIAH II, the son (or grandson) of Samuel, partici-
pated in passing of takkanot between 1550 and 1578 and wrote
a commentary on the Bible (still in manuscript). sAMUEL
(1542-1621), his son, possessed an extensive knowledge of the
local customs of the Jews of Maghreb and of the takkanot of
Castile. He wrote many legal novellae and rulings as well as
a history. SAADIAH III (d. 1680), the son of Samuel, was an
av bet din and poet. He held discussions with Jacob b. Aaron
*Sasportas (Ohel Yaakov (1737), 2 and 3) and issued a num-
ber of takkanot. Some of his works are extant in manuscript.
SAMUEL B. SAUL (1666-c. 1730) was the first editor of the Ibn
Danan family chronicles and a history of the Jews of Fez. He
is the supposed author of Ahavat ha-Kadmonim (edited Jeru-
salem, 1889), a prayer book according to the custom of Fez.
SOLOMON (1848-1929) was an av bet din, halakhic authority,
preacher, and kabbalist. During the last years of his life he was
a member of the supreme bet din of appeal of Rabat. He was
the author of the responsa Asher li-Shelomo (1901) and Bikkesh
Shelomo (Casablanca, 1935). SAUL (1882- ?), son of Solomon,
halakhist and Zionist, founded a Hibbat Zion society in Fez
in 1910. In 1933 he was appointed av bet din of Mogador and
251
ABENMENASSE
Marrakesh, and in 1949 chief rabbi of Morocco and head of
the supreme bet din of appeal. In 1965 he resigned and settled
in Israel. He published Hagam Shaul, responsa (Fez, 1959).
From other branches of this family were descended a number
of rabbis, among them SOLOMON BEN SAADIAH, 17‘"-century
scholar and physician, and 1sa Ac (1880-1910), author of Le-
Yizhak Reiah (Leghorn, 1902).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 2 (1852), 35, no. 55; Edelman, in:
Hemdah Genuzah, 1 (1856), xvii-xxi; Neubauer, in: JA, 20 (1862),
256-61; A. Ankawa, in: Kerem Hemed (1869/71); Bacher, in: REJ, 41
(1900), 268-72; J. Ibn-Zur, Mishpat u-Zedakah be- Yaakov (1894-1903),
nos. 5, 40, 317; S. Ibn-Danan, Sefer Asher li-Shelomo (1906), pref.; J.M.
Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav (1911), 44ff., 84ff., 103ff., 134ff.; J. Ben-
Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 83a, 96a, 100b-1b, 111a—-b, 114b-5b,
123b-4b; Schirmann, Sefarad, 2 (1956), 665-6; Slouschz, in: Sura, 3
(1958), 165-91.
[David Obadia]
ABENMENASSE (also Abinnaxim) family of courtiers in
Spain. SAMUEL ABENMENASSE, probably born in Valencia,
was appointed by Pedro 111 of Aragon (1276-85) as his alfa-
quim, or physician and secretary for Arabic correspondence
(thus being known as “Samuel Alfaquim”). He sometimes
acted also as the king's personal emissary. About 1280 he was
tax farmer of the bailia of *Jativa where he held most of his
property. He took part in several expeditions of Pedro, accom-
panying him to Sicily in 1283, and by royal order was exempted
from taxation (1280, 1284) and from the obligation to wear the
Jewish *badge (1283). Samuel was subsequently imprisoned
for financial offenses and in 1285 was dismissed from all his
offices. It is doubtful whether he is the Samuel Alfaquim who
went to Granada and Morocco in 1292 and 1294 as Aragonese
envoy. Samuel’s brother JUDAH (d. c. 1285) was active in affairs
concerning the bailia of Jativa and vicinity. In 1282 he went to
collect the tribute owed by the Muslims in Valencia. He was
imprisoned in 1284 on charges of corruption.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), index, s. v. Samuel Alfa-
quim; Romano, in: Homenaje a Millds-Vallicrosa, 2 (1956), 251-92.
ABENSUR, family originating in Spain. After the expulsion
in 1492 its members are found in Morocco, Italy, Amster-
dam, and Hamburg, distinguished as scholars, diplomats,
and merchants.
In Spain its members included DON JACOB (c. 1365);
SAMUEL (c. 1413), one of the leaders of the community of Val-
ladolid; and tsaac (c. 1490), a notable of Trujillo.
The branch in Morocco was founded by MosEs (1) known
as Abraham [sic] the Hebrew, a forced convert to Christian-
ity who returned to Judaism in Fez in 1496. His descendants
include isaac (d. 1605), a dayyan in Fez, murdered as a re-
sult of one of his decisions; he collaborated with ABRAHAM
and SAMUEL in editing the Castilian communal ordinances.
MOSES (11) of Salé (17** century), was author of liturgical po-
ems, elegies, and kabbalistic works including Mearat Sedeh
ha-Makhpelah (1910). SHALOM (d. before 1717), Hebrew gram-
252
marian, was author of Shir Hadash (1892) and other works.
JACOB REUBEN (b. 1673), born in Fez, was the most celebrated
member of the family, also recognized as a rabbinical author-
ity in Europe; he was the author of Kinot for the Ninth of Av
and responsa, Mishpat u-Zedakah be- Yaakov (2 vols., 1894;
1903). Part of his large collection of letters and responsa by
writers in Spain and Jerusalem and early Spanish exiles in
Morocco were published in Kerem Hemed (1869-71), and are
a valuable source of information on Moroccan Jewry. ISAAC
was appointed British consul in Morocco in 1818; SAMUEL
(1840) was agent of Emir Abd-el-Kader in Tangiers; AARON
(c. 1850) represented Denmark there and his son isa Ac was
British delegate to the legislative assembly of Tangiers and for
30 years president of the community. IsAAC LEON (b. Eliezer
b. Solomon ha-Sephardi) settled in Ancona, Italy, after 1500.
The bet din in Rome reversed one of his decisions, and in 1546
published the discussions which followed. He was the author
of Sefer Megillat Ester (Venice, 1592), a defense of the Sefer
ha-Mitzvot of *Maimonides against the criticisms raised by
*Nahmanides.
Well known in the Amsterdam community were SOLO-
MON (d. 1620) and SAMUEL (d. 1665).
The Hamburg branch of the family was descended from
the *Marrano Anrique Dias Millao who was burned at an
auto-da-fé in Lisbon in 1609. Two of his sons reentered Juda-
ism in Hamburg and took a prominent part in communal life.
The elder, Paul de Millao, became known as MosEs, but for
safety traded with the Iberian Peninsula under the name of
Paul Direchsen. His elder son, JOSHUA (d. 1670), was a leader
of the Hamburg community and was a personal acquaintance
of Queen Christina of Sweden. The younger, DANIEL (d. 1711),
became resident in Hamburg for the Polish crown, followed by
his (¢) son DAVID. JACOB, younger son of Joshua, was baptized
in 1719, Louis x1v being his godfather. After dabbling in inter-
national politics and intrigues he became a French agent and
assumed the name Louis. The family continued to be known
in Hamburg until the 19" century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Scott, Travels in Morocco and Algiers (1842);
JHSEM, 6 (1962), 1579; Baer, Urkunden, 2 (1936), 193, 275-7, 5093
Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 273, 292; ESN, 183, 185; A.I. Laredo,
Memorias de un viejo Tangerino (1935), 95, 96; H. Kellebenz, Se-
phardim an der unteren Elbe (1958), 400-17, passim; Z. Szajkowski,
Franco Judaica (1962), nos. 1462-65.
[David Corcos]
ABENSUR, JACOB (1673-1753), Moroccan rabbi. Born in
Fez, Abensur received a sound traditional education under
Vidal *Sarfaty and Menahem *Serero, and among his fellow
students was Judah ibn *Attar who later became Abensur’s col-
league on the bet din of Fez. He also studied grammar, astron-
omy and Kabbalah and cultivated poetry and song. In 1693 he
was appointed registrar of the bet din of Fez, and in 1704 rabbi
and head of the bet din, serving in this capacity for 30 years,
and subsequently at Meknés for 11 years and seven at Tetuan.
Abensur was the most illustrious rabbi of Morocco of his
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
time. His extensive knowledge, his modesty, and his passion
for justice and equality endeared him both to the intellectual
elite and the ordinary people, but he incurred the enmity of
some of his colleagues. In his old age, when the Jewish com-
munity of Fez was in decline as a result of famine and perse-
cution, Jacob Abensur ordained five rabbis who constituted
the “Bet Din of Five” and were responsible for the well-being
of the community.
Abensur was consulted from far and wide on halakhic
questions. Many of his responsa are scattered in the works of
Moroccan rabbis; some of them have been collected and pub-
lished under the title Mishpat u-Zedekah be-Yaakov (2 vols.,
1894; 1903). His Et le-khol Hefez (1893), a voluminous collec-
tion of liturgical poetry, has been published. His other works
have remained in manuscript form.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Zafrani, Les Juifs du Maroc (1972).
[Haim Zafrani]
ABENVIVES (Vives), Spanish family, members of which
were in the service of the kings of Aragon between 1267 and
1295. The most influential member VIVES BEN JOSEPH IBN
VIVES owned estates throughout Aragon and Valencia. An
excellent administrator, he brought law and order to the es-
tates under his jurisdiction but became unpopular. In August
1270 several Jews and Muslims proffered complaints against
him, alleging that he was a usurer and sodomite, but he was
absolved by King James 1. In 1271 the king commissioned
Vives to suppress a Muslim rising in Valencia. Vives made fre-
quent loans to the king, amounting to at least 45,600 sueldos
between 1271 and 1276, and was granted several royal estates
as pledges. He was removed from office after James’ death in
1276. Other members of the family include isaac, who was a
tax collector in 1283; SAMUEL, who was granted estates in the
area of Alfandech and held several bailiwicks between 1282
and 1295; and JOSEPH, who lent money to the crown and was
granted several castles, and held minor administrative posts
between 1271 and 1284.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Toledo, in: Boletin de la Sociedad Castello-
nense de Cultura, 16 (1935), 315ff., 398 ff.; Piles, in: Sefarad, 20 (1960),
363-5; Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 411. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Garcia,
Els Vives, una familia de jueus valencians (1987).
[J. Lee Shneidman]
ABER, ADOLF (1893-1960), musicologist. Born in Apolda,
Thuringia, Aber was assistant at the Institute of Musicology,
Berlin, music critic of the Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten from
1919 to 1933, and also a partner in the music-publishing firm of
Friedrich Hoffmeister. Among his many writings were Studien
zu J.S. Bachs Klavierkonzerten (1913); Handbuch der Musiklite-
ratur (1922); Die Musik im Schauspiel (1926); and short biogra-
phies of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. In 1933, he joined the
British publisher Novello & Co. as a musicologist, where he
edited the new catalog of the publishing house. Aber edited
musical works by German composers and introduced England
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABERDEEN
to the work of Fr. Joede, C. Bresgen, and Willhelm Rettch. In
1958, the German government awarded him for his work in
disseminating German music in England and the Common-
wealth countries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: MGG”.
[Israela Stein (24 ed.)]
ABERDAM, ALFRED (1894-1963), painter and graphic
artist. Aberdam was born in Krystonopol, East Galicia (now
Chervonograd, Ukraine) and received a traditional Jewish
education in a heder while studying Hebrew with private
teachers. In 1905-12 he lived in Lvov, where he finished high
school. He decided to become an artist at the age of 14. At this
time he came into contact with young Yiddish writers (Melech
*Ravitch, Abraham Moshe *Fuks, and others) and with Zionist
youth groups in Lvov. He attended their meetings and their
lectures on Jewish artists. In 1913 he entered the Academy of
Art in Munich, but unsatisfied with the conservative approach
to art education there, he left for Paris and studied in private
studios. At the beginning of World War 1 he was drafted into
the Austrian army and was wounded and taken prisoner by
the Russians. He was sent to Siberia and lived in Irkutsk and
Krasnoyarsk, where he became acquainted with David Bur-
liuk and other Russian futurists. In 1917 he was appointed peo-
ple’s commissar for the arts and inspector of the Irkutsk mu-
seum and organized an art school there. In 1920 he returned
to Lvov. In 1921-22 he visited the Academy of Art in Cracow.
In 1922-23 he lived in Berlin and visited the studio of Alex-
ander Archipenko. From the end of 1923 he lived in Paris. In
the 1920s and 1930s Aberdam’s works were exhibited in salons
and in private galleries. In this period he had three one-man
shows. He maintained connections with Poland, showed his
works in Polish exhibitions, and was a member of the Plastycy
Nowoczesni (“Contemporary Plastic Artists”) group. During
the Nazi occupation Aberdam had to live underground and
could not continue his artistic work. In 1944 he took part in
the organization of the Society of the Jewish Artists of Paris.
In 1949 and 1952 he visited Israel and had one-man shows. His
personal artistic manner reached its maturity in the late 1920s
and with time he became one of the most illustrious repre-
sentatives of the Ecole de Paris. His favorite modes were still-
lifes, landscapes, and genre scenes. He devoted a number of
his works to the Holocaust (including Deportation, 1941-42,
Ein Harod Art Museum, Israel).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Aronson, Scénes et visages de Montpar-
nasse (1963), 440-45; N. Nieszawer, Marie Boyé, and Paul Fogel, Pein-
tres Juifs a Paris, 1905-1939. Ecole de Paris (2000), 39-41.
[Hillel Kozovsky (24 ed.)]
ABERDEEN, Scottish seaport, northeast of Edinburgh. In
1665 it was reported that a ship with sails of white satin had
put into harbor with a large party of Jews, presumably on the
way to join the pseudo-Messiah Shabbetai *Zevi in the Levant
(A New Letter from Aberdeen in Scotland, Sent to a Person
253
ABERLIN, RACHEL
of Quality, etc., by R.R., London, 1665). Marischal College in
Aberdeen was possibly the earliest British university to give
degrees to Jews (Jacob de *Castro Sarmento, 1739, followed
by Ralph *Schomberg; perhaps neither professed Judaism at
the time). A small community was established in Aberdeen
by Polish and Russian Jews in 1893, and in 1966 numbered
approximately 85. The Library of Marischal College contains
a magnificent Hebrew illuminated Bible manuscript of the
Sephardi type, probably originating in Naples. In 2004 ap-
proximately 30 Jews resided in Aberdeen. A refurbished com-
munity center and synagogue opened in 1983.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: JHSEM, 4 (1942), 1073 JYB (1968), 120; C.
Roth, Aberdeen Codex of the Hebrew Bible (1966). ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: JYB (2004), 135.
[Cecil Roth]
ABERLIN, RACHEL (2"4 quarter of 16 century, Salon-
ika (?)-15t quarter of 17‘ century, Damascus (?)). Aberlin is
described as a mystic in Sefer ha-Hezyonot (“The Book of
Visions”), the memoir of her contemporary R. Hayyim * Vital,
the most prominent disciple of the greatest 16" century kab-
balist, R. Isaac *Luria. Vital refers to “Rachel Aberlin” and
“Rachel ha-Ashkenaziah” frequently in entries that provide
rare insight into the mystical religiosity of early modern Jew-
ish women in the period preceding Sabbateanism. He also re-
fers to a “Rachel, sister of R. Judah Mishan,” the kabbalist who
ratified Vital’s authority following Luria’s death. Although the
connection between Rachel Aberlin and R. Judah Mishan’s
sister cannot be established with certainty, Vital’s references
suggest such an identity.
Aberlin settled in Safed in 1564 with her husband, Judah,
a wealthy man who led the Ashkenazi community there un-
til his death in 1582. As a wealthy widow, Aberlin became the
patron of some of the leading rabbinic figures in her com-
munity. We are told by Vital that she established a complex
in Safed, where he lived with his family. Vital’s references to
Aberlin’s presence in Jerusalem and Damascus during his
years in those cities imply that the two had a close relation-
ship for decades.
Aberlin is portrayed in Sefer ha-Hezyonot as a woman
who regularly experienced mystical visions, from pillars of
fire to Elijah the Prophet. She is said to have been “accus-
tomed to seeing visions, demons, souls, and angels,” as well
as to have had clairvoyant abilities that were acknowledged
by Vital, who affirmed that “most everything she says is cor-
rect.” Aberlin seems to have been an important figure for other
women in her community, who regarded her as a spiritual
leader. Aberlin’s position as the leader of a mystical sister-
hood is also suggested by Vital’s description of her interven-
tion in a dramatic case of spirit possession involving a young
woman in Damascus in 1609. Vital’s numerous recollections
of Aberlin evince his profound respect for her and her spiri-
tual gifts. In a particularly striking example, Vital relates a
dream that Aberlin shared with him in which she saw Vital
sitting behind a desk covered with books, while behind him
254
a large heap of straw burned with a radiant fire but was not
consumed. Vital explained to Rachel that this vision was a
manifestation of Obadiah 1:18, “And the house of Jacob shall
bea fire ... and the house of Esau for straw.’ Aberlin, still in
her dream, responded, “You tell me the words of the verse
as it is written, but I see that the matter is actual, in practice,
and completely manifest.” This dream demonstrates the dis-
tinction between the learned mysticism of the kabbalists and
the visionary, ecstatic mysticism of their much less known
female counterparts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.H. Chajes, Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exor-
cists, and Early Modern Judaism (2003); M.M. Faierstein, Jewish Mys-
tical Autobiographies: Book of Visions and Book of Secrets (1999).
[J.H. Chajes (274 ed.)]
ABIATHAR (Heb. 17°38; “the divine father excels”), son of
*Ahimelech son of Ahitub of the priestly house of Eli of Shiloh
(1 Sam. 22:20 ff.). Abiathar was one of David’s two chief priests.
When the priests of the village of Nob were massacred by or-
der of Saul because they had aided David, Abiathar alone es-
caped. He then reported the massacre to David, who asked
him to join him as his priest. He brought with him an ephod,
which was used by the priests as an oracle. David twice asked
Abiathar to use the ephod to ascertain God’s command (1 Sam.
23:6, 9 ff.; 30:7 ff.). When David became king, Abiathar’s line
was established as the priestly line of the royal court along
with *Zadok’s (11 Sam. 8:17). It has been suggested, therefore,
that the listing of Ahimelech (Abimelech) son of Abiathar as
David’s priest (11 Sam. 8:17; 1 Chron. 18:16) should be emended
to read Abiathar son of Ahimelech, as in the Syriac version.
During *Absalom’s revolt David was forced to leave Jerusalem,
but he sent Abiathar and Zadok there to inform him of the
happenings in Absalom’s court (11 Sam. 15:25, 34ff.). There they
had freedom of movement and thus were able to deliver mes-
sages to David about the rebel’s intrigues (11 Sam. 17:15). Abia-
thar carried David’s message of reconciliation to Amasa and
the elders of Judah (11 Sam. 19:12) and also served as David's
counselor (11 Sam. 15:27, 29; 17:15 ff.; 19:12.ff.; 1 Chron. 27:33-34).
During the struggle for succession to David's throne, Abiathar
supported *Adonijah (1 Kings 1:7); hence Solomon, who was
anointed by Zadok, banished Abiathar and his descendants
to Anathoth and took away his privileges to act as priest in
Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:19, 25; 2:22, 26, 35). The prophet Jeremiah
was descended from the priests of Anathoth and Jeremiah may
have been a descendant of Abiathar (Jer. 1:1).
In the Aggadah
Abiathar was indirectly responsible for the continuation of the
line of David. Had Abiathar not been saved from the massacre
of the priests of Nob, there would have been no *Jehoiada to
save the sole survivor of the Davidic line from the massacre
instigated by *Athaliah (Sanh. 95b). Abiathar’s replacement
by Zadok as high priest is explained by the fact that the Urim
and Thummim would not answer him when he consulted them
(Sot. 48b). The Zohar (1 63b) illustrates his straitened circum-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
stances thereafter (cf. 1 Kings 2:26) by the comment: “He who
during David’s lifetime lived in affluence and wealth, was re-
duced by Solomon to poverty.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Cogan, 1 Kings [AB] (2000), 177-78.
ABIATHAR BEN ELIJAH HA-KOHEN (c. 1040-1110),
last of the Palestinian geonim. Abiathar studied under his fa-
ther ELIJAH B. SOLOMON, president of the Palestinian acad-
emy, from 1062 to 1083. A responsum of Elijah addressed to
Meshullam b. Moses of Mainz in 1070 was signed also by
Abiathar under the title “ha-Revi7” (“the Fourth”) implying
that he was fourth in rank at the yeshivah. With the capture of
Jerusalem by the Seljuks in 1071 and the transfer of the acad-
emy to Tyre, Abiathar was appointed “the Third,” and later
vice president of the academy (av ha-yeshivah). In 1081, while
his father was still alive, he was appointed gaon. Abiathar was
involved in a long and bitter controversy with David b. Dan-
iel, the Egyptian exilarch and president of the Fostat (Cairo)
Academy, who sought to extend his authority (as had his fa-
ther *Daniel b. Azariah) over the Palestinian academy and
community. Abiathar described this controversy in a “Scroll,”
published as “Megillat Abiathar” by S. Schechter (JQR 1901/02),
in which he gave an account of his family’s battle against the
would-be usurpers. He forcefully defended the special rights
of Erez Israel over the Diaspora. “Erez Israel is not called exile;
how, then, can an exilarch wield authority over it?” At the be-
ginning of the First Crusade (c. 1095), Abiathar was in Tripoli
(Syria). Nothing is known about his last years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Bacher, in: JQR, 15 (1902/03), 79-96;
Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 187-95; A. Kahane, Sifrut ha-Historya ha-
Yisreelit, 1 (1922), 160-2; Marcus, in: Horeb, 6 (1941), 27-40; S. Assaf
and L. Meir (eds.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 2 (1944), 39-40 (introd.); S. Goit-
ein, in: KS, 31 (1955/56), 368-70; Braslavi-Braslavsky, in: Eretz Israel, 6
(1960), 168-73 (Heb. sect.); idem, in: Tarbiz, 32 (1962/63), 174-9.
[Simha Assaf]
°ABICHT, JOHANN GEORG (1672-1740), German Lu-
theran theologian and Hebraist. Abicht studied at Leipzig and
at Jena, where he was professor of Hebrew (1702-16). In 1729
he became professor of theology at the University of Witten-
berg. His main field of interest was Jewish history and litera-
ture and, particularly, rabbinical Bible commentaries, some of
which he translated into Latin. His publications are a selection
of the Bible commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and others, en-
titled Selecta Rabbinico-Philologica (Leipzig, 1705), which in-
cluded also parts of Maimonides’ Code; and a Latin translation
of Isaiah di Trani’s commentary on Joshua (Leipzig, 1712). His
interest in the problem of cantillation in the Bible is illustrated
by his Latin translation of Shaar ha-Neginot included as Porta
Accentuum in Ch. Ziegra’s Accentus Hebraeorum (1715).
Abicht also wrote a study on the anonymous chronicle
Sefer ha-Yashar (1732); Methodus Linguae Sanctae on Hebrew
grammar (1718); studies on Joshua (Disputationes librum
Josuae, 1714), on the Sabbath (De lege Sabbathi, 1731), on Jo-
nah (De Jona fugiente, 1702), and on slavery (De Servorum
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABIEZER
hebraerorum acquisitione et servitiis, 1704); a commentary on
Zechariah 10:7 (1704), and many other works.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C.G. Joecher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon,
1 (1750), 23 and Supplement 1 (1784), 53; NDB, 1 (1953), 19 ff.; Steinsch-
neider, Cat Bod, 662; idem, in: ZHB, 1 (1896), 112.
ABIEZER (Heb. 11°28; “my Father [God] is help,” or “my Fa-
ther [God] is hero”; variant Iezer, Heb. 119°, Num. 26:30).
(1) A person and a tribal unit of the tribe of *Manasseh
in three genealogical lists in the Bible and a clan in the story
of *Gideon.
Iezer and the Iezerites head the list of six eponyms and
clans, all sons of *Gilead son of *Machir son of Manasseh
(Num. 26:29-33). These are depicted as the “rest” of the sons of
Manasseh, including Abiezer, who received ten lots west of the
Jordan (Josh. 17:1-6). A different genealogy for Manasseh ap-
pears in 1 Chronicles 7:14-19. Abiezer is represented as a per-
son, not a clan, and is a brother of Ish-Hod and Mahlah, who
is daughter of *Zelophehad in other lists. All three are children
of Hammolecheth, sister of Gilead, but the text is obscure and
there is no certainty as to whose sister she was.
The narrative account of the Book of *Judges attests the
existence of the clan of the Abiezrites in the 12" century B.C.E.
Joash, the father of Gideon, was surnamed “the Abiezrite”
(Judg. 6:11) and his town was “*Ophrah of the Abiezrites”
(Judg. 6:24, 8:32). Ophrah, a cultic center, has been located
by most scholars at al-Tayyiba on the heights of Issachar and
north of Beth-Shean. When Gideon blew the horn to gather
the people, the clan of Abiezer was the first to answer the
call. Evidence from another century for the settlement of the
Abiezrites in another region is furnished by the *Samaria
Ostraca, which contain names of localities and some districts
(nos. 13, 28). The districts, among them Abiezer (11Y3N), are
all known from the genealogical lists of Manasseh. Two place
names mentioned in several ostraca as being connected with
Abiezer are the town of Elmatan at ImmAatin and Tetel (?) at
al-Tell, which have been identified by W.E. *Albright. Both
are south and west of Shechem. The biblical data and the epi-
graphic data about Abiezer have been regarded as evidence
for the organic settlement of an ancient tribal unit in a group
of adjoining towns. The tradition of the clan and its eponym
were preserved, and the latter became the name of a district.
The presence of Abiezer in two different regions may indicate
a split of the clan during the process of settlement.
(2) Abiezer the Anathothite (from *Anathoth) was a
member of “David’s Mighty Men” or “the Thirty” (11 Sam.
23:27; 1 Chron. 11:28). In 1 Chronicles 27:12 Abiezer the Ana-
thothite is mentioned among the generals of the militia as be-
ing in charge of the ninth division for the ninth month.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) Aharoni, Land, 315 ff.; EM, 5 (1968), 45ff.,
s.v. Menasheh; Z. Kallai, Nahalot Shivtei Yisrael (1967), 44, 144ff.,
355ff. (2) Y. Yadin, in: J. Liver (ed.), Historyah Zeva’it shel Erez Yis-
rael... (1965), 350ff. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) S. Ahituv, Handbook
of Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions (1992), 173, 183.
[Hanna Weiner]
255
ABIGAIL
ABIGAIL (Heb. S908), name of two women in the Bible.
(1) ABIGAIL wife of Nabal the Carmelite (see *Carmel) and
later of David. Abigail is described as both beautiful and sa-
gacious (1 Sam. 25:2). In return for “protecting” Nabal’s prop-
erty, David requested a gift of provisions. When Nabal refused,
David decided to exact his reward by force. Abigail, apprised
of David's approach with armed men, met David with food
supplies and apologized for her husband's behavior which she
described as the churlish act of a worthless man. David, greatly
impressed with Abigail, accepted the food and left in peace.
When Nabal died ten days later David wed Abigail. She bore
him a son Chileab (1 Sam. 3:3), called Daniel in 1 Chron. 3:1.
In the Aggadah
The Midrash is generous in praise of Abigail's beauty, wisdom,
and power of prophecy. She is counted among the four women
of surpassing beauty in the world (the others are Sarah, Rahab,
and Esther), and it is reported that even the memory of her
inspired lust (Meg. 15a). Her wisdom was apparent during her
first meeting with David when, despite both her own concern
for her husband’s fate and David’s rage, she calmly put a rit-
ual question to him. When David replied that he could not
investigate it until the morning, she suggested that the death
sentence on her husband be similarly postponed. She met
David's protest that Nabal was a rebel, with the retort: “You
are not yet king” (ibid.). This conversation also revealed her
powers of prophecy. The Holy Spirit was upon her when she
told David “the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle
of life’ (Lam. R. 21:1); and she foretold David’s sin with Bath-
Sheba when saying (1 Sam. 25:31), “That this shall be no grief
unto thee (i.e., but another matter will)” (Meg. ibid.). However,
her conduct in asking David “to remember thy handmaid”
(1 Sam. ibid.), is said to be unbecoming to a married woman.
In the following verse she was therefore addressed by David as
“Abigal” (i.e., without the letter yod), to indicate that she had
shown herself unworthy of the letter with which the name of
God begins (Sanh. 2:3).
(2) ABIGAIL daughter of NAHASH, sister of David and Zeru-
iah, mother of Amasa (11 Sam. 17:25; 1 Chron. 2:16). Her hus-
band was Jether the Ishmaelite (1 Chron. 2:17) or Ithra the
Jesraelite (11 Sam. ibid.). (The medieval commentator David
Kimhi surmised that he was known by different names, de-
pending on the area in which he lived.) Concerning her fa-
ther’s name, the Septuagint reads *Jesse instead of Nahash.
A talmudic baraita also states that Nahash is Jesse (TJ, Yev.
8:3, 9c; Shab. 55). Thus, according to these traditions, Abigail
would be David's sister on his father’s side. In the Septua-
gint Abigail is written Abigaia. There is difficulty in explain-
ing the meaning of the name. It is found on a Hebrew seal of
the eighth or the seventh century B.c.£.: “To Abigail wife of
Asijahu.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Noth, Personennamen, index; ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: J. Kessler, in: CBQ, 62 (2000), 409-23; S. Japhet,
1 & 11 Chronicles (1993), 77.
256
ABI-HASIRA, family of kabbalists and pietists, most of
whom lived in Morocco. SAMUEL (16 century), apparently of
Moroccan origin, lived in Syria. He was renowned as a scholar
of Talmud and practical Kabbalah. The first known member
of the family in Morocco is MAKLOUF who lived in Dra. The
local scholars wrote a special work (still in manuscript) on
his eminence. AYYUSH and his two sons JACOB I and YAHYA
were all kabbalists. ;AcoB II BEN MASOUD (1807-1880) was
a codifier and kabbalist, widely renowned for his great piety;
people streamed to him to receive his blessings. Three times
he tried to fulfill his dream of going to Erez Israel, but the
community and even the government stood in his way. In the
end, however, he left despite their protestations. He succeeded
in making his way as far as Damanhur, near Alexandria, but
there he died and was buried. The anniversary of his death is
commemorated in many communities. Jacob’s works, almost
all of which were published in Jerusalem, include Doresh Tov
(1884); Pittuhei Hotam, on the Torah (1885); Yoru Mishpatekha,
responsa (1885); Bigdei ha-Sered, on the Passover Haggadah
(1887, and Leghorn, 1890); Ginzei ha-Melekh, on Kabbalah
(1889, 1961); Mahsof ha-Lavan, on the Torah (1892); Alef Bi-
nah, on the alphabet (1893); Magelei Zedek (1893); Levonah
Zakkah, on the Talmud (1929); Shaarei Teshuvah (1955); and
Yagil Yaakov, poems (Algiers, 1908; Jerusalem, 1962). DAVID, a
kabbalist, was killed by a cannon shot at the instigation of the
local mukhtar Mulai Muhammad in 1920. He wrote Sekhel Tov
(2 vols., 1928) and Petah ha-Ohel (3 vols., 1928). His brother
ISAAC (1897-1970) emigrated to Israel in 1949, and the same
year was appointed chief rabbi of Ramleh and district.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Abi-Hasira, Doresh Tov (1884), introd. by
A. Abi-Hasira; idem, Ma'gelei Zedek (1893), introd. by A. Abi-Hasira;
Neubauer, Chronicles, 1 (1887), 152; J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav
(1911), 211; E. Rivlin, Rabbi Shemuel Abi-Hasira (1922); M.D. Gaon,
Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez Yisrael, 2 (1938), 17; J. Ben-Naim, Mal-
khei Rabbanan (1931).
[David Obadia]
ABIHU (Heb. 8177728), second son of Aaron and Elisheba,
daughter of Amminadab (Ex. 6:23; Num. 3:2, et al.). He is al-
ways mentioned together with his elder brother Nadab. He
was anointed and ordained for the priesthood (Num. 3:3;
cf. Ex. 28:1; 1 Chron. 24:1) and participated with his father,
brother, Moses, and the elders in the rites accompanying the
making of the covenant at the theophany at Sinai, on which
occasion they “saw God” and ate a festive meal (Ex. 24:1-10).
Although the exact function of Abihu in these rites is not
specified, it is clear that the story represents a very ancient
tradition, and that Abihu once played a definite, prominent,
and positive role in the now lost history of the Israelite priest-
hood.
The death of Abihu occurred under mysterious circum-
stances. He was incinerated (although his clothes and those
of his brother remained intact) together with Nadab, as the
brothers offered “alien fire before the Lord” (Lev. 10:1-3; Num.
3:4; 26:61; cf. 1 Chron. 24:2). Aaron’s cousins, Mishael and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Elzaphan, were ordered to remove the bodies from the sacred
precincts, and the customary mourning rites were suspended
(Lev. 10:4-7). The precise nature of the incident is unclear,
and neither the locale nor chronology is recorded. Some se-
rious departure from the prescribed cultic ritual seems to be
referred to. It has been suggested that they brought incense
from outside the sacred area between the altar and the en-
trance to the Tent of Meeting. It was therefore impure. Abihu
and his brother left no sons (Num. 3:4; 1 Chron. 24:2), and his
priestly line was thus discontinued. Some scholars see behind
the story of their deaths a forgotten tradition about inter-
priestly rivalries and the elimination of two priestly houses.
The name Abihu may be variously explained as meaning “the
Father [God] is” (i.e., exists), “He [God] is Father, and “Father
is He” (a surrogate for God).
For Abihu in Aggadah, see *Nadab.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Noth, Personennamen, 18, 70, 143; Moehlen-
brink, in: zAw, 52 (1934), 214-5; Y. Kaufmann, Toledot, 1 (1937), 542;
de Vaux, Anc Isr, 397. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Haran, in: J. Liver
(ed.), Sefer Segal (1964), 33-41.
[Nahum M. Sarna]
ABIJAH (Heb. 77°28; “yHw(H) is my father”), king of Judah
Cc. 914-912 B.C.E.; son of *Rehoboam (on the identity of his
mother, see *Asa). In Kings, where he is referred to through-
out as Abijam, it is stated only that he followed the sinful ways
of his father, and that he was at war with *Jeroboam, king of
Israel, throughout his reign. The Book of Chronicles, how-
ever, for its own theological reasons, unhistorically depicts
him as a pious king who succeeded in wresting a sizable slice
of territory from Jeroboam (11 Chron. 13:19). According to
1 Kings 15:19, it is likely that a political alliance existed between
Abijah and *Ben-Hadad 1, king of Aram-Damascus. Abijah
had 14 wives, who bore 22 sons and 16 daughters (11 Chron.
13:21). One source of information for the Chronicler on the
reign of Abijah was the Midrash of the prophet Iddo (ibid.
13:22).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Japhet, 1 & 11 Chronicles (1993), 697-700.
ABILEAH, ARIE (1885-1985), Israel pianist. Born in Russia,
Abileah gave his first concert at the age of six. He studied at the
Conservatory of Petersburg under Marie Benoit, Liadov, and
Glazounov and completed his artistic training in Geneva with
Stavenhagen. He appeared as accompanist of Joseph *Szigeti,
Joseph *Achron, and Maurice Maréchal. In 1914 he was ap-
pointed chairman of the piano department at the Music Acad-
emy in Geneva, a position he held until 1922. He was active in
1922-26 as a piano teacher in Tel Aviv. During 1926-32 Abileah
performed at concerts in Paris and New York. In 1932 he set-
tled in Jerusalem where he was appointed professor at the Mu-
sic Academy and, as chairman of the Musicians’ Association,
organized chamber music concert series. He made recordings
for the Israel Broadcasting Authority.
[Ury Eppstein]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABIMELECH
ABILENE, district in Coele-Syria, centered around the city
of Abila (modern Suq on the Barada River, 16% mi. (27 km.)
N.W. of Damascus) and extending over the western slopes
of Mt. Hermon. Originally part of the Iturean principality,
it was held by the tetrarch Lysanias the Younger in the time
of Tiberius (Luke 3:1). Gaius Caligula granted it to Agrippa 1
(Jos., Ant., 18:237) and after the latter’s death, the tetrarchy
was administered by Roman procurators (44-53 C.E.) until
Claudius gave it to Agrippa 1 (Jos., Ant., 20:138) who ruled
it until his death. The local legend connecting Abilene with
Abel (al-Nabi Abil) is spurious.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (1904*), 716-21; Pauly-
Wissowa, 9 (1916), 2379; Bickerman, in: EJ, s.v. Abila, Abilene.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ABIMELECH (Heb. 4279°38; “the [Divine] Father is King” or
“the [Divine] King is Father”), king of *Gerar, who appears in
several incidents in connection with Abraham and Isaac. Each
of these patriarchs, fearing for his personal safety, represents
his wife as his sister. Sarah’s honor is saved through a dream
theophany in which Abimelech’s life is threatened; timely de-
tection of the subterfuge preserves Rebekah’s virtue. In both
instances the king’s integrity is manifest and he is righteously
indignant at the deceit (Gen. 20; 26:1-11). Abimelech is also
involved with both patriarchs in quarrels over wells (21:25;
2.6:15-16, 18-21). In both events he is accompanied by Phicol,
chief of his troops (21:22, 32; 26:26), and concludes treaties
(21:27-32; 26:28-31). Also, Beer-Sheba figures on each occasion
(21:31; 26:33). The detailed similarities between the two stories
and the resemblances of both to that of Genesis 12:10-20 have
generally led critical scholars to assign Genesis 20-21 to the E
source and Genesis 12 and 26 to J, regarding all three narra-
tives as variants of a single tradition.
The name is ancient, and attested in the form Abi-milki
as the name of the King of Tyre in the 14"* century B.c.£., but
because the Philistine migrations to Canaan do not antedate
1100 B.C.E., the title “King of the Philistines” (26:1, 8; cf. 18 -
not in E) must be viewed as an anachronism.
[Nahum M. Sarna]
In the Aggadah
Abimelech was referred to as a righteous Gentile (Mid. Ps. 34).
His attempted seizure of Sarah is explained by the fact that he
was childless, and that he hoped to be blessed with offspring
by marrying such a pious woman (PdRE 26). Among his pun-
ishments for his sin were that ruffians entered his house, that
boils erupted on his body (Gen. R. 64:9), and that his house-
hold became barren (BK 92a). Abimelech, however, clearly
did not consider himself to be the only one at fault. Accord-
ing to the aggadic commentary on his words “Behold it is for
thee a covering of the eyes” (Gen. 20:16), he said to Abraham
“You covered my eyes (i.e., by saying that Sarah was your sis-
ter), therefore the son which you will beget will be of covered
eyes (i.e., blind).” This prophecy was fulfilled in Isaac’s old age
(Gen. R. 52:12). The aggadic treatment of Isaac’s relations with
257
ABIMELECH
Abimelech is briefer. It records that, although he had heard of
Rebekalh’s great beauty, Abimelech remembered his previous
punishment, and therefore left her alone (Ag. Ber. 20). How-
ever, once Isaac had become so wealthy that people kept say-
ing: “Rather the dung of Isaac’s mules, than Abimelech’s gold
and silver,’ he became jealous, and claimed that Isaac’s wealth
was derived from his favors (Gen. R. 64:7).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Skinner, Genesis (ICC, 1930”), S.V.; E.A.
Speiser, Genesis (1964), S.V. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: C.S. Ehrlich, The
Philistines in Transition: A History from ca. 1000-730 BCE (1996); S.D.
Sperling, The Original Torah (1998), 21-22, 86-90.
ABIMELECH (for meaning, see previous entry), the male
offspring of *Gideon the Abiezrite by his Shechemite concu-
bine (Judg. 8:31). During the period of the Judges Abimelech
became the ruler of Shechem through the support of his moth-
er’s family and the local oligarchy (“the lords of Shechem’;
Judg. 9:2-3 et al.) who financed the hiring of a regiment of
“worthless and reckless fellows” (9:4). With their aid, Abi-
melech murdered all but one of the 70 sons of Gideon (see
*Jotham) in order to eliminate possible claims to the leader-
ship of Shechem. He had reason for apprehension because of
Gideon's special connections with this city. The Bible does not
count Abimelech among the *Judges. He is not credited with
having “saved” Israel. The placing of his story in the Book of
Judges is apparently due to its connection with the traditions
about the house of Gideon. At any rate, Abimelech maintained
close ties with the Israelites, since he “ruled [not ‘judged’] over
Israel three years” (9:22). It is probable that the Manassites
submitted to him because of his paternal lineage, though it is
possible that he attained power solely by means of the support
of his hired regiment. It would seem that Abimelech’s connec-
tion with the Israelites did play a decisive role in contribut-
ing to his election as a ruler of Shechem. The preservation of
normal relations with Israel was of vital importance to Ca-
naanite Shechem which existed as a foreign enclave within the
boundaries of the tribe of Manasseh. According to the narra-
tive, the “lords of Shechem” acclaimed Abimelech “king” over
them (9:6). However, all indications point to the fact that the
title “king” was used because of the lack of a more appropri-
ate term for the type of ruler that existed in various cities in
Syria and Erez Israel who performed the functions and ex-
ercised the authority of a king. A ruler of this kind was cho-
sen by the municipal institutions. There is evidence that the
ruler was dependent on the city’s institutions, which guarded
their own status and power. Other non-monarchal rulers gov-
erned in Shechem at different times: Hamor the Hivite, ruler
of Shechem in the days of Jacob (Gen. 34:2), was “chief of
the country”; Labayu, chief of Shechem during the 14" cen-
tury B.c.E., known from the el-Amarna letters, was another
such example. In the course of time a conflict arose between
Abimelech and the “lords of Shechem,’ who had chosen him as
their leader (Judg. 9:23). It appears that he wished to increase
his power at the expense of the local oligarchy. The appoint-
ment of Zebul, who was among Abimelech’s most prominent
258
supporters and who protected the latter’s interests in Shechem
as “the ruler of the city” (9:30), testifies to these aspirations.
According to the Bible, the “lords of Shechem” placed “men
in ambush against [Abimelech] on the mountain tops” (9:25)
in order to prove his incompetence in the delicate area of se-
curity and to remove him from power. They even conspired
with *Gaal son of Ebed (9:26), a non-local and non-Israelite
personage, who headed an army of his own and who seduced
the Shechemite population by underscoring the city’s descent
from Hamor the Hivite, its ancient founder (9:28-29). Possi-
bly this reflects a split within the local population, part sup-
porting Abimelech and part opposing him. Gaal apparently
sought and found supporters among the Hivites (Horites) of
Shechem, who were almost certainly a significant section of
the city’s population. It is a fact that Abimelech lost support
precisely among the “lords of Shechem.”
Since Abimelech had to be informed about the events
in Shechem by Zebul’s messengers (9:31), it would seem that
he was not a permanent resident but lived outside the city
proper. Abimelech hastened to Shechem and attacked Gaal
and his confederates (9:39-40). Abimelech’s supporters in
Shechem drove Gaal from the city (9:41). The continuation of
the story implies that Abimelech decided to turn the territory
of Shechem into his private estate by conquest. He completely
destroyed the city, slaughtered its inhabitants, and sowed it
with salt (9:45). He then invested Thebez (9:50 ff.). During
the siege of the tower of Thebez he was mortally wounded by
a millstone thrown down on him by a woman (9:53). Badly
injured, he asked his armor bearer to slay him rather than
let him die disgracefully at the hand of a woman (9:54). Al-
though the story of Abimelech is episodic, it represents a shift
in Israelite attitudes leading to the establishment of the mon-
archy. There is an obvious continuity between the Israelites’
request that Gideon be king over them and Abimelech’s status
as ruler of Israel. Only the period of the consolidation of the
monarchal concept in Israel separated Abimelech’s rule from
the anointing of Saul.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Nielson, Shechem, a Tradition-Historical
Investigation (1955); E. Taeubler, Biblische Studien 1: Die Epoche der
Richter, ed. by H.-J. Zobel (1958); Reviv, in: 1EJ, 16 (1966), 252-7; G.
Dossin, in: L’Ancien Testament et l’Orient (1957), 163-7 (Orientalia et
Biblica Lovaniensia, no. 1); Ehrman, in: Tarbiz, 29 (1959), 259; Gevirtz,
in: VT, 3 (1953), 192-5 (Eng.); van der Meersch, in: Verbum Domini, 31
(1953), 335-43; Milik, in: Verbum Domini, 31 (1953), 335-433 Milik, in:
RB, 66 (1959), 550-75; Naor, in: BIES, 20 (1950), 16-20; Fensham, in:
BA, 24 (1962), 48-50; Gevirtz, in: VT, 13 (1963), 52-62 (Eng.). ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.C. Exum, Was sagt das Richterbuch den Frauen?
(1997); Y. Amit, Judges (1999), 173-80; D. Herr and M. Boyd, in: BAR
28/1 (2002), 34-37, 62.
[Hanoch Reviv]
ABINADAB (Heb. 27738; “my [or “the”] Divine Father is
generous’; the root 271 is a common element in West Semitic
names), the father of Eleazar, Ahio, and Uzzah, who resided
in Kiriath-Jearim. The ark was brought to Abinadab’s home
after its wanderings in the Philistine cities and remained
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
there for a period of 20 years. When David undertook to
move the Ark by oxcart to Jerusalem (11 Sam. 6:3-4; 1 Chron.
13:7), Abinadab’s son Eleazar was appointed to guard the ark
(t Sam. 7:1). Abinadab’s two sons, Uzzah (perhaps identical
with Eleazar) and Ahio, marched the one beside or behind and
the other in front of it. Josephus relates that Abinadab and his
sons were Levites (Ant., 6:18; 7:79), a datum unsupported by
other sources.
ABIOB, AARON (1535-16052), rabbi, preacher, and bibli-
cal commentator. Abiob studied under Samuel *Medina, the
greatest halakhic authority of his time. He was appointed
rabbi, first in Salonika and subsequently in Constantinople
and Uskiib. Although a recognized authority in halakhah,
he would refer cases which he did not wish to decide to his
teacher in Salonika. His responsa frequently are quoted in
the responsa of Samuel Medina and in those of Solomon b.
Abraham Ha-Kohen of Serei. He published Shemen ha-Mor
(Salonika, 1601), a collection of novellae of other commenta-
tors and his own exposition of rabbinic dicta in connection
with the Book of Esther. He compiled commentaries on the
Pentateuch, called Korban Aharon, developed from the dis-
courses he delivered on Sabbaths and festivals. The work was
never published and the manuscript is no longer extant. His
commentary on Psalms, Beit Aharon, was also unpublished.
His son Solomon succeeded him as rabbi of Uskiib.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 266; Rosanes, Togarmah, 2
(1938), 127; 3 (1938), 74, 125; M.S. Goodblatt, Jewish Life in Turkey in
the 16** Century (1952), 26; M. Molcho, in: Sinai, 41 (1957), 41.
ABIR (Abramovitz), DAVID (1922-_), Israeli aerospace en-
gineer. Abir, who was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, and came
to Palestine in 1934, was chief instructor of the Aero clubs
of Palestine, which included the aviation unit of the Palmah
(1943-46). He served in the Israel Air Force (1949-55) and
was head of its engineering department in 1954-55. Abir was
at the Haifa Technion from 1955 to 1972, serving as head of
the department of mechanics in 1959-61 and then as dean
(and professor) of the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering
(1962-64). He was employed at the British Aircraft Corpora-
tion, Bristol, U.K. (1964-65) as senior consulting assistant to
the chief engineer on the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic
aircraft project. Abir also worked (on leave from the Tech-
nion) at Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd., Engineering Division,
in 1968-71, as director of advanced aircraft studies and chair-
man of research and development. He joined Tel Aviv Uni-
versity in 1972 as associate dean of the Faculty of Engineer-
ing (1972-80). Abir was deputy chairman of the Israel Space
Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology (1983-87) and
its director general in 1985-87. Abir was chairman of the Na-
tional Committee for Space Research from 1972 and chairman
of the National Committee on Data for Science and Technol-
ogy from 1988, both at the Israel Academy of Sciences and
Humanities. He served as president (1990-94) of the Interna-
tional Committee on Data for Science and Technology (co-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABISHAG THE SHUNAMMITE
DATA) of the International Council of Science (1csv), Paris,
France, and was a member of the Council of the Interna-
tional Committee on Space Research (cospar) of icsu from
1972. He was a founding member of the Tel Aviv Academic
College of Engineering (from 1996) and served as its deputy
president for academic affairs (until 2002). Abir was a fellow
of the Royal Aeronautical Society, London, U.K. (from 1965)
and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics,
Paris, France (from 1972). He contributed papers and articles
and wrote and edited books and journals in the fields of aero-
space and technology. He was active in the creation of Hebrew
terminology in the aviation and related fields, in conjunction
with the Israel *Academy of the Hebrew Language and other
organizations.
[Samuel Aaron Miller / Bracha Rager (2"4 ed.)]
ABISHAG THE SHUNAMMITE (Heb. 4¥72; “the [Divine]
Father (?)”; meaning unknown; of *Shunem), an unmarried
girl who was chosen to serve as sokhenet to King David. The
term comes from a root skn, “attend to,’ “take care,” and its
noun forms can be applied to high officials in Hebrew (Is.
22:15) Abishag’s role was of a lower status. She served as bed
companion to David in the hope that her fresh beauty would
induce some warmth in the old man (1 Kings 1:1-4, 15), and
as his housekeeper. The notice (1:4) that “the king knew her
not” serves less to impute decrepitude to David than to in-
form the audience that there would be no other claimants to
David's throne than Solomon and Adonijah. When Solomon
became king, *Adonijah, whose life Solomon had spared al-
though he knew him to be a dangerous rival, asked *Bath-
Sheba, Solomon's mother, to intercede on his behalf for per-
mission to marry Abishag. Solomon correctly interpreted this
request for the former king’s concubine as a bid for the throne
(See 11 Sam 12:8; 16:20-23), and had Adonijah killed (1 Kings
2:13-25). Some see in Abishag, who is described as “very fair”
(1 Kings 1:4), the Shulammite of the Song of Songs (Shulam-
mite being regarded as the same as Shunammite).
In the Aggadah
The aggadah identifies Abishag as the Shunammite who gave
hospitality to Elisha the prophet (pdreE 33). It relates that she
was not half as beautiful as Sarah (Sanh. 39b). The fact that
David did not make Abishag his legal wife is explained as due
to his refusal to exceed the traditional number of wives (18)
allowed to a king (Sanh. 22a, and Rashi, ibid.). Solomon’s ac-
tion is also vindicated on the grounds that the request made
by Adonijah to be permitted to marry Abishag (1 Kings 2:13 ff.)
represented a true threat to Solomon's position, as it is only
the king, and not a commoner, who is allowed to make use of
the servants of the deceased king (Sanh. 22a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Noth, Personennamen, index; Ginzberg,
Legends, index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Cogan, 1 Kings (AB;
2000), 156; Z. Kallai, in: Z. Talshir (ed.), Homage to Shmuel (2002),
376-81.
[Elia Samuele Artom]
259
ABISHAI
ABISHATI, the son of Zeruiah, brother of *Joab and *Asahel
and nephew of David. Abishai was one of David’s most loyal
military officers. He was one of David's three mighty men and
is credited with killing 300 people (11 Sam. 23:18). Additionally,
he is said to have been the head of this group, and according
to some versions he was the head of the thirty heroes (11 Sam.
23:18; 1 Chron. 11:20). Abishai was one of the three generals
who defeated Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s son, and Abner, the com-
mander of Saul’s army. After the battle Abner killed Asahel
(11 Sam. 2:18 ff.). According to 11 Samuel 3:30, Abishai and his
brother Joab eventually avenged their brother's death. How-
ever, the Septuagint apparently did not hold them respon-
sible for this murder, reading arevu (“lie in wait”) instead of
haregu (“killed”) of the masoretic text. David, nevertheless,
certainly thought both of them guilty (11 Sam. 3:39). Abishai
defeated the Canaanite confederation against David (11 Sam.
10), and during Absalom’s revolt he commanded one-third of
David's forces (11 Sam. 18:2). Additionally, he was instrumen-
tal in suppressing Sheba, the son of Bichri (11 Sam. 20:6-10).
He was also one of David’s leading generals in other wars with
the Philistines (11 Sam. 21:15-17) and the Edomites (1 Chron.
18:12); he rescued David at Nob from the threats of a Philis-
tine giant, who has been referred to in some sources as Ish-
bibenob (11 Sam. 21:16-17); and he was against the king’s pol-
icy of making peace with his enemies (11 Sam. 16:9-10, 19:23).
Abishai’s suggestion to kill Saul in his camp was refused by
David (1 Sam. 26:6ff.).
In the Aggadah
Abishai’s rescue of David (11 Sam. 21:16-17) illustrates his pi-
ety and valor. David had been enticed over the Philistine bor-
der by Satan and there seized by Ishbibenob, the brother of
Goliath. This was miraculously revealed to Abishai while he
was bathing in preparation for the Sabbath. He was aided in
his search for David by the fact that the earth contracted un-
der him. On his way he encountered and slew Orpah. When
Ishbibenob saw him approaching, he planted his spear in the
ground and threw David up in the air saying: “Let him fall
on it and perish” Abishai, however, pronounced the Divine
Name, and David remained suspended in the air until he de-
scended safely in answer to a prayer of Abishai. Abishai and
David foiled the final attack of the enraged giant by weak-
ening him with taunts about his mother’s death at Abishai’s
hands (Sanh. 95a). Abishai was equal to 70,000 men of Israel
(Mid. Ps. 17:4).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Schley, ABD 1:24-6.
ABITBOL, Moroccan family of rabbis, dayyanim, talmudists,
and jurists, who led the community of Sefrou. Information
about the Abitbol family is found in many Moroccan docu-
ments (responsa, collections of letters, etc.), mostly unpub-
lished. The British Museum houses a bulky manuscript (Mar-
goliouth, Cat, 4 (1935), 161, Or. 11, 114), entitled Sefer Iggerot
u-Melizot, containing poems, but mainly the exchange of
correspondence between Moroccan rabbis between 1760 and
260
1810. The manuscript contains valuable information on the
history of Moroccan Jewry in general, and the Abitbol family
of Sefrou in particular.
(1) SAUL JESHUA BEN ISAAC (c. 1740-1809), called Rav
Shisha (the Hebrew initials of his name). Rav Shisha became
rabbi and dayyan in Sefrou at the age of 18, and served for 50
years. His rabbinical decisions were honored in rabbinical
courts in Morocco during and after his lifetime. His responsa
were collected by his descendants and published in Jerusalem
under the title Avnei Shayish (1930', 1934”). The second volume
also contained a collection of biblical and talmudic glosses,
sermons, etc., entitled Avnei Kodesh, which are not his work,
but that of another rabbi of Sefrou, Jekuthiel Michael El-
baz. The poet David Hasin composed two piyyutim to honor
him and his son RAPHAEL (cf. Tehillah le-David, 1787).
Jacob Berdugo mourned his death in a dirge (cf. Kol Yaakov,
1844).
[Haim Zafrani]
(2) AMOR BEN SOLOMON (1782-1854), Moroccan scholar,
codifier, and dayyan. Born in Sefrou, Abitbol maintained a
yeshivah there at his own expense and supported needy schol-
ars. Many communities turned to him with their halakhic
problems. His voluminous library contained many rare manu-
scripts, among them hundreds of letters addressed to him and
to his father from all parts of North Africa, particularly Mo-
rocco (Ms. British Museum no. Or. 11. 114; a second group is
the Benayahu collection). These contain important informa-
tion about valuable works and manuscripts. Some of his own
and his father’s responsa were published as Minhat ha-Omer
(1950). This volume includes a collection of his homilies, Omer
Man, and 26 of his poems and elegies, including one bakashah
in Arabic. Other responsa by him are scattered throughout the
works of his Moroccan contemporaries. Some of his works are
still in manuscript. His two sons, Hayyim Elijah and Raphael,
were also well-known rabbinic scholars.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 102d;
J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav (1911), 190; Yaari, Sheluhei 709; M.
Benayahu, in: Minhah le-Avraham (Elmaleh) (1959), 30ff.
ABI ZIMRA, ISAAC MANDIL BEN ABRAHAM (16" cen-
tury), liturgical poet who lived in Algiers. His father Abraham
b. Meir Abi Zimra, born in Malaga, author of some poetical
compositions, came “from the bitter expulsion of 1492 to the
city of Tlemcen” (Abraham Gavison, Omer ha-Shikhhah, 1748,
134a). Abraham Gavison, who knew Isaac, called him “the
great poet” (ibid., 122b). Over 60 of Isaac’s piyyutim, which
were strongly influenced by Arabic poetry, are to be found in
various manuscripts. Until recently, various communities in
North Africa recited his poems. A complete edition of poems
was prepared by H.J. Schirmann, but never published.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Lit Poesie, 535-6; Slouschz, in: Reshu-
mot, 4 (1926), 25, 27; Zulay, ibid., 5 (1927), 444ff.; Davidson, Ozar, 4
(1933), 422.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABKHAZIYA (formerly Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet So-
cialist Republic), within Georgia, Transcaucasia, on the east-
ern shore of the Black Sea. Formerly part of the Ottoman
Empire, Abkhaziya became a Russian protectorate in 1810.
During the czarist regime, since it lay beyond the *Pale of Set-
tlement, Abkhaziya was barred to Jews from European Russia.
In 1846 Jewish artisans were given permission to live tempo-
rarily in Sukhum (now Sukhumi), the main city, and by 1897
there were 156 Jews. After the 1917 revolution the number of
Cx RUSSIA
*., u
ote, Sag
: “ee, Us
"eases M O° u
Pee ete gee, often t a
ABKHAZIYA Se eit he
e Sukhumi roe *
O
R
BLACK SEA or oe 2g
: ates “oy
“ARS a A baa
TURKEY Se
Jews in Abkhaziya increased considerably. The 1959 census
recorded 3,332 Jews (0.8% of the total population), 3,124 liv-
ing in urban settlements and 208 in rural. The majority were
concentrated in Sukhumi and most of them were Georgian
Jews (see *Georgia). A new synagogue with accommodation
for 500 congregants was built in 1960, and a congregation was
reported active in 1963. After the dismantling of the Soviet
Union in the 1990s, Abkhaziya proclaimed independence and
cessation from Georgia, leading to a war in 1993 that ended
with the defeat of the Georgian army and Russian troops in-
tervening and separating the belligerents. The war caused the
Jews of Abkhaziya to leave, mostly for Israel. Abkhaziya is not
recognized by other governments as an independent country.
See also *Caucasus.
[Yehuda Slutsky / Shmuel Spector (2"4 ed.)]
ABLUTION (Heb. 97°20; “immersion”, act of washing per-
formed to correct a condition of ritual impurity and restore
the impure to a state of ritual purity. The ritually impure (or
unclean) person is prohibited from performing certain func-
tions and participating in certain rites. Ablution, following a
withdrawal period and, in some cases, other special rituals,
renders him again “clean” and permitted to perform those acts
which his impurity had prevented. Ablution must not be con-
fused with washing for the sake of cleanliness. This is evident
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABLUTION
from the requirement that the body be entirely clean before
ablution (Maim., Yad, Mikvaot 11:16), but there may never-
theless be some symbolic connection. The ablutions, as well
as the impurities which they were deemed to remove, were
decreed by biblical law, and understood by the rabbis in reli-
gious and not in hygienic or magical terms. This is shown by R.
Johanan b. Zakkai’s retort to his disciples who had questioned
an explanation he gave to a non-Jew about ritual purity: ““The
dead do not contaminate and the water does not purify: It is
a command (gezeirah) of God and we have no right to ques-
tion it” (Num. R. 19:4).
Ablution is common to most ancient religions. Shinto-
ists, Buddhists, and Hindus all recognize ablution as part of
their ritual practice and there is ample evidence concerning
its role in ancient Egypt and Greece (Herodotus, 2:37; Hes-
iod, Opera et Dies, 722). Most ancient peoples held doctrines
about ritual impurity and ablution was the most common
method of purification. In varying forms ablution is impor-
tant to Christianity and Islam as well; this is hardly surpris-
ing since they are both post-Judaic religions. In Jewish his-
tory there have been several sects that have laid great stress
on the importance of ablution. The *Essenes (Jos., Wars, 2:129,
149, 150) and the *Qumran community (Zadokite Document,
10:10 ff; 11:18 ff. and other pss texts) both insisted on frequent
ablutions as did the Hemerobaptists mentioned by the Church
Fathers. The tovelei shaharit (“morning bathers”) mentioned
in Tosefta Yadayim 2:20 perhaps may be identified with the
latter but more likely were an extreme group within the gen-
eral Pharisaic tradition (Ber. 22a; Rashi, ad loc.).
In the Jewish tradition there are three types of ablution
according to the type of impurity involved: complete immer-
sion, immersion of hands and feet, and immersion of hands
only.
Complete Immersion
In the first type of ablution the person or article to be purified
must undergo total immersion in either mayim hayyim (“live
water”), i.e., a spring, river, or sea, or a *mikveh, which is a
body of water of at least 40 seahs (approx. 120 gallons) that has
been brought together by natural means, not drawn. The per-
son or article must be clean with nothing adhering (hazizah)
to him or it, and must enter the water in such a manner that
the water comes into contact with the entire area of the sur-
face. According to law one such immersion is sufficient, but
three have become customary. Total immersion is required
for most cases of ritual impurity decreed in the Torah (see
*Purity and Impurity, Ritual). Immersions were required es-
pecially of the priests since they had to be in a state of pu-
rity in order to participate in the Temple service or eat of the
“holy” things. The high priest immersed himself five times
during the service of the Day of Atonement. Other individu-
als had to be ritually pure even to enter the Temple. However,
it became customary among the Pharisees to maintain a state
of purity at all times, a fact from which their Hebrew name
Perushim (“separated ones”) may have developed (L. Finkel-
261
ABLUTION
stein, The Pharisees (1962°), 76 ff.; R.T. Herford, The Pharisees
(1924), 31ff.).
Total immersion also came to form part of the ceremony
of *conversion to Judaism, although there is a difference of
opinion concerning whether it is required for males in ad-
dition to circumcision, or in lieu of it (Yev. 46a). Since the
destruction of the Temple, or shortly thereafter, the laws of
impurity have been in abeyance. The reason is that the ashes
of the *red heifer, which are indispensible for the purifica-
tion ritual, are no longer available. Thus, everybody is now
considered ritually impure. The only immersions still pre-
scribed are those of the *niddah and the proselyte, because
these do not require the ashes of the red heifer and because
the removal of the impurity concerned is necessary also for
other than purely sacral purposes (entry into the Temple area,
eating of “holy” things). The niddah is thereby permitted to
have sexual relations and the proselyte is endowed with the
full status of the Jew.
In addition to the cases mentioned in the Bible, the rab-
bis ordained that after any seminal discharge, whether or not
resulting from copulation, total immersion is required in or-
der to be ritually pure again for prayer or study of the Torah.
Since this was a rabbinical institution, immersion in drawn
water or even pouring nine kav (approx. 4% gallons) of water
over the body was considered sufficient. The ordinance was at-
tributed to Ezra (BK 82a, b) but it did not find universal accep-
tance and was later officially abolished (Ber. 21b-22a; Maim.,
Yad, Keriat Shema 4:8). Nevertheless, the pious still observe
this ordinance. The observant also immerse themselves before
the major festivals, particularly the Day of Atonement, and
there are hasidic sects whose adherents immerse themselves
on the eve of the Sabbath as well. The Reform movement, on
the other hand, has entirely abolished the practice of ritual ab-
lution. There was a custom in some communities to immerse
the body after death in the mikveh as a final purification ritual.
This practice was strongly discouraged by many rabbis, how-
ever, on the grounds that it discouraged women from attend-
ing the mikveh, when their attendance was required by bibli-
cal law. The most widespread custom is to wash the deceased
with nine kav of water.
The immersion of the niddah and the proselyte require
*kavvanah (“intention”) and the recitation of a benediction.
The proselyte recites the benediction after the immersion be-
cause until then he cannot affirm the part which says “... God
of our fathers ... who has commanded us.” Since ablution at
its due time is a mitzvah it may be performed on the Sabbath,
but not, nowadays, on the Ninth of Av or the Day of Atone-
ment. Except for the niddah and the woman after childbirth
whose immersion should take place after nightfall, all immer-
sions take place during the day.
Vessels to be used for the preparation and consumption
of food that are made of metal or glass (there is a difference
of opinion concerning china and porcelain) and that are pur-
chased from a non-Jew must be immersed in a mikveh be-
fore use. This immersion is to remove the “impurity of the
262
Gentiles” (a conception which was introduced, perhaps, to
discourage assimilation), and is different from the process of
ritual cleansing by which used vessels are cleansed to remove
non-kosher food which might have penetrated their walls.
This immersion is also accompanied by a benediction.
Washing the Hands and Feet
This second type of ablution was a requirement for the priests
before participating in the Temple service (Ex. 30:17ff.).
Washing the Hands
This is by far the most widespread form of ablution. The
method of washing is either by immersion up to the wrist or
by pouring % log (approx. % pint) of water over both hands
from a receptacle with a wide mouth, the lip of which must
be undamaged. The water should be poured over the whole
hand up to the wrist, but is effective as long as the fingers are
washed up to the second joint. The hands must be clean and
without anything adhering to them; rings must be removed
so that the water can reach the entire surface area. The water
should not be hot or discolored and it is customary to per-
form the act by pouring water over each hand three times (Sh.
Ar., OH 159, 1960, 161). The handwashing ritual is commonly
known as netilat yadayim, a term whose source is not entirely
clear. It has been suggested that netilah means “taking” and
thus the expression would be “taking water to the hands,” but
the rabbinic interpretation is “lifting of the hands” and is as-
sociated with Psalms 134:2.
Washing the hands is a rabbinic ordinance to correct the
condition of tumat yadayim, the impurity of the hands, which
notion itself is of rabbinic origin. Among the biblical laws of
purity washing the hands is mentioned only once (Lev. 15:11).
According to one tradition “impurity of the hands” (and wash-
ing them as a means of purification) was instituted by King
Solomon, while another has it that the disciples of Hillel and
Shammai were responsible for it (Shab. 14a—-b). It seems that
the custom spread from the priests, who washed their hands
before eating consecrated food, to the pious among the laity
and finally became universal. The detailed regulations con-
cerning “impurity of the hands” constitute one of the 18 or-
dinances adopted in accord with the opinion of the school of
Shammai against the school of Hillel, and it met at first with
considerable opposition. In order to establish the practice the
rabbis warned of dire consequences for those who disregarded
it, even going so far as to predict premature death (Shab. 62b;
Sot. 4b). R. Akiva, who personally disapproved of the ordi-
nance, nevertheless used the limited water allowed him in
prison for this ablution rather than for drinking (Er. 21b). In
the New Testament there are several references which suggest
that Jesus and his disciples demonstrated their opposition to
rabbinic authority by disregarding this ordinance (Mark 7:1;
Matt 15:1; Luke 11:37).
The washing of the hands most observed today is that
required before eating bread, although according to rabbinic
sources washing after the meal before grace is considered
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
at least of equal importance. The reason given for this latter
washing is to remove any salt adhering to the fingers which
could cause serious injury to the eyes (Er. 17b). It is possible
that these washings derive from contemporary Roman ta-
ble manners, and there is also mention of washing between
courses (mayim emzaiyyim, Hul. 1058).
In modern times, priests have their hands washed by
the Levites before they perform the ceremony of the Priestly
Blessing during public prayer services. The laver thus has be-
come the heraldic symbol for the Levites and often appears
on their tombstones. Washing the hands is required on many
other occasions, some of which are motivated by hygienic
considerations and others by superstitious beliefs. A list of
occasions for washing the hands was compiled by Samson b.
Zadok in the 13 century: they include immediately on ris-
ing from sleep (in order to drive the evil spirits away), before
prayer, after leaving the toilet, after touching one’s shoes or
parts of the body usually covered, and after leaving a cemetery
(Tashbaz 276; Sh. Ar., OH 4:18).
The fact that ablution was so widespread in ancient reli-
gions and cultures makes it likely that the Jewish practice was
influenced by contemporaneous cults. It is, however, difficult
to ascertain the extent of this influence and it is possible that
the rabbis were reacting against contemporary practices rather
than imitating them. It is clear that, to the rabbis, the main
purpose of any ablution was to become “holy” and the sys-
tem they created was meant to keep the Jew conscious of this
obligation. “‘(God is the hope [Hebrew “mikveh”] of Israel)’
(Jer. 17:13); just as the mikveh cleanses the impure so will God
cleanse Israel” (Yom. 85b).
[Raphael Posner]
Women and Ablution
Immersion for women following menstruation and childbirth
is a rabbinic, not a biblical, requirement. The halakhic regu-
lations appear particularly in rB Niddah, which discusses the
practical consequences for male ritual purity of women’s men-
strual and non-menstrual discharges. On the eighth “white
day,’ following the cessation of menstrual flow, the wife must
immerse in the mikveh (ritual bath) before marital relations
can resume. Jewish girls were traditionally taught to comply
strictly and promptly with the regulations connected with the
niddah (the menstruating woman). Ablution, which took place
only after the body and hair had been thoroughly cleansed,
had to be complete. Halakhah demanded a single immersion
but three became customary. Post-menstrual and post-par-
tum women usually visited the mikveh at night, often accom-
panied by other women.
In the first half of the 20" century, female ritual ablution
declined significantly in North America, even among nomi-
nally traditional families, despite Orthodox exhortations in
sermons and written tracts on the spiritual and medical ben-
efits of taharat ha-mishpahah (family purity regulations), as
these laws came to be called. Factors militating against ritual
immersion included disaffection of Americanized children of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABNER
immigrants with their parents’ Old World ways, the success
of liberal forms of organized Judaism that did not advocate
such ablutions, and the deterrent effect of ill-maintained and
unhygienic mikvaot. Many Jewish feminist writers of the late
20% century also condemned taharat ha-mishpahah regula-
tions as archaic expressions of male anxiety about the biologi-
cal processes of the female body that reinforced the predomi-
nant construction in rabbinic Judaism of women as other and
lesser than men.
The 1980s and 1990s saw a resurgence in the numbers of
Orthodox Jews and a new sympathy among non-Orthodox
denominations for various previously discarded practices of
traditional Judaism. In this era, positive new interpretations
of ritual ablution developed, accompanied by construction
of attractive modern mikvaot. Orthodox advocates of taha-
rat ha-mishpahah regulations praised the ways in which they
enhanced the sanctity of marriage and human sexuality and
extolled the feeling of personal renewal and rebirth that fol-
lowed each immersion.
At the beginning of the 21°t century, ritual ablution be-
came a symbolic expression of a new spiritual beginning for
both women and men in all branches of North American
Jewish practice beyond the domain of taharat ha-mishpahah.
In addition to conversion to Judaism, rituals developed in-
corporating mikveh immersion as part of bar mitzvah and
bat mitzvah (coming of age); before Jewish holidays; prior to
marriage; in cases of miscarriage, infertility, and illness; and
following divorce, sexual assault, or other life-altering events.
An indication of the probable long-term impact of this trend
was the increased construction of mikvaot by non-Orthodox
communities.
[Judith R. Baskin (2"4 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eisenstein, Dinim, 147-8; N. Lamm, A Hedge
of Roses: Jewish Insights into Marriage ... (1966). ADD. BIBLIOGRA-
puy: R. Adler, “In Your Blood, Live’: Re-Visions of a Theology of
Purity,’ in: D. Orenstein and J.R. Litman (eds.), Lifecycles 2 (1997),
197-206; J.R. Baskin, “Women and Ritual Immersion in Medieval
Ashkenaz,” in: L. Fine (ed.), Judaism in Practice (2001), 131-42; Fon-
robert, C. Menstrual Purity (2000); R. Slonim (ed.), Total Immer-
sion: A Mikvah Anthology (1996); R.R. Wasserfall (ed.), Women and
Water (1999).
ABNER (Heb. 1738 ,1338), cousin of King *Saul and “captain
of his host” (1 Sam. 14:50-51); from 1 Chronicles 8:33 it would
appear that Abner was Saul’s uncle. At court he occupied
the seat of honor next to Jonathan, the crown prince (1 Sam.
20:25). In his conflict with Saul, David seems to have sus-
pected Abner of plotting against him (24:10; 26:19). Abner did
in fact accompany Saul in his pursuit of David, who taunted
him with not guarding his master properly (26:16). After the
death of Saul and three of his sons on Mount Gilboa, Abner
made Saul’s son *Ish-Bosheth king over Israel with his capi-
tal at *Mahanaim in Transjordan, while Judah broke away and
elected David as their king in Hebron (11 Sam. 2:8-11). During
the subsequent warfare between Israel and Judah, Abner and
263
ABNER OF BURGOS
his men were routed by David's captain, Joab, at the Pool of
Gibeon; Abner killed Joab’s younger brother Asahel, but re-
luctantly and in self-defense. He then made a moving appeal
to Joab to stop the fratricidal combat (2:12-32). Abner was re-
proved by Ish-Bosheth for having lain with Rizpah, the daugh-
ter of Aiah, a concubine of King Saul, thus possibly betraying
his own aspirations to the kingship (3:7). In his anger Abner
communicated with David and conspired with “the Elders of
Israel” and Saul’s own tribe of Benjamin to offer David the
crown of a reunited Israel (3:12 ff.). At Hebron he and his son
were well received and entertained, while his enemy Joab was
away (3:20). Abner promised to rally the entire nation around
David. On his return Joab reproached David and warned
him against Abner’s intrigue. Without the king’s knowledge
he lured Abner back to Hebron and murdered him at the
city’s gate (3:30). In this act he also avenged Asahel’s death
and rid himself of a potential rival, as David had probably
promised the chief captaincy to Abner in return for making
him king over all Israel. Shocked by this treacherous deed,
David cursed Joab and his house. He had Abner buried with
full honors; his beautiful dirge and tribute to Abner, “A prince
and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?’ became famous
(3:31ff.). On his deathbed David charged his son Solomon to
avenge Abner’s murder (1 Kings 2:5, 32). According to one
tradition Abner’s tomb is in Hebron near the cave of *Mach-
pelah.
[Gustav Yaacob Ormann]
In the Aggadah
Abner, a giant of extraordinary strength (Eccles. R. 9:11) was
the son of the Witch of En-Dor (PdRE 33). It was he who re-
futed Doeg’s argument against the admission of Moabite
women “in the assembly of the Lord” (see Deut. 23:4) and,
supported by Samuel, he established the rule “a Moabite but
not a Moabitess,’ thus enabling David to reign over Israel
(Yev. 76b). Abner justified his slaying of Asahel as an action
in self-defense, but since he could have merely wounded him,
Abner deserved his violent death (Sanh. 49a). Although a pi-
ous man (Gen. R. 82:4) and a “lion in the law” (Ty Peah 1:1,
16a) Abner was guilty of many misdeeds which warranted his
death. It was in his favor that he had refused to obey Saul’s
command to kill the priests at Nob; but he should have inter-
vened actively and prevented Saul from executing his bloody
design (Sanh. 20a). Even if Abner could not have influenced
the king in this matter (ibid.), he was guilty of having frus-
trated a reconciliation between David and Saul and of think-
ing little of human life (ry Pe'ah 1:1, 16a). However he was
right in espousing the cause of Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth against
David for he knew from tradition that God had promised
two kings to the tribe of Benjamin, and it was therefore his
duty to transmit the throne to the son of Saul the Benjami-
nite (Gen. R. 82:4).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Noth, Personennamen, 167; Bright, Hist, 169,
175-7; E. Auerbach, Wueste und gelobtes Land, 1 (1932), 221-4; Ginz-
berg, Legends, index, EM, 1 (1965), 59-60.
264
ABNER OF BURGOS (also Alfonso of Valladolid or of Bur-
gOs; C. 1270-1340), apostate and anti-Jewish polemicist. Abner
was practicing as a physician in Burgos in 1295, at the time of
the appearance of the false prophet in *Avila. Some of those
who had been confused by miraculous portents they had wit-
nessed came to Abner for medical advice. Their reports shook
Abner’s own faith in Judaism, which was already troubled by
doubts. The phenomenon of the sufferings of the Jews in ex-
ile and of the righteous had long disturbed him, and he expe-
rienced visions which he was unable to interpret. Finding no
solution in the Bible or the doctrines of the Jewish and Arab
philosophers, he turned to the New Testament and the works
of the Christian theologians. Abner wrestled with this prob-
lem for 25 years. Jewish scholars tried to restore his faith, but
he eventually became converted to Christianity when he was
about 50. Some time after his conversion, he sent his disciple,
Isaac b. Joseph ibn *Pollegar (Pulgar), a copy of a pamphlet
setting forth his messianic theories. Pulgar responded with a
work which he circulated among the Jewish communities in
Spain. Abner subsequently published a number of books and
tracts written in Hebrew and directed to Jews. Some were
later translated into Castilian under his supervision. He also
engaged in his old age in oral disputes with Jewish scholars,
including *Moses b. Joshua of Narbonne. In 1334 he tried to
convince the elders of Toledo that they had erred in fixing the
date of Passover.
Abner was among the first apostates to formulate an
ideological justification for conversion. He rejected the ra-
tionalist interpretations of the Torah current in his day and
avoided taking a stand on the *Kabbalah, which was known
to him. The theological system which he propounded ac-
cepts predestination, identified with astrological influences,
as well as philosophic determinism. The theories expressed in
his Iggeret ha-Gezerah (“Epistle on Fate”) combine astrology
with the doctrine of fatalism of Muslim theologians and the
Christology of Paul and Augustine. Abner found the answer
to the problem of salvation - individual salvation as well as
the salvation of all Christians, who alone truly deserved the
name “Israel” - in the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarna-
tion, which he tried to ascribe to Aristotle and the aggadic
Midrashim (following Raymond *Martini’s Pugio Fidei). He
proposed harsh measures for dealing with the Jewish ques-
tion, including conversionist preaching, isolation of the Jews
from the Christian population, and stirring up mob violence.
These proposals he justified by means of malicious allegations
about the Talmud. Following the example of the Karaites, Ab-
ner alleged that the Talmud contained an evil “Ten Command-
ments.” He employed Karaite arguments against the Talmud
in addition to the criticisms of contemporary rationalists and
did not shrink from publishing blatant forgeries. He repeated
current slanders that the Jews displayed a hostile and unethical
attitude toward Gentiles and gave them a sharper edge.
Some of Abner’s works have not yet been published and
others have been lost, including his Milhamot Adonai (“Wars
of the Lord”) which he wrote in Hebrew and translated into
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Castilian at the request of the Infanta Dofia Blanca. Preserved
in Castilian translation are Abner’s major work Moreh Zedek
(“Teacher of Righteousness”), under the title Mostrador de
Justicia, and his tract Minhat Kenaot (“Offering of Zeal”), di-
rected against Isaac Pulgar. In the original Hebrew are Sefer
Teshuvot li-Meharef (“Refutation of the Blasphemer’”), a reply
to Pulgar and other minor polemics. Pulgar assembled his
arguments against Abner in his Ezer ha-Dat (“Aid to Faith”),
in which, as customary in the works of other polemicists, he
quotes from Abner’s writings. Hasdai *Crescas, in his Or Ado-
nai, quotes whole passages from Abner’s works in order to re-
fute them. Subsequently, the apostates *Solomon ha-Levi of
Burgos (Pablo de Santa Maria) and Joshua Lorki (Gerénimo
de Santa Fe) drew upon Abner’s arguments. In conjunction
with the Pugio Fidei of Raymond Martini, Abner’s writings
served as source material for later polemics against Judaism
in Spanish Christian literature in general.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index; Sefarad, index vols. 1-15,
s.v. Abner de Burgos and Valladolid, Alfonso de; E. Ashkenazi, Divrei
Hakhamim (1849), 37 ff.; Graetz-Rabbinowitz, 5 (1896), 396-9; Y. Baer,
in: Minhah le David (1935), 198 ff.; Baer, Urkunden, 1 pt. 2 (1936), 144,
521; idem, in: Tarbiz, 11 (1939/40), 188ff.; idem, in: Sefer ha-Yovel...
G. Scholem (1958), 152-63 (Tarbiz, 27 (1957/58); J. Rosenthal, in:
Mehkarim... Abraham A. Neumann (1962), 1-34 (Hebrew section);
idem, in: Mehkarim u-Mekorot, 1 (1967), 324-67: Guttmann, Philos-
ophies, 230-2, 271-2.
[Zvi Avneri]
ABOAB, Spanish family whose descendants remained promi-
nent among the Sephardim of the Mediterranean world as well
as in the ex-Marrano communities of Northern Europe. The
origin of the name is obscure. The family produced many out-
standing Jewish scholars in Spain (see Isaac Aboab, 1 and 11).
After the expulsion from Spain, it was found in North Africa,
Turkey, Italy (where the form Aboaf became common), and
elsewhere. Some members of the family, who fell victims to
the forced conversion in Portugal in 1497, preserved the name
in secret, resumed it when they reentered Judaism (sometimes
with the addition of their baptismal surnames, e.g., Fonseca,
Dias, Falleiro) and became outstanding in the communities
of the Marrano Diaspora (see Samuel *Aboab, Isaac *Aboab
de Fonseca). ABRAHAM, formerly Gongalo Cardozo, who
traded with the Iberian Peninsula under the name of Dionis
Genis, was one of the deputies of the Jewish community of
Amsterdam in 1638. ELIAS conducted a printing establishment
there in 1643-44, and DANIEL SEMAH practiced medicine af-
ter graduating at Utrecht in 1667. DAVID, a convert, made his
name in England by some pretentious publications, including
Remarks on Dr. Sharpe’s Dissertations ... concerning ... Elohim
and Berith (London, 1751). He is possibly identical with the
DAVID, born in Italy, who was excommunicated in Curagao in
1746 after a bitter controversy with the rabbinate. Members of
the family resident in Brazil in 1648-54 included Moszs, who
later found his way to New York, where he is recorded in 1684.
MOSES, formerly of Surinam, conducted learned religious dis-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABOAB, IMMANUEL
cussions at Leghorn and elsewhere with the Christian scholar
Veyssiere de la Croze, who described them in his Entretiens sur
divers sulets ... de critique et religion (Amsterdam, 1711°).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loewenstein, in: MGwJ, 48 (1904), 661-701;
50 (1906), 374-5; M. Eisenbeth, Les Juifs de l'Afrique du Nord (1936),
76; ESN, 10-14; Roth, Mag Bibl, 285, nos. 60, 62; 336, no. 4; 409, no.
18; Rosenbloom, Biogr Dict, 2; A. Wiznitzer, Jews in Colonial Brazil
(1960), 137; F. Secret, in: Les Nouveaux Cahiers, 3 (1965), 37-43.
[Cecil Roth]
ABOAB, IMMANUEL (c. 1555-1628), protagonist of Juda-
ism among the Crypto-Jews. The little that is known about his
life is derived from his major work Nomologia, and from his
letters to many Crypto-Jews in Western Europe. He was born
in Porto into a New Christian family, his father being Hen-
rique Gomes (Isaac Aboab). After his father’s death when he
was quite young, he was brought up by his grandfather Du-
arte Dias (Abraham Aboab, son of Isaac *Aboab 11 “the last
gaon of Castile”; see accompanying genealogical tree), who
negotiated with the Portuguese authorities for the entrance of
the Castilian refugees into the country and was subsequently
a victim of the forced conversion of 1497; he mentioned his
grandfather quite often. In 1585 Aboab escaped to Italy, where
he professed Judaism and studied Hebrew literature. In 1597
he had a religious discussion with an Englishman at Pisa; at
the time he was one of the parnasim of the community, where
his signature appears on some of the ordinances in 1599; sub-
sequently he was in Reggio Emilia (where he was in contact
with the kabbalist Menahem Azariah da *Fano) and Ferrara,
where he had a debate with a Christian scholar on the trans-
lations of the Bible, claiming that the Hebrew version is the
authentic one. He then moved to Spoleto, and later to Ven-
ice, where he is said to have delivered a discourse on the loy-
alty of the Jewish people before Doge Marino Grimani and
the Grand Council in 1603. Four years later he was at Corfu,
where he appeared on important business before the Venetian
commander Orazio del Monte, with whom he later carried on
a correspondence on the nature of angels. He probably spent
some time in North Africa and Amsterdam. In Venice he be-
came the hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese community
until his departure to Israel late in life with a party of 36 rela-
tives to join his daughter Gracia, who maintained two acade-
mies, in Safed and Jerusalem, and was in charge of the money
collected for the support of the scholars. Aboab was a vigorous
defender of Judaism, especially among his fellow Marranos
who, while skeptical of Christianity, did not appreciate Jew-
ish tradition. In the last years of his life, he wrote a forceful
letter to a Marrano friend in France urging him to return to
Judaism. The letter was filled with learned arguments and il-
lustrations from history and was used in manuscript by later
scholars. His principal work was his Nomologia 0 Discursos
legales, written in Spanish between 1615 and 1625 in Venice, a
defense of the validity and divine origin of the Jewish tradi-
tion and the Oral Law, published posthumously by his heirs
(Amsterdam, 1629; 2"4 ed. by I. Lopes, ibid., 1727). The title of
265
ABOAB, ISAAC I
the book, Nomologia (“The Theory of the Names”) refers to the
names of scholars from the days of Moses until his own time.
The book was published at the persistent request of Sephardi
Jews in Western Europe. Aboab claimed that the Written and
Oral Laws were inseparable. Displaying a wide knowledge of
Talmud and Kabbalah as well as Latin and secular learning,
it includes much valuable historical information, especially
about scholars who left Spain and Portugal after the expul-
sion. In chaper 29 Aboab conducted debates with two such
Jews who denied the validity of the rabbinic traditions. His
letters sent to Converso or ex-Converso acquaintances are a
valuable source of information on the religious, theological,
and social problems they encountered in Jewish communities
where they settled. Aboab strongly criticized those who re-
turned to the Iberian Peninsula after their difficult experience
as Jews. His literary and religious projects were interrupted by
his death in Jerusalem.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loewenstein, in: MGW], 48 (1904), 666-8;
Sonne, in: JQR, 22 (1931/32), 247-93; C. Roth, Venice (1930), 68, 207,
315; idem, in: JQR, 23 (1932/33), 121-62. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.
2
Orfali, Imanuel Aboab’s “Nomologia o discursos legales” (Heb., 1997).
[Cecil Roth / Yom Tov Assis (2! ed.)]
ABOAB, ISAAC I (end of the 14" century), rabbinic au-
thor and preacher; probably lived in Spain. His father seems
to have been called Abraham and may have been the Abra-
ham Aboab to whom *Judah b. Asher of Toledo (d. 1349) ad-
dressed responsa (Zikhron Yehudah, 53a and 60a). After de-
voting most of his life to secular affairs Isaac turned to writing
and preaching.
Isaac’s fame rests upon his Menorat ha-Maor (“Candle-
stick of Light”), one of the most popular works of religious
edification among the Jews in the Middle Ages. Written “for
the ignorant and the learned, the foolish and the wise, the
young and the old, for men and for women,” the work has
had over 70 editions and printings (1*t ed. Constantinople,
1514; Jerusalem, 1961) and has been translated into Spanish,
Ladino, Yiddish, and German. Moses b. Simeon Frankfort of
Amsterdam, who translated the work into Yiddish and wrote
a commentary on it (Nefesh Yehudah, Amsterdam, 1701 and
many subsequent eds.), also edited a shorter version under
the title of Sheva Petilot (“Seven Wicks,” Amsterdam, 1721;
Sudzilkow, 1836). The book became a handbook for preach-
ers and served for public reading in synagogues when no
preacher was available.
Isaac wrote his book, apart from its practical aim, to re-
turn aggadah to its rightful place. Complaining that, because
of lack of order in the sources, aggadah had been neglected
in favor of legal casuistry, he argues that aggadah is an essen-
tial part of rabbinic tradition, as necessary for man as hala-
khah. According to Isaac, the aggadah carried the same au-
thoritative weight as halakhic rabbinic writings. Thus, the
reader is expected to believe that the aggadah is true, just as
the halakhah is true. It has been suggested that he wanted to
provide a structured compilation of aggadah, similar to that
266
which Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah, had provided for
the halakhah.
Developing the image of the seven-branched candle-
stick (cf. Num. 4:9), Isaac divides his work into seven nerot
(“lamps”). These, in turn, are subdivided into main divisions,
parts, and chapters. Using the three parts of Psalms 34:15 as
general headings, he assigns the seven lamps to them in the
following manner: (A) “Depart from evil,’ (1) guard against
envy, lust, ambition; (2) be wary of sins attendant upon speech.
(B) “Do good,” (3) observance of mitzvot such as circumci-
sion, rearing of children, prayer, festivals, honoring parents,
founding a family, charity, justice; (4) study of Torah; (5) re-
pentance. (c) “Seek peace and pursue it,” (6) peace and love
for fellowman; and (7) humility.
Sources
Into this rather loose framework Isaac fitted a wealth of agga-
dic material, culled from the Talmud and the vast midrashic
literature. His use of passages from aggadic works now lost
and the variants in the talmudic and midrashic texts he cites
make the Menorat ha-Maor of great importance for estab-
lishing the text of the Talmud used in the Spanish-North Af-
rican academies as distinct from that of the Franco-German
school. Isaac is selective in using esoteric texts, and he fights
shy of statements that may provoke doubt and heresy. While
he agrees with Sherira Gaon that some of the sayings of the
rabbis are imaginative exercises, he wants to limit their num-
ber. He contends that the great majority of aggadic statements
are divinely inspired and, hence, beyond questioning. If they
appear strange to us, it is because of our limited understand-
ing. Isaac also quotes from the geonic literature, Alfasi, Rashi,
the tosafists, Abraham Ibn Ezra, Maimonides, Abraham ibn
Daud, Jacob Anatoli, Jonah of Gerona, Nahmanides, Isaac
ibn Latif, and Solomon b. Abraham Adret, the ritual com-
pilations of Abraham b. Nathan of Lunel (Ha-Manhig) and
(David) Abudarham, Bahya’s Hovot ha-Levavot, Joseph Gika-
tilla’s Shaarei Orah, Asher b. Jehiel, and Jacob b. Asher’s Tur.
He often neglects to name the author from whose work he
quotes, and his materials are derived many times from sec-
ondhand sources.
Thought
The Menorat ha-Maor is above all an ethical religious trea-
tise. When discussing religious practices such as circumci-
sion or Sabbath and Festival observances, Aboab limits him-
self to their underlying reasons and general importance. In his
speculative views he combines the teachings of Maimonides,
whose Mishneh Torah and Guide he cites constantly, with the
ideas of the teachers of Kabbalah, though the complete ab-
sence of quotations from the Zohar has puzzled some scholars.
In contrast to Maimonides he postulates that God’s individ-
ual providence for man is unconditional. Isaac recognizes the
need for the study of general sciences, of which, according to
him, the rabbis of old were masters, and he quotes Plato, Ar-
istotle, and “the physicians who have recently emerged among
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ISAAC ABOAB |
Menorat ha-Ma’or
ABOAB, ISAAC II
ABOAB FAMILY
en
ISAAC II
‘Last Gaon of Castille’
b. 1433 Toledo
d. 1493 Oporto
—— |
ABRAHAM JACOB
converted 1497 as fled to Constantinople
DUARTE DIAS
| ] 1500
MIGUEL DIAS ISAAC
| (HENRIQUE GOMES)
DUARTE DIAS IMMANUEL
Nomologia
b. 1555 Oporto
d. 1628 Jerusalem
‘0 feyo’ — the ugly
MATTATHIA | GRACIA @) AFlorentine cy BENJAMIN
(MANUEL DIAS) —— 1 Count 2 LEVI
HENRIQUES)
b. 1594 Oporto
d. 1667 Amsterdam
—
MOSES ISAAC a) SARA
1631-1707 CURIEL
MATTATHIA II DAVID CURIEL EMANUEL
the Gentiles” He also reflects the rabbis ambivalent attitude to
this world and the next: on the one hand, this world is merely
a preparation for the next; on the other hand, the Jew must
enjoy this world and the life given by God for serving Him
and his fellowman.
Al-Nakawa’s Menorat-ha-Maor
Ever since S. Schechter described the Menorat-ha-Maor of
Israel Al-Nakawa (d. 1391; MGwJ, 34 (1885), 114-26, 234-40)
and H.G. Enelow published it (1929-34), the relationship
between the two books has interested scholars, with most
of them inclining toward the dependence of Aboab on Al-
Nakawa. Certain scholars contend that this would imply the
post-dating of Aboab’s work. The subjects discussed under
their various headings are strikingly similar in the two works,
but their arrangement is hardly more logical in one than in
the other. In Aboab’s Menorat ha-Maor the choice of title is
justified by the plan, and the need for an ordered presenta-
tion of aggadah is explained in the “Introduction,” whereas
Al-Nakawa has nothing to say on this subject. (For the ar-
guments in favor of the precedence of Al-Nakawa’s work see
Israel b. Joseph *Al-Nakawa.)
Other Works
In the “Introduction” Isaac mentions that he had written two
halakhic works: Aron ha-Edut (“Ark of Testimony”), whose tal-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
MANUEL TEIXEIRA
ABRAHAM ABOAB JACOB ABOAB
(ANTONIO FALEIRO) GD AIG (ANDRE FALEIRO) @® pits
d. 1642 Venice d.c. 1639 Hamburg
JOSEPH JACOB ISAAC SAMUEL MAZAL TOV
RabbiinVenice GD) FRANCO _ 1600
1616-1694 d. 1696
ABRAHAM DAVID JACOB JOSEPH
Rabbi in Venice
d.c. 1727
Hiddushei Soferim
Died in Hebron
Rabbi in Venice
SAMUEL
Rabbi in Venice
b. 1692
mudic materials are arranged according to the Ten Command-
ments with the opinions of the geonim and later commentators
in the margin; and Lehem ha-Panim (“Showbread”), devoted
to prayers and blessings (unique manuscript in Schocken Li-
brary, Jerusalem).
The traditional portrait of Isaac Aboab is actually that of
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A bibliography of editions and translations is
found in the introduction to Menorat ha-Maor, ed. by Ben-Menahem
(1953), 1-14; Zunz, Ritus, 204-10; S.A. Horodezky, in: Ha-Goren, 3
(1902), 5-29; H.G. Enelow, Israel Al-Naqawa’s “Menorat ha-Maor”
(1929), 17-22 (introd.); Efros, in: QR, 9 (1918/19), 337-57; Levitan,
ibid., 11 (1920/21), 259-64; Davidson, ibid., 21 (1930/31), 461-8; Hig-
ger, ibid., 27 (1936/37), 59-63; Waxman, Literature, 2 (19607), 282-7;
Baer, Spain, index, s.v. Isaac Abohab.
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica]
ABOAB, ISAAC II (1433-1493), rabbinical scholar. Known as
the “last gaon of Castile,” Aboab was a disciple of Isaac *Can-
panton and head of the Toledo Yeshivah. Joseph *Caro re-
fers to him as one of the greatest scholars of his time. During
the final years before the expulsion from Spain he headed a
yeshivah in Guadalajara, where, in 1491, Isaac *Abrabanel stud-
ied with him. When the edict of expulsion was issued against
the Jews of Spain in 1492, Aboab and other prominent Jews
267
ABOAB, ISAAC DE MATTATHIAS
went to Portugal to negotiate with King Joao 11 regarding the
admission of a number of Spanish exiles into his country. He
and 30 other householders were authorized to settle in Oporto
where he died seven months later; a eulogy was delivered by
his pupil Abraham Zacuto. He had two sons: JAcoB, who ul-
timately settled in Constantinople where he published in 1538
his father’s Nehar Pishon, and ABRAHAM, one of the forced
converts of 1497 who retained their Jewish loyalties in secret.
Abraham adopted the name Duarte Dias, and many of his
descendants returned to Judaism (see *Aboab Family). Isaac
Aboabs published works include the following: (1) a super-
commentary on Nahmanides’ commentary on the Pentateuch
(Constantinople, 1525; Venice, 1548, etc.); (2) Nehar Pishon,
homilies on the Pentateuch and other biblical books, edited
by his son Jacob (Constantinople, 1538); (3) talmudic excur-
suses (Shitot) and novellae (those to Bezah were published in
the responsa of Moses Galante (Venice, 1608) and Sefer Shi-
tot ha-Kadmonim (1959); those to Bava Mezia are quoted by
Bezalel Ashkenazi in his Shitah Mekubbezet); (4) responsa, ap-
pended to Sheva Einayim (Leghorn, 1745). Oxford and Cam-
bridge manuscripts contain some of his novellae (on Ketubbot
and Kiddushin), as well as homilies. A commentary on Jacob
b. Asher’s Arbaah Turim, quoted and used by Joseph Caro and
later authorities, and a commentary on Rashi (on the Penta-
teuch), as well as many responsa, are no longer extant.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Graetz, Gesch, 82 (c. 1900*), 218, 330, 348;
Weiss, Dor, 5 (1904*); Loewenstein, in: MGwJ, 48 (1904), 663-6; Roth,
in: JQR, 23 (1932/33), 121-62; A. Marx, Studies in Jewish History and
Booklore (1944), 80, 85, 88-89, 431-2; idem, in: JQR, 20 (1907/08),
240-71 (add. and corr., ibid., 2 (1911), 237-8).
[Zvi Avneri]
ABOAB, ISAAC DE MATTATHIAS (1631-1707), Dutch Se-
phardi scholar. His father Manuel Dias Henriques (1594-1667)
was born in Oporto into a Marrano family, a descendant of
Isaac *Aboab 11. After escaping from the Inquisition in Mex-
ico he reverted to Judaism as Mattathias Aboab in Amster-
dam in 1626. Isaac was a wealthy East India merchant trading
with Spain and Portugal under the assumed name of Dennis
Jennis. Although not a rabbi, as generally stated, he patron-
ized rabbinical works and was a prolific writer and copyist.
His only published work is a brief handbook of moral con-
duct, first written for his son in Hebrew but published in Por-
tuguese under the title of Doutrina Particular (Amsterdam,
1687, 1691, reprinted by M.B. Amzalak, Lisbon, 1925). He ad-
vised his son to read Spanish books from time to time for his
entertainment. He also wrote (1685) a morality play (Come-
dia) on the life of Joseph, and compiled a history and geneal-
ogy of his own family.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Revah, in: Boletim internacional de biblio-
grafia Iusobrasileira, 2 (1961), 276-310 (full list of Aboab’s writings);
Kayserling, Bibl., 3-45, 55, 81, 110; C. Roth, in: JQR, 23 (1922/33), 122 ff;
A. Rubens, Jewish Iconography (1954), 65-67; H.I. Bloom, Jews of
Amsterdam (1937). [Cecil Roth]
ecil Rot!
268
ABOAB, JACOB BEN SAMUEL (d. c. 1725), Venetian rabbi.
He was the third son of Samuel Aboab, whom he succeeded as
rabbi of Venice and whose biography he wrote (introduction
to Samuel Aboab’s responsa Devar Shemuel (Venice, 1702)).
He studied mathematics and astronomy and enjoyed a high
repute for his extensive knowledge. Jacob’s halakhic decisions
are included in contemporary works. He corresponded with
Christian scholars on biographical and bibliographical top-
ics relating to Jewish literature. Among his correspondents
were Christian Theophil Unger, a Silesian pastor, and the
Frankfurt scholar Ludolf Hiob. An index to Yalkut Shimoni
and a work on the ingredients of the incense of the sanctu-
ary, both in manuscript, are ascribed to him. His responsum
on the chanting of the Priestly Blessing is included in the
collection Meziz u-Meliz (Venice, 1716), and a poem of his is
appended to Kehunnat Avraham (Venice, 1719) by Abraham
Cohen of Zante.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Gesch, 245; S. Wiener, Kohelet Moshe,
2 (1897), 253ff.; Loewenstein, in: MGWJ, 48 (1904), 679-80, 689-701.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABOAB, SAMUEL BEN ABRAHAM (1610-1694), Italian
rabbi. Aboab was born in Hamburg, but at the age of 13 he
was sent by his father to study in Venice under David Franco,
whose daughter he later married. After serving as rabbi in Ve-
rona, he was appointed in 1650 to Venice. At the age of 80 he
had to leave Venice for some unknown cause and wandered
from place to place, until the authorities permitted him to re-
turn shortly before his death. Aboab was renowned for both
his talmudic and general knowledge and was consulted by
the greatest of his contemporaries. He had many disciples.
Modest, humble, and of a charitable nature, he devoted him-
self with particular devotion to communal matters. He was
responsible for obtaining financial support from Western Eu-
rope for the communities in Erez Israel, and in 1643 collected
funds for the ransoming of the Jews of Kremsier taken captive
by the Swedes. Aboab was one of the most energetic opponents
of the Shabbatean movement. At first he dealt with its follow-
ers with restraint, in the hope of avoiding a schism and the
possible intervention of the secular authorities. Subsequently,
however, he adopted a more rigorous attitude. When *Nathan
of Gaza reached Venice in 1668, Samuel was among the rab-
bis of Venice who interrogated him on his beliefs and activi-
ties. His published works include Devar Shemuel, responsa
(Venice, 1702) published by his son Jacob. It is prefaced by a
biography and his ethical will to his sons, and has an appen-
dix called Zikkaron li-Venei Yisrael on the investigation of Na-
than of Gaza in 1667-68; Sefer ha-Zikhronot (Prague, between
1631 and 1651), contains ten principles on the fulfillment of the
commandments. Two more of his works, Mazkeret ha-Gittin
and Tikkun Soferim, exist in manuscript. Some of his letters
were published by M. Benayahu (see bibliography). Two of his
sons, Abraham and Jacob, succeeded him after his death. His
other two sons were JOSEPH and DAVID. Joseph had acted as
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
his deputy during his wanderings; eventually he settled in Erez
Israel. He wrote halakhic rulings on *Jacob b. Asher’s Arbaah
Turim and died in Hebron.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loewenstein, in: MGWJ, 48 (1904), 674-82;
C. Roth, Venice (1930), 231-6; Sonne, in: Zion, 3 (1938), 145-52; Yaari,
Sheluhei, 65, 277; Scholem, Shabbatai Sevi (1973), index; Benayahu,
in: Eretz Israel, 3 (1954), 244-6 (Hebrew section); idem, in: Sinai, 34
(1953/54), 156-202; idem, in: Yerushalayim, 5 (1955), 136-86; idem, in:
Sefer Zikkaron ... Solomon Sally Mayer (1956), 17-47 (Hebrew sec-
tion); idem, Dor Ehad ba-Arez (1988).
[Abraham David]
ABOAB DA FONSECA, ISAAC (1605-1693), Dutch Se-
phardi rabbi. Aboab was born in Castro Daire, Portugal, of a
Marrano family, as Simao da Fonseca, son of Alvaro da Fon-
seca alias David Aboab. He was brought as a child to St. Jean
de Luz in France and then to Amsterdam, where he was given
a Jewish upbringing; he was considered the outstanding pu-
pil of R. Isaac *Uzziel. At the age of 21, Aboab was appointed
hakham of the congregation Bet Israel. After the three Se-
phardi congregations in Amsterdam amalgamated in 1639, he
was retained by the united community as senior assistant to
R. Saul Levi *Morteira. In 1641, following the Dutch conquests
in *Brazil, Aboab joined the Amsterdam Jews who established
a community at *Recife (Pernambuco) as their hakham, thus
becoming the first American rabbi. He continued for 13 years
as the spiritual mainstay of the community. After the repulse
of the Portuguese attack on the city in 1646, Aboab composed
a thanksgiving narrative hymn describing the past sufferings,
Zekher Asiti le-Niflaot El (“I made record of the mighty deeds
of God”), the first known Hebrew composition in the New
World that has been preserved. He also wrote here his He-
brew grammar, Melekhet ha-Dikduk, still unpublished, and
a treatise on the Thirteen Articles of Faith, now untraceable.
After the Portuguese victory in 1654, Aboab and other Jews
returned to Amsterdam. Morteira having recently died, Aboab
was appointed hakham as well as teacher in the talmud torah,
principal of the yeshivah, and member of the bet din; in this
capacity he was one of the signatories of the ban of excommu-
nication issued against *Spinoza in 1656. Aboab became cel-
ebrated as a preacher, and some of his sermons and eulogies
have been published. The Jesuit Antonio de Vieira, compar-
ing him with his contemporary *Manasseh b. Israel, observed
that Aboab knew what he said whereas the other said what he
knew. It was a pulpit address delivered by Aboab in 1671 which
prompted the construction of the magnificent synagogue of
the Sephardi community in Amsterdam; he preached the first
sermon in the new building on its dedication four years later.
Along with most of the Amsterdam community, Aboab was
an ardent supporter of *Shabbetai Zevi, and was one of the
signatories of a letter of allegiance addressed to him in 1666;
he also published Viddui (“Confession of Sins,’ Amsterdam,
1666). Aboab translated from Spanish into Hebrew the works
of the kabbalist Abraham Cohen de *Herrera, Beit Elohim and
Shaar ha-Shamayim (Amsterdam, 1655). His novellae on trac-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABOMINATION
tate Kiddushin and a work on reward and punishment entitled
Nishmat Hayyim have not been published. His most ambitious
production was a rendering of the Pentateuch in Spanish to-
gether with a commentary (Parafrasis Commentada sobre el
Pentateucho, Amsterdam, 1688). Aboab died at the age of 88
on April 4, 1693. The bereavement of their spiritual guide was
so keenly felt by Amsterdam Jewry that for many years the
name of Aboab and the date of his death were incorporated
in the engraved border of all marriage contracts issued by the
community. The breadth of Aboab’s interests in non-Hebrew
as well as Hebrew literature is illustrated in the sale catalogue
of his library which appeared shortly after his death, one of
the earliest known in Hebrew bibliography.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl, 4-5; idem, in: AJHSP, 5
(1897), 125ff.; I. Tishby (ed.), Sefer Zizat Novel Zevi (1954), index;
Scholem, Shabbetai Zevi, index; A. Wiznitzer, Jews in Colonial Brazil
(1960), index, s.v. Fonseca, Isaac Aboab da; idem, Records of the Earli-
est Jewish Community in the New World (1954), index; I.S. Emmanuel,
in: AJA, 7 (1955), 24ff.; Silva Rosa, in: Centraalblad voor Israelieten in
Nederland, 29 (1913); M. Narkiss, in: Ks, 15 (1938/39), 489-90; A. Marx,
Studies in Jewish History and Booklore (1944), 209-11; C. Roth, Life of
Menasseh ben Israel (1934), index.
[Cecil Roth]
ABOMINATION. Three Hebrew words connote abomina-
tion: T1yiNn (toevah), ypw (shekez, sheqez) or ~IPW (shikkuz,
shiqquz), and 7139 (piggul); toevah is the most important of
this group. It appears in the Bible 116 times as a noun and 23
times as a verb and has a wide variety of applications, rang-
ing from food prohibitions (Deut. 14:3), idolatrous practices
(Deut. 12:31; 13:15), and magic (Deut. 18:12) to sex offenses (Lev.
18:22ff.) and ethical wrongs (Deut. 25:14-16; Prov. 6:16-19).
Common to all these usages is the notion of irregularity, that
which offends the accepted order, ritual, or moral. It is in-
correct to arrange the toevah passages according to an evo-
lutionary scheme and thereby hope to demonstrate that the
term took on ethical connotations only in post-Exilic times.
For in Proverbs, where the setting is exclusively ethical and
universal but never ritual or national, toevah occurs mainly
in the oldest, ie., pre-Exilic, passages of the book (18 times
in ch. 10-29; 3 in the remaining chapter). Moreover, Ezekiel,
who has no peer in ferreting out cultic sins, uses toevah as a
generic term for all aberrations detestable to God, includ-
ing purely ethical offenses (e.g., 18:12, 13, 24). Indeed, there
is evidence that toevah originated not in the cult, and cer-
tainly not in prophecy, but in wisdom literature. This is shown
not only by its clustering in the oldest levels of Proverbs but
also in its earliest biblical occurrence where the expression
toavat Mizrayim (Gen. 43:32; 46:34; Ex. 8:22, ascribed to the
J source) refers to specific contraventions of ancient Egyp-
tian norms. Furthermore, Egyptian has a precise equivalent
to toevah, and it occurs in similar contexts, e.g., “Thus arose
the abomination of the swine for Horus sake” (for a Canaan-
ite-Phoenician parallel, note t‘bt ‘Strt - Tabnit of Sidon (third
century B.C.E.) — in Pritchard, Texts, 505). Thus the sapiential
269
ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
background of the term in the ancient Near East is fully at-
tested. True, toevah predominates in Deuteronomy (16 times)
and Ezekiel (43 times), but both books are known to have bor-
rowed terms from wisdom literature (cf. Deut. 25:13ff., and
Prov. 11:1; 20:23) and transformed them to their ideological
needs. The noun shegez is found in only four passages where
it refers to tabooed animal flesh (e.g., Lev. 11:10-43). However,
the verb yw, found seven times, is strictly a synonym of 2yn
(e.g., Deut. 7:26; the noun may also have had a similar range).
Shiqquz, on the other hand, bears a very specific meaning: in
each of its 28 occurrences it refers to illicit cult objects. Piggul
is an even more precise, technical term denoting sacrificial
flesh not eaten in the allotted time (Lev. 7:18; 19:7); though in
nonlegal passages it seems to have a wider sense (Ezek. 4:14;
cf. Isa. 65:4). According to the rabbis (Sifra 7:18, etc.) the flesh
of a sacrifice was considered a piggul if the sacrificer, at the
time of the sacrifice, had the intention of eating the flesh at a
time later than the allotted time. Under these circumstances,
the sacrifice was not considered accepted by God and even if
the sacrificer ate of it in the alloted time he was still liable to
the punishment of *karet, i.e., the flesh was considered piggul
by virtue of the intention of the sacrificer. This is an extension
of the biblical text according to which he would be liable for
punishment only if he ate it at the inappropriate time. The rab-
bis based their interpretation on the biblical passage “It shall
not be acceptable” (Lev. 7:18). They reasoned: How could the
Lord having already accepted the sacrifice then take back His
acceptance after it was later eaten at the wrong time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Humbert, in: zAw, 72 (1960), 217-37.
[Jacob Milgrom]
ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, literal translation
of the Greek BdéAvypa épnpNw@oews (1 Macc. 1:54). This in
turn, evidently goes back to a Hebrew or Aramaic expres-
sion similar to shiqquz shomen (“desolate,’ i.e., horrified — for
“horrifying” - “abomination”; Dan. 12:11). Similar, but gram-
matically difficult, are ha-shiqquz meshomem, “a horrifying
abomination,” (disregard the Hebrew definite article?; ibid.
11:31); shiqquzim meshomem, “a horrifying abomination’, dis-
regarding the ending of the noun? (ibid. 9:27); and ha-pesha‘
shomem, “the horrifving offense” (ibid. 8:13). According to the
Maccabees passage, it was something which was constructed
(a form of the verb oikodopéw) on the altar (of the Jerusalem
sanctuary), at the command of *Antiochus tv Epiphanes, on
the 15 day of Kislev (i.e., some time in December) of the year
167 B.C.E.; according to the Daniel passages, it was some-
thing that was set (a form of ntn) there. It was therefore evi-
dently a divine symbol of some sort (a statue or betyl [sacred
stone]), and its designation in Daniel and Maccabees would
then seem to be a deliberate cacophemism for its official des-
ignation. According to 11 Maccabees 6:2, Antiochus ordered
that the Temple at Jerusalem be renamed for Zeus Olympios
- “Olympian Zeus.” Since Olympus, the abode of the gods, is
equated with heaven, and Zeus with the Syrian god “Lord of
270
Heaven” - Phoenician B‘al Shamem, Aramaic Beel Shemain
(see Bickerman) - it was actually Baal Shamem, “the Lord of
Heaven,” who was worshiped at the Jerusalem sanctuary dur-
ing the persecution; and of this name, Shomem, best rendered
“Horrifying Abomination,’ is a cacophemistic distortion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Bickerman, Der Gott der Makkabaeer
(1937), 92-96.
[Harold Louis Ginsberg]
ABONY, town in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county, Hungary,
located southeast of Budapest. One Jew settled there in 1745;
the census of 1767 mentions eight Jews. The Jewish popula-
tion ranged from 233 in 1784 to 431 in 1930, reaching a peak
of 912 in 1840. The Jewish community was organized in 1771
concurrently with the organization of a Chevra Kadisha. The
community's first synagogue was built in 1775. The members
of the community consisted of merchants, shopkeepers, arti-
sans, peddlers and, starting in 1820, tenant farmers. From 1850
onward Jews were able to own land. A magnificent new syna-
gogue was built in 1825 that was mentioned in a responsum
by Moses *Sofer. A Jewish teacher was engaged for the com-
munity in 1788, and a Jewish school was opened in 1766 and
moved to a separate building in 1855. In 1869 a Neolog commu-
nity was established in town. It was in Abony that the Austro-
Hungarian kolel of Jerusalem was established in 1863. Among
the rabbis of Abony were Jacob Herczog (1837-57), author of
Pert Yaakov (1830); Isaac (Ignac) *Kunstadt (1862-82), author
of Luah Eretz, 1-2 (1886-87); Béla Vajda (1889-1901), author of
ahistory of the local Jewish community; and Naphtali Blumgr-
und (1901-18). In April 1944, the Neolog community of 275
was led by Izsak Vadasz.
According to the census of 1941, Abony had 315 Jewish
inhabitants and 16 converts identified as Jews under the ra-
cial laws. Early in May 1944, the Jews were placed in a ghetto
which also included the Jews from the following neighboring
villages in Abony district: Jaszkarajen6, Kocsér, Tészeg, Tér-
tel, Ujszdsz, and Zagyvarékas. After a few days, the Jews were
transferred to the ghetto of Kecskemét, from where they were
deported to Auschwitz in two transports on June 27 and 29. In
1946, Abony had a Jewish population of 56. Most of them left
after the Communists took over in 1948 and especially after
the Revolution of 1956. By 1959, their number was reduced to
19, and a few years later the community ceased to exist. The
synagogue is preserved as a historic monument.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Vajda, A zsidok térténete Abonyban és
vidékén (1896). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Braham, Politics; Zsido
Lexikon (1929), 3-4; PK Hungaryah, 127-28.
[Alexander Scheiber / Randolph Braham (24 ed.)]
ABORTION. Abortion is defined as the artificial termination
of a woman's pregnancy.
In the Biblical Period
A monetary penalty was imposed for causing abortion of a
woman's fetus in the course of a quarrel, and the penalty of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
death if the woman's own death resulted therefrom. “And if
men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her
fruit depart, and yet no harm follow — he shall be surely fined,
according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and
he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follow
— then thou shall give life for life” (Ex. 21:22-23). According
to the Septuagint the term “harm” applied to the fetus and not
to the woman, and a distinction is drawn between the abor-
tion of a fetus which has not yet assumed complete shape -
for which there is the monetary penalty - and the abortion
of a fetus which has assumed complete shape - for which the
penalty is “life for life.” Philo (Spec., 3:108) specifically pre-
scribes the imposition of the death penalty for causing an
abortion, and the text is likewise construed in the Samaritan
Targum and by a substantial number of Karaite commenta-
tors. A. *Geiger deduces from this the existence of an ancient
law according to which (contrary to talmudic halakhah) the
penalty for aborting a fetus of completed shape was death
(Ha-Mikra ve-Targumav, 280-1, 343-4). The talmudic schol-
ars, however, maintained that the word “harm” refers to the
woman and not to the fetus, since the scriptural injunction,
“He that smiteth a man so that he dieth, shall surely be put to
death” (Ex. 21:12), did not apply to the killing of a fetus (Mekh.
SbY, ed. Epstein- Melamed, 126; also Mekh. Mishpatim 8; Targ.
Yer., Ex. 21:22-23; BK 42a). Similarly, Josephus states that a
person who causes the abortion of a womans fetus as a result
of kicking her shall pay a fine for “diminishing the popula-
tion,’ in addition to paying monetary compensation to the
husband, and that such a person shall be put to death if the
woman dies of the blow (Ant., 4:278). According to the laws
of the ancient East (Sumer, Assyria, the Hittites), punishment
for inflicting an aborting blow was monetary and sometimes
even flagellation, but not death (except for one provision in
Assyrian law concerning willful abortion, self-inflicted). In
the Code of *Hammurapi (no. 209, 210) there is a parallel to
the construction of the two quoted passages: “Ifa man strikes
a woman [with child] causing her fruit to depart, he shall pay
ten shekalim for her loss of child. If the woman should die,
he who struck the blow shall be put to death”
In the Talmudic Period
In talmudic times, as in ancient *halakhah, abortion was not
considered a transgression unless the fetus was viable (ben
keyama; Mekh. Mishpatim 4 and see Sanh. 84b and Nid. 44b;
see Rashi; ad loc.), hence, even if an infant is only one day
old, his killer is guilty of murder (Nid. 5:3). In the view of R.
Ishmael, only a *Gentile, to whom some of the basic trans-
gressions applied with greater stringency, incurred the death
penalty for causing the loss of the fetus (Sanh. 57b). Thus
abortion, although prohibited, does not constitute murder
(Tos., Sanh. 59a; Hul. 33a). The scholars deduced the prohibi-
tion against abortion by an a fortiori argument from the laws
concerning abstention from procreation, or onanism, or hav-
ing sexual relations with one’s wife when likely to harm the
fetus in her womb - the perpetrator whereof being regarded
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABORTION
as “a shedder of blood” (Yev. 62b; Nid. 13a and 31a; Havvat
Yair, no. 31; Sheelat Yavez, 1:43; Mishpetei Uziel, 3:46). This is
apparently also the meaning of Josephus’ statement that “the
Law has commanded to raise all the children and prohib-
ited women from aborting or destroying seed; a woman who
does so shall be judged a murderess of children for she has
caused a soul to be lost and the family of man to be dimin-
ished” (Apion, 2:202).
The Zohar explains that the basis of the prohibition
against abortion is that “a person who kills the fetus in his
wife’s womb desecrates that which was built by the Holy One
and His craftsmanship.” Israel is praised because notwith-
standing the decree, in Egypt, “every son that is born ye shall
cast into the river” (Ex. 1:22), “there was found no single per-
son to kill the fetus in the womb of the woman, much less after
its birth. By virtue of this Israel went out of bondage” (Zohar,
Ex., ed. Warsaw, 3b).
Abortion is permitted if the fetus endangers the mother’s
life. Thus, “if a woman travails to give birth [and it is feared
she may die], one may sever the fetus from her womb and
extract it, member by member, for her life takes precedence
over his” (Oho. 7:6). This is the case only as long as the fetus
has not emerged into the world, when it is not a life at all and
“it may be killed and the mother saved” (Rashi and Meiri,
Sanh. 72b). But, from the moment that the greater part of the
fetus has emerged into the world - either its head only, or its
greater part — it may not be touched, even if it endangers the
mother’s life: “ein dohin nefesh mi-penei nefesh” (“one may
not reject one life to save another” - Oho. and Sanh. ibid.).
Even though one is enjoined to save a person who is being
pursued, if necessary by killing the pursuer (see *Penal Law),
the law distinguishes between a fetus which has emerged into
the world and a “pursuer,’ since “she [the mother] is pursued
from heaven” (Sanh. 72b) and moreover, “such is the way of
the world” (Maim., Yad, Roze’ah 1:9) and “one does not know
whether the fetus is pursuing the mother, or the mother the
fetus” (Ty Sanh. 8:9, 26c). However, when the mother’s life
is endangered, she herself may destroy the fetus - even if its
greater part has emerged - “for even if in the eyes of others
the law ofa fetus is not as the law of a pursuer, the mother may
yet regard the fetus as pursuing her” (Meiri, ibid.).
Contrary to the rule that a person is always fully liable
for damage (muad le-olam), whether inadvertently or willfully
caused (BK 2:6, see *Penal Law, Torts), it was determined with
regard to damage caused by abortion, that “he who with the
leave of the bet din and does injury - is absolved if he does so
inadvertently, but is liable if he does so willfully - this being
for the good order of the world” (Tosef., Git. 4:7), for “if we
do not absolve those who have acted inadvertently, they will
refrain from carrying out the abortion and saving the mother”
(Tashbez, pt. 3, no. 82; Minhat Bik., Tosef., Git. 4:7).
In the Codes
Some authorities permit abortion only when there is danger
to the life of the mother deriving from the fetus “because it is
271
ABORTION
pursuing to kill her” (Maim. loc. cit.; Sh. Ar., HM 425:2), but
permission to “abort the fetus which has not emerged into the
world should not be facilitated [in order] to save [the mother]
from illness deriving from an inflammation not connected
with the pregnancy, or a poisonous fever ... in these cases the
fetus is not [per se] the cause of her illness” (Pahad Yizhak,
s.v. Nefalim). Contrary to these opinions, the majority of the
later authorities (aharonim) maintain that abortion should be
permitted if it is necessary for the recuperation of the mother,
even if there is no mortal danger attaching to the pregnancy
and even if the mother’s illness has not been directly caused
by the fetus (Maharit, Resp. no. 99). Jacob *Emden permit-
ted abortion “as long as the fetus has not emerged from the
womb, even if not in order to save the mother’s life, but only
to save her from the harassment and great pain which the
fetus causes her” (Sheelat Yavez, 1:43). A similar view was
adopted by Benzion Meir Hai *Ouziel, namely that abortion is
prohibited if merely intended for its own sake, but permitted
“if intended to serve the mother’s needs ... even if not vital”;
and who accordingly decided that abortion was permissible
to save the mother from the deafness which would result,
according to medical opinion, from her continued pregnancy
(Mishpetei Uziel, loc. cit.). In the Kovno ghetto, at the time
of the Holocaust, the Germans decreed that every Jewish
woman falling pregnant shall be killed together with her fe-
tus. As a result, in 1942 Rabbi Ephraim Oshry decided that an
abortion was permissible in order to save a pregnant woman
from the consequences of the decree (Mi-Maamakim, no.
20).
The permissibility of abortion has also been discussed
in relation to a pregnancy resulting from a prohibited (i.e.,
adulterous) union (see Havvat Ya’ir, ibid.). Jacob Emden per-
mitted abortion to a married woman made pregnant through
her adultery, since the offspring would be a mamzer (see
*Mamzer), but not to an unmarried woman who becomes
pregnant, since the taint of bastardy does not attach to her off-
spring (Sheelat Yavez, loc. cit.,s.v. Yuhasin). Ina later respon-
sum it was decided that abortion was prohibited even in the
former case (Lehem ha-Panim, last Kunteres, no. 19), but this
decision was reversed by Ouziel, in deciding that in the case
of bastardous offspring abortion was permissible at the hands
of the mother herself (Mishpetei Uziel, 3, no. 47).
In recent years the question of the permissibility of an
abortion has also been raised in cases where there is the fear
that birth may be given to a child suffering from a mental or
physical defect because of an illness, such as rubeola or mea-
sles, contracted by the mother or due to the aftereffects of
drugs, such as thalidomide, taken by her. The general tendency
is to uphold the prohibition against abortion in such cases,
unless justified in the interests of the mother’s health, which
factor has, however, been deemed to extend to profound emo-
tional or mental disturbance (see: Unterman, Zweig, in bibli-
ography). An important factor in deciding whether or not an
abortion should be permitted is the stage of the pregnancy:
the shorter this period, the stronger are the considerations in
272
favor of permitting abortion (Havvat Ya’ir and Sheelat Yavez,
loc. cit.; Beit Shelomo, HM 132).
Contemporary Authorities
Contemporary halakhic authorities adopted a strict approach
towards the problem of abortion. R. Isser Yehuda *Unterman
defined the abortion of a fetus as “tantamount to murder,’ sub-
ject to a biblical prohibition. R. Moses *Feinstein adopted a
particularly strict approach. In his view, abortion would only
be permitted if the doctors determined that there was a high
probability that the mother would die were the pregnancy to
be continued. Where the mother’s life is not endangered, but
the abortion is required for reasons of her health, or where
the fetus suffers from Tay-Sachs disease, or Down's syndrome,
abortion is prohibited, the prohibition being equal in severity
to the prohibition of homicide. This is the case even if bring-
ing the child into the world will cause intense suffering and
distress, to both the newborn and his parents. According to R.
Feinstein, the prohibition on abortion also applies where the
pregnancy was the result of forbidden sexual relations, which
would result in the birth of a mamzer.
Other halakhic authorities - foremost among them R.
Eliezer *Waldenberg - continued the line of the accepted
halakhic position whereby the killing of a fetus did not con-
stitute homicide, being a prohibition by virtue of the reasons
mentioned above. Moreover, according to the majority of au-
thorities, the prohibition was of rabbinic origin. In the case
of a fetus suffering from Tay-Sachs disease R. Waldenberg
ruled: “it is permissible ... to perform an abortion, even un-
til the seventh month of her pregnancy, immediately upon its
becoming absolutely clear that such a child will be born thus.”
In his ruling he relies inter alia on the responsa of Maharit
(R. Joseph *Trani) and Sheelat Ya’vez (R. Jacob *Emden), who
permit abortion “even if not in order to save the mother’s life,
but only to save her from the harassment and the great pain
that the fetus causes her” (see above). R. Waldenberg adds:
“... Consequently, if there is a case in which the halakhah
would permit abortion for a great need and in order to alle-
viate pain and distress, this would appear to be a classic one.
Whether the suffering is physical or mental is irrelevant, since
in many instances mental suffering is greater and more pain-
ful than physical distress” (Ziz Eliezer, 13:102). He also permit-
ted the abortion of a fetus suffering from Down’s syndrome.
Quite frequently, however, the condition of such a child is far
better than that of the child suffering from Tay-Sachs, both
in terms of his chances of survival and in terms of his physi-
cal and mental condition. Accordingly, “From this [i.e., the
general license in the case of Tay-Sachs disease] one cannot
establish an explicit and general license to conduct an abor-
tion upon discovering a case of Down’s syndrome ... until the
facts pertaining to the results of the examination are known,
and the rabbi deciding the case has thoroughly examined the
mental condition of the couple” (ibid., 14:101).
In the dispute between Rabbis Feinstein and Walden-
berg relating to Maharit’s responsum, which contradicts his
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
own conclusion, R. Feinstein writes: “This responsum is to
be ignored ... for it is undoubtedly a forgery compiled by an
errant disciple and ascribed to him” (p. 466); and regarding
the responsum of R. Jacob Emden, which also contradicts his
own conclusion, he claims that “... the argument lacks any co-
gency, even if it was written by as great a person as the Ya’vez”
(p. 468). In concluding his responsum, R. Feinstein writes of
“the need to rule strictly in light of the great laxity [in these
matters] in the world and in Israel.” Indeed, this position is
both acceptable and common in the halakhah, but in similar
cases the tendency has not been to reject the views of earlier
authorities, or to rule that they were forged, but rather to rule
stringently, beyond the letter of the law, due to the needs of
the hour (see Waldenberg, ibid., 14:6).
In the State of Israel
Abortion and attempted abortion were prohibited in the
Criminal Law Ordinance of 1936 (based on English law), on
pain of imprisonment (sec. 175). An amendment in 1966 to
the above ordinance relieved the mother of criminal respon-
sibility for a self-inflicted abortion, formerly also punishable
(sec. 176). In this context, causing the death of a person in an
attempt to perform an illegal abortion constituted manslaugh-
ter, for which the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. An
abortion performed in good faith and in order to save the
mother’s life, or to prevent her suffering serious physical or
mental injury, was not a punishable offense. Terms such as “en-
dangerment of life” and “grievous harm or injury” were given
a wide and liberal interpretation, even by the prosecution in
considering whether or not to put offenders on trial.
The Penal Law Amendment (Termination of Pregnancy)
5737-1977 provided, inter alia, that “a gynecologist shall not
bear criminal responsibility for interrupting a woman's preg-
nancy if the abortion was performed at a recognized medical
institution and if, after having obtained the woman's informed
consent, advance approval was given by a committee consist-
ing of three members, two of whom are doctors (one of them
an expert in gynecology), and the third a social worker.” The
law enumerates five cases in which the committee is permitted
to approve an abortion: (1) the woman is under legally mar-
riageable age (17 years old) or over 40; (2) the pregnancy is the
result of prohibited relations or relations outside the frame-
work of marriage; (3) the child is likely to have a physical or
a mental defect; (4) continuance of the pregnancy is likely
to endanger the woman's life or cause her physical or mental
harm; (5) continuance of the pregnancy is likely to cause grave
harm to the woman or her children owing to difficult family
or social circumstances in which she finds herself and which
prevail in her environment ($316). The fifth consideration was
the subject of sharp controversy and was rejected inter alia by
religious circles. They claimed that the cases in which abor-
tion is halakhically permitted - even according to the most
lenient authorities - are all included in the first four reasons.
In the Penal Law Amendment adopted by the Knesset in De-
cember 1979, the fifth reason was revoked.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABORTION
The Israeli Supreme Court has also dealt with the ques-
tion of the husband's legal standing in an application for an
abortion filed by his wife; that is, is the committee obliged to
allow the husband to present his position regarding his wife's
application? The opinions in the judgment were divided. The
majority view (Justices Shamgar, Ben-Ito) was that the com-
mittee is under no obligation to hear the husband, although
it is permitted to do so. According to the minority view (Jus-
tice Elon), the husband has the right to present his claims to
the committee (other than in exceptional cases, e.g., where the
husband is intoxicated and unable to participate in a balanced
and intelligent consultation, or where the urgency of the matter
precludes summoning the husband). According to this view,
the husband's right to be heard by the committee is based on
the rules of natural justice, that find expression in the rabbinic
dictum: “There are three partners in a person: The Holy One
blessed be He, his father and his mother” (Kid. 30b; Nid. 31a;
c.A. 413/80 Anon. v. Anon., P.D. 35 [3] 57). Elon further added
(p. 89): “It is well known that in Jewish law no ‘material’ right
of any kind was ever conferred upon the parents, even with
respect to their own child who had already been born. The
parents relation to their natural offspring is akin to a natural
bond, and in describing this relationship, notions of legal own-
ership are both inadequate and offensive” (c.A. 488/97 Anon.
et al. v. Attorney General, 32 (3), p. 429-30). This partnership
is based on the deep and natural involvement of the parents
in the fate of the fetus who is the fruit of their loins, and exists
even where the parents are not married, and a fortiori is pres-
ent when the parents are a married couple building their home
and family. When the question of termination of a pregnancy
arises, each of the two parents has a basic right - grounded in
natural and elementary justice - to be heard and to express
his or her feelings, prior to the adoption of any decision re-
garding the termination of the pregnancy and the destruction
of the fetus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. D. Bleich, Judaism and Killing (1981), 96-102;
M. Elon, Jewish Law (Mishpat Ivri): Cases and Materials (Matthew
Bender Casebook Series, 1999), 609-24; J.D. Bleich, “Abortion in Hal-
akhic Literature, in: Tradition, 10:2 (1968), 72-120; E.G. Ellinson, “Ha-
Ubar be-Halakhah; in: Sinai, 66 (1970); M. Feinstein, “Be-Din Harigat
Ubar,” in: Sefer Zikharon le-Grych Yehezkel Abramsky (1975); D. Feld-
man, Birth Control in Jewish Law (1968). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
D. Frimer, “Maamad shel ha-Av be-Hapalat ha-Ubar be-Mishpat ha-
Ivri,” in: Gevurot le-Elon (2005); A. Lichtenstein, Nispah le-Doh ha-
Veadah al Hapalot Melakhutiot (1974); D. Maeir, “Abortion and Hala-
khah: New Issues,’ in: Dinei Yisrael, 7 (1970), 137-150, Eng. section;
C. Shalev, “A Man’s Right to be Equal: The Abortion Issue,” in: Israel
Law Review, 18 (1983); D. Sinclair, “The Legal Basis for the Prohibi-
tion on Abortion in Jewish Law (with Some Comparative References
to Canon, Common and Israeli Law), in: Shenaton ha-Mishpat ha-
Ivri, 5 (1978), 177-218; idem, Jewish Biomedical law (2003), 12-61; A.
Steinberg, Hilkhot Rofim ve-Refuah (1978); I.Y. Unterman, “Be-Inyan
Pikuah Nefesh shel Ubar,” in: Noam, 6 (1963); E.Y. Waldenberg, Ziz
Eliezer (1959), 1:14; I. Warhaftig, “Av u-Veno, in Mehkarei Mishpat, 16
(2000), 479ff.; M. Weinfeld, “The Genuine Jewish Attitude Toward
Abortion, in: Zion, 42 (1977), 129-42, Heb.
[Menachem Elon]
273
ABRABANEL
ABRABANEL, family in Italy. After the expulsion of the
Jews from Spain, the three brothers, Isaac, Jacob, and Jo-
seph, founders of the Italian family, settled in the kingdom
of Naples. The family tree shows the relationships of the Ital-
ian Abrabanels. Because of their considerable wealth and ca-
pabilities the Abrabanel brothers reached a position of some
power both in relation to the Naples authorities and their
coreligionists. IsAAc was a financier, philosopher, and exe-
gete; JAcoB led the Jewish community in Naples; and josEPH
dealt in grain and foodstuffs. All three were included among
the 200 families exempted by the Spaniards when they ex-
pelled the Jews from the kingdom of Naples in 1511. Isaac had
three sons, JUDAH (better known as the philosopher Leone
Ebreo); JOSEPH, a noted physician who lived first in southern
Italy where he treated the famous Spanish general Gonsalvo
de Cordoba, then moved to Venice, and later to Ferrara where
he died; and SAMUEL, who married his cousin BENVENIDA
(See *Abrabanel, Benvenida), a woman of such talent that the
Spanish viceroy in Naples, Don Pedro of Toledo, is said to
have chosen her to teach his daughter Eleonora. Samuel, who
commanded a capital of about 200,000 ducats, was such an
able financier that Don Pedro used to seek his advice. When
his father-in-law Jacob died, Samuel succeeded him as leader
of the Naples community. In 1533, when Don Pedro issued a
new edict expelling the Neapolitan Jews, Samuel managed to
have the order suspended. However, his efforts were unavail-
ing when the viceroy renewed the edict in 1540, and in the
next year all the remaining Jews were compelled to leave the
kingdom of Naples. Samuel now moved to Ferrara where he
enjoyed the favor of the duke until his death. Benvenida con-
tinued her husband’s loan-banking business with the support
of her pupil Eleonora, now duchess of Tuscany, and extended
it to Tuscany. To lighten her burden she took her sons JACOB
and JUDAH and ISAAC, Samuel’s natural son, into the man-
agement of the widespread business. Three years after Sam-
uel’s death in 1547, a struggle broke out over the inheritance
among the three sons: Jacob and Judah (the recognized sons of
Samuel and Benvenida) on the one hand and Isaac (the natu-
ral son) on the other. The struggle, which dealt with the legal
validity of Samuel's will, involved some of the period’s most
famous rabbis: R. Meir b. Isaac Katzenellenbogen (Maharam),
R. Jacob b. Azriel Diena of Reggio, R. Jacob Israel b. Finzi of
Recanati, R. Samuel de Medina, R. Joseph b. David Ibn Lev,
and R. Samuel b. Moses Kalai. The conflict was settled appar-
ently by Maharam’s arbitration in 1551. One of Benvenida’s
sons-in-law who became a partner in her business was JAcoB,
later private banker of Cosimo de’ Medici, and his finan-
cial representative at Ferrara. Following Jacob’s advice, Duke
Cosimo invited Jews from the Levant to settle in Tuscany in
1551 to promote trade with the Near East, granting them fa-
vorable conditions. Members of the family living in Italy, es-
pecially Venice, after this period, Abraham (d. 1618), Joseph
(d. 1603), and Veleida (d. 1616), were presumably descended
from the Ferrara branch.
274
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Margulies, in: RI, 3 (1906), 97-107, 147-54;
N. Ferorelli, Gli Ebrei nell’Italia meridionale (1915), 87-90 and pas-
sim; Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 318, 433, 437; U. Cassuto, Gli Ebrei a Firenze
(1918), passim; A. Marx, Studies in Jewish History and Booklore (1944),
index; A. Berliner, Luhot Avanim (1881), index; B. Polacco, in: Annua-
riodi Studi Ebraici, 3 (1963/64), 53-63. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: C.
Gebhardt, “Regesten zur Lebensgeschichte Leone Ebreo, in: Leone
Ebreo (1929), 1-66; V. Bonazzoli, “Gli ebrei del Regno di Napoli
allepoca della loro espulsione,’ in: Archivio Storico Italiano 502 (1979),
495-559; 508 (1981), 179-287; C. Colafemmina, Documenti per la sto-
ria degli ebrei in Puglia nell‘Archivio di Stato di Napoli (1990), 206-7,
212, 237, 277-78, 308, 311; H. Tirosh-Rotshschild, Between Worlds: The
Life and Thought of Rabbi ben Judah Messer Leon (1991), 24-33, 52-543
D. Malkiel, “Jews and Wills in Renaissance Italy: A Case Study in the
Jewish-Christian Cultural Encounter; in: Italia (1996), 7-69; A. Leone
Leoni, “Nuove notize sugli Abravanel,’ in: Zakhor, 1 (1997), 153-206;
E Patroni Griff, “Documenti inediti sulle attivita economiche degli
Abravanel in Italia meridionale (1492-1543), in: Rassegna Mensile di
Israel (1997), 27-38; R. Segre, “Sephardic Refugees in Ferrara: Two
Notable Families,” in: B.R. Gampel (ed.), Crisis and Creativity in the
Sephardic World 1391-1648 (1997), 164-85; G. Lacerenza, “Lo spazio
dell’ Ebreo Insediamenti e cultura ebraica a Napoli (secoli xv-xv1),”
in: Integrazione ed Emarginazione (2002), 357-427.
[Attilio Milano / Cedric Cohen Skalli (2"4 ed.)]
ABRABANEL, ABRAVANEL (Heb. ONIDTaN; inaccurately
Abarbanel; before 1492 also Abravaniel and Brabanel), Se-
phardi family name. The name is apparently a diminutive of
Abravan, a form of Abraham not unusual in Spain, where the
“h” sound was commonly rendered by “f” or “v” The family,
first mentioned about 1300, attained distinction in Spain in
the 15‘ century. After 1492, Spanish exiles brought the name
to Italy, North Africa, and Turkey. Members of the family who
were baptized in Portugal at the time of the Forced Conversion
of 1497 preserved the name in secret and revived it in the 17
century in the Sephardi communities of Amsterdam, London,
and the New World. The family was also found in Poland and
southern Russia. Of recent years Sephardi immigrants from
the eastern Mediterranean area have reintroduced it into west-
ern countries. It is also common in Israel.
The first of the family who rose to eminence was JUDAH
ABRABANEL of Cordoba (later of Seville), treasurer and
tax-collector under Sancho Iv (1284-95) and Ferdinand Iv
(1295-1312). In 1310 he and other Jews guaranteed the loans
made to the crown of Castile to finance the siege of Algeci-
ras. It is probable that he was almoxarife (“collector of reve-
nues”) of Castile. Another eminent member of the family was
SAMUEL Of Seville, of whom Menahem b. Zerah wrote that he
was “intelligent, loved wise men, befriended them, was good
to them and was eager to study whenever the stress of time
permitted” He had great influence at the court of Castile. In
1388 he served as royal treasurer in Andalusia. During the
anti-Jewish riots of 1391 he was converted to Christianity un-
der the name of Juan Sanchez (de Sevilla) and was appointed
comptroller in Castile. It is thought that a passage in a poem
in the Cancionero de Baena, attributed to Alfonso Alvarez de
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRABANEL, BENVENIDA
ABRABANEL FAMILY
JUDAH ABRABANEL
FI. 1310
in Seville
.
beeen ee ag
SAMUEL
converted 1391 as
Juan Sanchez de Sevilla
JUDAH
d. 1471
SAMUEL DON ISAAC JACOB JOSEPH
b. 1437 Lisbon Naples Naples
d. 1508 Venice d. 1528
JACOB JOSEPH oo dtr JUDAH JOSEPH SAMUEL @) BENVENIDA sor
b.c. 1480 , “Leone Ebreo” physician b. 1473 Lisbon d. 1560
d. c. 1540 b. c. 1460 Lisbon b. 1471 Lisbon d. 1547 Ferrara
Soll ISAAC = @)_LETIZIA JUDAH JACOB GIOIA GD JACOB
baptized d. 1573 Ferrara
by force 1492
i |
'
The Abrabanel family
of Amsterdam
Villasandino, refers to him. He and his family apparently later
fled to Portugal, where they reverted to Judaism and filled im-
portant governmental posts. His son, JUDAH (d. 1471), was
in the financial service of the infante Ferdinand of Portugal,
who by his will (1437) ordered the repayment to him of the
vast sum of 506,000 reis blancs. Later he was apparently in
the service of the duke of Braganza. His export business also
brought him into trade relations with Flanders. He was father
of Don Isaac *Abrabanel and grandfather of Judah *Abrabanel
(Leone Ebreo) and Samuel *Abrabanel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Kayserling, Geschichte der Juden in Por-
tugal (1867), 74ff.; D.S. Blondheim, in: Mélanges... M. Alfred Jeanroy
(1928), 71-74; C. Roth, Menasseh ben Israel (1934), index; B. Netan-
yahu, Don Isaac Abravanel (Eng., 19687); Baer, Spain, index; J.A. de
Baena, Cancionero... ed. by J.M. Azaceta (1966), 127. ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHY: M.M. Kellner, in: Journal of Medieval and Renaissance
Studies 6 (1976), 269-96; M.A. Rodrigues, in: Biblos (Coimbra), 57
(1981), 527-95; M. Idel, in: M. Dorman and Z. Harvey (ed.), Filosofyat
ha-Ahavah shel Yehudah Abravanel, (1985), 73-114; M. Awerbuch,
Zwischen Hoffnung und Vernunft. (1985); S. Regev, in: Asupot, 1 (1987),
169-87; C. Alonso Fontela, in: Sefarad, 47 (1987), 227-43; G. Weiler,
Jewish Theocracy, (1988), 69-85; A. Gross, in: Michael, 11 (1989), 23-36
(Heb. section); A. Ravitzky, in: L. Landman (ed.), Scholars and Schol-
arship (1990), 67-90; A. Dines, O Batt de Abravanel (1992); E. Lipiner,
Two Portuguese Exiles in Castile (1997). [Cecil Roth]
ecil Ro
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRABANEL, BENVENIDA (also known as Benvegnita,
Bienvenita; c. 1473-after 1560), one of the most influential and
wealthiest Jewish women of early modern Italy. Benvenida was
the daughter of Jacob Abrabanel (d. 1528), one of three broth-
ers of Isaac *Abrabanel (1437-1508). She married Isaac’s young-
est son, Samuel (1473-1547), bringing a very large dowry. By
1492, Benvenida and much of the family had settled in Naples,
where her father and then her husband led the Jewish com-
munity. Benvenida appears to have raised six children of her
own along with an illegitimate son of Samuel's. One of her
adult daughters lived in Lisbon, apparently as a Crypto-Jew,
and was known for her charity and piety. Eleanora de Toledo
(1522-1562), the second daughter of Pedro de Toledo, who be-
came Viceroy of the Spanish rulers of Naples in 1532, was also
raised in Benvenida’s house. Benvenida was renowned for her
religious observance and her generosity; she fasted daily and
ransomed at least a thousand captives. In 1524-25, Benvenida
became an enthusiastic supporter of the messianic pretender
David *Reuveni (d. 1538); she sent him money three times, as
well as an ancient silk banner with the Ten Commandments
written in gold on both sides, and a Turkish gown of gold. In
1533, Benvenida and several Neapolitan princesses successfully
petitioned Emperor Charles v to delay the expulsion of the
Jews of Naples for ten years. The Abrabanels left Naples in 1541
275
ABRABANEL, ISAAC BEN JUDAH
when Jews were required to wear a badge, and ultimately set-
tled in Ferrara, a major Sephardi refuge. Dofia Gracia (*Nasi)
Mendes (c. 1510-1569) settled in Ferrara in 1548; although
it is not known if the two women ever met, the interests of
their families did not always coincide. In 1555-56, when Donia
Gracia attempted to persuade Ottoman Jewish merchants
to boycott the papal port of Ancona, the Abrabanel family,
particularly Benvenida’s son Jacob, took the side of Ancona.
Samuel Abrabanel died in 1547 leaving a will filed with and
witnessed by Christians in which Benvenida was made gen-
eral heir to all his movable and immovable property. Samuel's
illegitimate son challenged the will on the rabbinic grounds
that a woman cannot inherit; from 1550 to 1551, this became a
major dispute among the rabbis of Italy and Turkey. Despite
this controversy, Benvenida took over Samuel’s business af-
fairs, receiving permission from the Florentine authorities
to open five banking establishments in Tuscany with her two
sons, Jacob and Judah. Later she quarreled with Judah over his
marriage and cut him off completely in 1553. Although Ben-
venida wielded great power, she herself left very few words in
the historical record. Beyond a defense of women receiving
gifts attributed to her, one folk remedy in her name is found
in a British Library manuscript.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Malkiel, “Jews and Wills in Renaissance
Italy: A Case Study in the Jewish-Christian Cultural Encounter,’ in:
Italia, 12 (1996), 7-69; R. Segre, “Sephardic Refugees in Ferrara: Two
Notable Families,” in: B.R. Gampel (ed.), Crisis and Creativity in the
Sephardic World, 1391-1649 (1997), 164-85, 327-36.
[Howard Tzvi Adelman (24 ed.)]
ABRABANEL, ISAAC BEN JUDAH (1437-1508), states-
man, biblical exegete, and theologian. Offshoot of a distin-
guished Ibero-Jewish family, Abrabanel (the family name
also appears as Abravanel, Abarbanel, Bravanel, etc.) spent
45 years in Portugal, then passed the nine years immediately
prior to Spanish Jewry’s 1492 expulsion in Castile. At that time
an important figure at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, he
chose Italian exile over conversion to Christianity. He spent his
remaining years in various centers in Italy where he composed
most of his diverse literary corpus, a combination of prodi-
gious biblical commentaries and involved theological tomes.
Like his father Judah, Abrabanel engaged successfully
in both commerce and state finance while in Lisbon. After
his father died he succeeded him as a leading financier at the
court of King Alfonso v of Portugal. His importance at court
was not restricted to his official sphere of activities. Of a loan
to the state of 12,000,000 reals raised from both Jews and
Christians in 1480, more than one-tenth was contributed by
Abrabanel himself. When in 1471, 250 Jewish captives were
brought to Portugal after the capture of Arcila and Tangier in
North Africa by Alfonso v, Abrabanel was among those who
headed the committee which was formed in Lisbon to raise
the ransom money.
Abrabanel launched his literary career in Lisbon as well.
In addition to a short philosophic essay entitled “The Forms
276
of the Elements” (Zurot ha-Yesodot), he wrote his first work of
biblical exegesis, a commentary on a challenging section in the
Book of Exodus (Ateret Zekenim (“Crown of the Elders”)), and
began a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy (Mirkevet
ha-Mishneh (“Second Chariot”)) as well as a work on proph-
ecy (Mahazeh Shaddai (“Vision of the Almighty”)). He was
also in touch with cultured Christian circles. His connections
with members of the aristocracy were not founded only on
business but also on the affinity of humanism. His letter of
condolence to the count of Faro on the death of the latter's
father, written in Portuguese, provides a striking example of
this relationship.
The period of tranquillity in Lisbon ended with the death
of Alfonso v in 1481. His heir, Joao 11 (1481-1495), was deter-
mined to deprive the nobility of their power and to establish
a centralized regime. The nobles, led by the king’s brother-
in-law, the duke of Braganca, and the count of Faro, rebelled
against him, but the insurrection failed. Abrabanel was also
suspected of conspiracy and forced to escape (1483). Although
denying guilt, he was sentenced to death in absentia (1485).
He evidently managed to transfer a substantial part of his for-
tune to Castile, and stayed there for a while in the little town
of Segura de la Orden near the Portuguese border. Thereafter,
Abrabanel quickly established himself as a leading financier
and royal servant. By 1485, he had relocated to the Spanish
heartland at Alcala de Henares in order to oversee tax-farm-
ing operations for Cardinal Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, the
“third king of Spain.” The initial total involved was the vast sum
of 6,400,000 maravedis, with Abrabanel earning 118,500 mara-
vedis per year as commission. As collateral he put up, without
restriction, all that he owned. Abrabanel also supported the
campaign of Ferdinand and Isabella against Granada, Islam's
last Iberian citadel, offering extensive loans.
Ferdinand’s and Isabella's signing of an order of expul-
sion against Jews in Spain and her possessions took Abrabanel
by surprise. After the edict of expulsion had been signed, on
March 31, 1492, Abrabanel was among those who tried in vain
to obtain its revocation. Abrabanel relinquished his claim to
certain sums of money which he had advanced to Ferdinand
and Isabella against tax-farming revenues, which he had not
yet managed to recover. In return he was allowed to take 1000
gold ducats and various gold and silver valuables out of the
country with him (May 31, 1492).
Though occupied with worldly affairs, Abrabanel contin-
ued to pursue scholarship and produce works in Spain. Most
notably, he composed commentaries on Joshua, Judges, and
Samuel soon after arriving in Castile. Among other things,
these commentaries attest to Abrabanel’s novel approaches
to questions concerning the authorship and origins of bib-
lical books, some of which imply the impress of a humanist
sense of historicity on his exegesis. Seen from this vantage-
point, these commentaries offer perhaps the earliest example
of Renaissance stimulus in works of Hebrew literature com-
posed beyond Italy.
After the 1492 expulsion, Abrabanel passed two years
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
in Naples. Here he completed his commentary on Kings (fall
1493). But he was again prevented from devoting his time to
study for long, eventually coming to serve in the court of Al-
fonso 11. Abrabanel tells of wealth recouped in Italy and re-
newed fame “akin to that of all of the magnates in the land.”
Abrabanel’s fortunes turned again, however, when the French
sacked Naples (1494). His library was destroyed. Before depart-
ing Naples, Abrabanel managed to complete a work on dogma
(Rosh Amanah (“Principles of Faith”)) structured around Mai-
monides’ enumeration of 13 foundational principles of Juda-
ism. Abrabanel now followed the royal family to Messina, re-
maining there until 1495. Subsequently he removed to Corfu
where he began his commentaries on Isaiah and the Minor
Prophets (summer 1495) and then to Monopoli (Apulia),
where early in 1496 he completed the commentary on Deu-
teronomy which he had begun in Lisbon, as well as his com-
mentaries on the Passover Haggadah (Zevah Pesah), and on
Avot (Nahalat Avot). Of the same period are his works express-
ing the hopes for redemption which at times explain contem-
porary events as messianic tribulations - Ma’yenei Yeshuah,
Yeshuot Meshiho, and Mashmia Yeshuah. Two other works
addressed the problem of the world’s createdness, Shamayim
Hadashim (“New Heavens”) and Mifalot Elohim (“Wonders
of the Lord”). In 1503, Abrabanel settled at last in Venice. He
was engaged in negotiations between the Venetian senate and
the kingdom of Portugal in that year, for a commercial treaty
to regulate the spice trade. He now finished commentaries
on Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Genesis and Exodus, and Leviticus
and Numbers. In a reply to an enquiry from Saul ha-Kohen
of Candia, he mentions that he was engaged in composing his
book Zedek Olamim, on recompense and punishment, and
Lahakat ha-Nevi’im, on prophecy (a new version of Mahazeh
Shaddai which had been lost in Naples), and in completing his
commentary on Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. Abra-
banel died in Venice and was buried in Padua. Owing to the
destruction of the Jewish cemetery there during the wars in
1509, his grave is unknown.
[Zvi Avneri / Eric Lawee (24 ed.)]
Abrabanel as Biblical Exegete
Though Abrabanel’s writings traverse many fields, they mainly
comprise works of scriptural interpretation. It was in his role
as a biblical interpreter that Abrabanel was most emphatic
about his originality as a writer.
In his general prologue to his commentaries on the For-
mer Prophets, Abrabanel spelled out some of his main pro-
cedures and aims as an interpreter of Scripture. To ease the
task of explaining biblical narratives, Abrabanel would “divide
each of the books into pericopes.” These would be smaller than
the units devised by his 14 century Jewish predecessor, Ger-
sonides, but larger than the ones fashioned by “the scholar
Jerome, who translated Holy Writ for the Christians.” Before
explaining a pericope, he would raise questions or “doubts”
about it. Overall, Abrabanel’s interpretive aim was twofold:
explanation of the verses “in the most satisfactory way pos-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRABANEL, ISAAC BEN JUDAH
sible” and exploration of “the conceptual problems embedded
therein to their very end” In short, he would explore both
Scripture’s exegetical and doctrinal-theological dimensions.
Abrabanel warns that such interpretation yields lengthy com-
mentary. In his commentary on the Pentateuch these ques-
tions have no fixed number, sometimes amounting to over 40,
but in his commentary to the Prophets he limits himself to
six. Despite the marked artificiality of this method, Abraba-
nel states that he chose it as a means of initiating discussion
and encouraging investigation.
Abrabanel’s exegesis combines a quest for Scripture’s con-
textual sense (peshat) with other levels of interpretation. His
repeated and emphatic statements about the primacy of peshat
notwithstanding, Abrabanel incorporates midrashim into his
commentaries often and occasionally digresses into detailed
explanations of them. At the same time, he says that he de-
scribes Rashi’s overindulgence in midrashic interpretation as
“evil and bitter.” Like some geonim and Spanish interpreters
before him, Abrabanel distinguishes rabbinic dicta that reflect
a “received tradition,” which he says are indubitably true and
hence binding, from midrashim that reflect fallible human
reasoning. The latter can be rejected. Abrabanel’s criticisms of
individual midrashim can be unusually blunt (“very unlikely,’
“evidently weak,” and so forth) even as Abrabanel often uses
Midrash as a vehicle to extract maximal insight and meaning
from the biblical word.
Abrabanel’s commentaries evince a dialogue with a wide
variety of earlier commentators. The predecessor who most
shaped his exegetical program was *Nahmanides. Like this
earlier Spanish scholar, Abrabanel devotes considerable at-
tention to questions of scripture’s literary structure and ar-
gues for the biblical text’s chronological sequentiality wher-
ever possible.
Abrabanel was ambivalent about philosophically ori-
ented biblical interpretation as practiced by Maimonides and
his rationalist successors. He vehemently fought the extreme
rationalism of philosophical interpretation (for example in
Joshua 10, Second Excursus) as well as interpretations based
on philosophical allegory. At the same time he himself had
recourse, especially in his commentary on the Pentateuch, to
numerous interpretations based on philosophy, as when he
interprets the paradise story. Abrabanel refers to kabbalistic
interpretation only rarely.
At times, he points to errors and moral failings in the
heroes of the Bible. For example, he criticizes certain actions
of David and Solomon and points out some stylistic and lin-
guistic defects of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Among the innovations in Abrabanel’s exegesis are the
following:
(1) His comparison of the social structure of society in
biblical times with that of the European society in his day (for
example, in dealing with the institution of monarchy, 1 Samuel
8). He had wide recourse to historical interpretation, particu-
larly in his commentaries to the Major and Minor Prophets
and to the Book of Daniel.
277
ABRABANEL, ISAAC BEN JUDAH
(2) Preoccupation with Christian exegesis. He disputed
christological interpretations, but he did not hesitate to bor-
row from Christian writers when their interpretation seemed
correct to him.
(3) His introductions to the books of the prophets, which
are much more comprehensive than those of his predecessors.
In them he deals with the content of the books, the division
of the material, their authors and the time of their compila-
tion, and also draws comparisons between the method and
style of the various prophets. His investigations at once re-
flect the spirit of medieval scholasticism and incipient Re-
naissance humanism.
Abrabanel’s commentaries were closely studied by a wide
variety of later Jewish scholars, such as the 19‘-century bib-
lical interpreter Meir Loeb ben Jehiel Michael (*Malbim), as
well as by many Christian thinkers from the 16" through 18"
centuries, some of whom translated excerpts from his biblical
commentaries into Latin.
[Avraham Grossman / Eric Lawee (24 ed.)]
Abrabanel’s Thought
The religious thought of Abrabanel appears in no single vol-
ume, but is distributed throughout his works. His religious
teachings reflect ongoing dialogues with the major figures
of earlier medieval Jewish theology, especially Maimonides.
Abrabanel typically evaluates earlier views on a given issue,
and then sets forth his own teachings. In doing so, he dis-
plays considerable philosophic depth and theological erudi-
tion. Among Abrabanel’s main theological concerns were the
world’s creation, prophecy, history, politics, and eschatology.
CREATION. God's creation of the world ex nihilo stands as
the Archimedean point of Abrabanel’s religious thought. This
view, which alone conforms to the teaching of the Torah, is
also sustained by arguments from reason. Abrabanel refutes
a number of competing cosmogonies influenced by different
streams in ancient and medieval philosophy: the idea of the
visible world’s eternity, associated in the Middle Ages with
Aristotle; the hypothesis of its creation from eternal matter,
associated with Plato; and the doctrine of eternal creation.
Abrabanel’s teaching that God voluntarily created the world
from nothing informs his understanding of the universe as a
place ruled by God’s infinite power in which the miracles of
the Bible occurred according to their literal description.
PROPHECY. Prophecy is another cornerstone of Abrabanel’s
theology. The form in which Abrabanel discusses prophecy is
influenced by the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology and the
medieval Jewish philosophers who preceded him, particularly
Maimonides. The influence of the latter was largely negative
rather than positive, a stimulus that provoked a negative re-
sponse, but which shaped the character of that response.
Abrabanel vigorously attacked the naturalistic view of
prophecy and Judaism advanced by Maimonides, notably in
his commentary on the Guide (2:32-45). According to this
view, prophecy is a natural function of human beings that
278
arises from an individual's achievement of moral, and espe-
cially intellectual, perfection. By contrast, Abrabanel argues
that prophecy is an essentially supernatural phenomenon in
which the prophet is chosen by God. As the miraculous cre-
ation of God, prophecy supplies insight that is qualitatively su-
perior to natural or scientific knowledge: the latter is probable
and refragable, whereas the former is certain and infallible.
HISTORY. Abrabanel bases his understanding of history upon
the Scriptures, which has been established as a perfect source
of truth. This is the history of the universe as well as of man.
The foundation is the personal God who creates the universe
ex nihilo. As such, the universe presents no pre-existent nature
to limit the absolute power of God. Neither does God relin-
quish control over the universe to nature, which, intervening
between God and man, exercises a mechanical providence
over humanity. Abrabanel thus rejects the naturalism of Mai-
monides and his followers adopted from the Neoplatonized
Aristotelianism of medieval science. What befalls man is di-
rectly attributable to God, human freedom, or supernatural
beings. The major outlines of Abrabanel’s theory of history
correspond essentially with the rabbinic view. God created the
universe according to a grand design which culminates in the
salvation of righteous mankind and the vindication of Juda-
ism. Adam was created by God and placed in Eden to realize
his spiritual potentialities. Instead, he chose to disobey God by
eating of the forbidden tree of knowledge. For this sin, Adam
became subject to death and was condemned to live on an
inhospitable earth. Ultimately, through Noah, Abraham, and
Jacob, the people Israel was developed to continue God's plan
of salvation. God exercised a special providence over them,
revealing the Torah and giving them the land of Israel, which
was perfectly suited for spiritual realization and the reception
of prophecy. Yet the Jews sinned against God, and after the de-
struction of the First Temple were sent into exile, which will
continue until the advent of the Messianic Age when the his-
tory of this universe will come to an end.
POLITICS. Some of Abrabanel’s most trenchant ideas lie in
the sphere of politics. The view of Abrabanel on government
reflects his religious convictions. The need for the state is tem-
poral, arising with the expulsion of Adam from Eden and end-
ing in the Messianic Age. As a product of spiritual exile, no
state is perfect, some are better than others, but none provides
salvation. The best possible state serves the spiritual as well as
the political needs of its people, as does the state based on the
principles of Mosaic law. In his commentaries on Scripture,
Abrabanel presents somewhat conflicting views of the opti-
mum society. However, its basic structure along Mosaic lines
is presented clearly in his comments upon Deuteronomy 16:18.
Two legal systems are provided for, civil and ecclesiastical. The
civil system consists of lower courts, a superior court, and the
king; the ecclesiastical system consists of levites, priests, and
prophets. The officials of the lower courts, which possessed
municipal jurisdiction, were chosen by the people. The supe-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
rior court or Sanhedrin, possessed national jurisdiction, and
was appointed by the king, primarily from among the priests
and levites. A significant feature of Abrabanel’s political con-
victions generally is seen in this structure: the diffusion of po-
litical power. Abrabanel’s distrust of concentrated authority is
echoed in his intensely negative opinion of monarchy. He con-
sidered monarchy a demonstrable curse, and the insistence of
ancient Israel upon human kings in place of God's (theocratic)
sovereignty, a sin for which it paid dearly. Monarchy’s inferi-
ority as a form of government is demonstrable on philosophic
and not only on scriptural grounds.
ESCHATOLOGY. Abrabanel produced a substantial eschato-
logical corpus several years after his arrival in Italy. As part
of an exhaustive study of the classical (biblical-rabbinic) and
medieval Jewish eschatological tradition, he set forth a pow-
erful messianic message that included a specific forecast for
the end of days, or for major events anticipating it: the year
1503. Spain’s expulsion of her Jews was one significant context
for Abrabanel’s messianic writings. Christian missionizing
based on christological interpretation of biblical and rabbinic
sources was another. Just how convinced Abrabanel was by his
undeniably vivid apocalyptic rhetoric is hard to say.
Abrabanel’s vision of the Messiah and of messianic times
differs considerably from Maimonides’ naturalistic one. The
Messiah will possess superhuman perfection. The days of
the Messiah will see miracles in abundance such as unprec-
edented agricultural fertility. At that time the Jews will be re-
venged on their enemies in extraordinary ways, the dispersed
Jews will return to Israel, the resurrection and judgment will
take place, and all Jews will live in Israel under the Messiah,
whose rule will extend over all mankind. Though it is often
said that Abrabanel’s messianic speculations contributed sig-
nificantly to the powerful messianic movements among the
Jews in the 16 and 17‘ centuries, there is little evidence to
support this claim.
[Alvin J. Reines / Eric Lawee (24 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Netanyahu, Don Isaac Abravanel (1998°);
Baer, Spain, index; idem, in: Tarbiz, 12 (1940/41), 404-5. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: S. Feldman, Philosophy in a Time of Crisis (2003); E.
Lawee, Isaac Abarbanel’s Stance Toward Tradition (2001); idem, “Isaac
Abarbanel’s Intellectual Achievement and Literary Legacy in Modern
Scholarship: A Retrospective and Opportunity,” in: Studies in Medi-
eval Jewish History and Literature, 3 (2000), 213-47.
ABRABANEL, JUDAH (called Leone Ebreo or Leo He-
braeus; c. 1460-after 1523), physician, poet, and one of the
foremost philosophers of the Renaissance. Abrabanel was born
in Lisbon, the eldest son of Don Isaac *Abrabanel and was in-
structed by his father in Jewish studies and in Jewish and Ara-
bic philosophy. He also studied medicine and is mentioned in
the register of Lisbon physicians of 1483. When his father was
forced to flee from Portugal, in 1483, Judah followed him. At
the time of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492), he se-
cretly sent his one-year-old son to Portugal with his nurse, but
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRABANEL, JUDAH
King John 11 had the infant seized and baptized. This tragedy
weighed heavily on Abrabanel for many years, as is evident
from his frequently published poem “Telunah al ha-Zeman”
(“Complaint against the Time”), composed in 1503. There is,
however, reason to believe that the son ultimately returned
to the religion of his people and to his family. Abrabanel later
settled in Naples where he continued to practice medicine.
The physician *Amatus Lusitanus reports that in 1566 he saw
in Salonica a philosophical work on the harmony of the heav-
ens which Abrabanel had composed for *Pico della Mirandola
(d. 1494). This work is no longer extant. This indicates that he
visited Florence (where Pico lived) at that time. His spiritual
affinity with the circle of scholars of the Platonic Academy
in Florence, particularly with its leading exponents Pico and
Marsilio Ficino, may have originated in this visit. Some schol-
ars, however, believe that the person for whom the book was
meant was Pico’s nephew (d. 1533).
Abrabanel was back in Naples in 1494. When the city
was captured by the French in 1495, he went to Genoa, but
he returned to Naples and in 1501 was teaching medicine and
“astrology” at the university there. From then on, his name
occurs in various documents as physician to the Spanish vice-
roy, Don Gonsalvo de Cérdoba. On the title pages of the sec-
ond (1541) and third (1545) editions of his Dialoghi di Amore,
he is described as a convert to Christianity. This statement is
lacking, however, in the first edition as well as in those sub-
sequent to the third, even in the Latin version of 1564 with
its elaborate dedication to a church dignitary. It is very likely,
therefore, that it has no foundation in fact, and may have been
added merely to stimulate the sale of the work or to empha-
size its orthodoxy from the Christian standpoint. There are
in fact some passages in the text in which the author speaks
of himself as a Jew.
Judah Abrabanel was a skillful versifier, and apart from
the elegy on his son’s disappearance, he composed three short
poems (c. 1504) commending his father’s works, and another
of 52 stanzas in memory of his father and extolling his com-
mentary on the Latter Prophets (c. 1520). These were included
in the printed editions. His reputation rests on his Dialoghi
di Amore, first published in Rome in 1535. Mariano Lenzi, the
editor, claims to have rescued the work “from the obscurity
in which it was buried” after the author’s death. The precise
date of composition is uncertain. According to the author's
statement in the text he had reached the middle of the Third
Dialogue in 1502, but it is not known when he completed it.
The Fourth Dialogue which Abrabanel intended to write never
reached Lenzi, and it may never have been written. Almost
certainly the book was written in Italian (the conjectures that
it was composed in Hebrew or in Spanish are untenable). A
Hebrew translation was made after 1660 by Joseph Baruch of
Urbino; its style is cumbersome and difficult.
Philosophy
Following Plato's example, Abrabanel presented his ideas in
the form of dialogues, of which there are three. The names of
279
ABRACADABRA
the dialogists, Philone and Sophia, who are depicted as pla-
tonic lovers, reflect Abrabanel’s belief that love elevates to
the pinnacle of wisdom. In the character of Sophia we find
here the first female in Jewish and non-Jewish literature that
is described as an active philosopher. The principal and cen-
tral theme of the work, from which the discussion branches
out in a number of directions, is love, which he regards as the
source, the dominating and motivating force, and the loftiest
goal of the universe. He investigates and expounds the nature
of love and its operation in God, in matter and form, in the
four elements, in the spheres, in the constellations, in the ter-
restrial world and all that it contains from man, his soul, his
intellect, and senses, to animals, plants, and inanimate things.
Thus, Abrabanel’s discourse in the Dialoghi rises stage by stage
to the bold concept which rounds out his theory, that the
goal of love is not “possession,” but the pleasure of the lover
in his union with the idea of the beautiful and the good, em-
bodied in the beloved. Hence, the sublime end of love, which
fills the entire world as a supernal force, is the union of the
creation and all creatures with that sublime beauty (which
is at the same time sublime goodness and sublime intellect)
which exists in God. Such a union, which constitutes an act
of both will and intellect, the intellectual love of God (amore
intellettuale di Dio), is desired and enjoyed also by God. This
covenant of mutual love between the universe and its creator
forges a mighty “circle of love” which sustains all components
of the cosmos, from the outermost sphere to the rock within
the earth, in one living, blessed movement, from God and
to God. Out of this central theme there flows a remarkable
stream of thoughts on many diverse subjects - reflections on
religion, metaphysics, mysticism, ethics, aesthetics (especially
valuable), logic, psychology, mythology, cosmology, astrology,
and astronomy - a vision embracing the spiritual and material
universe and its metaphysical goal. Original interpretations
of biblical and rabbinic traditions as well as of Greek myths
occupy a considerable place in these speculations. Abraba-
nel always endeavors to reconcile Jewish and Greek teach-
ings, and the revered Plato and his school with Aristotle and
his Arab commentators. Among the philosophers by whom
he was influenced were *Maimonides and Ibn *Gabirol. The
wealth and profundity of the ideas make the Dialoghi one of
the most important works in metaphysics produced by the
European Renaissance. The work had a widespread influence
in its time. Twenty-five editions and printings (12 in Italian
and 13 in various translations) appeared between 1535 and 1607,
and between 1551 and about 1660 it was translated seven times
into four languages (French, Latin, Spanish, and Hebrew). In
its wake there appeared, especially in 16" century Italy, a large
number of essays and dialogues on love, almost all of which
borrowed basic ideas from Abrabanel’s work. At the same time
his unique concept of love permeated the lyrical poetry of the
epoch in Italy, France, and Spain. His influence is discernible
also in Michelangelo's Sonnets and Torquato Tasso’s Minturno.
Among the philosophers who were influenced by Abrabanel,
mention should be made of Giordano Bruno and *Spinoza,
280
whose small library contained the Dialoghi. But by the end of
the 16" century the influence of the work had dwindled. R.
Isaac *Alatrini of Modena incorporated various passages in his
commentary on the Song of Songs, entitled Kenaf Renanim,
preserved in manuscript in Oxford and elsewhere. Modern
editions include a facsimile edited by C. Gebhardt with elab-
orate introduction and bibliography (Bibliotheca Spinozana,
3, 1929); an edition by Caramella in the series of Italian clas-
sics Scrittori d'Italia (1929); an anonymous early translation
into Hebrew, sometimes ascribed to Leone *Modena (Lyck,
1871); and an English translation by E Friedeberg-Seeley and
Jean H. Barnes (1937). A new Hebrew translation, with an ex-
tensive introduction and notes, was published in Jerusalem
in 1983 by M. Dorman.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Klausner, in: Tarbiz, 3 (1931/32), 67-98; B.
Zimmels, Leo Hebraeus (Ger., 1886); H. Pflaum, Die Idee der Liebe:
Leone Ebreo (1926). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Dorman and Z. Levi
(eds.), The Philosophy of Leone Ebreo, Four Lectures (Heb., 1985); Sh.
Pines, in: B.D. Cooperman (ed.), Jewish Thought in the Sixteenth Cen-
tury (1983), 369-98; A. Melamed, in: Jewish Studies, 40 (2000), 113-30;
B. Gavin, in: Italia, 13-15 (2001), 181-210; A. Lesley, in: M. Fishbane
(ed.), The Midrashic Imagination (1993), 204-25.
[Hiram Peri / Avraham Melamed (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRACADABRA, magic word or formula used mainly in
folk medicine, as an incantation against fevers and inflam-
mations. Several origins for the obscure word have been pro-
posed, most of them regarding it as a derivative of an Ara-
maic demon-name, now unrecognizable. It occurs first in the
writings of Severus Sammonicus, a gnostic physician of the
second century c.£. In the same manner as Abracadabra, the
name of Shabriri, the demon of blindness, and other magic
words were used in Jewish magic, incantations, and amulets.
An amulet still in use among some Oriental Jews utilizes a
talmudic formula:
(Pes. 112a; Av. Zar. 12b)
SHABRIRI
ABRIRI
RIRI
RI
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Supersti-
tion (1939), 80ff., 116 ff.; BJ, 1 (1928), 372 ff.
[Dov Noy]
ABRAHAM (originally Abram; Heb. 0728 ,0773n), first pa-
triarch of the people of Israel. The form “Abram” occurs in the
Bible only in Genesis 11:26-17:5, Nehemiah 9:7, and 1 Chron-
icles 1:26. Otherwise, “Abraham” appears invariably, and the
name is borne by no one else. No certain extra-biblical paral-
lel exists. A-ba-am-ra-ma, A-ba-ra-ma, A-ba-am-ra-am occur
in 19"'-century B.c.z. Akkadian cuneiform texts. Abrm ap-
pears in Ugaritic (Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook (1965), pp. 286,
348, text 2095, line 4), but is most likely to be read A-bi-ra-mi
(Palais Royal d’ Ugarit, 3 (1955), p.20, text 15.63, line 1). There
is no evidence that Abram is a shortened form of Abiram. As
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
to the meaning of Abram, the first element is undoubtedly the
common Semitic for “father”; the second could be derived
from Akkadian radmu (“to love”) or from West-Semitic rwm
(“to be high”). “He loved the father” or “father loves” is a far
less likely meaning than “he is exalted with respect to father”
ie., he is of distinguished lineage. The meaning “exalted fa-
ther” or “father is exalted,” while less satisfactory, cannot be
ruled out. No Hebrew derivation for Abraham exists. In Gen-
esis 17:5 “the father of a multitude [of nations]” is a popular
etymology, although it might possibly conceal an obsolete
Hebrew cognate of Arabic ruhdm, “numerous.” More likely,
Abraham is a mere dialectic variant of Abram, representing
the insertion of h in weak verbal stems, a phenomenon known
from Aramaic and elsewhere.
The Biblical Data: Genesis 11:26-25:10
The main details of Abraham's life are recorded in Genesis
11:26-25:10. They do not form a continuous narrative but
refer to a series of isolated incidents. Son of *Terah, Abra-
ham was the tenth generation from Noah through the line of
Shem (Gen. 11:10-26). His two brothers were Nahor and
Haran. His wife was Sarai or *Sarah, a paternal half sister
(11:29; 20:12). The family migrated from “Ur of the Chal-
dees” (11:31), the apparent birthplace of Abraham (11:28; 15:7;
Neh. 9:7; cf. Josh. 24:2-3), heading for Canaan. It was dur-
ing the stay at Haran that Abram, then aged 75, received the
ABRAHAM
divine call and promise of nationhood in response to which
he proceeded to Canaan together with his wife and nephew
*Lot (Gen. 12:1-5). At Shechem he received a further prom-
ise of national territory and built an altar before continu-
ing his wanderings in the region between Beth-El and Ai. In
this area, too, he built an altar and invoked the divine name,
thereafter journeying toward the Negev (12:6-9). (See Map:
Abrahams Journeys.)
Driven by famine to Egypt, the patriarch represented his
wife as his sister in order to avert personal danger. Sarah was
taken to Pharaoh's palace, but released when the deception was
uncovered as a result of divine visitations (12:10-20). Abra-
ham returned to Canaan and resumed his peregrinations. At
this time, Lot left the clan because of quarrels over pasture-
lands and departed (13:5-9). This incident was followed by a
reiteration of the divine promises of nationhood and posses-
sion of the land (13:14-17). Abraham again built an altar, this
time in Hebron (13:18). Abraham “the Hebrew” next appears
in the role of military chief, described in terms of the ideal
“noble warrior, leading a force of 318 retainers against an in-
vading coalition of eastern kings who had captured Lot in
plundering *Sodom and Gomorrah. The patriarch rescued his
nephew and restored the booty. On his return he was blessed
by *Melchizedek, priest-king of Salem, to whom he paid tithes.
He refused, however, the offer by the king of Sodom of a share
in the recovered spoils (ch. 14). Once again, Abraham received
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
281
ABRAHAM
confirmation of the divine promises, now sealed through an
elaborate covenant ceremony (ch. 15).
Ten years had now elapsed since the first promise of
abundant offspring, but Sarah remained childless. She there-
fore presented her maidservant *Hagar to her husband as a
second wife. *Ishmael was born of the union, Abraham be-
ing then 86 years old (16:1ff.). The Bible is silent about the
next 13 years. Then Scripture reports that God reaffirmed
and strengthened the promise of a rich posterity. Abraham
and Sarah were to beget “a multitude of nations” and kings
would issue from them (17:1-8). It is at this point that their
names were changed from Abram and Sarai to Abraham and
Sarah, respectively (17:5, 15). In addition, the institution of
*circumcision was ordained as an ineradicable token of the
immutability of God’s covenant with Abraham and his pos-
terity (17:9-14). Sarah was explicitly promised a son to be
called *Isaac, through whom the covenant would be main-
tained (17:16-19, 21). Abraham then performed circumcision
on himself and on Ishmael, as well as upon all males in his
household (17:23-27).
Alongside the terebinths of Mamre three messengers ap-
peared to the patriarch who entertained them hospitably and
learned from them of the impending birth of his son and heir
(18:1-10). Sarah was amused by these tidings as had been Abra-
ham earlier (18:12; cf. 17:17), but the Lord Himself confirmed
their truth (18:14). He also revealed His decision to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham pleaded for revocation of
the sentence for the sake of an innocent nucleus that might be
found therein. None such could apparently be found, although
Lot was saved from the subsequent destruction through the
merit of Abraham (18:16-19:29). The patriarch journeyed to
the Negev area and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While
in Gerar, he again passed off his wife as his sister. King *Abi-
melech took Sarah into his palace, but released her unharmed
after being rebuked in a dream theophany (ch. 20). The time
of fulfillment of the divine promise was now at hand. Sarah,
aged 90 (17:17), bore the 100-year-old Abraham a son who
was named Isaac (21:1-3, 5). This event, however, proved to
be a cause of domestic disharmony. Sarah demanded the ex-
pulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. It was only divine intervention
in favor of Sarah that persuaded the distressed Abraham to
agree (21:9-21). At this time, at Abimelech’s initiative, the pa-
triarch concluded a pact of non-aggression, which also regu-
lated the watering rights in the Beer-Sheba area. He subse-
quently spent considerable time in the land of the Philistines
(21:22-34).
The climax of Abraham's life was the divine command to
sacrifice Isaac in the land of Moriah (see *Akedah). Abraham
obeyed unhesitatingly and his hand was stayed only at the last
moment by an angel. Having passed the supreme test of faith,
the patriarch now received, for the last time, the divine bless-
ing - the promise that his descendants would be as numer-
ous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; they
would seize the gates of their foes; all the nations of the earth
would bless themselves by his progeny (22:1-19). Abraham's
282
subsequent acts were concerned with winding up his affairs.
The death of Sarah in Kiriath-Arba (Hebron) was the occa-
sion for acquiring the cave of *Machpelah, as a family sepul-
cher, from Ephron the Hittite (ch. 23). Then, Abraham com-
missioned his senior servant to travel to Haran to find a wife
for Isaac, the idea of a local Canaanite daughter-in-law being
thoroughly repugnant to him (ch. 24). After Isaac’s marriage to
Rebekah, Abraham himself remarried. Several children were
born of this marriage to Keturah, like Isaac and Ishmael the
eponyms of nations. Thus was fulfilled the promise (Gen 17:4)
that Abraham would be the father of many nations. However,
he willed all his possessions to Isaac, gave his other sons gifts
and sent them away to the land of the East. Abraham died
at the age of 175 and was buried in the cave of Machpelah by
Isaac and Ishmael (25:1-11).
The Biblical Data: In the Rest of the Bible
Mention of Abraham in the rest of the Bible is overwhelmingly
in connection with the divine promises, and usually there is
simultaneous reference to all three patriarchs. The few points
of contact with the Abrahamic biography are mainly con-
fined to the Book of Genesis (26:1; 35:27; 49:31), though the
exodus from Ur and the change of name are mentioned in the
late books (Neh. 9:7; cf. Josh. 24:2-3; 1 Chron. 1:26). A cryp-
tic reference to Abraham's idolatrous ancestry is to be found
in Joshua 24:2, while Isaiah (29:22) seems to cite some widely
known tradition not otherwise recorded in the Bible. Abra-
ham is called God’s “servant” (Gen. 26:24; Ps. 105:6, 42) and
“friend” (Isa. 41:8; 11 Chron. 20:7), and though the patriarch
is not an ethnographic figure, Israel is called “the offspring of
Abraham” (Isa. 41:8; Jer. 33:26; Ps. 105:6; 11 Chron. 20:7) and
“the people of the God of Abraham” (Ps. 47:10). Surprisingly,
“God of Abraham” as a generalized divine epithet appears only
this once. Otherwise, Abraham is invariably associated with
the other patriarchs in divine appellations.
The Image of Abraham
The picture that emerges from the biblical texts suggests a
wealthy head of a large establishment, a semi-nomadic tent
dweller (Gen. 12:8; et al.), whose peregrinations are confined
mainly to the central hill country of Palestine and the Negev
and who clings to the periphery of a few great urban centers.
He possesses flocks, silver and gold, slaves (ibid. 12:5, 16, et al.),
and a private army (14:14). He makes military alliances (14:13),
has dealings with kings (12:15 ff.; 14:18 ff; 17:22 ff; 21:22-32), and
negotiates the purchase of land with city notables (23:2-20).
Abraham is peace loving (13:8-9), magnanimous and prin-
cipled in victory (14:22ff.), hospitable to strangers (18:1ff.),
concerned for his fellowmen (18:23-33), obedient to God and
his laws (26:5), and committed to transmitting to his posterity
the ideals of justice and righteousness that he espouses (18:19).
He is the very symbol of the God-fearing man (22:12) and the
man of supreme faith (15:6; 22; Neh. 9:8). He is privy to di-
vine decisions (Gen. 18:17; cf. Amos 3:7) and is also termed
“a prophet” (Gen. 20:7) in that he can intercede with God on
another’s behalf (cf. Deut. 9:20; Jer. 7:16).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
The Critical View
The disconnected and fragmentary nature of the narrative, as
well as stylistic considerations, seem to point to a composition
based on various oral traditions and written sources. Among
followers of the documentary theory, there is a broad mea-
sure of agreement in respect of source division among JE and
P, but little consensus as to the age and historic value of the
material used by these sources. No external records have been
found as yet that refer by name to Abraham or to any person-
age directly connected with him. In the absence of such syn-
chronistic controls, and in the light of the difficulties of the
biblical chronological data (see *Chronology), the place of
the patriarch in the framework of history cannot be precisely
determined. The attempts in the mid-20" century to marshal
sociological and onomastic evidence from archeological dis-
coveries at Nuzi, Mari, and elsewhere to provide a historical
setting for Abraham in the second millennium B.c.£. have not
withstood the test of time. Most alleged parallels between the
Abrahamic stories have been shown to be faulty (e.g., wife-sis-
ter marriage), or not to be confined to a specific period in the
second millennium (e.g., surrogate motherhood). Contempo-
rary scholarship tends to see Abraham as a fictitious symbolic
model of faith, as a figure who legitimates the claims of Israel
to its land, and whose actions foreshadow the deeds of his chil-
dren. Some of the tales of Abraham foreshadow the actions of
Israelite kings, notably David (see *Patriarchs).
Whatever the age and source of the individual units, it
is quite clear that in its present form the cycle of Abrahamic
traditions is a unified and symmetrical historiographic com-
position. These traditions are encased within a framework of
genealogies — the first listing the patriarch’s ancestors (Gen.
11:10-32) and the second his descendants (25:1-18). The ac-
tion opens and closes in a Mesopotamian setting (12:1-4;
24:4ff.). The first utterance of Abraham to God is an expres-
sion of doubt (15:2-8); his last is one of supreme confidence
in the workings of divine providence (24:7). Finally, both the
first and last communications from God to Abraham involve
agonizing decisions and tests of faith, and they are cast in a
strikingly similar literary mold: almost identical language is
used in the case of both calls (12:1; 22:2); the exact destina-
tion is withheld in both cases; the motif of father parting with
son is shared by each narrative; the tension of the drama is
heightened by the accumulation of descriptive epithets (ibid. );
in each instance Abraham builds an altar (12:8; 22:9); and in
each he receives divine blessings of similar content (12:2-3;
22:17-18).
[Nahum M. Sarna / S. David Sperling (2"4 ed.)]
In the Aggadah
In aggadic literature Abraham is regarded as having observed
all the commandments (Yoma 28b; Kid. 4:14; et al.) even
though they had not yet been revealed. He acted in strict con-
formity with the Oral Law: “No one occupied himself so much
with the divine commandments as did Abraham” (Ned. 32a).
He even muzzled his animals that they should not graze in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM
the fields of others (Gen. R. 41:6). Abraham instituted the
morning prayer (Ber. 26b), and the precepts of the *zizit and
*tefillin originate from him (Mid. Hag. to Gen. 14:23). These
statements probably constitute a polemic against Christian
*antinomianism which was prevalent toward the end of the
first century c.E. and which later maintained that the com-
mandments of the Torah were a punishment inflicted upon
Israel. Abraham’s principal virtue was that he was the first to
recognize God, which is variously stated to have taken place
when he was one, three, ten, or 48 years old (Gen. R. 95:2;
64:4). His recognition of God sprang from the notion that
every citadel must have a leader (ibid. 39:1). Abraham waged
a strenuous battle in the cause of spreading the idea of mono-
theism and won over many converts. When he smashed the
idols of his father, an idol manufacturer, King *Nimrod had
him thrown into a fiery furnace from which he was delivered
by the angel Gabriel (Pes. 118a).
Abraham became a priest (Gen. R. 55:6), after the priest-
hood was taken from Melchizedek and given to him (Ned. 32b;
Gen. R. 46:5; et al.). He was one of the great prophets, with
whom God spoke not in dreams or visions but while he was in
full possession of his normal cognitive faculties. “God omitted
no blessing in the world with which He did not bless him” (sER
6). Through coins bearing his image Abraham's fame spread
(Gen. R. 39:11). Around his neck was hung a precious stone
which brought masses flocking to him, for whoever looked on
it was healed (BB 16b, et al.). He was granted the privilege of
blessing others (Tanh. Lekh Lekha 5), and his blessing spread
upon all who came into contact with him (Gen. R. 39:12). Re-
nowned for his hospitality to strangers, he had open doors to
his house on all four sides (Gen. R. 48:9) and himself waited
on his guests, and taught them the Grace after Meals, thus
bringing them to believe in God (ibid. 54:6). Because of his
proselytizing activities, he is regarded as the father of all pros-
elytes, who are given the patronymic Abraham.
Abraham was circumcised on the Day of Atonement by
Shem the son of Noah, “and every year the Holy One, blessed
be He, looks upon the blood of the covenant of our patriarch
Abraham's circumcision and forgives all our sins” (PdRE 29).
Circumcision was one of the ten trials wherewith Abraham
was tried (see later) and by virtue of it he sits at the gate of hell
and does not permit the circumcised to enter (Gen. R. 48:8).
The phrase, “entry into the covenant of Abraham our father,”
used to this day for the ceremony of circumcision, is already
found in the Damascus Document 12:11 (ed. Ch. Rabin, Zadok-
ite Documents (19587), 60-61). According to an early tradition
Abraham underwent ten trials (Avot 5:3) of which different
lists are given in the Midrashim (ARN 33:2; Mid. Ps. to 18:25;
98; PdRE 26). In answer to the sectarians who sought thus to
prove the weakness of Abrahams faith, the sages emphasized
that it is only the righteous, who are certain to pass the test,
who are tried (Gen. R. 55:1-2). “Lovingkindness is spread
abroad” (Gen. R. 60:2) and the world and all therein are pre-
served because of Abraham’s merit. The manna (Tanh. Buber,
Ex. 34), victory in war (Gen. R. 39:16; Esth. R. 7:13), and gen-
283
ABRAHAM
eral forgiveness of Israel's sins (Song R. 4:6) are ascribed to his
merit. The dramatic description of Abraham's appeal to save
the people of Sodom (Gen. 18:23-33) is given a new dimension
in the Midrash, which compares his arguments with God to
those of Job (Gen. R. 49:9). According to this Abraham em-
ployed a “cleaner” language than did Job (ibid.).
In this connection the Midrash emphasizes the extreme
contrast between the basic hospitality of Abraham and the spu-
rious “hospitality” of the people of Sodom (Ag. Ber. 25). It is of
interest to note that the Akedah is regarded as more of a trial of
Abraham than of Isaac. In a desire to compare the trial of Abra-
ham with that of Job, the aggadah assigns to Satan a role in the
drama of Abraham as well (Sanh. 89b). The disciples of Abra-
ham have “a benign eye, a humble spirit and a lowly soul” (Avot
5:19). Abraham however is not regarded as beyond criticism.
The Talmud states that “Abraham our father was punished and
his descendants enslaved in Egypt” because he pressed schol-
ars into military service (based on Gen. 14:14), went too far in
testing God, and prevented men from “entering beneath the
wings of the Divine Presence” (based on Gen. 14:21; Ned. 32a).
Moreover, Abraham hesitated to circumcise himself, where-
upon Mamre rebuked and encouraged him (Gen. R. 42:8). In
a biting comment, Rava denied Abraham the right to intercede
on behalf of his people: In time to come Israel will ask of God:
“To whom shall we go - to Abraham to whom Thou didst say,
‘Know of a surety that thy seed be a stranger in a land that is
not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them..?
and yet he did not plead for mercy for us?” (Shab. 89b).
The prevailing Hellenistic outlook influenced the de-
scription of Abraham in the Apocrypha. He is the founder of
a city and a legislator, the two principal functions of a great
leader according to the Hellenistic concept, and his wisdom
is described in extravagant terms. According to the Apocry-
pha his recognition of God stemmed from his knowledge of
astronomy which he taught to the great men of his generation.
Hence there developed the idea that Abraham was an expert in
many and varied spheres. The Book of Jubilees even declares
that he instructed men in the art of improved plowing, so as to
conceal the seeds from the ravens (11: 18-24). His Babylonian
origin is emphasized in conformity with the contemporary
outlook which regarded that country as the cradle of mysti-
cism. On the basis of Genesis 17:5 Abraham was deemed to be
the progenitor of the Spartans too (1 Macc. 12:20-22; 11 Macc.
5:9). The Testament of *Abraham and the Apocalypse of *Abra-
ham are devoted to him. Philo deals with him in his De Migra-
tione Abrahami, while extracts from Hellenistic Jewish writ-
ers about him have been preserved by Eusebius. In 1v Macc.
14:20; 15:28 Abraham typifies the ability to withstand oppres-
sion. The background of this description of Abraham was the
persecution of the Jews of Alexandria at that time.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
In Jewish Philosophy
Over the generations, Jewish thinkers, from Philo Judaeus of
Alexandia to Joseph *Soloveitchik and Yeshayahu *Leibowitz,
284
have regarded Abraham as the archetypal believer, in accor-
dance with the image of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible and
Midrash: his origins in pagan environs (Josh. 24:2); the tes-
timony of Genesis 15:6 that Abraham “believed in the Lord’,
and Abraham's absolute obedience to divine commandments,
beginning with his leaving his homeland (Gen. 12:1) and cul-
minating in his binding of his son Isaac (Gen. 22:2; see *Ake-
dah). In addition to this biblical image of Abraham, Jewish
philosophers found in rabbinic Midrashim views of Abraham
according to which he smashed the prevalent idols and came
to believe in the one God (Gen. R. 38); Genesis 12:5 (“and
the persons he had acquired in Haran”) was interpreted to
mean people Abraham converted (Gen. R. 39:14; cf. Targum
Onkelos and Rashi to Gen. 12:5); and Genesis 34:12 (“He took
him outside and said: Look at the sky”) was understood as
meaning that Abraham no longer had anything to do with
astrology.
Eventually two paradigms evolved, in which the image
of Abraham came to reflect two basic approaches to Jewish
philosophy. According to the first school of thought, in which
religion was understood rationally, Abraham was seen as a
philosopher whose faith in God was the conclusion of sci-
entific reasoning. According to the other school of thought,
Abraham was seen as a believer whose faith and experience
of divine revelation transcended his earlier philosophical or
scientific speculation.
The first view of Abraham as a philosopher is found in
Hellenistic Jewish literature. *Philo Judaeus of Alexandria
described Abraham as an autodidact philosopher who con-
cluded that God exists. Philo interpreted Abraham's wander-
ings and wars allegorically as a process of coming to know
God (De Abrahamo 68). Philo’s younger contemporary, the
historian *Josephus Flavius, similarly attributed to Abraham
the spreading of monotheism after he had rationally deduced
the existence of God who cares providentially for human wel-
fare (Antiquities 1, 7:155-56) and who had instructed the Egyp-
tians in the ancient Chaldean sciences, such as arithmetic and
astronomy, which were later transmitted to the Greeks (An-
tiquities, 167-68).
This view of Abraham as a philosopher is also found in
medieval Jewish thought. *Maimonides characterized Abra-
ham as a natural philosopher who independently articu-
lated the Aristotelian cosmological proof of an incorporeal
unmoved mover of the heavenly sphere. Paradoxically, for
Maimonides, in *Judah Halevi’s famous phrase, the “God
of Abraham” effectively was identified with the “God of Ar-
istotle.” During his wanderings from Mesopotamia to Ca-
naan, Abraham then spread his concept of a transcendent
God (Yad, Avodah Zarah 1:3; Guide of the Perplexed 3:29),
and became “the father of the whole world by teaching them
faith” (Responsa, ed. Blau, 293). Only Moses, “the father of all
prophets” (Commentary on Mishnah Avot 4:4; Guide of the
Perplexed 3:54) was of a higher rank than Abraham (Guide
2:45). It should be noted that, in Maimonides’ view, prophecy
itself was understood to be a thoroughly rational phenome-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
non (Commentary on Mishnah, Introduction to Sanhedrin
ch. 10, sixth principle; see *Prophecy). Nevertheless, Maimo-
nides states that Abraham and Moses prophetically grasped
the supranatural understanding of creation ex nihilo and thus
differed from the Aristotelian philosophic belief in the world’s
eternity (Guide 2:13, 17, 23).
The Hellenistic and medieval Jewish view of Abraham as
philosopher is also found in modern Jewish thought. Nach-
man *Krochmal’s Guide of the Perplexed of the Time pictures
Abraham as a philosopher who deduced the teleological proof
from design of God’s existence and as the first monotheist who
affirmed the “Absolute Spirit.”
The other school of thought, which identifies Abraham
as the first believer, is most clearly enunciated by *Judah Ha-
levi, whose Kuzari (4:16) juxtaposes “the God of Abraham”
(identified with the *Tetragrammaton) with “the God of Ar-
istotle” (identified with the name elohim). “The God of Abra-
ham?” is the personal God of the Bible, who is loved and known
through the direct experience called “taste” (Arab. dhaugq; Heb.
taam), whereas the impersonal “God of Aristotle,” who is in-
different to the world and to human affairs, is known through
rational speculation (Arab. giyas; Heb. hekesh, hakashah). In
Halevi’s view, Abraham himself underwent a radical trans-
formation in his life: after composing the Sefer *Yezirah in his
early years as a philosopher, Abraham merited divine revela-
tion and true faith, as a consequence of which he was prepared
to obey any divine commandment (Kuzari 4:24-27). Halevi
thus partially accepts the rationalist view of Abraham as a phi-
losopher, but it was as a prophet, receiving divine revelation,
and not as a natural philosopher, that Abraham attained his
spiritual greatness.
Following Halevi, Isaac *Arama argued that philosophy
and faith are unrelated. Philosophers know what can be dem-
onstrated and deny whatever cannot be demonstrated, but re-
ject the concept of “faith” (Hazut Kashah 3). Arama’s works
describe in detail the gradual progression of Abraham's faith,
beginning with his transition from idolatry to a scientific-
philosophic conclusion regarding the existence of one God
(Akedat Yizhak 16), which in turn led to practical application
in loving imitatio Dei. Abraham's spiritual progression cul-
minated in his religious faith in reward and punishment and
in his fear of God, which were realized in his binding of his
son Isaac as an expression of his absolute obedience to God
(Hazut Kashah 3).
In the 20" century, Joseph Soloveitchik’s Lonely Man of
Faith (1965) presents a view of Abraham as dissatisfied with
his early Mesopotamian contemplation of remote and alien-
ating skies, which had led him to conclude that there is one
God. As he progressed, Abraham needed personal revelation.
In contrast with the view of Halevi and Arama, according to
which Abraham passed from an earlier philosophic or sci-
entific contemplative stage to prophetic receiving of divine
revelation, or Soloveitchik’s understanding of Abraham as
undergoing a personal experience of revelation, Yeshayahu
Leibowitz describes Abraham as reaching his faith as a result
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM
of a voluntary, religious decision and not as the conclusion of
rational contemplation. Abraham, in Leibowitz’s view, repre-
sents “faith for its own sake,’ namely an unreasoned obedience
to the divine commandment, without any human benefit or
expectation of reward.
Several Jewish thinkers have also dealt with Abraham’s
personality, including judging his questionable behavior in
Egypt (Gen. 12) and Gerar (Gen. 20), when, fearing that he
might be killed, he presented his wife Sarah as his sister. *Saa-
diah Gaon’s Book of Beliefs and Opinions deals with the charge
that Abraham lied, and justifies his behavior by suggesting that
Abraham phrased his statement ambivalently, since “sister”
could mean any relative, thus permitting his words to be inter-
preted as if they were true. Conversely, *Nahmanides did not
hesitate to criticize Abraham’s behavior, not so much for his
misleading words but for thereby leading the people to great
sin and for causing his “righteous wife” to stumble (Commen-
tary to Gen. 12:10, 20:12). Abraham’s sin resulted from his in-
sufficient trust in God’s assistance. Isaac Arama’s presentation
(discussed above) of Abraham’s gradual spiritual progress and
the development of his personality attributed his behavior in
these incidents to an early stage, when Abraham had not yet
attained perfect faith in divine providence and utter trust in
divine assistance (Binding of Isaac 16).
[Hannah Kasher (2 ed.)]
In Christian Tradition
Next to Moses, Abraham is the Old Testament figure most fre-
quently referred to in the New Testament, being mentioned 72
times. The Evangelists emphasize the physical descent of Jesus,
from Abraham through David (Matt. 1:1, 2-17; Luke 3:34), but
Christian tradition considers Abraham essentially in the spiri-
tual sense as the father of all believers destined to inherit the
divine promises. According to Paul (Rom. 4; Gal. 3:7-9), to
the authors of the Epistle of James (2:21-23) and the Epistle
to the Hebrews (11:8-10), Abraham, because of his “faith” (cf.
Gen. 15:6, and see above), became the repository of the divine
promises through whose seed all nations of the earth would
ultimately be blessed (cf. Gen. 12:2-4). Hence all Christians,
through their faith in the Messiah, are the children of Abra-
ham to the extent that Abraham's righteousness because of his
faith (and not because of his belief in the Law) is imparted to
all believers in Jesus (Rom. 4:13-25). The *Church Fathers in-
terpret the figure of Abraham in moral and typological terms.
They emphasize his obedience to God in leaving his homeland
(Ambrose), thus prefiguring the Apostles’ following of Jesus
(Augustine). His submission to God’s will in all trials, even to
the point of being prepared to sacrifice his son (see *Akedah)
has been taken as a prefiguration of the death of Jesus. The
New Testament mentions once “*tAbraham’s bosom” (Luke
16:22) — a rabbinic term referring to the place of repose of the
righteous in the hereafter. In the writings of *Luther and of
the 19tt-century philosopher S. Kierkegaard, Abraham figures
as the paradigm of the man of faith whose total commitment
to God is based not on reason but on pure faith.
285
ABRAHAM
In Islamic Tradition
“The [book] leaves of Abraham” are mentioned, together with
those of Moses, in two of the older suras (87:19; 53:37) of the
Koran. This indicates that Abraham was known to Muham-
mad as one of the fathers of the monotheistic belief from the
beginning of the latter’s career; however, Muhammad must
have learned that Abraham did not promulgate a book. When
Muhammad began to fill his suras with stories of the proph-
ets, Abraham received a large share, mainly on the basis of
material drawn from talmudic legends. Abraham, by his own
reasoning, recognized that his Creator was God and not a
shining star, the moon, or the sun. He smashed the idols of
his father, was thrown into a furnace, was miraculously saved,
and migrated to the Holy Land. Though long childless, he be-
lieved in God’s promise of a son and, when a son was born to
him, he was prepared to sacrifice him at God’s command. It
is remarkable that Ishmael, later so prominent in the Koran,
does not appear in any connection with his father during the
middle Meccan period, e.g., Sura 29:26, “We [God] gave him
[Abraham] Isaac and Jacob, and bestowed on his posterity
the gift of prophecy and the book” Also, 11:24, “We brought
her [Sarah] the good tidings of Isaac and, after Isaac, Jacob”
(cf. similar statements in 37:112-3 and 21:72). During this pe-
riod, Ishmael is not treated as an individual in a story, but
is merely mentioned as a name in a series of prophets and
saints, together with such biblical personalities as Aaron, Job,
or Elisha, i.e., far removed from Abraham. Just as there is no
connection between Abraham and Ishmael, so there is none
between Abraham and the building of the Kaaba, the sanc-
tuary of Muhammad's native city, until late in Muhammad’s
prophetic career (e.g., Sura 2:118 ff.).
There is also little doubt that, in one form or another, he
heard the story of Abraham as the founder of the Holy Tem-
ple of Jerusalem, as told in the Book of Jubilees (22:23-4).
The story goes back to 11 Chronicles 3:1, according to which
Solomon built the Temple on the same Mount of Moriah on
which Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22:2). The Book of
Jubilees elaborates the story and lets Abraham say that he has
built this house in order to put his name on it in the country
which God has given to him and to his posterity, and that it
will be given to him (Jacob) and to his posterity forever. With
the aid of the new material Muhammad constructed the inge-
nious theory that Abraham built the Kaaba together with his
son Ishmael (2:121), father of the Arabs, and thus founded the
religion of Islam, which he, Muhammad, promulgated among
his own people. The very word Islam and the idea contained
in it, namely that of complete dedication to God, is connected
with the story of Abraham, e.g., Sura 2:125, “When God said to
him [Abraham], ‘dedicate yourself to God [aslim], he said, ‘I
dedicate myself to the Lord of the Worlds:” Or (22:77): “This is
the religion of your father Abraham. He called you muslimin,
i.e., those who dedicate themselves to God. This expression
goes back to Genesis 17:1 in the version of Targum *Onkelos,
where Abraham is admonished by God to become shelim, and
the subsequent definition of a proselyte as one who dedicates
286
himself to his Creator (hishlim azmo la-bore; cf. Goldziher, in:
M. Steinschneider, Polemische und apologetische Literatur in
arabischer Sprache (1877), 266, n. 56). Muhammad emphati-
cally states that Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian
(Sura 2:140/134; 3:6760); this new knowledge did not lead
him back to his original primitive universalism, but, on the
contrary, made Islam, the religion of Abraham, father of the
Arabs, exclusive, the “best religion” (3:110/106), prior in time,
and therefore in quality, to all others.
The koranic story of Abraham, which contains many rab-
binical legends, is fully covered by H. Speyer in Die biblischen
Erzaehlungen im Qoran (1961, pp. 120-86; see also Moubarac
in bibl.). The enormous expansion of these stories in Islamic
religious, historical, and narrative literature has been re-
searched by four generations of Jewish scholars, beginning
with A. *Geiger (Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume
aufgenommen, 1833) up to B. Heller (especially in Ey, and in
EIS’, S.v. Ibrahim). These researches show that the legends
had been spread in Arabia in very early times. *Umayya ibn
Abi al-Salt, Muhammad's contemporary and rival, also knew
the tales about Abraham.
[Shelomo Dov Goitein]
In Medieval Hebrew Literature
The various legends about Abraham scattered in midrashic lit-
erature formed the basis from which medieval Hebrew writers
tried to construct a coherent story of his birth, his youth, and
his recognition of the one God. The medieval story was writ-
ten in a few versions. Three stories, published by A. *Jellinek
in his Beit ha-Midrash (one long and detailed version and two
short legends, see bibliography), are replete with motifs and el-
ements which are not midrashic, but probably originated with
the medieval authors. Abraham's recognition of the existence
of only one God, which made him the first monotheist, and
Abraham as a martyr, are the two principal recurring motifs.
In the narratives centered around the first motif, Abraham
was left in a cave immediately after birth because Nimrod, the
god-king of Babylonia, who had had an astrological warning
that a child would be born that year who would dethrone him,
decreed that all male children be killed. In the cave the angel
*Gabriel nursed Abraham, who within a few days could al-
ready walk and talk. Upon his return to his father’s house, he
began to spread monotheistic belief.
In the medieval work Sefer ha- Yashar, which renders the
biblical stories in a medieval style (see *Fiction: The Retelling
of Bible Stories), the story of Abraham, told in detail, is based
both upon midrashic and medieval literatures, to which the
anonymous author added details of his own. In one of the
stories about Abraham known in the Middle Ages (the earli-
est version is found in 12"*-century sources), Abraham in his
youth went to study with Shem, the son of Noah. Together
they made a golem, that is, a person out of earth and water who
miraculously came to life. Such stories were later told about
the prophet *Jeremiah and *Ben Sira, who claimed to be his
grandson. This golem story is undoubtedly connected with an-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
other medieval belief about Abraham, mainly that he was the
author of Sefer Yezirah (“Book of Creation”), one of the first
cosmological writings in Hebrew, which was extensively used
by Jewish mystics who saw it as a revelation of the mystical
way in which the heavenly and earthly worlds were created. It
was believed that proper use of the knowledge in Sefer Yezirah
would also enable the mystics to create a golem, and that the
work contained the process of reasoning that Abraham fol-
lowed to establish the unity of God. To medieval philosophers
and mystics, Abraham had been not only a person, but also
a symbol. In the controversy that raged around the study of
philosophy in Spain and in Provence at the beginning of the
14 century, the philosophers were accused of interpreting the
story of Abraham and Sarah allegorically, through seeing the
figures of Abraham and Sarah as personifications of the rela-
tionship between matter and form (according to Aristotelian
philosophy). The kabbalists on the other hand, saw Abraham
as a personification of Hesed (“loving-kindness”), the fourth
of the Ten *Sefirot (see * Kabbalah).
[Joseph Dan]
In the Arts
Early literary treatment of episodes in the life of Abraham
in addition to the sacrifice of Isaac (see *Akedah) have been
found in medieval English miracle plays, such as the Histo-
ries of Lot and Abraham, and in the 15**-century French Mis-
tere du Viel Testament, which deals with Abraham's complete
life. The outstanding Renaissance work on the theme is one
of a series of Italian religious dramas, the Rappresentazione
de Abram e di Sara sua moglie (1556). The episode involving
Hagar has also inspired some plays, notably Hagar dans le
desert (1781) by the French Comtesse de Genlis, and a Dutch
drama Hagar (1848) by the convert Isaac *da Costa, who saw
in Hagar’s return to Abrahams tent Islam’s ultimate reconcili-
ation with Christianity. The outstanding Jewish work of fic-
tion based on the theme is Yesod Olam (“Foundation of the
World”) by Moses ben Mordecai *Zacuto. Based on midrashic
sources, this play, dramatically insubstantial though it is, is
significant by reason of its being one of the earliest plays to
be written in Hebrew.
The story of Abraham has inspired greater creative en-
deavor in the pictorial arts. Scenes from the patriarchs life
have been illustrated in paintings, sculpture, manuscript il-
luminations, and mosaics. Usually represented as a white-
bearded old man, armed with a knife, Abraham was a favor-
ite subject not only for Christian artists (as a prefiguration
of Jesus), but also for Moslems. Two rare examples of cyclic
treatment are the 12"*-century mosaics in the cathedral of San
Marco, Venice, and a set of 16'»-century Flemish tapestries
by Bernard van Orley. Varying combinations of important
episodes are found in fifth-century mosaics in the church of
Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome; in the sixth-century manuscript
known as the Vienna Genesis; in the sixth-century mosaics
in Ravenna; in the bronze doors of San Zeno, Verona, the al-
tar of Verdun, and the frescoes of Saint-Savin, Poitou (all 12"
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM
century); and in Ghiberti’s bronze doors at the Florence bap-
tistry (15 century).
Episodes particularly favored by Christian artists were
Abraham's encounter with Melchizedek, the visit of the three
angels, and the Akedah. In the first, stress was laid on the dual
significance of the scene, Abraham's offering of tithes to the
priest-king symbolizing the presentation of gifts to the in-
fant Jesus by the three Magi, and Melchizedek’s offering of
bread and wine to Abraham prefiguring the Eucharist. The
Melchizedek episode appears in the works at Rome, Ravenna,
and Poitou referred to above and in the 13'"-century portal of
Amiens cathedral, and it inspired Tintoretto’s painting for the
Scuola di San Rocco, Venice (16 century). Melchizedek is
usually depicted wearing a crown and bearing a chalice, while
Abraham is often shown as a knight in armor. The visit of the
angels has been variously interpreted by Christian artists. In
the eastern church the angels were seen as a prediction of the
Trinity and there are many icons on this theme, notably the
delicate painting by Andrei Rublev (1422), now in Moscow.
In western countries, their announcement of the impending
birth of Isaac was thought to prefigure the Annunciation, and
this traditional medieval reading inspires the Rome mosaics,
the Verdun altar, the doors of San Zeno, and the 12*-century
Psalter of Saint Louis (Paris). From the 17‘ century onward
this incident was taken as the archetype of hospitality, inspir-
ing such post-Renaissance paintings as those of *Rembrandt
(1636, now in Leningrad), Murillo, and the Tiepolos. The dis-
missal of Hagar - whom the Church took to prefigure the su-
perseded “Old Law,’ Sarah symbolizing the New - was popu-
lar in the 17" century particularly with Dutch artists, mainly
because it offered opportunities for domestic and emotionally
dramatic scenes. The episode was thus exploited by Rubens,
Rembrandt, Nicolaes Maes, and Jan Steen. A French artist of
a later period who treated the same subject was Corot. A par-
able in the Gospel of Luke (16:22) was responsible for a quaint
treatment of Abraham in representations of the Last Judg-
ment on Gothic cathedrals such as Paris, Rheims, Bourges,
and Bamberg. Here the saved souls are shown being gathered
into “Abraham's bosom.” Among modern Jewish artists, Cha-
gall, who was particularly fascinated by the life of Abraham,
painted many scenes from the patriarch’s life story, including
the circumcision of Isaac.
The most popular representation of Abraham in Jewish
art was that showing the Akedah. This appears on the western
wall of the *Dura-Europos synagogue of the third century c.£.
This theme lent itself to representations in the continuous or
narrative style, in which a sequence of events is represented
without frame or formal interruptions, as in the mosaic floor
of the *Bet Alfa (sixth century c.g.) synagogue. Other popular
themes were the appearance of the three angels to Abraham
and his condemnation to death through fire by Nimrod. An
outstanding example of the latter is found in a British Museum
illuminated manuscript (Ms. Add. 27210) where Abraham is
rescued by two figures, not found in other illustrations. An
elderly bearded male with outstretched arms is seen in the
287
ABRAHAM
foreground, while in the background is an angel with clearly
defined wings. It is improbable that both these figures repre-
sent angels as they appear of different age and complexion.
The older figure may therefore represent God, a fact which
would suggest a Christian illuminator.
[Helen Rosenau]
The story of Abraham provided the basis for several
musical compositions from the late 18 century onward. The
Hagar and Ishmael episode was the theme of oratorios, nota-
bly Scarlatti’s Agar et Ismaele esiliati (1683) and Giovanni Bat-
tista Vitali’s Agar (1671). Of the few works on the sojourn in
Egypt, the oratorio Sara in Egitto (1708) probably holds the
record among “pasticcios” - works in which several compos-
ers collaborated or were used - since the setting of the libretto
was entrusted to no fewer than 24 composers. Schubert's first
song, written in March 1811, was “Hagars Klage.” The only op-
era on this subtheme, Agar au désert (1806) by Etienne Nicolas
Méhul, was never performed. Michael *Gnessin wrote an op-
era on Abrahams youth, during his visit to Erez Israel in 1922.
Prominent among the more specifically Jewish compositions
are the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) romances, Cuando el Rey Nim-
rod, Abram Abinu, and En primero alabaremos, which reflect
the legend of Abrahams birth found in the Sefer ha- Yashar;
some also mention the Akedah. The romanza El Dios de cielo
de Abraham used to be sung in Tetuan, Morocco.
[Bathja Bayer]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Noth, Personennamen, 52, 145. ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHY: R. Clements, Abraham and David (1967); T.L. Thompson,
The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (1973); J. van Seters, Abra-
ham in History and Tradition (1974); Y. Mufts, in: JJs, 33 (1982), 81-107;
A.E. Knauf, in: Bz, 29 (1985), 97-103; N.M. Sarna, The jps Torah
Commentary Genesis (1989); A. Millard, “Abraham,” in: aBD, 1:35-41;
S.D. Sperling, The Original Torah (1998), 75-90. IN THE AGGADAH:
Ginzberg, Legends, 1 (1942), 185 ff.; 5 (1947), 207 ff.; Schwarzbaum, in:
Yeda Am, 9 (1963/64), 38-46; E.E. Halevy, Shaarei ha-Aggadah (1963),
72-82; G.H. Box, Apocrypha of Abraham (1918); A. Marmorstein, The
Doctrine of Merits in Old Rabbinical Literature (1920), index; Sandmel,
in: HUCA, 26 (1955), 151-332; J.J. Petuchowski, ibid., 28 (1957), 127-36;
Wacholder, ibid., 34 (1963), 83-113; G. Vermes, Scripture and Tradition
in Judaism (1961), 67-126. IN JEWISH PHILOSOPHY: ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHYy: M. Hallamish, H. Kasher, and Y. Silman (eds.), The Faith
of Abraham (Heb., 2002); D.J. Lasker, “The Prophecy of Abraham in
Karaite Thought,” in: Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Thought, 14 (J.B. Ser-
moneta Memorial Volume, 1998). IN CHRISTIAN TRADITION: Cahiers
Sioniens, 5, no. 2 (1951), 93ff.; G. Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the
New Testament, 1 (1964), 9; J. Hastings (ed.), Dictionary of the Bible,
1 (1911), 16-17; Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, 1 (1902), 99-111.
IN ISLAM: A. Sprenger, Leben und Lehre des Mohammad, 2 (1869),
276ff.; C. Snouk Hurgronje, Het Mekkaansche Feest (1880), 30ff.; B.
Heller, in: REJ, 85 (1928), 117, 126; 98 (1934), 1-18; J. W. Hirschberg, Der
Diwan des as-Samaual ibn ‘Adi’ (1931), 63-64; idem, Juedische und
christliche Lehren im vor- und fruehislamischen Arabien (1939), 124-9;
J. Ankel, in: HUCA, 12-13 (1938), 387-409; Y. Moubarac, Abraham
dans le Coran (1958), includes bibliography; S.D. Goitein, Ha-Islam
shel Muhammad (1956), 180-6. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. al-Khalil,
in EIS’, 3, S.V. (incl. bibl.). MEDIEVAL HEBREW LITERATURE: A. Jell-
inek, Beit ha-Midrash, 1 (19387), 18-19; 5 (19387), 40-41; G. Scholem,
288
Kabbalah and its Mysticism (1965), 168-79. IN ART: L. Réau, Iconog-
raphie de lart chrétien, 2, pt. 2 (1956), 125-38; T. Ehrenstein, Das Alte
Testament im Bilde (1923), 135-54; The Bible in Art (1956), plates 39-48;
J. Leveen, The Hebrew Bible in Art (1944), index.
ABRAHAM, family of U.S. merchants. ABRAHAM ABRAHAM
(1843-1911), son of a Bavarian immigrant, and Joseph Wechsler,
himself an immigrant, established a dry goods store in Brook-
lyn, New York, in 1865. It became Brooklyn's largest depart-
ment store, with six branches in metropolitan New York.
On Wechsler’s retirement in 1893 Abraham and the brothers
Isidore and Nathan *Straus took over the firm, which they
named Abraham & Straus. However, the *Straus’ main interest
remained focused on Macy's. Abraham’s son-in-law, SIMON F.
ROTHSCHILD (1861-1936), succeeded to the presidency of A.
&S. in 1925, and from 1930 to 1936 was chairman of its board.
Another son-in-law, CHARLES EDUARD BLUM (1863-1946),
was president from 1930 to 1937 and board chairman from
1937 to 1946. In 1937 WALTER N. ROTHSCHILD (1892-1960),
a grandson of Abraham Abraham and son of Simon F. Roth-
schild, became A. & S. president and served as board chair-
man from 1955 to 1960. Subsequently A. & S. became a unit in
the chain known as Federated Department Stores, Inc. Abra-
ham’s great-grandson, and son of Walter N. Rothschild, wat-
TER N. ROTHSCHILD JR. (1920-2003), was president of A.
& S. from 1963 to 1969. He served as chairman of the New
York Urban Coalition from 1970 to 1973 and as chairman of
the National Urban Coalition from 1973 to 1977. The family
participated actively through all the generations in general
and Jewish philanthropies but became remote from Jewish
life.
[Hanns G. Reissner]
ABRAHAM, APOCALYPSE OF, a work of the second cen-
tury C.E., extant only in the Slavonic version of a Greek trans-
lation of a presumably Hebrew original. Several variant forms
of the Slavonic exist, including reworked versions in the me-
dieval Eastern church sacred histories known as the Palaiai.
The late Christian editing gives it a flavor which is strange to
the Jewish reader. But only one interpolation can be identi-
fied as Christian and that not with certainty. Although trans-
lations of the book have been accessible to western scholars
for 50 years, it is little known.
The book opens with a legend of Abraham's discovery
of God (ch. 1-8), a theme well known from the aggadah and
early Christian literature. This tells of Abraham’s tragicomic
adventures as an assistant in his father’s business of making
and selling idols, and culminates in his realization and recog-
nition of the Creator. The legend concludes with a voice urg-
ing Abraham to leave his father’s house, which is immediately
destroyed by lightning.
A further heavenly call commands him to fast for 40
days and to offer the sacrifice described in Genesis 15:9. This
leads to the main visionary section of the book. The angel
Iaoel (Mss. Ioal, Ioel, etc.) appears (ch. 10-11) and leads him
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
to the place of the sacrifice; the victims appear miraculously
(ch. 12). The vulture (Gen. 15:11), later unmasked as Azazel,
tells Abraham to flee the “holy heights” and to leave the angel
(ch. 13). At the angel’s bidding, Abraham refuses to listen to
Azazel (ch. 14). The furnace (Gen. 15:17) appears, and angels
carry up the sacrificial victims while the wings of the undi-
vided dove serve to carry Abraham and his angelic guide to
heaven (ch. 15).
Trembling, Abraham sees the Divine Glory (ch. 16),
praises God, and prays for instruction (ch. 17). He is then en-
abled to contemplate the four-faced cherubim (ch. 18) and
bidden to look down on the several lower heavens, which
open under him. He observes the angels of the seventh and
sixth heavens, and the stars in the fifth (ch. 19-20). The lower
heavens remain undescribed, for he next sees an overall pic-
ture of the world (ch. 21). He also sees a great multitude of
people, some on the right and some on the left. This is “the
Creation.” Those on the left are all the generations of man-
kind, those on the right, the chosen people (ch. 22). Next he
is shown several scenes such as the Fall, the Temple, and its
destruction (ch. 23-27), which form a condensed history of
the world. As these are explained to him, he dares to ask some
questions, such as “Why does God will (or permit) evil?” and
“How long shall the suffering of the elect people last?” The
rather obscure answers appear to contain an assertion of hu-
man free will (ch. 24). A computation of “eons” and “hours”
is briefly sketched (ch. 28).
Finally (ch. 29) “a man” appears. He is worshipped by the
heathen of the left side: from the right some revile him, others
worship him. Azazel, who is contradictorily described both
as coming from the left side and as a descendant of Abraham,
also worships him. The “man’s” function is “the remission for
(?) the heathen in the last days,” at which time the chosen peo-
ple shall be tried by him. Although his description is followed
by an eschatological prediction, he does not seem to be an in-
strument of the final deliverance. Abraham's vision ends with
a statement about the “eon of righteousness” (ch. 29).
Back on earth he prays for further instruction, which he
receives in the form of another prediction of the last things,
including ten chastisements prepared for the heathen (ch.
30) and the salvation of the people at the hands of the elect
one (ch. 31). There follows a short prediction of the Egyp-
tian servitude and the deliverance - a paraphrase of Genesis
15:13-14 (ch. 32). This serves as the conclusion of the book,
which thus fits neatly into the framework of a Midrash on
Genesis 15.
The Jewish origin of the book cannot be doubted. The
author’s main concern, the nation’s destiny, is discernible even
in the peculiar passage about “the man.” The most obvious
and perhaps the correct explanation of this passage is to de-
clare it a late Christian interpolation, yet “the man” does not
fit the medieval Christian concept of Jesus. His function is not
clearly messianic. This problematic passage therefore may have
originated in some Judeo-Christian sect, which saw Jesus as
precursor of the Messiah, or it may be Jewish, badly rewritten
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM, GERALD
by an early Christian editor. Perhaps it reflects a Jewish view
of Jesus as an apostle to the heathen, an explanation which
would make it unique, and indeed startling.
The Apocalypse of Abraham is perhaps the last important
product of the Apocalyptic movement. Possibly influenced by
Iv *Ezra, it reflects the plight of the Jews as the “people de-
spised by the nations.” However, the destruction of the Tem-
ple is not fresh in the author’s memory. The characteristic,
elaborate pseudepigraphic framework is missing and not all
the extant recensions present it as a first-person account by
Abraham. Within the tight framework of a simple version,
the book successfully presents several important apocalyp-
tic themes, including speculation about a transcendent God
presiding over the heavens, a view of history as a sequence
of periods, and an attempt to “compute the date of the end”
Dualistic and deterministic tendencies are clearly present,
but not strongly developed. There is, indeed, no special em-
phasis on any point of doctrine. The author, aiming at a re-
statement of ideas developed by his predecessors, is not too
eager to break fresh ground. This impression, however, must
be qualified by the possibility that the book has been abbrevi-
ated or badly edited, although it has survived as a remarkably
complete literary unit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G.N. Bowetsch, Apokalypse Abrahams (1897);
G.H. Box, Apocalypse of Abraham (1918); P. Riessler, Altjuedisches
Schrifttum... (1928), 13-39; J. Kaufmann, in: EJ, 1 (1928), 548-53; Ru-
binstein, in: Jys, 8 (1957), 45-50; Schuerer, Gesch, 3 (1909), 336-9.
[Jacob Licht]
ABRAHAM, DAVID (1909-_), Indian motion picture actor.
Born in Bombay of a Bene Israel family, he used David as his
professional name. Though trained in law, he took up acting in
1937 and subsequently appeared in over 100 Hindustani films,
becoming widely known for his comedy roles. He toured the
US. in 1952 as member of the Indian Film Delegation. Also
active in the Indian Olympic Association, he was weight-lift-
ing referee at the Olympic Games, Helsinki, 1952, and Fourth
Maccabiah, Israel, 1953.
ABRAHAM, GERALD (1904-1988), British musicologist.
Abraham was born in Newport, Isle of Wight. Although
largely self-taught in the field, he became a highly respected
authority on Russian music, learning Russian and Slavonic
languages in the course of his work; he published three books
devoted to Russian music. He also wrote A Hundred Years of
Music (1938) and Chopin’s Musical Style (1939), a small, se-
rious scholarly work. He was employed by the sxc in vari-
ous capacities, including assistant controller of music during
1935-47 and 1962-67.
Abraham was the first professor of music at Liverpool
University, teaching there from 1947 to 1962, exposing his stu-
dents to Russian music on an academic level. He was presi-
dent of the Royal Music Association from 1969 to 1974, be-
coming a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in
the latter year.
289
ABRAHAM, KARL
Among his publications were a collection of his essays,
Slavonic and Romantic Music (1968), and the Concise Oxford
History of Music (1979), in which the broad range of his inter-
ests was fully displayed. He edited monographs or symposia
on Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Boro-
din, and others, as well as the New Oxford History of Music
(1955-86); he also served as chairman of the editorial board of
the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
ABRAHAM, KARL (1877-1925), German psychoanalyst.
Born in Bremen to religious parents, Abraham was Germany’s
first psychoanalyst and a major figure in both the organiza-
tional and scientific development of psychoanalysis. Abraham
received his early clinical experience at a mental hospital in
Dalldorf. He became acquainted with Freud’s work through
Bleuler and Jung in Zurich, and first met Freud in 1907. A
deep friendship and professional alliance bound the two men
until Abraham's death. Abraham's work covered almost every
field of psychoanalysis, but his most significant contributions
through pioneering studies were in the fields of libidinal de-
velopment, character formation, the psychoses, and addiction.
He investigated the effects of infantile sexuality and family
relationships on the child’s mental development, and drew a
correlation between characteristic mental disorders and the
problems at different stages of the child’s mental development.
Toward the end of his life, Abraham concentrated almost ex-
clusively on manic-depressive psychosis, where he paralleled
and deepened Freud’s work. This work is written up in his pa-
per of 1911 translated in 1927 as “Notes on the Psychoanalytic
Investigation and Treatment of Manic-Depressive Insanity and
Allied Conditions” Abraham related melancholia to regres-
sion to the oral level and to the loss of love and its patterning
after mourning. Schizophrenia, too, is a regression from a
traumatic situation to an early infantile level of development.
Abraham was president of the Berlin Psychoanalytical Soci-
ety from its founding until his death. He was also secretary
(1922-24), and then president (1924-25), of the International
Psychoanalytical Association. Most of his research work ap-
pears in his Clinical Papers and Essays on Psychoanalysis (1955)
and his published correspondence with Freud in A Psychoan-
alytic Dialogue (1965).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Jones, in: International Journal of Psycho-
Analysis, 7 (1926), 155-81 (includes bibliography); E. Glover, in: L. Ei-
delberg (ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis (1968), 1-8 and index; M.
Grotjahn, in: F. Alexander et al. (eds.), Psychoanalytic Pioneers (1966),
142-59. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Abraham, Karl Abraham. Sein
Leben fuer die Psychoanalyse (1976).
ABRAHAM, MAX (1875-1922), German theoretical electro-
physicist. Born in Danzig, Abraham was an assistant to the
physicist Max Planck. He worked in turn at Goettingen (1900),
Cambridge (England), and in the U.S. In 1909 he became pro-
fessor of mechanics in Milan, but in 1915 was expelled as an
enemy alien. He then served in the German army. In 1919 he
was appointed professor of physics at the Technische Hoch-
290
schule Stuttgart. Abraham studied the dynamics of electrons,
and his two-volume Theorie der Elektrizitaet went through
eight editions between 1904 and 1930.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Physikalische Zeitschrift, 24 (1923), 49-533
Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift, 44 (1923), 20; NDB, 1 (1952), 23-24.
{Samuel Aaron Miller]
ABRAHAM, OTHER BOOKS OF. In addition to the Apoc-
alypse of Abraham, extant in Slavonic, and the Testament of
Abraham, preserved in a number of versions, there are several
references in the literature of the first centuries of this era to
works attributed to Abraham. Among the apocryphal works
included in the early Christian lists attributed to Pseudo-Atha-
nasius and Nicephorus, there is a book entitled Abraham. Its
length is given as 300 stichoi. Similar, unclear references may
be found in Apostolic Constitution 6:16 and elsewhere. More
significant is Epiphanius’ account (Adversus Haereses 38:5) of
the Sethian Gnostic sect as “composing certain books in the
name of great men... of Abraham, which they say to be an
apocalypse and is full of all sorts of wickedness.” Origen re-
fers to a book relating a contest between good and evil angels
over the salvation or perdition of Abraham's soul (Homilies
on Lk. 35). It has been suggested that this incident may be re-
lated to the weighing of the soul, whose good and evil deeds
are of equal measure, as described in Testamentum Abraham
(A, 12f.). Yet, it must be noted that these two stories are far
from identical, and Origen is probably drawing on a different
Abraham book. An Arabic Life of Abraham is mentioned by
James (Apoc. Anecd. 2, 81). Armenian works called The Story
of Abraham, Isaac and Mambres, The Ten Temptations of Abra-
ham, History of Abraham, Memorial of the Patriarchs Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob and others exist in manuscripts (e.g.,
Erevan 569, 717, 1425 et al.), but have never been studied.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.R. James, Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testa-
ment (1920), 16 ff.; idem, Testament of Abraham (1892), 7-29.
[Michael E. Stone]
ABRAHAM, OTTO (1872-1926), ethnomusicologist. Born
in Berlin, Abraham graduated in medicine at Berlin Univer-
sity in 1894 and thereafter dedicated himself to psychoacous-
tics and the physiology of music. From 1896 to 1905 he was
assistant to Carl Stumpf (1868-1936) at the Berlin Institute
of Psychology, and collaborated with E.M. von *Hornbos-
tel in the establishment of the “Phonogrammarchiv” in 1900
which is known for its unique historical collections of music
of the world. Abraham's work on tone perception was one of
the pioneer studies in the psychology of music. His studies,
mostly with Hornbostel, on the non-Western musical tradi-
tions and his suggested methods for transcribing this music
put him among the founders of modern systematic ethno-
musicology. Abraham introduced the first German attempt
to record non-Western music. He recorded on wax cylinders
a visiting Siamese court orchestra, music from South Africa
and Japan, Armenian and Muslim songs, and Indian and Am-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
erindian music. Between 1903 and 1906, Abraham and Horn-
bostel published important studies based on their tonometric
measurements and transcriptions of those recorded examples.
Among his articles are “Wahrnehmung kiirzester Tone und
Gerausche” (1898), “Studien Ueber das Tonsystem und die
Musik der Japaner” (1902-3), “Phonographierte Tuerkische
Melodien” (1904), “Phonographierte Indianermelodien aus
Britisch-Colombia” (1906), “Zur Akustik des Knalles” (1919),
and “Zur Psychologie der Tondistanz” (1926).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online; MGG’; J. Ellis et al., Abhan-
dlungen zur vergleichenden Musikwissenschaft, von A.J. Ellis, J.P.N.
Land, C. Stumpf, O. Abraham und E.M. von Hornbostel, aus den
Jahren 1885-1908 (1922)
[Israela Stein (2"4 ed.)]
ABRAHAM, SAMUEL (d. 1792), merchant in Cochin. Abra-
ham, who was probably of Polish birth, arrived in Cochin in
about 1757 and served both the Dutch and English East India
Companies. Abraham chiefly traded in timber for shipbuild-
ing and to a lesser extent in paper, rice, pepper, and iron. He
advanced large loans to the Dutch and English companies.
With other leading Jewish merchants, he was entrusted with
confidential diplomatic missions by the Dutch governor. His
house was a meeting place for local princes, dignitaries, and
merchants. Abraham established the first known contact be-
tween the Jews of Cochin and those of the Western Hemi-
sphere with a Hebrew letter to the Jewish congregation of
New York (c. 1790). It was accompanied by an outline history
of the Jews in Malabar.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: WJ. Fischel, in: Harry Austryn Wolfson Ju-
bilee Volume (1965), 255-74.
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
ABRAHAM, TESTAMENT OF, apocryphal story of the
death of Abraham. It is preserved in two Greek versions, the
longer one being the more original. There are also Arabic,
Coptic, Ethiopic, and Romanian versions. The book is part
of an extensive literature of testaments and, in addition to
the Testament of Abraham, there exist Testaments of Adam,
Isaac, Jacob, the Twelve Patriarchs (sons of Jacob), Job, etc.
The dependence of the book upon Jewish aggadic sources and
the absence of Christian motifs with the exception of a pos-
sible influence of New Testament phraseology upon the actual
wording show that the Testament of Abraham was composed
by a Jew, writing in Greek, and was possibly based on a He-
brew (or Aramaic) original. The exact date of its composition
is unknown. The book utilizes both Midrashim about Abra-
ham and the aggadah about the death of Moses (see Assump-
tion of *Moses). Thus, the reluctance of Abraham to accept
his death from the hand of the archangel Michael is founded
upon the narrative of Moses’ death in Jewish sources. Finally
Abraham is prepared to accept God's decision, if the angel will
show him the whole universe. This wish is fulfilled and the
author includes in his book interesting apocalyptic material.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM ABUSCH BEN ZEVI HIRSCH
The heavenly judge is Abel, the son of Adam, because God
wants humanity to be judged by a man (see *Son of Man).
At the end, Abraham is killed by deception on the part of the
Angel of Death.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: MR. James, Testament of Abraham (1892);
G.H. Box, Testament of Abraham (1927); P. Riessler, Altjuedisches
Schrifttum... (1928), 1091-1103; Ginzberg, Legends, 229-306.
[David Flusser]
ABRAHAM ABELE BEN ABRAHAM SOLOMON (1764-
1836), talmudic scholar in Lithuania. Abraham, who was
known as Abele Poswoler, was a pupil of Solomon of Wilkomir.
In his youth he became rabbi in Poswol (near Kovno) and in
1802 was appointed head of the Vilna bet din, a position which
he held for 30 years. In 1835 he intervened in the dispute be-
tween the publishers of the Romm Talmud and those of the
Slavuta Talmud. The Slavuta publishers had started their en-
terprise first and claimed that the Romm family had intruded
on their domain. When the Jewry of Erez Israel was in finan-
cial straits in 1822, Abraham appealed to the wealthy Jews of
Poland and Lithuania to aid the yishuv but the appeal was
of limited success. Abraham did not publish many responsa
and talmudic novellae, but some were preserved in the works
of his contemporaries. Of particular interest is the fact that
Abraham, although a devout Jew, gave his approbation to the
Teudah be-Yisrael by Isaac Baer Levinsohn, one of the lead-
ing Russian maskilim.
His novellae and responsa appeared in a book called Beer
Abraham from a manuscript with the Beer ba-Sadeh commen-
tary by Rabbi Shmuel David Movshowitz (Jerusalem Institute,
Jerusalem, 1980). The book contains a commentary on trac-
tate Berakhot, novellae and halakhic rulings (from different
books), and 112 responsa on different subjects in the four parts
of the Shulhan Arukh.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.J. Fuenn, Kiryah Neemanah (19157), 244-5;
H.N. Maggid-Steinschneider, Ir Vilna, 1 (1900), 19-29; A.M. Luncz
(ed.), Yerushalayim, 5 (1898), 222; 9 (1911), 7-8; H.N. Dembitzer,
Meginnei Erez Yisrael (19047), 4-5; I. Klausner, in: Arim ve-lmma-
hot be- Yisrael, 1 (1946), 168; Yahadut Lita (1959), 87, 271-3, 298; S.D.
Movshowitz, Introduction to Beer Abraham, 11-19; D. Zaritzki, Beer
Abraham, 21-30.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABRAHAM ABUSCH BEN ZEVI HIRSCH (1700-1769),
German rabbi and halakhist. He was also called Abraham
Abusch Lissa and also Abusch Frankfurter, from the towns
Lissa and Frankfurt where he served as rabbi, after having
been rabbi of Mezhirech. After the interregnum brought
about by the departure of Jacob Joshua *Falk, the community
of Frankfurt approached him to become its rabbi. The com-
munity of Lissa was reluctant to part with him and only did so
after much persuasion on the part of the communal leaders of
Frankfurt. His pious and meek disposition and the stories of
his charitable deeds became legendary. The name of Abraham
Abusch is associated with a cause célébre, “the *Cleves get”
291
ABRAHAM A SANCTA CLARA
(divorce; see *Lipschuetz, Israel). Although several renowned
rabbis approved the divorce Abraham persisted in his opinion
that it was invalid. The members of his community supported
him by enacting a regulation barring from the Frankfurt rab-
binate anyone who had approved the divorce. For some time,
he also held the important position of parnas or president of
the “*Councils of the Lands.” Although he was renowned as a
talmudic scholar, few of his writings have survived. Several of
his works appeared under the title Birkat Avraham: (1) novel-
lae on five tractates of Seder Moed (1881); (2) commentary on
the Passover Haggadah (1887), with a supplement, Mahazeh
Avraham (1908); (3) a volume also known as Kaneh Avraham
(1884), kabbalistic commentary on Genesis; (4) a commen-
tary on Berakhot (1930); and (5) on Ruth (1934). He also wrote
Darkhei ha-Hayyim, on remedies, medicines, and charms
(1912). His ethical will was also published (1806).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Horovitz, Frankfurter Rabbinen, 3 (1884),
65ff.; L. Lewin, Geschichte der Juden in Lissa (1904), 185ff.
[Alexander Tobias]
"ABRAHAM A SANCTA CLARA (c. 1644-1709), Augus-
tinian friar and anti-Jewish propagandist; court preacher in
Vienna from 1677. His numerous sermons and tracts violently
attacked the Jews along the traditional lines of popular anti-
Jewish hatemongering. He charged the Jews with causing the
plague by witchcraft, denounced them along with the devil
as Christianity’s worst enemy, and gave currency to the *host
desecration libel. The coarse language and style of his ser-
mons and tracts influenced the Viennese brand of “antisemi-
tism (and its disseminators such as S. *Brunner, J. *Deckert,
and K. *Lueger) and of *National Socialism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: R.A. Kann, A Study in Austrian Intellectual
History (1960), 50-115 (bibliography 306-9); O. Frankl, Der Jude in
den deutschen Dichtungen des 15., 16., und 17. Jahrhunderts (1905), in-
dex. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E Schillinger, Abraham a Sancta Clara:
pastorale et discours politique dans l'Autriche du xvit' siécle (1993).
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA (Hayya; d. c. 1136), Spanish phi-
losopher, mathematician, astronomer, and translator. Little is
known about Abrahams life apart from the fact that he lived in
Barcelona. Two titles by which he was known provide clues to
his public activity. One was Savasorda, a corruption of the Ar-
abic sahib-al-shurta, originally meaning “captain of the body-
guard,’ but by Abraham's time denoting a functionary whose
duties were both judiciary and civil, the exact scope of which
can only be surmised. A court position was not unique for a
Jew in Christian Spain at that time, and Abraham would have
been useful for his mathematical and astronomical knowledge,
his skill in surveying, and his linguistic abilities (he states in
his writings that from his early youth he “gained honor be-
fore princes and royalty”). The other title, nasi, was not un-
common in Spanish Jewry and although in this instance also
the exact significance is undetermined, it appears to denote
an office within the Jewish community exercising a judiciary
292
function with the power of imposing punishments and regu-
lating communal taxation.
The only incident known from his life is a clash with his
distinguished contemporary in Barcelona, *Judah b. Barzil-
lai al-Bargeloni. This occurred at a wedding which Abraham
insisted on postponing because the stars were not propitious,
whereas Judah wished to proceed with the ceremony as he
held astrological beliefs to be “a custom of the Chaldeans.”
At some period of his life Abraham visited France - perhaps
Provence - which at that time was ruled by the count of Bar-
celona. It appears that this visit was connected with the prob-
lems of land surveying.
The dates and places of his birth and death are unknown.
A manuscript dated 1136 refers to him as “of blessed memory”
but this could be a later interpolation. However, Plato of Tivoli,
who cites him as a collaborator in his translations up to 1136,
does not mention Abraham in connection with a translation in
1138. As there is no evidence of his having lived subsequently,
it has been assumed that he died c. 1136.
Philosophy
Concentrating on cosmogony, Abraham held that all things
were first created in potentiality where they could be divided
into matter, form, and not-being. In order to actualize them,
God removed the not-being and joined form to matter. Mat-
ter is divided into pure matter and the dregs of matter, while
form is divided into closed form and open form. The first stage
in the process of creation is the emanation ofa light from the
closed form. This closed form is too pure to combine with
matter and is identified with the form of angels, souls, etc. The
light shines on the open form, qualifying it to combine with
matter; one part of the open form combines with the pure
matter and from this juncture the firmaments are created;
the other part joins the dregs, thereby creating the four ele-
ments and the beings of the corporeal world. A further ema-
nation of light over the firmament causes that form already
attached to matter to change its place - and this brings about
the creation of the moving stars; while a further emanation of
light touches that matter which can change its form, and from
this are formed all that fly, swim, and go. Man is the summit
of creation, distinguished by his rational faculty. He has free
will and can choose between the right way and sinning; if he
sins, he still has the possibility of repentance. The way to re-
pentance is always open, but the reward of eternal life is only
for the God-fearing and God-acknowledging. All aspects of
this world are transient and the important consideration is
the world to come. The saintly individual lives an ascetic life
in this world in order to be rewarded in the next. By observ-
ing the Torah, Israel obtains the reward of the world to come.
Just as time had a beginning, so it must have an end and this
will usher in the era of salvation when the wicked will be de-
stroyed and only Israel and any others who accept the Torah
will survive. Only Israel will be resurrected — the righteous to
eternal life, the wicked to eternal justice.
Although points of similarity with other medieval think-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ers are frequently discernible in Abraham's philosophical
work, his writings contain an original admixture of Neopla-
tonic, Aristotelian, and rabbinic ideas, with original interpre-
tations. He was sufficiently independent to reject philosophi-
cal for rabbinical theories when he deemed necessary, and his
philosophy falls into no ready-made categories. He was one
of the very first to write on scientific and philosophic subjects
in Hebrew and many of the terms coined by him have passed
into accepted Hebrew usage. His Hebrew is simple and lucid,
similar in style to the later Midrashim.
Mathematical Works
Abraham was the author of the first encyclopedic work in
Hebrew, Yesodei ha-Tevunah u-Migdal ha-Emunah (“Founda-
tions of Understanding and Tower of Faith”). This was prob-
ably based on translations from the Arabic (it was published
by Steinschneider in Hebraetsche Bibliographie, vol. 7, Sp. tr.
by J.M. Millas Vallicrosa, 1952). Only sections have been pre-
served and these deal with geometry, arithmetic, optics, and
music. He also wrote about mathematics in his Hibbur ha-
Meshihah ve-ha-Tishboret (“Treatise on Mensuration and Cal-
culation’; Sp. tr. by J.M. Millas Vallicrosa, 1931), the original
object of which was to help French Jews in the measurement
of their fields. This is the first Hebrew work to show that the
area of a circle is mr? and is the first known work - after an
Egyptian papyrus of the 18> century B.c.E. — to give the for-
mula of a truncated pyramid. It was published by M. Gutt-
mann (2 pts., 1912-13). Plato of Tivoli translated the work into
Latin in 1145 as Liber Embadorum (“The Book of Areas”) and
this introduced Arabic trigonometry to the West. It was the
chief source for the writings of the celebrated mathematician,
Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa.
Astronomical Works
Abraham’s main astronomical work, known as Hokhmat ha-
Hizzayon, consisted of two parts. The first part, Zurat ha-Arez
ve-Tavnit Kaddurei ha-Rakia (“Form of the Earth and Figure
of the Celestial Spheres”), is a geography - “a short review of
lands according to the seven climates” - which long remained
the chief source of geographical knowledge among Jews (it
was published by M. Jaffe and Jonathan b. Joseph in Offen-
bach, 1720; Sp. tr. by J.M. Millas Vallicrosa, 1956). The second
part, Heshbon Mahalekhot ha-Kokhavim (“Calculation of the
Courses of the Stars”; with Sp. tr. by J.M. Millas Vallicrosa,
1959), was often quoted; it incorporates a complete section on
intercalation. The whole work is probably the first exposition
of the Ptolemaic system in Hebrew and was the first complete
textbook on astronomy in that language.
Abraham further considered problems of intercalation
in his Sefer (or Sod) ha-Ibbur (“Book of Intercalation”), which
was written in 1122 “to enable the Jews to observe the festivals
on the correct dates.” This work explains the principles of in-
tercalation and shows how to calculate the Hebrew and Ara-
bic years (publ. by H. Filipowski, London, 1851). It was often
quoted by later authorities and was accepted as authoritative.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BAR HIYYA
Mention should also be made of the astronomical and astro-
logical tables compiled by Abraham which were also often
quoted, although never published. They include reckonings
for year-cycles, the New Moon, the Egyptian, Arabic, Roman,
and Alexandrian years, etc.
Astrology and Eschatology
Another of Abraham's smaller compositions was his letter to
Judah b. Barzillai al-Bargeloni, defending astrology in con-
nection with the above-mentioned incident at the Barcelona
wedding (publ. by Z. Schwarz, 1917). However, the main source
of knowledge of Abraham's astrological views is to be found
in Megillat ha-Megalleh (“Scroll of the Revealer”; publ. by A.
Posnanski, 1924; Sp. tr. by J.M. Millas Vallicrosa, 1929). This is
an eschatological book, the first by a European rabbi, written
with the object of determining the end of time. After work-
ing out a correspondence between the seven days of Creation
with seven eras of world history, Abraham came to the con-
clusion that redemption would come to the world in the year
1383 C.E. and resurrection in 1448. He adduces proofs from
both the Bible and astrology. This work was of considerable
influence, for example, on *Judah Halevi, whose theory of the
transmission of the prophetic spirit derives from it, and on
the kabbalists, particularly those of the German school. Most
of *Abrabanel’s astrological knowledge was derived from this
work, parts of which were translated into Latin and French.
Knowledge of Abrahams philosophy is partly derived
from this work but even more from his Hegyon ha-Nefesh ha-
Azuvah (publ. by E. Freimann, Leipzig, 1860; Eng. tr. by G.
Wigoder, “Meditation of the Sad Soul,” 1969). This deals with
creation, repentance, good and evil, and the saintly life. The
emphasis is ethical, the approach is generally homiletical -
based on the exposition of biblical passages - and it may have
been designed for reading during the Ten Days of Penitence.
It is less frequently quoted than Abraham's other works. A
so-called “lost work” called Geder Adam is probably identical
with Hegyon ha-Nefesh. Apart from his original compositions,
Abraham collaborated in several of the translations made by
Plato of Tivoli from Arabic to Latin. These played an impor-
tant role in the transmission of Arabic scientific knowledge to
Europe. There is also a translation of De Horarum Electioni-
bus, a work on algebra by Ali ibn Ahmad al-Imrani made by
Abraham; it is not known whether he did this on his own or
in collaboration with Plato of Tivoli.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L.D. Stitskin, Judaism as a Philosophy: The
Philosophy of Abraham bar Hiyya (1960); G. Wigoder, Meditation of
the Sad Soul (1969), introd.; W. Bacher, Bibelexegese der juedischen
Religionsphilosophen des Mittelalters vor Maimiini (1892); Baer, Spain,
1 (1961), index; I. Efros, Problem of Space in Jewish Mediaeval Philoso-
phy (1917); idem, in: JQR, 17 (1926/27), 129 ff.; 20 (1929/30), 113-38; J.
Guttmann, in: MGwyj, 47 (1903), 446-68, 545-69; M. Guttmann, in:
Ha-Zofeh me-Erez Hagar, 1 (1911), 1-30; Husik, Philosophy, index;
D. Neumark, Geschichte der juedischen Philosophie des Mittelalters
(1907); Rabin, in: Mezudah, 3 (1945), 158-70 (repr. in M. Bar Asher
and B. Dan (eds.), Hikrei Lashon (1999), 309-23 (Heb.)); Scholem, in:
MGWJ, 75 (1931), 172-91; Baron, Social’, index; J.M. Millds Vallicrosa,
293
ABRAHAM BAR JACOB
Estudios sobre la historia de la ciencia espanola (1949), 219-26; Levey,
in: Isis, 43 (1952), 257-64; idem, in: Osiris, 11 (1954), 50-64. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: S. Klein-Braslavy, “The Creation of Man and the Story
of the Garden of Eden in the Thought of Abraham Bar Hiyya,” in:
I. Orpaz, N. Govrin, A. Kasher, B.Y. Michali, and Z. Malachi (eds.),
Professor Israel Efros - Poet and Philosopher (1981), 203-29 (Heb.); T.
Lévy, “Les débuts de la littérature mathématique hébraique: la géo-
meétrie d’Abraham bar Hiyya (x1*-x11*.),’ in: Micrologus, 9 (2001);
Gli Ebrei e le Scienze. The Jews and the Sciences (2001), 35-64; M. Ru-
bio, “The First Hebrew Encyclopedia of Science: Abraham Bar Hi-
yyas Yesodei ha-Tevunah u-Migdal ha-Emunah, in: S. Harvey (ed.),
The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy (2001),
140-53.
[Geoffrey Wigoder]
ABRAHAM BAR JACOB (c. 1669-1730), convert to Juda-
ism who worked as a copper engraver in Amsterdam. Born in
Germany, Abraham b. Jacob had been a Christian pastor in the
Rhineland before converting to Judaism. He was particularly
celebrated for his collaboration in the Amsterdam Haggadah
of 1695 to which he contributed a series of engravings partly
copied from the Icones Biblicae of Mattheus Merian of Basle
and a map of Palestine with Hebrew lettering. This work set a
new fashion in Haggadot and served as a model for more than
200 years. Abraham b. Jacob's other works include the title
pages to Joseph b. Ephraim *Caro’s Shulhan Arukh (1697-98),
Isaiah b. Abraham *Horowitz’s Shenei Luhot ha-Berit (1698),
and Joseph b. Hayyim Sarfati’s Yad Yosef (1700); an amulet for
women in childbirth; and a wall calendar for 130 years with
baroque illustrations. The engraving of a portrait of hakham
Isaac *Aboab da Fonseca of Amsterdam, painted by Joseph b.
Abraham, is also ascribed to him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wolf, Bibliotheca, 3 (1727), 39; Roth, Art,
444, 445, 521. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Yaari, Mehkarei Sefer (1958),
250-51; H. Brodsky, in Jewish Art, 19 (1993/4), 148-57; idem, in: Jour-
nal of the Israel Map Collectors Society, 13 (1996) 37-43.
ABRAHAM BEN ALEXANDER KATZ OF KALISK
(Kalisz; 1741-1810), hasidic leader in Poland and Erez Israel.
He was a disciple of *Dov Baer of Mezhirech. According to
hasidic tradition he first studied under *Elijah b. Solomon,
the Gaon of Vilna. He joined the Talk, an hasidic conven-
ticle whose precise nature is unknown. Abraham gave ex-
pression to the hasidic principle of serving God with fervor
in a bizarre fashion, “turning somersaults in the streets and
marketplaces” and ridiculing talmudic scholars. These exag-
gerated practices were among the reasons for the excommu-
nication pronounced on the Hasidim by the rabbinical court
of Vilna in 1772.
In 1777 Abraham immigrated to Erez Israel with the
group of Hasidim led by *Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk. He
first settled in Safed and later in Tiberias, where he spent his
last years. After the death of Menahem Mendel, Abraham suc-
ceeded him as head of the hasidic groups in Erez Israel. His
cordial relations with the founder of the Habad movement,
*Shneur Zalman, came to an end after the latter published his
294
Tanya in 1796; Abraham expressed his disillusionment with
Shneur Zalman’s philosophical system, and Shneur Zalman,
who was also treasurer of the fund in Russia, retaliated by
stopping the flow of contributions. Abraham emphasized the
importance of the hasidic group, independent of the author-
ity of a zaddik. He believed in dibbuk haverim, a close associa-
tion between comrades who through contemplation and self-
abnegation arrive together at a state of mystical ecstasy. His
sayings and letters are collected in Hesed le-Avraham (1851)
and Iggerot Kodesh (1927).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Brawer, in: KS, 1 (1924/25), 142-50, 226-38;
I. Halpern, Ha-Aliyyot ha-Rishonot shel ha-Hasidim le-Erez Yisrael
(1946), 65-79, passim; Horodezky, Hasidut, 2 (1953*), 39-46; Dub-
now, Hasidut, 111f., 335-7, 483; Weiss, in: JJ, 6 (1955), 87-99; Scholem,
Mysticism, 334-5; Schatz, in: Molad, 20 (1962), 514-5.
ABRAHAM BEN ALEXANDER (Axelrad) OF COLOGNE
(13 century), kabbalist. A disciple of R. *Eleazar b. Judah of
Worms, he immigrated to Spain where he probably studied
with the kabbalist R. Ezra. Solomon b. Abraham *Adret knew
him personally in his youth, and tells of his extraordinary
oratorical gifts, and the interesting material in his sermons
(Responsa no. 548). Abraham wrote a treatise concerning
the Tetragrammaton, Keter Shem Tov, in which he tried to
achieve a synthesis between the mysticism of the Jewish pi-
etists (Hasidim) in Germany based on combinations of letters
and numbers, and the Kabbalah of the *Sefirot (with which he
had become acquainted in Provence or in Spain). His text is
composed of a short summary of his system and represents
a kind of cosmological symbolism that relies on the conclu-
sion provided by Abraham *Ibn Ezra in his Sefer ha-Shem,
as well as on the statements of the kabbalists R. Ezra and R.
Azriel. The work, which is extant in numerous manuscripts,
was first published independently in Amsterdam in 1810. It
also appeared under the title Maamar Peloni Almoni in the
collection of writings Likkutim me-Rav Hai Gaon (1798). A
new edition was published by Jellinek (1853). In Samson b.
Eliezer’s work Barukh she-Amar (1795), Keter Shem Tov is at-
tributed to Menahem Ashkenazi, another disciple of Eleazar
of Worms. Benjacob is wrong in stating that there is another
work entitled Keter Shem Tov by Abraham consisting of a mys-
tic commentary to Psalms, Joshua, and Judges.
[Gershom Scholem]
In one of the manuscripts found in Jerusalem, Keter Shem
Tov is entitled Maamar be-Kabbalah Nevu't, a “Treatise on
Prophetic Kabbalah,” and this title indicates the role played
by this Ashkenazi figure in transmitting certain Ashkenazi
modes of thought to Barcelona, where Abraham *Abulafia’s
prophetic Kabbalah made its first step.
[Moshe Idel (24 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Jellinek, Auswahl kabbalistischer Mystik,
1 (1853), 9 (Ger. pt.); idem, in: MGwy, 2 (1853), 78; M. Steinschneider,
in: HB, 6 (1863), 126; 8 (1865), 147; idem, in: Jeschurun, 6 (1869), 169;
Graetz, Gesch, 7 (1904°), 74, n. 2.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN AVIGDOR (d. 1542), rabbi and author.
For 20 years, Abraham served as the rabbi of Prague. One of
his pupils was Abraham Jaffe, the father of Mordecai *Jaffe.
In 1534 Abraham and the famous shtadlan Joseph (Josel-
mann) of Rosheim framed 23 takkanot designed to adjudi-
cate an inter-communal dispute in Bohemia and to restore
harmony in the community. After the expulsion of the Jews
from Bohemia in 1541, Abraham composed the selihah be-
ginning “Anna Elohei Avraham,” recited in the Polish ritual
on Yom Kippur. According to David *Gans, Abraham had a
knowledge of “all the seven sciences.’ His works included (1)
glosses on the Tur Orah Hayyim by Jacob b. Asher, published
in Prague and Augsburg both in 1540; (2) a supercommen-
tary on Rashi’s Bible commentary, quoted in the Devek Tov
of Simeon Ossenburg, and in Minhat Yehudah by Judah Leib
b. Obadiah Eilenburg (1609); (3) decisions, quoted by Moses
Isserles and Joel Sirkes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Lit Poesie, 390; Zunz, Poesie, 57; Mi-
chael, Or, no. 31-32; K. Lieben, Gal Ed (1856), no. 121 (Heb. section
64-65; Ger. section 57-58); Landshuth, Ammudei, 2; Kracauer, in:
REJ, 16 (1888), 92; S. Hock, Familien Prags (1892), 396, n. 2; Davidson,
Ozar, 1 (1924), 279, no. 6111.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABRAHAM BEN AZRIEL (13 century), liturgical commen-
tator, one of the “Elders of Bohemia.” Abraham was a disciple
of the great German pietists, *Judah b. Samuel he-Hasid and
*Eleazar b. Judah of Worms (Rokeah) as well as of *Baruch
b. Isaac of Regensburg, the latter two being his chief teach-
ers. *Isaac b. Moses Or Zaru’a was his disciple. About 1234 he
wrote Arugat ha-Bosem (“Spice Garden”), a commentary on
liturgical poems (edited by E.E. Urbach with commentary,
1939). The work reveals a comprehensive knowledge of every
branch of Jewish learning: masoretic text and vocalization,
exegesis and grammar, the halakhic and aggadic Midrashim,
the two Talmuds and their early expositors, and philosophical
and kabbalistic literature. All obscure references in the piyyu-
tim are explained in great detail. As a result of its prolixity, the
book did not have a wide circulation and is only rarely quoted
in later literature. However, after Abraham *Berliner discov-
ered the manuscript in the Vatican library, scholars realized its
importance. Abraham's main sources are: Abraham Ibn Ezra,
Eleazar Rokeah, Judah Hayyuj, Judah b. Samuel he-Hasid, Jo-
seph Kara, Jacob Tam, Moses of Taku, Rashi, Solomon Parhon,
Samuel b. Meir, Nathan b. Jehiel of Rome, and Maimonides.
He was the first of the French and German scholars to make
full use of the whole of Maimonides’ work. The quotations
in the book give an insight into the nature and character of
many books no longer extant, by authorities such as Samuel
b. Meir and Eleazar Rokeah (who is mentioned by name more
than 170 times) and by scholars whose names were previously
unknown. Abraham was known for his critical insight and
independence and did not hesitate to contradict his teacher,
Eleazar Rokeah. His quotations from the halakhic and agga-
dic literature, the Tosefta, and the Babylonian and Palestinian
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN DANIEL
Talmuds are valuable, for there are many differences between
his texts and those appearing in the printed editions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, in: HB, 9 (1869), 174; MWJ, 1
(1874), 2-3, 5; Perles, in: MGwy, 26 (1877), 360-73; Kaufmann, ibid., 31
(1882), 316-24, 360-70, 410-22; E.E. Urbach (ed.), Arugat ha-Bosem
(1967), introduction.
ABRAHAM BEN BENJAMIN ZE’EV BRISKER (d. 1700),
Lithuanian author and preacher. After the decree of expulsion
from Lithuania in 1655 Abraham went to Vienna, where he
became a pupil of R. Shabbetai Sheftel *Horowitz. After the
expulsion of the Jews from Vienna in 1670 Abraham returned
to Brest Litovsk and continued his studies under R. Morde-
cai Guenzburg and R. Zevi Hirsch. At the end of his preface
to Zera Avraham he described his tribulations: “Most of my
days were spent in sorrow, and I studied under difficulties and
in wandering.” He mentions his intention “to immigrate to
the Holy Land” which, however, he did not fulfill. He signed
himself “Alluf Abraham” as one of the representatives of Brest
Litovsk at the meeting of the *Council of the Lands in Lublin
in 1683. Abraham is the author of Asarah Maamarot, a com-
mentary on Avot, chapter 6 (Frankfurt on the Oder, 1680);
Zera Avraham, which includes sermons on “the connection
between the weekly portions, and other verses, Midrashim and
commentaries according to a literal interpretation” (Sulzbach,
1685); and Perush al Eser Atarot — a kabbalistic work (Frank-
furt on the Oder, 1968). In the preface to Asarah Maamarot
he refers to his unpublished works Berit Avraham (a brief
summary of the decisions of Shabbetai b. Meir ha-Kohen and
*David b. Samuel ha-Levi on Yoreh Deah) and Hesed Avraham,
a kabbalistic commentary on the weekly scriptural portions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.L. Feinstein, Ir Tehillah (1886), 32, 158, 191;
D. Kaufmann, Die letzte Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien... (1889),
223-43 EG, 2 (1954), 53-54, 153.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABRAHAM BEN DANIEL (1511-1578), Italian rabbi and
poet. Abraham, who was born in Modena, was employed as
tutor by Jewish families in various Italian cities from 1530.
Later, he became rabbi and preacher in Ferrara. He composed
numerous religious and liturgical poems. According to his
statement these numbered more than 5,000. Some poems
deal with autobiographical occasions; others celebrate histori-
cal events (e.g., the false accusation against the Jews in Rome,
1555). Several are dedicated to his family and friends, or writ-
ten as prayers for them. The poems which include elegies and
*azharot are almost all written in Hebrew, a few, in Aramaic.
In 1553 he collected his liturgical and religious poems under
the title, Sefer ha-Yashar. Later he prepared a second, larger
collection in two volumes, now lost, entitled Sefer ha-Yalkut
(this might, however, be the title of another work of his). A
third collection (unless it is part of Sefer ha-Yalkut) is in the
Montefiore Collection.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Zunz, in: Ha-Palit (1850), 25; Zunz, Lit
Poesie, 535; Neubauer, Cat, 1 (1886), 381; H. Hirschfeld, in: sar, 14
295
ABRAHAM BEN DAVID MAIMUNI
(1901/02), 633; idem, Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts
of the Montefiore Library (1904), 82; Fuenn, Keneset, 38; Davidson,
Ozar, 4 (1933), 357; Schirmann, Italyah, 243.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]
ABRAHAM BEN DAVID MAIMUNI (c. 1246-c. 1316),
nagid of Egyptian Jewry. Abraham was the eldest son of R.
David, the grandson of Maimonides. During his father’s old
age he shared the position of nagid with him for ten years. Af-
ter his father’s death he remained nagid and was successful
in 1313 in convincing a large group of Karaites, among whom
were some wealthy men and intellectuals, to return to Rab-
banite Judaism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Assaf, Be-Oholei Yaakov (1943), 184; Ash-
tor, Toledot, 1 (1944), 228-32; Goitein, in: Tarbiz, 34 (1964/65), 253-5;
Eshtori ha-Farhi, Kaftor va-Ferah, ed. by H.Edelmann (1852), 13b.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
ABRAHAM BEN DAVID OF POSQUIERES (known as
Rabad, i.e., Rabbi Abraham Ben David; c. 1125-1198); talmu-
dic authority in Provence. Abraham was born in Narbonne,
and died in Posquiéres, a small city near Nimes famous for
the yeshivah he established there. He lived during a remark-
able period of remarkable development of intellectual activ-
ity in southern France. His father-in-law, Abraham b. Isaac,
who headed the rabbinical court in Narbonne, exerted con-
siderable influence on Abraham ben David, whose brilliance
he fully appreciated. Abraham studied with Moses b. Joseph
and *Meshullam b. Jacob of Lunel, two of the most respected
and influential scholars of the time. Meshullam encouraged
the methodical transmission of the philosophic, scientific, and
halakhic learning of Spanish Jews to French Jewry, and his in-
fluence on Abraham in this respect was great. It also seems
safe to assume that the enlightened atmosphere of his circle
widened the scope of Abrahams learning so that he developed
into a keen and resourceful halakhist, undisputed master in his
own field, and highly knowledgeable in developments in re-
lated areas (philosophy and philology). He encouraged Judah
ibn Tibbon, who had translated the first chapter of Bahya
ibn Paquda’s Hovot ha-Levavot at the request of Meshullam
of Lunel, to complete the translation. Meshullam stimulated
Abrahams literary creativity by having him compose a treatise
(Issur Mashehu, in: S. Assaf, Sifran shel Rishonim (Jerusalem,
1935, 185-98; M. Hershler, Jerusalem, 1963)) on an important
problem of Jewish ritual law.
A mature scholar, prominent in Montpellier and Nimes,
and a man of great wealth (it has been suggested that he dealt
in textiles), he settled permanently in Posquiéres, except for
a short period (1172-73) when he fled to Narbonne and Car-
cassonne as a result of hostility on the part of the local feudal
lord. He founded and directed a school to which advanced
students from all parts of Europe flocked and he provided
for all the needs of indigent students out of his own pocket.
Some of his students and close followers, *Abraham b. Nathan
ha-Yarhi, Isaac ha-Kohen, *Meir b. Isaac, *Jonathan b. David
296
ha-Kohen of Lunel, Asher b. Saul of Lunel, and his own son
*Isaac the Blind (of Posquiéres) became distinguished rabbis
and authors in the principal Jewish communities of Provence,
thus extending Abraham's influence and contributing to sig-
nificant literary developments at the end of the 12" and the
beginning of the 13" centuries. He himself asserted that his
word was law in all Provence (Temim De’im (Lvov, 1812), 12a—-b,
no. 113). Scholars from Franco-Germany, Spain, North Af-
rica, Italy, Palestine, and Slavic countries knew, studied, and
respected him. *Nahmanides describes his erudition and pi-
ety with great awe and Solomon b. Abraham *Adret says that
Abraham revealed unfathomed depths of the law “as if from
the mouth of Moses, and explained that which is difficult”
(Torat ha-Bayit, Beit ha-Nashim, introduction).
Rabad’s literary activity was original and many sided. His
works may be classified under the headings of codes of rab-
binic law, commentaries on various types of talmudic litera-
ture, responsa, homiletic discourses, and critical annotations
and glosses (hassagot) on standard works of rabbinic literature.
His writings are characterized by precision in textual study,
persistence in tracing statements back to their original source,
discovery of later interpolations, and logical analysis of prob-
lems. He was one of the most skillful practitioners of the crit-
ico-conceptual method of talmudic study - probing into the
inner strata of talmudic logic, defining fundamental concepts,
and formulating disparities as well as similarities among vari-
ous passages in the light of conceptual analysis. Asa result, ab-
stract, complex concepts, which were discussed fragmentarily
in numerous, unrelated sections of the Talmud, are for the first
time defined with great vigor and precision. This critical meth-
odology was the first clean break from the geonic method of
Talmud study. By doing so, Rabad approached each rabbinic
subject unaided by the wisdom of the previous generations.
On the one hand, he viewed each subject as part of the greater
talmudic whole; yet on the other hand, he only commented
on what interested him. Thus, his commentaries may be de-
scribed as annotatory rather than cursory, that is, closer to
the tosafistic method of textual elucidation and analysis than
the method of complete, terse textual commentary associated
with Rashi or R. Hananel. Many of his theories and insights
were endorsed and transmitted by subsequent generations of
talmudists and incorporated into standard works of Jewish law
up to the Shulhan Arukh and its later commentaries. Indeed,
his talmudic commentaries had an enormous impact on the
next generation of talmudic scholars, notably *Nahmanides
and his disciple, Solomon ben Abraham *Adret. Even though
they continued to quote him frequently, the scholarship and
reputation of these and other scholars of the succeeding gen-
erations overshadowed Rabad’s work. Rabad’s talmudic com-
mentaries firmly established his position among Jewish schol-
ars. With the first publication of Rabad’s hassagot alongside
Maimonides’ text of the Mishneh Torah in the early 16 cen-
tury, Rabad’s reputation shifted from that of commentator on
the Talmud to commentator on the Mishneh Torah.
Some medieval writers, notably Hasdai Crescas (Or Ado-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
nai, introduction) assert that Abraham wrote a commentary
on the entire Talmud and Menahem b. Solomon *Meiri de-
scribed him as “one of the greatest of the commentators” (Beit
ha-Behirah, passim). Only sections of this imposing under-
taking have been preserved and only two complete commen-
taries on Bava Kamma (Kaidan, 1940; Jerusalem, 1963”) and
Avodah Zarah (New York, 1960) have been published; sizable
extracts are to be found in the Shitah Mekubbezet of Bezalel
Ashkenazi and citations from it are quoted in the writings
of the rishonim. His commentary and fosafot to the first two
chapters of Kiddushin have been published by Wacholder, in:
HUCA 37 (1966), Heb. sect. 65-90.
The most important of his codes, which included Hilkhot
Lulav, Hibbur Harshaot (on power of attorney), and Perush
Yadayim, is the Baalei ha-Nefesh (first edition Venice, 1602). A
complete and better edition was published by Y. Kafah (1964).
In seven, close-knit chapters, Abraham formulated and dis-
cussed in great detail the laws relating to women. The last
chapter of the work entitled Shaar ha-Kedushah (“the gate of
holiness”) describes the moral norms and pious dispositions
which enable man to achieve self-control in sexual matters and
to attain purity of heart and action. The common denominator
of all his codes is their preoccupation with practical matters,
unlike Maimonides, whose theoretical concept of codification
necessitated the inclusion of all laws, even those of no practi-
cal value. Abraham's codes are predicated on exposition and
commentary and provide complete source references.
Abraham wrote commentaries on the Mishnah, which
had gradually become subservient to and assimilated in the
Talmud as a unit of study, with the result that as late as the 12
century, commentaries on the Mishnah were rare and frag-
mentary. Abraham's full-fledged commentaries on Eduyyot
and Kinnim (both published in the standard editions of the
Talmud), two abstruse, academic treatises, were original and
also very influential. (The commentary on Tamid, ascribed to
Abraham, is not his.) At the beginning of the Eduyyot com-
mentary he himself declared: “In all these matters I have noth-
ing to fall back upon, neither a rabbi nor a teacher. I beseech
the Creator to guide me correctly in this matter.” Unlike Mai-
monides, who strove to distill the quintessence from intricate
discussions, in order to render the Mishnah an independent
subject of study, Abraham was interested primarily in inter-
preting those obscure sections of the Mishnah which had no
further explanation in the Talmud, passing over those pas-
sages satisfactorily explained in the Talmud, merely giving
cross references.
His commentaries on the tannaitic Midrashim are of
special historic importance, because he was probably the first
medieval scholar (but see *Hillel b. Eliakim of Greece) to have
written exhaustive commentaries on these texts. While his
commentaries on the Mekhilta and Sifrei are quoted, only the
commentary on Sifra is extant (first edition Constantinople,
1523; scientifically edited by I.H. Weiss, Vienna, 1862). The
commentary, which pays considerable attention to the nature
and method of the Sifra and, therefore, to problems of talmu-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN DAVID OF POSQUIERES
dic hermeneutics, begins with an emphatic prologue on the
necessity of tradition “in order to harass the opinions of the
heretics (minim) who refuse to obey and believe.”
The hassagot, critical scholia, with which his name is in-
extricably linked, were his last works. He composed copious
hassagot on the halakhot of Alfasi, on the Sefer ha-Maor of
*Zerahiah b. Isaac ha-Levi, and the Mishneh Torah of Mai-
monides. As the Hebrew term hassagah denotes, these glosses
are both criticism and commentary, dissent and elaboration,
stricture and supplement; they are not exclusively polemical,
although the polemical emphasis varies in intensity and acu-
ity from one to the other. The critique on Alfasi is mild and
objective; that on Maimonides may be described as moder-
ate, marred by occasional outbursts of intemperate invec-
tive; while that on Zerahiah ha-Levi is caustic and personal.
Abraham began by reviewing Alfasi and taking exception to
some of his halakhic interpretations and normative conclu-
sions. In answer to his criticisms Nahmanides wrote his Sefer
ha-Zekhut. When the Sefer ha-Maor appeared, Abraham felt
that Zerahiah ha-Levi had carried the criticism of Alfasi to
unjustified lengths and that often Zerahiah was captious and
carping for no good reason. Anticipating the more compre-
hensive refutation of Nahmanides in Milhamot, Abraham
penned a sharp answer to the strictures of Zerahiah. He ac-
cused him, inter alia, of plagiarism, amateurishness, excessive
reliance on Rashi and the French school, and general incom-
petence. The book, called Katuv Sham, was published in full
for the first time in Jerusalem (1960-2). Extracts from it had
been published previously in the Romm edition of the Tal-
mud, and elsewhere. This work climaxes a lifetime process of
mutual criticism and attack - the acrimonious exchange in
Divrei ha-Rivot and Zerahiah’s criticism of Abraham's Baalei
ha-Nefesh and Kinnim commentary (Sela ha-Mahaloket, latest
edition, ed. Kafah, 1964). Abraham’s critique of Maimonides,
written in cryptic and in a style often difficult to understand,
became a standard companion of Maimonides’ text (from the
Constantinople edition, 1509). These hassagot are highly per-
sonal and unsystematic. Rabad does not comment on every
aspect of each section of the entire Mishneh Torah. However,
his glosses are very wide ranging, containing every conceivable
form of annotation: criticism concerning interpretive matters,
textual problems, local customs and the like, and many forms
of commentary, listing the source, reconstructing Maimo-
nides’ explanation of a text, showing the derivative process
followed by Maimonides in the formulation of a law, warding
off possible criticism, and the like. Abraham claimed that Mai-
monides “intended to improve but did not improve, for he for-
sook the way of all authors and his cut and dried codification,
without explanations and without references, approximated
ex cathedra legislation too closely.’ Rabad’s hassagot are not
limited to points of law; he was quick to take Maimonides to
task for his philosophical opinions as well. For instance, con-
trary to Maimonides’ assertion that God is incorporeal and
that to think of God as having a body makes one a heretic,
Rabad claims that there “were many who were greater and
297
ABRAHAM BEN DOV OF MEZHIRECH
better than him who followed this path due to what they saw
in verses, and even more due to rabbinic homilies that con-
fuse the mind” (see Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 3:7).
Later generations did not view this statement as disagreeing
with Maimonides, but as recognition of the need to think of
God in anthropomorphic terms.
Abraham wrote many responsa, some of them printed in
Tummat Yesharim (Venice, 1622). A more complete compen-
dium was issued by Y. Kafah (1964). He wrote a few homilies,
as testified by many rishonim, but only his homily on Rosh
Ha-Shanah has been printed (London, 1955).
One type of literature, the kabbalistic, which came into
prominence during his lifetime, is not represented in his writ-
ings. It is known, however, that he exerted formative influ-
ence upon it through his children, who, having learned mys-
tical teachings from him, became literary leaders and guides
in the emergent Kabbalah. Later kabbalistic writers such as
Isaac of Acre, Shem Tov b. Gaon, and Menahem Recanati
claimed Abraham as one of their own, worthy of receiving
special revelation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. Twersky, Rabad of Posquiéres (1962), in-
cludes complete bibliography; S$. Abramson, in: Tarbiz, 36 (1967),
158-79. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Gellman, in: New Scholasticism,
58:2 (1984), 145-69; H. Soloveitchik, in: Jewish History, 5:1 (1991),
75-124; idem, in: Studies in the History of Jewish Society in the Mid-
dles Ages and in the Modern Period (1980); J. Cohen, in: The Frank
Talmage Memorial Volume, 2 (1992), 65-78; N. Samuelson, in: Kerem,
Creative Explorations in Judaism, 1 (1992-93), 65-74.
[Isadore Twersky / David Derovan (2"4 ed.)]
ABRAHAM BEN DOV OF MEZHIRECH (known as ha-
Malakh (“the Angel”); 1741-1776), hasidic sage. A contempo-
rary who watched Abraham on the Ninth of *Av bewail the
destruction of the Temple, remarked: “Then I understood that
it was not in vain that he was named by all ‘the Angel; for no
man born of woman could have such power.’ A solitary ascetic
who mainly concentrated on study of Kabbalah, Abraham
did not emulate the tradition of popular aspects of Hasidism
instituted by the Ba’al Shem Tov and by his father, consider-
ing them “too earthly.” His ideal of the *zaddik was directly
opposed to the usual type of such hasidic leaders, being “one
who is incapable of leading his contemporaries, one whom
they would not tolerate because he is immersed in learning
and unable to descend ‘to the lowest grade’ in order to lift
up his generation.” In his youth Abraham was a friend of *Sh-
neur Zalman of Lyady with whom he studied Talmud and
Kabbalah in Mezhirech. He was the author of a commen-
tary on the Pentateuch Hesed le-Avraham (Czernowitz, 1851).
His son, Shalom Shraga (1766-1803) of Prohobist, was the
father of Israel of *Ruzhyn (Ryshyn), the first of the Ruzhyn
dynasty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Zak, Kerem Yisrael (1931); Horodezky,
Hasidut, 2 (1953*), 49 ff. Dubnow, Hasidut (1932), 213-4; M. Buber,
Tales of the Hasidim, 1 (1968), 113-7.
[Nachum Arieli]
298
ABRAHAM BEN ELIEZER HA-LEVI (called ha-Zaken;
c. 1460-after 1528), kabbalist. Born in Spain, Abraham was a
pupil of Isaac Gakon (in Toledo?). While still in Spain he wrote
several kabbalistic treatises of which his Masoret ha-Hokhmah
(“Tradition of Wisdom”), on the principles of the Kabbalah,
has been preserved (Ks, 2 (1925), 125-303 7 (1931), 449-56).
After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Abraham
wandered through Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt until about
1514 when he moved to Jerusalem with the school of the Egyp-
tian nagid, R. Isaac ha-Kohen *Sholal. In Jerusalem, he was
one of the most respected scholars of the yeshivah and became
widely known through his literary and religious activities. A
letter of his from the year 1528 deals with Beta Israel (Kovez
al Yad, 4 (1888), 24). He presumably died soon afterward; in
1535, R. *David b. Solomon ibn Abi Zimra mentions him as
someone long dead.
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain shocked Abraham
deeply. His activities as an apocalyptic kabbalist probably
date from the time of this national disaster. Like many of his
contemporaries, such as Abraham *Zacuto, Isaac *Abraba-
nel, and others, he believed that the year 1524 would be the
beginning of the messianic era, and that the Messiah him-
self would appear in 1530-31. He devoted himself to elabo-
rating his conviction. He searched for proof in the Bible and
the Talmud as well as in kabbalistic literature, and he tried to
arouse the Jewish people to prepare for the coming deliver-
ance through penitence. Abraham is one of the best stylists in
kabbalistic literature. In 1508 in Greece he wrote the treatise
Mashreh Kitrin (“Untier of Knots,’ 1510), with explanations of
the Book of Daniel. This book, like all other works of Abra-
ham, was ably written in the apocalyptic prophetic vein. Later
he wrote Maamar Perek Helek, an explanation of the talmu-
dic statements on the messianic redemption at the end of the
tractate Sanhedrin. In 1517, in Jerusalem, Abraham wrote his
extensive commentary on the Nevuat ha-Yeled (“The Child’s
Prophecy”) in the same vein (still in manuscript). It is un-
likely that Abraham was the author of the Nevuat ha-Yeled
itself. His commentary contains an apocalyptic survey of Jew-
ish history, from the fall of the Second Temple to his own day.
In 1521 he wrote Iggeret Sod ha-Geullah (“The Epistle of the
Mystery of Redemption”) in which, following his views, he
interpreted the statements of the *Zohar on redemption (also
in manuscript). Abraham issued many calls to penitence, in
one of which (1525) he expressed himself in detail on the ap-
pearance of Martin *Luther. Thus, he prepared the way for the
coming activities of Solomon *Molcho. Various other kabbal-
istic writings of Abraham have been preserved: Maamar ha-
Yihud (“Essay on the Unity of God”); Megillat Amrafel (“Scroll
of Amraphel”), published in part in Ks, 7 (1930-31), probably
identical with his commentary on the Song of Songs; Tiferet
Adam (“Glory of Man”); and Livyat Hen (“Chaplet of Grace”;
the latter two not extant). His instructions (horaah) on the
recitation of the prayer Makhnisei Rahamim have been pub-
lished as have his penitential prayers seeking the intercession
of angels (Kerem Hemed, 9 (1856), 141ff.). Abraham is in no
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
way to be linked with the kabbalistic work Gallei Rezayya nor
is he the author of the apology of the Kabbalah, Ohel Moed
(“Tent of Meeting”). He has often been confused with other
scholars of the same name, among them *Abraham b. Eliezer
ha-Levi Berukhim.
[Gershom Scholem]
The writings and activity of this kabbalist have drawn
substantial attention in scholarship in the last generation.
Some of Abraham ha-Levi’s kabbalistic views are close to theo-
ries found in the circle of kabbalists who produced the litera-
ture known as Sefer ha-Meshiv, and he preserved the earliest
version of the famous legend about R. *Joseph della Reina’s
abortive attempt to bring about the advent of the Messiah. It
seems that his messianic and magical concerns are also related
to the tenor of this vast kabbalistic literature.
[Moshe Idel (24 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, in: Ogar Nehmad, 2 (1857),
146-57; G. Scholem, in: Ks, 1 (1924/25), 163f.; 2 (1925/26), 101-41,
269-73; 7 (1930/31), 440-56. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. David, “A
Jerusalemite Epistle from the Beginning of the Ottoman Rule in the
Land of Israel,” in: Chapters in the History of Jerusalem at the Begin-
ning of the Ottoman Period (Heb., 1979); M. Idel, “Inquiries in the
Doctrine of Sefer Ha-Meshiv, in: J. Hacker (ed.), Sefunot, 17 (1983),
185-66 (Heb.); idem, “Magic and Kabbalah in the Book of the Re-
sponding Entity,’ in: M. Gruber (ed.), The Solomon Goldman Lectures,
6 (1993), 125-38; I. Robinson, “Two Letters of Abraham ben Eliezer
Halevi,’ in: I. Twersky (ed.), Studies in Medieval Jewish History and
Literature (1984), 403-22; G. Scholem, “The Maggid of Rabbi Jo-
seph Taitatchek and the Revelations Attributed to Him,” in: Sefunot,
11 (1971-78), 69-112; G. Scholem and M. Bet Arieh, “Abraham ben
Eliezer ha-Levi? in: Maamar Mesharei Qitrin (1977).
ABRAHAM BEN ELIEZER HA-LEVI BERUKHIM
(c. 1515-1593), pious ascetic and Safed kabbalist. Born in Mo-
rocco, he immigrated to Palestine probably before 1565. In
Safed he joined Moses *Cordovero’s circle and became a
friend of Elijah de *Vidas. When Isaac *Luria went to Safed
(late 1569), Abraham joined his school and was a member
of its “fourth group.” Hayyim *Vital had a great affection for
him and in several places quotes kabbalistic sayings of Isaac
Luria which he had heard from Abraham. Vital quotes Luria
as saying that in the “origins of the souls of the Safed kabbal-
ists,” Abraham derived from the patriarch Jacob. Abraham was
a visionary and ascetic, who preached piety and morality, and
called for repentance. He was called the “great patron of the
Sabbath” and he went out on Friday mornings to the markets
and streets to urge the householders to hurry with the prepa-
rations for the Sabbath meals and close their shops early so
that they would have time to purify themselves for the Sab-
bath. Almost nothing is known about his life. Many legends
have been preserved about his piety and about Luria’s affec-
tion for him. His Tikkunei Shabbat were printed at the end of
Reshit Hokhmah ha-Kazar (Venice, 1600) and thereafter in
numerous editions as a separate book. On the other hand, his
Hasidut, containing the rules of pious behavior which he estab-
lished for his group in Safed, circulated in manuscript even in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN HALFON
the Diaspora, and was published by Solomon Schechter (Stud-
ies in Judaism, 2™4 Series (1908), 297-9). He was the first
editor and collector of articles of the *Zohar which had not
been included in the Mantua edition of 1558-60; these were
afterward published under the title Zohar Hadash. It is not
clear whether he was the author of Gallei Rezayya, parts of
which were published in his name (1812). It is probable that
Tobiah ha-Levi, author of Hen Tov, was his son.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Vital, Sefer ha-Hezyonot (1954); S. Shlimel,
Shivhei ha-Ari (1609); M. Benayahu, Sefer Toledot ha-Ari (1967).
ABRAHAM BEN ELIJAH OF VILNA (1750-1808), talmu-
dic and midrashic scholar. Abraham received most of his edu-
cation from his father *Elijah b. Solomon Zalman, “the Vilna
Gaon.” He acquired complete command of rabbinic literature
and much general knowledge. He had a strikingly critical ap-
proach to history and literature. Even before *Zunz, Abraham
investigated the nature and development of the Midrashim
and had written a valuable introduction to his edition of Mi-
drash Aggadat Bereshit (Vilna, 1802). His work Rav Pealim
(1894), an alphabetical index of all the midrashic works known
to him, contains critical observations on 130 Midrashim.
Abraham wrote a universal geography, Gevulot Erez (“The
Earth’s Boundaries,’ published anonymously, Berlin, 1821). He
composed commentaries on several tractates of the Talmud and
on Midrash Rabbah, glosses and notes to the Jerusalem
Talmud, a book on weights and measures in the Talmud,
another on place-names mentioned in Talmud and Midrash,
and several other works, some unpublished. Abraham was
active in communal affairs and was one of the parnasim of
the Vilna Jewish community. Together with his brother, Judah
Loeb, he published several of his father’s works, and incor-
porated in them explanatory material from his father’s oral
teaching.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.H. Lewin, Aliyyot Eliyahu (18617), 94 ff;
Yavez, in: Kenesset Yisrael, 1 (1886), 132-3; Kaufmann, in: MGwyj,
39 (1895), 136-9; S. Buber, Yeriot Shelomo (1896), 3-4 (introd.); S.J.
Fuenn, Kiryah Neemanah (19157), 210-2; J.L. Maimon (ed.), Sefer ha-
Gra, 1 (1953), 108-10.
[Simha Assaf]
ABRAHAM BEN HALFON (15' or 16‘ century), Hebrew
poet in Yemen. His verse follows the genre of Spanish poetry
in its meter, style, and content. Y. Tovi published his poems
in 1991. Their subjects include moral and ethical exhorta-
tions, songs for weddings and circumcisions, religious verse,
and hymns for special occasions and festivals. If he is identi-
cal with the person of the same name mentioned in the Sefer
ha-Musar (pp. 46, 84, 151) of Zechariah Al-Dahri, he must
have flourished in the 16" century, not in the 15" as was for-
merly believed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. Davidson, in: Ziyyunim (J.N. Simhoni Me-
morial Volume, 1929), 58-81; idem, in: Minhah le-David (D. Yellin Ju-
bilee Volume, 1935), 187-96; Ish-Shalom, in: Tarbiz, 18 (1947), 187-93.
299
ABRAHAM BEN HAYYIM
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shirei Avraham ibn Halfon, ed. Y. Tovi (1991);
R. Halevi (ed.), Shirat Yisrael be-Teiman, 1 (1998), 355-71.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
ABRAHAM BEN HAYYIM (Heilprin; d. 1762), leader of
the Jewish community in Lublin city and province, Poland.
Abraham b. Hayyim at times represented the Lublin com-
munity in the assemblies of the Council of Four Lands. From
1753 to 1757 he acted as parnas of the Council, an office previ-
ously held by his grandfather, Abraham Abele b. Israel Isser,
and his son’s father-in-law, the physician Abraham Isaac *For-
tis (Hazak). During Abraham b. Hayyim’s tenure, one of his
sons, Moses Phinehas, acted as the neeman (“treasurer”) of the
Council of the Four Lands. Other members of his family
served in several communities as rabbis or communal leaders.
In the controversy that arose over the connection of Jonathan
*Eybeshuetz with the *Shabbatean movement, Abraham and
his son Jacob Hayyim of Lublin strongly supported Eybe-
shuetz. Abraham was described by contemporaries as “princely
and munificent,” but nothing is now known of his occupation.
He died in Lublin at an advanced age. The Bet ha-Midrash
de-Parnas Academy, which he founded, existed in Lublin
until the destruction of the community during World
War II.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Halpern, Pinkas; M. Balaban, Die
Judenstadt von Lublin (1919).
[Israel Halpern]
ABRAHAM BEN HAYYIM, THE DYER (Dei Tintori; 15"
century), Italian pioneer of Hebrew printing from Pesaro.
Though Abraham may have been active in Hebrew typecast-
ing and printing by 1473, his name as a printer appeared for
the first time in two books printed in *Ferrara in 1477 - Levi b.
Gershom’s commentary of Job and Jacob b. Asher’s Tur (Yoreh
Deah), using the first 40 pages which Abraham *Conat had
printed in *Mantua in 1476.
Five years later (1482) at *Bologna, Abraham printed a
Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos and Rashi’s commentary,
probably the first printed book with vocalization and cantilla-
tion. In the colophon, the proofreader Joseph Hayyim praises
Abraham as “unequaled in the realm of Hebrew printing and
celebrated everywhere.”
Israel Nathan *Soncino and his son Joshua Solomon se-
cured Abrahams services for the work on the first printed
Hebrew Bible - with vocalization and cantillation - which
left the press at Soncino in February 1488. The edition of the
Psalms, with R. David Kimhi’s commentary of 1477, and the
Five Scrolls, with Rashi and with Abraham Ibn Ezra’s com-
mentary on Esther (1482-83?), may also have been printed by
Abraham (see *Incunabula).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.W. Amram, Makers of Hebrew Books in
Italy (1909), index; M. Steinschneider and D. Cassel, Juedische Typo-
graphie (19387), 14-15; H.D. Friedberg, Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri bi-
Medinot Italyah... (19567), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Tishbi,
in: Kiryat Sefer, 60 (1986), 908-18.
300
ABRAHAM BEN HILLEL (Ben Nissim) OF FOSTAT
(Egypt; d. 1223), scholar, poet, and physician. Abraham is
probably identical with Abraham the Pious (he-Hasid or
he-Haver) referred to frequently by his friend Abraham b.
Moses b. *Maimon in his writings. In 1167 Abraham b. Hillel,
Maimonides, and other rabbis signed a takkanah to safe-
guard the observance of the laws of family purity in Egypt
(Maimonides, Teshuvot (Responsa), ed. by A.H. Freimann
(1934), 91-94). In 1196 Abraham wrote Megillat Zuta, describ-
ing satirically the exploits of an adventurer called *Zuta (and
his son) who imposed himself repeatedly on the Jewish
community of Egypt. Megillat Zuta is written in rhymed
prose with a prologue and epilogue in metered verse. The
number of manuscripts extant seems to attest the popu-
larity of the work, which was first published by Neubauer
(JQR, 8 (1896), 543ff.). Abraham and Josiah b. Moses veri-
fied a responsum by Jehiel (?) b. Eliakim Fostat, which deals
with the controversy concerning the reference, in legal docu-
ments and during prayers, to the person of the reigning nagid.
After Abraham’s death his collection of books was put up
for sale in the Palestinian synagogue of Fostat under the
auspices of Abraham b. Moses b. Maimon. The library con-
tained 75 medical works, about 30 Hebrew books, among
them biblical books, works on Hebrew grammar, a copy of
the Mishnah, part of a talmudic tractate, Maimonides’ Book
of Precepts and Guide, as well as several copies of Saadiah’s
Siddur.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Wertheimer, Ginzei Yerushalayim, 1
(1896), 37 ff.; Kahane, in: Ha-Shiloah, 15 (1905), 175ff.; Eppenstein, in:
Festschrift... I. Lewy (Heb., 1911), 53; idem, in: Festschrift... D. Hoff-
mann (Heb., 1914), 131, 135ff.; Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 234-6; 2 (1928),
303ff., 327; Abrahams, in: Jews College Jubilee Volume (1906), 101ff.;
A. Marx, Studies in Jewish History and Booklore (1944), 201-2; Goit-
ein, in: Tarbiz, 32 (1962/63), 191-2.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann]
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC (Gerondi; mid-13'' century),
hazzan, kabbalist, and paytan in Gerona (Spain). One of the
greatest kabbalists of his time, he was a pupil of *Isaac the
Blind from whom he learned the mystical intentions of the
prayers according to the Kabbalah. Gerondi later enlarged
on this teaching and introduced it into his own order of the
prayers. Although his work Kabbalah me-Inyan ha-Tefillah
le-Rabbi Avraham (“Tradition Concerning Prayer, According
to R. Abraham”) was not published until 1948 (see Scholem
in bibl.), his contemporaries quote various ideas on the sub-
ject of prayer from it. *Nahmanides held him in great esteem
and tradition has it that he eulogized Abraham and offered a
prayer in kabbalistic style by his grave. Abraham’s hymn for
the eve of Rosh Ha-Shanah, *Ahot Ketannah (“Little Sister”),
which describes the sufferings of the Jewish people in exile,
has become well known. It is as yet unclear whether other
hymns signed Abraham b. Isaac Hazzan are wholly or in part
his work, or whether they were composed by another writer
of the same name.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Scholem, Reshit ha-Kabbalah (1948), 128,
243-8; Schirmann, Sefarad, 2 (1956), 291-4, 692; Zunz, Poesie, 311, 410;
Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 355.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann]
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC BEN GARTON, first known
Hebrew printer. He produced Rashi’s commentary on the
Pentateuch, completed at *Reggio Calabria on Feb. 17, 1475.
Although this book bears the earliest date, it was not neces-
sarily the first Hebrew book (see *Incunabula) printed, as it
may have been preceded by others which have disappeared, or
bear no date of publication. The only extant copy of the book,
in the De’ Rossi Collection in the Palatine Library, Parma, It-
aly, is slightly defective; it is in folio and contains 116 pages of
37 lines each. The text of this edition is significantly different
from later ones. De’ Rossi formerly owned another copy which
was lost in transit. Abraham’s country of origin is unknown,
but it is conjectured that he came from Spain. No other book
that came from his press is known.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.M. Habermann, Toledot ha-Sefer ha-Ivri
(1945), 33, and illustration 9; D.W. Amram, Makers of Hebrew Books
in Italy (1909), 24; C. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance (1959), 169-73; Pa-
voncello, in: Klearchos (Reggio di Calabria), 21-22 (1964), 53-57. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Tishbi, in: Kiryat Sefer, 60 (1986), 865-69.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC HA-KOHEN BEN AL-FURAT
(116 century), Egyptian physician and philanthropist. His fa-
ther Isaac ha-Kohen b. al-Furat was a highly respected physi-
cian in Fostat (Old *Cairo) and his uncle Solomon ha-Kohen
b. Joseph was the gaon in Palestine. Abraham held a high po-
sition in the government and was probably one of the court
physicians. He may also have been president of the Jewish
community; hence his honorary title (“prince of the com-
munity”). Apart from his general scholarship, Abraham also
appears to have been learned in the Talmud. His erudition,
nobility of character, and philanthropy are lauded in several
poems and letters found in the Cairo Genizah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 28, 83ff.; 2 (1922),
26, 54ff., 81ff., index; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), 151; Goitein, in: HUCA,
34 (1963); 179.
[Jacob Mann]
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC HA-KOHEN OF ZAMOSC (18
century), Polish rabbi and author. Abraham served for a short
period as head of the bet din in Tarlow, but, as he was ex-
tremely wealthy, he was able to resign his position and in 1754
returned to Zamoé¢, his birthplace. There he occupied him-
self with both religious and secular studies. He knew German,
Polish, and Latin. In 1753 he was a member of the Zamosé
delegation to the central committee session of the *Councils
of the Lands, held at Jaroslav. In 1754 he participated in the
conference held at Constantinov where he was a signatory to
the ban passed there on the printers of the Sulzbach Talmud.
From this time, he played an active role in Polish Jewish life
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC OF GRANADA
and became widely known. In the *Emden-*Eybeschuetz dis-
pute he opposed the official line of the Council of Four Lands
which supported Eybeschuetz and he defended Jacob Emden
(with whom he corresponded in 1759-60). He strove zealously
against any mystical messianic and Shabbatean revival and
signed the 1753/54 letters of protest against the Shabbateans.
Beit Abraham, his book of responsa and talmudic novellae,
was printed in 1753; the book contained also the novellae of
his father Isaac b. Abraham ha-Kohen, as well as his own hal-
akhic novellae, in an appendix called Minhah Belulah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Preface to Beit Abraham (1753); J. Emden,
Sefer ha-Shimmush (1758), 81a; Z. Horowitz, Kitvei ha-Geonim (1928),
138, no. 2; M. Tamari (ed.), Zamosé bi-Geonah u-ve-Shivrah (1953),
41, 48-49; Halpern, Pinkas, index.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC OF GRANADA, Spanish kab-
balist, putative author of Berit Menuhah (“The Covenant of
Rest”), one of the main works of the *Kabbalah. Nothing is
known of his life or of the era to which he belongs. In the
introduction to his commentary on Sefer *Yezirah, Moses
*Botarel gives a long quotation from Sefer ha-Berit (“The Book
of the Covenant”) written by a scholar called Abraham b. Isaac
of Granada. But both language and contents prove that this
book was not written by the author of Berit Menuhah, which
was without doubt composed in Spain during the 14" century.
It explains the innermost meaning of the vocalization of God’s
name in 26 different ways. However, only the first ten ways
were printed, and this only in a very corrupt form (Amster-
dam, 1648): H.J.D. *Azulai saw more than twice this number
in a manuscript. The actual content of this work is very enig-
matic as, in many respects, its symbolism and mysticism do
not correspond with the conventional Kabbalah. The influ-
ence of Abraham *Abulafia’s Kabbalah is recognizable but the
language-and-letter-mysticism of Abulafia is combined with
a complicated light-mysticism. Moreover, the book’s aim was
to provide a systematic basis for the so-called Practical Kab-
balah. The few clear passages reveal the author as a profound
thinker and visionary. In eight places, he quotes his own
thought process as the words of “the learned Rabbi *Simeon
bar Yohai,” mostly in Aramaic. But these quotations are not to
be found in the *Zohar, and in view of their style and contents
do not belong there. The work was highly regarded by later
kabbalists, especially by Moses *Cordovero and Isaac *Luria,
who read their own thinking into Abraham's symbolism.
Cordovero wrote a lengthy commentary on part of the book.
Abraham quotes two more of his own works, Megalleh ha-
Taalumot (“Revealing Hidden Things”) and Sefer ha-Gevurah
(“The Book of Power”), on the names of God and Practical
Kabbalah. His Hokhmat ha-Zeruf (“Science of Letter Combi-
nations”), 12 chapters in the spirit of Abulafia, is preserved in
manuscript form (Margoliouth, Cat, no. 749, vi), but he is not
the author of the Sefer ha-Heshek (“The Book of Desire,’ ibid.,
748); Aaron *Marcus endeavored to prove that Abraham was
identical with Abraham b. Isaac of Narbonne, author of Eshkol,
301
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC OF MONTPELLIER
and in doing so he tried to date the Berit Menuhah two centu-
ries earlier, however, his argument is not tenable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Margoliouth, Cat, 3 (1935), 24-27; Jacob
ha-Levi, Kunteres Sheelot u-Teshuvot min ha-Shamayim, with com-
mentary Keset ha-Sofer by A. Marcus (1895), 18-26; G. Scholem, in:
Soncino Blaetter (Festschrift Aron Freimann) (1935), 54-55.
[Gershom Scholem]
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC OF MONTPELLIER (d. c. 1315),
talmudist of Provence, a contemporary of Menahem b. Sol-
omon ha-*Meiri. Little is known of his life. He was born in
Montpellier about 1250, and toward the end of his life settled
in Carpentras. Abraham b. Isaac was known for his liberal
outlook. When *Abba Mari Astruc wrote to him concerning
the Maimonidean controversy and the proposed prohibition
of the study of philosophy to anyone under 25 years old Abra-
ham urged Abba Mari to desist from the controversy because
freedom of thought and opinion should not be suppressed
(Minhat Kenaot, 92). Abraham wrote a commentary on most
of the Talmud, based principally on the views of Maimonides.
He gives a brief commentary on the text in the style of Rashi;
at the end of each topic he gives the practical halakhah de-
rived from it. Only a minor part of this commentary has been
published, including his commentary on Kiddushin appearing
in the Romm 1880 edition of the Talmud (wrongly ascribed
to Isaac of Dampierre) and those on Yevamot, Nedarim, and
Nazir (New York, 1962). His commentaries to many other
tractates were familiar to later scholars such as Moses *Alash-
kar and Menahem de *Lonzano, but they were not gener-
ally known. *David b. Hayyim ha-Kohen of Corfu wrote: “T
have hitherto heard nothing of him as an authority” (Re-
sponsa, Bayit 5, Heder 1), but at the end of that same respon-
sum he added that he had come across the commentary “and
I rejoiced greatly ... he was an outstanding scholar.” Some of
Abrahams responsa are extant. In addition to those which
appear at the end of his commentary to Nazir there are those
which appear in Teshuvot Hakhmei Provinzyah (1967), ed. by
A. Sofer. There is no evidence that he was related to *Solo-
mon b. Abraham of Montpellier. It is strange that he does not
mention in his works the names of any scholars after Moses
b. Nahman.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Avraham min ha-Har, Perush al Massekhet
Yevamot Nedarim ve-Nazir, ed. by M.J. Blau (1962), preface; I. Lévi, in:
REJ, 38 (1899), 102-22; Shatzmiler, in: Sefunot, 10 (1966), 17-18.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
ABRAHAM BEN ISAAC OF NARBONNE (known as Rabi
Abad; c. 1110-1179), talmudist and spiritual leader of Provence;
author of Sefer ha-Eshkol, the first work of codification of the
halakhic commentary of southern France, which served as a
model for all subsequent compilations. Abraham was a stu-
dent of *Isaac b. Merwan ha-Levi and *Meshullam b. Jacob of
Lunel. It is probable that Joseph *Ibn Plat, too, was one of his
teachers. Abraham aparently spent some time in Barcelona
302
where, it seems, he also studied with *Judah b. Barzillai al-
Bargeloni. He was av bet din in his native Narbonne, and his
prestige was such that he was cited by the early scholars sim-
ply as “the Rabbi, Av Bet Din” *Benjamin of Tudela speaks of
him as “principal of the yeshivah” in Narbonne. Among his
renowned students were *Zerahiah ha-Levi and *Abraham b.
David of Posquieres, who became his son-in-law. Abraham's
halakhic compendium Sefer ha-Eshkol is an abridged version
of the Sefer ha-Ittim, by Judah b. Barzillai al-Bargeloni, with
additions from Rashi, R. Tam and his contemporaries, and
Abraham himself. In the main, he omitted the geonic responsa
and those of Alfasi. As most of the Ittim was lost, the Eshkol
took on additional significance, in that it rescued a part, at
least, of the extensive source material in the Sefer ha-Ittim.
The very ambitious enterprise of excerpting Judah b. Barzil-
lai al-Bargeloni’s book was carried out with the support and
under the inspiration of his teacher, Meshullam b. Jacob, who
encouraged the introduction of Spanish halakhah and tradi-
tion into Narbonne. The Eshkol was first published by Zevi
Benjamin “Auerbach (1869) with an introduction and com-
mentary, but doubts about the authenticity of at least parts of
Auerbach’s manuscript were expressed by Shalom *Albeck.
The ensuing controversy was inconclusive. Auerbach'’s man-
uscript is rich in additions, the exact origin of which is not
clear. Although there are no grounds for accusing Auerbach
of willfully tampering with the manuscript, the version of the
Eshkol that Albeck had in hand is undoubtedly the authen-
tic one. Albeck himself published part of the Sefer ha-Eshkol
(with introductions and notes) and his son Hanokh *Albeck
completed this edition (1935-38). Abraham played a vital role
as the principal channel through which the Spanish traditions
passed into Provence and from there to northern France. At
the same time, he emphasized the local traditions of the “El-
ders of Narbonne,’ of which he also made great use. His eclec-
ticism is clear from the fact that he also gave due consider-
ation to north-French halakhic traditions, using his personal
authority to decide between the various traditions. Abraham
was the recipient of numerous queries. A collection of his re-
sponsa has been published (ed. Kafah, Jerusalem, 1962) and
another is extant in the Guenzburg Collection. Several of the
responsa were published by S. Assaf in Sifran shel Rishonim
(1935), and in Sinai, 11 (1947). He also wrote commentaries to
the entire Talmud (except for the Order of Kodashim) which
were quoted by his contemporaries and by later scholars,
such as Zerahiah ha-Levi, *Nahmanides, Solomon b. Abra-
ham *Adret, and others, but only his commentary on the
second half of the tractate Bava Batra is extant (in a Munich
manuscript, a fragment of which was published in Ozar ha-
Hayyim, 12, 1936). The commentary resembles that of *Sam-
uel b. Meir (Rashbam), which served, in a way, as a transition
from Rashi’s commentary to the novellae of the tosafists, ex-
cept that Abraham makes greater use of the earlier commen-
tators and quotes them verbatim. He also excerpted Judah b.
Barzillai’s Sefer ha-Din.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, in: MGWJ, 17 (1868), 241-55, 281-94;
Assaf, in: Maddaei ha-Yahadut, 2 (1926/27), 17; Benedikt, in: Tarbiz,
22 (1950/51), 101-5; I. Twersky, Rabad of Posquiéres (1962), 7-10.
[Simha Assaf]
ABRAHAM BEN ISRAEL OF BRODY (1749-1836), Italian
kabbalist. He resided in Leghorn and Trieste but finally settled
in Ferrara where he remained 30 years. He was known as an
ascetic who frequently fasted an entire week and studied six
days and nights consecutively. He would purchase rabbinic
works and distribute them to needy scholars. It was believed
in Ferrara that his profound piety more than once saved the
Jewish community from disaster. Among his publications are
Likkutei Amarim (“Gleanings,’ Zolkiev, 1802), which include
a commentary on the Pirkei Shirah and extracts from kabbal-
istic works, and Devar ha-Melekh (Leghorn, 1805-08) on the
613 commandments.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ghirondi-Neppi, 15; Fuenn, Keneset, 15.
[Nathan Michael Gelber]
ABRAHAM BEN JEHIEL MICHAL HA-KOHEN of Lask,
Poland (d. c. 1800), kabbalist and rabbinical emissary. Abra-
ham was renowned for his asceticism, fasting during the week
and eating only on the Sabbath. He settled in Jerusalem shortly
after 1770. Ten years later he returned to Europe as an emis-
sary to collect funds on behalf of the rabbis of Jerusalem, and
was then involved in a number of disputes with them regard-
ing these collections. He traveled extensively and is known
to have been in Nice for four years, in Ferrara (where he met
Graziadio Neppi), Glogau, Berlin, and Warsaw. Wherever he
went, he exhorted the Jewish community to repentance and
good deeds and encouraged more intensive communal ac-
tivity, including the building of synagogues. On his return to
Jerusalem (1790) he was arrested and held ransom for the fail-
ure of the Jewish community to pay taxes. He died in prison,
probably as a result of maltreatment. The best known of his
kabbalistic works are Ve-Hashav lo ha-Kohen (1884), Ve-Shav
ha-Kohen (Leghorn, 1788), Beit Yaakov (Leghorn, 1792), Ayin
Panim ba-Torah (Warsaw, 1797).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Yaari, Sheluhei, 550, 553-6.
ABRAHAM BEN JOSEPH (Yoske) OF LISSA (Leszno;
d. 1777), communal leader in Poland. Abraham, son of the
rabbi of Zlotow, was apparently wealthy and engaged in trade.
In the 1730s he represented *Great Poland on the *Councils of
the Lands. He presided over the Council as parnas in 1739-43
and 1751-53. He also served as neeman (“treasurer”) of the
Council during his last term as parnas and later in the 1750s
and 1760s. While parnas, Abraham attempted to arbitrate the
dispute between Jonathan *Eybeschuetz and Jacob *Emden (to
whom he was related by marriage). The Council of the Four
Lands was drawn into this controversy which stirred the Jew-
ish world. Abraham, who was then serving his second term
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN JOSIAH YERUSHALMI
as parnas of the Council, tried to settle the dispute without
taking a definite side. His brothers, especially Moses, lived in
Lissa and also took part in the leadership of the community.
The family was renowned for its wealth, its strong principles,
and its charitableness. The sources do not indicate their means
of livelihood but it is likely that they were merchants.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Halpern, Pinkas; Y. Trunk, “Leberur
Emdato shel Abraham ben Yoske, Parnas Vaad Arba Arazot, be-
Mahloket bein Yonatan Eybeschuetz ve- Yaakov Emden,” in: Zion, 33
(1968), 174-79.
[Israel Halpern]
ABRAHAM BEN JOSIAH TROKI (1636-1687), Karaite
poet and mystic; son of the physician Josiah b. Judah b. Aaron
of Troki, Lithuania, who was a disciple of the famous Jewish
scholar and kabbalist, Joseph Solomon *Delmedigo from Can-
dia. According to A. *Firkovich, Abraham was the personal
physician of King Jan 111 Sobieski of Poland and of Grand
Duke Sigismund 11. Abraham was one of the leaders of the
Karaite communities of Lithuania and one of the signatories
to the decisions of their assemblies.
His writings include (1) Beit Avraham, a collection of
mystical treatises; (2) Beit ha-Ozar, a medical work completed
in 1672 (manuscript in St. Petersburg, Evr. 1 733); (3) Massa
ha-Am, seven treatises whose content is uncertain (accord-
ing to J. *Fiirst, they describe the condition of the Jews and
Judaism); Firkovich reports that Abraham personally trans-
lated this work into Latin and sold it to the Dominican Or-
der in Vilna; (4) Pas Yed’a, miscellaneous treatises (perhaps
a 17'+-century anti-Christian Rabbanite treatise Pas Yed’a
Katava, written by Yehudah Briel, which Abraham owned or
copied); (5) Sefer Refuot (manuscript in St. Petersburg, Evr. 1
732), a medical work, also containing information on the his-
tory of the Jews in Lithuania; S. *Poznanski identifies this with
a collection of medical prescriptions in Latin mentioned by
First and Firkovich; (6) three liturgical poems, one appearing
in a Karaite prayer book (ed. Vilna, vol. 4, p. 102) and two in
manuscript. Abraham is not to be confused with “Abraham
b. Josiah Yerushalmi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Carmoly, Histoire des médecins juifs (1844),
187; I.M. Jost, Geschichte der Israeliten, 2 (1820), 371; A.B. Gottlober,
Bikkoret le-Toledot ha-Kara’im (1865), 151-4; Finn, Keneset, 29; A.
Neubauer, Aus der Petersburger Bibliothek (1866), 72, 128, 130; Fuerst,
Karaeertum, 3 (1869), 30, 94, 168; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), index, 1529.
[Jakob Naphtali Hertz Simchoni / Golda Akhiezer (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRAHAM BEN JOSIAH YERUSHAIMI (c. 1685-after
1734), Karaite scholar, one of the most important authors
in the Crimea, hazzan and teacher of Torah, from *Chufut-
Kaleh. The agnomen Yerushalmi probably indicates that his
father, Josiah, made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His religious
philosophical treatise Emunah Omen, written in 1712 (pub.
Eupatoria, 1846), dealt with the following subjects: the divine
origin and eternity of the Torah; which religion is the true
303
ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH BEN ABRAHAM
one, the Karaite or the Rabbanite?; does tradition permit Jews
to study the secular sciences? Abraham defended the Karaite
conception of the Torah, arguing that the differences between
the rabbinic and Karaite views about fulfillment of the com-
mandments are insignificant. He shows respect for the talmu-
dic authorities and later Rabbanite scholars with whose work
he was well acquainted. Although opposed to the study of
secular sciences (except in the service of the Torah), Abraham
was familiar with both Karaite and Rabbanite philosophical
and scientific literature. Abraham’s numerous other works in-
clude homiletical discourses, liturgical poetry incorporated in
the Karaite prayer book, and Shaol Shaal (Ms. St. Petersburg,
Evr. II A 322), a treatise on the laws of ritual slaughter. Abra-
ham was the grandfather of Benjamin b. Samuel *Aga.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fuerst, Karaeertum, 3 (1869), 68-73; A.
Geiger, Nachgelassene Schriften, 2 (1875), 351-7 (analysis of Emunah
Omen); S. Poznariski, in: Ha-Goren, 8 (1912), 58-75; Mann, Texts, 2
(1935), 1277-78. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Poznanski, Ha-Kara’i
Avraham ben Yoshiyahu Yerushalmi (1894).
[Jakob Naphtali Hertz Simchoni / Golda Akhiezer (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH BEN ABRAHAM (15'' century),
the “Elder,” Karaite biblical exegete and liturgical poet of Con-
stantinople. In his main work Yesod Mikra, a commentary of
the Bible, Abraham quotes Rabbanite as well as Karaite au-
thorities and refrains from polemics against the Rabbanites. It
is preserved in two manuscripts (Jewish Theological Seminary
and Leyden) both transcribed by his grandson Judah b. Elijah
Tishbi (in 1511 and 1518, respectively). Fifteen liturgical poems
by Abraham are included in the Karaite prayer book.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Steinschneider, Catalogue Leyden (1858),
nos. 1-5; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), 1420-21; S. Poznanski, in: Yevreyskaya
Entsiklopediya, 1 (c. 1910), 291-2.
[Jakob Naphtali Hertz Simchoni]
ABRAHAM BEN JUDAH LEON (second half of 14** cen-
tury), disciple of Hasdai *Crescas. Abraham came to Spain
from his native Candia (Crete) sometime after 1375, the year in
which he completed a Hebrew translation of Euclid’s Elements.
In 1378, he finished his quadripartite theological tome en-
titled Even Shetiyyah (“Foundation Stone”) “in the house of
my master ... Don Hasdai Crescas.” The nature of the rela-
tionship between this work and Crescas’ teachings remains a
matter of debate, though the two contain many similarities.
Abrahams work is often called Arbaah Turim (“Four Col-
umns”) on the basis of the title page of the lone manuscript
in which it survives.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sh. Rosenberg, “The Arbaah Turim of Abra-
ham bar Judah, Disciple of Don Hasdai Crescas” (Heb.), in: Jerusalem
Studies in Jewish Thought, 3 (1983-84), 525-621; E. Lawee, “The Path
to Felicity: Teachings and Tensions in Even Shetiyyah of Abraham
ben Judah, Disciple of Hasdai Crescas,” in: Mediaeval Studies, 59
(1997), 183-223.
[Eric Lawee (24 ed.)]
304
ABRAHAM BEN MAZHIR (first half of the 12'* century),
head of the Damascus yeshivah. Abraham, the son of a prom-
inent Damascus Jew, married into the family of Gaon Solo-
mon ha-Kohen b. Elijah, founder of the Damascus yeshivah,
a continuation of the Palestinian yeshivah. When Solomon
ha-Kohen’s son Mazli’ah settled in Fostat, Abraham became
the head of the yeshivah, and served in this capacity during
the 1130s and 1140s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 224 ff; Mann, Texts,
1 (1931), 250ff.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
ABRAHAM BEN MORDECAI HA-LEVI (late 17 cen-
tury), Egyptian rabbi and author. In 1684 Abraham succeeded
his father as head of the Egyptian rabbinate. His son-in-law,
the physician Hayyim b. Moses Tawil, published a collec-
tion of Abraham’s responsa (arranged in the order of the four
Turim) and a treatise on divorce entitled Ginnat Veradim
(Constantinople, 1716-17) and Ya’ir Netiv (1718), respectively.
In Venice, Abraham printed his father’s responsa Darkhei
Noam (1697-98), adding to it his own treatise on circumcision
which involved him in a halakhic controversy with his con-
temporaries. He annulled the ban on reading Peri Hadash by
*Hezekiah Da Silva - imposed by Egyptian rabbis in the previ-
ous generation. A collection of brief decisions and rules enti-
tled Gan ha-Melekh was printed at the end of Ginnat Veradim.
His remaining works, consisting of Bible commentaries, ser-
mons, and eulogies, have remained in manuscript.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 177; S.M. Chones, Toledot
ha-Posekim (1929), 141; S. Rosanes, Divrei Yemei Yisrael be-Togar-
mah, 4 (1935), 379-81; Heilperin, in Zion, 1 (1936), 84, n. 2; Sonne,
ibid., 252-5.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES BEN MAIMON (1186-1237),
theologian, exegete, communal leader, mystical pietist, and
physician. Little was known about him prior to the discovery
of the Cairo *Genizah, which has preserved many of his writ-
ings, in part autographic. Born in Fustat, Egypt, on the Sab-
bath eve, the 28' of Sivan/June 1186, he was the only son of the
great Jewish philosopher Moses *Maimonides (1135/8-1204).
His mother was the sister of Ibn Almali, a royal secretary who
had married Maimonides’ only sister. He was an exceptionally
gifted child as his father himself testifies:
Of the affairs of this world I have no consolation, save in two
things: preoccupation with my studies and the fact that God has
bestowed upon my son Abraham, grace and blessings similar
to those he gave to him whose name he bears [i.e. the Patriarch
Abraham] ... for, in addition to his being meek and humble
towards his fellow men, he is endowed with excellent virtues,
sharp intelligence and a kind nature. With the help of God, he
will certainly gain renown amongst the great (Maimonides let-
ter to Joseph ben Judah, Epistulae, ed. D. Baneth, p.96).
He studied rabbinics, and possibly philosophy and medicine,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
with his father, who groomed him from childhood by having
him attend his audience chamber. At his father’s death in 1204,
Abraham became leader of Egyptian Jewry at the tender age of
18. The mystical testament Maimonides supposedly addressed
him is spurious. It was not until 1213 that he was appointed
nagid, an office which became his descendants’ privilege for
almost two centuries. Following his appointment, a tempo-
rary controversy erupted among the Jews of Egypt over the
practice of evoking his name in public prayer. As representa-
tive of the Jewish community to the Ayyubid government, he
enjoyed personal relations with the Muslim authorities and
men of letters, especially after he became court physician to
the Ayyubid Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil (reg. 1218-38), Saladin’s
brother. His acquaintances include the Arab historian Ibn Abi
Usaybi’a, who described him and his professional skills:
Abu-l-Muna Ibrahim, son of the ra’is Musa ibn Maymun was
born in Fostat, Egypt. A celebrated physician, learned in the
art of medicine, and excellent in its practice, he was employed
in the service of al-Malik al-Kamil Muhammad b. Abu Bakr
b. Ayyub. He also came frequently from the palace to treat the
sick in the al-Nasiri hospital in Cairo, where I met him in the
year 631/1234 or 632/1235 while I was practicing there. I found
him to be a tall sage, lean in body, of pleasant manners, refined
speech, and distinguished in medicine. Ibrahim, son of the ra’is
Musa died in the year (...) and thirty and six hundred (History
of Physicians, ed. Mueller, p. 118).
Despite the temporal and spiritual turmoil of the period, he
proved to be an able administrator, a charismatic teacher, and
an independant and influential scholar. Although he recog-
nized the incompatibility of leadership and spiritual perfec-
tion, he was dedicated to his political vocation as a means of
reversing religious decline. Abundant letters in the Genizah
give witness to the multiple social and administrative chores
to which he attended with the humility ofa pietist and the de-
termination of a leader. Hampered, as was his father, by pas-
toral responsibilities, he nonetheless produced notable works
in six main areas: 1) responsa, 2) polemics, 3) exegesis, 4) the-
ology, 5) halakhah, and 6) ethics. Despite their originality, his
writings have survived in a fragmentary state. A unique let-
ter, addressed in 1232 to R. Isaac b. Israel Ibn Shuwaykh, head
of the Baghdad Academy, has preserved an autobiographical
account of his literary activity:
I have not yet had the leisure to complete the compositions
begun after my father’s demise, [namely] a detailed commen-
tary on the Talmud and a work explaining the principles of the
Hibbur [i.e. Maimonides’ Code]. However, the Lord has assisted
me in completing one work in the Arabic tongue, based on the
principles of fear and love (of God), entitled Compendium for
the Servants of the Lord. I have revised and almost entirely cop-
ied it, and part of it has been broadcast to distant lands. True
enough I have begun the Torah commentary of which thou hast
heard, and which I would have completed within a year or so
were I to find relief from the sultan’s service and other tasks.
However, I can only devote to it short hours on odd days, for
I have not yet finished revising the first composition stated to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES BEN MAIMON
be almost complete, a small part remaining to be finished with
Heaven's help. On this account I have covered only close to half
the book of Genesis of the Torah commentary I am composing.
When I shall have concluded the revision of [my] composition,
of which the greater part is [already] finished, I shall endeavor
with all my might to complete the Torah commentary and sub-
sequently also a commentary on the Prophets and the Hagiog-
rapha, Heaven, willing. But ‘the work is long’ and the day and
the workers are as described by Rabbi Tarfon (Avot 2: 15), and
“there are many thoughts in a man’s heart but the counsel of the
Lord that shall stand” (Prov. 19:21) (Rosenblatt, 1:124-5)
Responsa
Numerous items have been discovered in the Genizah since
the single manuscript of his responsa was published by A.
Freimann, Jerusalem, 1937. As head of the Cairo Rabbinical
Court, he corresponded on legal matters with countries as
far flung as Yemen (Cf. Responsa, p. 107-36), Byzance (p. 93);
and Provence (p. 1). These responsa afford an opportunity of
assessing his important communal rdle. Their content dis-
cusses, among other things, problematic passages in his fa-
ther’s halakhic and philosophical writings, ritual matters and
customs, exegetical remarks, and apostates, a concern in his
time. Besides certain social ordinances (takkanot) he intro-
duced, of special historical interest are his responsa concern-
ing the burning of the Guide for the Perplexed, and specific
pietist practices. Questioners include prominent scholars such
as R. Solomon b. Asher of Provence, Meir b. Barukh, disciple
of R. Abraham b. David of Posquiéres, and Joseph b. Gershom
and R. Anatoli b. Joseph, both dayyanim from France who
had settled in Alexandria.
Polemics
Some lenghtier responsa reply to the halakhic and philosoph-
ical detractors of his father’s works, thereby strengthening
Abraham's own prestige. In 1213 he composed in Arabic re-
plies to Daniel Ibn al-Mashita’s strictures on his father’s Book
of Precepts and Code, published as Birkhat Avraham (Lyck,
1865) and Maaseh Nissim (Paris, 1867). Later, Abraham de-
clined when requested by his father’s disciple Joseph Ibn Shi-
mon to excommunicate Ibn al-Mashita for his discourteous
remarks about Maimonides in his Taqwim al-adyan (‘Redress
of Religion’) and his commentary on Ecclesiastes. Abraham's
Milhamot ha-Shem (“Wars of the Lord,’ ed. princeps Vilnius,
1821), written in Hebrew after 1235, in which he defends his
father’s eschatology, immaterial conception of the Godhead,
rationalizing methods, and metaphorical interpretations,
was singularly directed against the criticism of the rabbis of
Provence, whom he accuses of a pagan anthropomorphism
influenced by their Christian environment (see *Maimoni-
dean Controversy). Interestingly, the text was interpretated
mystically in the 16" century by Eliezer Eilenberg of the kab-
balistic school of Abulafia.
Exegesis
Though Maimonides’ philosophical writings set out to deter-
mine a proper understanding of problematic scriptural pas-
305
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES BEN MAIMON
sages, his unfulfilled ambition to compose a complete bibli-
cal commentary was to be taken up by Abraham in Arabic.
Of his proposed Bible commentary only that on Genesis and
Exodus, completed in 1232, has survived. A disciple of the An-
dalusian rationalist school, he generally prefers literal mean-
ing, though he is not adverse to midrash. He quotes the ge-
onic and Spanish exegetes, especially Abraham Ibn Ezra, and
even adduces the opinions of Rashi. Particularly noteworthy
are comments cited in the names of his grandfather Maimun
b. Joseph, and father, Moses Maimonides. He does admit
moderate philosophical interpretation, adopting some of his
father’s doctrines, especially in connection with prophetic
visions, which he calls “mysteries.” The latter term he applies
too to his own pietistic interpretations inspired by Sufi con-
cepts and practices projected back into the patriarchal past.
“His explications of the Bible and the Talmud are so grace-
ful, so lucid, so persuasive that one is almost convinced that
his derash is peshat, that his moralistic and pietist interpre-
tation constitutes the literal meaning of the text” (S.D. Goit-
ein). Despite its pleasant style, the commentary did not attain
wide recognition, probably because it was not rendered into
Hebrew, and has survived in a single manuscript, published,
with a modern Hebrew translation, by E. Wiesenberg (Lon-
don, 1958). Like his father, Abraham also applied metaphori-
cal interpretations to the midrash. His Maamar al Odot De-
rashot Hazal (ed. Margaliot), twice translated into Hebrew, is
an extract from his Kifaya.
Theology and Halakhah
Abraham’s magnum opus The Compendium for the Servants of
the Lord (in Arabic: Kifayat al-abidin; in Hebrew: Ha-Maspik
le-Ovedei ha-Shem), completed circa 1232, is a sum of theol-
ogy, halakhah, and ethics. Of the 10 original volumes unfortu-
nately only a small, nonetheless substantial, portion has been
preserved in various libraries. This loss deprives us of a de-
finitive assessment of his approach to legal and ethical issues.
Written in a lively and attractive Arabic, but at times repeti-
tive and digressive, it circulated widely, reaching Provence in
the West, and was read at least into the 18**century in the East.
Abraham had been the first to institute as a central textbook
of rabbinic study his father’s Mishneh Torah, of which his own
codified program of Jewish law and ethics, likewise referred
to as the Hibbur, has been called an Arabic version. Although
relying heavily upon it, both halakhically and structurally, the
Kifaya is an independent work betraying a very definite shift
in emphasis. Departing from his father’s prescriptive mode,
Abraham stresses, in a descriptive tone, the spiritual sig-
nificance of the traditional Jewish precepts (mitzvot, divine
commandments) and the “mysteries” they conceal, in much
the same manner as al-Ghazali did in his classical Islamic
summa, Ihya ulum ad-din (“Revival of the Religious Sci-
ences”). While sharing his father’s dedication to strict adher-
ence to the intricacies of religious ritual, he is sometimes at
variance with his father’s rulings. After one such discrepancy,
he writes:
306
Had my father heard [my explanation], he would have admit-
ted it just as he had ordained to admit the truth. Indeed, we
always observed that he would agree even with his slightest
pupil with what was right, despite the breadth of his knowl-
edge, which never belied the breadth of his religious integrity
(Dana, p. 71).
Following his father’s distinction between the elite and the
masses, he devotes its initial sections to the “common way,’
i.e. religious obligations incumbent upon the community as
a whole, whereas the last sections, of a markedly pietistic ten-
dency, expound the “special way,” reserved for the elect few. Of
particular interest are his ritual reforms set out in the chapters
on prayer, which include such Islamic-influenced practices as
ablution of the feet before worship, standing in ordered rows
during prayer, kneeling and bowing, and raising the hands in
supplication. Some of these had existed in Temple times but
had been abandoned in reaction to Christian worship. Indeed,
Abraham justified the adoption of Muslim customs and sym-
bols as restorations of lost Jewish traditions, which, having
fallen into oblivion, had been preserved by the Sufis. Using his
prerogative as nagid, he endeavored to enforce these far-reach-
ing measures. Although intended to improve the spiritual de-
corum of the synagogue, they were not to go unchallenged by
the Egyptian establishment. Despite his office and family pres-
tige, which considerably furthered the pietists’ aims, his oppo-
nents, headed by the Nathanel and Sar Shalom families, who
had presided over the Fostat Academy, even protested to the
Sultan al-Malik al-Adil, accusing the Jewish pietists of “unlaw-
ful changes.” Abraham retaliated with a memorandum signed
by 200 of his followers, in which he states that his pietist prac-
tices were carried out solely in his private synagogue. He fur-
ther replied to charges of “false ideas” and “gentile customs”
in a special tract in defense of the pietists, whom he considers
spiritually “superior to the scholars.” His commentary on the
Talmud and the work explaining the principles of the Hibbur
(i.e, Maimonides’ Code) have not survived.
Ethics
A large portion of the ethical chapters was published together
with an English translation by S. Rosenblatt under the title
High Ways to Perfection. Though in many respects he con-
ducted himself - and indeed was considered - as the contin-
uator and interpreter of Maimonides’ doctrine, his personal
style was markedly different. Though he repeatedly states that
he lived according to his father’s principles, he transferred the
latter’s elite intellectualist system to the ethical plane, molding
it into a pietistic way of life rather than a philosophical one.
In fact, Abraham expressed reservations about philosophy in
his Milhamot ha-Shem:
Fools have imagined in their silliness that whoever engages
in science is a heretic denying the Torah, and whoever stud-
ies philosophy follows their creed concerning the principles of
the faith. Now we oppose their opinion that the world is pre-
existant with the belief of the Torah, refuting them with replies
and proofs to clarify the creed of the Torah that the world is ad-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ventitious and created ... as our Sages enjoined us: “Be eager to
learn Torah; know what answer to give to the unbeliever” (Avot
2:19). We act likewise towards all their opinions which contra-
dict the faith of the Torah. But, for all that, we are not to con-
tradict their belief in the unity of the Creator (p. 59).
While recognizing the superiority of scientific speculation
over the passive performance of the Law, Abraham considers
the esoteric accomplishment of the precepts to be superior to
philosophy. Indeed, in the Kifaya, he states with a note of op-
position, reminiscent of Juda Halevi:
God has enabled [the true adherents of the Law who have
grasped its secret meaning] to understand by means of His Law
what the scientists and philosophers do not understand, and He
has established for them, by means of His signs and miracles,
proof for what the latter deny ...
The pivotal difference being not one of theory but of practice,
Abraham's foremost goal was to become a hasid rather than
a hakham. While recognizing the importance of strict obser-
vance of religious law and of intellectual accomplishment, he
insists more heavily on man’s ethical achievements. In his day,
the great spread of Islamic Sufi brotherhoods in Egypt consti-
tuted an immediate spiritual model. Under its sway, he tried
to promote a form of pietism which earned him the epithet
by which he is often referred to in later literature, Abraham
he-hasid (“the Pious”). The Kifaya preaches an extreme form
of Sufi-like ascetism, whereas Maimonides, though acknowl-
edging in his Commentary on Avot the merit of self-mortifica-
tion, rejects it in favor of the golden mean of temperance. The
fourth and final section, presents the ethical stages of the “spe-
cial way,” modeled on the well- known stations (maqamat) of
classical Sufi manuals: sincerity, mercy, generosity, gentleness
humility, faith, contentedness, abstinence, mortification and
solitude, whose mystical goal, wusul (“arrival”), culminated
in the encounter with God and the certitude of his light. En-
trance to the “path” is subject to an initiatory ritual such as
the bestowal of a mantle, as Elijah did:
By casting his cloak over [Elisha], Elijah hinted to him... that
Elijah’s spiritual perfection would be transferred to him and that
he [Elisha] would attain the degree which he himself had at-
tained. Thou art aware of the ways of the ancient saints [awliya’]
of Israel, which are not or but little practised among our con-
temporaries, that have now become the practice of the Sufis
of Islam, “on account of the iniquities of Israel”, namely that
the master invests the novice [murid] with a cloak [khirgah] as
the latter is about to enter upon the mystical path [tariq]. “They
have taken up thine own words” (Deuteronomy 33:3). This
is why we moreover take over from them and emulate them
in the wearing of sleeveless tunics and the like (Rosenblatt,
2: 266).
Abraham openly admires the Muslim Sufis, whose practices,
he claims, ultimately derive from ancient Israelite custom. Af-
ter having stated that the true dress of the ancient prophets
of Israel was similar to the ragged garments (muraqqaat) of
the Sufis, he declares:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES BEN MAIMON
Do not regard as unseemly our comparison of that [the true
dress of the prophets] to the conduct of the Sufis, for the latter
imitate the prophets [of Israel] and walk in their footsteps, not
the prophets in theirs. (Rosenblatt, 2: 320).
He finds biblical counterparts for Sufi ascetic exercises such
as combating sleep, solitary retreats in dark places, weeping,
nightly vigils and daily fasts, as in the following passage:
We see the Sufis of Islam also profess the discipline of mortifi-
cation by combatting sleep. Perhaps such a practice is derived
from the statement of David: ‘I will not give sleep to mine eyes,
nor slumber to mine eyelids’ (Ps. 132:4) ... Observe then these
wonderful traditions and sigh with regret over how they have
been transferred from us and appeared amongst a nation other
than ours whereas they have disappeared in our midst. My soul
shall weep in secret ... because of the pride of Israel that was
taken from them and bestowed upon the nations of the world
(Rosenblatt, 2:322).
One of the most typical aspects of the Sufi path is the neces-
sity of the spiritual guidance of an experienced teacher who
has traversed all the stages of the path in order to initiate the
spiritual wayfarer into its intricacies. Abraham sees the origin
of this principle in the discipline of the ancient prophets:
Know that generally in order for the Way to attain successfully
its true goal [wusul], it must be pursued under the guidance
[taslik] of a person who has already attained this goal, as it is
said in the tradition: “Acquire a master” (Avot 1:6). The biblical
accounts concerning masters and their disciples are well known;
Joshua the servant of Moses was one of his disciples, who, hav-
ing attained the goal, succeeded him. The prophets adopted the
same conduct. Samuel's guide [musallik] was Eli, Elijah was that
of Elisha, and Jeremiah that of Barukh son of Neriah. More-
over the “disciples of the prophets” were thus called because
the prophets were their spiritual guides. This practice was ad-
opted by other nations (the Sufis), who instituted in imitation of
Jewish custom the relation between shaykh and servant, master
and disciple ... If the wayfarer is capable and remains faithful
to instructions, he will attain his goal through the guidance of
an accomplished master (Rosenblatt, 2: 422).
The denomination “the disciples of the prophets” is a key to
the process of recovering from the Sufis the lost “prophetic
discipline.” Its restoration was a prerequisite to the return of
prophecy itself, whose imminence was predicted by Maimo-
nides. The absence of the final chapter of the Kifaya which
dealt with the attainment of the ultimate goal (wusul), is an
irretrievable loss.
Other Works
Abraham refers to other compositions now lost, such as a trea-
tise on truth, and an explanation of the 26 premises of the in-
troduction to the second part of the Guide. It has been shown
that the Kitab al-hawd and the Taj al-arifin, ascribed to him by
the 17" century chronicler Sambari, probably belong to other
authors. Some manuscripts erroneously attribute to him the
Sodot ha-Moreh (“Secrets of the Guide”), in fact by Abraham
*Abulafiia. His authorship of the folktale Maaseh Yerushalmi
(Jerusalem, 1946), is unlikely.
307
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES HA-KOHEN HA-SEPHARDI
Influence
Abraham was at the hub ofa pietistic circle of a sectarian na-
ture whose adepts were dissatisfied with formal religion. Partly
inspired by Abraham Abu ar-Rabia (d. 1223), also known as
he-hasid, whom he calls “our Master in the Way,’ this circle
included Abraham Maimonides’ father-in-law, Hananel ben
Samuel, and his own son Ovadiah (1228-1265) author of the
mystical al-Magala al-Hawdiyya (“Treatise of the Pool”). De-
spite an enormous literary output, the movement did not en-
gender a widespread community of ascetics similar to Sufism,
probably because of the vehement opposition to Abraham's
ritual reforms. Indeed, this opposition, as well as the move-
ment’s own elitist character seriously impeded its spread. With
the general decline of Oriental Jewry, his Sufi-type Jewish pi-
etism sank into oblivion, though some of its mystical elements
were possibly absorped into the nascent Kabbalah. However,
the exegetical and ethical writings of several of his direct de-
scendants perpetuated his tendency to temper Maimonides’
spiritual ideology with Sufi mysticism. Later authorities, such
as the 13" cent. Karaite Yefet b. Za'ir, Sefer ha-Hinnukh, Aaron
ha-Yarhi, R. *David ibn Abi Zimra, Moses al-Ashkar, Joseph
*Caro, Abraham Ibn Migash, and Masud *Rakah, utilize his
works, which were still being read in the 18** century. Abra-
ham Maimonides passed away on Monday, 18 Kislev, 1237.
Eliezer b. Jacob ha-Bavli (Diwan, no. 199) composed an elegy
for him in which he wrote:
Who believed wholeheartedly in his Lord,
Counted to him as righteousness?
Who arose and, with the hand of reason, overthrew the idols
of ignorance,
Reducing its image to shivers?
Who established in Memphis [= Egypt] an inn, opening its
gates to wayfarers?
Who bound upon the altar of understanding, like young lambs,
the offspring of thought?
With whom did his Lord make a covenant between the pieces,
with flaming torches?
*Twas Abraham, who, the day of his demise, rent our hearts
and inner parts.
Although his father’s blessing of greatness had been fullfiled,
Abraham's renown may have been greater still had he not been
overshadowed by Maimonides’ towering figure.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: WORKS: N. Dana (ed.), Sefer ha-Maspik le-
Ovedei ha-Shem (1989); A.H. Freimann (ed.), Abraham Maimuni,
Responsa (1937); R. Margaliot (ed.), R. Abraham Maimuni, Mil-
hamot ha-Shem (1953); S. Rosenblatt (ed.), The High Ways to Perfec-
tion of Abraham Maimonides, 2 vols. (1927-38); E. Wiesenberg (ed.),
Abraham Maimonides Commentary on Genesis and Exodus (1958).
GENERAL: G. Cohen, “The Soteriology of Abraham Maimuni,” in:
Studies in the Variety of Rabbinic Cultures (1991); S. Eppenstein,
Abraham Maimuni: sein Leben und seine Schriften (1914); P. Fenton,
“Abraham Maimonides (1187-1237): Founding a Mystical Dynasty,”
in: M. Idel and M. Ostow (eds.), Jewish Mystical Leaders and Lead-
ership in the 13" Century (2000), 127-154; idem, Deux traités de mys-
tique juive (1987); S.D. Goitein, “Abraham Maimonides and his Pietist
Circle? in: A. Altmann (ed.), Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Stud-
308
ies (1967), 145-164; N. Wieder, Islamic Influences on the Jewish Wor-
ship (1948).
ip (1948) [Paul Fenton (2™4 ed.)]
ABRAHAM BEN MOSES HA-KOHEN HA-SEPHARDI
(late 15* and early 16‘ centuries), Italian rabbi. A scion of
a prominent priestly family in the Spanish city of Cuenca,
Abraham went to Italy at about the age of 20 in the wake of
the expulsion from Spain. He resided first in Ferrara, then
moved to Bologna, where he was appointed rabbi. He be-
came involved in the controversy concerning the litigation
between Abraham Raphael Finzi of Bologna and Immanuel
di Norzi of Ferrara. The former did not wish the case to be
tried in Ferrara, because of Norzi’s strong influence there.
When R. Abraham *Minz insisted that the Ferrara court
had jurisdiction, a controversy ensued. The rabbinical opin-
ions expressed on both sides were published under the title
Piskei ha-Gaon R. Liva mi-Ferrara ve-Rav Avraham Minz
(Venice, 1519), and included that of Abraham b. Moses. The
dispute was brought before the rabbinical authorities of Po-
land, who agreed with Abraham b. Moses. His learning won
particular praise from R. Jacob *Pollak, the father of Polish
talmudic scholarship, and from R. Moses *Isserles (in his
supplements to the Sefer Yuhasin). Attacked by Minz as a
“contentious priest” (cf. Hos. 4:4) and a “smooth-talking Se-
phardi,” Abraham countered by deeming the abusive epithets
titles of honor and stating at the same time that he had never
previously had a dispute with anyone. The rest of his responsa,
his commentary on the She’iltot, sermons, and comments on
Rashi’s commentary on the Pentateuch, remain unpublished.
He published an edition of the Sefer Hasidim (“Book of the
Pious”) with an introduction and an index (Venice, 1538).
His son-in-law, the husband of his daughter Paloma, was the
historian Joseph ha-Kohen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Marx, in: Abhandlungen ... H.P. Chajes
(1933), 149-93, especially 172-3; Sonne, in: HUCA, 16 (1941), 48-50,
—55, 81-84 (Hebrew section).
2a 4( ) [Jacob Haberman]
ABRAHAM BEN NATHAN (end 11-beginning 12" cen-
tury), talmudic scholar and dayyan in Fostat, where he was
active in the first quarter of the 12" century. His father Na-
than was the av bet din of the Palestinian academy (probably
at Tyre). Abraham also lived in Erez Israel toward the end of
the 11" century and his signature is affixed to a document is-
sued at Ramleh. In 1102, however, he was in Fostat, and his
signature appears as the first on an attestation document. In
a genizah document dated from 1116 Abraham is described as
the “great, distinguished rabbi,” and in letters he is addressed
as “foundation stone and leader of the yeshivah” and “pride
of the judges and support of the nasi”; he is also designated as
reish bei rabbanan and rosh ha-seder (head of the academy).
It is assumed that Abraham held the officially recognized of-
fice of dayyan al-Yahud (“judge of the Jews”), regarded by the
authorities as the representative dignitary of the Jews second
to the nagid.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 194, 2673 2 (1922),
index.
[Moshe Nahum Zobel]
ABRAHAM BEN NATHAN (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn ‘Ata;
c. 1025), first nagid of the Jewish community of Kairouan.
He was court physician to Badis, the viceroy of Tunisia, and
to al-Mu‘izz his son and successor, who became indepen-
dent ruler. Abraham did much for the Jewish communi-
ties of North Africa. Two poems praising the nagid for his
communal activities are extant. Ishaq ibn Khalfon, the court
poet, dedicated several of his poems to his benefactor. He
was honored in a song of praise by R. *Hai Gaon. Abraham
exchanged responsa with R. *Samuel b. Hophni, the gaon of
Sura. The latter’s son, R. Israel, dedicated a book on liturgical
laws to him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Poznaniski, in: Festschrift Harkavy (1908),
175-220; Brody, in: YMHSL, 3 (1936), 27-31; Goitein, in: Zion, 27
(1962), 11-23, 156-65; idem, in: Tarbiz, 34 (1965), 164-9. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: Hirschberg, Afrikah 1, (1974), 112-13, 211-13; M. Ben-
Sasson, Qayrawan, 348-62.
[Simha Assaf / Abraham David (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRAHAM BEN NATHAN HA-YARHI (c. 1155-1215), Pro-
vencal talmudic scholar. His name “Ha-Yarhi” is the Hebrew
translation for “of Lunel” where he spent many years. He was
born at Avignon and was related to *Isaac b. Abba Mari. He
studied with the scholars of Lunel, with Abraham b. David of
Posquiéres, and in Dampierre in northern France, under the
tosafist Isaac the Elder, and other scholars of his circle. Abra-
ham wandered through many countries, and visited Toledo,
Spain, in 1194. Later he settled there and apparently became a
member of the rabbinical court (before 1204). He left Toledo
again, went to France, and returned to Spain in 1211.
During his travels Abraham made a point of “observ-
ing the customs of every country and every city” and noted
that “they [the Jews] varied in their religious practices and
that they were divided into 70 languages.” He recorded vari-
ous customs, particularly concerning prayer and other syna-
gogue usages, in a book which he called Manhig Olam known
popularly as Sefer ha-Manhig (Constantinople, 1519; repub-
lished by A.N. Goldberg, Berlin, 1855). This work has come
down in a corrupt form. Chapters and paragraphs are omit-
ted and the printed text contains many mistakes. Various at-
tempts have been made (by Freimann, Toledano, and Ra-
phael) to correct it and fill some of the lacunae. The correct
text however has been preserved in the manuscripts. In this
book he describes the customs of both southern and north-
ern France, of Germany, England, and Spain. His literary
sources include the Talmuds and the Midrashim, the works
and responsa of the Geonim and the writings of French, Span-
ish, and other scholars. This work is the first book of min-
hagim (local customs) written in Europe. Its explicit purpose
was to show that there is a halakhic basis for every minhag.
The need for such a compilation was mainly the result of the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL HE-HASID
spread of the halakhic works of the Spanish authorities in
Provence, which took place at that time and caused confu-
sion and misunderstanding at both places (see Asher b. Saul).
Abraham also wrote a commentary to Massekhet Kallah Rab-
bati (Tiberias [Jerusalem], 1906; Jar, 24 [see bibliography])
and Mahazik ha-Bedek on the laws of ritual slaughtering
and forbidden foods (lost). Some of Abraham's responsa are
preserved (S.A. Wertheimer, Ginzei Yerushalayim, 1 (1896),
19-32).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Reifmann, in: Ha-Meliz, 1 (1860/61), 63-64,
99-101; idem, in: Mwy, 5 (1878), 60-67; B. Toledano (ed.), Perush
Massekhet Kallah Rabbati (1906), introd.; Higger, in: QR, 24 (1933/34),
331-48; A.H. Freimann, in: Festschrift ... J. Freimann (1937), 105-15
(Heb. pt.); B. Toledano, in: Sinai, 41 (1958), 75-80; I. Twersky, Robad of
Posquieéres (1962), 240-4; Raphael, in: Sefer Yovel ... H. Albeck (1963),
443-64; S. Abramson, Rav Nissim Gaon (1965), 566 (index); Cassel,
in: Jubelschrift ... L. Zunz (1884), 122-37.
ABRAHAM BEN N... HA-BAGHDADI (10" century),
communal leader in Babylonia. Information on Abraham
is to be found in the poems of praise dedicated to him by
one Abraham ha-Kohen, who seems to have been his sec-
retary. He held a military command under the caliph and
was a protector of the Jewish community. The reopening
of the yeshivah of *Sura about 988 is attributed to him. He
also maintained friendly relations with *Hai Gaon. There is
reason to believe that Abraham ha-Baghdadi was a mem-
ber of the *Netira family; he was possibly the son of Ne-
tira 11 and the grandson of Sahl, who was the son of Ne-
tira 1. One of his sons was named Sahl, probably after his
great-grandfather.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Scheiber, in: Zion, 30 (1965), 123-27. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Scheiber, in: Zion, 18 (1953), 6-13; Mann, in Jar,
9 (1918/19), 153-60; Tarbiz, 5 (1933/34), 177-78.
[Abraham David (24 ed.)]
ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL HE-HASID (of Speyer; 12"
century), rabbi and liturgical poet, the brother of R. *Judah
b. Samuel he-Hasid. Abraham b. Samuel and *Judah b. Kal-
onymus, together with R. Shemariah b. Mordecai, later con-
stituted the bet din of *Speyer, and are referred to as “the wise
men of Speyer.” *Eliezer b. Nathan of Mainz describes Abra-
ham as “the sun of our orphaned age.” Abraham's retort to a
baptized Jew is recorded in the Sefer Nizzahon. In contrast
to his father and brother, who were both famous for their
mysticism and pietism, Abraham was known for his exo-
teric teachings and only slight traces of esoteric ideas can be
found in his writings. Abraham wrote four elegies in which
he described Jewish suffering during the first two Crusades
(1096 and 1147).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Urbach, Tosafot, 577 (index); Davidson,
Ozar, 4 (1933), 358, s.v. Avraham mi-Speyer (ben Shemuel); Abra-
ham b. Azriel, Arugat ha-Bosem, ed. by E.E. Urbach, 4 (1963), 90-91;
V. Aptowitzer, Mavo le-Sefer Ravyah (1938), 307-8; Germ Jud, 342,
and index.
[Jacob Freimann]
309
ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL OF DREUX
ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL OF DREUX (second half of 13"
century), rabbinical scholar in northwestern France. Abraham
was the chief spokesman in a religious disputation in Paris
with Paul, a Spanish “cordelier” (conceivably to be identified
with Pablo *Christiani) under the reign of Philip the Bold
(1270-85). He evidently wrote a commentary on the Book of
Daniel, from which was derived an explanation of Daniel 9:24
mentioned in the record of the controversy. It was formerly
thought he came from Dreux.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Neubauer, in: JQr, 5 (1892/93), 713 ff; J.
Rosenthal, in: Aresheth, 2 (1960), 145.
ABRAHAM BEN SHABBETAI HA-KOHEN (1670-1729),
poet, physician, artist, and philosopher. Born in Crete when
the island was under Venetian rule, he studied medicine and
philosophy at the University of Padua and then practiced on
the island of Zante. He was the author of Kehunnat Avraham
(Venice, 1719), a paraphrase of portions of Psalms in rhymed
verse in various meters, to which was appended Benei Keturah,
a similar paraphrase of Pirkei Shirah. The title page of the book
is followed by an engraved self-portrait of the author, who was
also probably responsible for other engravings in the book. He
also published a volume of homilies on the Pentateuch, Kevod
Hakhamim (Venice, 1700).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ghirondi-Neppi, 32, no. 76; A. Rubens,
Jewish Iconography (1954), no. 2006.
[Cecil Roth]
ABRAHAM BEN SIMEON OF WORMS (15' century),
pseudonym of the unknown author of a supposedly compre-
hensive guide to “the divine magic” according to the Kab-
balah, especially the conjuration of the Guardian Angel who
presides over every man’s spiritual life. The author tells at
length the story of his life and describes his wanderings that
began in the year 1409 and lasted for decades. He lists the he-
roic deeds which he accomplished with magic devices. The
author alleges that he wrote the book for his young son La-
mech. The book is found in numerous German, French, and
English manuscripts, dating from the 16" to the 18" centu-
ries. Part of it was translated (c. 1700) into Hebrew under the
name Segullat Melakhim (“Treasure of Kings”). The book was
no doubt written originally in German, although the author
claims it to be a translation from Hebrew. The question of its
authorship, whether Jewish or Christian, is a matter of dispute.
The general style of the book shows the author’s knowledge
of Hebrew. The work may well have been written by a Jew,
with the passages with clearly Christian content added later.
It may also have been written by a Christian kabbalist who
had read the writings of *Pico della Mirandola and Johannes
*Reuchlin. The German version was printed at the beginning
of the 19" century, bearing, however, the date 1725. The book
has had great influence among those interested in the occult
in England and France since the end of the 19 century. In
its English version (1898) it is attributed to Abra Melin “The
310
Mage,’ which is but a corruption of the name Abramelin, men-
tioned as the main teacher of the author. Abramelin seems to
be taken from Abraham Elymas, the latter being the name of
a magician mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. The magic
material in the book is essentially of Jewish origin, and con-
stitutes one of the main channels of Jewish influence on late
Christian magic. The German and the French-English ver-
sions differ considerably.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 257; Steinschneider, Ueber-
setzungen, 907 ff; Benjacob, Ozar, s.v. Segullat Melakhim; G. Scholem,
Bibliographia Kabbalistica (1927), 2.
ae (1927) [Gershom Scholem]
ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON (c. 1400), Oriental biblical
exegete, possibly from Yemen. His commentary on the Bible
is written in Arabic, but contains some Hebrew excerpts.
He makes use of very early midrashic sources, some other-
wise unknown, quotes “Simeon b. Yohai in the Zohar,’ and
draws upon authorities who preceded him, primarily Saadiah
Gaon, Jonah ibn Janah, Nathan b. Jehiel, Tanhum b. Joseph
Yerushalmi, and David Kimhi. In his commentary, Abraham
draws linguistic parallels between Arabic, Aramaic, and He-
brew, and includes details of the life of Jews and Arabs in the
Orient. Parts of his commentary, known as Midrash Alzi ani,
written about 1422, are extant in various Yemenite manu-
scripts in Jerusalem, Oxford, and London. The British Mu-
seum manuscript, copied in 1513, contains his commentary
on the Early Prophets, while a Bodleian manuscript, com-
prising three volumes, includes that on the Early Prophets,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Steinschneider, in: HB, 19 (1879), 131-6;
20 (1880), 7-12, 39-40, 61-65; Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 248; G. Kar-
peles, Geschichte der juedischen Literatur, 2 (1886), 771; J. Ratzaby, in:
KS, 28 (1952/53), 267; S. Greidi, in: Ks, 33 (1957/58), 112.
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON OF SAINT MAXIMIN
(15 century), French physician. César Nostradamus praises
Abraham asa scholar, philosopher, and physician of Provence
(Histoire et Chronologie de Provence (1624), 618). It was prob-
ably Abraham and other Jewish physicians who drew the at-
tention of René of Anjou, count of Provence (1409-1480), to
the deplorable situation of the Jews in his kingdom. René is-
sued a decree in 1454, which lessened the hardships brought
about by the proclamation of Charles 11 forcing all Jews to
wear the wheel-shaped badge. It also confirmed the right of
Jews to practice medicine. René set an example by making
Abraham his personal physician and exempting him from
all taxes levied on Jews. It has been suggested that Abraham
may be identical with Abraham Avigdor 11 (1433-1488) of
Marseilles (REJ, 6-7 (1883), 294). Gottheil (EJ, 1 (1928), 120)
adds that Abraham might be the son of Solomon b. Abraham
Avigdor 1, the translator.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 643; G.B.
Depping, Les Juifs dans le Moyen-Age (1839), 206, 335; Hildefinger,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
in: REJ, 47 (1903), 232; 48 (1904), 70-75, 265; Kahn, ibid., 39 (1899),
95-112; E. Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire Biographique des Médecins en
France au Moyen-Age (1936), 5-6; H. Friedenwald, Jews and Medi-
cine, 2 (1944), 689.
[Isidore Simon]
ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON OF TORRUTIEL (b. 1482),
chronicler. Born in Spain, after the Expulsion of 1492 he was
brought to Fez by his 70-year-old father, Solomon of Torrutiel,
an expert in Talmud and a pupil of R. Isaac *Canpanton. In
Fez he participated actively in the life of the Jewish commu-
nity. In 1510 he wrote his Hebrew chronicle, probably not pre-
served in its entirety. As he indicates in the introduction, his
plan was to continue the Sefer ha-Kabbalah of Abraham *Ibn
Daud. In the first part of his book he gives additions to that
work, including some Jewish sages not enumerated by Ibn
Daud. In the second part he continues the history of Jewish
scholars and scholarship up to 1463, in his own time. The third
section is a chronicle of Spanish kings seen from a Jewish per-
spective, followed by the history of the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain and their establishment first in Portugal and later
on in Fez, until 1510.
In his introduction he speaks of his intention to include
in his book the prognostications of Abraham *Zacuto. From
this and other indications it has been concluded that Abra-
ham used for his chronicle the works of Abraham Zacuto
(Sefer Yuhasin) and Joseph b. *Zaddik of Arévalo. Detailed
analysis of the three works shows all used the same Hebrew
source, consisting of a chronology of Jewish scholars and a
scanty summary of a well-known Spanish world chronicle.
Abraham also mentions traditions which are not found in
the works of the other two authors. Particularly valuable are
his notes on the fate of the Spanish exiles, based on his per-
sonal eyewitness observations. The work, first published in
Neubauer’s Chronicles (V. 101ff.), has appeared in a Spanish
translation by J. Bages (Granada, 1921). He seems to be also
the author of a kabbalistic work, Avnei Zikkaron, translated
into Spanish by E Cantera (1928).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Baer, Untersuchungen ueber Quellen und
Kompositionen des Schebet Jehuda (1936), 28; Roth, in: Sefarad, 9
(1949), 450. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. David, Shetei Khronikot Ivr-
iyot mi-Dor Gerush Sefarad (1979), for Joseph b. Zaddik of Arévalo;
El libro de la cdbala de Abraham ben Salomon de Torrutiel, tr. F. Can-
tera (1928); Y. Moreno (tr.), Dos crénicas hispanohebreas del siglo xv
(1992).
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica / Angel Saenz-Badillos (2"4 ed.)]
ABRAHAM DOV BAER OF OVRUCH (d. 1840), rabbi and
hasidic leader in the Ukraine. Abraham succeeded his father
David as rabbi of Khmelnik. He subsequently became rabbi in
Ovruch and Zhitomir. He was a devoted disciple of Nahum of
Chernobyl, and after Nahum’s death kept in contact with his
son Mordecai. Abraham Dov went to Erez Israel in 1831, set-
tling in Safed, where he became leader of the Hasidim. Dur-
ing the calamities which struck Safed at that time, caused by
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM GERSHON OF KUTOW
Druze attacks and an earthquake, Abraham organized relief
and encouraged the people to remain. His teachings are re-
corded in his book Bat Avin (Jerusalem, 1847).
[Adin Steinsaltz]
ABRAHAM EL-BARCHILON, fiscal agent of Sancho rv of
Castile, 1284-95. Abraham was born in Toledo. His close con-
nection with Don Lope de Haro, a grandee of Sancho’s court,
helped to augment his influence. After holding various fiscal
offices, Sancho leased him his principal state revenues, includ-
ing the prerogative to mint gold coins, the collection of the
debts of Jewish creditors, receipts from fines and penalties im-
posed for fiscal offenses, export duties, and the arrears of all
the taxes farmed during the reign of Sancho’ father, Alfonso x.
Abraham was also authorized to regain for the Crown all
alienated estates. A series of documents of 1287-88 dealing
with this matter bears his signature in Hebrew. Abraham con-
tinued in office even after Lope de Haro’s execution in 1289,
now working in partnership with the poet Todros Halevi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 131-3; Baer, Urkunden,
1, pt. 2 (1936), 72-77, 89ff.; Neuman, Spain, 2 (1942), 245ff., 338.
ABRAHAM GAON (tenth century), head of the Palestinian
yeshivah. Abraham was a great-grandson of the gaon *Aaron
b. Meir who was involved with *Saadiah in the calendar con-
troversy of 921-22. The view that Abraham was the founder of
the Palestinian gaonate has been shown to be untenable, since
this gaonate existed at least a century before Abraham and its
supremacy was then recognized by its Babylonian counterpart.
Manuscripts of genealogical tables mentioning Abraham refer
to four of his sons. One of them, Aaron, became the succes-
sor to his father’s successor, Josiah, av bet din. Isaac was “third
man’ (i.e., next in rank to the av bet din) under Abraham’s im-
mediate successor, Joseph ha-Kohen, i-e., while Meir was head
of the academy (rosh ha-seder), probably in Egypt.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Poznanski, Babylonische Geonim... (1914),
4-5, 84, 97; Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 71, no. 6; S. Assaf and L.A. Mayer
(eds.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 2 (1944), 89, 127; Abramson, Merkazim, 31,
32.
ABRAHAM GERSHON OF KUTOW (ad. c. 1760), hasid,
talmudic scholar, and kabbalist. He was probably born in
Kutow (Kuty), Ukraine, where his father was rabbi. He was
the brother-in-law of *Israel b. Eliezer Baal Shem Tov. As a
youth, he moved to Brody where he continued to study at a
klaus. According to hasidic tradition, Abraham resented his
sister's marriage to the Baal Shem Tov and at first slighted
him, but later became one of his most ardent disciples. In 1747
he went to Erez Israel, intending to spread the teachings of
Hasidism there, settling first in Hebron and later in Jerusalem.
He formed especially close ties with the Sephardi scholars in
Jerusalem and in other countries. The correspondence be-
tween him and Israel Baal Shem Tov is an important source
of information for the beginnings of the hasidic movement.
According to a tradition transmitted by R. Israel of Kuznitz,
311
ABRAHAM HA-BAVLI
R. Abraham Gershon told the Besht how ideal prayer is con-
nected to a divestment of corporeality and the speech of the
Shekhinah from the throat of the person who prays.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Horodezky, Hasidut, index.
[Adin Steinsaltz / Moshe Idel (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRAHAM HA-BAVLI (apparently early 11> century),
grammarian. Abraham ha-Bavli is mentioned by Abraham
Ibn Ezra and Jacob b. Meir (Rabbenu Tam). His Sefer ha-
Shorashim (“Book of Roots”), only part of which has been
published (1863), deals with roots of one to four letters, inter-
changes in the order of the root letters, homonymic roots, and
an elision or interchange of one of the root letters for another
letter. Some scholars mistakenly identify him with the Karaite
grammarian David b. Abraham *Alfasi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Neubauer, in: Journal Asiatique, 2 (1863),
195. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Maman, Comparative Semitic Phi-
lology in the Middle Ages from Saadia Gaon to Ibn Barun (10-12
cent.) (2004).
[Meir Medan]
ABRAHAM HA-LEVI (15‘" century), leader of the Jerusalem
community. Abraham went on a mission to the Mediterranean
islands and Italy in 1455, two years after the Turkish capture
of Constantinople. The capture had aroused many messianic
hopes among Jews in Jerusalem. These hopes were strength-
ened by the tales told by pilgrims from Babylonia, Persia, and
Yemen. They told of a war in Ethiopia against the Christians,
an earthquake in Jerusalem which uncovered remains of the
First Temple, the expulsion of the Franciscans from Mount
Zion, and the dream of an aged Babylonian kabbalist to the
effect that the “Prince” (Guardian Angel) of Israel would over-
come the “Prince” of Edom (Rome). Abraham also appealed
for help in maintaining the holy places of Jerusalem. In the
course of his mission he arrived at Corfu, then under Vene-
tian rule. There he was denounced to the authorities, who
destroyed his credentials. Abraham's letters are an important
source for the history of the Jewish community in Jerusalem
in the 15 century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Neubauer, in: Kobez al Jad, 4 (1888), 45-50;
A. Yaari, Iggerot Erez Yisrael (1943), 88-89; Yaari, Sheluhei, 211-2.
[Avraham Yaari]
ABRAHAM HAYYIM BEN GEDALITAH (1750-1816), Gali-
cian rabbi. Abraham studied under his father Gedaliah b. Ben-
jamin Wolf, who was av bet din in Zloczow. He was a disciple
of *Dov Baer the “Maggid of Mezhirech,” *Jacob Joseph of Po-
lonnoye, and *Jehiel Michel of Zloczow. He was also a pupil
of the two brothers: Samuel Shmelka Horowitz of Nikolsburg
and Phinehas Levi Horowitz, his first father-in-law. When Is-
sachar Baer (his father-in-law by his second marriage) im-
migrated to Erez Israel, Abraham Hayyim succeeded him as
av bet din of Zloczow. He was a brilliant exegete and facile
writer, possessed of an easy, graceful style, and is referred to
312
as a “learned exponent of hasidic thought.” His Orah Hayyim
(Zolkiew, 1817) on the Bible is a treasury of thoughts and say-
ings of the hasidic rabbis. It was published posthumously by
his stepson, Joseph Azriel b. Hayyim Aryeh Leibush, with an
introduction by Ephraim Zalman Margolioth, who praises
his piety and charity and gives biographical details. Abraham
Hayyim wrote a commentary on Pirkei Avot, Peri Hayyim
(1873), and a commentary on the Haggadah, under the same
name (1873).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Walden, Shem ha-Gedolim he-Hadash, 2
(1864), 4a, no. 73; S. Buber, Kiryah Nisgavah (1903), 20-21, s.v. Geda-
liah; Y. Raphael, Sefer ha-Hasidut (1947), 67.
[Mordecai Ben-Yehezkiel]
ABRAHAMITES (also “Novy BydZov-Israelites”), Bohe-
mian judaizing sect, a product of the Counter-Reformation.
They revered the Old Testament, rejected the Trinity, abstained
from pork, and rested on Saturday; some members practiced
circumcision. The existence of the sect became known to the
authorities in 1747 in the region of *Novy Bydzov. A com-
mission of inquiry was then appointed and proceedings were
instituted against 60 Abrahamites, which lasted until 1748,
when the leader, Jan Pita, a tailor, and three others were ex-
ecuted. As Pita admitted to having had contact with Novy
Bydzov Jews, one of them, R. Mendel, was burnt at the stake
(1750) after separate proceedings; others of the accused Jews
adopted Catholicism. The sect continued clandestinely until
the patent of toleration of non-Catholics was issued in 1781,
when the Abrahamites came into the open. However, since
they refused to comply with an official injunction to declare
themselves either Christian or Jewish, they were deported to
garrisons on the Hungarian border and the men forced into
military service. The sect subsequently disintegrated.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Prokés, in Jaajé, 8 (1936), 147-308; Dr.
Blochs Wochenschrift (1903), 476-7, 509-11; J. Mostik, Sekta tak
zvanych israelitt severovychodnich cechdach (1938).
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL OF APTA (Opatow;
d. 1825), Polish hasidic *zaddik, known as “the Rabbi of Apta.”
He was the disciple of *Elimelech of Lyzhansk (Lezhaisk) and
possibly also of the maggid *Jehiel Michel of Zloczow (Zolo-
cher). He served as rabbi of the communities of Kolbuszowa
Apta (Opatow) from 1809 to 1813 and Jassy (Moldavia), in
1813-14 settling in Medzibozh (Podolia), where he lived until
his death. Abraham strongly opposed the maskilim in Brody
for disseminating what he considered heretical ideas among
Russian Jewry. Following the discriminatory legislation passed
by Czar *Alexander 1, depriving Jewish contractors (aren-
dars) and taverners of their livelihood, Abraham and Isaac of
Radzivilow ordered a public fast. As president of the Volhyn-
ian kolel, he was active in fundraising for the community in
Erez Israel. Acknowledged as an authority by many zaddikim
in his old age, Abraham was called upon to excommunicate
deviationists in the controversy between the Bratslav and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
*Przysucha (Pshiskha) Hasidim, and did his best to promote
unity and peace in the hasidic camp.
Abraham left instructions that his sole epitaph should
be Ohev Yisrael (a lover of Israel), a description by which he
is remembered among the Hasidim. The problems of Jewish
leadership and care for his people exercised his imagination,
and he would recount fantastic “reminiscences” about the
events he said that he had witnessed in former incarnations
as high priest, a king of Israel, nasi, and exilarch. His revela-
tions were regarded by the Hasidim as mysteries of the type
experienced by *Rabbah b. Bar Hana. A religious ecstatic, he
delivered homilies on Sabbaths and festivals emphasizing love
of the Creator and the importance of cleaving (*devekut) to
Him. He exerted a wide popular influence. His adherents be-
lieved that the violent gestures with which he accompanied
the sermons denoted hitpashetut ha-gashmiyyut (the shed-
ding of bodily existence). One of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s
contemporaries recounts that “in the midst of the meal, when
the spirit was upon him, he cried out in a loud and dolorous
voice and gesticulated; his head fell back almost to his heels,
and all the people who sat round the sacred table... trembled
and feared... and he started to relate secrets of the Torah and
hidden mysteries; he opened his saintly mouth and spoke with
great fervor; his face was [like] a torch, he raised his voice in
ecstasy.” Nevertheless, Abraham Joshua Heschel concentrated
on the system of practical Zaddikism and held that the zaddik
“through his wisdom lifts up Israel to bind them to heaven
and to bring prosperity, blessing, and life from the source of
blessings.” His works include Torat Emet (Lemberg, 1854) and
Ohev Yisrael (Zhitomir, 1863).
Abraham’s son ISAAC MEIR (d. 1855) succeeded his father
as zaddik of Medzibozh, later moving to nearby Zinkov. His
grandson MESHULLAM ZussIA (d. 1886) was also zaddik in
Zinkov; he edited his grandfather's sermons, Ohev Yisrael. His
descendants continued to be revered as zaddikim in various
places in Podolia (Krolevets, Kopycznce, Ternopol).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L.I. Newman, Hasidic Anthology (1934),
index, s.v. Apter: M. Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, 2 (1948), 107-22;
A. Berger, Eser Orot (1910), 102-25; M. Guttmann, Mi-Gibborei ha-
Hasidut, 1 (1953), 172, 232; Dubnow, Hasidut, 1 (1930), 314-5; Horo-
dezky, Hasidut, 2 (1923), 177-88; idem, in: Tarbiz, 27 (1957/58), 372-93
Haberman, in: yrvo Bletter, 39 (1955), 278-83.
[Avraham Rubinstein]
ABRAHAM JUDAEUS BOHEMUS (Abraham of Bohe-
mia; d. 1533), banker and tax collector. Abraham first served
as banker to Ladislas 11, king of Hungary and Bohemia. He
emigrated to Poland in about 1495 and settled in *Cracow.
Armed with recommendations from Ladislas and Maximil-
ian 1 of Germany, he soon became banker to the Polish king
Alexander Jagellonski and later to Sigismund 1. In 1512 Sigis-
mund appointed him collector of the taxes paid by the Jews
in Greater Poland and Masovia, and in 1514 the office was
extended to include the Jews throughout Poland. The king
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAM OF SARTEANO
warned the Jews, and especially the rabbis, to cooperate with
him and not to interfere with him by excommunicating him,
or in any other way. Abraham was several times acknowl-
edged to be under the sole jurisdiction of the king. Abraham
used his influence to act as *shtadlan at the royal court for
his fellow Jews. Sigismund had to remind the Jews of Cracow
to pay the promised 200 florins to Abraham “for defending
them against accusations brought up against them? In 1518
Abraham was granted freedom of commerce and banking in
all Poland. According to tradition he was the father (or grand-
father) of Mordecai *Jaffe.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Balaban, Dzieje Zydéw Krakowie i na
Kazimierzu (1304-1808), 1 (1912), 61-65, 353; M. Bersohn, Dyploma-
taryusz 1388-1782 (1910), NOS. 492, 493.
ABRAHAM OF BEJA (second half of 15» century), Portu-
guese traveler and linguist. He was apparently also a Hebrew
scholar and styled “rabbi” for that reason. In 1485 King Joao 11
of Portugal sent Joao Perez of Covilhao across Africa to inves-
tigate the country of the mythical Christian king Prester John,
and to discover the land route to India. Impressed by Abra-
ham’s knowledge of languages, King Joao sent him across the
Mediterranean to join up with the expedition together with
another Jew, Joseph Capatiero, who already had travel expe-
rience in the East. In due course he linked up with Perez in
Egypt and continued with him as far as Ormuz in India. At
that point he was left to return westward by the caravan route,
via Damascus and Aleppo.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. da Ficalho, Viagens de Pedro Covilhan
(1898); H.H. Hart, Sea Road to the Indies (1952), 43-78; J. Mendes dos
Remedios, Os Judeus em Portugal, 1 (1895), 248-9.
[Cecil Roth]
ABRAHAM OF SARAGOSSA (early ninth century), mer-
chant in Muslim Spain who traded mostly with the Franks
and eventually settled in the Frankish kingdom. There he re-
ceived (around 835) a privilegium from Louis the Pious, one
of the three extant privileges granted to Jewish merchants by
a Carolingian monarch. It became the standard for succeed-
ing privileges, including the following aspects: court oaths and
trial procedures, services and representation, right to trade,
and imperial protection. According to this privilege, Abra-
ham entrusted himself to the emperor in a manner similar
to a royal vassal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roth, Dark Ages, index; Ashtor, Korot, 1
(19667), 188; Baron, Social’, 4 (1957), 48-50; MGH, Formulae Merowin-
gici et Karolini Aevi (1882), 325, no. 52.
ABRAHAM OF SARTEANDO (late 15 century), Italian He-
brew poet. Abraham was born in Sarteano, Tuscany. He wrote
a poem of 50 tercets entitled “Sone ha-Nashim” (“The Woman
Hater”) in which he denounces women, drawing examples
from the Bible, from rabbinic legends, and from Greek and
Roman history and mythology. The poem aroused a spirited
313
ABRAHAMS
literary controversy over the merit of women which contin-
ued into the 16"* century. Abraham's remarks were challenged
by Avigdor Fano in Ozer Nashim and by Elijah *Genazzano
in Melizot.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.J. Schirmann, Ha-Mahazeh ha-Ivri ha-
Rishon (19657), 122ff.; Schirmann, Italyah, 210-5; Neubauer, in: Is-
raelietische Letterbode, 10 (1884-85), 98-101; Steinschneider, ibid., 12
(1886-87), 55-56; Davidson, Ozar, 1 (1924), 184, n. 1825.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann]
ABRAHAMS, family of English rabbis and scholars. ABRA-
HAM SUZMAN (c. 1801-1880) migrated from Poland to Eng-
land in 1837, becoming principal shohet in London in 1839.
He spent the end of his life in Palestine. He wrote an au-
tobiography Zekhor le-Avraham (1860). His son BARNETT
(1831-1863) was the dayyan of the Sephardi community
in London (although himself an Ashkenazi) and was ap-
pointed principal of Jews’ College in 1856. A graduate of
[University College, London, he was the first English rabbi
to hold a British university degree. He died at the age of only
32 of acute rheumatism. Barnett’s three sons, Joseph, Moses,
and Israel, devoted their lives to serving the Jewish commu-
nity. JOSEPH (1855-1938) was rabbi in Melhourne, Austra-
lia, from 1883 to 1923 and rabbi emeritus from 1924 until his
death. He helped found the United Jewish Education Board of
Victoria and was its president (1896-1901). He wrote a num-
ber of monographs on Jewish subjects, the most important
one being The Sources of Midrash Echah Rabba (Berlin, 1883).
MOSES (1860-1919) was the minister of the Jewish com-
munity of Leeds. He was the author of Aquila’s Greek Ver-
sion of the Hebrew Bible (1919). Israel *Abrahams was a noted
scholar.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Abrahams, in: JHSET, 21 (1962-67), 243-60
(on Abraham). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online; H.L. Rubin-
stein, Australia 1, index.
[Cecil Roth]
ABRAHAMS, family of English athletes. stR ADOLPHE
ABRAHAMS (1883-1967), physician and author, studied at
Cambridge, where he was sculling champion (1904-05). Dur-
ing World War 1 he was a major in the Royal Medical Corps
and subsequently held several important medical posts in
London hospitals. He was also medical officer in charge of the
British Olympic teams from 1912 until 1948, president of the
British Association of Sports and Medicine, and a fellow of the
Royal Society of Medicine. His many publications included:
The Photography of Moving Objects (1910); Indigestion (1920);
Woman - Man's Equal? (1954); and two books written with his
brother, Harold: Training for Athletes (1928) and Training for
Health and Athletics (1936).
SIR SIDNEY (“SOLLY”) ABRAHAMS (1885-1957), Brit-
ish colonial official, brother of Adolphe and Harold. Born in
Birmingham, he studied at Cambridge and entered the Brit-
ish Colonial Service, becoming town magistrate in Zanzibar
(1915), advocate general, Baghdad (1920), attorney general
314
of Zanzibar (1922), chief justice of Uganda (1933-34), Tang-
anyika (1934-36), and Ceylon (1936-39). A noted athlete, he
represented Cambridge in the long jump (1904-06) and the
100-yard dash (1906), and competed for Great Britain in the
100-meter race and long jump in the 1906 Olympics, finish-
ing fifth in the long jump with a leap of 6.21 meters. He also
competed in the long jump at the 1912 Olympics, finishing
in 11% place with a jump of 6.72 meters, just shy of 22-feet.
Sidney was elected president in 1947 of Britain’s oldest ath-
letic club, the London Athletic Club, becoming the first Jew
to hold the post.
HAROLD MAURICE ABRAHAMS (1899-1978), athlete
and lawyer who became the first European to win an Olym-
pic sprint title when he won the 100-meter dash in 1924.
Born in Bedford, he began racing at the age of eight following
his brother Solly, and at the age of 12 won his first 100-yard
race in 14.0 seconds. He won the English public schools’
100-yard dash and long jump titles in 1918. He studied at Cam-
bridge, where he won eight victories against Oxford in the
100-yard, 440-yard, and long jump from 1920 to 1923.
Harold was also the president of the university’s Athletic
Club.
At the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, Harold was a member
of the sixth place 4 x 100-meter team, but failed to advance
past the preliminary heats in the sprints or long jump. In
1924 Harold established a British long jump record of 24 feet,
2% inches, a record that stood for the next 32 years. Six months
before the 1924 Games, Harold hired a personal coach, Sam
Mussabini, thus becoming the first British amateur to pay for
a personal trainer. At the 1924 Olympics, he won a silver medal
in the 4 x 100-meter (41.2), and finished in sixth place in the
200-meter finals. For the 100-meter final, his key British ri-
val, Eric Liddell, withdrew from the competition because it
was held on Sunday and Liddell was a devout Christian. Fac-
ing his main competition against Americans Jackson Scholz
and Charles Paddock - the 1920 gold medallist and world-
record holder - Harold surprised everyone by winning the
gold medal in 10.6 seconds.
Soon after his Olympic triumph of 1924, he suffered an
injury while long jumping and retired from international
athletics. He remained a prominent figure in the athletics
world however, and was captain of the British Olympic team
(1928) and chairman of the British Amateur Athletic Board
from 1968 to 1975. He also reported on athletics for English
press and radio. During World War 11, he served in the Min-
istry of Economic Warfare, was head of the statistics section
(1941-42), and in 1946 became an assistant secretary at the
Ministry of Town Planning. He became one of the most fa-
mous Olympic athletes in history with the release of the film
Chariots of Fire in 1981, which told of the struggles of Harold,
Liddell, and Mussabini.
Philip Noel-Baker, Britain’s 1912 Olympic captain and a
Nobel Prize winner, wrote of Harold in 1948: “I have always be-
lieved that Harold Abrahams was the only European sprinter
who could have run with Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the other great sprinters from the U.S. He was in their class,
not only because of natural gifts - his magnificent physique,
his splendid racing temperament, his flair for the big occa-
sion — but because he understood athletics, and had given
more brainpower and more willpower to the subject than any
other runner of his day-”
Harold wrote several books, including Sprinting (1925),
Athletics (1926), The Olympic Games, 1896-1952, and The Rome
Olympiad (1960).
[Elli Wohlgelernter (274 ed.)]
ABRAHAMS, ABRAHAM (also known as Abraham ben
Naphtali Tang; d. 1792), English scholar; grandson of the
Prague dayyan Abraham Taussig Neu-Greschel (d. 1699) and
like his grandfather signed himself with the Hebrew initials
410 (TNG) and therefore generally known as Tang. Appar-
ently born and brought up in London, Abrahams was well-
grounded in Jewish and secular studies. In 1772 under the
pseudonym “A Primitive Hebrew” he published an English
translation of the mishnaic tractate Avot including *Maimo-
nides’ commentary and observations of his own. He also wrote
two parallel mystical commentaries in Hebrew on Ecclesias-
tes (1773, unpublished), which include a concise account of
classical mythology, with quotations from Ovid, Vergil, and
Seneca. A Hebrew treatise (unpublished) attempts to estab-
lish the politico-historical setting of the talmudic reference
to the “sages of Athens” (Bek. 8b). Abrahams also translated
into Hebrew William Congreve's Mourning Bride (1768, Ms.
in Jews’ College, London). He had some ability as a scribe and
copied and illuminated a Passover Haggadah (now in the Jew-
ish Museum, London). He was a pronounced English patriot
and a political radical.
Another ABRAHAM ABRAHAMS (4d. 1813) criticized the
tax system in Hampstead in the Book of Assessment (1811), the
earliest work of this type by an English Jew.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, in: Essays... I. Brodie (Eng. vol.,
1967), 368-72; Schirmann, in: Scripta Hierosolymitana, 19 (1967), 3-153
jc (Dec. 19, 1884); Neubauer, Cat, nos. 7, 9, 32, 35. Dan Ruderman,
Jewish Enlightenment in an English Key: Anglo-Jewry’s Construction
of Modern Jewish Thought (2000), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
ODNB online.
[Cecil Roth]
ABRAHAMS, ABRAHAM (1897-1955), English author,
editor, and Zionist leader. Abrahams was head of the Jew-
ish Telegraphic Agency’s New York Bureau in 1933 and editor
of The Jewish Standard from 1940 to 1948, after which he took
an increasingly active part in the strengthening of the Zionist
Revisionist Movement. For a time he was political secretary
of the Revisionist Party in England. Abrahams published
Poems (1932) and Background of Unrest (1945); his wife,
Rachael Beth-Zion Abrahams, was also a writer and jour-
nalist.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.B. Schectman, Fighter and Prophet:
The Jabotinsky Story - The Last Years (1961), index.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL
ABRAHAMS, ABRAHAM ISAAC (1720-1796), religious of-
ficial and merchant, who was known throughout the Ameri-
can Colonies as a mohel and Hebrew teacher. He spent most
of his life in New York City. The Congregation Shearith Israel
directed him to “keep a publick school in the hebra [com-
munity hall] to teach the Hebrew language, and translate the
same into English, also to teach English Reading, Writing and
Cyphering.” He was “rabbi” of the congregation from 1761 and
hazzan from 1766. In addition to his religious duties, he was
a distiller, snuff maker, tobacconist, and merchant, and was
elected a constable in New York City in 1753.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.R. Marcus, American Jewry, Documents, 18
Century (1959), index; Rosenbloom, Biogr Dict, s.v.
[Leo Hershkowitz]
ABRAHAMS, GERALD (1907-1980), British lawyer, chess
master, and writer on chess. Abrahams was born in Liverpool.
At 18 he developed the “Abrahams Defense” adopted by many
noted players. He won several championships in Britain and
prizes in international master tournaments. His books include
Teach Yourself Chess (1948); The Chess Mind (1951); Technique
in Chess (1961); and Let’s Look at Israel (1966). Abrahams also
wrote several original works on Jewish identity, including The
Jewish Mind (1961), and many works on law.
[William D. Rubinstein (2™ ed.)]
ABRAHAMS, ISAAC (1756-1832?), physician. He was the
first Jewish graduate of Columbia (Kings) College, receiving
an A.B. degree from that institution in 1774. At commence-
ment he delivered a Latin oration “On Concord.” After 1786
Abrahams took up permanent residence in New York where
he became involved in the affairs of the synagogue, as he pre-
viously had done in Philadelphia and Baltimore. He served as
president of the Congregation Shearith Israel in 1801. There
is some difficulty in an exact identification since there was at
least one other contemporary of the same name.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Morrison, Early Jewish Physicians in
America (1928), index; Rosenbloom, Biogr, Dict.
[Leo Hershkowitz]
ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL (1858-1925), English scholar. In 1902
he was appointed reader in rabbinic and talmudic literature
at Cambridge, succeeding Solomon *Schechter. He played a
considerable role in the university, both personal and scholas-
tic, and had some distinguished non-Jewish pupils. For many
years his home was the focus of university Jewish life. His in-
fluence was greater, however, as a writer than as a teacher, and
over many years he was the chief exponent of Jewish schol-
arship in England. Although in some respects a popularizer,
even his most ephemeral writings were nevertheless distin-
guished by their scholarship, just as his most learned writings
did not lack charm. He was also one of the founders of and
most devoted workers for the *Jewish Historical Society of
England and similar bodies. In religion, he favored extreme
315
ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL
reform and was the intellectual bulwark of the Jewish Reli-
gious Union when it was established in 1902, and of the Lib-
eral Jewish Synagogue which developed out of it. Though not
ordained as rabbi or minister, he was a frequent lay preacher.
His most important works were his Jewish Life in the Middle
Ages (1896; 24 ed. by C. Roth based on author’s materials,
1932); Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels (2 vols., 1917-24);
Hebrew Ethical Wills (2 vols., 1926); notes to the Authorized
Daily Prayer Book edited by his father-in-law, S. Singer (1914);
and numerous collections of essays on Jewish literature. His
weekly literary causeries and reviews over the signature I.A.
were for many years a feature of the ‘Jewish Chronicle, and
when in 1919 the anti-Zionist Jewish Guardian was founded,
he was among its literary mainstays. Nevertheless, he was an
ardent advocate of the establishment of a Jewish university in
Jerusalem, even as early as 1908 when he visited Erez Israel (cf.
Jewish Chronicle, Feb. 28, 1908). He edited the *Jewish Quar-
terly Review, from its establishment in 1888 down to 1908, in
association with his friend, collaborator, and supporter Claude
G. *Montefiore. Abrahams was an ardent champion of Brit-
ain, viewing it as more favorable to its Jews than any other
European country.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jewish Studies in Memory of Israel Abrahams
(1927), incl. bibl; A.M. Hyamson, Israel Abrahams: a Memoir (1940);
idem, Jew’s College: 1855-1955 (1955), 27-28, 31-32, 43-44, 70-71;
H.M.J. Loewe, Israel Abrahams... a Biographical Sketch (1944); idem,
in: AJYB, 28 (1926/27), 219-34; Montefiore, in: JHSET, 11 (1924-27),
239-46; S. Levy, in: JHSEM, 3 (1937), 41ff. (bibl.).
[Cecil Roth]
ABRAHAMS, ISRAEL (1903-1973), South African rabbi
and scholar. Born in Vilna and educated at Jews’ College and
London University, he was rabbi in London and Manchester
before going to South Africa in 1937 as chief rabbi of the Cape
Town Hebrew Congregation. In 1951 he became chief rabbi
of the United Council of Hebrew Congregations of the Cape.
From 1938 he held the chair of Hebrew at Cape Town Uni-
versity. He retired in 1967 and settled in Israel. An eloquent
speaker, he held high office in all important communal insti-
tutions in Cape Town and was especially active in promoting
the Zionist movement and Jewish education. He was a con-
sulting editor to the Encyclopaedia Judaica. His major schol-
arly work was his translation into English of *Cassuto’s He-
brew commentaries: Documentary Hypothesis (1961); The Book
of Genesis, 2 pts: From Adam to Noah (1961) and From Noah
to Abraham (1964); Exodus (1967); and The Goddess Anath
(1970); he also translated tractate Hagigah for the Soncino
Talmud (1938). His other writings include: a history of Cape
Jewry, The Birth of a Community (1955); Pathways in Judaism
(1968); and Living Waters (1968).
[Lewis Sowden]
ABRAHAMS, IVOR (1935-_ ), British sculptor. Abrahams
was born in Wigan, England, and studied in London. He was
later apprenticed to a bronze foundry and worked as a display
316
artist before becoming a teacher of sculpture in 1960; between
1960 and 1970 he lectured at a number of British art schools.
His sculpture was always informal, using unusual, non-sculp-
tural materials. His first one-man exhibition was in 1962, but it
was not until 1970 that he established his reputation when he
held his first exhibition in New York. He subsequently exhib-
ited his work regularly in America, London, and Europe. His
three-dimensional prints, incorporating collage techniques,
won him international fame. Abrahams is represented in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Bibliotheque Natio-
nale, Paris, Boymans Museum, Rotterdam, and other public
collections throughout the world. In 1991 he was elected to
the Royal Academy.
[Charles Samuel Spencer]
ABRAHAMS, SIR LIONEL (1869-1919), English civil ser-
vant and Anglo-Jewish historian, nephew of Israel *Abra-
hams. A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, in 1902 Abra-
hams became financial secretary for India, in which capacity
he successfully reorganized the Indian currency. In 1912 he
was appointed assistant undersecretary of state for India. As
an Oxford student, he wrote The Expulsion of the Jews from
England in 1290 (1895). He contributed a number of impor-
tant studies on the medieval period to the Transactions of
the Jewish Historical Society of England. He was president of
the society from 1916 to 1918. In 1912 he became involved in
what became known as the “Indian Silver Case,’ in which ac-
cusations were made that a Jewish merchant bank in London
had improperly suggested that an order for silver required by
the Indian government be placed with its firm. As a result,
antisemitic innuendos about Abrahams and others were made
in sections of Britain’s press, but those named were cleared
of any wrongdoing by a House of Commons Select Com-
mittee.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P.H. Emden, Jews of Britain (1943), 145-6;
JHSET, index; The Times (Dec. 1, 1919); Jc (Dec. 12, 1919). ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: ODNB online.
[Cecil Roth / William D. Rubinstein (24 ed.)]
ABRAHAMS, NICOLAI CHRISTIAN LEVIN (1798-1870),
Danish author and literary scholar. After graduating from the
University of Copenhagen, Abrahams taught there from 1829
and became professor of French literature after his baptism
in 1832. Abrahams, who helped to popularize French culture
in Denmark, published a Description des manuscrits fran-
¢ais du Moyen-Age de la Bibliotheque Royale de Copenhague
(1844). His autobiography, Meddelelser af mit liv (1876), ap-
peared posthumously.
ABRAHAM'S BOSOM, designation in the New Testament
(Luke 16:22-31) of the abode of the blessed souls of the pious
and poor in the other world (compare tv Macc. 13:17; Matt.
8:11, where all three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are
enumerated as those in whose company the pious souls dwell).
The Hebrew expression be-heiko shel Avraham (“in Abraham's
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
bosom”) is mentioned in aggadic literature (e.g., PR 43:180b)
dealing with the martyrdom of Miriam (*Hannah) and her
seven sons. She urges her youngest child to die for the sancti-
fication of God’s name, saying: “O my son, do you wish that all
thy brethren sit in Abraham's bosom, except you?” Abraham's
bosom is mentioned also in Midrash ha-Gadol to Genesis (ed.
Margulies (1947), 206) and in the Talmud (Kid. 72b) where
it probably refers to the covenant of Abraham (see also PdRK
(1868), 25b, S. Buber’s emendation). In Christian mythology,
Abraham's bosom stands also for the abode in the netherworld
of the unbaptized children and for purgatory, from where, af-
ter punishment, Abraham conducts the purified souls into
paradise. This notion is hinted at in the talmudic passage (Er.
19a) which describes Abraham as shielding from punishment
in hell all those who have not effaced the sign of circumcision
(compare also, Gen. R. 48:8). Whether Abraham's bosom is
the abode of bliss, or, on the contrary, a place in Gehenna,
it expresses the popular Jewish belief about Abraham as the
warden in paradise and protector of the meritorious souls in
the other world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: HL. Strack and P. Billerbeck, Kommentar
zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrash, 2 (1924), 225-7.
ABRAHAMSEN, DAVID (1903-2002), U.S. criminolo-
gist and psychiatrist. Born in Trondheim, Norway, Abraha-
msen worked in Oslo and London. In 1940 he moved to the
United States, where from 1948 to 1952 he served as director
of scientific research at Sing Sing Prison. He was research as-
sociate at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and
Surgeons from 1944 to 1953 and founded the university's Fo-
rum for the Study and Prevention of Crime. In 1966 he was
appointed medical and psychiatric director of the Founda-
tion for the Prevention of Addictive Diseases. Abrahamsen
taught at Columbia University, Yale Law School, the New
York School of Social Work, and the New School for Social
Research, New York.
While he wrote several books on psychological themes -
Men Mind and Power (1945); The Road to Emotional Maturity
(1958); The Emotional Care of Your Child (1969) - Abraham-
sens works are principally devoted to criminological subjects.
They include Crime and the Human Mind (1944); Study of 102
Sex Offenders at Sing Sing Prison (1950); Who Are the Guilty? -
A Study of Education and Crime (1952); The Psychology of
Crime (1960); “Study of Lee Harvey Oswald: Psychological
Capability of Murder,’ in: New York Academy of Medicine Bul-
letin, 43 (1967), 861-88; Our Violent Society (1970); The Mur-
dering Mind (1973); The Mind of the Accused: A Psychiatrist in
the Courtroom (1983); Confessions of Son of Sam (1985); Mur-
der and Madness: The Secret Life of Jack the Ripper (1992); and
Nixon vs. Nixon: An Emotional Tragedy (1997). Abrahamser’s
interest in Jewish life is seen in Jeger Jode (“I Ama Jew,” 1935),
a cultural and humanitarian document about the life of Jews
and their contribution to culture.
In 1982 he donated a large collection of his papers to Co-
lumbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library, dating
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAM, MORRIS BERTHOLD
from 1902 to 1981. The papers relate primarily to the research
and interviews he conducted while writing Nixon vs. Nixon
and to his close relationship and correspondence with con-
victed multiple murderer David Berkowitz. There are more
than 140 letters to Abrahamsen from Berkowitz, aka “Son of
Sam,’ who murdered a succession of young people in New
York City in the mid-1970s. The papers also reflect Abraha-
msen’s interest in other famous crimes, such as the Leopold/
Loeb kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks, and in politics
(particularly Adlai Stevenson's 1952 campaign).
[Zvi Hermon / Ruth Beloff (2™4 ed.)]
ABRAHAM ZEVI BEN ELEAZAR (1780-1828), rabbi and
posek in Poland. In his youth he lived in Piotrkow near Lodz,
where he studied under his grandfather, Solomon b. Jehiel
Michel, and Moses, the av bet din. In 1800 he served as rabbi
of Pilica, and later, before 1819, as av bet din of Piotrkow.
In formulating his rulings Abraham Zevi utilized the pil-
pul method employed in the Urim ve-Tummim of Jonathan
*Eybeschuetz, the Noda bi-Yhudah of Ezekiel *Landau, and
the Haflaah of Phinehas *Horowitz. He gave his rabbinical
works the general title Efod Zahav, but designated each by
a special name. The only two that have been published are
Berit Avraham (Dyhernfurth, 1819), responsa on sections of
the Shulhan Arukh, and Gufei Halakhot (pt. 1, Lodz, 1911),
novellae to the tractates Shabbat, Pesahim, and Ketubbot. Re-
maining in manuscript form are Maalot Yuhasin, novellae
to the Even ha-Ezer; Halvaat Hen, novellae on the halakhot
concerning usury; pt. 2 of his Gufei Halakhot containing no-
vellae on the rulings of the great posekim; and Paamonei Za-
hav, his sermons.
ABRAHAO, COJE (16" century), agent and diplomat in the
service of the Portuguese viceroys in *Goa, India, from 1575
to 1594; Abrahaoss full name and personal background are
unknown. That he played a leading role in the affairs of Por-
tuguese India is attested to by numerous letters preserved in
the Portuguese historical archives in Goa. These letters praise
him for his trustworthiness and reliability, and the continual
reference to him as “Coje Abrahao Judeo” shows his Jewish
identity. Abrahao was entrusted with important diplomatic
missions to the rulers of the kingdom of Bijapur, and accom-
panied the ambassador of Shah Yusuf Ali Adil of Bijapur on
a diplomatic mission to Portugal in 1575. As a reward for his
services, King Sebastian of Portugal granted Abrahao a pen-
sion in 1576. In 1582, on behalf of Portugal, he was attestor to
a peace treaty with the shah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fischel, in: JQR, 47 (1956/57), 37ff.; P. Pis-
surlencar (ed.), Agentes da diplomacia portuguésa na India (1952),
551-6.
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
ABRAM, MORRIS BERTHOLD (1918-2000), U.S. attorney,
civic leader, second president of Brandeis University. Abram
was born in Fitzgerald, Ga. Following service as a major in Air
317
ABRAMOVICH, ROMAN ARKADYEVICH
Force Intelligence during World War 11, Abram was counsel
in the US. prosecution staff at the Nuremberg Trials (1946),
then assistant to the director for the Marshall Plan (1948). As
counsel for the Anti-Defamation League in the South (from
1955), as well as member of several civic committees, Abram
led a prolonged fight against the Georgia county unit election
system, which culminated in a 1963 Supreme Court ruling
known as the one-man one-vote principle. Abram was ap-
pointed the first general counsel of the Peace Corps by Presi-
dent Kennedy, later serving in several positions in the United
Nations, to which he was appointed by Presidents Kennedy
and Johnson. He was an appointee of three additional presi-
dents - Jimmy *Carter, Ronald *Reagan, and George H.W.
*Bush. He led U.S. delegations to numerous international
meetings, including the United Nations Commission on Hu-
man Rights and the former Conference on Security and Co-
operation in Europe, and was a former vice chair of the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights.
As president of the American Jewish Committee, 1963
to 1968, Abram led talks on Catholic-Jewish relations with
Pope Paul. He was president of Brandeis University from
1968 to 1970. He served as chairman of the National Confer-
ence on Soviet Jewry (Ncsj) from 1983 until 1988, at the peak
of the movement to free Soviet Jews. During that period, he
also served for three years as chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Under
President Bush, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations in Geneva and founded United Nations Watch fol-
lowing his term as ambassador. He was a president of the
American Jewish Committee, chairman of the United Ne-
gro College Fund, and chairman of the board of Cardozo
Law School.
For many years he was a senior partner at the law firm of
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Abram published
The Day Is Short in 1982, in which he reviewed his career and
his battle with an acute form of leukemia.
[Burton Berinsky / Ruth Beloff (2"4 ed.)]
ABRAMOVICH, ROMAN ARKADYEVICH (1966- ),
Russian billionaire of Jewish origin. Abramovich was born
in Saratov of a non-Jewish mother who died soon after giv-
ing birth to him, and later defined himself as “Ukrainian”
His father, Arkady Nahimovich, who worked at the Siktivkar
economic council (sovnarkhoz), died in an accident when he
was four years old. Abramovich was then adopted by his uncle
Abram and lived with the family in Moscow, where he finished
his secondary schooling. According to Abramovich, he gradu-
ated later from the Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas. After the
fall of Communism, Abramovich became active in business,
taking over control of the Sibneft (Siberian oil) company after
his mentor Boris *Berezovsky, who brought him into Yeltsin's
inner circle, fled the country in the wake of a criminal investi-
gation. Abramovich also owned 50% of Rusal (Russia's biggest
aluminum company) and 26% of Aeroflot. In December 1999
he was elected deputy of the State Duma from the Chukotsk
318
Autonomous Region. In December 2000 he was elected gov-
ernor of the region.
In 2003 Abramovich bought London's Chelsea soccer
club. He also owned the Russian Avangard Omsk ice hockey
team. In 2003 he was included in Fortune magazine's list of
the world’s richest men under 40, with his personal wealth es-
timated at $8.3 billion. In the same year Forbes also included
Abramovich in its list of billionaires, placing his wealth at
$5.7 billion.
[Naftali Prat (2"4 ed.)]
ABRAMOVITSH, SHOLEM YANKEV (Jacob, also Men-
dele Moykher Sforim; 1835 or 1836-1917), Hebrew and Yiddish
writer, often called the “grandfather” of modern Judaic litera-
ture. Abramovitsh was born in Kapulia (Kopyl), near Minsk;
he lived in Berdichev from 1858 to 1869 and subsequently in
Zhitomir. In 1881 he was appointed principal of the talmud
torah in Odessa, a position he held until 1916 - except for two
years spent in Geneva, Switzerland, following his traumatic ex-
perience of the 1905 pogroms. Abramovitsh’s long life spanned
several periods in the development of Jewish society in Eastern
Europe: the *Haskalah and the period of reform under Czar
*Alexander 11, the aftermath of the 1881 pogroms, *Hibbat
Zion, the Socialism of the *Bund, and Zionism.
Abramovitsh began his literary career as a Hebrew es-
sayist and fiction writer but soon turned to Yiddish. With
five short novels written between 1864 and 1878, he laid the
foundation for modern Yiddish fiction. In 1886, he returned
to Hebrew with a series of short stories that literary historians
have often viewed as a seminal contribution to the revival of
modern Hebrew literature. He also expanded his early Yiddish
works and translated them into Hebrew. As an integral mem-
ber of the Jewish intelligentsia in Odessa, Abramovitsh was in
contact with the Yiddish writer *Sholem Aleichem, with the
historian Simon *Dubnow, and with Hebrew writers such as
H.N. *Bialik, YH. *Rawnitzki, and *Ahad Ha-Am.
Readers and critics have often referred to Abramovitsh
as “Mendele Moykher Sforim” (“Mendele the Book Peddler”),
yet Dan Miron showed in A Traveler Disguised (1973; 1996)
that this is misleading. First appearing in 1864 and evolving
in Yiddish and Hebrew over the next half century, Mendele is
a character or persona in Abramovitsh’s works. Hence it is in-
accurate to use the designation as if it were simply the author's
pen name. Abramovitsh seems to have created the Mendele
persona as a way of reaching a broad readership. Instead of
speaking from above, as did many Hebrew maskilim, he uses
the folksy Mendele as his mouthpiece. Sometimes the enlight-
ened Abramovitsh employs irony at the expense of the more
naive Mendele. The Jubilee editions of his complete works, in
both Hebrew (1909-12) and Yiddish (1911-13), try to circum-
vent this problem by having it both ways, using a title fol-
lowed by a parenthesis: Ale verk fun Mendele Moykher Sforim
(S.¥. Abramovitsh).
Abramovitsh was the son of Hayyim Moyshe Broyde, a
prosperous and respected man who was one of the outstand-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ing talmudic scholars in the small town of Kapulia. Situated
in the Minsk province of Czarist Russia (now Belarus), this
shtetl was culturally associated with Jewish Lithuania (“Lita”).
Hence Abramovitsh was schooled in the prevailing Lithuanian
rabbinic style, with emphasis on the Hebrew Bible, its Ara-
maic translation, and the Talmud. He received an unusually
rigorous heder education from a talented melammed (teacher)
named Yose Rubens; according to Abramovitsh’s own account,
during his years at heder he memorized most of the Hebrew
Bible. Instructed by Rubens until the age of 11, Abramovitsh
was impressed by his artistic abilities as a wood carver. Follow-
ing the death of his father in about 1849, Abramovitsh studied
at yeshivot in Timkovitz, Slutsk, and Vilna. After two years in
Slutsk he returned to live with his mother, now remarried and
living in the picturesque village of Mielnik, which was sur-
rounded by a forest. His experiences there may be reflected
in his story “Dos Tosefos- Yontev Kelbl” (“The Calf? 1911), in
which a yeshivah boy returns home and becomes engrossed
by the world of nature. At about the age of 17, Abramovitsh
wrote his first Hebrew poetry, consisting of odes to nature in
the neo-Biblical style known as melizah.
Abramovitsh later traveled south with an aunt in an ef-
fort to find her husband, who had fled his creditors when
his business failed. Their resourceful guide, Avreml Khromoi
(Abraham the Lame), regaled them with stories about the bet-
ter life that awaited them in Volhynia. Avreml did not travel
by the shortest route but made as many stops as possible to
collect charity. The difficult experiences during these circu-
itous travels became the impetus for Abramovitsh’s great-
est Yiddish novel, Fishke der Krumer (“Fishke the Lame,”
1869/1888). At the end of their journeys Abramovitsh settled
in Kamenets-Podolski, where he was briefly married to a men-
tally ill woman. There he also met the maskilic author Avra-
ham-Ber Gottlober, probably his model for the impoverished
writer Herr Gutmann in Dos Kleyne Mentshele (“The Little
Man,’ 1864). Although Gottlober was not impressed by the
juvenile Hebrew verses that the young Abramovitsh showed
him, he recognized his talent. As a teacher at the government
school for Jewish boys, Gottlober was able to direct Abramo-
vitsh’s studies and introduce him to the wider world of litera-
ture, mathematics, and science. With the assistance of Got-
tlober’s daughters, Abramovitsh learned German and Russian,
passed a teacher’s examination, and taught at the Kamenets-
Podolski government school in 1856-58. During that time edu-
cation became the subject of his first publication, “Mikhtav al
Devar ha-Hinukh” (“A Letter on Education,’ 1857), published
with Gottlober’s help in the Hebrew journal Ha-Maggid.
Abramovitsh married Pessie Levin in 1858 and moved
with her to Berdichev, supported by his father-in-law, while
he continued his autodidactic education and literary activi-
ties. Berdichev was heavily populated by hasidim, which led
Abramovitsh into conflict with a form of Jewish life that he
had seldom encountered in the north, except during his stud-
ies in Timkovitz. His fiction, in which a town resembling Ber-
dichev is called “Glupsk” (= a town of fools), expressed his
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAMOVITSH, SHOLEM YANKEV
hostility toward the Jewish community leaders. In Dos Vint-
shfingerl (“The Wishing-Ring”), he mocked hasidic resistance
to modernization: “The hasidim were not pleased, because
Gutmann dressed like a German. And when the floor of the
school was washed, they became furious. “What's the meaning
of this? To do such a thing in a school! What's this, washing off
the mud that our ancestors left behind?!” (1865, p. 7).
In 1860 Abramovitsh published his first book, a collec-
tion of Hebrew essays entitled Mishpat Shalom (“The Judg-
ment of Peace,” alluding to the author’s name), which in-
cluded a translated article on whether corporeal punishment
of children is permissible. A cause of much subsequent de-
bate was his lead essay, “Kilkul ha-Minim” (“The Confusion
of Gender”), which critiqued a work by Eliezer Zweifel. He
occupied himself with natural sciences and began to translate
Harald Othmar Lenz's Gemeinniitzige Naturgeschichte (“Natu-
ral History for General Use,’ 1835-39), which appeared in He-
brew as Sefer Toledot ha-Teva (“The Book of Natural History,’
3 vols., 1862-73). This project reflected his concern that Jews
were not sufficiently educated in matters of science and na-
ture, yet it achieved limited results because the audience for
secular Hebrew writing was small. Abramovitsh’s first Hebrew
novel, Limdu Heitev (“Learn to Do Well”) was published in
Warsaw in 1862. The Russian title page calls it “a novel in the
pure Hebrew language,’ which shows Abramovitsh’s early ad-
herence to the literary principles of the Berlin Enlightenment,
including a strong preference for the supposedly “pure lan-
guage” (Jeshon zah) of the biblical prophets. Because he emu-
lated that allusive, ornamental style, his early Hebrew writings
were derivative and aesthetically unremarkable. He revised
his short novel and published it under the new title Ha-Avot
ve-ha-Banim (“Fathers and Children,” 1868), alluding to the
1862 novel of the same title by Ivan Turgenev.
Prospects for advances in the Jews’ material conditions
and educational privileges improved in the 1860s under Al-
exander 11. At that time, Abramovitsh followed the maskilic
bent in the didactic goals of his fiction: according to his 1889
autobiographical account in Nahum *Sokolow’s Sefer Zik-
karon, “I said to myself, here I am observing the ways of our
people and seeking to give them stories from a Jewish source
in the Holy Tongue, yet most of them do not even know this
language and speak Yiddish. What good does a writer do with
all of his toil and ideas if he is not useful to his people? This
question - for whom do I toil? - gave me no rest and brought
me into great confusion.”
In November 1864, serialization of Abramovitsh’s Dos
Kleyne Mentshele (“The Little Man”), to which many scholars
trace the beginning of modern Yiddish literature, began in Kol
Mevasser (“A Heralding Voice” - the Yiddish supplement to
Ha-Meliz, edited by Alexander Tsederboym (*Zederbaum)).
The book was reprinted in 1865 with the subtitle: Oder a Le-
bensbashraybung fun Yitzhok Avrom Takif (“Or, a Life-descrip-
tion by the Powerful Man Isaac Abraham”). While no author's
name appeared on the title page, Abramovitsh hinted at his
identity by attributing the book to “a man” (ish, Aleph-Yod-
319
ABRAMOVITSH, SHOLEM YANKEV
Shin, Abramovitsh’s initials in reverse). Such anonymity was
a common stratagem among Yiddish authors, both because
their political views often drew censure and because Yiddish
writing was held in low esteem.
Abramovitsh raged against the complacent rich who,
as he wrote in a letter to Lev Binshtok, “rest in the shadow
of money.” His own financial circumstances were especially
difficult around 1866, when he published his second collec-
tion of Hebrew essays, Ein Mishpat (“Fountain of Judgment”)
and the second volume of Sefer Toledot ha-Teva, for which he
drew terminology from talmudic sources and in this respect
influenced modern Hebrew usage. Some critics believe that
his descriptions of nature and animal behavior anticipate his
later fiction.
At atime when modern Yiddish theater was still in its in-
fancy, Abramovitsh wrote the play Di Takse (“The Tax,’ 1869; it
bore the ironic subtitle: Oder di Bande Shtot Baley Toyves, “Or,
the Gang of City Benefactors”). Written in order to advance
his reformist goals, it is more successful as social criticism
than as drama. He had encountered widespread corruption
among the community leaders of Berdichev and depicted the
wrongdoings of these false benefactors in a transparent sat-
ire. According to one account, the powerful men of Berdichev
forced Abramovitsh to leave the town after his satiric portrayal
was published. Abramovitsh then moved to Zhitomir, where
he studied at the Rabbinical Institute. Since this school edu-
cated many young Jewish men seeking higher education, and
not only would-be rabbis, it was not unusual that Abramovitsh
ended his studies there without receiving a degree.
In the 1870s, Abramovitsh experimented with writing
Yiddish verse, favoring outmoded tetrameter and pentam-
eter couplets. His poetic efforts ranged from an allegorical
poem about the Jewish people, “Yudl” (1875), to traditional
Judaic literature. He wrote Yiddish translations of Sabbath
songs called Zmires Yisroel (“Songs of Israel,” 1875) and com-
piled nature hymns in a Yiddish adaptation of the hasidic
Perek Shirah (1875). He planned to translate the prayer book
and the Psalms into Yiddish, but this project remained unfin-
ished and only fragments are extant. In contrast to the Ger-
man maskilim, Abramovitsh (like Mendel Lefin) recognized
the importance of reaching common Yiddish readers in their
mother tongue while also combating the influence of the
Tsene-Rene with its archaic language and heavy reliance on
midrashic elaborations.
One of Abramovitsh’s most widely read books was his
allegorical novel, Di Klyatshe; Oder Tsar Baley Khayim (“The
Nag; or, Cruelty to Animals,’ 1873). Its epigraph quotes from
Song of Songs 1:9, which Abramovitsh expands in Yiddish:
“To my mare among Pharaoh’s chariots I compare you — Peo-
ple of Israel” During the period of reform between 1856 and
1881, the number of Jews at Russian high schools and univer-
sities increased from about 1% to over 10% of the total popu-
lation of students. Yet Isrolik, a typical boy who has received
a traditional Jewish education, runs into difficulties because
of his unfamiliarity with subjects such as history and Slavic
320
folklore. As he becomes mentally imbalanced, Isrolik hallu-
cinates about meeting a talking horse and trying to improve
her lot. Her sufferings are “as old as the Jewish exile,’ because
she represents the fate of the Jewish people.
Unlike most of Abramovitsh’s fiction, which concentrates
on Jewish life in the impoverished shtetlekh in the Pale of Set-
tlement, Di Klyatshe presents a wider panorama of Czarist
Russia, with special attention to relations among antisemites
and Jews; hooligans who torment the nag obviously represent
antisemites. There is even a critique of the well-intentioned
maskilim, when Isrolik reads aloud his letter to a benevo-
lent society - an oblique representation of the Society for the
Spread of Enlightenment (ope). The nag refers to the orna-
mental, pseudo-biblical Hebrew style when she responds bit-
terly: “Melitza, melitza, melitza!” She rightly doubts whether
any practical results will ensue from Isrolik’s highfalutin rheto-
ric. Yet Di Klyatshe was a bold political allegory: in one of his
nightmarish fantasies, for instance, Ashmodai - the King of
the Demons - seems to represent the Czar.
Kitser Masoes Binyomen Hashlishi (“The Brief Travels of
Benjamin the Third,’ 1878) centers on a pair of hapless, would-
be explorers, Benjamin and Senderl, who somewhat resemble
Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Instead of depict-
ing a petty nobleman who has read too many chivalric ro-
mances and acts as if he inhabits one, Abramovitsh portrays
Benjamin as a Jew who has read too many narratives about
travel to the Holy Land. Abramovitsh attacks the impractical-
ity and worldly ignorance of Benjamin and his sidekick Send-
erl, because they are stereotypical traditional Jews whose life
experience consists almost exclusively of Torah study. Ben-
jamin’s provisions for travel consist of little more than his
prayer book, prayer shawl, and tefillin; only Sender! has the
sense to bring food. Their wives are market women who eke
out a meager living and dominate their families. Toward the
end of the book, Abramovitsh takes aim at the horrific phe-
nomenon of khappers (press-gangs) who kidnap Jews for in-
duction into the Czar’s army; in this comic account, however,
Benjamin and Senderl are discharged because they prove to
be more trouble than they are worth.
A reprint of Dos Kleyne Mentshele (1879) brought to a
close the most productive period of Abramovitsh’s Yiddish
writing. The comparatively optimistic period of reform be-
gun in 1855 by Alexander 11, the so-called “Liberator Czar,”
had ended abruptly with his assassination in 1881 — followed
by anti-Jewish pogroms and a period of reaction during which
the conditions for Yiddish publishing also changed. During
the same period Abramovitsh experienced personal and fam-
ily troubles. His daughter Rashel, a talented art student, died
in St. Petersburg, while his son Meir (Mikhail), a Russian poet,
was exiled for political activism and later converted to Chris-
tianity. Abramovitsh described his malaise in a letter to Lev
Binshtok on January 16, 1880: “As soon as I take up the pen, I
feel an overwhelming heaviness: my hands are bound as if by
magical chains” (see Dos Mendele Bukh, 107). On June 5, 1884,
he wrote to another friend that “the misfortunes of the recent
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
period have turned my heart into stone, so that my tongue has
not allowed me to speak and my hands have not allowed me
to write a word” (ibid., 128). For several years he produced no
major works in Yiddish. Subsequently, in 1886-1896, as part
of the movement to revive Hebrew, he devoted much of his
creative energy to writing Hebrew short fiction.
In 1888, Sholem Aleichem sought out Abramovitsh, hop-
ing to include his writings in the anthology he was editing,
Di Folksbibliotek (“The Jewish Popular Library”). Their cor-
respondence quickly assumed an intimate tone, with Sholem
Aleichem referring to Abramovitsh as “Grandfather,” while
Abramovitsh referred to Sholem Aleichem as “Grandson” -
although their difference in age was only 23 years. At first
Abramovitsh was evasive, complaining of insufficient time
because of his work as principal of the Odessa Talmud Torah,
but he did contribute the first two parts of the expanded and
quite altered version of Dos Vintshfingerl (“The Wishing-Ring,”
1888-89). This narrative of Hershele’s impoverished childhood
in Kabtsansk (“Beggarsville”), replete with irony and satire,
still shows traces of nostalgia for shtetl life.
Although Abramovitsh had continued publishing spo-
radically in Hebrew throughout the 1870s, he devoted this de-
cade mainly to writing in Yiddish. He returned to Hebrew with
the story, “Be-Seter Raam” (“In the Secret Place of Thunder,”
1886-87), his first Hebrew belletristic work since 1868. He-
brew became Abramovitsh’s literary focus in the 1890s, when
in addition to publishing Hebrew short fiction he began trans-
lating his Yiddish novels. One of his most successful Hebrew
stories is “Shem ve-Yefet ba-Aggalah” (“Shem and Japheth on
the Train? 1890), in which Mendele the Book Peddler aban-
dons his horse and carriage and travels in a third-class train
compartment. There he meets Moyshe the Tailor, a latter-day
Moses who has no Torah to offer beyond stratagems for the
survival of the oppressed.
Following a decade in which Abramovitsh printed his
Hebrew short fiction, 1896-97 saw the publication of He-
brew versions of Masaot Benyamin ha-Shlishi (“Travels of
Benjamin the Third”) and Be-Emek ha-Bakhah (“In the Vale
of Tears”). A few years later, H.N. Bialik translated the first
eight chapters of Fishke der krumer (“Fishke the Lame”) as
Sefer ha-Kabezanim: Nun Kefufah (“The Book of Beggars: A
Crooked Letter Nun; 1901), but Abramovitsh was not satis-
fied. For the most part Abramovitsh translated or adapted
his own works into Hebrew. In the late novel Shloyme, Reb
Khayims (“Solomon, Hayyim’s Son”) - or, in Hebrew, Ba-Ya-
mim ha-Hem (“In Those Days”) —- Abramovitsh is less satiric
than in his early works.
Critical Assessment
Abramovitsh records the plight of Russian Jewry suffering tyr-
anny and hate from without and exploitation by the Jewish
upper classes from within. In some works Abramovitsh con-
tinues the Haskalah tradition of satirizing folk beliefs (e.g., in
Fishke der Krumer and Kitser Masoes Binyomin ha-Shlishi).
Elsewhere he evokes the intimate experiences of Jewish child-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAMOVITSH, SHOLEM YANKEV
hood, as in works such as the late verion of Dos Vintshfingerl
and the autobiographical novel Shloyme, Reb Khayims. Many
of his characters are drawn from Jewish life in the towns and
cities of Belorussia and Lithuania, where he spent his child-
hood, while other works portray characters from Volhynia and
southern Russia, with the action taking place in Berdichev,
Zhitomir, Odessa, and other towns in the Jewish Pale of Settle-
ment. Following a Russian tradition, Abramovitsh uses ficti-
tious place names that satirically describe the qualities of their
inhabitants — such as “Glupsk,” the town of fools modeled on
Berdichev; “Tsviatshits,’ a town of hypocrisy; “Tuneyadevka,”
suggesting parasitism; and “Kabtsansk,” or Paupersville. Al-
though Abramovitsh was immersed in Judaic traditions, he
also was influenced by European fiction, as reflected in his
parody of Don Quixote (in Kitser Masoes Binyomin ha-Shlishi).
His Dos Kleyne Mentshele (“The Little Man”) and Fishke der
Krumer (“Fishke the Lame’) reflect the Russian satiric tradi-
tion of Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin as well as the picaresque
novel of authors such as Henry Fielding. He adopted some
typical patterns of the sentimental adventure story in Fishke
der Krumer, in which surprising coincidences occur. Based on
that novel, Chaver-Paver wrote a screenplay and Edgar Ulmer
directed the powerful Yiddish film Fishke der Krumer (known
in English as “The Light Ahead,” 1939).
Although Abramovitsh began writing in Yiddish for the
practical purpose of reaching a larger reading public, he even-
tually came to regard his work in Yiddish to be of intrinsic ar-
tistic value in its own right. Abramovitsh’s style is an effective
instrument for satire and irony, especially when it is deliber-
ately incongruous: phrases originally expressing the sacred are
applied to the profane, and the reverse. In a 1907 letter to Y.H.
Rawnitzki, for example, Abramovitsh alluded to the Creation
story when he recalled his original goal: “Let us create a He-
brew style that will be lively, speaking clearly and precisely, the
way people do in our time and place, and let its soul be Jew-
ish” In many of the prefaces to his novels, Mendele Moykher
Sforim uses mock prayers that begin, “Praised be the Cre-
ator...; and then turn into attacks on corruption. Abramov-
itsh’s traditional narrators - such as Mendele Moykher Sforim,
Isaac Abraham Takif, or Alter Yaknoz - provide Abramovitsh
with many opportunities for ironic play and enable him to
achieve artistic distance from his story.
Abramovitsh’s Hebrew style went through a number of
stages. In the 1860s he was still under the influence of Abra-
ham *Mapu’s neo-biblical rhetoric, particularly in his early He-
brew stories. Abramovitsh carried on the tradition of expand-
ing the Hebrew language, as introduced by Haskalah writers
such as Isaac *Satanow, Menahem Mendel (Lefin) Levin, and
Joseph *Perl, whose style absorbed elements of Mishnaic
Hebrew, medieval philosophical literature, and hasidic lit-
erature influenced by spoken Yiddish. Abramovitsh’s process
of creating a synthetic Hebrew style composed of many his-
torical layers reached its peak after 1886. On the occasion of
Abramovitsh’s 75th birthday, in 1910-11, H.N. Bialik asserted
that Abramovitsh was the “creator of the nusah? which he
321
ABRAMOVITSH, SHOLEM YANKEV
described as a new synthesis drawing from many historical
layers of Hebrew. According to Bialik, Abramovitsh’s nusah
had already become the dominant style in Hebrew literature.
Many 20" century critics accepted Bialik’s view, although
some writers such as Y.H. *Brenner countered with a kind of
anti-nusah. In any event, Abramovitsh contributed to greater
fluidity in Hebrew style by moving beyond the more rigid bib-
lical melizah of his predecessors.
Abramovitsh wrote in both Yiddish and Hebrew through-
out his career, which led to a productive interaction between
his writings in these languages. Simon Dubnow made an im-
portant observation on Abramovitsh’s bilingual creativity:
when he “had the Yiddish original of the first parts of Dos
Vintshfingerl in front of him, he made the Hebrew transla-
tion - or more precisely, the reworking - masterfully and
without any difficulties. When it came to writing more without
the Yiddish original, however, he sensed that it would not go
smoothly. One cannot create content and language at the same
time, but only one after the other; one must create the content
first, in the language of the life that is portrayed in the art-
work. On this foundation, then, he could build the style of the
revived Hebrew language (Fun “Zhargon” tsu Yidish (“From
Jargon’ to Yiddish”), 1929, p. 46). In his striving for artistic
perfection, Abramovitsh continually reworked his novels and
stories, enlarging and polishing them. The later versions of his
works, and particularly the Jubilee Edition, moderated his sa-
tiric stance; he also diminished the pro-Enlightenment propa-
ganda that was present in early works such as Dos Vinshfingerl.
During the process of bilingual recreation, in later adaptations
of his works, Abramovitsh introduced important variations in
content and style. He did not merely translate his works from
Yiddish into Hebrew but rather reinvented them.
Abramovitsh is rightly remembered for his descriptions
of nature, his trenchant satire, and his sympathetic portrayals
of the poor. The lack of natural descriptions in Judaic litera-
ture prior to Abramovitsh is legendary. Abramovitsh’s narrator
Mendele, however, pays great attention to the natural world.
Satire had been a common literary device among the maskilim
writing in German and Hebrew, and Abramovitsh became the
most powerful satiric author in Yiddish letters. Because his
basic ideology was that of the Jewish Enlightenment, Abramo-
vitsh continued writing in a satiric vein even after the political
setbacks of 1881. Later in life, in part because of his position
at the talmud torah in Odessa, Abramovitsh tempered his cri-
tiques. Beyond his satiric impulses, Abramovitsh shows ample
sympathy toward the underclass and unusual sensitivity to the
plight of poor Jewish boys.
Abramovitsh’s Yiddish and Hebrew writings attracted
attention from the start, but critical interest in them grew es-
pecially in the 1880s, after he had published his major Yid-
dish works. This interest increased early in the 20" century
as Abramovitsh’s Hebrew fiction won admiration, on the one
hand, and drew reserved and even negative reaction on the
other. From an ideological point of view, critics have been
interested in his attitude toward the Hibbat Zion movement
322
and his stand on the social problems of the oppressed multi-
tudes in Russia. Readers have sometimes seen Abramovitsh as
a preacher, loyal to his people and calling for a radical change
in Diaspora life. Other critics such as David Frishman stressed
the documentary character of Abramovitsh’s descriptions of the
shtetl, which might someday serve as a historical testimony to
the Jewish way of life in the 19 century. Some other critics have
thought that his harsh portrayals of shtetl life give a distorted
image of Jewish existence there. While critics have admired his
descriptions of nature and his epic achievement in recreating
Jewish shtetl types, they have occasionally argued that — because
he uses exaggeration and grotesque caricature - Abramovitsh
inadequately represents the lives of individuals.
A unique source of information about Abramovitsh's for-
mative years is an essay in the Russian-Jewish journal Vosk-
hod (“Sunrise,’ 1884), by his childhood friend Yehuda-Leyb
(Lev) Binshtok. Also essential are Abramovitsh’s essay “Reshi-
mot le-Toledotai” (“My Life Story,’ in Nahum Sokolov’s Sefer
Zikkaron, 1889) and his many letters contained in Dos Men-
dele Bukh (“The Mendele Book,” ed. Nakhman Mayzel, 1959).
A fictionalized account of Abramovitsh’s childhood may be
found in his autobiographical novel Shloyme Reb Khayims,
which appeared serially in Yiddish starting in 1899 (printed
in book form, 1911); in Hebrew, the autobiographical novel ap-
peared as Ba-Yamim ha-Hem (“In Those Days,” starting with
the Petikhtah, 1894; printed in book form, 1911).
On the occasion of Abramovitsh’s 75th birthday and in
celebration of his wide popularity based on 50 years of writ-
ing, the Jubilee editions of his works were published in 1909-11
(Hebrew, in three volumes) and in 1911-13 (Yiddish, in 16 vol-
umes). Some important studies of Abramovitsh are by Shm-
uel Niger (1936), Meir Viner (1946), Gershon Shaked (196s),
and Dan Miron (1973). In English, Ken Frieden (1995) gives
an overview of his life and work and interprets his major fic-
tion in relation to the other classic Yiddish writers - Sholem
Aleichem and I.L. Peretz. In a new vein, Naomi Seidman
(1997) discusses gender issues in Abramovitsh’s writing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ale Verk fun Mendele Moykher Sforim (S.Y.
Abramovitsh) (1911-13), standard ed. of Yiddish works; Kol Kitvei
Mendele Moykher Sforim (S.Y. Abramovitsh) (1909-12) and Kol Kit-
vei Mendele Mokher Sfarim (1966), Hebrew works; Tales of Mendele
the Book Peddler, ed. D. Miron and K. Frieden (1996); Classic Yiddish
Stories Stories of S.Y. Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and I.L. Peretz,
ed. and trans. K. Frieden et al. (2004); Sh. Niger, Mendele Moykher
Sforim: Zayn Lebn, Zayne Gezelshaftlekhe un Literarishe Oyftuungen
(1936); M. Viner, Tsu der Geshikhte fun der Yidisher Literatur in 19-
tn Yorhundert (1946); Y. Klausner, in: Sifrut, 6 (1950), 353-516; Re-
jzen, in: Leksikon, 6 (1965), 48-72; G. Shaked, Bein Zehok le-Dema:
Iyyunim be-Yizirato shel Mendele Mokher-Sfarim (1965); D. Miron,
A Traveler Disguised: A Study in the Rise of Modern Yiddish Fiction
in the Nineteenth Century (1973; 1996); Sh. Werses, Mi-Mendele ad
Hazaz: Sugiot be-Hitpathhut ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit (1987); K. Frieden,
Classic Yiddish Fiction: Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and Peretz
(1995); N. Seidman, A Marriage Made in Heaven: The Sexual Politics
of Hebrew and Yiddish (1997).
[Ken Frieden (2"4 ed.)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAMOVITZ, MAX (1908-2004), U.S. architect, born in
Chicago. From 1947 to 1952 Abramovitz was deputy director
of the Planning Office of the United Nations. He was partner
in the firm of Harrison & Abramovitz, which built the United
Nations Secretariat, New York (1950). The design incorporated
the ideas of an international panel of architects that included
Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. This construction, the
east and west sides of which were faced almost entirely with
glass, proved a prototype of later buildings. His firm special-
ized in office buildings such as the Alcoa Building, Pittsburgh
(1953), and the Socony Mobil Building, New York (1956), in
which story-high metal units were used for the curtain walls.
He also worked on projects of Jewish interest. These include
Temple Beth-Zion, Buffalo, N.y., and the Hillel Foundations
on the campuses of the University of Illinois (1951) and of
Northwestern University (1952). His three chapels (Protestant,
Catholic, Jewish) at Brandeis University (1954) expressed the
harmony and equality of the three faiths as represented on the
campus, while at the same time respecting their differences.
The chapels were similar structures placed around a pool. In
1963 Abramovitz built the new Philharmonic Hall, New York.
The facade features two superimposed rows of concrete shafts
softened with flattened vaults. It has been regarded as an ex-
ample of American “neoclassicism.’ In 1973 Philharmonic Hall
was renamed Avery Fisher Hall. Located at the northern end
of the Lincoln Center Plaza, the concert hall is home to the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra and can seat an audience
of more than 2,700. The Plaza, built in 1964-65 by Harrison
& Abramovitz, was rebuilt in 1984-85 by Lew Davis and re-
named Paul Milstein Plaza in 1997. Abramovitz’s auditorium
of the University of Illinois at Urbana (1964) is a vast saucer
dome surrounded by a circulation gallery that can accommo-
date more than 18,000 spectators.
The Empire State Plaza in Albany, N.y., considered one
of the most ambitious urban renewal projects in modern
US. history, was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz and
built between 1965 and 1979. The government complex con-
sists of ten buildings set on a six-story platform, which forms
the plaza.
ABRAMOVITZ, MOSES (1912-2000), U.S. economist. Born
in New York City, he was an instructor at Harvard (1936-38)
and from 1938 to 1940 a member of the staff of the National
Bureau of Economic Research. In 1940 he began teaching at
Columbia but interrupted his work during World War 11 to
serve as the principal economist of the War Production Board
and the Office of Strategic Services. He spent the final year of
the war as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and with the close
of the conflict was appointed economic adviser to the U.S.
representative on the Allied Commission on Reparations. In
1946 he resumed his teaching at Columbia but left in 1948 for
Stanford University. He taught at Stanford for almost 30 years,
taking leave only during 1962-63 to work as economic adviser
to the secretary-general of the Organization for Economic
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAMOWICZ, DINA
Cooperation and Development in Paris. He served as chair
from 1963 to 1965 and from 1971 to 1974. During his tenure
at Stanford and after his retirement, he gained international
admiration and renown for his fundamental insights and pi-
oneering contributions to the study of long-term economic
growth. His main fields of interest were economic history and
development and business cycles.
Abramovitz served as president of the American Eco-
nomic Association (1979-80), the Western Economic As-
sociation (1988-89), and the Economic History Association
(1992-93). His publications include An Approach to a Price
Theory for a Changing Economy (1939); Inventories and Busi-
ness Cycles (1950); with Vera Eliasberg, The Growth of Public
Employment in Great Britain (1957); Evidences of Long Swings
in Aggregate Construction since the Civil War (1964); and
Thinking About Growth and Other Essays (1989). Abramo-
vitz’s article “Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Be-
hind” (1986) is one of the most frequently cited papers ever
published by the Journal of Economic History.
[Joachim O. Ronall / Ruth Beloff (274 ed.)]
ABRAMOWICZ, DINA (1909-2000), librarian and spe-
cialist on Yiddish studies and on Jewish history and culture
in Eastern Europe. Born in Vilna, she was raised in a Rus-
sian-speaking home with strong family ties to the Haskalah,
the Yiddish-speaking intelligentsia, and the Bund. Abramo-
wicz was educated in Yiddish and Polish schools, including a
Polish gymnasium, and she received an M.A. in philosophy
and Polish literature from Stefan Batory University in Vilna
(1936). From 1939 to 1941 she was assistant to the head librar-
ian of the Jewish Central Children’s Library of Vilna, and
during the Nazi occupation she worked in the Vilna Ghetto
Library. Most of the library’s books had previously belonged
to the Hevrah Mefitse Haskalah, in whose former building it
was housed. Abramowicz escaped the ghetto before its liqui-
dation and from 1943 until liberation in 1944 she served ina
Jewish partisan unit. Abramowicz immigrated to the United
States in 1946, where she was reunited with her father, who
had been there since 1939. Her mother perished in Treblinka
in 1943, and her younger sister survived the war in France.
In America, Abramowicz resumed her career as a librarian
at the *y1vo Institute for Jewish Research, where she served
as assistant librarian (1947-62), head librarian (1962-87), and
senior reference librarian (1987-2000). Under Abramowicz’s
leadership the y1vo Library grew into one of the largest and
most important repositories of printed Judaica, especially in
her areas of specialization: Yiddish language and literature
(including children’s literature), Jewish history and culture in
Eastern Europe, and the Holocaust. Abramowicz was assidu-
ous in her efforts to acquire new and unusual publications for
the library. She supervised the absorption of much of the pre-
war Vilna y1vo library after it was recovered in Europe and
brought to New York. In addition, she published book reviews,
topical articles, annual lists of new Yiddish books, and bibli-
323
ABRAMOWITZ, BINA
ographies of translations from Yiddish into English, and she
co-edited a collection of essays on 19*- and early 20'-cen-
tury Lithuanian Jewry, Profiles of a Lost World: Memoirs of
East European Jewish Life before World War 11 (1999) with
her father Hirsz Abramowicz. Abramowicz’s contributions as
reference librarian and cultural gatekeeper were particularly
noteworthy, and she received awards from several national
library associations and Jewish organizations. Over the years
she provided in-depth consultations to thousands of research-
ers, including novelists, scholars, filmmakers, journalists, and
genealogists. Through her personal experiences, professional
training, intellectual engagement, and longevity, Abramow-
icz came to personify the legacy of Eastern European Jewish
civilization. She died in New York City.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Abramowicz, “The World of My Parents:
Reminiscences,’ in: yrvo Annual, 23 (1996), 105-57; idem, Guardians
of a Tragic Heritage: Reminiscences and Observations of an Eyewitness
(1998); J. Sharlet, “Keeper of a Civilization,” in: The Book Peddler / Der
Pakn-treger, 21 (1996), 9-21.
[Zachary M. Baker (24 ed.)]
ABRAMOWITZ, BINA (Fuchs; 1865-1953), Yiddish actress.
At the age of 14, Bina Fuchs joined the chorus of Mogulesko’s
company in Odessa and later acted with Naphtali Goldfaden’s
troupe, being typecast in “mother” roles. After her marriage to
Max Abramowitz, the couple toured Russia giving concerts,
and in 1886 accompanied Mogulesko to the U.S. In New York
she played with various Yiddish companies, including Maurice
Schwartz’s at the Jewish Art Theater. She created many roles in
Jacob Gordin’s plays. Abramowitz also appeared in films made
in the US. They include the silent movie Broken Hearts (1926),
directed by Maurice Schwartz, and the Yiddish-language films
The Unfortunate Bride (1932) and Yiskor (1933).
[Ruth Beloff (2™4 ed.)]
ABRAMOWITZ, DOV BAER (1860-1926), U.S. rabbi, re-
ligious Zionist leader, and founding member of the Union of
Orthodox Rabbis of America. Abramowitz was born in Lithu-
ania but made aliyah together with his parents as a young boy.
He was educated at the Ez Hayyim yeshivah in Jerusalem and
appointed as a district rabbi in the city after receiving ordina-
tion in 1885. Abramowitz left Israel for America in 1894, mov-
ing first to Philadelphia, and later to New York City, where
he served as the rabbi of Congregation Mishkan Israel. He
quickly became a prominent figure in the Orthodox com-
munity, admired for both his scholarship and his leadership
abilities. While in New York, he published a text on the Jewish
marriage code, a collection of sermons, and a multi-volume
study of Jewish law as well as editing a short-lived scholarly
journal. He also joined with Moses Matlin and Judah Ber-
nstein to push for the establishment of a seminary to train
English-speaking rabbis to serve American pulpits. The Rabbi
Isaac Elchanan Yeshiva, the product of their combined labors,
was founded in 1897. Five years later, he joined with a group of
324
other immigrant rabbis who had received their ordination at
yeshivot in Europe and Palestine to form the Union of Ortho-
dox Rabbis of America (Agudat ha-Rabbonim). Abramowitz
moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1906 after accepting an offer
to become head of the city’s bet din. This position provided
Abramowitz with the status and time to pursue a variety of
initiatives close to his heart. A passionate proponent of reli-
gious Zionism, Abramowitz campaigned on behalf of the Miz-
rachi movement, starting its first American office in 1910 and
encouraging its expansion. Abramowitz was appointed as the
president of the American Mizrachi at its founding in 1914.
During World War 1 his focus shifted to easing the plight of the
embattled Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. Abramow-
itz collected money for the Central Relief Committee, the or-
ganization established to rally the often fractious American
Jewish community on behalf of their beleaguered brethren
caught between opposing armies on the Eastern Front. Fol-
lowing the war, Abramowitz returned to his Zionist activities,
founding an organization to support emissaries who visited
America to raise funds for Palestine. After over 25 years in
America, Abramowitz returned to settle in Palestine in 1921.
Among his writings are Dat Yisrael (1897-1905), Ketav ha-Dat
(1900), and Kuntres Sefer Ketubbah (1900).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Sherman, Orthodox Judaism in America:
A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook (1996); Universal Jewish
Encyclopedia (1948).
[Adam Mendelsohn (24 ed.)]
ABRAMOWITZ, EMIL (1864-1922), physician, one of the
first Social Democrats in Russia. Abramowitz was born in
Grodno and studied in France. He was active in the movement
in Minsk and Kiev in the 1880s. His wide education, personal
warmth, and persuasiveness as an exponent of socialism en-
abled him to influence numerous workers. The program he
drew up for workers’ circles was followed for a long time in
the Jewish labor movement. Abramowitz was imprisoned for
his political activities and spent many years in exile in Sibe-
ria, where he gained a reputation for his cultural activities and
dedication to the medical profession. During World War 1 he
served as an army doctor; in 1919 he was again imprisoned,
as a Menshevik. The letters he wrote between 1914 and 1917
reveal concern over the fate of Russian Jewry and pessimism
as to its future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Deyateli Revolyutsionnogo Dvizheniya v
Rossii (Bio-Bibliograficheskiy slovar), s.v.; E. Tcherikower, Historishe
Shriftn, 3 (1939), 410 ff.
[Moshe Mishkinsky]
ABRAMOWITZ, GRIGORI (pseudonyms: Zevi Abrahami,
W. Farbman, and Michael Farbman; 18802-1933), Zionist
socialist, publisher, and journalist. Born in Odessa, Russia,
Abramowitz studied in Munich and Zurich where he became
an active Zionist. At first sharing the ideology of the *Dem-
ocratic Fraction, he later joined the Zionist socialist group
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
“Herut” in Zurich. As a supporter of the project for Jewish
colonization in *Uganda, Abramowitz wrote a series of articles
on “Zionism and the Uganda question” in the Zionist organ
Yevreyskaya (Zhizn, 1905). For the *Zionist Socialist Workers
Party he wrote on Jewish emigration and the economy. After
withdrawing from public activities, Abramowitz founded a
book-publishing firm. He lived in England from 1915 and
while there contributed to English and American journals
as an expert on Soviet affairs. His books include After Lenin
(1924) and Five-Year Plan (1931). He founded the European
Year Book in 1926.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: JC (June 2, 1933).
[Moshe Mishkinsky]
ABRAMOWITZ, HERMAN (1880-1947), Canadian rabbi.
Born in Lithuania, Abramowitz moved to New York City with
his family in 1890. He received a B.A. from the City College
of New York (ccNny) in 1900 and was ordained at the *Jewish
Theological Seminary (jTs) two years later. He was appointed
rabbi at Montreal’s Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in 1902,
where he served until his death 44 years later. In 1907 he was
also the first student to earn a D.H.L. at jTs.
Although Abramowitz initially felt some discomfort
about being outside the United States (and later reminisced
that his departure from New York for Montreal “was like pi-
oneering on distant foreign fields”) he grew to embrace his
congregation and Canadian Jewry. He was regarded an effec-
tive, dignified, and caring spiritual leader. Many of his ser-
mons were reprinted in the English-language Canadian Jew-
ish press. He encouraged the congregational Sunday school
and lay involvement in the synagogue. Abramowitz was also
involved in Jewish communal life outside the synagogue. In
his first decade in Montreal, he visited western farm colonies
in Quebec and western Canada as a representative of the *Jew-
ish Colonization Association. He was instrumental in raising
funds for TB patients at Montreal's Mount Sinai Hospital, and
in 1913 he was an expert witness on the Talmud in a law suit
against the Quebec notary and journalist Plamondon, who
delivered a speech (subsequently printed) accusing Jews of
the *blood libel.
With the outbreak of ww1, Abramowitz served as chap-
lain to the Jewish soldiers in Canada. He held the rank of cap-
tain. In the interwar period, he was on the board of the Fed-
eration of Jewish Philanthropies of Montreal, the Montreal
Talmud Torah, and the Montreal General Hospital. During
wwiIit, although suffering from failing health, he chaired the
Religious Welfare Committee of Canadian Jewish Congress.
Abramowitz also left his mark on Conservative Judaism. In
1926 he was elected president of the *United Synagogue of
America, the first person from outside the United States.
During Abramowitz’s tenure, Shaar Hashomayim be-
came the congregation of Montreal's “uptown” elite. His con-
gregants included the wealthiest members of the community,
including factory owners at odds with their Jewish workers.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAMS, “CAL”
This may have led to suspicion of Abramowitz by the Jewish
masses. Over time, however, he seems to have earned the re-
spect of many of the “downtown” Jews and the Yiddish jour-
nalist B.G. *Sack wrote a heartfelt obituary in the Yiddish
daily, the Kanader Adler.
[Richard Menkis (2™ ed.)]
ABRAMOWITZ (Rein), RAPHAEL (1880-1963), socialist
leader and writer. He was born in Dvinsk, Latvia, and from
1899 took part in the activities of the illegal student move-
ment in Riga, where he joined the *Bund in 1901. An out-
standing speaker, prolific writer, and energetic organizer, he
was speedily recognized as one of the chief spokesmen of the
second generation of Bund leaders. In 1903-04, he was active
in the “colonies” of the Russian students in Liége and Zurich.
In 1905 he was elected a member of the central committee of
the Bund and in 1906 became a member of the central com-
mittee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party. Dur-
ing the Russian Revolution of 1905, Abramowitz was the Bund
candidate for the second Russian *Duma. He was arrested
several times for his socialist activities and exiled to Siberia
in 1910 but in 1911 succeeded in escaping abroad. Abramow-
itz returned to Russia in 1917, and played a leading role as a
Menshevik representative, notably in the All-Russian Central
Executive Committee of the Soviet. After the October Revo-
lution, he and Julius *Martov were included in the Menshe-
vik faction which for a while believed that gradual democra-
tization of the Bolshevik regime was possible. He opposed a
contemplated merger of the Bund with the Communist Party
and was among the founders of a separate “Social-Democratic
Bund” (April 1920). At the end of 1920 Abramowitz went to
Berlin, where the following year he and Martov founded the
Menshevist organ Sotsialistitcheskiy Vestnik, which he contin-
ued to edit until shortly before his death. Between 1923 and
1929 he was a leading member of the executive of the Social-
ist International. Abramowitz moved to Paris in 1939 and in
1940 succeeded in reaching New York.
Abramowitz was a contributor to the Yiddish Socialist
Jewish Daily Forward and the monthly Zukunft, and a founder
and editor of the Yiddish Algemayne Entsiklopedye (1934-50),
and of The Jewish People, Past and Present (1946-55). He edited
the laborite Modern Review (New York, 1947-50). His books
include Lerbukh tsu der Geshikhte fun Yisroel (in collaboration
with A. Menes, 1923); Der Teror gegen di Sotsialisten in Rusland
un in Gruzye (in collaboration with Tsereteli and Sukhomolin,
Yiddish, 1925; translated into French, German, and Dutch);
two volumes of memoirs, In Tsvay Revolutsyes (1944) and The
Soviet Revolution, 1917-1939 (1962).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: LNYL, 1 (1956), 12-16; Sotsialistitcheskiy Vest-
nik, 43 (1963), nos. 3-4, 26-28.
[Leon Shapiro]
ABRAMS, “CAL” (Calvin Ross; 1924-1997), U.S. baseball
player, lifetime .269 hitter over eight seasons, with 433 hits,
325
ABRAMS, CHARLES
32 home runs, 257 runs, and 138 RBIs. Born in Philadelphia
to Russian immigrant parents, he moved with his family to
Brooklyn when he was a child. Having grown up in Brook-
lyn in the shadow of Ebbets Field, Abrams fulfilled a life-long
dream when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers after grad-
uating from James Madison High School. But after two weeks
in the minor leagues he was drafted into the army, where he
served four years. Abrams spent three years in the minor
leagues, winning the Southern Association championship with
Mobile in 1947 while hitting .336. Abrams, who batted and
threw left-handed, played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1949-52),
Cincinnati Reds (1952), Pittsburgh Pirates (1953-54), Balti-
more Orioles (1954-55), and Chicago White Sox (1955), and
had a perfect fielding percentage in three different seasons,
1950, 1952, and 1956. Abrams is best remembered for one of
the most famous plays in Dodger franchise history. In the final
game of the 1950 season, with the Dodgers one game behind
the Philadelphia Phillies in the pennant race, Abrams tried to
score from second with two out in the bottom of the ninth ofa
1-1 game on a hit by Duke Snider, but Abrams, who had been
waved home by third base coach Milt Stock, was thrown out
by the Phillies’ Richie Ashburn. Had Cal scored, the Dodgers
would have won the game and forced a playoff with the Phil-
lies for the pennant. Dick Sisler hit a three-run home run in
the top of the tenth to win the game - and the pennant - for
Philadelphia. It was the closest Abrams ever got to the post-
season. Dodgers fans vilified Abrams for years but he was de-
fended by both Ashburn and Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts
for the play, who agreed with many others who said Abrams
should not have been sent home by Stock.
[Elli Wohlgelernter (274 ed.)]
ABRAMS, CHARLES (1901-1970), U.S. housing and urban
planning expert, lawyer, and author. Abrams, who was born
in Vilna, was taken to the U.S. in 1904. Admitted to the New
York bar in 1923, Abrams became involved in housing and ur-
ban development both as a property owner and lawyer dur-
ing the 1920s and 1930s when he campaigned for the preser-
vation of Greenwich Village's historic streets and buildings.
He laid the groundwork for U.S. public housing laws and, in
the course of his career, held housing posts on the city, state,
national, and international levels. These included counsel to
the New York City Housing Authority (1934-37), and leader
of, and adviser to, several UN housing missions, mostly to un-
derdeveloped countries. Abrams was a state vice chairman
of the New York State Liberal Party in the 1940s. From 1955
to 1959 Abrams was chairman of the New York State Com-
mission Against Discrimination and a member of Governor
Harriman’s cabinet. In 1965 he chaired the committee whose
recommendations led to the creation of the New York City
Housing and Development Administration.
Abrams lectured in housing and economics at the New
School for Social Research (1936-60), and chaired both Co-
lumbia University’s city planning department (1965) and its
division of urban planning (1965-68).
As housing columnist for the New York Post (1947-49),
326
Abrams vigorously exposed real estate abuses and inadequa-
cies in city, state, and federal housing policies. His books in-
clude: Revolution in Land (1937); Future of Housing (1946);
Forbidden Neighbors (1955); and Man’ Struggle for Shelter
(1964).
ABRAMS, ELLIOTT (1948- ), U.S. neoconservative po-
litical figure. After graduating from Harvard Law School in
1973, Abrams worked in corporate law but quickly decided to
pursue a career in politics and public service instead. Abrams
volunteered in Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson's 1972 bid for
the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, and in 1975,
when Abrams was looking to get into politics, Jackson offered
him a campaign staff position.
After Jackson lost the presidential nomination to Jimmy
Carter, Abrams remained in Washington, D.c., where he be-
came chief legal counsel to newly elected Senator Daniel P.
Moynihan (Dem., N.y.), another outspoken advocate of U.S.
interventionism, and eventually became Moynihan's chief of
staff.
During these years, the Democratic Party, under the
auspices of President Carter, softened its stance on the Soviet
Union. Carter was accused by hawks of “giving up too much”
in arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union. A minor
coup detat ensued among several Jewish Democrats who had
worked for Senator Jackson: Elliott *Abrams, Richard *Perle,
Doug Feith, and Paul Wolfowitz switched to the Republican
Party, supported Ronald Reagan in 1980, and began to espouse
a political-intellectual ideology known as neoconservatism.
Abrams was assistant undersecretary of inter-American
affairs at the time of the Contras affair involving the illicit sale
of weapons to Iran and the channeling of the receipts to the
Contras. When he was called to testify before Congress, he
claimed to have had no knowledge of any illegal activities. A
later Independent Counsel investigation alleged that he had
lied to Congress. He pleaded guilty to two counts of with-
holding information from Congress. On November 15, 1991,
the presiding judge, Aubrey E. Robinson, sentenced Abrams
to two years probation and 100 hours of community service.
On December 24, 1992, outgoing President George H.W. Bush
granted Abrams a full pardon amid much controversy.
From 1989 to 2002, Abrams wrote and worked for a num-
ber of research and public policy organizations. He was a se-
nior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a member of the Council
on Foreign Relations, and a member of the National Advisory
Council of the American Jewish Committee. He also served
as president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. In 2002,
Abrams returned to public life. The younger President George
W. Bush appointed Abrams to the post of senior director of the
National Security Council, with responsibilities for the Middle
East, a position that did not require the Senate confirmation
that he was unlikely to get.
Abrams was also the author of three books: Undue Pro-
cess (1993), a scathing critique of the Office of Independent
Counsel; Security and Sacrifice (1995), which urges an ag-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
gressive U.S. foreign policy; and Faith or Fear: How Jews
Can Survive in Christian America (1997), which argues that
American Jewry would fare far better if it adopted conser-
vative values and alliances, particularly with the Christian
right. It was written with a grant from a prominent Conser-
vative Foundation.
[Yehuda Martin Hausman (2"4 ed.)]
ABRAMS, FLOYD M. (1936-_), U.S. lawyer. Abrams, who
was born in New York, graduated from Cornell University
and Yale Law School and achieved fame as the nation’s most
prominent defender of the rights of the press under the First
Amendment, arguing many important cases before the United
States Supreme Court. At the law firm of Cahill, Gordon &
Reindel, he argued more First Amendment and media cases
before the Supreme Court than any lawyer in United States
history. Perhaps his most important case involved the New
York Times, which acquired a secret history of the United
States policy in Vietnam from the administrations of Harry S.
Truman through Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, and begin print-
ing it on June 13, 1971 (the war in Vietnam was still going on
at the time). Abrams was co-counsel for the Times as the ad-
ministration of Richard M. Nixon sought to enjoin the Times
from printing the archive on grounds of national security. In
a lower court decision, the government was able to bar the
paper from printing the stories. The Times agreed to suspend
publication while it awaited a decision in the Supreme Court.
It was the first time in American history that the government
exercised a prior restraint on the press. But the Times eventu-
ally prevailed. The case reached the Supreme Court, which de-
cided by a 6-3 vote that the government's case against releas-
ing the material was not compelling and allowed the series to
be printed. Over the years Abrams represented virtually every
major media organization in First Amendment-related cases:
CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Business Week, The Nation, and
Reader's Digest, among others. Abrams was also counsel to
the Brooklyn Museum in its legal battle with Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani, who sought to close an art exhibition he considered
blasphemous and in poor taste. In addition to his legal repre-
sentation, Abrams was chairman of several American Bar As-
sociation committees on freedom of speech and of the press.
He served as a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School and William
J. Brennan Jr. Visiting Professor of First Amendment Law at
the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
[Stewart Kampel (274 ed.)]
ABRAMS, MEYER H. (1912- ), U.S. literary critic and
scholar. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, Abrams was edu-
cated at Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor’s
and master’s degrees and, in 1940, his doctorate. He also stud-
ied at Cambridge University in 1934 and 1935 with I.A. Rich-
ards, author of Coleridge on Imagination (1934). Regarded
as one of the most influential critics of Romantic literature,
Abrams first established his reputation with his 1953 work The
Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tra-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRAMS, ROBERT
dition. Here Abrams defines Romanticism in terms of its “ex-
pressive orientation.” He characterizes 18'-century literature
as a mirror, or “reflector,” which seeks to faithfully reflect the
exterior world; 19*-century literature, on the other hand, is a
lamp, or “projector,” which seeks to illuminate and express the
inner life of the artist. With this metaphor, Abrams is consid-
ered to have created a significant definition of English Roman-
ticism, one that profoundly affected subsequent studies.
In his later work, Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and
Revolution in Romantic Literature (1971), Abrams links Eng-
lish and German Romanticism to a Judeo-Christian concep-
tion of man’s fall, redemption, and return to paradise, and he
uses Wordsworth’s “The Recluse” as the exemplar of his the-
ory. Critical reception to Natural Supernaturalism was mixed,
with Deconstructionists and New Historicists challenging its
authority. Abrams’s 1989 work, Doing Things with Texts: Es-
says in Criticism and Critical Theory, which includes previ-
ously published essays, addresses these critiques and further
elaborates his literary theory.
During his long career at Cornell University, beginning
in 1938, Meyer Abrams established a reputation as an esteemed
Jewish scholar ina field previously dominated by non-Jewish
academics. Professor emeritus at Cornell from 1983, Abrams
is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including a
Ford Foundation fellowship in 1953, Guggenheim fellowships
in 1958 and 1960, the James Russell Lowell Prize from the
Modern Language Association of America in 1972 for Natu-
ral Supernaturalism, and the Award for Literature from the
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1990.
He served as general editor of The Norton Anthology of Eng-
lish Literature (1962 and subsequent editions; founding editor
emeritus of the 2005 edition) and was named a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American
Philosophical Society.
[Dorothy Bauhoff (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRAMS, ROBERT (1938-_), U.S. politician, attorney gen-
eral of New York. Abrams received his B.A. from Columbia
College in 1960 and graduated from New York University
School of Law in 1963. In 1965, he was elected at the age of 27
to the first of three terms in the New York State Assembly. In
1978, he ran a successful campaign for attorney general of New
York State, becoming the first Democrat to hold the position
in 40 years. As attorney general, he commanded one of the
largest law offices in the nation, overseeing 1,200 employees,
including 475 attorneys in 14 different locations throughout
the State of New York. Abrams remained attorney general for
15 years. He is credited with altering New York’s abortion law,
prosecuting organized crime figures, implementing environ-
mental protection laws, and protecting victims’ rights (par-
ticularly abused children).
A leader among U.S. attorney generals, Abrams served
as president of the National Association of Attorney Gener-
als. His colleagues also awarded him the Wyman Award as an
outstanding attorney general. In 1992, Abrams ran against in-
327
ABRAMSKY, YEHEZKEL
cumbent Senator Alphonse D’amato, losing by 1.2 percentage
points. Married to an observant Jewish woman, he would not
campaign or work on Friday evening or Sabbath morning, and
considered it a professional requirement to be more lax Satur-
day afternoon. Subsequently he worked as an attorney for the
law firm Strook & Strook & Lavan LLP in New York.
[Yehuda Martin Hausman (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRAMSKY, YEHEZKEL (1886-1976), talmudic scholar.
Abramsky was born in Lithuania. He studied at the yeshi-
vot of Telz, Mir, and Slobodka as well as under Hayyim *So-
loveichik of Brisk. He achieved a reputation as a profound tal-
mudic scholar and active communal worker. During World
War 1 and the Russian Revolution he wandered in Russia and
applied himself to learning, lecturing, and strengthening re-
ligious life. He was appointed rabbi of Slutsk and Smolensk.
In 1928 Abramsky and S.J. Zevin published Yagdil Torah, a
periodical dedicated to strengthening Torah study in the un-
favorable conditions of the Soviet Union. It was probably the
last Jewish religious periodical published in the Soviet Union
for nearly 60 years. In 1930 he was arrested as a “counter-revo-
lutionary.” Abramsky was sentenced to hard labor in Siberia,
but, after two years, his wife and friends succeeded in obtain-
ing his release. He went to London, where he was appointed
rabbi of the Machzike Hadath congregation, and subsequently
became dayyan of the London bet din. He became a British
subject in 1937. In London, his strong personality was largely
responsible for the influence of traditional Orthodoxy in the
official community. He was appointed a member of the Moezet
Gedolei ha-Torah of *Agudat Israel. In 1951 he retired and took
up residence in Jerusalem, where he became a significant fig-
ure in the yeshivah world. Abramsky wrote Divrei Mamonot
(1939) and Erez Yisrael (1945), but his scholarly fame rests on
his Hazon Yehezkel, a 24-volume commentary on the Tosefta,
with his novellae (first volume, 1925). In 1955 he was awarded
the Israel Prize. Several of his responsa were published in
London (1937). In Israel he was recognized as a rabbi of great
stature, and his funeral in Jerusalem was attended by an esti-
mated 40,000 mourners.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online.
[Mordechai Hacohen]
ABRAMSON, 185-19" century family of German medal-
ists and engravers.
JACOB ABRAHAM (1723-1800), born in Poland, worked
in the mints of Berlin, Stettin, Koenigsberg, and Dresden. In
1752, Frederick 11 of Prussia appointed him medalist at the
Berlin mint. Abraham struck 33 commemorative medals,
among them one in memory of Moses *Mendelssohn. His
son, ABRAHAM (1754-1811), studied with his father and with
Tassaert at the Berlin Kunstakademie. Working at first with
his father but after 1784 on his own, he produced a series of
medals depicting German scholars. The first medal, of Moses
Mendelssohn, which he did with his father, was followed by
328
many others including Lessing and Kant. He worked as his
father’s assistant from 1771, but was appointed royal medalist
in 1782 and in this function cut mainly mint dies and worked
at portrait medals in wax; after 1786 he exhibited them at the
Kunstakademie. Aided by a government grant, he made a tour
of Vienna, Venice, and Rome from 1788 to 1792. Beside his
work for the mint Abraham received government commis-
sions for commemorative medals and wax portraits. He also
executed work for Russia and several German states, among
them a medal to celebrate Jewish emancipation in Westpha-
lia in 1808. Abraham also did private work, such as medals of
Markus *Herz (1803), and Daniel *Itzig (1793). His signature
was Abr, A/S, N, or sometimes just A. Of his lapidary work
only a carnelian with the portrait of Frederick William 11 is
known. In 1792 Abramson was member of the Berlin Akad-
emie der Kuenste and of other similar bodies.
His brother, MICHAEL JACOB (1750-1825), was also an
engraver. He exhibited after 1787 at the Berlin Kunstakademie
but apparently later emigrated to Scandinavia. His works in-
clude a copper-plate engraving of Zevi Hirsch *Levin, chief
rabbi of Berlin (1798). It is suspected but unconfirmed that
he was baptized. HIRSCH (d. 1800), another son of Jacob, also
worked as an engraver at the Berlin mint.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C.T. Hoffman, Jacob Abraham und Abra-
ham Abramson, 55 Jahre Berliner Medallienkunst: 1755-1810 (1927); A.
Kirchstein, Juedische Graphiker: 1625-1825 (1918); D.M. Friedenberg
(ed.), Great Jewish Portraits in Metal (1963).
ABRAMSON, JERRY EDWIN (1946- ), U.S. politician.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Abramson graduated from In-
diana University (1968). After having served in the U.S. Army
between 1969 and 1971, for which he received a medal for
meritorious service, he returned to law school and was grad-
uated from Georgetown School of Law in 1973. He then en-
tered private practice with Greenbaum, Doll, and McDonald,
where he became a partner and immediately became active in
Democratic politics, first as a member of the Board of Alder-
man and later as general counsel to Kentucky Governor John
Y. Brown. He was elected mayor of Louisville in 1986, a posi-
tion he held for 12 years. A national leader, he was president of
the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1993-94 and vice chair of the
Democratic Platform Committee when his fellow southerner
Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992. He chaired the Clinton
reelection efforts for Kentucky. After being barred for reelec-
tion by term limits, Abramson became mayor once again after
the government of Louisville had been regionalized, serving
from 2003 as Louisville metro mayor.
[Michael Berenbaum (2"4 ed.)]
ABRAMSON, JESSE (1904-1979), U.S. sportswriter. Known
as the leading track and field writer in the U.S., Abramson
was the first person from the media to be elected to the Na-
tional Track & Field Hall of Fame, in 1981. He witnessed ev-
ery Olympics from 1928 until 1976, as a reporter for the New
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
York Herald Tribune, for the International Herald-Tribune in
1972, and as foreign press liaison at the 1968 and 1976 Games.
His obituary in the New York Times noted: “Colleagues called
him “The Brain, in recognition of his profound knowledge
of track and his phenomenal memory for detail” Abramson
was honored with the Grantland Rice Award of the Sports-
men Brotherhood, the James J. Walker Award for service to
boxing, and the career achievement award from the New York
Track Writers Association. He was a founder and long-time
president of the N.y. Track Writers Association, which pres-
ents the annual Jesse Abramson Award to the outstanding
athlete of the year. Abramson also reported on football and
boxing, serving as president of the New York Football Writers
Association, and was awarded the Boxing Writers’ Association
of America Nat Fleischer Memorial Award for Excellence in
Boxing Journalism in 1976.
[Elli Wohlgelernter (274 ed.)]
ABRAMSON, SHRAGA (1915-1996), rabbinic scholar. Born
in Ciechanowiec, in the district of Bialystok, Poland, he re-
ceived rabbinic ordination in 1936, in which year he immi-
grated to Erez Israel where he continued his education in
various yeshivot and at the Hebrew University. He served on
the faculty of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York
from 1952 until 1958, the final year as associate professor. From
1958 he was professor of Talmud, Geonica, and rishonim at the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His scholarly contributions
are to be found in the areas of Talmud, Geonica, rabbinic He-
brew, biblical exegesis and interpretation in the Middle Ages,
medieval Hebrew poetry and literature, and medieval Hebrew
philology. They are noteworthy for their erudition in talmu-
dic and rabbinic literature and their disciplined scientific re-
search methods. His main field, however, is Geonica to which
he has made important contributions. He was awarded the
Israel Prize for Jewish studies in 1974.
His most important published work was R. Nissim Gaon
(Heb., 1965). Among his earlier works are critical editions
of R. Samuel ha-Nagid, Ben Mishlei (1948) and Ben Kohelet
(1953). His other published works include Massekhet Avodah
Zarah (1957), a publication of a manuscript of the tractate Avo-
dah Zarah of the Babylonian Talmud; Massekhet Bava Batra
(1958), a Hebrew translation of the tractate Bava Batra of the
Babylonian Talmud; Ba-Merkazim u-va-Tefuzot bi-Tekufat
ha-Geonim (1965), on the geonic period; Bi-Leshon Kodemim
(1965), a study in medieval Hebrew poetry; and Sheloshah
Sefarim shel R. Yehudah ibn Balaam.
[Israel Francus]
ABRASS, OSIAS (Joshua; 1829-1883), Russian hazzan and
synagogue composer. He was born in Berdichev and became
known as “Pitshe Odesser” (“The Mite from Odessa’) when
as a boy he gained fame for his soprano solos in the choir of
his teacher, Bezalel Shulsinger in Odessa. Abrass also stud-
ied with *Sulzer in Vienna. He was hazzan and choir leader
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABRECH
in Tarnopol in 1840 and in Lvov in 1842. In 1858 he became
chief hazzan in the Odessa synagogue, the largest in Russia.
Abrass’ phenomenal vocal performance as well as his contri-
butions to synagogal choir music enhanced the fame of this
synagogue and set new standards in Eastern European litur-
gical singing. His sole printed work was Simrat-Joh; Gottes-
dienstliehe Gesaenge der Israeliten (1874) for cantor and choir.
His virtuosity in coloratura was compared with that of Ade-
lina Patti, the great soprano, as exemplified by his “Simrat-
Joh” No. 27, or the following “ornamental extension” of the
note E-flat (ibid. No. 32):
Abrass’ 39 published compositions may be judged best as a
further attempt to connect the traditional meshorerim style
with Western choral music. He uses chordal harmony, effects
learned from Rossini (No. 10), and even fugato technique (No.
18) only to embellish a basically monodic melody. See also G.
Ephros, Cantorial Anthology, 1 (1919), no. 51.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Friedmann, Lebensbilder, 2 (1921), 73-79;
Idelsohn, in: Ha-Toren, 11 (1924), 138-54; E. Zaludkowski, Kulturtre-
ger fun der Yidisher Liturgie (1930), 67-71; Sendrey, Music, index; A.
Rosen (ed.), Geshikhte fun Khazones (1924).
[Hanoch Avenary]
ABRAVANEL, MAURICE (de) (1903-1993), conductor.
Born in Salonika, Abravanel studied at Lausanne Univer-
sity, and in Zurich and Berlin. He began his career in 1924
as conductor at the Zwickau Municipal Theater. Before leav-
ing Germany in 1933, he had already conducted at the Berlin
Opera, and subsequently he conducted ballet performances
in Paris, London, and at the Rome Opera. He toured Austra-
lia with the British National Opera Company before moving
to the United States in 1936, where he conducted at the Met-
ropolitan (1936) and in Chicago (1940-41). In 1946, he con-
ducted musicals such as *Weill’s Lady in the Dark for a season
on Broadway. In 1947, he became conductor of the Utah State
Symphony Orchestra at Salt Lake City, which he made into
one of the most adventurous and remarkable musical bodies
in the United States based in a small city. Abravanel was also
a professor at the University of Utah.
[Max Loppert (2"¢ ed.)]
ABRECH (or Abrek; Heb. 7128, avrekh), probably a com-
mand or a title. After deputizing Joseph, Pharaoh “had him
ride in the chariot of his second-in-command, and they cried
before him, ‘Abrek!’” (Gen. 41:43; cf. the Persian ceremony in
Esth. 6:11). The exact meaning of the word is uncertain. One
view equates the word with Egyptian “ib-r.k, “attention!” or
329
ABSABAN, SOLOMON
“have a care.” A difficulty according to this view is that the sin-
gular suffix k appears where one would expect the plural suffix
tn. Another view (reminiscent of the ancient Jewish derivation
from brk (“kneel”)) notes that brk (borrowed from Semitic)
means “render homage” in Egyptian and that the initial alef
of Abrek may possibly be equated with the Egyptian impera-
tive prefix ’; proponents of this interpretation therefore trans-
late “kneel!” or “render homage!” This command is similar
to the later Egyptian command of homage “to the ground! to
the ground!” Both kneeling and complete prostration as acts
of homage are represented in Egyptian art. Others take the
word as a title, citing the Akkadian abarakku, “chief steward
of a private or royal household” (I.J. Gelb et al., The Chicago
Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 32-5); note Gen. 41:40a:
“You shall be in charge of my house....” None of these views
is free of difficulty, and the question remains open.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Lambdin, in: Jaos, 73 (1953), 146; J. Ver-
gote, Joseph en Egypte (1959), 135ff., 151.
[Jeffrey Howard Tigay]
ABSABAN, SOLOMON (d. 1592), scholar of Safed and dis-
ciple of Isaac *Luria. Solomon was a friend and contemporary
of Moses *Alshekh and studied under Joseph *Caro. It is prob-
able that, like Alshekh, he was among those ordained by Caro.
From 1562 his signature appeared on letters and decisions to-
gether with those of Joseph Caro and Moses di *Trani. In 1571
he joined them in excommunicating the physician Daoud, an
opponent of Joseph *Nasi. In a manuscript responsum (Ox-
ford, 832, n. 23) his signature appears at the head of the list of
leading rabbis of Safed. Absaban taught in the talmudic acad-
emies of Safed, where Jacob *Abulafia was among his students.
In 1582 he served as av bet din of Safed. Absaban associated
with the mystics there, and was a friend of Eleazar b. Moses
*Azikri, who referred to him as distinguished in wisdom, pi-
ety, and holiness. Ultimately he settled in Damascus where he
presided over the yeshivah until his death.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conforte, Kore, 39a, 40a, 41b, 43a; Neubauer,
Chronicles, 1 (1887), 151.
ABSALOM (Heb. 01?U?28 ,O?W1N ,D1W2N), third son of
*David, born during his reign in Hebron, probably about
1007/06 B.C.E.
In the Bible
Absalom was the son of Maacah, the daughter of King Tal-
mai of Geshur. When his half brother Amnon dishonored his
full sister Tamar (11 Sam. 13:1-20), he considered himself the
avenger of her honor and ordered Amnon killed at a shearing
feast on his estate, to which he had invited all the king’s sons
(ibid. 13:23-29). Fearing David's wrath, he took refuge at the
court of his grandfather, probably a vassal-king of David by
that time (c. 987 B.c.E.). Meanwhile, *Joab took up his cause
with the king and obtained David's permission for Absalom
to return to Jerusalem without fear of punishment; later a
330
full reconciliation was effected between the two (ibid. 14:33;
C. 983 B.C.E.).
Probably David’s second son, Chileab (11 Sam. 3:3) or
Daniel (1 Chron. 3:1), either died young or was mentally or
physically handicapped, because it was Absalom, the next
oldest son of David, who was the most obvious candidate for
the succession. He was a handsome man of prepossessing ap-
pearance, a glib tongue, and winning manners (11 Sam. 14:25;
15:2-6), and seems to have gained a great deal of popularity
among the common people as well. Though strong headed
and willful, he knew how to bide his time in order to achieve
his desires (cf. ibid. 13:20) and how to work for that end (cf.
ibid. 14:28-30).
Considering these qualities, it is difficult to under-
stand what induced him to plot a revolt against his father
(c. 979 B.C.E.); but since there was no strict law that David’s
successor must be his oldest living son, perhaps Absalom was
worried by the influence of David's favorite wife Bath-Sheba
and the possibility that David might, as he eventually did, pro-
claim his oldest son by her his successor.
Be that as it may, the plot was carefully planned at Hebron
(cf. 11 Sam. 15:7). The revolt seems to have enjoyed wide sup-
port in Judah, which was perhaps offended by the old king’s
refusal to show any palpable preference for his own tribesmen,
as well as among other Israelite tribes, who were dissatisfied
with the gradual bureaucratization of the kingdom and the
curtailment of tribal rights.
David retreated with his immediate entourage - body-
guards (the gibborim), foreign mercenaries (the Cherethites
and Pelethites), 600 Gittites, and some of the people who re-
mained loyal to him - to Transjordan. At the same time, he
took care to leave a “fifth columnist” in Jerusalem in the per-
son of *Hushai the Archite, and with him two intelligence
messengers, *Ahimaaz and Jonathan, the sons of the two high
priests. Hushai succeeded in persuading Absalom to reject
his adviser *Ahithophel’s sensible proposal to pursue the old
king and defeat him before he could find further support.
In the subsequent battle in Transjordan (in the forest of
Ephraim) Absalom’s tribal levees proved no match for Da-
vid’s veteran mercenaries under Ittai the Gittite, who was sup-
ported by the loyal Israelites under Joab and Abishai. Absalom
was caught by his head in a thick tree and killed on Joab’s
orders, which contravened the express command of David
to spare his life (11 Sam. 18:9). The king’s mourning for his
son almost cost him the support of his loyal troops (ibid.
19:1-9).
Absalom had no son, which prompted him to erect a
memorial monument for himself (ibid. 18:18; cf. however ibid.
14:27); he apparently had a daughter, Maacah, who was named
for his mother and who later married her cousin *Rehoboam
and became the latter’s favorite queen and mother of the heir-
apparent *Abijam.
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
In the Aggadah
Although the Bible stated that it was by his head and not specif-
ically by his hair that Absalom was caught, the rabbis assume
that it was by his hair and make of his death a homily on false
ambition, unfilial conduct, and poetic justice. Of the perfect
physical qualities ascribed to Adam, Absalom is regarded as
having inherited his hair (Pirkei Rabbenu ha-Kadosh, in L.
Grueenhut, Likkutim, 3 (1899), 72). It grew so luxuriantly that
although he had taken the Nazirite vow prohibiting the cut-
ting of the hair, he was permitted to trim it from time to time
(Nazir 5a). It was his hair, in which he gloried, which brought
about his death (Sotah 1:8). He was caught “in the heart of a
tree” (11 Sam. 18:14). “But did one ever hear of a tree having a
heart. This turn of phrase teaches that when a man becomes
so heartless as to make war on his own father, nature takes on
a heart to avenge the deed” (Mekh. Shirata 6). So unforgiv-
able was his conduct that he is enumerated among those who
have no share in the world to come (Sanh. 103b). In Exodus
Rabbah 1:1 he is cited as one of the exemplars of “spare the rod
and spoil the child.” His abode is in hell where he is in charge
of ten heathen nations (A. Jellinek, Beit ha-Midrash, 2 (1938),
50) but David’s lament saved him from the extreme penalties
of hell (Sot. 10b).
[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]
In Folklore
In Jewish folk sayings and in Palestinian legends clustered
around the Pillar of Absalom (Yad Avshalom) in the Kidron
Valley of Jerusalem, rebellious Absalom serves as an example
of punishments inflicted upon sons transgressing the Fifth
Commandment. According to the report from Jerusalem
(1666) of a French Christian pilgrim (Bernardin Surius), the
inhabitants of Jerusalem used to bring their children to the
tomb of Absalom to shout and throw stones at it, stressing the
end of wicked children who did not revere their parents.
[Dov Noy]
In the Arts
In Western literature Absalom has been regarded as a sym-
bol of manly beauty. The subject inspired a medieval mystery
play and several Elizabethan dramas. George Peele’s The Love
of King David and Fair Bethsabe (1599) deals at length with
Absalom’s rebellion, which is blamed on David’s illicit love af-
fair with Bath-Sheba, and in tune with the bloodthirsty taste
of the era shows the unfortunate prince, suspended by his
hair from a tree, being done to death by Joab. John Dryden’s
Absalom and Achithophel (1681), a political satire in verse,
presents Charles 11 as David, Charles’ illegitimate son the
Duke of Monmouth as Absalom, and Lord Shaftesbury as the
false counselor Ahithophel. Some 20'-century works based
on this theme are Absalom (1920), a translation of a Japanese
play by Torahiko Kori; Howard Spring’s novel O Absalom
(1938; later reissued in the U.S.A. as My Son, My Son); and
William Faulkner’s novel Absalom, Absalom (1936).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABSALOM
Some artists in the late Middle Ages interpreted Absa-
lom’s death as a prefiguration of the Crucifixion. Parts of the
story occasionally appear in illuminated manuscripts, such as
the Winchester Bible, a French Bible moralisée (1250) now in
Toledo, and the 14"*-century Anglo-Norman Queen Mary's
Psalter (British Museum), which illustrates most of the bibli-
cal narrative. Absalom’s end also appears in an Italian 15**-cen-
tury pavement mosaic in Siena Cathedral. The Reconciliation
of David and Absalom (1642) was painted by *Rembrandt. The
Pillar of Absalom (Yad Avshalom), which stands on the tra-
ditional site of Absalom’s burial place, is one of several sepul-
chral monuments in the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem, that date
from the Second Temple and Roman periods. The monument
is executed in the late Hellenistic style, however, and its link
with Absalom does not predate the 16" century.
David's lament for Absalom has inspired a number of
composers, notably Heinrich Schuetz, whose motet for bass
solo and trombone quartet Fili mi Absalon (in Symphoniae
Sacrae vol. 1 (1629), no. 13) is a masterly work. No less poi-
gnant is Lugebat David Absalon: Absalon fili mi, a four-voice
motet by Josquin des Prés, written a century earlier. In the 16
century Jacob Hand (Gallus) arranged a notable setting of the
lament. A number of oratorios, mainly of the 18 century, de-
scribe Absalom’s rebellion and death. A recent composition is
David Weeps for Absalom (1947), a work for voice and piano
by David *Diamond. The Judeo-Spanish song “Triste estaba
el Rey David” (arranged for choir by Joaquin Rodrigo, 1950),
tells the story of Absalom’s rebellion in romantic form.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: BIBLE: S. Yeivin, Mehkarim be-Toledot Yisrael
ve-Arzo (1960), 196-7, 236-9; Tadmor, in: Journal of World History, 11
(1968), 49-57; Bright, Hist, 187-90; E.Auerbach, Wueste und gelobtes
Land, 1 (1932), 201-2, 232-6, 273; Noth, Hist Isr, 199-200, 219-220; Alt,
Essays on Old Testament History and Religion (1967), 318, 329; 297 ff.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A Rofé, in: E. Blum (ed), Mincha: Festgabe
fuer Rolf Rendtdorff zum 75. Geburtstag (2000), 217-28. AGGADAH:
Ginzberg, Legends, 4 (1947), 94-5, 104-73 6 (1946), 266 ff. FOLKLORE:
Z. Vilnay, Legends of Palestine (1932), 107-9. ARTS: L. Réau, Iconog-
raphie de lart chrétien, 2, pt. 1 (1956), 125-38; T. Ehrenstein, Das Alte
Testament im Bilde (1923), 577-601; The Bible in Art (1956), 173; EM,
1 (1965), 68-69.
ABSALOM (1) Judah Maccabaeus’ ambassador in 164 B.C.E.
(11 Macc. 11:17). (2) The father of Mattathias and Jonathan,
who both held high commands during the Maccabean wars
(1 Macc. 11:70 and 13:11; Jos., Ant., 13:161, 202). (3) The younger
son of John Hyrcanus 1. Upon the death of his father, Absa-
lom was imprisoned by his brother Aristobulus 1 and released
when Alexander Yannai ascended the throne. He played a
prominent part in the defense of Jerusalem against Pompey,
but was captured by him (Jos., Ant., 14:71; cf. Wars, 1:154).
(4) Jewish partisan leader at the beginning of the Roman War.
He was associated with the Sicarii leader *Menahem b. Judah,
and called by Josephus “his most eminent supporter in his
tyranny.’ When *Eleazar son of Ananias, the captain of the
331
ABSALOM, MONUMENT OF
Temple, turned against Menahem and assassinated him, Ab-
salom shared his fate (Jos., Wars, 2:448). Because of his views
regarding the Zealots and Qumran, Cecil *Roth identified him
with the Absalom mentioned in the Pesher (“Commentary”)
on Habakkuk found at Qumran (1 QpHab), but few scholars
would accept this. (5) The name Absalom appears on an os-
suary from Givat ha-Mivtar and in a tomb inscription from
Silwan, both dated to before 70 c.z. The name “abshi,” per-
haps an abbreviation of Absalom, appears in a deed on pa-
pyrus of 131 c.E. from Wadi Muraba“t. (6) A Late Hellenistic
tomb monument named after Absalom, David’s rebellious
son (11 Sam. 3:3), is situated in the Kidron Valley, west of the
Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. The style of the tomb, which
shows Orientalizing architectural influences, suggests a first
century B.c.£. date for the time it was hewn. Recent work on
this monument by J. Zias and E. Puech has brought to light
a Byzantine inscription in Greek next to the entrance to the
tomb which refers not to Absalom but to the father of John
the Baptist. It reads: “This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr,
very pious priest, father of John.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New His-
torical Approach (19657), 13-14, 74ff. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: T.
Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity. Part 1: Palestine
330 B.C.E-200 C.E. (2002).
[Abraham Schalit and Cecil Roth / Shimon Gibson (24 ed.)]
ABSALOM, MONUMENT OF. Situated in the Kidron Val-
ley, close to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, are a number of
monumental rock-hewn tombs of which one has been attrib-
uted by tradition to Absalom in reference to 11 Samuel 18:18,
where it is stated that Absalom set up for himself a “pillar” in
the King’s Valley. In Arabic it is known as “Tantour Firaoun”
(pharaoh’s crown). This monument is a prominent feature in
the topography of Jerusalem and was frequently commented
upon by travelers and pilgrims since medieval times. The
monument is freestanding and the lower part was rock-cut,
whereas the upper part — hat-like in appearance - was built
out of finely carved ashlars in a local architectural style utiliz-
ing Hellenistic features. The monument has been studied by
many scholars since the 19» century: C. Clermont-Ganneau
dug there, H. Vincent made a detailed study, and a substan-
tial study of this and the other funerary monuments in the
Kidron Valley was made by N. Avigad in the 1950s. Excava-
tions around the foot of the monument were made by E. Oren
in the 1970s, but the results remain unpublished. Probably the
best short descriptions appear in guidebooks published by K.
Prag and J. Murphy-O’Connor. Access to the entrance to the
inner tomb chamber is from the south. The entrance led to a
rock-hewn chamber which was originally square with a bench
within an arcosolium on the west side, with a ceiling with a
sunken panel decorated with a central wreath and four circles
in relief, and with a fine carved cornice along the junction be-
tween ceiling and walls. The style of the monument suggests
a date late in the Early Roman period, i.e., the first century
C.E., contrary to some scholars who have suggested a date in
332
the first century B.c.£. The internal chamber underwent ma-
jor changes in the Byzantine period, 4'*-6" centuries C.E.,
and it was probably converted into a reclusive cell for a Byz-
antine monk. Above the entrance to the tomb are faint Greek
inscriptions which were first recorded by J. Zias in 2000. Ac-
cording to Emile Puech, one of these inscriptions is of Byz-
antine age and mentions Zacharias, father of John the Baptist:
“This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, fa-
ther of John.” The adjacent complex of tomb chambers asso-
ciated with the monument contained a chapel and was held
to mark the graves of St. Zacharias, St. Simeon, and St. James
(the first bishop of Jerusalem) in the 12'" century. Traces of
medieval wall paintings are visible on some of the chamber
walls. Within the interior chamber of the monument itself is
a late medieval three-line Hebrew inscription (“Shamsi ben ...
[unclear]” - incorrectly read by Dalman in 1914) which was
probably incised by a Jewish traveler to Jerusalem. In the 19‘
century a bridge for a road crossing over the Kidron Valley
existed in front of the funerary monument and is evident in
old photographs (e.g., F Bedford, 1862).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Slousch, “The Excavations Around the
Monument of Absalom, in: Proceedings of the Jewish Palestine Ex-
ploration Society, 1 (1925), 7-30; G. Dalman, “Inschriften aus Palas-
tina,” in: ZDPV, 37:6 (1914), 137-38; N. Avigad, Ancient Monuments in
the Kidron Valley (1954); K. Prag, Jerusalem (Blue Guide) (1989); J.M.
O’Connor, The Holy Land (1992).
[Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
ABSALON (1964-1993), Israeli sculptor. Absalon was born in
Ashdod as Meir Eshel and adopted the name Absalon when
he arrived in Paris in the late 1980s. He won his reputation
as an artist from the 1:1 scale architectural models that he
constructed of idealized living units. These wooden models,
painted white, demonstrate an obsession with order, arrange-
ment, and containment, and have associations both of protec-
tive shelters and monastic cells. His sculptures are reminiscent
of the works of the Russian constructivists, the Dutch De Stijl,
and Le Corbusier. His last exhibition was of Six Cellules in
Paris in 1993. Absalon died of arps at the age of 28.
[Shaked Gilboa (2™4 ed.)]
ABSE, DANNIE (1923-_), English poet. Abse was born in
Cardiff. After four years in the Royal Air Force in World War 11
he qualified as a doctor. From 1947 to 1954 he edited and pub-
lished the magazine Poetry and Poverty. Although his work
included fiction and drama, he was primarily a poet. Abse
has thought deeply about the Holocaust, and his challenge to
God to explain Himself to man (in “The Abandoned”) is in
the Hebraic tradition. His verse collections include After Every
Green Thing (1949); Walking Under Water (1952); Tenants of
the House (1957); Poems. Golders Green (1962); Selected Poems
(1963); and Small Desperation (1968). He wrote two novels, Ash
ona Young Man's Sleeve (1954) and Some Corner of an English
Field (1956); and two dramas, Fire in Heaven (1956) and Three
Questor Plays (1967). Abse’s White Coat; Purple Coat: Col-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
lected Poems 1948-1988 appeared in 1991. He has also written
two volumes of autobiography, published in 1974 and 2001.
His brother LEO ABSE (1917— ) was a Labour member of the
British Parliament for a Welsh seat from 1958 until 1997. He
introduced bills liberalizing legislation governing homosex-
uality (1967) and divorce (1968). A solicitor, Leo Abse wrote
“psychobiographies” of British politicians Margaret Thatcher
and Tony Blair.
[Jon Silkin / William D. Rubinstein (2™4 ed.)]
ABT, ISAAC ARTHUR (1867-1955), U.S. pediatrician. Abt,
who was born in Wilmington, Illinois, served as professor
of pediatrics at Northwestern University (1897-1902), Rush
Medical College (1902-08), and again at Northwestern from
1908. He was the first president of the American Academy
of Pediatrics (1931). Abt wrote prolifically on clinical, social,
and experimental subjects in the field of pediatrics and wrote
an encyclopedic eight-volume work Pediatrics (1923-36). The
section dealing with nutritional disturbances in infancy is of
particular significance. He was the first American pediatrician
to use protein milk in the treatment of diarrhea in infants. His
work The Baby’s Food was published in 1917.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.R. Kagan, Jewish Contributions to Medicine
in America (1939), 147-50; idem, Jewish Medicine (1952), 364; Journal
of the American Medical Association, 159 (1955), 1785; Parmelee, in:
B.S. Veeder (ed.), Pediatric Profiles (1957), 109-16.
[Suessmann Muntner]
ABTERODE (Abedroth, Aptrod), DAVID BEN MOSES
ELIAKIM (d. 1728), rabbinic author. Apparently he was born
at Abterode near Frankfurt where he served as dayyan. He
wrote a commentary on Sefer Hasidim and glosses on litur-
gical poems. All his manuscripts were destroyed in the great
fire of Frankfurt in 1711. His son Solomon (Zalman) rewrote
from memory the commentary on Sefer Hasidim and pub-
lished it together with the text (1724); other editions contain
an abridged version of the commentary only. Jacob Emden
criticized the commentary (Sheelot Ya'vez, 1:160), which Jo-
seph David *Sinzheim, the author's great-grandson, defended
in his book Yad David (1799), 28d (on Shab. 81a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 768; M. Horovitz, Frank-
furter Rabbinen, 2 (1883), 73; idem, Avnei Zikkaron (1901), 202-3, no.
1938; J. Freimann, in: J. Wistinetzki (ed.), Sefer Hasidim (1924), 9; R.
Margaliot (ed.), Sefer Hasidim (1957), 7 (introd.).
[Yehoshua Horowitz]
ABTSHUK, AVRAHAM (Avrom; 1897-1937), Soviet Yid-
dish writer and critic. Born in Lutsk, Volhynia, he lived in
Kiev after 1921. In the late 1920s and 1930s he was associated
with the Jewish Research Institute of the Ukrainian Academy
of Science in Kiev. In 1926 he began contributing short stories
to the Kharkov-based literary journal Di Royte Velt and is best
known for Hershl Shamay (1929; part 2, 1934), an occasionally
humorous narrative which deals with the industrialization of
Jewish workers under the Soviets. Abtshuk’s Etyudn un Ma-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABU AL-FADL HASDAY
teryaln tsu der Geshikhte fun der Yidisher Literatur-Bavegung in
ES.R.R. (“Studies and Materials for the History of the Yiddish
Literature Movement in Soviet Russia,” 1934) is important both
as a document and as a source of documents; it contains min-
utes, letters, and resolutions of Yiddish literary groups in Kiev,
Moscow, Kharkov, and Minsk. Abtshuk was associate editor
of the proletarian writers’ periodical Prolit (1928-32) and its
successor Farmest (1933-37). Accused of Trotskyist tendencies
and Jewish nationalism, allegedly evident in Hershl Shamay,
he perished during the Stalinist “purges.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.Pomerantz, Di Sovetishe Harugey Malkhes
(1962), 44-51, 428-9; LNYL, 1 (1956), 2-3. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G.
Estraikh, in: Slovo, 7 (1994), 1-12.
[Leonard Prager / Gennady Estraikh (24 ed.)]
ABU, Arabic word meaning “father of” used in personal
names. Jews living in Islamic countries followed the Arab cus-
tom, and addressed one another by their kunya (Arabic, “nick-
name”). Originally, the kunya contained the word abu, and the
name of a son of the person concerned, normally that of the
eldest, e.g.,a man whose son’s name was Zayd, was called Abu
Zayd. If there was no son in the family, this could not apply
but, nonetheless, imaginary kunyas developed, and these pre-
dominated among Jews. Thus, persons called Abraham were
often addressed as Abu Ishaq (“Father of Isaac”) or Jacob was
known as Abu Yusuf (Joseph) instead of Jacob. The reverse
procedure was even more common. Since it was customary to
call a child after his grandfather, the kunya often contained the
names of the father of the biblical or other historical person-
ality after whom the man was named. As the father of Moses
was Amram (Arabic ‘Imrdn), as Abu ‘Imran. The word abu
also denotes “possessor, especially of a certain quality. Well-
known examples of this use are Abu-al-‘Afiya (“possessor of
health”) from which the family name *Abulafia is derived. The
honorifics preferred by Jews were generally those expressive
of abstract notions, both in the singular and plural, e.g., Abu
al-Sa‘d (“happiness”) and Abu al-Barakat (“blessings”). This
might be compared to the Hebrew equivalents Avi-Musar
(father of ethics, moral, moralist) and Ahi-Musar (brother of
ethics) used in Hebrew poetry. Sometimes two kunyas were
given, one at birth and another added on some special occa-
sion, such as recovery from a dangerous illness. Biblical and
talmudic names were connected with kunyas believed to be
of the same or similar meaning.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: EIS, 1 (1913), 73-74.
ABU AL-FADL HASDAY (late tenth century), Spanish
scholar. According to the 13'-century Arab biographer Ibn
Abi Usaybi‘a, Abu al-Fad1, who lived in Saragossa, was a mem-
ber of a distinguished Andalusian Jewish family of priestly
descent. He was competent in medicine, philosophy, arith-
metic, and music. He had a good knowledge of both Arabic
and Hebrew. Moses ibn Ezra refers to Abu al-Fad] as one who
“acquired knowledge in all branches of science, was accom-
333
ABU AL-FARAJ HARUN IBN AL-FARAJ
plished in philosophy, and well versed in Hebrew and Arabic
poetry and prose.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.G. Farmer, History of Arabian Music to the
13" Century (1929), 221; M. Ibn Ezra, Shirat Yisrael, ed. by B. Halper
(1924), 69; Ibn Abi Usaybi‘a, “Uyiin al-Anba@ fi Tabaqat al-Atibba’, ed.
by A. Mueller, 2 (Ar, 1884), 50.
[Amnon Shiloah]
ABU AL-FARAJ HARUN IBN AL-FARAJ (Heb. Aaron b.
Jeshu‘a; Jerusalem, first half of 11 century), Karaite gram-
marian, lexicographer and exegete. Abu al-Faraj accepted the
Greek theory (which reached him through Arabic channels)
that language is an artificial product of human convention
and is governed by the laws of logic. His method and termi-
nology draw heavily on Arab linguists. He held that all forms
of the Hebrew verb are based on the infinitive, and made a
detailed study of the particle. He also pioneered the investi-
gation of biblical Aramaic grammar in its relationship to He-
brew, as well as comparative treatment of Hebrew, Aramaic,
and Arabic. He followed strictly the principle of bi-literal
roots. The works of Abu al-Faraj became well known among
Rabbanite scholars of Spain, who refer to him at times simply
as “the Jerusalemite Grammarian.” All his writings are in Ju-
deo-Arabic. They include Al-Kitab al-Mushtamil, on the roots
and formations of the Hebrew language (mss. in St. Peters-
burg; among them the copy made in 1112 for the gaon Elijah
b. Abiathar) of which chapter 8 treats Aramaic grammar; Al-
Kitab al-Kafi, a digest of the former, published by G. Khan,
M. Angeles Gallego, and J. Olszowy-Schlanger as The Kara-
ite tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought in Its Classical
Form: A Critical Edition and English Translation of al-Kitab
al- kaft fi al-luga al-"Ibraniyya by Abu al-Faraj Harin ibn al-
Faraj, Leiden 2003; Sharh al-Alfdz, an Arabic translation of
selected verses or clauses in the Bible, with explanatory notes,
arranged in the order of the Bible; and a commentary on the
Pentateuch in Arabic, said to be an abridgement (talkhis) of
that of *Joseph b. Noah, who was his teacher. Even though an
abridgement, it is quite extensive; most of it survived in sev-
eral fragmentary mss. in St. Petersburg. Another important
contribution was his work on the phonetics of biblical Hebrew
according to the Tiberian tradition and the rules of cantilla-
tion of the biblical text, entitled Hiddyat al-Qdri (“The Guide
of the Reader”). Until quite recently it was ascribed to various
other authors. The importance of the work lies in its unique-
ness as a source for the living tradition in 11'»-century Erez
Israel. The work was written in a long and short version. Of
the former only short fragments have survived, while most
of the latter was published in a critical annotated edition by
I. Eldar (Jerusalem 1994). Various Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic
adaptations had been circulating in the Middle Ages in Eu-
rope and the Near East, one of them a paraphrase by the Byz-
antine Karaite Joseph ha-Qustandini (11 century?), entitled
Adat Devorim.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Arab Lit, no. 48; W. Bacher,
Die Anfaenge der hebraeischen Grammatik (1895), 155 ff.; H. Hirschfeld,
334
Literary History of Hebrew Grammarians and Lexicographers (1926),
50ff.; Bacher, in: REJ, 30 (1895), 232-56; Poznaniski, ibid., 33 (1896),
24-39, 197-218; 46 (1908), 42-69; idem, in: JQR, 18 (1927/28), 11; S.L.
Skoss, Arabic Commentary of Ali ben Suleiman on Genesis (1928),
11-27. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Khan, in: M. Polliack (ed.), Karaite
Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary Sources (2003), 291-318;
A. Maman, Comparative Semitic Philology in the Middle Ages: From
Saadiah Gaon to Ibn Barun (10*-12"" c.) (2004), 375-80 and pas-
sim.
[Samuel Miklos Stern / Haggai Ben-Shammai (2"¢ ed.)]
ABU AL-FAT (Samaritan Abi-Afeta Ban Ab-Hisdah; 14"
century), author of a Samaritan chronicle in Arabic, Kitab
al-Tarikh (“Annals”). Born in Damascus of the Danati
family, which was renowned for its scholars and scribes, Abu
al-Fat went on a pilgrimage to Nablus in 1352. He was invited
by the high priest Phinehas b. Joseph to write the history of
his people from the creation of the world to his own time. Only
in 1355, on a second visit to Nablus, was he able to start this
undertaking. He brought with him three fragmentary chron-
icles in Hebrew and a Silsila (chain), i.e., a genealogical
list of the Samaritan high priests beginning with *Aaron
(Moses’ brother) that came from the home of the high priest
in Damascus; this was presumably the Tolidah (see *Samari-
tans, Language and Literature). The high priest in Nablus
put at his disposal a number of chronicles in Hebrew and
Arabic, among which was the still extant Samaritan Book of
Joshu in Arabic. Another work in the otherwise unknown
chronicle of Zadakah was rejected by Abu al-Fat as unreli-
able.
The 14 century was a time of revival for the Samaritan
community in Nablus, and Abu al-Fat sought to make use
of the scanty and dispersed source material still existing in
his time before it might be lost. Like all medieval chronicles,
his work contains much legendary material. The dating is
not always accurate. Abu al-Fat wrote in Middle Arabic, and
his language is colored by many Hebraisms, showing his
dependence on the Pentateuch and in some places on other
Hebrew scriptures. The occasional use of elegant Arabic rhe-
torical figures reveals that he was also versed in Arabic lit-
erature. Abu al-Fat’s Annals end at the time of Muhammad,
but, in accordance with Samaritan practice, various manu-
scripts were extended by later scribes. R. Payne-Smith began
to edit the Arabic text together with a literal English trans-
lation (in M. Heidenheim’s Deutsche Vierteljahrschrift fuer
englisch-theologische Forschung und Kritik (1863), 303-35,
431-59), but discontinued his work with the appearance of E.
Vilmar’s scholarly edition Abulfathi Annales Samaritani (Go-
tha, 1865). Vilmar added a detailed introduction and short
notes in Latin.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.E. Cowley, Samaritan Liturgy, 2 (1909),
xix; J.A. Montgomery, Samaritans (1907, repr. 1968), 305-7; M. Gas-
ter, Samaritans... (1925), 3, 99, 156-7; I. Ben-Zvi, Sefer ha-Shomeronim
(1935), Samaritans (1964), 46.
[Ayala Loewenstamm]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABU AL-HASAN OF TYRE (Samaritan Ab-Hisda Azzuri;
c. 1" century), Samaritan halakhist, exegete, and liturgical
writer of priestly origin. His surname Azzuri may designate
his origin from either the Syrian town Zor (Tyre) or the vil-
lage Zorta near Nablus. The first translation of the Samaritan
Pentateuch into Arabic is ascribed to him; it was revised two
centuries later by Abu Sa‘id (see *Samaritans, Language and
Literature). His chief work, written in Arabic and called Kitab
al-Tabbakh (“Book of the Cook” or “Book of the Druggist,’
and called by the Samaritans themselves “Book of the Meat”)
is a compendium of oral law dealing with many aspects of Sa-
maritan practice and belief. It includes many polemical pas-
sages against the Jews - *Rabbanites and Karaites alike - and
against some Christian and Muslim tenets. His halakhic deci-
sions are still valid in the Samaritan community.
Three of Abu al-Hasan’s exegetical treatises in Arabic are
extant: Sharh Asrat Addébdrem, a commentary on the Ten
Commandments (John Rylands Library, Manchester, Gaster
Collection, Ms. 1929); a commentary on “Haazinu” (Deut. 32),
known also as al-Khutba al-Jamia (“The General Sermon,’
ibid., Gaster Collection, Ms. 1813); and Kitab al-Ma‘d (“Book
of Resurrection’; Bodeleian Library, Oxford, Ms. Hunt. 350).
In the last he adduces proofs from the Pentateuch for the Sa-
maritan belief in the day of vengeance and recompense (Deut.
32:35) and for the rising of the dead from the dust of their
graves. Verses from “Haazinu” form an important part of these
proofs. As the above manuscripts are included in some cop-
ies of Kitab al-Tabbakh, as parts of the entire compendium, it
remains questionable whether they originally belonged to the
compendium and later became independent works under the
influence of copyists and scribes, or vice versa. Abu al-Hasan
also became known as a liturgical writer. His hymns are com-
posed in Hebrew and in 11"*-century Aramaic.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.A. Montgomery, Samaritans (1907, repr.
1968), 293, 298; A.E. Cowley, Samaritan Liturgy (1909), 70, 79-81; 2
(1909), 869, 875; J. MacDonald, Theology of the Samaritans (1964),
index; P.R. Weis in: BJRL, 30 (1946-47), 144-56; 33 (1950-51), 131-7;
M. Gaster in: EIs, 4 (1934), 3-5 (Supplement); idem, Samaritans...
(1925), 151-2; Z. Ben-Hayyim, Ivrit ve-Aramit Nusah Shomeron, 1
(1957), 35 (introd.); 3, pt. 2 (1967), 17, 277-80; A.S. Halkin, in: Lesho-
nenu, 32 (1968), 208-46.
[Ayala Loewenstamm]
ABU AL-MUNAJJA SOLOMON BEN SHAYA (12** cen-
tury), government official in Egypt. His Hebrew name was
Solomon b. Shaya and he was also known as Sani‘ al Dawla
(“The Noble [exalted] of the State”). Abu al-Munajja was re-
sponsible for the administration of several districts in east-
ern Egypt and became famous for digging an irrigation canal
(1113-18) which greatly benefited agriculture. The vizier al-
Afdal, the regent, was jealous of him because the canal was
called Bahr Abu al-Munajja (the canal of Abu al-Munajja) and
the regent wanted it to bear his name. The enemies of the Jews
defamed him with the result that he was exiled to Alexandria
and imprisoned without a trial. After several years he freed
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABUDARHAM
himself by a ruse. Among the genizah fragments were found
poems in his honor which recount the story of his case un-
til he was finally reinstated. He is described as a benefactor
of the Jews. According to Arab authors, Abu al-Munajja was
the ancestor of a family of physicians, Banu al-Safir, mostly
converts to Islam who served as the court physicians of the
Egyptian rulers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. al-Magrizi, Khitat 1, 71ff., 487 ff; Ibn
Doukmak, Description de Egypte (1893), 47; Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920),
215-7; 2 (1922), 264-9; Fischel, Islam, 87-88, n.4.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
ABU AWEIGILA (Ar. Abu ‘Aweigila), strategic position in
eastern Sinai, about 19 road mi. (30 road km.) W. of *Nizanah.
Situated near the course of Wadi el-Arish, at a road fork con-
nected with el-Arish in the northwest and with Ismailiya in
the west, it was a battlefield in the 1948, 1956, and 1967 wars. In
one of the last battles of the War of Independence Israeli forces
drove the Egyptians from ‘Aslij (near *Revivim) through
Nizana to Abu Aweigila, and from there moved on in the di-
rection of el-Arish. During the Sinai Campaign the capture
of the stronghold ultimately decided the outcome of the war.
Before the Six-Day War (June 1967) the Egyptians extended
their fortifications for many kilometers to all sides of Abu
Aweigila and stationed a division in the area. The capture of
the position enabled the Israeli Army to break through to the
entire Sinai Peninsula.
[Efraim Orni]
ABUDARHAM (Heb. 0777138; also Abudarhan, Abudarhen,
Abudaram, Abudaran; Ar. “father of coins” meaning “the rich
man”), Spanish family. DAVID BEN SOLOMON ABUDARHAM
constructed in the 13 century the synagogue of Almaliquin in
Toledo, apparently identical with the Abudarham synagogue
destroyed in the riots of 1391. He was probably the grandfa-
ther of the liturgical scholar David b. Joseph *Abudarham.
Another DAVID ABUDARHAM in the same period was a tax
farmer in Toledo: when tax assessment was assigned to the
Jewish communities of Castile in 1290, it was decided that in
case of dispute David was to render final decision. After the ex-
pulsion from Spain in 1492 the family was scattered through-
out Italy and North Africa. MosEs and ISAAC ABUDARHAM
gave hospitality to David *Reuveni in Rome in 1524. JUDAH
ABUDARHAM, a fugitive from the Inquisition, became pur-
veyor to the Portuguese in Agadir. After 1541 the family settled
in Tetuan where it long provided the community with spiri-
tual and political leaders. Another JUDAH ABUDARHAM was
among the founders of the Gibraltar community; one of the
Gibraltar synagogues, founded in 1820, still bears the family
name. A third JUDAH ABUDARHAM represented France in
Tetuan for 30 years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 214; Baer, Urkunden, in-
dex; Roth, in: sQr, 39 (1948/49), 132; Steinschneider, ibid., 10 (1897/98),
130; Kaufmann, in: REJ, 38 (1899), 254; I.Benwalid, Va-Yomer Yizhak
335
ABUDARHAM, DAVID BEN JOSEPH
(1855), 182a-187a; J.M.Toledano, Ner ha-Maarav (1911), 158, 192, 200;
Miége, Maroc, 2 (1961), 107, 174, 547; Millas Vallicrosa, in: A. Gonzalez
Palencia, Los mozdrabes de Toledo en los siglos x11 y X11, 3 (1928),
563-95.
[Zvi Avneri and David Corcos]
ABUDARHAM, DAVID BEN JOSEPH (14" century), litur-
gical commentator in Spain, author of Sefer Abudarham, writ-
ten in 1340 in Seville. Abudarham came from a distinguished
family, and apparently an earlier namesake was a communal
leader in Toledo. Abudarham was moved to write his book,
like *Asher b. Saul of Lunel before him, because “the customs
connected with prayer have become varied from one coun-
try to another, and most of the people do not understand the
words of the prayers, nor do they know the correct ritual pro-
cedures and the reasons for them.” The book is based on the
Talmud and the decisions of the geonim, and on the early and
later commentators. It abounds in source material of Spanish,
Provencal, French, and Ashkenazi origins, not all of which
has otherwise survived. Abudarham made extensive use of
the prayer book of Saadiah Gaon, and it seems he was the
last to see and use an original of this book. He also utilized
the Manhig of *Abraham b. Nathan ha-Yarhi of Lunel and the
Minhagot of Asher b. Saul, the legal dicta of *Asher b. Jehiel,
and the Turim. Some scholars think he was a disciple of *Jacob
b. Asher, author of the Turim. Abudarham commented upon
the prayers in great detail and traced the variations in custom
in different countries. He included a commentary on the Pass-
over Haggadah, rules of intercalation, the order of weekly pen-
tateuchal readings and haftarot for the entire year, and calen-
drical and astronomical tables. Abudarham appended to his
book rules governing benedictions, dividing them into nine
sections, along with their interpretation and explanation. His
book was first published in Lisbon in 1490 and has since been
republished frequently. H.J. Ehrenreich began an edition of it
in Klausenberg in 1927, based upon a different manuscript to-
gether with an extensive commentary, but did not complete
it. An edition, known as Abudarham ha-Shalem with variant
readings, according to the same manuscript, introduction,
and supercommentary, by S.A. Wertheimer, was published in
Jerusalem (1959, 1963) by his grandson. However, a compre-
hensive critical edition of this book is still lacking. Abudarham
also wrote a commentary on liturgy for the Day of Atonement
ascribed to *Yose b. Yose, as well as on other liturgical poems
(published under the title of Tashlum Abudarham).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael, Or, no. 729; A.L. Prinz (ed.), Tash-
lum Abudarham (1900), introd.; H. Tchernowitz, Toledot ha-Posekim,
2 (1947), 247-50; A.J. Wertheimer (ed.), Abudarham ha-Shalem
(19637), introd., 393-6.
[Zvi Avneri]
ABU GHOSH, Israeli Arab village in the Judean Hills
8 mi. (13 km.) W. of Jerusalem. Its area consists of 1 sq. mi.
(2.5 sq. km.). In 1968 Abu Ghosh had a population of 1,710,
98% of them Muslims, and the rest Christians. In 2003
336
the population was 5,200. In 1992 the village received mu-
nicipal council status. The village's agricultural economy was
based on grain and vegetables, vines, olives, and deciduous
fruit. Income levels were about half the national average in
2004.
Biblical *Kiriath-Jearim lies within its boundaries. Its
name from the Arab conquest (seventh century) was Qaryat
al-‘Inab (“Borough of the Grapevine”). The name Abu Ghosh
stems from a high-handed 17-century sheikh of Circassian
origin, who controlled the region and whose heirs imposed
a toll on every traveler to and from Jerusalem, until an end
was put to the extortions at the time of the Egyptian gover-
nor Ibrahim Pasha, around 1835. After the establishment of
the nearby kibbutzim *Kiryat Anavim (1920) and *Maaleh
ha-Hamishah (1938), relations between the villagers and Jews
were friendly and remained so in the Israeli War of Indepen-
dence. Some of the villagers cooperated with the *Haganah
and with *Lohamei Herut Israel. Abu Ghosh has a Catholic
monastery and a convent. The village includes a well-pre-
served crusader church built at the spot around 1142 because
the site was then held to be *Emmaus of the New Testament.
The church was partially destroyed in 1187 and rebuilt by the
French government in 1899. It is under the guardianship of
the Lazarist Fathers. A stone inserted in its wall bears the im-
print of the Roman Tenth Legion (Fretensis), apparently sta-
tioned here in the first century c.£. The Josephine Convent
of the Ark, built in 1924, stands supposedly on the site of the
house of *Abinadab (11 Sam. 6). From 1957, an annual music
festival was held in the village. Nearby is Aqua Bella (Heb. Ein
Hemed), a partially destroyed 12'-century crusader monas-
tery, which has been made into a national park.
[Abraham J. Brawer / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
ABU ‘IMRAN AL-TIFLISI (Abu ‘Imram Misa al-Zafarani),
founder of a Jewish religious sect in the ninth century. He
emigrated from Iraq to *Tiflis, in Georgia, hence the desig-
nation al-Tiflisi. Information about him is to be found in the
writings of his Karaite opponents, among them, al-Kirkisani.
Al-Tiflisi developed his own halakhah. While agreeing with
accepted Karaite views, such as the Karaite dating of the
Feast of Weeks and the prohibitions of the marriage of
first cousins and eating the tail fat of sheep, he devised his
own method of determining the occurrence of Rosh Hodesh
(“New Moon”). According to *Japheth b. Ali ha-Levi, a tenth-
century Karaite, al-Tiflisi rejected the doctrine of resurrec-
tion. This, however, is doubtful, for his other opponents would
have attacked al-Tiflisi for such a deviation. The sect of Ti-
flisites survived several generations after the death of its
founder, as evidenced by Judah Hadassi’s 12'+-century Eshkol
ha-Kofer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nemoy, in: HUCA, 7 (1930), 389; S. Pinsker,
Likkutei Kadmoniyyot, 1 (1860), 26; Z. Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium
(1959), 369-71.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABU ‘ISA, ISAAC BEN JACOB AL-ISFAHINI, founder of
a Jewish sect in Persia, the first to be formed after the destruc-
tion of the Second Temple. Abu ‘Isa was also called Obadiah,
evidently an honorific bestowed on him by his admirers. Ac-
cording to the Karaite scholar al-*Kirkisani, Abu ‘Isa lived dur-
ing the reign of Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik ibn *Marwan (685-705);
the Arabic historian Shahrastani places him during the reigns
of the Umayyad caliph Marwan ibn Muhammad (744-50)
and al-Mansur (754-75). The latter period seems correct be-
cause the religious and political ferment in the Islamic world
during the eighth century forms the suitable background for
the establishment of the sect. Abu ‘Isa proclaimed himself a
prophet and herald of the Messiah. He led a revolt against the
Muslims, and many Persian Jews rallied behind him. After
several years the rebellion was suppressed. His army was de-
feated by the Muslims near the ancient city of Rhagae (pres-
ent-day Rai) southeast of Teheran, and Abu ‘Isa himself was
killed. His followers did not believe that he was dead but rather
that he had entered a cave and disappeared. According to an-
other tradition, he placed his followers in a circle which he
drew with a myrtle branch and they remained beyond reach
of the enemy. Only Abu ‘Isa rode out of the area and dealt the
Muslims a mighty blow single-handedly. He afterward went
to the “Sons of Moses” beyond the desert to prophesy to them.
The sect which Abu ‘Isa founded, known as the Isunians or
Isfahanians, still existed in the time of al-Kirkisani (c. 930),
who found about 20 adherents in Damascus. The movement
launched by his disciple *Yudghan and the early activities of
*Anan b. David reflect the influence of Abu ‘Isas teachings.
His followers maintained that Abu ‘Isa had been an illiterate
tailor who wrote his books through prophetic inspiration. He
taught that five prophets, among them Jesus and Muhammad,
preceded the coming of the Messiah and that he himself was
the final harbinger. Basing himself on Psalm 119:164 (“Seven
times daily do I praise Thee”), he ordained seven daily prayers
for his followers, but did not reject recitation of the *Shema
and the Amidah or observance of the holy days as practiced
by *Rabbanites. The latter regarded the Isunians as legitimate
Jews in all respects. That the Isunians tended to be stringent
is evidenced in their prohibition of meat and wine and their
ban on divorce.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Friedlaender, in: JQR, 1 (1910/11), 203 ff; 2
(1911/12), 481ff.; Nemoy, in: HUCA, 7 (1930), 328, 382-3; Poznanski, in:
Reshumot, 1 (1925), 209-13; A.Z. Ae&coly, Ha-Tenu‘ot ha-Meshihiyyot
be-Yisrael, 1 (1956), 100-2, 117-26; Dinur, Golah, 228-31.
[Zvi Avneri]
ABUKARA, ABRAHAM BEN MOSES (d. 1879), Tunisian
rabbi. Abukara was probably the grandson of Abraham Abu-
kara (d. 1817), one of the scholars of Tunis, who in 1803 signed
a regulation introducing uniformity in various religious prac-
tices. A profound scholar, Abraham wrote a commentary and
novellae on the Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah, in four parts. The
first part, Beit ha-Safek (on the laws in case of “doubt”), was
published by his relative Jacob b. Elijah Abukara, who added
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABULAFIA, ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL
an introduction under the title Ben Avraham (Leghorn, 1882).
The other parts were lost. Jacob also published the Issur ve-
Hetter of *Jeroham b. Meshullam from a manuscript in the
collection of Abraham, together with Ben Avraham.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Cazés, Notes bibliographiques sur la lit-
térature juive-tunisienne (1893), 29-32; B. Wachstein, Mafteah ha-
Hespedim, 1 (1922), 3; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 135; Ta-Shema,
in: Sinai, 64 (1969).
ABULAFIA (Heb. 75y712x; Arabic for “father of health”;
also Abulaffia, Abulefia, Abualefia, Abu Alafia, etc.), wide-
spread and influential family, members of which were rabbis,
poets, statesmen, and communal leaders in Spain. After the
expulsion of the Jews from Spain the name became common
in some Oriental countries. A distinguished rabbinical fam-
ily was established in Palestine and Syria after Hayyim ben
Moses (?) Abulafia moved from Smyrna to Tiberias. The most
important Spanish branch, centered in Toledo from the 12
century, were levites and generally called Levi (Arabic Al-lavi)
Abulafia, etc. The epitaphs of many members of the family,
sometimes obsequiously phrased, are preserved; they included
(beside those subsequently mentioned in individual articles)
the physician Moses ben Meir (1255); Joseph ben Meir, rabbi
in Seville, perhaps his grandson (1341); the communal lead-
ers and royal officials Meir ben Joseph, Samuel, and Meir ben
Solomon (victims of the Black Death, 1349-50); and Samuel
ben Meir (1380). Samuel Abolafia of Almeria was in charge of
the commissariat for the Catholic monarchs during the cam-
paign against Granada in 1484. The New Christian magistrate
Juan Fernandez Abolafia participated in the plot against the
*Inquisition in Seville and was a victim of the first *auto-da-
fé there in 1481. Joseph David Abulafia (1) (d. 1823), was av
bet din in Tiberias before 1798 and later rabbi in Damascus.
He signed letters of introduction for the emissaries of Tibe-
rias as did his grandson Joseph David Abulafia (11) (d. 1898),
who was also rabbi in Tiberias. Moses and Jacob Abulafia were
among the Jews arrested in Damascus in 1840 in connection
with the *Damascus blood libel: the former, designated as a
rabbi, informed against his coreligionists. Isaac Abulafia was
rabbi in Damascus (1876-88). In Italy in modern times the
name was rendered as Bolaffio, Bolaffi, etc. It is said that the
first Jew to settle in Spain in the modern period was an Abu-
lafia from Tunis.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index; Baer, Urkunden, index;
Sefarad (1957), index volume; Cantera-Millas, Inscripciones, index.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.C. Gémez Menor, in: 1 Congreso interna-
cional “Encuentro de las tres culturas” (1983), 185-93.
[Cecil Roth]
ABULAFIA, ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL (1240-after 1291),
founder of the prophetic Kabbalah. Born in Saragossa, Spain,
Abulafia moved to Tudela in his childhood and studied with
his father until the latter’s death in 1258. In 1260 he left Spain
for the Land of Israel in search for the legendary *Sambatyon
river. However, the war between the Mongols and Mamluks
337
ABULAFIA, ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL
in 1260 caused his return to Europe, via Greece. He studied
in the early 1260s in Capua with R. Hillel of Verona, concen-
trating basically the Guide of the Perplexed, and then returned
to Spain. In 1270 he began to study a particular kind of Kab-
balah in Barcelona, whose most important representative was
Barukh Togarmi, and received a revelation with messianic
overtones. He soon left for Castile, where he disseminated his
prophetic Kabbalah among figures like R. *Moses of Burgos
and R. Joseph *Gikatilla. Some time around 1275 he taught
the Guide of the Perplexed and his Kabbalah in a few cities in
Greece and in 1279 he made his way through Trani to Capua,
where he taught four young students. In the summer of 1280
he arrived in Rome and attempted to see the Pope Nicholas 111
in order to discuss his vision of Judaism as a mystical religion.
This meeting was part of a messianic scheme. However, the
pope died suddenly and Abulafia was imprisoned for some
weeks and then left for Messina, Sicily. There he was active for
a decade (1281-91) and had several students as well as some
in Palermo. Around 1285 a polemic commenced between him
and R. Solomon ben Abraham ibn *Adret of Barcelona con-
cerning Abulafia's claims that he was a prophet and messiah.
This controversy was one of the principal reasons for the ex-
clusion of Abulafia’s Kabbalah from the Spanish schools.
Abulafia’s literary activity spans the years 1271-91 and
consists of several dozen books, treatises on grammar, and
poems. He wrote many commentaries: three on the Guide of
the Perplexed — Sefer ha-Ge'ulah (1273), Sefer Hayyei ha-Ne-
fesh, and Sefer Sitrei Torah (1280); on Sefer Yezirah: - Ozar
Eden Ganuz, (1285/6), Gan Na ‘ul, and a third untitled; and
a commentary on the Pentateuch - Sefer-MaftehOt ha-Torah
(1289). More influential are his handbooks, teaching how to
achieve the prophectic experience: Hayyei ha-Olam ha-Ba
(1280), Or ha-Sekhel, Sefer ha-Heshek, and Imrei Shefer (1291).
Of special importance for understanding his messianology are
his “prophetic books” written between 1279 (Patras) and 1288
(Messina), where revelations including apocalyptic imagery
and scenes are interpreted as pointing to spiritual processes
of inner redemption. The spiritualized understanding of the
concepts of messianism and redemption as an intellectual de-
velopment represents a major contribution of the messianic
ideas in Judaism. As part of his messianic propensity, Abulafia
become an intense disseminator of his Kabbalah, orally and in
written form, trying to convince both Jews and Christians.
In his first treatises, Get ha-Shemot and Mafteah ha-
Re‘ayon, Abulafia describes a linguistic type of Kabbalah
similar to the early writings of R. Joseph Gikatilla. In his later
writings, the founder of prophetic Kabbalah produces a syn-
thesis between Maimonides’ Neoaristotelian understand-
ing of prophecy as the result of the transformation of the in-
tellectual influx into a linguistic message and techniques to
reach such experiences by means of combinations of letters
and their pronunciation, breathing exercises, contemplation
of parts of the body, movements of the head and hands, and
concentration exercises. Some of the elements of those tech-
niques stem from commentaries on Sefer Yezirah of Ashke-
338
nazi origin, while others reflect influences of Yoga, Sufism, and
hesychasm. He called his Kabbalah “the Kabbalah of names,”
that is, of divine names, being a way to reach what he called
the prophetic experience, or “prophetic Kabbalah,’ as the ul-
timate aims of his way: unitive and revelatory experiences. In
his writings expressions of what is known as the unio mystica
of the human and the supernal intellects may be discerned.
Much less concerned with the theosophy of his contemporary
kabbalists, who were interested in theories of ten hypostatic
sefirot, some of which he described as worse than the Chris-
tian belief in the trinity, Abulafia depicted the supernal realm,
especially the cosmic Agent Intellect, in linguistic terms, as
speech and letters.
In his later books, Abulafia repeatedly elaborated upon a
system of seven paths of interpretation, which he used some-
times in his commentary on the Pentateuch, which starts with
the plain sense, includes also allegorical interpretation, and
culminates in interpretations of the discrete letters, the latter
conceived of as the path to prophecy. Abulafia developed a
sophisticated theory of language, which assumes that Hebrew
represents not so much the language as written or spoken as
the principles of all languages, namely the ideal sounds and
the combinations between them. Thus, Hebrew as an ideal
language emcompasses all the other languages. This theory
of language might have influenced *Dante Alighieri. In his
writings Abulafia uses Greek, Latin, Italian, Arabic, Tatar, and
Basconian words for purpose of gematria.
Abulafia’s Kabbalah inspired a series of writings which
can be described as part of his prophetic Kabbalah, namely,
as striving to attain extreme forms of mystical experiences.
The most important among them are the anonymous Sefer
ha-Zeruf (translated into Latin for *Pico), Sefer Ner Elohim,
and Sefer Sha‘arei Zedek by R. Nathan ben Saadiah Harar,
who influenced the Kabbalah of R. *Isaac of Acre. The im-
pact of Abulafia is evident in an anonymous epistle attrib-
uted to Maimonides; R. Reuven Zarfati, a kabbalist active in
14 century Italy; Abraham *Shalom, Johanan *Alemanno,
Judah *Albotini, and Joseph ibn Zagyah; Moses *Cordovero
and Hayyim *Vital’s influential Sha ‘arei Kedushah; *Shabbetai
Zevi, Joseph *Hamiz, Phinehas Elijah Horowitz, and *Mena-
hem Mendel of Shklov.
Extant in many manuscripts, Abulafia’s writings were not
printed by kabbalists, most of whom banned his brand of Kab-
balah, and only by chance introduced in their writings a few
short and anonymous fragments. Scholarship started with an
analysis of his manuscript writings by M.H. Landauer, who at-
tributed the book of the Zohar to him. A. Jellinek refuted this
attribution and compiled the first comprehensive list of Abu-
lafia’s writings, publishing three of Abulafia’s shorter treatises
(two epistles, printed in 1853/4, and Sefer ha-Ot in 1887), while
Amnon Gross, published 13 volumes, which include most of
Abulafia’s book and those of his students’ books (Jerusalem,
1999-2004). Major contributions to the analysis of Abulafia’s
thought and that of his school have been made by Gershom
Scholem and Chaim Wirszubski. Some of Abulafia’s treatises
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
were translated into Latin and Italian in the circle of Pico della
Mirandola, mostly by Flavius Mithridates, and Pico’s vision of
Kabbalah was significantly influenced by his views. This is the
case also with Francesco Giogio Veneto’s De Harmonia Mundi.
Abulafia’s life inspired a series of literary works such poems
by Ivan Goll, Moses Feinstein, and Nathaniel Tarn; Umberto
Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum; and a George-Elie Bereby’s
play; in art, Abraham Pincas’s paintings and Bruriah Finkel’s
sculptures; and several musical pieces.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Berger, in: Essays ... S.W. Baron (1959),
55-61, U. Eco, The Search for the Perfect Language (1995); M. Idel, The
Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia (1988); idem, Language,
Torah and Hermeneutics in Abraham Abulafia (1989); idem, Stud-
ies in Ecstatic Kabbalah (1988); idem, Messianic Mystics (1998), ch. 2;
Natan ben Saadyah Har ar, Le Porte della Giustizia, a Cura di Moshe
Idel (2001); R. Kiener, “From Ba ‘al ha-Zohar to Prophet to Ecstatic:
The Vicissitudes of Abulafia in Contemporary Scholarship,” in: P.
Schaefer and J. Dan (eds.), Gershom Scholem’s Major Trends in Jew-
ish Mysticism, 50 Years After (1993), 117-44; M.H. Landauer, in: Liter-
aturblatt des Orients, 6 (1845), 322ff.; Scholem, Mysticism, ch. 4;. Ch.
Wirszubski, Pico della Mirandola’s Encounter with Jewish Mysticism
(1988); E.R. Wolfson, Abraham Abulafia: Hermeneutics, Theosophy,
and Theurgy (2000).
[Moshe Idel (24 ed.)]
ABULAFIA (Bolaffi), EZEKIEL (Hezekiah) DAVID BEN
MORDECAI (18* century), Italian scholar and poet. His fam-
ily originated in Aquileia, but he himself lived first in Leghorn
and then in Trieste, where he married the daughter of R. Isaac
Formiggini. He began to write at the age of 13, but his early
compositions (including an elegy on the victims of the disas-
ter in the Mantua ghetto in 1776) were lost. His only published
work was Ben Zekunim (1793). The first part, entitled Yesod
Olam, is an introduction to the Talmud for young people,
based on the Halikhot Olam of *Jeshua b. Joseph ha-Levi. The
final section quotes commendatory statements on the Talmud
by gentile scholars such as *Galatinus and *Basnage. The sec-
ond part, Mizmor le-David, contains miscellaneous poems and
elegies, revealing a fair knowledge of classical mythology and
literature, and closes with patriotic poems, e.g., on the educa-
tional reforms of Emperor Joseph 11. The preface embodies a
vigorous vindication of the Hebrew language. An early work
on Psalms, Shiggayon le-David, has been lost.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schirmann, Italyah, 461-2; A.M. Haber-
mann, Mivhar ha-Shirah ha-Ivrit, 2 (1965), 148-50.
[Cecil Roth]
ABULAFIA, HAYYIM BEN DAVID (c. 1700-1775), rabbi
and codifier. Abulafia, a grandson of Hayyim ben Jacob Abu-
lafia, was born either in Jerusalem or in Smyrna. He studied
under Isaac *Rappaport, author of Battei Kehunnah. About
1740 he was appointed rabbi of Larissa (Greece). Among his
many pupils was Joseph Nahmoli, author of Ashdot ha-Pisgah.
In 1755, as a result of tribulations suffered by the community,
he left for Salonika, where he apparently remained, acting as av
bet din, until 1761. In that year the Sephardi rabbi of Amster-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABULAFIA, HAYYIM BEN JACOB
dam, Isaac ibn Dana de Brito, died and Abulafia was invited to
succeed him. But Jacob Saul, the rabbi of Smyrna, died at the
same time and, when Abulafia was invited to fill his position,
he accepted the invitation. Many of Abulafia’s halakhic deci-
sions are found in the works of Turkish scholars, who often
sought his approbation for their works. Most of his own works
were destroyed in the great fire of Smyrna of 1772 - including
the major part of a large work on the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol of
Moses of Coucy. Part of it was published posthumously to-
gether with his responsa Nishmat Hayyim (Salonika, 1806).
Parts of his works were printed with the above-mentioned
Ashdot ha-Pisgah (1790). Hayyim *Modai, his successor in
the Smyrna rabbinate, was his pupil.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Benayahu, in: Horeb, 10 (1947/48), 27-343
LS. Emmanuel, Mazzevot Saloniki, 1 (1963).
ABULAFIA, HAYYIM BEN JACOB (1) (1580-1668), Pales-
tinian talmudist, known as the First. After studying in Safed,
Abulafia was ordained by his father in about 1618. In 1628 Abu-
lafia settled in Jerusalem and later moved to Hebron, where
despite his advanced age he directed the yeshivah. He was one
of the leading rabbis of his era. In 1651-52 Abulafia was a cen-
tral figure in the controversy over the election of a new rabbi
of the Hebron community and went to Cairo to enlist the sup-
port of the influential Raphael Joseph, head of Egyptian Jewry,
and arrange a compromise. When Nathan of Gaza began his
propaganda in support of Shabbetai Zevi, Abulafia adopted
a negative attitude similar to that of his father toward the vi-
sions of Hayyim *Vital. Although he was skeptical, he wished
to avoid open conflict, and did not threaten excommunication
as did his father in the case of the latter. In 1666 he was one
of the delegation of four who went to Gaza on behalf of the
Constantinople community to investigate the authenticity of
Nathan’s prophecies, and about this time he returned to live in
Jerusalem. His grandson was Hayyim ben Jacob *Abulafia (11),
who renewed Jewish settlement in Tiberias in 1740.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Benayahu, Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David
Azulai (1959), 293-302; Ben-Zvi, Eretz; Scholem, Shabbetai Zevi, 221,
228, 511. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-
Erez Yisrael, 2 (1938), 7.
ABULAFIA, HAYYIM BEN JACOB (11) (c. 1660-1744),
rabbi, known as the Second. He is grandson of Hayyim ben
Jacob *Abulafia the First. About 1666 the Abulafia family
moved from Hebron to Jerusalem, where Hayyim studied with
Moses Galante and others. In 1699 he went on a mission to Sa-
lonika, and in 1712 he served as rabbi in Smyrna and in 1718 in
Safed where he remained until 1721, when he was reappointed
rabbi of Smyrna, living there for almost 20 years.
Abulafia believed in the imminence of the messianic era
and considered the restoration of *Tiberias, which had been in
ruins for almost 70 years, a necessary prerequisite to it. Sheikh
Dahir al-‘Amr, the ruler of Galilee, invited him to “come up and
take possession of the land.” In 1740 he moved from Smyrna to
Tiberias. Despite his advanced age, Abulafia began rebuilding
339
ABULAFIA, HAYYIM NISSIM BEN ISAAC
the city, and he sent his sons and sons-in-law abroad to enlist
aid for the restoration. According to diverse legends, he planted
gardens, vineyards, and fields, and built a glorious synagogue
and bet midrash, a bathhouse, a press for sesame oil, stores for
market day, established the Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Fund, and
sent his two sons on missions abroad to collect money; he also
built houses and courtyards for his fellow Jews.
In 1742-43 war broke out between Suleiman, pasha of
Damascus, and Dahir. Abulafia encouraged the Jews to re-
main in Tiberias and gave full support to the sheikh. In the
two campaigns, which ensued - the first of which ended on
the 4" of Kislev 1743 and the second ending with the death of
Suleiman on the 5‘ of Elul — the sheikh was victorious. Abu-
lafia declared these two dates as holidays, which the Jews of
Tiberias continued to observe annually. He died in Tiberias
on the 16" of Nisan 5504.
Abulafia was a prolific author, but only those of his works
which he published while in Smyrna have appeared in print:
(1) Yashresh Yaakov (1729), on the Ein Yaakov; (2) Mikraei
Kodesh (1729), on the laws of Passover, on Esther, homilies,
and novellae on the Talmud and Maimonides; (3) Ez ha-
Hayyim (1729), on the weekly portions; (4) Yosef Lekah, pt.
one on Genesis and Exodus; pt. two on Leviticus (1730); pt.
three on Numbers and Deuteronomy (1732); (5) Shevut Yaakov
(1734), on the Ein Yaakov; (6) Hanan Elohim (1737), on the
Pentateuch, appended to Hayyim va-Hesed, by his grandfa-
ther, Isaac Nissim b. Gamil.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Kopf, in: Ks, 39 (1964), 273-9; Ben Zvi,
Eretz Israel, index; M. Benayahu, ed. Zimrat ha-Arez (1946), intro.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez
Yisrael, 2 (1938), 7.
ABULAFIA, HAYYIM NISSIM BEN ISAAC (1775-1861),
rabbi and communal worker, known also, from the initial let-
ters of his name, as “Hana.” Born in Tiberias, he succeeded his
father as the head of the Jews of Tiberias. He was for a short
time rabbi of Damascus. After the defeat of the Egyptian com-
mander *Ibrahim Pasha by the Turks (1840), when some of the
Arab sheikhs began to seize control of the villages and towns
abandoned by the Egyptians and oppressed and maltreated
their Jewish inhabitants, Abulafia asked the commander of
the Turkish forces in Sidon (Saida) and Tripoli to take action
to stop these acts. The latter immediately had instructions dis-
patched to the governor of Safed forbidding persecution of the
Jews. Toward the end of his life Abulafia moved to Jerusalem
and, in 1854, he was elected rishon le-Zion succeeding Isaac
*Covo. In Jerusalem he supported Ludwig August *Frankl in
the founding of the Laemel school. His writings have remained
in manuscript, except for individual responsa published in the
works of his contemporaries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frumkin-Rivlin, 3 (1929), 279-81; M.D. Gaon,
Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez Yisrael, 2 (1937), 7-8; Yaari, Sheluhei, in-
dex, s.v.; J.M. Toledano, Ozar Genazim (1960), index; I. Ben Zvi,
Mehkarim u-Mekorot (1966), index (Ketavim, vol. 3).
[Abraham David]
340
ABULAFIA, ISAAC (d. 1764), talmudist and emissary for
Erez Israel. Abulafia was the son of Hayyim ben Moses (?)
Abulafia. He immigrated with his father to Tiberias in 1740.
Active in the rebuilding of Tiberias, he went in 1743 as an em-
issary for this purpose to Damascus and probably to other
places as well. He was appointed by his father to succeed him
as rabbi and as leader of the community of Tiberias, and held
these offices for 20 years. In 1764 he was appointed by the lead-
ers of the Jerusalem community as a member of a delegation
that went to Constantinople to have Rahamim ha-Kohen re-
moved from office as representative of “Pekidei Erez Israel be-
Kushta” (“The Representatives of the Land of Israel in Con-
stantinople”). On hearing that Rahamim had already been
officially appointed, some of the delegates thought it useless
to proceed with the journey. Isaac, however, went to Constan-
tinople and argued the case before Jacob Zonana, head of the
“Pekidei Erez Israel,” but Zonana justified the appointment.
Isaac was the author of Pahad Yizhak (Moscow Ms. Guenz-
burg, 29), a comprehensive commentary on the Sefer Yere’im
of *Eliezer b. Samuel of Metz. One of his responsa was pub-
lished in the Nehpeh be-Khesef (1768) of Jonah Navon (pt. 1,
HM, 81a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (Heb.,
1959), 389-90.
ABULAFIA, ISAAC BEN MOSES (1824-1910), rabbi and
halakhist. Abulafia, who was born in Tiberias, was rabbi of Da-
mascus from c. 1877. His authoritarian attitude and his habit of
making independent halakhic decisions roused the opposition
of the other rabbis and of the communal leaders of Damascus,
who united in an attempt to remove him from his position.
In 1896 they turned to Moses ha-Levi, the hakham bashi, in
Constantinople, who acceded to their request by appointing
Solomon Eliezer Alfandari rabbi of Damascus. The two rabbis
did not at first cooperate with each other. Later, however, Al-
fandari brought Abulafia into the sphere of his activities. To-
ward the end of his life Abulafia acted as rabbi in Tyre. From
there he moved to Jerusalem, and finally to Tiberias, where
he died. An outstanding halakhic scholar, his responsa Penei
Yizhak were published in six volumes (1871-1906). Some
scholars, especially Shalom Hai Gagin of Jerusalem, were criti-
cal of the first volume, and Abulafia wrote Lev Nishbar (1878)
in reply to his critics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ben-Zvi, in: Ozar Yehudei Sefarad, 6 (1963),
7-16.
ABULAFIA, JACOB BEN SOLOMON (15502-16222), Da-
mascus rabbi. Abulafia, the grandson of Jacob b. Moses *Berab,
studied under Solomon *Absaban and under Moses Besodo —
apparently in Damascus - together with Yom Tov *Zahalon.
There is evidence that he may have been friendly with Isaac
*Luria. It is known that he was in Safed in 1589. In 1593 he was
serving as rabbi of the Spanish congregation in Damascus.
About 1599 he received ordination (semikhah) - together with
seven other great scholars of Safed - from Jacob (11) *Berab;
Abulafia was definitely in Safed in the summer of 1599. He
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
again visited there in the summer of 1609, returning to Da-
mascus that same year. He ordained his closest pupil Josiah
*Pinto about 1617, apparently in Safed. His relationship with
Hayyim *Vital was extremely strained. Abulafia had no faith
in Vital’s visions, and mocked his approach to Kabbalah. The
tension between them reached its peak in 1609. Abulafia was
primarily a halakhist, but he also wrote expository homilies
on the Pentateuch. Some of his responsa and novellae on the
Pentateuch appear in the works of his contemporaries. H.Y.D.
*Azulai saw a large manuscript volume of his responsa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 1 (1852), 85, no. 202; Judah Aryeh di
Modena, Ari Nohem, ed. by N.S. Leibovitz (1929), 80; H. Vital, Sefer
ha-Hezyonot, ed. by A.Z. Aescoly (1954), 24ff., 91-129; M. Benayahu,
in: Sefer Yovel ... Y. Baer (1960), 253, 257, 260-1, 266-7.
ABULAFIA, MEIR (11702-1244), talmudic commentator,
thinker, and poet; the most renowned Spanish rabbi of the
first half of the 13" century. His only son Judah died in 1226,
but his grandchildren and great-grandchildren through his
daughters lived in Toledo about a century after his death.
Meir himself and his family carried the title nasi, and the
whole family was connected by marriage with the foremost
families of Toledo. In his youth, Abulafia went from Burgos
to Toledo where he spent the rest of his life. It seems that as
early as 1204 he was a member of the Toledo bet din, together
with Meir ibn Migash and “Abraham b. Nathan ha-Yarhi. He
played an important part in the organization of the commu-
nities in Spain, especially that of Toledo, where he instituted
many religious regulations.
Abulafia’s literary activity spans four general areas: hala-
khah, masorah, the controversy over Maimonides’ opinion on
the subject of resurrection, and Hebrew poetry. His greatest
though least known work is his extensive commentary, which
covered about half the Talmud. This commentary, unique both
in quantity and in quality, may be considered the summation
and the conclusion of the talmudic school of the Spanish rab-
bis, and Abulafia its last representative (his younger contem-
porary and countryman *Nahmanides brought an end to the
local traditional method by his introduction of the tosafists’
method of study from Germany and France). In his book,
originally named Sefer Peratei Peratin (“Book of Minute De-
tails’), Abulafia goes into the smallest details of each subject,
attempting to extract from his explanations the maximum of
practical rules. Its rapid disappearance may be attributed to
its relative verbosity, as well as to the preference shown for
the books of Nahmanides. The work is written entirely in
Aramaic, in the style of the geonim and Isaac *Alfasi, and all
decisions are presented with confidence. Abulafia never men-
tions his teachers and rarely his predecessors by name, but he
does draw upon and even quote (though anonymously) the
early Spanish rabbis. Most of Abulafia’s specific references
are to the geonim, especially to *Hai and *Sherira, and he re-
fers as well to Alfasi, *Hananel, Joseph *Ibn Migash, *Rashi,
*Maimonides, and Jacob *Tam. His knowledge of the teach-
ings of the French and German talmudists is evidently limited.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABULAFIA, MEIR
MEIR
HA-LEVI
ABULAFIA
*TODROS
dtr. *JOSEPH SAMUEL MEIR
d. 1212 first half 13 cent. HA-RAMAH
c. 1170-1244
*TODROS ELIASAPH dtr. JUDAH
kabbalist d. 1226
b. 1220 Burgos
d. 1298 Toledo
4
*JOSEPH LEVI
After H. “Brody, in YMHSI, 2(1936), 6
His work presents many old Spanish versions of the Talmud
which are of special importance. Only two parts have hitherto
been published (under the name Yad Ramah) - those deal-
ing with the tractates Bava Batra and Sanhedrin (Salonika,
1790-98). However, manuscripts of his commentaries to
many other tractates (none of which is extant) were known
to the rabbis in earlier generations. Thus a great part of his
commentary on the tractate Horayot is included in *Azulai’s
Shaar Yosef on the tractate Avot, in Samuel Uceda’s Midrash
Shemuel (1579), and on the tractates of Nezikin, in Bezalel
*Ashkenazi’s Shitah Mekubbezet. He is quoted a great deal
anonymously in Menahem ha-Meiri’s commentaries on the
Talmud.
Even from his own time, the study of Abulafia’s work was
limited because of the penetration into Spain of the tosafists’
method of learning. Surprisingly, however, *Asher b. Jehiel
of Toledo, a scholar of German origin, considered Abulafia
the decisive local authority and he, his pupils (among them
Jehoram and Abraham ibn Ismael), and his sons, especially
*Jacob b. Asher, author of the Turim, studied his teachings, a
great part of the Turim being based upon them. There were
two editions of Abulafia’s work, one longer than the other. The
shorter edition came first, and not the reverse, as is generally
held. Examples of both editions are extant. The existing com-
mentary to Bava Batra is from the longer edition and that to
Sanhedrin from the shorter one. In the longer edition Abula-
fia first explains all the Mishnayot, and only then the talmu-
dic discussion. Of the hundreds of responsa which Abulafia
wrote, only an incomplete collection of about 70 paragraphs
is available. They are included in the Or Zaddikim (Salonika,
1799). Many of his responsa are scattered in the literature of
the rishonim and others were inserted in the Turim. Other
collections of responsa attributed to him in the rabbinical lit-
erature are not his.
His work Masoret Seyag la-Torah (Florence, 1750) dealt
with research, based on old manuscripts, into the traditional
text of the Scriptures, and, for a long time, influenced laws
governing the writing of scrolls of the Torah. Menahem ha-
341
ABULAFIA, MEIR
Meiri’s Kiryat Sefer on the same subject is based on Abulafia’s
version. For many generations there existed in Spain scrolls
of the Torah which were allegedly copied from the one Abu-
lafia wrote for his own use. Abulafia wrote a scroll of the Sefer
Torah as a master copy (mastercodex) and it achieved great
fame both in Germany and in the countries of North Africa.
“A great and outstanding rabbi, distinguished in wisdom,’
R. Samuel ben Jacob came especially from Germany to To-
ledo in order to make a copy of this scroll in 1250 and an-
other copy was made in 1273 in Burgos by R. Isaac ben Solo-
mon of Morocco. Additional copies were made in Spain and
Provence from the earlier copies until 1410. The Masoret Seyag
la-Torah also attained a remarkable popularity and Abraham
ibn Hassan, one of the exiles of Spain, related that R. Isaac de
Leon, who was one of the outstanding posekim in the genera-
tion before the Expulsion, issued instructions that all scrolls
of the Torah in Spain were to be corrected according to the
rules laid down in the Masoret.
The great importance of this work was equally recog-
nized in later generations, and such distinguished scholars as
Menahem ben Judah de *Lonzano in his Or Torah, Jedidiah
Solomon *Norzi in his Minhat Shai, and Solomon ben Joseph
*Ganzfried in his Keset Ha-Sofer laid down that the defective
and plene spellings in a Sefer Torah were to be in accordance
with this copy of Abulafia.
Nevertheless the extant copy, the first work of Abulafia
to be published (Florence, 1750), is faulty and incomplete and
also includes later additions. For instance, the Likkutei ha-
Masoret and the Tikkunei Soferim as well as the list of Petuhot
and Setumot in the Torah, which are printed at the end of the
volume, are not by Abulafia. They represent Ashkenazi tra-
ditions which were compiled according to the Tikkun Sefer
Torah of Yom Tov Lipmann *Muelhausen which was recently
discovered in manuscript and subsequently published. These
traditions were added to the Masoret during the 16" century.
On the other hand, the original book included references to
the Talmud and halakhic discussions which were omitted
from many of the manuscripts, and from the published edi-
tion. These changes explain the numerous discrepancies be-
tween the existing Masoret and the masoretic views of Abulafia
as reflected in the Kiryat Sefer of Ha-Meiri, which are based
on Abulafia’s master copy. Abulafia also took special pains to
explain the correct way of writing the scriptural portion of
Haazinu, as set forth in an authenticated manuscript of Mai-
monides’ Yad ha-Hazakah, which he received from Samuel
ibn *Tibbon. His comments in this regard are important for
establishing the authenticity of the manuscript copy of the
Bible known as the Aleppo Codex.
Abulafia is best known for his controversy with Mai-
monides over the doctrine of resurrection. Maimonides’
views on this subject seemed heretical to him. Abulafia, in
spite of his youth, publicly denounced them, and was the
first in Europe to do so during Maimonides’ lifetime. His
accusations were mainly in the form of letters to the rab-
bis of southern France, especially the “sages of Lunel,;’ who
342
held Maimonides in great esteem and strongly defended his
views. The whole correspondence, which also included an ex-
change of letters with the rabbis of northern France, did not
bring the hoped for result and was a great disappointment
to Abulafia. Thirty years later, when the controversy was re-
newed, he was asked by Nahmanides to take part in it again,
but remembering his earlier failure, he refused. Much of the
correspondence, edited by Abulafia, was published as Kitab
al-Rasa@’il (Paris, 1871). Abulafia’s conception of resurrection,
far from being an abstract philosophy, is based upon the
traditional belief, according to which the words of the rab-
bis on the subject are taken in their literal sense. Notwith-
standing this (and contrary to Graetz’s opinion), Abulafia
possessed a wide knowledge of the Hebrew and Arabic phi-
losophy of his time. In his work are mentioned the hakhmei
ha-tushiyyah (“philosophers”) and their opinions concern-
ing the creation of man, the nature of the “heavenly host”
(angels), and the like (see his instructive words on Sanh. 38b
concerning “Adam was a heretic”). Those of his pupils who
are known by name are principally philosophers and trans-
lators of works on astronomy and natural sciences from Ar-
abic into Hebrew. Among them are Isaac Israeli (11), author
of Yesod Olam, and Judah b. Solomon, author of Midrashei
ha-Hokhmah (Ms.). In his correspondence with the rabbis
of Provence, Abulafia objected to many of the decisions ren-
dered by Maimonides in his Yad ha-Hazakah. Some of his
hassagot (“criticisms”), like those of Abraham b. David, were
printed at the side of Maimonides’ text. A collection of these,
on the tractate Sanhedrin, was published by Y. Ha-Levy Lip-
shitz in Sanhedrei Gedolah (1968), but there are many er-
rors in his introduction. Although Abulafia opposed many
of Maimonides’ opinions and beliefs and resented the exag-
gerated respect which the rabbis of Provence accorded him,
he held Maimonides in great esteem. In his work on Sanhe-
drin, which (in chapter Helek) contains quotations from Kitab
al-Rasail, Maimonides is one of the few rabbis mentioned
by name. After Maimonides’ death Abulafia wrote a long el-
egy on him (published together with his piyyutim). A collec-
tion of Abulafia’s letters (and a small number of his poems),
published by Brody in 1936, reveals Abulafia to have been
acquainted with the poetry of earlier Spanish Jews and to
have been influenced by Moses Ibn Ezra in his meter, rhyme,
and construction.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Graetz, Gesch, 7 (c. 1900°), 30-32, 45-47, 52,
86; Yellin, in: Ks, 6 (1929/30), 139-44; Brody, in: Tarbiz, 6 (1934/35),
242-53; idem, in: YMHSI, 2 (1936), 2-90; Benedikt, in: Sinai, 33
(1952/53), 63-64, n. 3; Goshen-Gottstein, in: Kitvei Mifal ha-Mikra,
1 (1960), 21-31; Albeck, in: Zion, 25 (1959/60), 85-121; J.L. Maimon,
Sinai 45 (1959), 12-16; H. Lieberman, idem, 68 (1971), 182-184; Al-
beck, in: Mazkeret... Rav Herzog (1961/62), 385-91; Baer, Spain, 1
(1961), 100, 106ff., 397ff.; Ta-Shema, in: Ks, 43-45 (1967/69). ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Septimus, Hispano-Jewish Culture in Transition:
The Career and Controversies of Ramah (1982); N. Vogelman-Gold-
feld, Moses Maimonides’ Treatise on Resurrection: An Inquiry into Its
Authenticity (1986).
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABULAFIA, SAMUEL BEN MEIR HA-LEVI (c. 1320-1361),
Spanish financier, communal leader, and philanthropist. Abu-
lafia’s generosity provided a number of Jewish communities
in Castile with synagogues, including the magnificent one
still standing in Toledo (later the Church of El Transito) with
florid Hebrew inscriptions in his honor. The synagogue was
built by his order in 1357. This splendid synagogue was the best
illustration of the status of Castilian Jewry in general, and of
his prestigious position in particular. He was versatile in the
Torah and was known as an observant Jew. At first steward of
the estates of the king’s tutor Don Juan Alfonso de Albuquer-
que, Abulafia later became treasurer and adviser of Pedro the
Cruel of Castile. Many royal documents are signed by him in
Hebrew with his seal, containing a castle, the emblem of Cas-
tile. During the revolt of the grandees in 1354 he was one of
Pedros principal supporters. Abulafia did much to reinforce
the power of the monarchy in its struggle against the nobility
by improving the financial state of the kingdom. He ordered
an inquiry into the activities of the tax farmers and appointed
in their place reliable persons, who were often his own rela-
tives or other Jews; in addition he confiscated the property of
the rebel nobles and amassed considerable wealth in two of
the royal fortresses. He also served as a diplomat, being sent
in 1358 to Portugal to negotiate a political agreement between
the two kingdoms. In 1360 Pedro suddenly ordered Abulafia’s
arrest, whereupon he was brought to Seville and there tortured
to death. His enormous fortune was confiscated, as well as that
of his relatives. Samuel's imposing residence in Toledo, which
still stands, is today the El Greco museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, 11, Nos 187; 171, 205, 223,
180; Neuman, Spain, index; F. Cantera Burgos, Sinagogas Espanolas
(1955), 56-149; Cantera-Millas, Inscripciones, 336ff., 367-8; C. Roth,
in: Sefarad, 8 (1948), 3-22. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Leon Tello, Ju-
dios de Toledo (1979), 1, 137 ff; 2, 1399-44.
[Zvi Avneri]
ABULAFIA, SAMUEL HA-LEVI (13. century), scien-
tist and engineer employed by King Alfonso x of Castile
(1252-84). Abulafia constructed a water clock for Alfonso and
translated for him from the Arabic a manual on the manu-
facture and uses of the candle clock, Fabrica y usos del Relox
de la Candela. He also perfected hoisting devices and wrote a
treatise about them, still extant in manuscript.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Sci-
ence, 2 (1931), 843; Baer, Spain, index, s.v. Samuel Halevi of Toledo;
Millas, in: G.S. Métraux and F. Grouzet, The Evolution of Science
(1963), 160-2.
[Zvi Avneri]
ABULAFIA, TODROS BEN JOSEPH HA-LEVI (c. 1220-
1298), Spanish rabbi and kabbalist. Rabbi Todros ben Joseph
ha-Levi was born in Burgos, Spain, and died in Toledo. The
Abulafia family was famous and respected in Spain. His un-
cle, Rabbi Meir ha-Levi *Abulafia, was the “exilarch” of Span-
ish Jewry and widely known for his war against the Rambam
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABULAFIA, TODROS BEN JOSEPH HA-LEVI
(*Maimonides) and his writings. Todros, who lived during the
reign of Fernando 11 and Alphonso x, owed his great promi-
nence to his wisdom and wealth, and like his uncle became
the head of Castilian Jewry.
The sources portray Todros, on the one hand, as a public
figure and a national-religious leader, a person of wide hori-
zons, well versed in halakhic and midrashic literature and an
occasional poet. On the other hand, he is also seen as an ex-
perienced courtier who found his way to the hearts of the king
and queen. He is thought to be one of the first kabbalists in
Spain, and one can learn from his writings how the basic con-
cepts of the Kabbalah were formed. Above all, he was a model
to his generation of modesty and purity. His life symbolized
the absolute negation of his generation's penchant for the ways
of the knight and the promiscuity of the king’s court.
He spent his youth in Burgos. There he became friendly
with Rabbi Moses ben Simeon, who was the disciple of the
brother rabbis Jacob and Isaac of Soraya, and it would seem
that Todros heard from his friend some of what Rabbi Moses
had learned from Kabbalah teachers.
During his days in Toledo, Todros rose to a lofty position.
King Alfonso x welcomed him to his court and made him one
of his retinue on his voyage to France in 1275. Todros stayed
with the queen in Perpignan, where he met the poet Abraham
Badrashi (Bedersi). The meeting produced an exchange of
rhymed letters and messages. (Some of the poems were pub-
lished in the book Segulot Melakhim, Amsterdam, 1768; oth-
ers are in manuscript form, British Museum ADD 27,168 930;
Vienna manuscript 111).
In Toledo, Todros began his period of creativity. He wrote
on halakhic and moral issues related to life and the affairs of
his day. He did his utmost to free Jews who had been arrested
on the king’s orders (1281). At the same time he reacted furi-
ously to serious violations of religious commandments and
morality in Jewish society, threatening with imprisonment
and excommunication those who would break the laws. (His
sermon on changing evil ways is incorporated in his book
Zikkaron Li-Yehudah, 1846). Apart from his public activity,
the kabbalistic writings of Todros reveal him as a mystic, a
kabbalist who preserves traditions and ideas and attempts, by
fusing the various schools of Kabbalah (Gerona Kabbalah and
Castilian Kabbalah), to bridge the gaps between the kabbal-
ists of his day. His first book, Shaar ha-Razim (edition of M.
Kushnir Oron, Jerusalem, 1989) is a kabbalistic interpretation
of verse 19 of Psalms. In this book one perceives the hesitancy
of the author, who is afraid of divulging secrets. The book was
written as a letter replying to his friend Rabbi Moses of Bur-
gos. In fact, the book may be viewed as an interpretative work,
a kind of summing-up of the various traditions in Kabbalah
as known by Todros, who attempts to fuse them through his
interpretation
His second book, Ozar ha-Kavod (Warsaw, 1879), writ-
ten late in his life, is an interpretation of talmudic legends. As
in Shaar ha-Razim, in this book too the author's personality
shines through. He gathers together different traditions and
343
ABULAFIA, TODROS BEN JUDAH HA-LEVI
fuses them through the style of his writing, fusing mainly the
writings of the Hasidei Ashkenaz, the letters of the Hug ha-
Iyyun, and the Ismaili-Gnostic tradition with the traditions
of the Gerona and the Castilian kabbalists. In both books one
finds echoes of the concepts, themes, and ideas of the secret
teachings that a generation later became the foundations of
Kabbalah. Todros is thus important as a preserver of tradi-
tions who passed them on to the next generation. Thanks
to his writings, it is often possible to understand the secrets
hinted at in the writings of his teachers, the Castillian kab-
balists, as well the mystical tradition in Spain and its crystal-
lization during its early generations. (In addition to these two
books, he may have written an interpretation of Chapter 1 of
Ezekiel, which is mentioned in the writings of kabbalists but
has not been found.)
Todros belongs to that circle of kabbalists called by Ger-
shom *Scholem “the Gnostic kabbalists.” Rabbi Todros em-
phasizes in his writings the uniqueness of that circle and its
method in the wide frame of Kabbalah and kabbalists of his
day.
Todros was considered a uniquely exemplary figure, who
may have served, as Y. Libbes believes (Keizad Nithabber Sefer
ha-Zohar), as a model for the depiction of Rabbi *Simeon Bar
Yokhai in Sefer ha-Zohar. References to him may be found in
the poems of Todros ben Judah (the kabbalist’s nephew) and
in the writings of Isaac ben Latif, Abraham Badrashi, and Isaac
Albalag (in his book Tikkun ha-Deot, p. 101).
His son Joseph was a friend of the kabbalist *Moses de
Leon, who was thought to be the author of Sefer ha-Zohar, an
attribution rejected by present-day scholars, who see him as
just one its authors. Joseph received from de Leon copies of
parts of Sefer ha-Zohar.
[Michal Oron (24 ed.)]
ABULAFIA, TODROS BEN JUDAH HA-LEVI (12.47-af-
ter 1298), Hebrew poet. He was born in Toledo and spent
most of his life there. Todros was a member of a well-known
family of the city, although his kinships with other Abulafias,
such as Meir *Abulafia, or with “the Rav,’ Todros ben Joseph
*Abulafia, are not completely clear. The branch of his own
family was probably not very rich, and he had to search for a
job serving the richest members of the Jewish community. He
accompanied Don Isaac b. Don Solomon Zadok (Don Caq de
la Maleha; see *Ibn Zadok) on his travels, collecting taxes. He
shared in his diversions and, apparently through his influence,
was brought in touch with the royal court. In his presentation
before the royal court, he offered to King Alfonso the Wise a
goblet with an engraved Hebrew poem.
In his youth Abulafia composed numerous poems in
honor of Jewish notables close to the court of Alfonso x of
Castile and later Sancho rv, Solomon Ibn Zadok and his son
Isaac, the rabbi Todros ben Joseph Abulafia and his son Jo-
seph, etc., and even to persons of the royal family. He divided
his time between poetry and finance and succeeded at both.
344
In common with others of his class at that period, his morals
were lax and he had many liaisons with non-Jewish women.
He was among the Jews of Castile arrested by royal order in
January 1281, in connection with the revolts of Don Sancho,
the son of the King, which had as a consequence the sentence
of death for Don Caq de la Maleha. In prison he wrote many
poems which seem to indicate a change in outlook, although
none of them expresses contrition for his past behavior. After
the release of the prisoners, with the impact of their misfor-
tune still fresh in their minds, the rabbi Todros ben Joseph
Abulafia called upon his kinsmen to repent and demanded
that all those who continued to consort with Muslim or Chris-
tian women be excommunicated. The poet himself, however,
did not alter his own conduct nor did he see in it any contra-
diction of his religious views.
After great effort Abulafia succeeded in regaining his
status at court; in 1289 he is mentioned among the men of
affairs in the service of Sancho 1v, and some years later
headed a group of Jewish financiers who received important
monopolies. The last certain date mentioned in his poems is
1298.
Abulafia was a prolific writer. His Gan ha-Meshalim ve-
ha-Hidot (“Garden of Apologues and Saws,” the diwan col-
lected by himself, adding Arabic headings) contains more
than 1,000 poems; it was published by M. Gaster in 1926 (asa
facsimile of the manuscript), and in three volumes by D. Yellin
(1934-37): an extensive selection appears in Schirmann’s an-
thology Ha-Shirah ha-Ivrit bi-Sefarad u-vi-Provence, 2 (1956);
413-48, 694. There are very different opinions on his virtues as
a poet and on the value of his literary production. Although
the themes, technique, and genres of his poems continue the
classical traditions of Andalusian Hebrew literature, he lived
in a post-classical period with clear signs of mannerism and
a tendency to virtuosity. His poetry can be called epigonal
in its search for surprising elements, plays on words, trivia,
vulgar language, etc. For some scholars, most of Abulafia’s
poems seem repetitive and superficial, although they are
valuable for the historical material they contain and for the
interesting relation to the general literature of the times that
is revealed, for example, polemical verses, poems on spiritual
love, etc. Without denying the interest of these poems as his-
torical documents, many with an autobiographical charac-
ter, they also show clear signs of the high literary qualities of
their author. In some poems he appears wholly familiar with
Andalusian conventions, trying to overcome them in a very
sophisticated way. Writing in a different environment, and
in accordance with the sociological and cultural changes of
the Jewish communities in Castile, Todros imitated the An-
dalusian models, genres, motifs, and conventions, adapting
them to the new tendencies of the time not only in Hebrew
but also in Romance literature. Renouncing Hebrew- Arabic
formalism, and being in contact with the life of the Castilian
Court and its literary preferences, Abulafia followed the real-
istic tendencies of his time.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
It is true that some of his poems may be seen as a low
variety of literary texts in comparison with high literary com-
positions. Few of the Judeo-Spanish poets wrote about them-
selves as candidly as Abulafia, even on matters which were
likely to arouse the resentment of his readers. The poet was
able to deride even the physical defects of his opponents us-
ing an equivocal language. Following Romance patterns, like
that of the tensones, Todros discusses with other poets, like
Pinhas, in a tone varying between the festive and the serious,
which of them is better qualified to write poetry. It is a display
of skill in the use of language and verse, trying to show subtle-
ness in praising the speaker’s own poetry and ridiculing the
adversary with the kind of invectives that sometimes clearly
enter the realm of obscenity. The tone is not of bitterness nor
has it any tragic greatness; the poets are just mocking each
other and trying to overcome the adversary with a sophisti-
cated play on words. On other occasions, he maintained lit-
erary correspondence at a higher level with other poets of his
time. Todros dedicated long series of poems to notable Jewish
courtiers of his time, like “the Rav,’ or Solomon Ibn Zadok;
the series are divided into sections, on different Andalusian
topics, preceded by Arabic and Hebrew introductions, show-
ing the ability of the poet to adapt the classical genres to the
praise of the distinguished courtiers.
His “girdle” poems (47 muwashshahat) are very interest-
ing, particularly due to the kharajat preserved in them, in old
Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Brody, in: yMHSI, 1 (1933), 2-93; Y. Baer,
in: Zion, 2 (1937), 19-55; Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 123 ff., 133-7, 237-40; B.
Chapira, in: REJ, 106 (1941-45), 1-33; Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 383-6;
Lewin, in: Ozar Yehudei Sefarad, 10 (1968), 48-66. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: J. Targarona, in: Helmantica, 36 (1985), 195-210; A. Doron,
Meshorer ba-Hatsar ha-Melekh: Todros ha-Levi Abulafyah: Shirah
Ivrit bi-Sefarad ha-Nozrit (1989); EF. Marquez Villanueva, El concepto
cultural Alfonsi (1994); Schirmann-Fleischer, 2, 366-424; A. Saenz-
Badillos, in: C. Carrete (ed.), Actas del 1v Congreso Internacional
“Encuentro de las tres culturas” (Toledo, 30 de septiembre-2 octubre
1985) (1988), 135-46; Prooftexts, 16 (1996), 49-73; Jewish Studies at the
Turn of the 20" Century. Proceedings of the 6** EAys Congress, Toledo
1998, 1 (1999), 504-12.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann / Angel Saenz-Badillos (2"4 ed.)]
ABULKER (Aboulker = Abu I-Khayr), Algerian family,
whose members attained rabbinical and communal distinc-
tion. ISSAC BEN SAMUEL (r) (late 15t*—early 16» centuries),
scholar, astronomer, and translator. Expelled from Spain in
1492, Abulker settled in Padua, Italy, where in 1496 he com-
pleted his Hebrew commentary on the “Extracts of the Al-
magest” of al-Farghani. According to some modern authors
this commentary is actually only a copy of the work of an
earlier Jewish astronomer, Moses Handali. Some time later
Abulker translated from Latin into Hebrew under the title of
Sefer ha-Moladot the Liber de Nativitatibus, originally written
in Arabic by al-Hasibi (on the appearance of the new moon).
He also translated into Hebrew the Liber Completus, a Latin
translation (Venice, 1485) by Petrus of Reggio of Ahkam al-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ABULRABI, AARON
Nujum by the famous 12"6-century Tunisian astronomer Ali
ibn Abi al-Rijal (Abenragel). When IsAAC BEN SAMUEL
ABULKER (11), the rabbi of Algiers, denounced the abuses of
Joseph Bacri, the latter depicted Abulker as a troublemaker
and the bey had Abulker and six other Jewish notables be-
headed in 1815. His son SAMUEL and his grandson IsAAC (III)
were leaders of Algerian Jewry in the 19 century. The son of
the latter, HENRI-SAMUEL (1876-1957), professor of medicine
and head of Algerian Jewry, formed and presided over the Al-
gerian Zionist Federation and worked vigorously for organi-
zations which fought antisemitism. As head of the wartime
Resistance, he secretly collaborated with the Allies to assist
the American landing in Algiers on Nov. 7-8, 1942. His son
JOSE (b. 1920), a professor of neurosurgery in Paris, was the
leader of the Resistance forces which occupied Algiers, thus
facilitating the landing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 546, 557-80;
M.Haddey, Livre d’Or des Israélites Algériens (1872), 73, 83; I. Bloch,
Inscriptions Tumulaires (1888), 124-7; M. Ansky, Juifs d ‘Algérie (1950),
index; Hirschberg, Afrikah, index. :
[David Corcos]
ABULRABI (Abu al Rabi), AARON (also called Aldabi or
Alrabi; first half of the 15" century), Sicilian-born biblical
exegete, theologian, and polemicist. Born in Catania in Ara-
gonese Sicily, Abulrabi became an itinerant scholar whose
travels took him to Italy, Turkey, Alexandria, Damascus,
Jerusalem, and Kaffa on the Black Sea. Along the way he en-
gaged in intra- and interreligious discussion and dispute. He
describes an exchange with an unnamed pope and his car-
dinals in Rome in which he refuted the Christian curialists’
suggestion that the tabernacle cherubs reflected “the craft of
talismans,’ thereby breaching biblical prohibitions on “other
gods” and the manufacture of “graven images.” He also re-
ports debates with a Karaite scholar in Jerusalem and various
Christian interlocutors.
The only witness to Abulrabi’s life and thought is a tome
that combines Torah commentary with supercommentary
on Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah. The work postdates
1446 in the version that has come down. At its outset, Abul-
rabi states that he will focus on Rashi’s words inasmuch as
they were “mostly hewn from the eminent [rabbinic] oaks
of old” At times, Abulrabi issues sharp criticisms of Mi-
drashim in a forthright manner almost without precedent
in Rabbanite literature. Abulrabi’s work was printed together
with the supercommentaries on Rashi of Samuel Almosnino,
Jacob Canizal, and Moses *Albelda under the title Perushim
le-Rashi (Constantinople, 1525). In his commentary, Abul-
rabi mentions that he wrote the following other works: Sefer
ha-Meyasher, on Hebrew grammar; Sefer Matteh Aharon, a
polemical work; and three apparently theological studies:
Nezer ha-Kodesh; Sefer ha-Nefesh; and Sefer Perah ha-Elohut.
In the course of his commentary, he quotes philosophic and
kabbalistic sources, though rarely by name. He also quotes
his father, learned brothers Shalom, Baruch, Moses, Jacob,
and his father-in-law Moses *Gabbai, who, like Abulrabi,
345
ABUN
composed a supercommentary on Rashi’s Commentary on
the Torah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Perles, in: REJ, 21 (1890), 246-69. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: E. Lawee, “Graven Images, Astromagical Cherubs, Mo-
saic Miracles: A Fifteenth-Century Curial-Rabbinic Exchange,’ in:
Speculum, 81 (2006); J. Hacker, “Ha-Megidut bi-Zefon Afrikah be-Sof
ha-Meah ha-Hamesh Esrei,” in: Zion 45 (1980-81), 127, n. 34; Schorr,
in: Zion, 1 (1840), 166-68, 193-96.
[Judah M. Rosenthal / Eric Lawee (24 ed.)]
ABUN (also Abuna, Bun), a variation of the Aramaic name
“Abba,” common in Palestine, France, and Spain. Several
scholars and poets by this name were known in the Middle
Ages, but there is little information available about them.
(1) The father of a Palestinian liturgical poet, Eleazar, whose
style and method are similar to those of Kallir, was called both
Abun and Bun. (2) The grandfather of the Franco-German li-
turgical poet Simeon b. Isaac bore the name Abun, also Abuna.
A native of Le Mans, France (it is conceivable that (Le) Mans
is in fact a corruption of Mainz), who lived at the end of the
ninth century, he may be the one to whom Solomon *Luria
refers in his responsum 29 (Lublin, 1575): “R. Abun who ex-
cels in Torah, wisdom, wealth, and in all the innermost secrets,
expounding every letter in 49 different ways.” Some scholars
identify him with Abun, a physician who was head of a school
for medicine in Narbonne, some of whose disciples taught
medicine in Montpellier. (3) A Spanish poet by the name Abun
b. Sharada lived around the 11" century, first in Lucena and
then in Seville. His poems were praised by his contemporaries
as well as by later writers. Solomon ibn *Gabirol mentions
him in his poems alongside *Menahem b. Saruk, *Dunash b.
Labrat, and *Samuel ha-Nagid (Shirei Shelomo ibn Gabirol,
ed. by H.N. Bialik and Y.H. Ravnitzky, 1 (19287), 65, no. 28).
He is also mentioned in Moses *Ibn Ezra’s Shirat Yisrael (ed.
by B. Halper (1924), 69) and in Judah *Al-Harizi’s Tahkemoni
(ed. by A. Kaminka (1899), 40). From Moses Ibn Ezra it can
be gathered that the poems of Abun were no longer current
in his day and it seems evident that even he did not see them.
(4) A Spanish scholar and philanthropist of the 12" century,
to whom Moses Ibn Ezra addressed many poems and about
whom he composed several lamentations on his death, call-
ing him “Rabbana Abun,” “Ha-Gevir” (“the Magnate”), and
“Abun, the words of whose mouth were like a watercourse in
a dry land” (5) A Spanish liturgical poet known from five po-
ems written in the spirit and style of early paytanim of Spain.
He may be the Abun b. R. Saul also known as “the pious R.
Abun of Majorca.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Spiegel, in: YMHSI, 5 (1939), 269-91; David-
son, Ozar, 4 (1933), 347.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
ABU SA‘D AL-TUSTARI (d. 1048), Egyptian financier and
courtier. Muslim sources refer to him as Abia Sa‘d b. Sahl al-
Tustari (i.e., from Tustar (Shustar) in southwestern Persia).
In Jewish sources he appears as Abraham b. Yashar. Abt Sa‘d
346
was primarily a dealer in precious objects and jewels, while
his brother Abt Nasr Fad] (Hesed in Hebrew) was a banker.
Abt Sa‘d sold to the Caliph al-Zahir (1021-36) a female black
slave, who gave birth to the later Caliph al-Mustansir. When
at the age of seven the boy succeeded his father, his mother
exercised great influence in the affairs of state, and Abt Sa‘d
was one of her advisers. He utilized his position at court to
help the Jews of Egypt and Syria, then under the rule of the
Fatimid caliphs. Rabbanites as well as Karaites turned to him
for help. Hence, scholars disputed to which community he be-
longed. Abt Sa‘d was murdered in 1048 by hired assassins of
Sadaka b. Yusuf al-Falahi, a Jewish convert to Islam, who had
been appointed vizier on Abt Sa‘d’s recommendations. Abt
Sa‘d’s brother Abt Nasr, court financier and community rep-
resentative, was also assassinated.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 73, 76ff., 108, 112, 119,
128 ff.; 2 (1922), 75 ff., 376 ff.; Poznaniski, in: REJ, 72 (1921), 202 ff; Goit-
ein, in: JQR, 45 (1954/55), 36-37; Fischel, Islam, 68 ff.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
ABYAD, YIHYA BEN SHALOM (1873-1935), student friend
of R. Yihya *Kafah; among the heads of the Dor De’ah (“gener-
ation of wisdom”) movement in Yemen. Abyad was renowned
as a biblical scholar and as an expert in astronomy and natu-
ral medicine. His medical treatment acquired popular acclaim
and many sick people, both Jews and Muslims, came to him
for help, and he was noted for treating people free of charge.
Abyad was head of the Maswari synagogue in San’a and taught
Torah to the Jewish public; nonetheless, he earned his liveli-
hood as a silver- and goldsmith. His ornaments were distin-
guished by their artistic delicacy. After the death of the chief
rabbi, Yihya Isaac, in 1932, the community heads appointed
him successor. However dissident groups and violent factions
prevailed, and the rabbi’s health was soon undermined.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Korah, Sa‘arat Teiman (1954), 76-77.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
ABZARDIEL (Abazardiel, Abenzardel, Azardel), MOSES
(d. c. 1354), secretary to King Alfonso x1 of Castile. A learned
rabbinical scholar, Moses served for some time as dayyan in
*Toledo. His signature appears in Latin characters in royal
documents dealing with finance and taxes between 1331 and
1339. Its absence from later royal records may be related to
the anti-Jewish reaction in Castile. Presumably he is the “R.
Moses, the chief scribe of the king” mentioned by Ibn Verga in
his Shevet Yehudah (ed. by Shochat (1947), 53 ff.). He is prob-
ably identical with the Moses b. Joseph Abi Zardil commem-
orated on an elaborate tombstone in Toledo.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, 1, pt. 2 (1963), 142-4, 1593
Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 327, 356, 358ff.; Cantera-Millas, Inscripciones,
54-58; Zelson, in: JQR, 19 (1928/29), 145 ff.
ABZUG, BELLA SAVITZKY (1920-1998), U.S. social ac-
tivist, politician, and advocate for women’s rights. Abzug was
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
born in the Bronx, New York, to a religious, immigrant family.
Her father, Emanuel Savitzky, a butcher, then salesman, died
when Bella was 13, and her mother, Esther, became the family
breadwinner. Abzug attended Walton High, an all-girls public
school. Active as a teenager in the Labor Zionist group Ha-
Shomer ha-Zair, she studied Hebrew at the Florence Marshall
Hebrew High, continuing her studies at the Jewish Theological
Seminary. She taught Hebrew and Jewish history at a Bronx
Jewish Center. In 1938, Abzug enrolled in Hunter College,
where she led demonstrations against fascism. Graduating in
1942, she worked for a defense contractor, then entered Co-
lumbia University Law School on scholarship. One of only a
few women in her class, she became an editor of the Columbia
Law Review. Midway through law school, she married Martin
Abzug; the couple had two daughters. Following graduation,
Abzug opened her own law firm, specializing in labor union
and civil liberties work.
In 1961, Abzug helped found Women’s Strike for Peace
and served as its national legislative and political director. An
early opponent of the Vietnam War, she founded the Coali-
tion for a Democratic Alternative and helped to organize the
Dump-Johnson campaign. She won election to Congress from
Manhattan's 19» Congressional District in 1970, becoming
one of 12 women in the House, the first elected on a woman’s
rights/peace platform. In 1971, she co-founded the National
Women’s Political Caucus. Returned to the House twice more,
Abzug’s major legislation included the Equal Credit Act,
Social Security for homemakers, family planning, abortion
rights, Title 1x regulations, the Freedom of Information Act,
the Right to Privacy Act, the “Government in the Sunshine”
Law, and the Water Pollution Act. The first to call for Presi-
dent Nixon's impeachment during the Watergate scandal, she
conducted inquiries into covert and illegal activities of the
cia and FBI. Abzug also sponsored pioneering legislation to
permit the free emigration of Soviet Jewry, and was a leading
supporter of economic and military aid to Israel. In 1975, she
led the fight to condemn the uN General Assembly’s resolu-
tion equating Zionism with racism, and played a leading role
in condemning anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish attacks at interna-
tional feminist conferences in Mexico and Copenhagen.
In 1976, Abzug left the House to run for the Senate
from New York but lost to Daniel Patrick Moynihan in a four-
way race. In 1977, she presided over the first National Wo-
men’s Conference in Houston. With colleagues in 1980, she
established WOMEN USA; a decade later she co-founded and
co-chaired the Women’s Economic Development Organiza-
tion (WEDO), an international advocacy group supporting
women’s empowerment, economic development, and envi-
ronmental security. Her books included Bella Abzug’s Guide to
Political Power for Women (1984), written with Mim Kelber.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Antler, The Journey Home: How Jewish
Women Shaped Modern America (1997); J. Nies, Nine Women: Por-
traits from an American Radical Tradition (2002).
[Joyce Antler (2"4 ed.)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACADEMIES IN BABYLONIA AND EREZ ISRAEL
ACACIA (Heb. nw, shittah), a tree of Israel considered to
be identical to the shittah tree. In the past it was extensively
used for construction. Today it is planted to beautify the arid
regions of Israel. Acacia-wood is mentioned repeatedly (Ex.
25-27) as the sole wood used in the construction of the Tab-
ernacle. The word also appears as several biblical place names:
Shittim near Gilgal (Num. 25:1; etc.); “And all the brooks of
Judah ... shall water the valley of Shittim” (Joel 4:18); and
Beth-Shittah near Beisan (Judg. 7:22). According to Isaiah,
acacia trees would line the path of the returning exiles, and
would make the wasteland bloom at the time of redemption
(Isa. 4:19). There is almost universal agreement that the shittah
is to be identified with the acacia. Several species of the tree
grow in Israel, mostly in the wadis of the Judean desert and in
the southern Negev. It is thorny and has leaves compounded
of small leaflets. The yellow flowers are small and grow
in globular clusters. It is not tall; its trunk is thin and gener-
ally bent sideways. It is therefore somewhat difficult to identify
this tree with the shittah from which the Tabernacle boards “a
cubit and a half the breadth of each” (Ex. 26:16) were cut. Not-
ing this difficulty, the Midrash already asked the question:
Where in the desert were our forefathers able to find acacia-
wood? One solution suggests that the trees were brought from
Migdal Zevoaya in the Jordan Valley near the mouth of the
Yarmuk and that a small forest existed there (Gen. R. 94:4).
Regarded as holy, its trees were not cut down by the local
inhabitants. At present, a small grove of Acacia albida, tall
trees with thick trunks, which, in contrast to the other spe-
cies in Israel, grows only in non-desert regions, stands there.
This species must have been the “acacia-wood standing up,’
i.e., with an erect trunk, which provided the wood for the
Tabernacle and its accessories. This tropical tree, too, would
transform the desert, according to Isaiah, in contrast to the
other varieties of acacia which had always grown in the dry re-
gions. This wood is very hard, but light. It does not absorb
moisture and so its volume remains constant. It is, there-
fore, most suitable for construction and was used in ship-
building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Feliks, Olam ha-Zomeah ha-Mikra’i (19687);
Loew, Flora, 2 (1924), 377ff Dalman, Arbeit, 7 (1942), 32f.
[Jehuda Feliks]
ACADEMIES IN BABYLONIA AND EREZ ISRAEL.
Designations
The talmudic term for an academy, yeshivah (lit., “sitting”), de-
rives from the fixed order of seating assigned to the sages and
their pupils who regularly participated in the activities of the
academy. Occasionally the term meant not an academy but the
private activity of studying the Torah (Nid. 7ob). There are sev-
eral synonyms for yeshivah, such as bet ha-midrash (lit., “the
house of study”), bet din (lit. “the house of law”), bet din gadol
(lit. “the great house of law”), and metivta (or motva) rabba
(lit. “the great session”; Bek. 5b). In Babylonia the expression
metivta, the literal Aramaic rendering of yeshivah, was used.
347
ACADEMIES IN BABYLONIA AND EREZ ISRAEL
As for bet vaad (lit. “meeting place”), this refers specifically to
the yeshivah (bet din) of the nasi in Erez Israel.
History of the Academy in the Second Temple Period
According to the aggadah, the biblical patriarchs and their
sons studied in a yeshivah. There was one in existence, too,
during the Egyptian bondage, as also during the forty years
of wandering in the wilderness (Yoma 28b; et al.). But the first
reference to “yeshivah” as a place of study occurs apparently
in the appendix to Ecclesiasticus 51:29: “Let my soul rejoice in
my sitting (yeshivah), and be ye not ashamed with my song.”
The expression “in my sitting,” in parallelism with “my song,”
would seem to point to the ethical and wise maxims which
Ben Sira taught in his school, and not to halakhic subjects. But
since Ben Sira declares in the same chapter (verse 23), “Turn
unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in my house of learning”
(bet ha-midrash), it is very probable that yeshivah and bet ha-
midrash are synonyms for a school. More than a century later,
Hillel the Elder said: “The more Torah, the more life; the more
yeshivah, the more wisdom” (Avot 2, 7). There is no detailed
information extant on the academies of Hillel and Shammai,
nor on the arrangements relating to the discussions and stud-
ies prevailing in them. There is, however, information on the
discussions of these two sages and their pupils on halakhic
subjects. For example, “When grapes are being vintaged for
the vat (ie., for making wine), Shammai holds that they are
susceptible of becoming unclean, while Hillel maintains that
they are not.... A sword was planted in the bet ha-midrash
and it was proclaimed: ‘He who would enter, let him enter, but
he who would depart, let him not depart’ (so as to be present
when a vote was taken). And on that day Hillel sat in submis-
sion before Shammai, like one of the pupils” (Shab. 17a). There
were extremely bitter controversies on halakhah between the
pupils of Hillel and those of Shammai which, on one occasion,
ended in bloodshed (TJ, Shab. 1:7, 3c). There were halakhic dis-
cussions in the bet ha-midrash that continued inconclusively
for years (Er. 13b). On one occasion the halakhah was decided
in accordance with Hillel’s view, outside the academy, in the
courtyard of the Temple Mount (Tosef., Hag. 2:11; TJ, Bezah
2:4, 61c). Generally, however, the halakhah was decided within
the academy, after thorough consideration and discussion, by
finally “taking a vote and deciding” according to the opinion
of the majority.
The tannaim regarded the Great Sanhedrin, which had
its seat in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, as a yeshivah (Mid.
5:4; Sanh. 32b) “from which Torah goes forth to all Israel” (Sif.
Deut. 152). R. Ishmael relates “when a man brings the tithe of
the poor to the Temple, he enters the Chamber of Hewn Stone
and sees the sages and their pupils sitting and engaging in
the study of the Torah, whereupon his heart prompts him to
study the Torah” (Mid. Tan. to 14:22). In a like manner, Yose
b. Halafta (of Sepphoris, who flourished in the middle of the
second century c.£.) described the functions, procedures, and
religious authority of this central institution: “... The bet din in
the Chamber of Hewn Stone, though comprised of 71 mem-
348
bers, may function with as few as 23. If one must go out, and
sees that there are not 23, he remains. There they sit from the
time of the daily burnt-offering of the morning until the time
of the daily burnt-offering of the afternoon. On Sabbaths and
festivals they enter the bet ha-midrash on the Temple Mount
only. Ifa question was asked, and they had heard (the answer),
they gave it; if not, they took a vote. If the majority held it to
be levitically unclean, they declared it unclean; if the majority
held it to be levitically clean, they declared it clean. From there
the halakhah goes forth and spreads in Israel.... And from
there they send and examine whoever is a sage and humble,
pious, of unblemished reputation, and one in whom the spirit
of his fellow-men takes delight, and make him a *dayyan in
his town. After he has been made a dayyan in his town, they
promote him and give him a seat in the Hel (“a place within
the Temple area”), and from there they promote him and give
him a seat in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. And there they sit
and examine the pedigree of the priesthood and the pedigree
of the levites” (Tosef., Sanh. 7:1). Although the participation
of pupils in the debates was a characteristic feature of the
academies, when it came to arriving at a decision, only their
teachers, and not they, voted (ibid., 7:2).
The question has been raised as to whether an insti-
tution similar to the academy of the Pharisaic sages existed
among other sects. C. Rabin (Qumran Studies (1957), 103 ff.)
regards the term moshav (“session”) or moshav ha-rabbim
(“the public session”) in the Dead Sea Scrolls as referring to an
academic-juridical institution, analogous to the academy
mentioned in rabbinic literature, which met from time to
time.
The Pupils at the Academies in the Second Temple Period
In rabbinic literature, information about the pupils who stud-
ied in the academies is extremely sparse. One aggadah re-
lates of Hillel in his student days that “once, when he found
nothing from which he could earn some money, the guard of
the bet ha-midrash (who usually received half of what Hillel
earned) would not allow him to enter. He climbed up and sat
upon the skylight to hear the words of God from Shemaiah
and Avtalyon” (Yoma 35b). It is further related that “Shammai
and Hillel did not teach the Torah for remuneration” (Mid.
Ps. to 15:6). In the appendix to Ecclesiasticus 51:23-25 it is
stated: “Turn unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in my house
of learning.... Buy wisdom for yourselves without money.’
Hillel, of whom it is said that “he drew his fellow-men near
to the Torah” (Avot 1:12), had 80 pupils and “the least among
all of them was Johanan b. Zakkai” (BB 134a). On the subject
of accepting pupils there was a divergence of opinion between
Hillel and Shammai: “Bet Shammai maintain that one should
only teach a person who is wise and humble, of a good pedi-
gree, and rich (some read “worthy”), and Bet Hillel declare
that one should teach every person, for there were many sin-
ners in Israel who were attracted by the study of the Torah
and from whom there came forth righteous, pious, and wor-
thy men” (ARN’ 3, 14).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
There is no information extant on academies for the
study of the Torah outside of Jerusalem, except for an account
of Johanan b. Zakkai, who spent some time in Galilee, where
scarcely any pupils or householders sought instruction from
him (TJ, Shab. 16:8, 15d). One who wished to study had to leave
his home and go to Jerusalem, and this naturally imposed a
burden on the poor, who for years had to live away from their
homes in order to spend the major part of the day in the com-
pany of their teachers, listening to their halakhic discussions,
to their decisions, and to what took place in the academy, this
being the accepted manner of the study of the Torah, known
as “attendance on scholars.” It is recorded of Eliezer b. Hyr-
canus, that he left his father’s home, went to Jerusalem, where
he studied under Johanan b. Zakkai, and suffered from hun-
ger, as he received no support from his father (ARN’ 6; ARN?
13, 30-1). Pupils also went from abroad to study the Torah in
Jerusalem. They included Nehemiah of Bet Deli, who went
from Babylonia and studied under Gamaliel the Elder (Yev.
16:7), and Saul of Tarsus, i.e., Paul, who went from Cilicia in
Asia Minor (Acts 22:3). There were no written halakhic works
available, for in general the principle was observed that “words
which are transmitted orally are not permitted to be recited
from writing” (Git. 60b).
From the Destruction of the Second Temple to the Close
of the Mishnah
After the destruction of the Second Temple, several acad-
emies were established simultaneously. This is attested by a
baraita (Sanh. 32b) which enumerates the academies and their
heads, as follows: Johanan b. Zakkai at Beror Hayil, Gamaliel
at Jabneh, Eliezer at Lydda, and Joshua at Pekiin. In the next
generation there were Akiva at Bene-Berak, and Hanina b.
Teradyon at Siknin, and these were followed by Yose at Sep-
phoris, Mattiah b. Heresh in Rome, Judah b. Bathyra at Nisibis
(in Mesopotamia), and Hananiah, the nephew of R. Joshua b.
Hananiah, in Babylonia. The list, though incomplete, testifies
to the founding of academies both in and outside Erez Israel
during the second century c.£. (See Map: Main Academies.)
It concludes with a reference to the academy at Bet She’arim,
headed by Judah ha-Nasi, which, because of the unique nature
of his position and of the religious authority with which he
was invested, was apparently the only one in his day, although
after his death, academies were again established simultane-
ously at Tiberias, Caesarea, and Lydda.
The Function and Authority of the Academies
On the assembly of the sages at Jabneh after the destruc-
tion of the Second Temple there is the following statement:
“When the sages assembled at the academy of Johanan b. Zak-
kai at Jabneh, they said: ‘A time will come when a man will
seek one of the laws of the Torah and not find it, one of the
rabbinic laws and not find it’... They said: “Let us begin from
Hillel and Shammai ...” (Tosef., Eduy. 1:). Hence, the sages
began to receive “testimonies” from those who had survived
the war against the Romans. They scrutinized these, arrived
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACADEMIES IN BABYLONIA AND EREZ ISRAEL
at a decision, and laid down the halakhah. At that time the
arrangement of halakhic collections according to subject mat-
ter received renewed and fruitful impetus. The center of re-
ligious authority was the Great Academy, in whose activities
the *nasi took part and over which he presided when not en-
gaged in public affairs. In this bet din the new moon was pro-
claimed, as was the intercalation of the year (RH 2:8-9; Eduy.
7:7), the fixing of a uniform *calendar for Erez Israel and the
Diaspora contributing greatly to the preservation of national
unity. Here, too, matters relating to the liturgy (Ber. 28b),
and religious questions which were of public concern and on
which no general agreement had hitherto been reached, were
finally decided. In this central institution, 71 sages sat (Sanh.
1:6) when it was necessary to decide on basic halakhic mat-
ters affecting the people of Erez Israel as a whole - matters
such as the levitical uncleanness of hands through touching
sacred scrolls, etc. (Yad. 3:5; 4:2). The following description
of the proceedings of the Sanhedrin may well have applied to
the central academy at Jabneh: “The Sanhedrin sat in a semi-
circle so that its members might see one another, and two
judges’ scribes stood before them, one on the right and one
on the left, and wrote down the arguments of those in favor
of acquittal and of those in favor of conviction... In front of
them sat three rows of scholars, each of whom knew his proper
place. If they needed to ordain another judge, they ordained
one from the first row, whereupon one from the second row
moved up to the first, and one from the third row to the sec-
ond. A member of the public was chosen and given a seat in
the third row. He did not occupy the seat of the first scholar
but one suitable for him” (Sanh. 4:3-4). The discussions in
the Sanhedrin were thus conducted in public in the presence
of pupils and of members of the community. In this way the
pupils had learned the Torah in the days of the Second Tem-
ple. Both in Erez Israel and in Babylonia, a bet din was always
an integral part of an academy. The order of discussion was
as follows: If several matters of law came up, only one would
be dealt with on one day (Tosef., Sanh. 7:2). “No vote is taken
on two matters simultaneously, but votes are taken separately
and questions put separately” (Tosef., Neg. 1:11). At the end
of the discussions a vote was taken, where necessary, such as
in cases where “one prohibits and one permits, one declares
levitically unclean and one clean, and all say: We have not
heard a tradition concerning this - in such instances a vote
is taken” (Tosef., Sanh. 7:2). The Tosefta also describes proce-
dural details and ceremonial arrangements customary in the
academies in Erez Israel in tannaitic times.
Information on the academies in Erez Israel and Baby-
lonia in the Days of the Amoraim is more detailed than on
the preceding period, Generally, the amoraim adopted the
arrangements and methods of instruction of their academies
from the tannaim.
The Rosh Yeshivah and his Assistants
The rosh yeshivah — the head of the academy - would “sit and
expound” and convey his remarks to the meturgeman (“inter-
349
ACADEMIES IN BABYLONIA AND EREZ ISRAEL
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ANZ / —
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oy 7 \.
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= } oo 5‘ o
= Poa Pumbedita ‘y
Beirut, Ry Las “ .° Baghdad 2 ae
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aS eee | I R A Q * Sura
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Map showing the main academies in Babylonia and Erez Israel.
preter”; Ber. 27b), also called an *amora. Where the audience
was large, the rosh yeshivah would be assisted by numerous
amoraim (Ket. 106a). Since all the pupils did not immediately
grasp what was said, the outstanding pupils would repeat and
explain the lesson (BK 117a, and Rashi, ibid.; Taan. 8a, Rashi).
After they understood it, the pupils would repeat the lesson
orally (Er. 54b). It is possible that the sages permanently at-
tached to an academy prepared the pupils for the rosh yeshi-
vah’s forthcoming lecture by teaching them the Mishnayot
(see Meg. 28b; cf. Hor. 12a: Mesharsheya’s statement). The rosh
yeshivah gave his lectures, at least in the large academies, in the
morning and in the evening (Shab. 136b), the pupils spending
the rest of the day in reviewing the lecture and perhaps also
in preparing for the next one. These outstanding pupils were
called reishei kallah (“the leaders of the rows”), possibly be-
cause of the permanent seating arrangements at the academy.
Mention is made of seven rows of pupils, graded according
to their knowledge, the first row being occupied by the out-
standing pupils (BK 117a) and so on, There is also a reference
to 24 rows of pupils (Meg. 28b), the youngest pupils occupy-
ing seats behind the fixed rows (Hul. 137b).
The rosh yeshivah was also assisted by a tanna, distin-
guished by his exceptional knowledge of the “Mishnah of the
Tannaim” and of the Oral Law in general, which he memo-
rized by constant repetition, the Oral Law generally not hav-
ing been written down (Git. 60b). The services of the tanna
were often required in the academy for the quoting of tan-
350
naitic statements, his remarks being cited in the Babylonian
Talmud, usually after the introductory formula: “A tanna
taught before rabbi so-and-so.’ In general the tanna’s knowl-
edge was mechanical and not rooted in an especially profound
understanding of the material; in consequence the sages, es-
pecially in Babylonia (Meg. 28b), did not have a particularly
high opinion of them.
The Election of a Rosh Yeshivah
A rosh yeshivah was generally appointed by the sages of the
academy both in Erez Israel (Sot. 40a) and in Babylonia (Ber.
64a). Sometimes several candidates would compete for the
position, the ability to make an irrefutable statement serving
as the criterion for election (Hor. 14a).
The Academies in Babylonia in the Days of the Amoraim
The beginnings of the central academies in Babylonia are as-
sociated with Rav at *Sura and Samuel at *Nehardea. Each
headed a famous school which possessed central religious
authority in the Babylonian Diaspora. The academy at Sura
flourished almost 800 years; that at Nehardea was destroyed
at the end of the ’50s of the third century c.z. and was suc-
ceeded by a number of academies, finally settling in *Pumbed-
ita, where it survived, with intermissions, until about the mid-
dle of the 115 century c.E. (See Map: Main Academies). The
principal innovation of the Babylonian academies was the in-
stitution of the yarhei kallah (months of *kallah), the assem-
bly of the Babylonian sages at one of the leading academies
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
in the months of Adar and Elul, when they discussed a pre-
scribed tractate which they had studied during the preceding
five months. A detailed description of the arrangements of
study during the yarhei kallah is given by R. Nathan ha-Bavli
in Seder Olam Zuta (ed. Neubauer, 87-88). Although this ac-
count relates to the middle of the tenth century c.k. similar
arrangements were presumably already in vogue in the days
of the amoraim.
The Aim of the Studies in the Academies
The studies in the academies were designed to produce schol-
ars who would be conversant in all fields of the Oral Law and
who could derive from the existing halakhah laws applicable
to new situations (see Rav’s statement and the discussion in
Hul. ga).
The Method of Study
The pupils participated actively in the rosh yeshivah’s lectures,
as well as in the halakhic discussions in the formulation of the
law, the students’ religious responsibility in this connection
being duly stressed (Sanh. 7b). It was the duty of the pupils to
raise objections when they believed their teacher to have erred
in judgment (Shevu. 31a) and students even contested legal
decisions of the rosh yeshivah (Ket. 51a). The rosh yeshivah
often called in his students when deciding in cases of ritual
law (Hul. 45b), when examining a slaughterer’s knife (ibid.,
17b), or when dealing with questions concerning the ritual
fitness of an animal (ibid., 44a-b), and similar questions.
From time to time the rosh yeshivah would test his pupils in
their knowledge and understanding of the halakhah (Er. 76a;
Hul. 113a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schwarz, in: JJGL, 2 (1899), 83-106; Bacher,
Trad, 255-6 (on the function of the tanna); H. Zucker, Studien zur jue-
dischen Selbstverwaltung im Altertum (1936), 126-47; Halevy, Dorot, 2
(1923); Alon, Toledot, 1 (1953), 114-92; Assaf, Geonim, 42-52; Epstein,
Mishnah 488 (on bet vaad as an academy); 673-81 (on the tanna);
Beer, in: Bar-Ilan Annual (Heb., 1964), 134-62; idem, in: Papers of the
Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies, 1 (1966), 99-101 (Heb.).
[Moshe Beer]
ACADEMY OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE, Israeli insti-
tution that is the supreme authority on the Hebrew language.
Established by the Knesset in accordance with the “Law for
the Supreme Institute for the Hebrew Language, 1953,” it suc-
ceeded the Hebrew Language Committee (Vaad ha-Lashon
ha-Ivrit) inaugurated in Jerusalem in 1890. In 1889 a group
calling itself “Safah Berurah” had been formed, with the ob-
ject of “spreading the Hebrew language and speech among
people in all walks of life” This group elected the Committee,
the first members of which were Eliezer *Ben-Yehuda, David
*Yellin, R. Hayyim *Hirschenson, and A.M. *Luncz. Initially
the Committee devoted itself to establishing Hebrew terms
needed for daily use and to creating a uniform pronuncia-
tion for Hebrew speech to replace the then current variety of
pronunciations. After only one year of existence, organiza-
tional problems disrupted the Committee’s activities, but in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACADEMY OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
1903 at the Teachers’ Conference in Zikhron Yaakov, it was re-
convened with an enlarged membership, and thereafter held
regular monthly meetings.
In Principles of the Committee’ Activities, drafted by Ben-
Yehuda, its purpose was declared to be: (1) “To prepare the
Hebrew language for use as a spoken language in all facets of
life - in the home, school, public life, business, industry, fine
arts, and in the sciences.” (2) “To preserve the Oriental quali-
ties of the language and its distinctive form, in the pronuncia-
tion of the consonants, in word structure and in style, and to
add the flexibility necessary to enable it fully to express con-
temporary human thought.”
The sources used by the Committee were Hebrew liter-
ary vocabulary of all periods; Aramaic, provided it was given
Hebrew forms; Hebrew roots from which new forms could
develop; and Semitic roots, especially Arabic. Non-Semitic
words found in the sources were used only if they already had
a Hebrew form or had been absorbed into the language and
were in common use.
Scientific problems of linguistic principle were discussed
in the Zikhronot (“Records of the Committee on Language”).
In 1912, the Committee was recognized by the Teachers’ Orga-
nization and the Committee for the Propagation of Hebrew as
“the final authority in authorizing and choosing new words.”
In a lecture given at the convention of the Organization for
Hebrew Language and Culture in Vienna in 1913 (published
in Zikhronot, 4 (1914)), David Yellin defined the Committee as
not merely a factory for new words, as its opponents alleged,
but the highest authority for all matters of language, encourag-
ing the coordinated work of all Hebrew linguists and writers.
At the 11” Zionist Congress (1913), M. *Ussishkin proposed a
resolution authorizing the Committee “to serve as the center
of the renaissance and development of the Hebrew language”
and urging the Zionist General Council to give it the neces-
sary moral aid and material assistance. After World War 1,
the beginning of the British Mandate and the Jewish National
Home, Hebrew became an official language in Palestine. The
Committee, which had been largely inactive during the war,
now felt an obligation to expand the program of the Language
Committee far beyond its previous range. Practical linguis-
tics and the supply of new words were to be increased, and
it engaged in language research, intended to lay the scientific
foundations for the practical work.
With an increased membership, the Committee met fre-
quently, establishing and publishing professional terminology.
To prepare for the establishment of the Haifa Technion and
the Hebrew University, as well as to facilitate the develop-
ment of trade and industry, work in the various subjects was
divided among subcommittees, consisting of members of the
Committee and experts in the particular field. These met in
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, referring their findings to other
specialists in the field as well as to all members of the Lan-
guage Committee. After final approval, lists were published
in the Hebrew Language Committee's quarterly, Leshonenu,
or in a special dictionary.
351
ACADEMY OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
The Sephardi pronunciation was established as the stan-
dard for spoken Hebrew and instruction in the schools. Rules
of spelling were established: grammatical when the writ-
ing was vocalized and “full” (plene) in unvocalized writing.
Rules of punctuation were determined, and doubtful mat-
ters of grammar clarified. While developments in technol-
ogy and the sciences forced the committees on terminology
to include many non-Semitic words in the Hebrew diction-
ary, the formation of verbs from foreign words was deliber-
ately restricted because, while nouns are easily assimilated into
Hebrew, verbs are not. Nevertheless, the formation of verbs
such as }3?U (talpen, “telephone”) and 7173 (galven, “galva-
nize”) proved unavoidable. Grammatical nouns encountered
certain scholarly and practical obstacles: the establishment of
spelling rules was long delayed by disputes between adherents
of biblical spelling and those of the “full” spelling current in
post-biblical literature.
The law adopted by the Knesset in 1953 established the
Academy and defined its function as the “development of He-
brew, based on the study of the language in its various peri-
ods and branches.” The maximum number of members is 23.
Well-known scholars in various fields of Jewish and Hebrew
studies were appointed as members of the Academy, together
with practicing writers, and a number of advisory and honor-
ary members were invited to join them. N.H. *Tur-Sinai was
chosen to be president of the Academy, a position he held
until 1973. Subsequent presidents were Zeev Ben *Hayyim
(1973-1981), Joshua *Blau (1981-1988), and Moshe Bar-Asher
(1988- ).
The supreme body within the Academy is the plenum,
to which linguistic problems discussed in the various com-
mittees are referred for final discussion and approval. The ple-
num meets five or six times a year. The committees on termi-
nology hold weekly or biweekly meetings attended by at least
two members from the Academy as well as by specialists in
the areas under discussion. Scientific secretaries assemble
the available linguistic material in each area, which is then
checked against literary sources and decisions already taken
in other areas. After discussion, the secretary collates the ma-
terial and transmits it to all Academy members and to fur-
ther specialists in the field, who are entitled to comment on,
or take issue with, the committee's findings. The material is
finally presented to the plenum for discussion, authorization,
and publication, either in the Zikhronot ha-Akademyah or in
the series of technical dictionaries, originally instituted by the
Hebrew Language Committee. Among dictionaries published
in recent years are those on electronics, chemistry, molecular
biology, psychology, library science, diplomacy, medicine, and
home economics. Committees on terminology are at work in
the fields of banking, law, sociology, nomenclature of plants,
and artificial intelligence. The Haifa office for technical ter-
minology is a joint body of the Academy and the Technion.
Committees on grammar and spelling follow a similar work
pattern, but since the problems in this area are complex, there
are usually greater differences of opinion and theory, center-
352
ing, as a rule, on the conflict between the dictates of historical
grammar and those of living speech and practical teaching.
Language forms created outside the Academy, whether origi-
nating in foreign influence, in slang, or in the language of chil-
dren, also demand a clear decision by the Academy.
A practical problem over which the Academy, in com-
mon with its predecessor, has labored for many years, is the
determining of Hebrew spelling. Hebrew writing is mostly
consonantal, the vowels being represented by vocalization
signs. This spelling, inadequate in the past, is even more so
in the present, since the vowels are rarely indicated either in
script or in print. The spelling used in the past generations,
which substitutes matres lectionis for vowels, is incomplete (al-
though it is called “full”), lacks uniformity, and is not univer-
sally accepted. The rules for unvocalized spelling, established
by the Hebrew Language Committee, were never generally
accepted and various systems have been retained. In 1968, af-
ter prolonged debate, the Academy decided to maintain two
modes of spelling: one vocalized according to all the estab-
lished grammatical rules, the other an unvocalized spelling
in accordance with the rules of the Hebrew Language Com-
mittee. A related question is how to transliterate Hebrew into
Latin letters in such a way that the non-Hebrew reader is able
to pronounce the name as it is said in Hebrew, and after much
discussion, a system was approved. In addition, rules have
been determined for the transliteration of foreign names into
Hebrew as well as for transliteration from Arabic into Hebrew.
Rules have also been established for vocalization of foreign
words. New rules for Hebrew punctuation were approved in
1993. The Academy assists public bodies requiring linguistic
guidance, such as the National Committee on Names, scien-
tific projects, the state broadcasting system, etc.
Academy decisions are published either as technical dic-
tionaries, in lists of terms, or as collections of rules in the an-
nual Zikhronot ha-Akademyah la-Lashon ha-Ivrit. A special
project of the Academy is the Historical Dictionary of the He-
brew Language, begun in 1954 by an editorial board headed
by Z. Ben-Hayyim, planned to include all Hebrew words and
their uses from the earliest sources until the present. Prepara-
tory work on material from tannaitic literature, the Talmud,
and Midrash has been completed. Work continues on ready-
ing ancient piyyut, geonic, Karaite, and North African litera-
ture, and modern Hebrew literature (dating from 1750). The
historical dictionary project is fully computerized and applies
programs especially adapted to the dictionary’s requirements.
In 1994 the Academy established the “Masie Institute” to bring
the Academy closer to the public and for research into the his-
tory of the revival of Hebrew in Israel and the Diaspora from
its earliest stages to the establishment of the State of Israel.
The publications of the Committee and of the Academy are
Zikhronot for the years 1920-28, vol. 5 edited by J. Klausner,
vol. 6 by S. Ben-Zion, D. Yellin, and A. Zifroni. Afterwards
the committee decisions were published in Leshonenu (see
below) up to 1954. Then, when the Academy was established,
a new series of Zikhronot was commenced under the name of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Zikhronot ha-Akademia la-Lashon ha-Ivrit: vols. 1-2 (1954-55),
3-4 (1956-57), 5 (1958), 6 (1959), 7-8 (1960-61), 9 (1962), 10-11
(1963-64), 12 (1965), 13 (1966), 14 (1967), 15 (1968), 16 (1969),
17 (1970), 18 (1971), 19-20 (1972-73), and 21-24 (1974-77) of
the new series were probably edited by Meir Medan, but no
name of an editor is specified; vols. 25-27 (1978-80), 28-30
(1981-83) and 31-34 (1984-87) were edited by Y. Yannai; 35-37
(1988-90) by Y. Yannai and J. Ofer; 38-40 (1991-93) and 41-43
(1994-96) by J. Ofer; and vol. 44-46 (1997-99) by D. Barak.
Leshonenu, a quarterly, was edited by A. Zifroni (1929-34, five
volumes) and N.H. Torczyner (*Tur-Sinai) from 1934 to 1954.
These continued under the auspices of the Academy and were
edited by Z. Ben-Hayyim from 1955 to 1965, by E. Kutscher
from 1965 to 1971, by S. Abramson from 1972 to 1980, by Y.
Blau from 1981 to 1999, and from 2000 by M. Bar-Asher. Le-
shonenu la-Am, popular pamphlets on matters of language,
consist of six pamphlets edited by A. Avrunin, M. Ezrahi, and
I. Perez (and more regularly from 1949 to date, a few pam-
phlets a year). There is also a series of technical dictionaries.
The Academy’s lexical innovations used to be disseminated
among the public through Lemad Leshonkha (“Learn Your
Language”) pages published bimonthly, and since 1989 in the
framework of a regular newsletter called Aqaddem. Among
the most important recent publications are the Maagarim cp
which includes all the sources of the ancient period, the criti-
cal edition of the Talmud Yerushalmi according to the Leiden
MS, and the second part of Sefer ha-Mekorot (the Book of
Sources) for the North African Hebrew literature from 1391
to date (1,941 pages).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ben-Hayyim, in: Ariel, 13 (1966), 14-20
(Eng.); Zikhronot Vaad ha-Lashon (ha-Ivrit), 1-3 (1912-13; second
printing in one volume, 1929); 4 (1914); 5 (1921); 6 (1928); Yellin, in: Le-
shonenu, 10 (1940), 269-77; Klausner, ibid., 278-89; 16 (1949), 250-67;
18 (1953), 227-38; Zikhronot ha-Akademyah la-Lashon ha-Ivrit, 46
vols. (1954-99); S. Eisenstadt, Sefatenu ha-Ivrit ha-Hayyah (1967);
Ben-Hayyim, in: Leshonenu, 23 (1959), 102-23; for bibliography see
Leshonenu, index vol. for vols. 1-25 (1967), 70-72.
[Meir Medan]
ACADEMY ON HIGH. In rabbinic tradition, a heavenly
body of scholars. Post-mishnaic (talmudic and midrashic) lit-
erature speaks of an Academy on High, for which two terms
are used: “Yeshivah shel Ma’lah” (“Academy on High”) and
“Metivta de-Rakia” (“Academy of the Sky”). It is clear from
Bava Mezia 86a that the two terms are identical. Generally
speaking, the Academy on High has the same features as an
earthly academy. Scholars continue their studies and debates
there; therefore the death of a sage is expressed as a summons
to the Academy on High (BM 86a). Very daringly, the Al-
mighty Himself is made to participate in its debates and is not
even an absolute authority. One of His rulings is contested by
all the other scholars, and a human, Rabbah b. Nahamani, is
especially summoned from earth (i-e., to die) for a final deci-
sion, which he gives before he dies. Although his ruling con-
curs with that of the Almighty, it is given independently.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACADEMY ON HIGH
Every day God gives a new interpretation of the Torah
(Gen. R. 49:2), and He cites the opinions of various scholars
(Hag. 15b). He also instructs young children who died before
they could study (Av. Zar. 3b; however, the Academy on High
is not mentioned there). The most surprising of all students is
*Asmodeus, the king of the demons, who is depicted as study-
ing daily in both the heavenly and the earthly academies (Git.
68a). Admission to the Academy on High is automatic for
scholars (Eccl. R. 5:11, no. 5), although it may be denied for
certain reasons (Ber. 18b). Others may enjoy the privilege for
particularly meritorious deeds. These include teaching Torah
to a neighbor’s son (BM 85a) and assisting scholars to study by
promoting their commercial ventures (Pes. 53b).
Greetings were sent from this Academy to people who
were still alive. Abbaye received these once a week on the eve
of the Sabbath. Rava, his contemporary, was greeted once a
year, on the eve of the Day of Atonement. However, a certain
*Abba Umana (“the bloodletter”) was privileged to receive
greetings daily because of the due proprieties which he ob-
served when bleeding women patients. Scholars have their def-
inite places there, according to rank. The great amora Johanan
was not deemed worthy of sitting next to Hiyya (BM 85b). They
sit in a semi-circle, like the Sanhedrin on earth (Eccles. R. 1:11,
no. 1). Nothing suggests that this academy is identical with
paradise. On the Day of Atonement, before Kol Nidrei, the
permission of the Academy on High is invoked to hold the
Service together with “transgressors.” It is also invoked in the
prayer recited before changing the name of a sick person, see
Seder Berakhot (Amsterdam, 1687), 259 ff.
[Harry Freedman]
In Kabbalah
The Zohar makes a clear distinction between the two terms
“Academy of Heaven” and “Academy on High.” The former is
headed by *Metatron and the latter by God Himself (11, 273b;
III, 163a, 192a, 197, 241b, etc.). Promotion from one academy
to the other is mentioned, as are some academy heads in cer-
tain departments of the heavenly academy, e.g., “the Academy
of Moses’, “the Academy of Aaron.” A long section in the por-
tion Shelah Lekha (111, 162ff.) is devoted to a description of the
imaginary wanderings of *Simeon b. Yohai in these academies
and his meeting with the head of the Academy of Heaven. The
place of Metatron in the Zohar is taken in the Testament of
Rabbi Eliezer the Great, composed by the author of the Zohar
himself, by Rav Gaddiel Naar, who forms the subject of a spe-
cial legend (Seder Gan Eden, Beit Midrash of Jellinek, 111, 136).
In order to distinguish between the two academies, Midrash
ha-Ne’lam on Ruth (Zohar Hadash, 84a) changed the term
“Academy of Heaven” which occurs in the Talmud (Ber. 12b)
to “Academy on High.” Legendary motifs concerning the Heav-
enly Academy which occur in the Talmud were completely re-
molded in the Zohar, especially in the story of R. Hiyya’s ascent
to the Academy of Heaven (Zohar 1, 4a). The *Messiah seems
also to come into this academy at certain times so as to study
the Torah with the sages of the academy.
[Gershom Scholem]
353
AGAN, MOSES DE TARREGA
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ginzberg, Legends, index s.v. Academy, and
Heavenly Academy; G. Scholem, in: Le-Agnon Shai (1959), 290-305.
ACAN, MOSES DE TARREGA (Zaragua’; c. 1300), Cata-
lan poet. Moses Acan, whose true name was probably Moses
Nathan (Na¢an), is known for his verse treatise in Catalan on
chess. The introduction begins with an account of the Cre-
ation, stressing man’s obligation to worship God the Creator.
It ends with an explanation of the rules of chess and a condem-
nation of other games, especially card playing. The work was
translated into Castilian by a Jew or Jewish convert in 1350; a
manuscript copy was preserved in El Escorial. He seems to
be also the author of a collection of 58 short poems of ethical
content, Tozaot Hayyim, published by Menahem ben Yehuda
de Lonzano in 1618. Their originality and literary value are not
very high. In the acrostic he calls himself Moses Ben-Netanel
Bar-Solomon. He could also be identical with one of the no-
table Jews of the Crown of Aragon who signed the takkanot
in Barcelona on 1354.
The author has been also identified with the Moses b. Jo-
seph Agan who at Cuenca in 1271 warned King Alfonso x of
a conspiracy of the Castilian nobles led by the Infante Felipe,
but this identification is unfounded.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Amador de los Rios, Estudios sobre los
Judios de Espania (1848), 289 ff.; Kayserling, Bibl, 8. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: E Baer, Die Juden in christlichen Spanien (1929), 306, 339;
359; Schirmann, Sefarad, 541-43; Schirmann-Fleischer, The History of
Hebrew Poetry in Christian Spain and Southern France (1997), 569-703
V. Keats, Chess among the Jews, 3 (1995), 65-70.
[Kenneth R. Scholberg / Angel Saenz-Badillos (2"4 ed.)]
ACE, GOODMAN (1899-1982), U.S. humorist. Born in Kan-
sas City, Mo., as Goodman Aiskowitz, he was an actor, co-
median, and writer who supplied dozens of performers with
funny things to say but also became well known for the mal-
apropisms he provided for his wife on a nationally heard ra-
dio program that ran from 1930 to 1945. At his peak Ace was
probably the highest-paid writer in television. The son of a
haberdasher, he got his first job as a hat salesman. He shifted
quickly to newspaper writing and became a columnist on the
Journal Post. Seeking to supplement his salary as a columnist
and theater and film reviewer, he did extra work comment-
ing on films for a radio station. After he finished a 15-minute
program, the station manager asked him and his wife Jane,
who happened to be at the station, to stay on the air because
the performers for the next segment had not yet shown up.
The ad-lib show proved so popular that the Aces were hired
to do two programs a week. By 1931 they had moved to the
css network. Over the air the quips and bon mots seemed to
flow effortlessly, but Ace had carefully composed each mis-
used expression for Jane Ace. She died in 1974. Ace wrote for
performers as diverse as Danny *Kaye, Perry Como, Sid *Cae-
sar, Milton *Berle, and Bob Newhart.
[Stewart Kampel (2"¢ ed.)]
354
ACHAN (Heb. ]2¥), sacrilegious transgressor from the tribe
of Judah, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah. In the
time of Joshua, Achan violated the *herem imposed on Jeri-
cho and was subsequently executed (Josh. 7). Despite the ban
on spoils from Jericho, Achan misappropriated a fine shinar
mantle, 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge (lit. “tongue”) of 50
shekels’ weight and buried them in the ground under his tent.
The Israelites were defeated in an attempt to take *Ai because
of the trespass of the herem. Lots were cast to determine who
was responsible and Achan was indicated. On the principle
of collective responsibility the people had been punished for
the transgression of this one man, since Achan’s sin was as-
cribed to all of Israel (Josh. 7:1, 11). Achan confessed his sin
publicly before God and Israel (Josh. 7:20-21). Another ex-
ample of collective responsibility is that he was stoned with
all his family in the valley of *Achor (“troubling”), where
the articles he had taken were burned and a great mound of
stones was raised over him. The word achor is a play on the
name Achan. In 1 Chronicles 2:7 he is actually called “Achar,
the troubler of Israel”
The story of Achan may be an amalgam from two differ-
ent sources. The first half of Joshua 7:25 reads “and they stoned
him,’ while the second half says “and they stoned them,’ which
is not only a duplication but employs a different Hebrew verb
for “to stone.’ The story is widely regarded as an independent,
Judean, etiological narrative, explaining the origin of the name
valley of Achor and the presence there of a big pile of stones
(Josh. 7:26). According to Y. Kaufmann, however, it belongs
to a class of biblical legal literature which illustrated rulings
by example. These were actual cases decided on the spot
and the story preserved the result of the case (e.g., Lev.
10:1-7, 12-20; 24:10-23; Num. 9:6—44; 27:1-11; 36:1-12; 1 Sam.
30:22-25).
In the Aggadah
Achan was a hardened criminal whose sins (previous to steal-
ing the spoil from Jericho) included desecration of the Sab-
bath, obliterating the signs of his circumcision, and adultery
(Sanh. 44a). Nevertheless, he is one of the three men who,
by their confessions, lost this world, and gained the world to
come (ARN version B, 4-5:3). When his fellow tribesmen were
willing to espouse his cause to the extent of slaying one group
after another in Israel, Achan said to himself: “Any man who
preserves one life in Israel is as though he had preserved the
entire world... It is better that I should confess than be re-
sponsible for a calamity” (Num. R. 23:6). His confession was a
victory over his evil inclinations. “The Lord shall trouble thee
this day” (Josh. 7:25), implied: “This day thou art troubled,
but thou wilt not be troubled in the world to come” (Lev. E.
g:1 and Sanh. 6:2).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: de Vaux, Anc. Isr., index, s.v. Akan and
Herem; Y. Kaufmann, Sefer Yehoshua (1959), 116-7; Malamat, in: Sefer
ha-Yovel... Y. Kaufmann (1960), 149 ff. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.
Stern, The Biblical Herem (1991); S. Ahituv, Joshua (1995), 121-29.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACHBOR (Heb. 1123Y), the name of two biblical figures.
(1) Achbor was the father of Baal-Hanan, king of Edom (Gen.
36:38-39; I Chron. 1:49). Some scholars maintain that the fa-
ther’s name is not Achbor, but a duplication of Beor (Gen.
36:32), because the king’s native city is not given (as in all the
other cases, rather than their father’s name). Nonetheless,
there is no doubt that the name existed. It can denote a mouse
(akhbar), as it is normal for biblical persons to bear animal
names. Furthermore, there may also be a cultic connotation
for this name, as is proved by the discovery of sacrificial mice
(cf. also the golden mice in 1 Sam. 6:4, 5, 11), and the reference
in Isaiah 66:17 to a non-Yahwistic cultic practice in which mice
were eaten. This is in addition to the preservation of a tradition
by Maimonides that the Horites sacrificed mice. It is further
interesting to note that a seal bearing the words “Hananyahu
ben Akhbor’” was found in Jerusalem.
(2) Achbor, the son of Micaiah, was one of the men sent
by King Josiah to consult the prophetess *Huldah (11 Kings
22:12-14; in 11 Chron. 34:20, he is called *Abdon, probably a
corruption of Achbor). On the mission he is believed to have
represented the pro-Egyptian families, who were influential
in the last days of the Kingdom of Judah (see *Ahikam). His
son, *Elnathan, was one of the ministers in the time of Jehoia-
kim (Jer. 26:22; 36:12). Possibly “K-/-Jiahu son of Elnathan,’ an
army officer mentioned in one o f the Lachish ostraca (no. 3,
1.15), was Achbor’s grandson in the time of Zedekiah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Albright, in: JBL, 51 (1932), 79-80; Yeivin, in:
Tarbiz, 12 (1940/41), 253, 255.
ACHISH (Heb. 2x), *Philistine king of *Gath, mentioned
at the end of Saul’s reign. In 1 Samuel 27:2, his father’s name
is given as Maoch. Achish’s realm was extensive and included
the city of Ziklag and its environs (1 Sam. 27:6). Fugitives from
Judah often sought shelter in his land because of its proxim-
ity to Judah (1 Kings 2:39-40). At first Achish refused *David
permission to stay in his territory, possibly to avoid becom-
ing embroiled in a political conflict with Saul (1 Sam. 21:11 ff.).
After a company of several hundred men, however, had gath-
ered around David, Achish welcomed him and even allocated
to him the Ziklag region (1 Sam. 27). It is possible that David
took his first steps in royal administration when he was in the
kingdom of Gath.
In the Septuagint Achish is called Akchous, Agchous, Ag-
chis. If the late readings reflect some early tradition, it would
seem almost certain that the original form of the name was
Achush or Akkush, which corresponds or is related to Ikusu,
the name of one of the kings of Ekron in the days of Esarhad-
don and Ashurbanipal, now attested to in a monumental in-
scription from Ekron. The name Achish is not Semitic in form,
and some scholars have related it to Agchioses, the name of a
king in the neighborhood of Troy who lived around the time
of the Trojan War (Iliad, 2:819; 20:239; et al.). The fact that the
form Agchisis is not Greek supports the theory that Achish
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACHRON, JOSEPH
and Agchisis may have had a common origin. Since the name
Akhshan is found in an Egyptian list as the name of a son of
Kaphtor (Keftiu), it is plausible to assume that the form “Ach-
ish” stems from the same group of peoples to which the Phi-
listines belonged. But it is also conceivable that the name is
Horite, because the combination of sounds in “Achish” is pos-
sible in Horite. J. Naveh has argued that Achish was an appel-
lative employed as a throne name.
A king of Gath called Achish is also referred to in the
fourth year of Solomon's rule; he is called “Achish son of Maa-
cah” (1 Kings 2:39). Perhaps there were two kings by this name;
Achish son of Maoch, the predecessor, and Achish son of Maa-
cah, the successor of an intermediate king called Maacah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mazar, in: PIASH, vol. 1, no. 7 (1964), 1ff.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: V. Sasson, in: UF 29 (1997), 627-39; J. Naveh,
in: BASOR 310 (1998), 35-37; A. Demsky, in: BAR 24, 5 (1998), 53-58.
[Joshua Gutmann]
ACHOR, VALLEY OF (Heb. 1139 ?779¥), site near Jericho
where *Achan was stoned to death for helping himself to some
of the forbidden booty taken from Jericho (Josh. 7:24-26).
Achor is mentioned in Joshua (15:7) as being located on the
border of Judah and Benjamin, between Debir and Adum-
mim. Both Hosea (2:17) and Isaiah (65:10) predicted that in
time to come this valley would cease to be a desert. Achor
figures in the *Copper Scroll from the Dead Sea as the site of
vast hidden treasures. Eusebius (Onom. 18:17-20) located it
north of Jericho in the direction of Galgala, and it has been
placed by most scholars in or near Wadi el-Qelt, or farther
north at the large Wadi Nuwei’imeh. A more recent sugges-
tion is al-Bugei'‘ah, a large plain in the Judean Desert south-
west of Jericho.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 48; Milik, in: RB, 66
(1959), 331-2; Noth, in: zDPv, 71 (1955), 1-59; M. Baillet et al., Dis-
coveries in the Judaean Desert, 3 (1962), 262 ff.; J.M. Allegro, Treasure
of the Copper Scroll (1960), 64-68; Wolff, in: zDPV, 70 (1954), 76-81;
Muilenburg, in: BASOR, 140 (1955), 11-19.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ACHRON, JOSEPH (1886-1943), composer and violinist.
Achron made his debut at the age of eight, touring Russia as
a prodigy violinist. He studied with *Auer and Liadow at St.
Petersburg, and later taught at the Kharkov Conservatory
(1913-18). Achron began his composing career by writing
light music. His association in St. Petersburg with the group
of Jewish writers and musicians who founded the Society for
Jewish Folk Music brought about a change in musical inter-
ests, and manifested itself in his Hebrew Melody (1911). After
attempting to settle in Berlin (1918-22) and Palestine (1924),
he went to New York in 1925. There he wrote music for Yid-
dish plays and was commissioned to compose Evening Ser-
vice for the Sabbath for Temple Emanu-El (1932). In 1934 he
moved to Hollywood, wrote film music, but continued serious
composition. Achron’s work shows the stresses resulting from
355
ACHSAH
his double role as a performing musician and a composer. He
composed more than 80 works, including violin sonatas and
concertos, Symphonic Variations and Sonata on the Folk Song
“El Yivneh ha-Galil” (1915), Concerto for Piano Alone (1941),
Golem Suite (1932), Sextet for Woodwinds (1942), and inciden-
tal music to plays by *Goldfaden, *Shalom Aleichem, Peretz,
and Sholem *Asch. The bulk of his manuscripts is preserved
in the National and University Library, Jerusalem.
ISIDOR (1892-1948), brother of Joseph, born in Warsaw,
was a pianist and composer. He studied in St. Petersburg and
toured Europe and the U.S., where he settled in 1922.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Weisser, Modern Renaissance of Jewish
Music (1954), 81-91; P. Gradenwitz, Musikgeschichte Israels (1961), 160;
J. Stutschewsky, Mein Weg zur juedischen Musik (1935), 24ff.; Sendrey,
Music, index; P. Moddel, Joseph Achron (Eng., 1966).
ACHSAH (Heb. 1039; probably “anklet,” cf. Isa. 3:18), the
daughter of *Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. Achsah’s father an-
nounced that he would give her in marriage to the man who
would capture Kiriath-Sepher (later called *Debir; modern
Tell Beit Mirsim). *Othniel, son of Kenaz, the latter apparently
a younger brother of Caleb (Caleb and Kenaz both being the
sons of the Kenizzite Jephunneh), took Kiriath-Sepher and
married Achsah (Jos. 15:16-17; Judg. 1:12-13). Apparently be-
cause Othniel desired a dowry in addition to the girl (whom
her father had “given away as Negeb Land” [i.e., without
dowry], see Kaufmann ad loc.), she asked her father for a piece
of property known as Upper and Lower Springs and Caleb ac-
ceded to her request (Jos. 15:18-19; Judg. 1:14-15). This story
is told in connection with the apportionment of land to the
families of the tribe of Judah (Josh. ibid.; Judg. ibid.). Caleb, ac-
cording to the critical view, represents a tribe or group of fami-
lies (cf. 1 Sam. 25:2-3) that was incorporated into Judah. The
detailed story intended to describe the settlement of Othniel
and the families of Kenaz in a Calebite region. Furthermore,
the story brings to light the relations between the families of
Caleb and that of Kenaz (probably both Hurrians).
The name Achsah is derived from the root 02¥ (cf. Isa.
3:18; Prov. 7:22), meaning to reverse, tie backward, hence an-
klet, bangle.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Noth, Personennamen, 223. ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHY: J. Stamm, in, svT16 n (Fs Baumgartmerl 1967), 328; Y.
Amit, Judges (1999), 35-36.
ACHSHAPH (Akhshaf; Heb. 4/28), ancient Canaanite town,
usually mentioned together with Acre in Egyptian documents
from the Middle and New Kingdoms (cf. the Execration Texts
of early 18 century B.c.z.), the list of cities conquered by
Thutmosis 111 (c. 1469 B.c.E.), the El-Amarna letters (14 cen-
tury B.c.E.), and the Papyrus Anastasi (13' century B.C.E.).
It was in the territory allotted to Asher in the period of the
Israelite conquest (Josh. 19:25). The king of Achshaph is listed
among the 31 kings who fought Joshua (ibid. 12:20); he par-
ticipated in the battle at the Waters of Merom (ibid. 11:1). The
various sources indicate a location in the southern part of the
356
Plain of Acre, perhaps one of the more prominent of its many
ancient tells: Tell Kisan 6 mi. (10 km.) S.E. of Acre, or Khirbet
al-Harbaj, E. of Haifa near Kefar Hasidim.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Maisler (Mazar), in: BJPES, 6 (1939), 151-7;
Alt, in: PJB, 20 (1924), 26; 24 (1928), 60; J. Garstang, Joshua, Judges
(1931), 98-99, 354; Albright, in: BASOR, 61 (1936), 24; 81 (1941), 19; 83
(1941), 33; EM, S.V.; Press, Erez, 1 (1946), 19.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ACHZIB (Heb. 2°38). The name may mean “charming,” “de-
lightful” (1) Ancient Canaanite harbor town north of Acre
near the cliff called “the ladder of Tyre.” North of the village
is a tell in which potsherds dating from and after the Early
Bronze Age have been found. According to Joshua 19:29 and
Judges 1:31, Achzib belonged to the tribe of Asher, but it did
not come under the effective control of the Israelites, as the
Canaanites continued to occupy it. A large number of tombs
from the period of the Israelite monarchy have been discov-
ered south and east of the tell. *Sennacherib captured Achzib
from the king of Tyre in 701 B.c.£. In the period of the Second
Temple, Achzib is mentioned (in the Greek form Ekdippa) as
a road station, 9 Roman mi. north of Ptolemais (Acre., Jos.,
Wars, 1:257; Pliny, 19). A Roman milestone has been found
on the site, on the Acre-Antioch road, in addition to many
Roman tombs. In the mishnaic period, Achzib, then called
also Kheziv (Gesiv in the Palestinian Talmud), was consid-
ered a part of Erez Israel and its inhabitants were bound by
all the biblical laws pertaining to the sabbatical and jubilee
years, priestly dues, and tithes (Shev. 6:1; 4:6; Hal. 4:8; 2:6;
Tosef. Oho. 18:14). Achzib occupied an important position
as a base-camp for the Crusader armies and was known as
Casal Imbert after the knight who held it. The Arab geogra-
phers of the Middle Ages (Ibn Jubayr, 307; Yaqut, 2:964; Id-
risi, 2) refer to it as al-Zib, a fortified village. Until 1948 the
site was occupied by the Arab village of al-Zib, 9 mi. (15 km.)
north of Acre. Nearby is the kibbutz *Gesher ha-Ziv whose
name was partly inspired by the ancient city. In excavations
conducted in 1941-44 and 1959-64, fortifications and occu-
pational levels were discovered beginning with the Middle
Bronze Age 11 (first half of the second millennium B.c.£.) to
the Roman period and also from the Crusader period and
Middle Ages. Most of the tombs investigated were Phoeni-
cian (tenth to seventh centuries B.c.£.); others were from the
Persian and Roman periods. The tombs were rock-hewn and
also contained pottery, figurines, scarabs, and bronze and sil-
ver jewelry. Four tombstones were especially significant, being
engraved with the name of the deceased; and in one instance,
with his occupation (metal worker). A Phoenician inscription
on the shoulder of a jar mentions Adonimelekh.
(2) A city of the biblical period in the Shephelah of Judah,
between Keilah and Mareshah (Josh. 15:44; Micah 1:14-15)
also called Chezib (Gen. 38:5). It is mentioned by Eusebius
(Onom. 172:6) as Chasbi near Adullam, a reference which
would confirm its proposed identification with Tell al-Bayda
(today Lavnin) west of Adullam.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) Saarisalo, in: JPos, 9 (1929), 38ff.; Abel,
Geog, 2 (1938), 237; Prawer, Zalbanim, index; EM s.v.; Press, Erez,
1 (1946), 18; Prausnitz, in: IEJ, 15 (1965), 256-8. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: idem, in: IEJ, 25 (1975), 202-10; J. Dearman, in: JNSL, 22
(1996), 59-71. (2) Saarisalo, in: JPOs, 11 (1931), 98; Elliger, in: zDPv,
57 (1934), 121-4.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ACKERMAN, GARY (1942- ), U.S. congressman. Acker-
man was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, New York.
His parents, Max and Eva (Barnett) Ackerman, were the chil-
dren of East European immigrants. Ackerman was educated
in the New York public school system and graduated from
Queens College. Following his graduation, Ackerman spent
four years teaching junior high school. In 1970, when his wife
gave birth to the first of their three daughters, Ackerman peti-
tioned the New York Board of Education for an unpaid leave
of absence. He was turned down; under the then existing
policy, maternity leave was solely for women. In what was to
become a forerunner of the Federal Family Leave Act, Acker-
man successfully sued the Board of Education in a landmark
case, which established the right of either parent to claim
such leave.
At the end of his unpaid leave, Ackerman left teaching in
order to start a weekly newspaper, the Flushing Tribune, even-
tually renamed the Queen’ Tribune. Ackerman was elected as
a Democrat to the New York State Senate in 1978 and to the
United States Congress in a special election held in 1983 to
fill the unexpired term of the late Benjamin Rosenthal. Dur-
ing his more than 20 years in Congress, Ackerman has been
a forthright supporter of Israel. As a member of the House
Committee on International Relations, Ackerman has trav-
eled the globe extensively. He was one of the first members of
Congress to draw attention to the rescue of Soviet and Ethio-
pian Jews. He has long made it a practice to go to synagogue
in every country he visits.
A celebrated character on Capitol Hill, who always wears
a white carnation in his lapel and lives on a houseboat docked
in the Potomac River, Ackerman is perhaps best known for
being the co-founder (along with New York Senator Charles
*Schumer) of an informal group known as “The Congressio-
nal Minyan.” Ackerman’s minyan is a group of Jewish legisla-
tors and staff members who gather several times a month in
the Congressman's office to study Torah and Talmud with a
rabbi he flies in from New York City. Once a year, Ackerman
also hosts an annual “Taste of New York” gathering on Capitol
Hill, which features Jewish food and waiters imported from
New York. Widely popular with his largely Jewish constitu-
ency, Ackerman has been reelected every two years since 1984
by wide margins.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: K.F. Stone, The Congressional Minyan: The
Jews of Capitol Hill (2000) 4-7.
[Kurt Stone (24 ed.)]
ACKERMAN, NATHAN WARD (1908-1971), U.S. psychia-
trist, born in Russia. Ackerman joined the Menninger Clinic
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACKERMAN, PAULA HERSKOVITZ
in Topeka, Kansas, and became the chief psychiatrist of the
Child Guidance Clinic in 1937. In 1957 he established the Fam-
ily Mental Health Clinic in New York City and began teach-
ing at Columbia University. He was a clinical professor of psy-
chiatry at Columbia, chief psychiatrist of the Child Guidance
Institute of the Jewish Board of Guardians, and supervising
psychiatrist of the Family Mental Health Clinic of the Jewish
Family Service, New York.
Ackerman held that the family unit is the crucial link be-
tween individual personality and the social and cultural mi-
lieu, that psychiatric abnormality in a child is at times an ex-
pression of disturbed emotional relations in the entire family,
and that cure requires therapy of the conflicts and relations of
the family group as such. His astute ability to understand the
overall organization of families enabled him to look beyond
the behavioral interactions of families and into the hearts and
minds of each family member. He used his strong will and
provocative style of intervening to uncover the family’s de-
fenses and allow their feelings, hopes, and desires to surface.
Committed to sharing his ideas and theoretical approach with
other professionals in the field, he published The Unity of the
Family and Family Diagnosis: An Approach to the Preschool
Child (1938), both of which inspired the family therapy move-
ment. Together with Don Jackson, he founded the first family
therapy journal, Family Process (1960), which is still a leading
journal of ideas in the field today.
Ackerman opened the Family Institute in New York City
in 1960, which was later renamed The Ackerman Institute for
Family Therapy. A nonprofit institution, its twofold mission
was to develop innovative and effective models of treatment
for families in trouble and to train clinicians to implement
these models.
On behalf of the American Jewish Committee, Acker-
man was coauthor of Anti-Semitism and Emotional Disor-
der (1950). On family therapy he wrote numerous articles
in professional journals; the books The Psychodynamics
of Family Life (1958), Treating the Troubled Family (1966),
Expanding Theory and Practice in Family Therapy (1967),
and Family Process (1970); and edited several anthologies,
such as Family Therapy in Transition (1971). He also coau-
thored with Marie Jahoda Anti-Semitism and Emotional Dis-
order, a Psychoanalytic Interpretation (1950). His selected
papers were published in The Strength of Family Therapy
(1982).
[Ruth Beloff (2"¢ ed.)]
ACKERMAN, PAULA HERSKOVITZ (1893-1989), first
woman to assume spiritual leadership of a U.S. mainstream
Jewish congregation. Born in Pensacola, Florida, Ackerman
was active in the Reform movement throughout her life.
Graduating as high school valedictorian in 1911, she received
a scholarship to Sophie Newcomb College, which she de-
clined for personal and family reasons. To supplement her
family’s income, she became a private music instructor and
high school math and Latin teacher. She also taught at Tem-
357
ACKERMAN, SHABTAI
ple Beth-El, the Reform congregation to which her family
belonged, leading its congregational choir as well. In 1919 she
married Dr. William Ackerman, the rabbi of Temple Beth-E];
the couple left Pensacola for a better-paying rabbinic posi-
tion in Natchez, Mississippi, and in 1922 moved on with their
15-month-old son, Billy, to Meridian, Mississippi. During her
husband’s tenure as rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Meridian,
Ackerman taught preconfirmation classes and led worship
services when her husband was ill or out of town. Initially
hesitant when the congregation invited her to succeed her
husband as rabbi following his death in 1950, she accepted the
position when the congregation received informal permission
from Maurice *Eisendrath, president of the Union of Ameri-
can Hebrew Congregations. Ackerman viewed this invita-
tion as a divine call to service and an opportunity “to plant a
seed for enlarged activity for the Jewish woman.’ Soon after,
Eisendrath withdrew his approval, maintaining that he had
become convinced that congregational leaders unqualified to
discharge full rabbinical duties would create more problems
than they would solve. However, the synagogue’s leadership
upheld the appointment, declaring that “practically all of the
members of our congregation believe she is qualified, and
we want her.” Paula Ackerman served as Temple Beth Israel's
spiritual leader from January 1951 through the fall of 1953; she
conducted services, preached, taught, and officiated at wed-
dings, funerals, and conversions. Attracting international at-
tention from the press, she erroneously was labeled “Amer-
ica’s first Lady Rabbi.” After retirement, she remained active
on city, state, and national religious and cultural boards and
traveled throughout the U.S., lecturing on religious themes.
In 1962, she briefly served as spiritual leader of Temple Beth-
El in Pensacola until a new rabbi could be found. In 1986 the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations formally recog-
nized her pioneering contribution to Jewish communal life at
a special ceremony held at The Temple in Atlanta.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Ackerman, Papers, American Jewish Ar-
chives, Cincinnati, Ohio; idem, Sermons (1915-53), private possession
of Dr. William Ackerman; K.M. Olitzky, L. Sussman, and M. Stern
(eds.), Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary (1993),
1-2; E.M. Umansky and D. Ashton (eds.), Four Centuries of Jewish
Women’s Spirituality: A Sourcebook (1992), 184-86.
[Ellen M. Umansky (24 ed.)]
ACKERMAN, SHABTAI (1914- _), hazzan. Ackerman was
born in Kishinev (Bessarabia). He sang in synagogue choirs
from his childhood on. He studied cantorial liturgy un-
der David Roitman, David Moshe Steinberg, and Abraham
Kalechnik, and led the services at the Kishinev synagogue.
Wounded by the Nazis in World War 11, he nevertheless suc-
ceeded in escaping to Russia. In 1945 he conducted services
in the Great Synagogue in Moscow and then returned to Ro-
mania, where he was cantor in the Baron Rothschild syna-
gogue and Ahavat Achim in Bucharest. In 1950 he moved to
Israel and served in the Beth El synagogue, Tel Aviv, and from
358
1952 to 1954 he was chief cantor in the Great Synagogue of Tel
Aviv. At the same time he was chairman of the Israel Can-
tors’ Association. From 1955 to 1982 he was cantor of the Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses synagogue in Detroit. From 1983 he
was cantor of Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
The Shabtai Ackerman Scholarship Fund was established in
his name. In 1985 he became chairman of the Florida Cantors
Association. His recordings include Songs of the Ages - Can-
torial Masterpieces.
[Akiva Zimmerman]
ACKORD, ELIAS (d. 1811), physician, born in Mogilev
(White Russia). Ackord, who studied medicine in Berlin, re-
ceived his medical diploma in 1788 in St. Petersburg. From
1789 he served as an army doctor in Kiev and in Wasilkov, and
subsequently practiced as a civilian. Interested in the reform of
Jewish conditions in Poland, Ackord translated an anonymous
pamphlet, Die Juden oder die nothwendige Reformation der
Juden in der Republik Polen (1786), from Polish into German,
urging the necessity of improving the status of Polish Jewry.
Ackord recorded with satisfaction that he, a native of Poland,
was able to translate the work into German. He attacked and
amended several of the writer’s conclusions, stating that they
were insulting to the Jews. He denied the author's assertion
that Jews opposed secular learning, adding that they had been
prevented from receiving a higher education. His arguments
reflect the influence of the school of Moses Mendelssohn and
the scholars of the Haskalah.
ACOSTA, CHRISTOBAL (1515-1580), Marrano physician
and botanist. Acosta’s father, probably born a Jew and a victim
of the Forced Conversion in Portugal in 1497, emigrated first
to one of the Portuguese fortresses in North Africa and then
to Mozambique, where Acosta was born. He studied in Portu-
gal, qualified as a physician, and in this capacity accompanied
the Portuguese viceroy Luis de Ataide in 1568 to India, where
he spent many years in medical practice. In 1569-71 he was
a physician at the Royal Hospital in Cochin. Later he under-
took many long and arduous journeys, suffering shipwreck,
captivity, and many hardships in Persia, China, Arabia, and
North Africa. The trips were for the purpose of studying nat-
ural history. On his return he settled down in Burgos (Spain)
where he spent the rest of his life. Acosta’s main interest in his
travels was the study of the medicinal plants of the East In-
dies. His great work on the subject was Tractado de las drogas
y medicinas de las Indias Orientales con sus Plantas debusca-
das al vivo. This treatise was originally published in Burgos
in 1578, and describes 69 plants and other sources of medi-
cines, with illustrations of 46 plants and their roots. Acosta
was undoubtedly influenced by Garcia da *Orta, whom he
knew in India, but he revealed originality in his reproduc-
tion of certain plants from nature. Acosta’s Tractado de las
drogas was translated into Latin, Italian, and French. There
is no evidence that Acosta had any Jewish leanings, despite
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
his ancestry; and indeed he wrote two works which breathe a
spirit of Catholic piety: Tractado en contra y pro de la vida so-
litaria, and Tractado en loor de las mujeres de la caridad (both
Venice, 1592). In the latter work, Acosta describes himself as
“Cristobal Acosta Affricano.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Friedenwald, Jews and Medicine (1944),
445-7; E.H.F. Meyer, Geschichte der Botanik, 4 (1857), 408; S. Kagan,
Jewish Medicine (1952), 120; C. Markham, Colloquies on the Simples
and Drugs of India by Garcia de Orta (1913), xiv—xv (introd.); Glés-
inger, in: RHMH (March 1955), 21; D.J. Olmedilla y Puig, Estudio
historico de la vida y escritos del sabio médico... (1899). ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: L. Priner, in: New York State Journal of Medicine, 70
(Feb. 15, 1970), 581-84; R.N. Kapil and A.K. Bhatnagar, in: Isis, 67
(1976), 449-52.
[Isidore Simon]
ACOSTA, ISAAC (Yhsak; d. 1728), French Sephardi rabbi.
Probably a native of Amsterdam, Acosta became hazzan of
the Jewish community of Peyrehorade, near Bayonne, formed
by Marrano fugitives from the Iberian Peninsula. His Historia
Sacra Real (1691), dedicated to the wardens of the community,
is one of the earliest manifestations of Judaism in this place.
Later (apparently after an interlude in Biarritz) he succeeded
R. Hayyim de Mercado as hakham at Bayonne, where he com-
posed his handbook for the administration of the last rites to
the dying, Via de Salvacion (1709; reprinted by M. Kaplan, Bay-
onne, 1874), and his major work, Conjeturas Sagradas (Leyden,
1722), a commentary in Spanish on the Early Prophets, based
on the classical Hebrew commentators and the Midrash.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl, 8 (and Da Silva Rosa’s ad-
ditions, 4); M. Schwab, Inscriptions Hébraiques de la France (1904),
375-7; Gross, Gal Jud, 93; Loeb, in: REJ, 22 (1891), 111.
[Cecil Roth]
ACOSTA, JOAN D? (17'8-18" centuries), court jester of Czar
Peter 1 of Russia, descended from a Portuguese Marrano fam-
ily. After prolonged wanderings in Western Europe, he settled
in Hamburg as a broker and from there reached the new Rus-
sian capital, St. Petersburg. His quick wit and command of
many European languages brought him to court, and in 1714
he was appointed court jester. At the time this was a position
of some importance, since it was the jester’s function to ridi-
cule the customs of the old Russian society, in order to facili-
tate transition to a western European mode of life. D’Acosta
had a wide knowledge of the Scriptures and the Czar en-
joyed conversing with him on theological subjects. D’Acosta
reached an old age and also served as jester at the court of
the czarina Anna.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Doran, History of Court Jesters (1858),
305; Dubnow, in YE, 1 (1908), 653; S. Ginsburg, Amolike Peterburg
(1944), 14-15.
[Yehuda Slutsky]
ACQUL, town in Piedmont, Italy. Jews began to settle in Ac-
qui, then in the independent marquisate of Montferrat, dur-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACQUISITION
ing the 15"* century. The Gonzaga dynasty, which ruled from
1536, was at first kindly disposed toward the Jews, failing to
comply with the Papal order to confiscate the Talmud in 1553,
and in 1562 protecting them from mob violence. Later its at-
titude became influenced by Counter-Reformation trends
and in 1570 the Jews in Acqui were ordered to wear the Jew-
ish *badge and live apart from Christians. Both the war fought
in 1612-31 and the plague of 1630 were disastrous for the Jews
of Acqui. The only loan bank then allowed failed in 1614. In
1630 Jewish property was pillaged. Conditions improved un-
der the Gonzaga-Nevers dynasty. However, from 1708, under
the rule of the House of Savoy, conditions again deteriorated.
In 1731, the 41 Jewish families were restricted to living in a
ghetto, although they were permitted to maintain loanbanks.
A further source of livelihood was the textile industry, some
Jews in Acqui owning silk or cotton mills. The ghetto became
heavily overcrowded when the Jews of Monastero had to move
there in 1737. By the end of the 18 century, their position
had improved markedly, although as late as 1789 Jews were
debarred from appearing in public on feast days. When the
French Republican armies entered Acqui in 1796, Abraham
Azariah (Bonaiut) Ottolenghi, later the rabbi, zealously took
up the revolutionary cause. Disorders followed the French
retreat, however, and the Ottolenghi family in particular suf-
fered. Jews were excluded from attending public schools in
Acqui for some time after they had been permitted to do so
in most of Piedmont. At the beginning of the 19"* century the
Jewish population numbered about 700. In 1848 the Jews were
emancipated and the ghetto abolished. The Jewish popula-
tion, which numbered only 500 in 1870, decreased to 200 by
1899, and 50 a generation later. By the late 1960s there were
no Jews living in Acqui. Rabbis of Acqui include Joshua Ben-
Zion *Segré (18 century) and several members of the Otto-
lenghi family. The old synagogue was demolished, together
with the ghetto, in 1881, and a new one constructed in the Via
Jona Ottolenghi, which still stands.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Foa, Gli ebrei nel Monferrato nei secoli xvie
xvii (1914); Levi, in: RMI, 9 (1934-5), 511-34; S. Foa, ibid., 19 (1953),
163f., 206f.; Milano, Italia, index; Roth, Italy, index.
[Attilio Milano]
ACQUISITION (Heb. 1°32; kinyan) the act whereby a person
voluntarily obtains legal rights. In Jewish law almost all kinds
of rights, whether proprietary (jus in rem) or contractual (jus
in personam; see *Obligations), can be voluntarily acquired
only by way of kinyan. Acquisition of rights by way of kinyan
can be divided into three groups:
(1) Acquiring ownership over ownerless property (hef-
ker) such as animals, fish in river or ocean, and lost property
which the owner has abandoned hope of finding; (2) rights
over property which has an owner, acquisition being by way
of sale or gift. Acquisition of ownerless property (original
acquisition) is called in the Talmud, ein daat aheret maknah
(literally “when no other mind conveys title”) and acquisition
359
ACQUISITION
from a previous owner (derivative acquisition) is called daat
aheret maknah (“another mind conveys title”). In this latter
group are also included lesser rights than ownership (jura in
re aliena) such as a lease or an easement; (3) contractual or
personal rights such as debts, or the hiring of workmen, the
acquisition of which also depends upon “another mind con-
veying the right”
In the case of original acquisition the formalities of ac-
quiring title are to demonstrate that the property is in unre-
stricted possession of the person acquiring it, meaning that
he has the ability and intent to use it whenever he wishes to
do so, which includes the power to prevent others from in-
terfering with that use. The halakhah enumerates, according
to objective tests, the acts by which people would usually rec-
ognize that the property is in the possession of the acquirer.
Consequently, the list of recognized forms of original acqui-
sition is a closed one.
With regard to derivative acquisition, however, the func-
tion of kinyan is not to demonstrate that it has passed into
the possession of the person acquiring it, but that the alien-
ator and the acquirer had determined to conclude the trans-
action. In fact, the party acquiring title performs the kinyan,
and the alienator expresses his approval orally. The sole rea-
son for a formal kinyan is that a mere oral agreement may not
be taken seriously and might enable the parties to withdraw
from the proposed transaction. For this reason derivative
acquisition can be effected in a greater variety of ways than
original acquisition; when the parties derive mutual benefit
from the transaction showing that they have wholeheartedly
reached an agreement to conclude it, no formal kinyan is
even required (R. Johanan, BM 94a). For the same reason an
acquisition is valid if done in a mode customary among local
merchants even though different from the talmudic kinyanim
(Sh. Ar., HM 201:2). Since in the case of derivative acquisition
the kinyan serves not to show possession but to indicate that
the parties made up their minds to conclude the transaction,
it can also be used for creation of contractual rights, such as
a duty to sell something which is not yet in existence (davar
she-lo ba la-olam) - even though one cannot effect transfer
of a non-existent object (see *Assignment; Sh. Ar., HM 60:6).
The acquisition of rights requires “intention” on the part of
the acquirer. The statement in the Talmud (BM 11a) that “a
person's premises acquire for him without his knowledge” (see
below) must therefore be taken to refer to the acquisition of
such an object as the owner of the premises would have de-
sired to acquire had he known of its presence there, and it
must, by the same token, be property which is usually found
there (Tos. to BB 54a).
There are general modes of kinyan which apply to both
original and derivative acquisition, and others which apply
only to derivative acquisition by way of sale and gift. Under
the first class come:
(1) Kinyan Hazer
(“Acquisition through one’s courtyard”). A person's prem-
360
ises “acquire” for him such movable property as comes into
it. Since, as stated, the property must be within his posses-
sion and control, such premises, in order to “acquire” on his
behalf, must be fenced in, or “he stands at the side thereof”
guarding what is in it (BM 11a), or that others keep away from
the premises for any other reason (ibid. 102a). Consequently
a shopkeeper does not acquire property lost in his shop, if it
is in a place to which customers have access, but only if it is
ina place to which he alone has access (Maim. Yad, Gezelah,
16:4). Nor does a person acquire anything in premises to which
the public has access (Novellae Rashba to BM 25b). Similarly,
a man’s premises do not acquire fledglings because they can
fly away (BM 11a) or chattels which may be blown away (Git.
79a). Similarly, treasure hidden in the ground, even of guarded
premises, belongs to the finder (BM 25b) and not to the owner
of the ground because the owner is not likely to find it because
it is hidden, and therefore he has no control of it. The hazer
need not necessarily be immovable property; the same rule
applied to utensils if their owner had the right to leave them
in a certain place where they would not be removed (BB 85a).
It follows that a person's animal cannot acquire for him since
it is a “moving courtyard” (Git. 21a) and may wander beyond
its owner's care, On the other hand, a boat would “acquire” for
its owner fish which leap into it (Bm 9b) since it is property
guarded by its owner. With regard to derivative acquisition,
since there is no need to demonstrate that the property is in
the possession of its acquirer, even an unguarded hazer can
acquire according to one opinion (BM 11b).
(2) Arba Ammot
(“Four cubits”). The area round a person having a radius of
four cubits is regarded as having the same properties as a
hazer, providing that he is in a place where he has control over
the article (BM 10b). There seems to be a difference between
the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmuds with regard to kin-
yan by arba ammot. According to the former it acquires even
without an express formula on the individual's part, unless he
has clearly stated or indicated that he does not wish to acquire
and the Talmud refers to it as applying only to original acqui-
sitions. The Jerusalem Talmud, on the other hand, requires an
express declaration on his part that his arba ammot shall ac-
quire the article for him (Elijah of Vilna to Ty, Peah 4:2) and
makes this rule apply also to derivative acquisition. Opinions
differ as to the capacity of minors to acquire by kinyan hazer
or arba ammot (BM 11a).
(3) Hagbahah (“lifting”), Meshikhah (“pulling”) and
Mesirah (“transfer”)
Movable objects are acquired by hagbahah in the case of arti-
cles which can be lifted without difficulty; where they are too
heavy, or can be raised only with difficulty, meshikhah takes
its place (BB 86a). Both serve to demonstrate that the article
thereby comes into the acquirer’s possession, and is guarded
for him as in his hazer. The article may be raised merely by
the force of his body (Tos. to BK 98a). There is a difference
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of opinion as to whether it must be lifted one handsbreadth
or three (Tos. to Kid., 26a). Meshikhah, applying to an ani-
mal, can be effected by striking or calling it so that it comes
to one (BB 75a) or by leading or riding it (BM 8b). The pre-
vailing opinion is that meshikhah applies only in premises
owned by both parties or in a side street (BB 76b), but not in
a public place. According to one opinion, however, it is effec-
tive in a public thoroughfare as well (Ty, Kid. 1:4, Tos. to BK
79a). The above-mentioned methods of kinyan apply both to
original and derivative acquisition, but in cases of derivative
acquisition the express permission of the alienator to the ac-
quirer to perform kinyan is an indispensable element in the
kinyan (BK 52a; BB 53a). These methods of kinyan apply also
to personal obligations, such as those of a bailee (Tos. to BK
79a) or an artisan for his work (BM 48a; see *Labor Law). Me-
sirah consists of grasping at the object to be acquired (BB 75b)
and the term mesirah indicates that it is done at the behest
of the transferor (Tos. to ibid.) Since it does not demonstrate
intention to control the subject matter which is a neces-
sary element of possession, it applies only to derivative ac-
quisition. It is employed where meshikhah is ineffective, i.e.,
in a public place or in an hazer not belonging to either
party.
(4) Hazakah
Whereas all the foregoing modes of acquisition apply to mov-
ables only, in the case of immovable property acquisition is
by an act of hazakah (Kid. 26a) which consists of any act usu-
ally done by an owner, such as fencing, opening a gateway or
locking the premises (BB 42a), or weeding or hoeing (ibid.,
54a), or putting down a mattress to sleep there (ibid., 53b). In
general, any improvement of the land is regarded as an act
usually done by the owner (Maim. Yad, Mekhirah, 1:8). Such
an act as preventing floodwaters from inundating a field,
however, would not constitute a hazakah as it could be re-
garded simply as a voluntary neighborly act (BB 53a). There
is a difference of opinion as to whether merely traversing the
land is acquiring as it constitutes an act usually done by the
owner (BB 100a). With regard to a sale or gift, the land ac-
quired by the hazakah includes everything stipulated by the
parties (Sh. Ar, HM 192:12); with regard to ownerless property,
it includes only such part as is patently seen to be in his pos-
session (ibid. 275:3-9). As with meshikhah, in the case of de-
rivative acquisition the alienator must specifically instruct the
acquirer to take possession, or otherwise indicate his consent
(BK 52a; BB 53a). There are forms of acquisition by hazakah
which apply either to original or to derivative acquisition,
but not to both (Sh. Ar., HM 275:12-13). (For the hazakah
established by three years’ possession which is a method of
proof and does not come within the category of kinyan, see
*Hazakah).
The following methods of kinyan apply to derivative ac-
quisitions only because they do not demonstrate possession
but rather the intention of the parties to conclude the trans-
action:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACQUISITION
(5) Kinyan Kesef
(“Acquisition by money”). The transfer by the purchaser to the
seller of the agreed monetary price of the article. R. Johanan is
of the view that in strict law this mode of kinyan applies both
to movables and immovables, and with regard to derivative
acquisition the kinyan was done by paying money only and
not by hagbahah and meshikhah. But it was enacted that in-
stead of paying money meshikhah should be necessary, since if
the object remains in the possession of the transferor he may
not guard it against being destroyed by fire or other dangers
(BM 47a). Similarly, the need for a deed (shetar) was added
in the case of immovables (Kid. 26a). The Jerusalem Talmud
(Kid. 1:5) indicates other modes of kinyan with regard to im-
movables, one based on the removal of a shoe as mentioned
in Ruth 4:7, and the other being *kezazah, without any indica-
tion of the period when those modes were practiced. But kesef,
shetar, and hazakah alone remained. However, even though,
since tannaitic times, neither movables nor immovables were
acquired solely by kinyan kesef, the sale of immovables was not
regarded as completed until the money had passed, though
it could be paid to a third party according to the seller's in-
structions (Kid. 7a). Where only part of the purchase money
is paid, the balance being postponed by the transferor in the
form of a loan, even if only implicitly and without the loan be-
ing expressly stated, the part payment concludes the transac-
tion, unless it is clear from the conduct of the transferor that
this part payment did not complete the transaction, even if
kinyan took place (BM 77b). Kinyan kesef is already mentioned
in the Bible (Gen. 23; Jer. 32:6-15).
(6) Kinyan Shetar
(“Acquisition by deed”). In kinyan shetar the deed is not just
evidence of the act of acquisition but constitutes the act of ac-
quisition itself (shetar kinyan, Sh. Ar., HM 191:2). The vendor
writes on paper or other material “my field is given (or sold)
to you” and the receipt of that deed by the purchaser estab-
lishes his title even in the absence of witnesses (ibid., 1). Mov-
ables cannot be acquired by shetar. Kinyan shetar is already
mentioned in the Bible (Jer. 32).
(7) Halifin (“barter”), Kinyan Sudar (“Kinyan of the
Kerchief”)
The exchange of property is as effective as the payment of
money in establishing acquisition, even if the two objects ex-
changed are not of equal value. Thus, if the alienator draws
to him an article owned by the acquirer the transaction is af-
fected. Halifin cannot however be effected by current coinage
since this would constitute kinyan kesef, which depends upon
the monetary value (see BM 45b). Out of this there developed
the act of acquisition called kinyan sudar, which is therefore
also called kinyan halifin (Kid, 6b; et al.). The kerchief (sudar)
is merely pulled by the acquirer and can then be returned to
the owner (ibid., Ned. 48b). This mode of acquisition being
very easy to perform in all kinds of situations, it became so
prevalent that it is referred to simply as kinyan (cf. Git. 14a;
361
ACQUISITION
BM 94a; BB 3a). The origin of kinyan sudar may be traced to
Ruth 4:7. Throughout the tannaitic period it is never expressly
mentioned. It is first mentioned at the beginning of the amo-
raic period in the dispute as to whether, as in the case of barter
proper, the sudar must belong to the acquirer, or to the alien-
ator (BM 47a); the former view prevailed. Apparently, because
of the simplicity of this mode of acquisition, this kinyan is not
regarded as completed even after the ceremony, as long as the
parties are still talking about the deal (BB 1144).
(8) Aggav Karka
(“The acquisition of movables incidental to land”) Movables
may be acquired as an adjunct to land, the act of kinyan being
performed only with regard to the land (Kid. 26a). It probably
originated in the acquisition of a courtyard with everything
contained therein (cf. Tosef., BB 2:13) or similar cases as field,
olive press, etc. subsequently being extended to apply to ev-
erything belonging to them (cf. BB 78a), even if not actually
there at the time of the transaction, and finally to all movables
of unlimited amount being sold incidentally to any immov-
able property, even if they do not have any connection what-
ever with it (Kid. 26b). Thus the movables did not have to be
assembled (ibid. 26a-b) except in the case of slaves (BK 12a).
The final development was to acquire movables as an adjunct
to an unspecified piece of land (Sh. Ar., HM 202:7 gloss) and
the land could be acquired by sale and the movables as a gift,
and conversely. As a facile mode of acquiring movables, not
necessitating the presence of the parties on the site, it was in
operation for long periods, In the geonic period the “four cu-
bits in Erez Israel” which every Jew theoretically owns, was
made the basis of a practice whereby an agent could be ap-
pointed to recover a deposit or a debt, aggav karka, of these
four cubits (Maim. Yad, Sheluhin, 3:7).
(9) Usage and Custom
Generally speaking, any custom adopted by the local mer-
chants as a mode of acquisition is valid according to Jewish
law (Sh. Ar., HM 201:2), since it fulfills the principle that the
purpose of the kinyan is to bring about the decision of the par-
ties to conclude the transaction. Conversely, when a once ac-
cepted mode of acquisition fell into desuetude it could no lon-
ger be employed (cf. C. Albeck, Shishah Sidrei Mishnah, Seder
Nashim (1958), 410-12; addenda to Kid. 1:4-5). The Babylonian
Talmud mentions the custom of wine-merchants marking the
barrels they had purchased (BM 74a), and in post-talmudic
times three such customs prevalent among Christians were
adopted since they fulfilled the same function as “affixing a
mark” (Sh. Ar., HM 201:2). They are (a) the handshake (Teki at
kaf) mentioned in Proverbs 6:1 as a form of giving surety
(Piskei ha-Rosh, BM 74a in the name of “R.H.,” probably the
tosafist Hayyim Cohen and not R. Hananel, who expressed a
contrary view; see Or Zarua, BM 231). Some authorities even
regarded a handshake as the equivalent of an oath (Mordekhai
to Shevu. 757) but others regarded it as an act of acquisition
(for the parallel among Christians see Palmata, Handschlag);
362
(b) the handing over of a coin by the purchaser to the vendor,
which was originally a medieval Christian custom (Arrha, ear-
nest money); and (c) handing over a key - the vendor hands to
the purchaser the key of the premises where the merchandise
is housed. Handing over a key is mentioned in the Babylonian
Talmud (BK 52a; Tos. to ibid.), but only as the authorization
by the alienator for the acquirer to make the kinyan hazakah
and in the Jerusalem Talmud as a mode of derivative acquisi-
tion of the building (Mareh ha-Panim to Kid. 1:4). As a mode
of acquiring movables it was a Christian custom (Traditio cla-
vium; see B, Cohen, Jewish and Roman Law, 2 (1966), 538-56),
Present day rabbinical courts have applied the principle of re-
garding local custom as valid; thus the transfer of immovable
property through registration in the Land Registry is a valid
kinyan in Jewish Law (PDR, 1:283).
(10) Acquisition with No Formal Act
Where it is clear that the parties concerned decide a transac-
tion to their mutual benefit and satisfaction a formal kinyan
is not essential (see Ket. 102b; Git. 14a; BM 94a; BB 176b; cf.
Maim. Yad, Mekhirah, 5:11). This rule obtains generally with
regard to personal obligations but can include rights in rem
(see BB 106b and Haggahot ha-Rashash on Tos. Bek. 18b).
This principle was extended in the post-talmudic period (Hai
Gaon, in Hemdah Genuzah, no. 135; responsa Meir of Rothen-
burg, ed. Prague, 941; responsa Ribash 476; Sh. Ar., HM 176:4).
For other modes of acquisition see ‘Admission, *Assignment,
*Confiscation and Expropriation, * Hefker, *Hekdesh, *Succes-
sion, *Theft, and Robbery.
In the state of Israel, sale is governed by the Law of Sale, 1968,
based on the uniform international draft (Hague, 1964); gift
is governed by the Law of Gift, 1968; and the acquisition of
immovables by the Land Law, 1969. Ownership, in the case
of sale, passes by way of offer and acceptance and, in case of
gift, by delivery of the property. Transfer of title to land be-
comes valid only on registration in the Land Registry. Con-
tractual obligations are created by agreement between the
parties in any manner whatever. Legislation vests ownership
of all unowned property in the state, which cannot therefore
be originally acquired.
[Shalom Albeck]
Legal Acts Which Do Not Require a Kinyan
Further to the above discussion regarding the requirement of
a kinyan in order to give force to a legal act, it should be noted
that as of the 13° century, we find the legal principle that any
legal transaction undertaken by the public is valid even in the
absence of a formal kinyan, “Any thing that is done by the pub-
lic does not require a kinyan, [even] in a situation in which
an individual would require a kinyan” (Responsa Maharam
of Rothenburg, cited in Mordekhai, Bava Mezia, #457-458).
This new principle was applied to various categories of legal
transactions, such as employer-employee relations, guaran-
tees and gifts, and other legal matters to which the public is
a party (see Responsa Maharam b. Reb Barukh (Prague), 38;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Responsa Ribash, $476; Sh. Ar., HM 163. 6 (Rema); 204.9; Re-
sponsa Mayim Amukkim; Responsa Raanah — Rabbi Eliahu
b. Rabbi Hayyim, $63). The established and accepted rule was
that “whatever the leaders of the community agree to do has
validity without a kinyan” (Responsa Rosh, Kelal 6.19, 21).
This distinction between the kinyan of an individual and the
kinyan of the public or its representatives also affected the
application of other basic requirements normally applying to
the kinyan. Thus, a public authority has full authority to ac-
quire or transfer something not yet in existence; despite the
general rule of Jewish law that “asmakhta does not convey
title” (see *Asmakhta), the acts of a public authority are valid
even where performed by way of asmakhta (Responsa Mayim
Amukim, op cit.; Responsa Mabit 3. 228; see *Contract, Law
of Obligations”).
The above-cited sources served as a basis for the Supreme
Court's ruling, given by Justice Elon, regarding the heightened
requirement of good faith imposed on the public authority in
its actions performed within the realm of the law (Hc 376/81,
Lugassi v. Minister of Communications, 36(2) PD 449). Addi-
tional sources are cited further on in the decision (pp. 465-471;
see *Public Authority and Administrative Law).
An additional category in which there is no need for a
kinyan in order to give force to a legal act is the area of wills
(see *Succession). Generally speaking, a will must be accom-
panied by a kinyan in order to prove the finality of the deci-
sion and to give it legal force. However, in the case of a will
made on a deathbed (the will of a shekhiv me-ra) — that is,
one made by a person who is ill and in danger of dying, or a
healthy person in a situation causing him to regard himself as
facing death — the will is valid even without a kinyan, because
we assume that, due to the unique circumstances involved in
its making, it was performed as a final decision (Maimonides,
Yad, Zekhiyah u-matanah 8.2, 4, 24, 26.)
In an Israeli Supreme Court decision in the Koenig case
(FH 80/40 Koenig v. Cohen, 36(3) PD 701), Justice Menahem
Elon held that this halakhic rule should determine the in-
terpretation of Section 23 of the Succession Law, 5725-1964.
Section 23 utilizes the Talmudic term “shekhiv me-ra” (Lit:
moribund] in referring to a person making a will when on
the point of death:
A person who is a shekhiv me-ra or who under the circum-
stances reasonably regards himself as facing death may make an
oral will before two witnesses who understand his language.
Justice Elon ruled that Section 23's use of the Talmudic term
shekhiv me-ra indicates the origin of the law in the Jewish
law regarding a deathbed will, and hence the applicability of
the Jewish Law regarding the deathbed will (= zavaat shekhiv
me-ra). The decision in the Koenig case dealt with a case in
which a woman left a will made ona piece of paper without a
date and signature just before she killed herself. The justices
disagreed regarding the legal validity of the will, and Justice
Elon contended that the will should be seen as a deathbed
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACRA, THE
will and hence should be considered valid, notwithstanding
its deficiencies and flaws (ibid, pp. 733-38.)
Alternative Explanation of the Essence of Kinyan Sudar
According to another view, kinyan sudar is not a derivative of
kinyan halifin (barter), i.e., the exchange of property, but de-
rives rather from the institution of surety (see *Suretyship).
The transaction takes effect when the conveyor of title, or the
obligatee, undertakes to bind himself (meshabed nafsho) (BM
47a). In other words: he places himself in the “position” of
a purchaser, conveyor of title, debtor, worker, etc., in accor-
dance with the legal action for purpose of which kinyan su-
dar i fe d.
sl a [Menachem Elon (2"¢ ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Maim. Yad, Mekhirah, 1-9; Sh. Ar., HM
189-203; Gulak, Yesodei, 1 (1922), 102-27; 2 (1922), 32-573 Gulak, Le-
Heker Toledot ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri, 1 (1929), (41-86); Herzog, Instit,
1 (1936), 137-200; S. Albeck, Sinai, 62 (1967/68), 229-61; ET. S.v. Ag-
gav. Arba Ammot, Daat Aheret Maknah, Hagbahah, Hithayyevut.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Maimonides, Yad, Mekhirah, 1-9; Sh. Ar.,
HM 189-203; Gulak, Yesodei, 1 (1922), 102-27; 2 (1922), 32-57; Gulak,
Le-Heker Toledot ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri, 1 (1929), 41-86; Herzog, Institu-
tions, 1 (1936), 137-200; S. Albeck, in: Sinai, 62 (1967/68), 229-61; M.
Elon, Ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri (1988), 1:101-2, 196, 476-482, 516, 533f, 741f;
2:835-7; idem, Jewish Law (1994), 1:113—4, 220-1; 2:580-5,628-29,649f,
913f; 3:1022-24; B. Lifshitz, Mishpat u-Pe'ulah (2002); M. Elon and
B. Lifshitz, Mafteah ha-Sheelot ve-ha-Teshuvot shel Hakhmei Se-
farad u-Zefon Afrikah (1986), 2:425-40; B. Lifshitz and E. Shochet-
man, Mafteah ha-Sheelot ve-ha-Teshuvot shel Hakhmei Ashkenaz,
Zarefat ve-Italyah (1997), 291-98; B. Lifshitz, Obligation and Ac-
quisition in Jewish Law (1988); I. Warhaftig, Ha-Hithayvut (2001),
375-83.
ACRA, THE (from the Greek akros, “high’), fortress estab-
lished in Jerusalem on a site in close proximity to the Jewish
Temple in 167 B.c.£. by Antiochus Epiphanes in order to keep
the Jewish population of the city in subjection. It seems to have
replaced another Hellenistic citadel (acropolis) used as the ad-
ministrative center for the eparchos, who was responsible for
maintaining public order and collecting revenues from the
inhabitants, but little information about this place is known
except that it was the place to which Menelaus fled when the
fortifications of the city were breached by Jason (11 Macc. 4:27,
5:5). It was also mentioned in the Letter of Aristeas (2™4 cen-
tury B.C.E.) as situated “in a very lofty spot and [it] is fortified
with many towers, which have been built up to the very top
with immense stones, with the object, as we were informed,
of guarding the Temple precincts ...” The exact topographi-
cal situation of the subsequent Seleucid Acra is also unclear. It
was built in 167 B.c.£. following the destruction of the city by
Antiochus rv and was in use until it was dismantled by Simon
or Jonathan at the time of the construction of the “First Wall”
fortifications of Jerusalem c. 140 B.c.£. During the Maccabean
revolt the Acra was regarded as a symbol of wickedness and
inequity overshadowing the Temple of the pious. Various at-
tempts were made by Judah Maccabee and the Hasmonean
Jonathan to oust the Greeks from their stronghold, with suc-
363
ACRABA
cess eventually falling to Simon (1 Macc. 13:49-50) on the 23
Iyyar of 142 (Meg. Taan., 2) and it was he who subsequently
had it leveled. Josephus Flavius in his writings (Ant., 12:252,
13:215; Wars, 1:39, 5:138, 253, 6:392) pointed to the Acra as situ-
ated in the Lower City, i.e., in the area of the southeastern hill
(the “City of David”), at the same time indicating that it was
higher than the adjacent Temple Mount which therefore al-
lowed the Greek garrison to control the activities in the area
of the Temple. Scholars regarded the situation of the Acra as
suggested by Josephus unsustainable on both topographical
and archaeological grounds, since the Lower City area had
always been substantially lower than the uppermost part of
the Temple Mount area, and also because excavations in the
City of David area had not brought to light remains of a sep-
arate Hellenistic fortress. Hence, alternative locations for the
Seleucid Acra were sought by scholars - on the Ophel, at the
southeast corner of the Temple Mount, north of the Temple
Mount, and at various places on the Western Hill - none of
which could be proven archaeologically. Of these the Ophel
seems to be the most likely location since it was situated within
the area of the northern extension of the “City of David” in
the Lower City and also because it was a topographical prom-
inence which could very well have supported a building or
tower that easily might have reached the level of the adjacent
Temple Mount, ie., a height of 60-100 ft. (20-30 m.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L.-H, Vincent, “Acra,’ in: Revue Biblique, 43
(1934), 205-236; W.A. Shotwell, “The Problem of the Syrian Akra,”
in: BASOR, 176 (1964), 10-19; Y. Tsafrir, “The Location of the Seleu-
cid Akra,” in: RB, 82 (1975), 501-21; idem, in: Y. Yadin (ed.), Jerusalem
Revealed (1975), 85-86; M.Ben-Dov, “The Selecuid Akra - South of
the Temple,’ in: Cathedra, 18 (1981), 22-35 (Heb.); B. Mazar, “The
Temple Mount, in: Biblical Archaeology Today (1985), 463-68; L. De-
queker, “The City of David and the Seleucid Acra in Jerusalem,’ in: E.
Lipinski (ed.), The Land of Israel: Cross-Roads of Civilizations (1985),
193-210; G.J. Wightman, “Temple Fortresses in Jerusalem. Part 1: The
Ptolemaic and Seleucid Akras,” in: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archae-
ological Societies, 9 (1989-90), 29-40; G. Finkielsztejn, “Hellenistic
Jerusalem: the Evidence of the Rhodian Stamped Handles, in: New
Studies on Jerusalem, 5 (1999), 21-36.
[Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
ACRABA, place on the edge of the desert in the eastern Sa-
maria mountains. Acraba is a site with archaeological remains
from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The site has not been
excavated but surveys conducted there in the 19* century by
V. Guérin, C.F. Tyrwhitt-Drake, and C. Clermont-Ganneau
revealed the remains of numerous ancient buildings, includ-
ing a church, Greek inscriptions, cisterns, an open reservoir
(birkeh), and a number of burial caves. The site was inhabited
during the Late Hellenistic period by Idumeans, Samaritans,
and Jews. The site was apparently part of a toparchy that was
established in the area during the Hellenistic period. First
mentioned in 1 Macc. 5:3 and Judith 7:18, the town was later
conquered by Hyrcanus and added to the territory of Judea. It
was a Jewish village during the First and Second Jewish Revolts
and was subsequently transferred to the dominion of the city
364
of Neapolis [= Shechem]. Acrabbeim was mentioned by Euse-
bius (Onom. 14) as situated on the “boundary of Judea toward
the east, belonging to the tribe of Judah. There is a town by
this name nine miles (15 km.) from Neapolis to the east head-
ing down toward the Jordan, on the way to Jericho across the
toparchy called Acrabattene.” The site appears on the Madaba
map of the mid-sixth century c.£. with the Greek inscription:
“Akrabim, now Akrabittine”” Two Monophysite monasteries
may have existed at the site according to a sixth century C.E.
epistle, one was dedicated to St. Stephen and the other was
founded by a certain Abbot Titus. The village still exists today
(‘Aqraba) and is inhabited by Moslems - the mosque is appar-
ently situated above the remains of a church.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the
Crusades (1977), 149; B. Bagatti, Ancient Christian Villages of Samaria.
(2002), 55-56; Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii
Romani. Iudaea Palaestina: Eretz Israel in the Hellenistic, Roman and
Byzantine Periods. Maps and Gazetteer (1994), 56-57; G.S.P. Freeman-
Grenville, R.L. Chapman, and J.E. Taylor, Palestine in the Fourth Cen-
tury. The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea (2003),108; M. Pic-
cirillo and E. Alliata (eds.), The Madaba Map Centenary 1897-1997
(1999), 62.
[Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
ACRE (Heb. i5¥, Acco, Akko; Ar. Se Akka; Ptolemais; St.
Jean d’Acre) coastal city in northern Israel situated on a prom-
ontory at the northern end of the Bay of Haifa, 14 mi. (23 km.)
north of Haifa, in the Acre Coastal Plain.
Ancient Acre
Ancient Acre is first mentioned in the Egyptian Execration
Texts (c. 1800 B.C.E.) and it appears after the battle of Megiddo
in the list of cities conquered by Thutmose 111 (c. 1468 B.C.E.).
In the El-Amarna letters, the king of Acre, Zurata, and later
his son, Zutana, appear as rivals of Megiddo and together with
the king of Achshaph, as allies of Jerusalem. Acre is also men-
tioned in the lists of Seti 1 and Rameses 11. The Greeks later
derived the name Acre - a Semitic word - from the Greek aké
(“healing”) and connected it with the legend of Heracles. Dur-
ing the reign of Ptolemy 11, the name of the city was changed to
Ptolemais, by which it was known until the Arab conquest.
The geographic position of Acre made its occupation
vital to every army waging campaign in Syria and Erez Israel.
It was allotted to the tribe of Asher which, however, could not
subdue it (Judg. 1:31) and it remained an independent Phoe-
nician city. It submitted to the Assyrian king Sennacherib
(701 B.c.E.) but revolted against Ashurbanipal who took re-
venge on the city in about 650 B.c.E.
Under Persian rule Acre served as an important military
and naval base in the campaigns against Egypt. Coinage of
Tyrian staters began there in 350 B.c.E. Alexander’s conquest
of Syria and the fall of Tyre in 332 B.c.z. enhanced Acre’s po-
sition as is evidenced by the gold and silver coins struck there.
In 312 B.c.E. Ptolemy 1 razed its fortifications during his retreat
from Antigonus but he reoccupied the city 11 years later. An
association of loyal “Antiochenes” was founded in Acre when
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the city became Seleucid. The city was hostile to the neighbor-
ing Jews in Galilee, and Simeon the Hasmonean had to beat
off its attacks (164 B.c.E.). His brother Jonathan was treach-
erously taken prisoner in Acre by the usurper Tryphon in
143 B.c.E. After the overthrow of the latter five years later, the
town was held by Antiochus vi Sidetes, who bestowed upon
it the titles “holy and inviolable” and was in turn honored by
it in inscriptions. After his death Acre became virtually inde-
pendent, although it acknowledged the nominal suzerainty of
various Ptolemaic rulers. It resisted all attacks of Alexander
Yannai (Jos., Ant. 13:2), although it lost the Carmel region to
him. From Cleopatra Selene, Acre passed to Tigranes, king of
Armenia (until 71 B.c.E.) and became Roman with Pompey’s
occupation of the country, Caesar landed there in 48-47 B.c.E.
and his visit marked a new era for the city. Herod later made
it his base for the conquest of his kingdom (39 B.c.£.). At the
outbreak of the Jewish War in 66 c.k. the inhabitants massa-
cred 2,000 of the Jewish population. The following year Acre
became Vespasian's base of operations against Galilee. Nero
then settled veterans of four legions (3"¢, 5, 10, 12") there
and made it a Roman colony: Colonia Claudia Ptolemais
Germanica. As a harbor, Acre was by now overshadowed by
Herod’s new port of *Caesarea. Its rights were augmented by
the emperor Heliogabalus and its independent coinage con-
tinued until 268 c.e. A Christian community lived in Acre
from the time of the apostle Paul (Acts 21:7).
The Roman city of Ptolemais which stretched far beyond
the present Old City, extended around Tell al-Fukhar, which
was the site of Phoenician Acre up to the Hellenistic period.
Excavations were conducted at Tell al-Fukhar by M. Dothan
between 1973 and 1979. Early Bronze I remains were found on
bedrock and were fairly sparse, with wall remnants, floors, and
several pits. It is possible that at the end of this period the sea
level rose and the site was temporarily inundated. Substantial
fortifications were uncovered dating from the Middle Bronze
Age 11 A-B, including a 60 ft. (18 m.) stretch of rampart of solid
clay and earth surmounted by a wall. Remains of a two-story
brick citadel were also exposed. These defenses surrounded
the mound on all sides, save the south where it was protected
by the swamps of the nearby Naaman River. A gate was un-
covered to the southwest, with three chambers and three pairs
of asymmetrical pilasters. The citadel was destroyed towards
the end of the 18" century B.c.£. Large buildings and numer-
ous finds (including bronze Reshef figurines) were discovered
at the site dating from the Late Bronze 1-11 indicating that it
was a well-planned city, even though it apparently lacked de-
fenses. Although there are some signs of occupation at the site
circa 1200 B.C.E., perhaps by some of the “Sea Peoples,’ very
little was found that could be associated with the subsequent
11th—gth centuries B.c.E. Based on the archaeological finds,
the city evidently revived and flourished during the eighth
and seventh centuries B.c.z., and evidence of public build-
ings built of ashlars was unearthed at the site. One of these
buildings was destroyed apparently by Sennacherib towards
the end of the eighth century B.c.£. A cache of small silver
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACRE
ingots belongs to this level. The Persian period was one of the
most important phases in the development of Acre as an ad-
ministrative and commercial center, probably from the time of
Cambyses onwards. Subsequently, Acre became an important
naval center of importance to both Egypt and Persia. Among
the finds from this period on the tell were cultic figurines in
a pit and two ostraca bearing Phoenician inscriptions, and
many Greek artifacts including Attic wares, suggesting that
Greek merchants and Phoenicians lived side by side in this
specific part of Acre.
Acre had two harbors, one northwest of the present port,
with the other south of it. The center of Hellenistic Akke/Ptol-
emais moved towards the harbors and away from the tell.
Numerous buildings and fortifications have been unearthed.
Finds include large quantities of stamped amphora handles,
indicating that wine was imported from Rhodes, Cos, and
Thasos. In later Roman times, the Jewish and Samaritan quar-
ters were also situated near the Old Port. Despite the fact that
the town was considered as being strictly outside the halakhic
boundaries of the Holy Land (cf. Git. 2a), the Jews re-estab-
lished their community there after the war against Rome be-
cause it was the most convenient port for Galilee (although
they buried their dead outside the city and within the hal-
akhic boundaries of Erez Israel at the foot of Mt. Carmel and
later in Kefar Yasif up to the 19" century). It served as a port
of embarkation for the Patriarchs (and other rabbis) travel-
ing to Rome and as a home port for their commercial fleet.
Rabbi *Gamaliel 11 visited a bath dedicated to Aphrodite in
Acre (Av. Zar. 3:4). Its fair was one of the three most famous
in Erez Israel (TJ, Av. Zar. 1:4, 39d) and its fisheries gave rise
to the saying “to bring fish to Acre” as an equivalent of the
modern “bringing coals to Newcastle.” According to both Jo-
sephus and Pliny, glass was discovered in its vicinity, in the
sands of the Belus River (Naaman) which were used for glass
manufacture throughout antiquity. In Byzantine times Acre
was the seat of a bishopric in the archdiocese of Tyre and had
alarge Samaritan community. In 614 C.z. it was taken, accord-
ing to one source, by Jews allied with the Persian invaders of
the Byzantine Empire; the Persians evacuated it 14 years later
and Byzantine rule was restored. Shortly thereafter, however,
in 636 C.E., it fell to the Arabs and resumed its original name,
which had been preserved by the Jews, as can be seen from
Talmudic sources.
[Michael Avi- Yonah / Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
Medieval Period
Letters in the Cairo Genizah refer to kehal Akko (“the congre-
gation of Acre”) and rasheha (“its leaders”). In the second half
of the 11" century R. Moses ibn Kashkil, known as a scholar
in many fields, arrived in Acre from Mahdiah, N. Africa. In
1104 Acre was captured by Baldwin 1, Crusader king of Jeru-
salem. It was lost by the Crusaders in 1187 and recaptured in
1191 when the city became the Crusader capital. In 1165 *Mai-
monides had paid a short visit to the town and later corre-
sponded with the local dayyan, Japheth b. Elijah. In 1170 *Ben-
365
ACRE
GENOESE
QI
Gy
TEMPLARS
Plan of Acre showing Crusader and Ottoman sites.
jamin of Tudela found 200 Jews in Acre and lists the names
of the leading scholars, R. Zadok, R. Japheth, and R. Jonah.
*Pethahiah of Regensburg (c. 1175) also mentions in a short
sentence Jews in the town. During this period Acre served as
the port of disembarkation for both pilgrims and immigrants
to Palestine. The Jewish community presumably received an
impetus with the arrival of 300 rabbis from France and Eng-
land in 1211. Among those who settled in the town were the
scholars *Samuel b. Samson and his son, R. Jacob ha-Katan,
Jonathan b. Jacob ha-Kohen of Lunel, and *Samson b. Abra-
ham of Sens. Another event that stimulated both the quanti-
tative and qualitative development of the community was the
arrival in 1260 of R. *Jehiel b. Joseph of Paris, his son, and 300
of his pupils. Upon their arrival he founded a yeshivah, known
as Midrash ha-Gadol de Paris, where he taught many pupils.
There is also information that at about this time the scholars
366
VENETIANS
-
of Erez Israel and Babylon addressed their questions on re-
ligious matters to “the scholars of Acre.” The town became
a center of study and attracted many scholars. R. Abraham
*Abulafia lived there for a while and *Nahmanides, who first
settled in Jerusalem, moved to Acre, where he died in 1270.
In the late 13‘ century, R. Solomon Petit taught in a yeshivah
in Acre. In 1291 the town was conquered and destroyed by the
Mamluks, led by al-Malik al- Ashraf who massacred Christian
and Jewish inhabitants. Only a few managed to escape. After
the Ottoman conquest in 1516 Acre again regained its impor-
tance as a port, and Jews gradually began to return. However,
the settlement in Acre in the mid-16" century was small and
impoverished. It may be assumed that Acre Jewry served as
a link between the Jews of Galilee and the Mediterranean
countries, and traded with Sidon, Aleppo, and Jerusalem. A
letter dated 1741 states that there were over 100 Jewish house-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
holders. Moses Hayyim *Luzzatto died there of the plague in
1747. The revival of Acre as an important administrative and
economic center was connected with the activities of the pa-
shas Zahir al-‘Amr and Ahmad al-Jazzar. In 1750 Acre fell
into the hands of al-‘Amr, and in 1775 it became the capital of
the vilayet of Sidon under Ahmad al-Jazzar. *Simhah of Za-
lozhtsy (1764-65) notes that the Jewish settlement was small
and poor. Abbé Giovanni Mariti (1767) records that the Jews
had a synagogue but were not allowed to enlarge it. Al-Jazzar
fortified the town, using large numbers of forced laborers, and
built markets, inns (khan), and a water supply. He developed
Acre into a political and military center strong enough to de-
ter Napoleon, who in 1799 unsuccessfully besieged Acre. The
British fleet under Sir Sidney Smith helped al-Jazzar to defend
the city and Napoleon's failure here marked the collapse of his
Middle Eastern expeditions. In 1816 the traveler J.S. Bucking-
ham stated that the Jews of Acre constituted a quarter of the
population, had two synagogues, and were led by Hayyim
*Farhi. Farhi was highly respected by the authorities; his in-
fluence was decisive in Acre, and extended down as far as the
Jaffa region. He was killed by Abdallah, the ruler of Acre. The
census of 1839, requested by Sir Moses *Montefiore, listed 233
Jews; and the 1849 census, 181 Jews. Most were poor and lived
in the eastern and northern parts of the town. In 1856 there
were only 120 Jews, and in 1886, 140. In the mid-19 century
the Jews of Acre worked as peddlers and artisans, but many
were without means of support.
[Natan Efrati]
Modern Acre
Acre stagnated and its shallow harbor was unfit for modern
shipping. In the first decade of the 20" century, however, the
Turks lifted the prohibition on building outside the Old City
walls, and a new city quarter came into being on the north
side, laid out with straight, and sometimes broad, roads. Al-
though its population reached its lowest ebb before World
War I, the town slowly started growing after its occupation
by British forces (September 1918). There was always a Jew-
ish population in Acre, residing alongside the Arab-Muslim,
Christian, and Bahai inhabitants.
The Jewish residents, who numbered 350 in 1936, aban-
doned the town when the Arab riots broke out that year. Dur-
ing the British Mandate the fortress of al-Jazzar served as a
prison in which political prisoners were also held (members
of the Jerusalem *Haganah, with Vladimir *Jabotinsky, in
1920; members of the Haganah and other underground orga-
nizations in 1936-39; a group of Haganah commanders, with
Moshe *Carmel and Moshe *Dayan in 1939-41). Jewish under-
ground fighters, among them Shelomo *Ben- Yosef, and Arab
rioters were executed there. This fortress was attacked by the
*Irgun Zevai Leumi in 1947.
During the early months of the War of Independence
(1948), Acre served as an Arab base for operations against
Jewish settlements further north and for a planned attack on
Haifa. On May 13, 1948, however, Acre was stormed by Haga-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACRE
nah forces and was included in the State of Israel, together
with all of Western Galilee. Those of its Arab inhabitants who
remained were, from the end of 1948, joined by Jewish immi-
grants. Acre’s population grew from 12,000 between 1953 and
1955 to 32,800 (including 8,450 non-Jews) in 1967 and 45,800
in 2002 (76% Jews, 22% Muslims, 2% Christians). At the be-
ginning of the 21° century, most of the Arab residents lived in
the Old City, while the Jewish population was concentrated to
the north and east of it. The quarter east of the Old City (and
of the Nahariyyah highway) was built shortly after 1948. The
expansion to the north and northeast took place later, while
an industrial zone took shape on the dunes south of Acre, with
the installations of the industrial company called “Steel City”
at its southern extremity on the Haifa Bay beach. Acre itself
became an industrial center. The Steel City factories closed
down during the 1990s but were replaced by others, includ-
ing the Tambour paint factory and a pipe plant. The municipal
area now extended over 4 sq. mi. (10 sq. km.).
Acre serves most of Western Galilee in trade and admin-
istration matters, being the center of the Acre sub-district as
it had been during the British Mandate. Included in its mu-
nicipal area are a government Experimental Agricultural Sta-
tion (founded under the British Mandate) and the Berit Ahim
(Kefar Philadelphia) youth village. Acre is an important Mus-
lim center, its al-Jazzar Mosque being the largest within Isra-
el’s pre-1967 borders. Together with Haifa, it is also the world
center of the *Bahai faith. There are churches of several de-
nominations (Roman Catholic, Maronite, Melkite), and a con-
siderable number of synagogues.
Efforts were made to preserve the Oriental character of
the Old City and to excavate and repair its remains. The crypt
of the citadel (the refectorium of the order of St. John) was
cleared, and a municipal museum, with Crusader and Arab
antiquities, was established in the old Turkish bath. Excava-
tions outside the city wall have uncovered extensive Hellenis-
tic and Roman cemeteries and the remains of a temple with a
dedication to Antiochus v1. The ancient remains in the Old
City date mainly from the Ottoman period. These include
the double wall of the city, the citadel, two caravanserais —
the Khan al‘Umdan and Khan al Firanji - and the mosque
and bath built by al-Jazzar. A few remains of the Crusader
period are still visible in the Burj al-Sultan and the sea wall.
The Old City of Acre is a major tourist attraction, and in 2002
UNESCO declared it a world cultural preservation site. Since
the 1980s a fringe theater festival has been held in the Old
City every Sukkot.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abel, Land, 2 (1938), 235-7; Press, Erez, 4
(1955), 725-9; L. Kadman, Coins of Akko-Ptolemais (1961); Avi- Yonah,
in: IEJ, 9 (1959), 1-12; Applebaum, ibid., 9 (1959), 274; Landau, ibid.,
11 (1961), 118-26; Prawer et al., Maaravo shel ha-Galil (1965); S. Klein
(ed.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 1 (1939), s.v.; Z. Vilnay, Akko (Heb., 1967), in-
cludes bibliography; A. Yaari, Masot Erez- Yisrael (1946), 397; M. Ish-
Shalom, Masei Nozgerim... (1965), index; Alharizi, Tahkemoni, ed. by
A. Kaminka (1899), 353-4; Prawer, Zalbanim, index; Ben Zvi, Erez-
367
ACRO, PSEUDO-
Yisrael, index; Moses of Trani, resp. 151; Mann, in: Tarbiz, 7 (1936),
92; MLN. Adler (ed.), Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (1907), 21; Kook,
in: Zion, 5 (1933), 97-107; Ashtor, Toledot, 1 (1944), 131-3; A. Aharon-
son Akko (Heb. 1925). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Dothan, “Accho”
(short reports appearing at intervals in “Notes and News”), in: Israel
Exploration Journal, 23-34 (1973-84); idem, “A Phoenician Inscription
from ‘Akko,’ in: Israel Exploration Journal, 35 (1985), 81-94.
°ACRO, PSEUDO-, a scholium to Horace which from the 16*
century was ascribed to Acro, a second-century commentator.
The actual author is unknown. The Jewish interest in the work
is contained in a note on *Horace’s Satires 1, 9, 70, which states
that since Moses was born circumcised, he wanted all the Jews
to follow suit so that he would not be unique.
[Jacob Petroff]
ACROSTICS (and Alphabetizing Compositions). A literary
style in which successive or alternating verses, or clusters of
verses, begin with the letters of the alphabet in sequence.
Bible
Biblical literature has preserved, in complete or truncated
form, 14 alphabetizing compositions. Except for one (Nah. 1),
they are restricted to the Hagiographa (Ps. 9-10, 25, 34, 37;
111, 112, 119, 145; Prov. 31:10-31; Lam. 1-4). Complete acros-
tics occur in the conventional order in Psalms 111, 112, 119;
Proverbs 31:10-31; and Lamentations 1, as well as, with a curi-
ous but unexplained variant transposition of ayin and pe, in
Lamentations 2:16-17, 3:46-51, 4:16-17. While the possibility
of textual dislocation cannot be entirely ruled out here, the
successive repetition of the irregularity makes it a less likely
solution, particularly in view of the identical phenomenon be-
hind the Greek version of Proverbs 31:25-26, and apparently
in the original forms of Psalms 34:16-17 (zaaku, v. 18 now has
a remote subject) and Psalms 10:7-8c (cf. also Hebrew Ecclus.
51:23-25). In the case of four psalms the acrostic arrangement
is impaired. Psalm 25 omits vav and kof, duplicates resh, and
adds an extra pe at the end. Psalm 34, too, lacks vav and has
supernumerary pe. The ayin is missing in Psalm 37, and the
nun in Psalms 9-10 (originally a unity) and Nahum 1 are un-
mistakable torsos of originally alphabetic compositions, but
are too mutilated to permit reconstruction in full.
The types of alphabetic structure vary. By far the most
frequent is when the initial successive letters head each full
verse (Ps. 25, 34, 115; Prov. 31:10-31; Lam. 1, 2, 4). Sometimes
they begin alternate verses (Ps. 9-10 [?], 37) and sometimes
each half verse (Ps. 111; 112; Nah. 1 [?]). The most sophisticated
and elaborate arrangement appears in Psalm 119 and Lamen-
tations 3 in which each stanza comprises eight verses in the
former and three verses in the latter, all commencing with the
same letter. The impact of the acrostic principle is also present
in Lamentations 5 with its 22 verses, even though no abece-
diary is used. Whatever the age of the individual alphabetic
compositions, it is clear that the phenomenon cannot be used
as a criterion for the dating of biblical texts. The word and
368
sentence acrostic is found in at least five works in Akkadian
literature. Although the only two dated examples come from
the seventh and sixth centuries B.c.E., there is no reason to
doubt that the principle was not in vogue in Mesopotamia
much earlier. Moreover, since the traditional order of the al-
phabetic signs is now known to have been fixed no later than
the 14" century B.c.z., there is every likelihood of its early
employment in Israel in literary compositions.
It is not possible to decide what considerations influ-
enced the choice of this particular device. Sometimes it seems
to provide a connecting link between variations upon a single
theme. At other times it apparently serves to impose an exter-
nal order and system upon material that lacks inner coherence
or logical development. Frequently, it must have been used as
a mnemonic aid in a pedagogic or didactic context as well as
in a cultic-liturgical situation. For instance, it would be par-
ticularly suited to the rote recitation of moralistic instruction,
divine attributes, and hymns of praise and thanksgiving. A
magical or mystical purpose can be ruled out in the biblical
period, but purely aesthetic considerations might occasionally
have been at work. Finally, it is not at all improbable that the
arrangement of literary material in alphabetic sequence from
beginning to end would signify the striving for comprehen-
siveness in the expression of an emotion or idea.
[Nahum M. Sarna]
Post-Biblical
In later usage the letters, syllables, or words are arranged in
such a way that their combinations have meaning indepen-
dent of their meaning in the general context (and not neces-
sarily alphabetically). There are three main types of acrostics:
Akrostikhon - in the narrowest meaning of the word, when
the letters (or syllables or words) that are to be joined are con-
sistently found at the beginning of each line, verse, sentence,
or paragraph; Telestikhon - when they are at the end; Mezos-
tikhon - when they are in the middle. With regard to content
there are two types of acrostic. One is alphabetic when the
first letters (or last in telestikhon, etc.) of each line (or verse,
etc.) combine to produce the alphabet or the alphabet in re-
verse (in Hebrew called tashrak ” wn) or regular and reverse
in turn (atbash, v”1nx; atbah 1208; tashab 2” WKN) and the
like. There are also variations, e.g., entire works in which ev-
ery word begins with the same letter. The other is an acros-
tic of words, in which the combinations produce a word or
complete sentence.
Originally, the acrostic fulfilled several important func-
tions. It simplified learning by heart and prevented mistakes,
deletions, and additions. Furthermore, it preserved the name
of the author, which often appeared as an acrostic. One Mi-
drash (PR 46) attributes an acrostic to Moses: “And Moses
came and they began (Psalm 92) with the letters of his name
nawa [D2] Pw int” According to another Midrash (Song
R. 1:7), Solomon composed an alphabetic acrostic. On the
other hand, the view (appearing in the Pesikta Rabbati) that
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the Bible also contains acrostics of words is doubtful. Follow-
ing the model of the Bible are the acrostics in The Wisdom of
Ben Sira (li, 36-54; although somewhat corrupted).
It is not known whether there was a special Hebrew name
for the acrostic. In a later period it was called a siman (“sign”),
and then a hatimah (“signature”). Alphabetic acrostics had
names which were derived from the Greek dAgabntapia (e.g.,
Eccles. R. 7:7, 18; in the parallel in Ruth R. 6:6 mistakenly Al-
Under Arabic influence alphabetic acrostics began to be called
fibetim (singular: fibeta), dropping the first syllable which was
thought to be the (Arabic) definite article (al-). These foreign
names may indicate that the acrostics in prayers and piyyutim
were not a direct continuation of biblical acrostics but were
influenced by those which had become part of Roman, Byz-
antine, Syrian, and Arabic literature (though in certain as-
pects it was the Hebrew piyyut that influenced the Syrian and
Byzantine and not the reverse). In any event the acrostic in
its different forms is often found in the prayers and piyyutim.
An alphabetic prayer is found in the tractate Soferim (19:9).
Other examples are the prayers: “Ny7 7173 112 2X” (Alphabet),
and *...iP D227? IPS] Naw Lor: HyPH] NaN” (Tashrak) and oth-
ers. The paytanim, beginning with Yose b. Yose, Yannai, Kal-
lir, R. Saadiah Gaon, and others, employed acrostics, which
became increasingly longer and more complicated. The letters
of the alphabet were repeated in differing and unusual com-
binations. The names of the paytanim, their fathers, place of
residence, pseudonyms, often combined with blessings, verses
from the Bible, etc., were woven into the piyyut in acrostic
form. The poets of Spain, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Judah Hal-
evi, Abraham Ibn Ezra, and others, followed the paytanim in
this, especially in their liturgical poetry. The acrostic found
its way into prose writing, especially rhymed prose, letters,
introductions to various works, etc. An example is the begin-
ning of the famous letter of Hisdai ibn Shaprut to the king of
the Khazars which was written at his behest by Menahem b.
Saruk. The introduction of R. Shabbetai Donnolo to his Sefer
Hakhmoni includes the acrostic “171317 819 PIT ,DT IAN 1a -NIw
D7iN?) T2i37 [i.e., Oria]”. In the Middle Ages, and even later,
entire works were composed in which every word began with
the same letter. The most famous of these is “Elef Alfin” (“A
thousand alefs”), attributed to Abraham Bedersi. A common
form of acrostic is when the initial letters of the first few words
of a work spell the name of God. Kabbalistic literature con-
sidered acrostics, like all combinations of letters and syllables,
to be important. The use of acrostics, already criticized by R.
Isaac Arama in the 15'" century, has continued to the present
but only as a diversion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: BIBLE: Loehr, in: ZAw, 25 (1905), 173-98;
S.R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (1913),
337, 367f., 456f., 459; F. Dornseiff, Das Alphabet in Mystic und Magie
(19257); Munch, in: zDMG, 90 (1936), 703-10; Marcus, in: JNES, 6
(1947), 109-15; G.R. Driver, Semitic Writing (1948), 181, 200-8; N.K.
Gottwald, Studies in the Book of Lamentations (1954), 23-32; W.G.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ACTION FRANCAISE
Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature (1960), 63, 66 ff. POST-
BIBLICAL: M. Steinschneider, Jewish Literature (19657), 149-51; El-
bogen, Gottesdienst, 78, 86, 207, 209, 285, 291ff., 309; A.M. Haber-
mann, Ha-Piyyut (1946), 8ff.; I. Heinemann, Ha-Tefillah bi-Tekufat
ha-Tanna’im ve-ha-Amo-ra’im (19667), 88-91, 148, 152f., 168f; S. Lie-
berman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (1950), 79-82; Zunz-Albeck,
Derashot, 9, 47, 180, 183, 185 and notes; I. Davidson, in: Luah Ahiever,
1 (1918), 91-95. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Fleischer, Shirat ha-Kodesh
haivrit bimei ha-Benayim (1975), 512, index.
[Yehuda Arye Klausner]
ACSADY, IGNAC (1845-1906), Hungarian historian and
writer. Born in Nagy-Karoly, Acsady took his doctorate of
philosophy in Budapest. He wrote many novels and plays
and was a regular contributor to the Hungarian press. His
main importance lies, however, in the field of historiography.
Acsady’s work as an historian is marked by his anti-feudal and
progressive views. In his novel Fridényi bankja (“Fridenyi’s
Bank,” 1882; new edition: 1968) he criticized the dominant role
of money in the contemporary world. His liberal outlook is
also stressed in his A magyar birodalom térténete (“History of
the Hungarian Empire”), and especially in his most important
work A magyar jobbagysdg térténete (“History of Hungarian
Serfhood”), which was translated into Slovakian and Russian.
Acsady’s main interests were economic conditions in the 16
and 17‘ centuries and the fate of the common people. He ad-
vised the Jews to unite with the peasants against the antisemi-
tism of the lower and middle classes, and he fought constantly
for equal rights for the Jews of Hungary. In 1883 he published
Jewish and Non-Jewish Hungarians after the Emancipation, and
in 1894 he helped to found the Hungarian Jewish Literary So-
ciety. After World War 11 a street in Budapest was named after
him and a plaque dedicated in his memory.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Gunst, Acsddy Igndc térténetirdsa (1961).
[Alexander Scheiber]
ACTION FRANCAISE, French royalist and antisemitic
movement formed after the *Dreyfus affair, mainly active
between 1896 and 1939. The doctrine of its principal theo-
rist Charles *Maurras, termed “integral nationalism,’ was the
radical expression of the conception of organic national unity.
Prominent among its leaders were the writer Léon *Daudet,
and the historian Jacques Bainville. The party organ, also
named L’Action francaise, was established as a daily in 1908.
The Action Frangaise took pride in having reactivated anti-
semitism in France, alleging that the Jews were one of the
principal agents of national disintegration and economic and
moral corruption. They were part of an evil plot hatched by a
would-be “confederation of the Four Estates,’ which, beside
the Jews, included Protestants, Freemasons, and foreigners in
general. These were allegedly using the slogans of liberty and
revolution to mask mercenary interests and the political frag-
mentation of national life by the parties. The Action Frangaise
waged scurrilous campaigns against economic enterprises. It
369
ACZEL, TAMAS
hence attacked météques (“foreigners”) according to Maurras
formula “not to divide, but to define” The Semite in particular
was singled out as basically barbarian; to combat him was a
proof of incorruptibility and concern with national interests.
Even so, the Action Francaise rejected the idea of racist anti-
semitism as absurd.
The importance of the Action Frangaise lies in the re-
spectability of some of its leaders and the influence they ex-
ercised on certain circles of French officers between the two
world wars. The antisemitic legislation enacted by the Vichy
government after the fall of France in World War 11 was di-
rectly inspired by ideas of the Action Frangaise and its pro-
gram of excluding the Jew from French society and politics.
The last issue of L’Action francaise appeared in Lyons in Au-
gust 1944. Its spirit has been kept alive by Fascist-inclined and
racist publications, such as the weeklies Aspect de la France,
Rivarol, and La Nation frangaise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.M. Osgood, French Royalism under the
Third and Fourth Republics (1960), includes bibliography; E.R. Tan-
nenbaum, Action Frangaise: Die-Hard Reactionaries in Twentieth-Cen-
tury France (1962); E.J. Weber, Action Francaise: Royalism and Reac-
tion in Twentieth-Century France (1962), with bibliography.
ACZEL, TAMAS (1921-1994), Hungarian author and journal-
ist. Aczél wrote the prizewinning novel A szabadsdg arnyékd-
ban (“In the Shadow of Freedom,” 1948). A member of the
circle of Imre Nagy, he fled to Paris after the suppression of
the 1956 revolution and edited the radical emigrant periodi-
cal Irodalmi Ujsdg.
ADA, townlet in Vojvodina, Serbia, until 1920 in (Austro-)
Hungary. Jews came there from German-speaking areas; they
also spoke Yiddish and later Hungarian. They were allowed to
settle in the late 17" century in order to repopulate the south-
ern provinces devastated during the Turkish wars, but were
forbidden to use Hebrew or Yiddish in official documents,
testaments, and pinkasim. The first rabbis were Aaron Acker
(d. 1837) and Jacob Heilprin. During the 1848-49 troubles,
when Serbia sent volunteers to help the Slav populations in
Hungary, a Serbian troop occupied Ada and took 60 Jews -
including Rabbi Heilprin - to Senta where they were all mur-
dered. Ada remained one of the dozen or so Orthodox com-
munities along the Thissa River following the split between the
Neologist majority and Orthodox minority in 1868/69. They
maintained talmud torah schools and formed an Association
of Orthodox Communities that worked in close cooperation
with the Neologist Federation of Jewish Communties in Bel-
grade. The synagogue was built in 1896. In 1925 there were 452
Jews in Ada, but many left for bigger towns. During World
War 11 Ada was occupied by Hungary and a concentration
camp was established there. Of its 350 Jews in 1940, only 59
remained after the war, when the community was temporar-
ily reestablished. Most subsequently left for Israel.
[Zvi Loker (2"4 ed.)]
370
ADADI, ABRAHAM HAYYIM BEN MASOUD HAI
(1801-1874), halakhic authority and kabbalist. Born in Trip-
oli and orphaned at an early age, Abraham was raised by his
grandfather, Nathan Adadi, an outstanding scholar. In 1818
the family emigrated to Safed, where Adadi studied and was
occasionally required to travel abroad as an emissary of the
community. While in Leghorn in 1837 he heard of the great
earthquake in Safed, and therefore changed his plans and
returned to Tripoli, where he served as rabbi and dayyan
and maintained a bet midrash. Some time after 1865, Adadi
returned to Safed, remaining there for the rest of his life.
Adadi paid particular attention to the local minhagim (“cus-
toms”), especially of Tripoli and Safed, and also of places he
visited. His books incorporate much historical information,
particularly about Tripoli. In this he was doubtless influenced
by Abraham *Halfon, his greatest Tripolitanian contempo-
rary. Adadi’s works include: Ha-Shomer Emet (Leghorn, 1849),
primarily halakhot and customs concerning Torah scrolls;
Va-Yikra Avraham (Leghorn, 1865), responsa, etc.; Zeh ha-
Kelal on talmudic methodology; and Makom she-Nahagu,
customs omitted from Ha-Shomer Emet. The rest of his works,
including talmudic novellae and sermons, are still in manu-
script (Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem). An original poem in
praise of Safed appears at the beginning of his Ha-Shomer
Emet.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Slouschz, Massaai be-Erez Luv, 1 (1935),
24ff.; Yaari, Sheluhei, 675 ff. Farija Zwarez et al. (eds.), Yahadut Luv
(1960), 71; Franco, Histoire des Israélites de LEmpire Ottoman, 121.
ADAH (Heb. 17¥; “ornament” or [according to the Arabic]
“morning”; cf. Heb. personal names: Adaiah, Adiel), name of
wife of *Lamech and wife of *Esau. Adah was one of the two
wives of Lamech (Gen. 4:19-20). To her and to his other wife
Zillah, Lamech recited his song (Gen. 4:23ff.). Her children,
*Jabal and *Jubal, were the first to practice, respectively, pas-
toral pursuits and music, thus inaugurating a new stage of hu-
man progress. Her importance for the genealogy in Genesis 4
is derived from this fact, because Lamech’s wives are the only
women mentioned there. In the account in Genesis 5:28 ff.
there is no mention of Adah, Zillah, and their children. Noah,
the firstborn of Lamech, appears instead, together with other
sons and daughters, whose names are not mentioned.
Adah was the wife of Esau (Gen. 36:2) and the daughter
of Elon (but cf. Gen. 26:34, where the daughter of Elon, who
married Esau, is Basemath). Esau, who is also called *Edom
(ibid. 36:1), and was probably the patriarch of Edom, mar-
ried Adah, a Hittite, who was a native of Canaan. This ac-
count provides information on a Hittite element in Edom, a
fact unknown from other sources, except in connection with
other wives of Esau (Judith and Basemath, Gen. 26:34; cf.
28:9). Nonetheless, this information is difficult to fit in. On
the other hand, Adah’s Canaanite origin is probable, due to
the wide range of nationalities included in the term Canaan.
Adah was the mother of Eliphaz and his children, who were
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
*allufim and counted as her descendants (Gen. 36:11-12, 15-16)
rather than those of Lamech.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: U. Hiibner, ABD, 1, 60.
ADALBERG, SAMUEL (1868-1939), Polish literary historian
and folklorist. Born in Warsaw, Adalberg studied in a number
of European capitals. His main work, a compendium of Pol-
ish proverbs, sayings, and proverbial phrases, Ksieg przystow,
przypowiesci i wyrazen przystowiowych polskich (1889-94),
remains the most extensive collection ever made in this field.
Its 40,000 entries include both folk proverbs and quotations
from major Polish writers of the 16" to 18" centuries that have
become proverbs. For this work Adalberg was rewarded with
membership of the philological section of the Cracow Acad-
emy of Science. He also translated and annotated 580 Yiddish
proverbs drawn from the collection of Ignatz *Bernstein. This
was published in the Polish ethnographical journal Wisfa (vol.
4, 1890) and was also issued as a separate booklet. From 1918
Adalberg was an adviser on Jewish matters to the Polish Min-
istry of Education and Religious Affairs, and was thus able to
do much for Jewish communal and educational institutions.
He committed suicide when the Nazis occupied Warsaw.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Krzyzanowski, Mgdrej glowie dosé dwie
slowie, 2 (1960), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHy: Y. Gruenbaum, Penei
ha-Dor, 1 (1958), 363-66; S. Netzer, Maavak Yehudei Polin al Zekhuyo-
teihem ha-Ezrahiyot ve-ha-Lu‘umiyyot (1980), 48.
[Dov Noy]
ADAM (073), the first man and progenitor of the human race.
The Documentary Hypothesis distinguishes two conflicting
stories about the making of man in Scripture (for a contrary
view, see U. Cassuto, From Adam to Noah, pp. 71ff.). In the first
account of Creation in the Bible (attributed by critics to the
Priestly narration; Gen. 1) Adam was created in God’s image
(verse 27), as the climax of a series of Divine creative acts, and
was given dominion over the rest of creation (verses 28-30).
In the second story (attributed by critics to the J or Yahwist
strand; Gen. 2-3), after the completion of heaven and earth,
God fashioned “the man” (ha-adam) from dust of the ground
(ha-adamah), breathed life into his nostrils, and placed him in
the Garden of Eden to be caretaker. Permission was given to
eat freely from any tree of the Garden except, under penalty of
death, from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. In order
that the man might not be alone but would have appropriate
aid, God formed the various animals and had the man deter-
mine what they should be called. The man gave names to all
the animals, but found among them no suitable help. God then
put the man to sleep, extracted one of his ribs, and fashioned
it into a woman, and presented her to the man who found her
eminently satisfactory and congenial. The naked pair had no
feeling of shame until the serpent seduced the woman to eat
the fruit of the forbidden tree. The woman shared the fruit
with her husband with the result that they became aware of
their nakedness and hid from God. As punishment for this
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADAM
transgression, the serpent was condemned to crawl on its
belly and eat dust. The woman was sentenced to the pangs of
childbirth, a craving for her man, and subjection to him. The
man, for his part, for listening to his wife and for violating the
prohibition, was destined to toil and sweat in order to wrest a
bare living from an accursed and hostile soil until his return
to the dust whence he came. Perpetual enmity was established
between snake and man. God then made skin tunics (better:
“tunics for the skin”) and clothed the man and woman. The
man had now become like one of the divine beings “knowing
good and bad” (Gen. 3:22, i.e., everything; cf. Gen. 31:24; Lev.
5:4; 11 Sam. 13:22; Isa. 41:23). To keep the man from taking and
eating of the Tree of Life and thereby acquiring the other qual-
ity that distinguished the divine beings, immortality, God ex-
pelled him from the Garden of Eden and barred access to the
Tree of Life by means of the *cherubim and the flaming sword.
Next one reads that “the man” had experience of his wife *Eve,
who bore him *Cain and later *Abel (Gen. 4:1-2), and further
on that “Adam,” at the age of 130 years, sired *Seth by his wife
(4:25; 5:3), after which he lived on for another eight centuries
without report of further events, except that he “begot sons
and daughters” and died at the age of 930 (5:4-5).
The presence of the article before the word adam in Gen-
esis 2:7-4:1 militates against construing it as a proper name.
However, in 4:25, and also in 5:1-5, the article is dropped and
the word becomes Adam. The masorah takes advantage of the
ambiguity of the consonantal spelling (/’dm) which can mean
“to/for the man” or “to/for Adam,’ depending on the vocaliza-
tion, to introduce the proper name Adam into Genesis 2:20
and 3:17, 21, contrary to the import of the passage. Similarly,
the Septuagint and Vulgate begin at Genesis 2:19 to translate
ha-adam as the proper name Adam.
The only further mention of Adam in the Bible occurs in
the genealogical table of 1 Chronicles 1:1. It is moot whether
adam in ke-adam of Hosea 6:7 and Job 31:33, and benei adam
of Deuteronomy 32:8, is to be taken as the proper name. In the
apocryphal books, however, there are several probable allu-
sions to Adam and the creation story (Ecclus. 17:1; 49:16; Tob.
8:6; Wisd. Sol. 2:23; 9:2; 10:1).
The etymology of the word adam is ambiguous. The fem-
inine form adamah designates the ground or soil, and the play
on the two forms adam and adamah in Genesis 2:7 suggests for
adam the meaning “earthling” The root 078 (dm) is also con-
nected with the color “red,” which might apply to the color of
the soil from which man was formed. The word adamu is used
in Akkadian for “blood,” adamatu for “black blood” in patho-
logical conditions, and the plural adamatu for “dark, red earth
[used as dye].” The word admu/atmu (“child”) probably has
no relation to adam but is rather to be connected with a root
wim and related to Hebrew yatom (“orphan”). In Old South
Arabic dm has the meaning “serf” The occurrence of dm as
the apparent theophorous element in few personal names such
as ‘bd dm (“servant of dm”; MT, Obed-Edom, 11 Sam. 6:10 ff.),
suggests a deity dm, but there is little additional direct evi-
371
ADAM
dence for this. In an Akkadian synonym list the word adamu
is equivalent to an “important, noble person.” The personal
names A-da-mu, A-dam-u also appear in Old Akkadian and
Old Babylonian (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, 1, part 1 (1964),
95, S.v. adamu B; cf. also W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handwo-
erterbuch, 1 (1965), 10).
[Marvin H. Pope]
In the Aggadah
Adam was formed from a mixture of water and earth, as is
implied in Genesis 2:7. According to Greek mythology too,
Prometheus formed men from water and earth (Apollodorus,
1:7, 1); and Hesiod (Opera et Dies, 61) relates that Hephaes-
tus kneaded earth and water and made woman. The ancient
Egyptians also believed that “man was formed from miry and
swampy land” (Diodorus 1:43, 2).
There is no reference in the existing texts of the Septua-
gint to the statement of the aggadah (Mekh. 60:14) that the
translators of the Bible changed Genesis 1:26 from the plural
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” to “I will
make man in my likeness and image” in order to remove any
suggestion of anthropomorphic polytheism. The aggadists
were actually more concerned with possible polytheistic in-
terpretations than with the suggestion of anthropomorphism,
the belief in anthropomorphism being widespread in both
Hellenistic and philosophical works (e.g., among the Epicu-
reans). In any event, many of the aggadists attempted to re-
move these anthropomorphisms. Some of them explain, “in
His image” as meaning “with the dignity of his Maker” (see
Tanh. Pekudei 2; Gen. R. 11:2).
In the creation of the universe, whatever was created
later had dominion over what preceded it, and Adam and
Eve were “created after everything in order to have dominion
over everything” (Gen. R. 19:4). They were “created last in or-
der that they should rule over all creation... and that all crea-
tures should fear them and be under their control” (Num. R.
12:4). The subjection of the creatures is also greatly stressed
in Adam 37-39; Apocalypsis Mosis, 10-12. Another reason for
man’s being created last was “that he should immediately en-
ter the banqueting hall (everything having already been pre-
pared for him). The matter may be likened to an emperor’s
building a palace, consecrating it, preparing the feast, and only
then inviting the guests” (Tosef. Sanh. 8:9). On the other hand,
Adam was created last, so that “should he become conceited,
he could be told, “The gnat was created before you” (ibid. 8:8).
Adam alone, of all living things, was created “to stand upright
like the ministering angels” (Gen. R. 8:11; cf. Hag. 16a). Both
Adam and Eve were created “fully developed... Adam and Eve
were created as adults 20 years of age” (Gen. R. 14:7). In fact,
everything created, “the sun and the moon, the stars and the
planets, all were created fully developed, all the works of cre-
ation being brought into existence in their completed state”
(Num. R. 12:8). The same opinion was held by Philo and by
a number of Greek and Roman scholars (Dion Chrysosto-
mus, 36:59).
372
Thales, “father of philosophers,” used to say, “Every thing
that exists is very beautiful, being the work of God” (Dio-
genes Laertius, 1:35). In the same vein, Philo maintained (Op.,
47:136-41) that Adam was a perfect creature. The aggadists
exalt the beauty of Adam, saying, “The ball of Adams heel
outshone the glory of the sun: how much more so the bright-
ness of his face” for “Adam was created for the service of the
Holy One, and the orb of the sun for the service of mankind”
(PdRK 101).
The rabbis interpret Genesis 1:27 to mean that Adam was
created as a hermaphrodite (Er. 18a; Gen. R. 8:1; cf. also Jub.
2:14; 3:8). He was created on New Year’s Day, the first of Tishri,
and all that is related of him occurred on that very day. In the
first hour his dust was assembled; in the second he was rough-
hewn; in the third his limbs were articulated; in the fourth the
soul was breathed into him; in the fifth he stood erect; in the
sixth he gave names to all creatures; in the seventh Eve was
brought to him; in the eighth they begot Cain and Abel; in
the ninth they were forbidden to eat of the tree of the knowl-
edge of good and evil; in the tenth they sinned; in the eleventh
sentence was passed; and in the twelfth they were driven out
of Eden (Sanh. 38b; cf. also Lev. R. 29:1).
When Adam was to be created, the angels were con-
sulted. Some favored his creation for the love and mercy he
would show; others were opposed to it because of the false-
hood and strife he would stir up. In the end, the Holy One
decided to create man (Gen. R. 8:5; Mid. Ps. to 1:22). The an-
gels were filled with such awe at his creation that they wished
to worship him, whereupon Adam pointed upward (pdRE
10; Tanh. Pekudei 3), or, according to another version, God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon him and the angels realized
his limitations (Gen. R. 8:10). All the angels were ordered to
bow down to him and they did so, all except *Satan, who was
hurled into the abyss and conceived a lasting hatred for Adam
(pdRE 13). This myth of Satan’s fall is to be found in the Apoc-
ryphal books, e.g., Adam 12-17.
It is characteristic of the book of Genesis that it gives
the history of its principals up to a certain stage in their lives
and then leaves them, taking up the story of their successors.
Likewise, in the case of Adam, the Bible gives his story up to
his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and then deals with
the succeeding generations, though Adam lived on for many
years. No account is given of how Adam familiarized himself
with the strange new world, which lacked those ideal condi-
tions to which he had been accustomed. The aggadah, to some
extent, attempts to fill the gap. It relates that “when the sun set
(after he was driven out) darkness began to fall. Adam was ter-
rified... thinking, “The serpent will come to bite me’ The Holy
One made available for him two flints (or, two stones) which
he struck, one against the other, producing light” (Pes. 54a;
Gen. R. 11:2). This subject is also dealt with by Adam and Eve
2:1, which relates that “the Lord God sent diverse seeds by Mi-
chael the archangel and gave them to Adam and showed him
how to work and till the ground that they might have fruit, by
which they and their generations might live” This is greatly
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
developed in the Christian Adam books, the Cave of Treasures
and the Conflict of Adam and Eve. This aggadah also hints at
the answer to another question, how human civilization de-
veloped. This theme, especially the origin of light, the catalyst
of all human development, greatly occupied Greek scholars.
According to other aggadot, darkness itself and the seasonal
change to winter terrified Adam until he became familiar with
the order of the universe - sunset and sunrise, long days and
short days (Av. Zar. 8a).
When Adam sinned, he lost his splendor. As a result of
his sin, all things lost their perfection “though they had been
created in their fullness? (Gen. R. 11:2; 12:6). Like Philo, the
aggadists held that the beauty of the generations was slowly di-
minishing. All other people “compared to Sarah, are like apes
compared to a man; Sarah compared with Eve, is like an ape
compared to man, as was Eve compared to Adam” (BB 58a).
Satan selected the serpent as his tool because of its be-
ing the most subtle of beasts and the nearest to man in form,
having been endowed with hands and feet (Gen. R. 19:1; 20:5).
With regard to the identification of the tree of good and evil,
the vine, the wheat, the citron, and the fig are suggested. Ac-
cording to this last view, it was because the fig tree had served
as the source of Adams sin that it subsequently provided him
with the leaves to cover his nakedness, the consciousness of
which was the direct result of that sin (Ber. 40a; Gen. R. 15:7;
compare the Syriac Apocalypse of Adam (ed., Renan; 1853),
32). Adam was sent forth from the Garden of Eden in this
world; whether he was also sent forth from the Eden of the
next world is disputed (Gen. R. 21:7). With Adam's sin, the
divine presence withdrew from this world, returning only
with the building of the Tabernacle (pdrxk 1). Adam learnt of
the power of repentance from Cain. When Cain said to him,
“T repented and have been forgiven,’ Adam beat his face and
cried out, “So great is the power of repentance and I knew it
not.” Whereupon he sang the 90 Psalm, the Midrash inter-
preting its second verse as, “It is good to make confession to
the Lord” (Gen. R. 22:13). In the Life of Adam and Eve, how-
ever, Adam and Eve's repentance after the expulsion from the
garden is described at length (Adam 1-11). Adam was given
the Noachian Laws (Sanh. 56b) and was enjoined to observe
the Sabbath (Mid. Ps. to 92:6). He would have been given the
whole Torah if he had not sinned (Gen. R. 24:5; 21:7). He was
the first to pray for rain (Hul. 6ob) and to offer sacrifice (Av.
Zar. 8a). During the time he was separated from his wife, be-
fore he begot Seth, he gave birth to demons (Er. 18b; Gen. R.
20:11). The Zohar (7:34; 3:19) states that *Lilith, a demon, was
the wife of Adam before the creation of Eve.
[Elimelech Epstein Halevy]
Medieval Jewish Philosophy
In Hellenistic and medieval Jewish philosophy Adam is often
regarded as a prototype of mankind, and Genesis 2:8-3:24,
interpreted as an allegory on the human condition. In spite
of their predominant interest in the allegorical interpretation
of the creation of Adam and his stay in the Garden of Eden,
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ADAM
most Jewish philosophers appear to accept the historicity of
the biblical account. For them the biblical story of Adam has
both a literal and allegorical meaning.
Philo, following a Platonic model, sees in the twofold ac-
count of the creation of Adam a description of the creation of
two distinct men, the heavenly man, created in the image of
God (Gen. 1:27), and the earthly man, formed out of the dust
of the earth (Gen. 2:7). The heavenly man is incorporeal. The
earthly man is a composite of corporeal and incorporeal ele-
ments, of body and mind (Philo, 1 L.A. 12). Philo maintains
that it is the mind of man and not his body which is in the
image of God (Philo, Op. 23). The earthly Adam excelled all
subsequent men both in intellectual ability and physical ap-
pearance, and attained the “very limit of human happiness”
(Philo, Op. 3). But Adam did not remain forever at this level.
Through eating from the forbidden tree of the knowledge
of good and evil he brought upon himself a “life of mortal-
ity and wretchedness in lieu of that of immortality and bliss”
(Philo, Op. 53). Philo interprets the eating from the forbid-
den tree allegorically as the indulgence in physical pleasures.
Because Adam succumbed to his physical passions, his un-
derstanding descended from the higher level of knowledge to
the lower level of opinion. While Philo at times does accept
the literal interpretation of certain elements in the story, he
generally rejects the literal meaning entirely and interprets
all the elements of the story allegorically. Adam becomes the
symbolic representation of mind; Eve, the representation of
sense-perception; the serpent, the representation of passion;
and the tree of knowledge, the representation of prudence or
opinion. Though Philo did not exert any direct influence upon
the medieval Jewish philosophers, there are many similarities
between his conception of Adam ha-Rishon and that of medi-
eval Jewish philosophy. The similarities in the descriptions of
the perfections of the first man may have their origin in the
midrashic descriptions of Adam, while the similarities in the
interpretation of his sin probably result from the philosophic
concerns common to Philo and the medievals.
*Judah Halevi maintains that Adam was perfect in body
and mind. In addition to the loftiest intellect ever possessed by
a human being, Adam was endowed with the “divine power”
(ha-koah ha-Elohi), that special faculty which, according to
Halevi, enables man to achieve communion with God. This
“divine power,’ passed down through various descendants of
Adam to the people of Israel, is that which distinguishes the
people of Israel from all other peoples (Kuzari, 1:95).
*Maimonides explains that when the Bible records that
Adam was created “in the image of God” it refers to the cre-
ation of the human intellect, man’s defining characteristic,
which resembles the divine intellect, rather than to the cre-
ation of the body. Unlike Halevi, Maimonides believes that
communion with God can be achieved through the develop-
ment of the intellect, and that no special faculty is necessary.
Thus, Maimonides emphasizes the intellectual perfection of
Adam. Before the sin Adam’s intellect was developed to its full-
est capacity, and he devoted himself entirely to the contem-
373
ADAM
plation of the truths of physics and metaphysics. Adam’s sin
consisted in his turning away from contemplation to indulge
in physical pleasures to which he was drawn by his imagina-
tion and desires. Asa result of his sin, Adam became occupied
with controlling his appetites, and consequently his capacity
for contemplation was impaired. His practical reason which
before the sin had lain dormant was now activated, and he
began to acquire practical rather than theoretical knowledge,
a knowledge of values rather than of facts, of good and evil
rather than of truth and falsehood, and of ethics and politics
rather than of physics and metaphysics. It is clear that for
Maimonides practical wisdom is inferior to theoretical wis-
dom, and that, therefore, the activation of Adam’s practical
reason at the expense of his theoretical reason was a punish-
ment (Guide, 1:2).
Maimonides interprets various Midrashim on the story
of Adam and the Garden of Eden allegorically in accordance
with his interpretation of Adam’s sin as the succumbing to
physical passion. The Midrash describes the serpent as a camel
ridden by Samael. According to Maimonides the serpent rep-
resents the imaginative faculty, while Samael, or the evil incli-
nation, represents the appetitive faculty. Maimonides suggests
that in the midrashic description of the tree of life in Genesis
Rabbah 15:6 the tree represents physics and its branches meta-
physics. The tree of knowledge, on the other hand, represents
ethics or practical wisdom rather than physics and metaphys-
ics. Instead of eating from the tree of life, i.e., devoting him-
self to the study of physics and metaphysics which would have
enabled him to attain immortality, Adam ate from the forbid-
den tree; he followed his imagination and succumbed to his
passions, thereby impairing his capacity for the contempla-
tion of truth, and acquiring the capacity for the acquisition of
a knowledge of ethics (Guide, 2:30).
Joseph *Albo maintains that Adam, as the prototype of
mankind, is the choicest of all the creatures of the sublunar
world and the purpose of the creation because he is the only
creature that has a knowledge of God. All other creatures exist
for his sake, and he has a dominion over them. Albo, too, in-
terprets the story of the Garden of Eden allegorically, regard-
ing it as a “symbolic allusion to man’s fortune in the world”
(Sefer ha-Ikkarim, 1:11). In his interpretation Adam represents
mankind; the Garden of Eden, the world; the tree of life, the
Torah; and the serpent, the evil inclination. The placing of
Adam in the garden, in the midst of which stands the tree of
life, symbolizes the fact that man is placed in the world in or-
der to observe the commandments of the Torah. In the banish-
ment of Adam from the Garden of Eden after he ate from the
forbidden tree Albo sees an allusion to the punishment that
will befall man ifhe disobeys the Divine commandments.
[David Kadosh / Adela Wolfe]
In Christian Tradition
Adam as the progenitor of the human race and as the type of
humanity as such, plays a far greater role in Christian theo-
374
logical thought than in classical Judaism, since the former uses
the account in Genesis 1-2 (and especially the story of Adam's
sin and expulsion from Paradise) as a basis for its doctrine of
man and his relation to God. Endowed with many extraor-
dinary qualities as the crown of God's creation (e.g., perfect
righteousness, sanctifying grace, absence of concupiscence,
viz. evil inclination, immortality, etc.), he lost these at his fall
(“original sin’) and transmitted his fallen and corrupted nature
to all his posterity. Only by the coming of Jesus, the “Second
Adam,” was humanity restored to its original grandeur and
perfection “for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). As the heavenly Adam succeeded
the earthly Adam, so humanity of the flesh will become a spiri-
tual humanity (1 Cor. 15:44-49). The teaching of Paul greatly
influenced Augustine and later Calvin in their formulations
of the doctrine on original sin, implying as it does the innate
corruption of human nature.
According to one Christian tradition, Adam is buried
not in the Machpelah cave at Hebron but under the Calvary
in the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem, so that the redemptive
blood of Jesus shed at the crucifixion, flowed on his grave. In
the Greek Orthodox Church a feast in honor of the parents
of humanity, Adam and Eve, is kept on the Sunday preced-
ing Christmas.
In Islamic Legend
Adam is more favorably presented in the Koran than in the
Bible. The Adamic legend, as Muhammad related it, is as fol-
lows: Allah created Adam to become his regent (caliph) on
earth (Sura 2:28) and made a covenant with him (Sura 20:114;
cf. Hos. 6:7 and Sanh. 38b). At first the angels opposed it, fear-
ing that man would evoke evil and bloodshed. However, Allah
endowed Adam with the knowledge of the names of all things.
The angels, who do not know these names, recognize Adam's
superiority and pay him homage. Only Iblis (Gr. didbolos, the
Devil) revolts, claiming that he who is born of fire should not
bow before one who is born of dust, whereupon Allah expels
Iblis from Paradise. Adam and Eve are forbidden to eat the
fruit ofa tree, but Saytan (Satan) appears and whispers in their
ears: Allah has forbidden this tree to you, so that you will not
live eternally like the angels (Sura 7:19). They eat from the tree,
become aware of their nakedness, and cover themselves with
the leaves of Eden. Allah proclaims eternal enmity between
Man and Satan. Then Adam repents for his sin.
*Geiger recognized that the concept that God had con-
sulted the angels and that voices had been raised against the
creation of man belongs to an old aggadah (Sanh. 38a—-b; Gen.
R. 8:1). The fact that the Koran knew nothing of the serpent
but placed Satan in its place points perhaps to Christian in-
fluence. Umayya ibn Abi’l-Salt, Muhammad’s contemporary,
knew of the serpent in connection with Adam’s disobedience,
but not the Satan.
Later Muslim interpreters and collectors of legends com-
pleted the story of the Koran from the Bible, aggadah, and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
their own poetic elaboration: Allah sent his angels, Gabriel
and Michael, down to Earth in order to fetch dust for the
creation of man; but the Earth rejected them and the Angel
of Death forcibly took dust from the surface (surface of the
earth in Arabic, Adim, thus Adam). Adam was created from
red, white, and black dust — hence the various skin colorings
of mankind. The dust for the head came from the Haram in
Mecca; the chest, the sanctuary in Jerusalem; the loins, Yemen;
the feet, Hejaz; the right hand, the East; and the left hand, the
West. For a long time the body was lifeless and without a soul.
Suddenly the spirit penetrated the body, Adam sneezed and
exclaimed with the angels, “Praise be to Allah.”
The notion of the homogeneity of the human race, as ex-
pressed in the legend which says that dust was gathered from
the whole Earth to create Adam's body, is found in the Tal-
mud (Sanh. 38a). Rav, however, suggested the following: dust
was taken for the body from Babylon; the head, Erez Israel;
and the remaining limbs, the rest of the countries (Sanh. 38b).
The idea that in the beginning Adam lay still as a figure of clay
without a soul (golem), also originates from an aggadah (bib-
liography and interpretation in Bacher, Pal Amor, 2 (1896),
50-51; in addition, Mid. Hag. to Gen. 2:7). The aggadah and
the Islamic legend both share the belief that God was the first
couple’s “best man,’ and that the forbidden fruit was wheat.
This is the reason why Gabriel taught Adam agriculture: wheat
banished man from Paradise, but wheat also introduced him
to the earthly world. The aggadah is interested in calculating
just how the hours of Adam’s first day were spent (Sanh. 38b).
That Adam did not stay an entire day in Paradise is derived
from Psalms 49:13: “But man abides [“spends the night”] not
in honor.’ According to the Islamic legend, Adam foresaw the
future generations and their prophets. In the aggadah there is
also a most impressive description of how one generation af-
ter the other - with its great men and sages - file past Adam
(Sanh. 38b; Av. Zar. 5a; ARN 31:91; Gen. R. 24:2; PR 23:115).
Nor is there any doubt as to the reciprocity between the
Islamic legend and the late Midrash. Thus, for instance, the
specific statement that Adam was formed from red, white,
and black earth — hence the differences in the complexion of
mankind - is a further development of both the late aggadah
(Targ. Yer., Gen. 2:7; PdRE 11) and the Islamic legend. The
Koran (2:28-32) recognizes Adam's superior status in that he
knew the names of the creatures and things. Familiar is the
Islamic oath: “By Allah who taught the names to Adam” (see
Gen. R. 17:4). Pirkei de-R. Eliezer 16 says - under Islamic influ-
ence — that Samael came to Eden riding on the serpent; what
the serpent said, all came from Samael (similar, Mid. Hag. to
Gen. 3:1-5). The following example appears to be significant
concerning the mutual influence of aggadah and Islamic leg-
end: Genesis Rabbah 19:8 cites Genesis 2:17: “On the day on
which you eat from it, you will die” in connection with Psalms
go:10: “The number of our years is seventy,’ and thus inter-
prets: “One Lord’s Day, that is, 1,000 years [Ps. 90:4] was al-
lotted to Adam, but he only lived 930 years and gave 70 years
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADAM
to each of his descendants.” Pirkei de-R. Eliezer 19 relates that
Adam gave 70 years of his life to David. According to Tabari
(1:156), Adam let David have 40 of his own years.
[Bernard Heller]
Illuminated Manuscripts
Adam and Eve often appear in illuminated manuscripts, es-
pecially in the scenes of the Temptation and the period af-
ter the Fall. Among them is the Hebrew manuscript (British
Museum Add. 11639), where the serpent is shown with a hu-
man face. This indicates the influence of the Jewish legend,
which relates that before the Temptation of Eve, the serpent
had wings, hands, and feet and was the size of a camel. Other
illustrations are more conventional in examples such as the
British Museum Haggadah (Ms. Or. 2884) and the Haggadah
of Sarajevo, but it is interesting to note that the non-Jewish
manuscripts such as Octateuch in Istanbul (Serail, Codex 8),
a Bible Moralisée in the British Museum (Add. 15248), and
Hugo van der Goes’ diptych in Vienna are influenced by this
Jewish legendary approach.
[Helen Rosenau]
In the Arts
The story of Adam and Eve is frequently exploited in Western
literature because of its theological association with the Chris-
tian doctrine of Original Sin. The oldest surviving treatment is
the 12‘-century Anglo-Norman Jeu d’Adam. In medieval Eng-
lish, French, and Spanish miracle plays Adam is represented
as a precursor of Jesus. An early Protestant interpretation
was Der farend Schueler im Paradeiss (1550), a comedy by the
German dramatist and poet Hans Sachs. The drama LAdamo
(1613), by the Italian actor-playwright Giambattista Andreini,
probably influenced the English Puritan John *Milton, whose
Paradise Lost (1667) depicts Adam as a free agent overcome
by Satan, but sustained by his belief in ultimate redemption.
This post-medieval conception of the first man also permeates
two Dutch works, the Adamus Exul (1601) of Hugo Grotius
(Hugo de Groot) and Adam in Ballingschap (“Adam in Exile,
1664) by Joost van den Vondel. Milton’s epic poem was dra-
matized by John Dryden as The State of Innocence, and Fall of
Man (1677), while a Rousseauesque yearning for an imagined
Golden Age appears in the drama Der Tod Adams (1757) by
the German poet EG. Klopstock.
Some later plays on this theme are Az ember tragédidja
(“The Tragedy of Man,” 1862) by the Hungarian writer Imre
Madach; Adam Stvofitel (“Adam the Creator,’ 1927) by the
Czech authors Josef and Karel Capek; Nobodaddy (1925) by
the American writer Archibald Macleish; and the first part of
G.B. Shaw’s Back to Methuselah (1921). The English writer C.M.
Doughty based his “sacred drama” Adam Cast Forth (1908)
ona Judeo-Arabian legend; while Arno *Nadel wrote his play
Adam (1917) on the basis of a fragment by S. *An-ski.
In the sphere of art there are early treatments of the
Adam and Eve theme in second-century frescoes at Naples
and in the Christian chapel at *Dura-Europos in Syria, as
375
ADAM
well as on Roman sarcophagi. There are also representations
in medieval mosaics and in metal and in both Christian man-
uscripts and Jewish *Haggadot of the Middle Ages. Scenes
from the creation of Adam to the expulsion from Eden were
much favored by medieval artists and early sculptures include
the reclining Eve by the 12'+-century French sculptor Gisle-
bertus, and a pair of gaunt figures at Bamberg Cathedral in
Germany (c. 1235).
In the 15" century the reawakening feeling for the beauty
of the human body gave artists an opportunity to depict the
nude within the framework of religious art, particularly in
Renaissance Italy. Masaccios fresco in the Brancacci Chapel
in Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence (1427) shows Adam
and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden with their faces buried in
their hands in a striking gesture of despair. In the best-known
representation of the theme, Michelangelo’s The Creation of
Adam (1511) in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, the newly
created man reclines on a rock while the Creator sweeps by
with the heavenly host. Other treatments are those of Raphael
and Tintoretto, and Titian’s robustly sensual Fall (1570) in the
Prado, Madrid. Adam and Eve were also represented by vari-
ous masters of the Flemish, Dutch, and German schools, no-
tably the brothers Van Eyck, Albrecht Duerer, Hieronymus
Bosch, Lucas Cranach, and Hugo van der Goes. In the paint-
ing The Spring by the French artist Nicolas Poussin (1660-64),
Adam and Eve are seen in a peaceful landscape resembling a
vast park (in the Louvre, Paris). A century later the theme in-
spired a watercolor by William *Blake, while Marc *Chagall
painted a Creation, a Paradise, and an Expulsion from Eden, all
remarkable for their iridescent colors. Two modern examples
are Rodin’s Eve (1881) for his Gates of Hell, and Jacob *Epstein’s
heroic and deliberately primitive Adam (1938).
The earliest musical work of any distinction based on the
Bible story is the opera by the German composer, J.A. Theile,
Der erschaffene, gefallene und wieder aufgerichtete Mensch
(1678). There have been many librettos based on Milton’s Para-
dise Lost and on its Continental imitations, notably Klopstock’s
Der Tod Adams, which was set to music as La Mort d‘Adam
(1809) by the French composer J.-F. Lesueur. Anton *Rubin-
stein’s first oratorio, Das verlorene Paradies (1858), and E. Bos-
sis Italian “poema sinfonico-vocale,” Il paradiso perduto (1903),
were both based on Milton's epic. Two interesting French com-
positions were F. David’s L’Eden (1848) and Jules Massenet’s
stage music for the “mystére” Eve (1875). The American com-
poser Everett Helm’s Adam and Eve (1951) is a modern adap-
tation of a 12'*-century mystery play.
See also: *Creation in the Arts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: BIBLE: Amsler, in: Revue de Théologie et
de Philosophie, 2 (1958), 107-12; N. Sarna, Understanding Genesis
(1966), 1-36. AGGADAH: Guttmann, Mafte’ah, 1 (1906), 621-48; Ginz-
berg, Legends, 1 (1942), 49-102; 5 (1947), 63-131; Altmann, in: JQrR,
35 (1944/45), 371-91; J. Jervell, Imago Dei (1960); Smith, in: ByRL,
40 (1957/58), 473-512; idem, in: E.R. Goodenough Memorial Volume
(1968), 315-26.; M. Stone, History of the Literature of Adam and Eve
(1992); G. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection (2001); P. van der Horst,
376
DDD: 5-6. PHILOSOPHY: Guttmann, Philosophies, 289; D. Kaufmann,
Mehkarim ba-Sifrut ha-Ivrit shel Yemei ha-Beinayim (1962), 126-353
Talmage, in: HUCA, 39 (1968), 177-218; H.A. Wolfson, Philo, 2 (1947),
index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Steinmetz, in: JBL, 13 (1984),
193-207; J. Barr, Garden of Eden (1992); D. Carr, in, zAW, 110 (1998),
327-47; E. Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (1998); N. Sarna, Gen-
esis the Jps Torah Commentary (1989), 16-30. CHRISTIAN TRADI-
TION: Driscoll, in: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1 (1907), 131-2; Dictionaire
de Théologie Catholique, 1 (1929), 368-86; J. Danié¢lou, Sacramentum
Futuri (1950), 3-52 (Fr.); Jeremias, in: G. Kittel (ed.), Theological Dic-
tionary of the New Testament, 1 (1964), 141-3. ISLAM: J.W. Hirsch-
berg, Juedische und christliche Lehren im vor und fruehislamischen
Arabien (1939), 47-53, 105-114; A.I. Katsch, Judaism in Islam (1954),
index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Adam, in: EIS”, 1, s.v. (incl. bibl.). 1n
THE ARTs: T. Ehrenstein, Das Alte Testament im Bilde (1923), 1-78;
The Bible in Art (1956), 5-17; Weitzmann, in: Muenchner Jahrbuch
fuer bildende Kunst, 3-4 (1952-53), 96ff.; Reallexikon zur deutschen
Kunstgeschichte, 1 (1937), 126-67 (with illustrations).
ADAM (Heb. 078), city on the eastern bank of the Jordan
River mentioned in Joshua 3:16 as the place where the Jor-
dan ceased flowing at the time of the Israelite crossing. It
also appears in the inscriptions of Pharaoh Shishak (10 cen-
tury B.c.£.). King Solomon's foundries were in the vicinity of
Adam (1 Kings 7:46; 11 Chron. 4:17). The place is perhaps also
mentioned in Hosea 6:7 and Psalms 68:19, 78:60, and 83:11 as
an ancient site of worship.
The ford that was situated during ancient times at Adam
is marked on the *Madaba Map and is still found at a place
the Arabs call Damiyeh on the road from Shechem to Gilead
and Moab. It is south of the confluence of the Jabbok and the
Jordan on the one side and north of the mouth of Wadi Fariah
on the other. On the small Tell el-Damiyeh near the ford, pot-
sherds from the Canaanite and Israelite periods (Late Bronze
to Iron Age I-11) as well as from the Roman and Byzantine
periods have been found.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kutscher, in: BJPES, 2 (1935), 42; Torczyner,
ibid., 11 (1944-5), 9ff.; Goitein, ibid., 13 (1947), 86-88; Albright, in:
AASOR, 6 (1926), 47ff.; idem, in: BASOR, 19 (1925), 19; J. Garstang,
Joshua-Judges (1931), 355; Noth, in: zDPV, 61 (1938), 288; Glueck, in:
BASOR, 90 (1943), 5; idem, in: AASOR, 25-28 (1951), 329-34; Aha-
roni, Land, index.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ADAM, Jewish monthly literary journal in the Romanian lan-
guage. The first number of Adam was published in Bucharest
on April 15, 1929. The journal was subsequently published for
12 years, until July 1940, in book form. Its founder and direc-
tor was the writer and publicist I. *Ludo (Isac Iacovitz). He
edited the review until 1936, when he left Romania temporar-
ily and sold it to Miron Grindea and Idov Cohn. They contin-
ued publication until their emigration from Romania, Miron
Grindea to England (where he published a new review under
the same name in London in English) and Idov Cohn (Cohen)
to Palestine. Adam was a successful publication, reflecting the
personality of its editor, Ludo, who wrote most of the articles.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
He succeeded in attracting various contributors, intellectuals
with various outlooks, among them Felix *Aderca, Ury *Bena-
dor, E Brunea-Fox, Ion Calugaru, Avraham *Feller, Benjamin
Fundoianu, Jacob Gropper, Rabbi M.A. Halevy, Michael *Lan-
dau, Theodor Loewenstein, Marius *Mircu, Chief Rabbi Jacob
Niemirower, Eugen *Relgis, and A.L. *Zissu. Some of them (as
well as others) served their literary apprenticeship at Adam. It
was a review that refused to surrender to the ghetto mental-
ity and also attracted non-Jewish contributors, among whom
the best known were Tudor Arghezi, Gala Galaction, Eugen
Lovinescu, and N.D. Cocea. Adam also featured many illus-
trations, including work by Victor *Brauner, Marcel *Jancu,
M.H. *Maxy, Jules *Perachim, and Reuven *Rubin. Adam also
engaged in polemics. Its basic idea was that Jewish-Romanian
writers, before they could be Romanian writers, must be Jew-
ish writers. In 1939, Adam published a yearbook on the occa-
sion of its tenth anniversary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Adam (1929-40); Almanahul Adam (1939);
A. Mirodan, Dictionar neconventional, 1 (1986), 18-21; M. Mircu,
Povestea presei evreiesti din Romania (2003), 320-58; H. Kuller, Presa
evreiasca bucuresteana (1996), 116-19.
[Lucian-Zeev Herscovici (2™ ed.)]
ADAM, LAJOS (Louis; 1879-1946), Hungarian physician.
His appointment in 1927 as assistant professor at the Univer-
sity of Budapest aroused violent opposition in antisemitic cir-
cles, but in 1930 he was appointed full professor and director
of the surgical clinic. In 1946 he became Rector Magnificus.
His contribution to the technique of local anesthesia was
of great importance. Among other books he wrote A heli
érzéstelenités ktMzikoenyve (“The Handbook of Local An-
esthesia”).
ADAM, OTHER BOOKS OF, apocryphal books which con-
tain Christian reworkings of the Jewish Adam legend, some
of which include valuable ancient traditions. These books are
in addition to the Life of Adam and Eve (see Book of the Life
of “Adam and Eve). In early lists several works, presumably
in Greek, are mentioned. The most prominent of these are
Apocalypse, Penitence, Testament, and Life. The Apocalypse,
quoted in Epistle of Barnabas 2:10, deals with Adam’s peni-
tence. A horarium and some other texts, also connected with
repentance and cited by Georgius Cedrenus (Historiarum
compendium 1:18), appear in a second Greek form, as well as
in Syriac (R. Graffin (ed.), Patrologia Syriaca, 2, pt. 1 (1907),
1319-37), where they are quoted as being from the Testament.
This Syriac version mentions the Cave of Treasures, connect-
ing it with various Eastern books. A long passage attributed
to the Life of Adam is preserved by Georgius Syncellus (ed.
Dundorff, p. 5ff.). This passage is related to material found
in Jubilees 3:1-11. The Cave of Treasures, a Syriac work, also
deals with the story of Adam. A central feature of this work is
a cave of treasures, in which Adam lived and was buried, and
from which he was taken into the Ark by Noah to be rebur-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADAM AND EVE, BOOK OF THE LIFE OF
ied at Golgotha. The book also exists in Arabic (D.M. Gibson,
Apocrypha Arabica (1901), Eng. and Arab.).
The Ethiopic Book of Adam and Eve is also a Christian
composition, having much in common with the Cave of Trea-
sures, including the burial tradition. Armenian books con-
nected with the Adam story include The Death of Adam, His-
tory of Adam’ Expulsion from Paradise, History of Cain and
Abel, Adam's Sons, and Concerning the Good Tidings of Seth.
Other unpublished Adam books also exist. These writings
are certainly not Gnostic, as Preuschen maintained. They are
early although it is impossible to give a precise date. There
are Georgian translations of the Cave of Treasures, the Life,
and other Adam books. There are also some texts in Ara-
bic, including an Arabic version of the Ethiopic Adam book.
Epiphanius (Panarion 26) quotes a Gnostic composition, and
a Gnostic Coptic Adam Apocalypse is found among the Nag
Hammadi texts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: IDB, 1 (1962), 44f.; M.R. James, Lost Apoc-
rypha of the Old Testament (1920), 1-8; Charles, Apocrypha, 2 (1913),
127 ff.; C. Bezold, Die Schatzhoehle (1883); Buttenwieser, in: UJE,
s.v.; S.C. Malan, Book of Adam and Eve (1882), from the Ethiopic;
Luedtke, in: zaw, 38 (1919-20), 155-68 (Ger. about Georgian text); J.
Issaverdens, Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament (1900), 85-89;
Preuschen, in: Festgruss... B. Stade (1900), 165-252; Stone, in: HTR,
59 (1966), 283-91 (Eng. about Armenian text); P. Prigent, LEpitre de
Barnabé... (1961), 43ff.; A. Dillmann, Das christliche Adambuch des
Morgenlandes (1853); Cardona, in: U. Bianchi (ed.), Le Origini dello
Gnosticismo (1962), 645-8; A. Boehlig and P. Labb, Koptisch-Gnost-
ische Apokalypsen (1963).
[Michael E. Stone]
ADAM AND EVE, BOOK OF THE LIFE OF, apocryphal
work dealing with Adam's life and death. It has been preserved
in Greek, Latin, and Slavonic versions differing considerably
from one another. General considerations point to composi-
tion in Palestine between 100 B.c.£. and 200 C.E.
The Greek version, known erroneously as the Apocalypsis
Moysis, begins with the expulsion from Paradise, and relates
the story of the death of Abel, the birth of Seth, Adams illness,
and the journey of Eve and Seth to Paradise in search of oil
from the tree of life to ease Adam's suffering. Adam dies and
he is buried in the third heaven by the angels. Six days later Eve
dies and Seth is instructed regarding burial and mourning.
The Latin version is known as the Vita Adae et Evae. Its
main part roughly corresponds to the Greek text, but there are
some omissions and additions. The most extensive and impor-
tant addition precedes the material found in the Greek version.
It tells how Adam and Eve, finding life outside Paradise diffi-
cult, decide to entreat God for nourishment and propose to
do penance by standing in water; Eve in the Tigris for 37 days
and Adam in the Jordan for 4o. By a trick, the Devil induces
Eve to end her penance before the designated time.
The Slavonic version follows the Greek closely, although
it shortens some passages. It also includes the main addition
of the Latin in a different form and not at the beginning of the
377
ADAM BA AL SHEM
book, but as a part of Eve's account of the Fall. According to
the Slavonic version, Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise,
beg God for nourishment and are given the seventh part of
Paradise. Adam begins plowing, but the Devil prevents him
from continuing until Adam acknowledges his lordship over
Adam and the earth. To trick the Devil, Adam writes: “I and
my children belong to whoever is Lord of the earth” There
follows the story of the penance of Adam and Eve, as found
in the Latin, but with the significant difference that Eve with-
stands the Devil's blandishments and completes her penance.
‘The rest of the addition is missing.
The religious spirit expressed in the Book of Adam and
Eve is somber and somewhat pessimistic. It illuminates many
minor points of theological interest, but presents no clear
and central doctrine. Only the resurrection and final judg-
ment are taught repeatedly and emphatically. Angels are rep-
resented as important, but there is no speculation about them
and none about the End of Days. The simpler Greek version,
which is mildly dualistic, also teaches a distinction of body
and soul. There is no doctrine of original sin in the Christian
(or Qumranic) sense. Adam is considered perfect; Eve is mor-
ally weak, but not wicked. She loves and obeys Adam and re-
peatedly deplores her own shortcomings. There is also a mild
halakhic interest in the matter of burial. The additional ma-
terial contained in the Latin version stresses Eve's weakness
and the wickedness of the Devil, and actually teaches that
there was a second temptation, which Adam withstood. This
part is more speculative, and is concerned with man’s strug-
gle against the Devil and with the origin of evil. The penance
by water shows a marked tendency toward asceticism, which
might be a modification of an earlier tendency, emphasizing
the importance of purity.
The work cannot be assigned to any known or definable
sector or movement in Judaism. There are similarities both
with apocalyptic writing (Enoch, Jubilees) and with the rab-
binic aggadah, but none of these is sufficiently close or precise
to indicate identity of teaching. The simpler Greek version is
closer to the mainstream of Judaism. The story of Adam and
Eve's penance and second temptation displays a unique de-
velopment of ancient Jewish thought. A book of Adam (Sifra
de-Adam ha-Rishon) is mentioned in Bava Mezia 85b; but
this work must have been different from the Book of Adam
and Eve.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Charles, Apocrypha, 2 (1913), 123-54; for
further bibliography see O. Eissfeldt, Old Testament, An Introduc-
tion (1965), 636.
[Jacob Licht]
ADAM BA’AL SHEM, a legendary figure about whom vari-
ous tales have been collected in small Yiddish pamphlets pub-
lished in Prague and in Amsterdam in the 17" century. They
relate the miracles performed before Emperor Maximilian 11
by a kabbalist, whose historical existence has not been verified.
According to these tales, Adam Baal Shem was born and was
buried in Bingen near Worms; however his permanent place
378
of residence was Prague. The stories about him were popular
and used by the compiler of Shivhei ha-Besht (Berdichev, 1815)
who transformed Adam Ba’al Shem into an esoteric kabbal-
ist in Poland who died close to the birth or in the childhood
of *Israel b. Eliezer Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism.
Hasidic legend attributed to him writings on the mystery of
Kabbalah which he commanded his son to give to Israel Baal
Shem Tov. Apparently, the earlier figure of a German Jewish
folktale (Adam Ba’al Shem) was combined in hasidic legend
with that of the Shabbatean prophet Heshel Zoref, who died
in Cracow around the time of Israel Baal Shem Tov’s birth.
Heshel’s work, Sefer ha-Zoref, on the mysteries of Shabbatean
Kabbalah, undoubtedly reached the Ba’al Shem Tov who or-
dered them to be copied by his disciple Shabbetai of Rasch-
kow. Copies of the copy were preserved in the courts of sev-
eral zaddikim. The Hasidim were not aware of the Shabbatean
character of these works, but several legends spread about
their contents. The author of Shivhei ha-Besht or the creators
of the legends about the Baal Shem Tov modified the charac-
ter of these writings and attributed them to Adam Baal Shem.
An unfounded assumption seeks to identify Adam Baal Shem
with a Russian Christian of German origin, called Adam Zer-
neikov, who supposedly had contact with the father of Israel
Baal Shem Tov.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Rabinowicz, in: Zion, 5 (1940), 125-32;
G. Scholem, ibid., 6 (1941), 89-93; 7 (1942), 28; idem, in: I. Halpern,
Beit Yisrael be-Folin, 2 (1954), 48-53; R. Margaliot, Ba-Mishor (1941),
14-15; Ch. Shmeruk, in: Zion, 28 (1963), 86-105; Y. Elhiach, in: PAAJR,
36 (1968), 66-70.
[Gershom Scholem]
ADAMIT (Heb. n°7)78), kibbutz in northern Israel, on the
Lebanese border. Adamit, affiliated with Kibbutz Arzi (Ha-
Shomer ha-Za’ir), was founded in 1958, following completion
of a serpentine road to secure the access to its small moun-
tain plateau. Most of the settlers were Israel-born and the
economy was based on orchards, vineyards, and livestock.
In 2004 its population was 106. The name “Adamit” derives
from the Arabic “Idmith’, but is also reminiscent of the bib-
lical town of Adami (Josh. 19:33), assumed to have been lo-
cated in the vicinity.
[Efraim Orni]
ADAM KADMON (Primordial Man), kabbalistic concept.
The Gnostics inferred from the verse “Let us make man in our
image” (Gen. 1:26) that the physical Adam was created in the
image of a spiritual entity also called Adam. The early *Kab-
balah speaks of adam elyon (“supreme man’; in the Zohar the
corresponding Aramaic is adam di-lela or adam ilaah). The
term sometimes represents the totality of the Divine emana-
tion in the ten *Sefirot (“spheres”) and sometimes in a single
Sefirah such as Keter (“crown”), Hokhmah (“wisdom”), or Tife-
ret (“beauty”). The term “Adam Kadmon” is first found in Sod
Yediat ha-Meziut, an early 13**-century kabbalistic treatise. In
the Tikkunei Zohar, the Divine Wisdom is called Adam ha-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Gadol (“The Great Man”). The spiritual man is hinted at in
the verse “a likeness as the appearance of a man” (Ezek. 1:26)
which the prophet Ezekiel saw in the vision of the divine char-
iot. The letters of the Tetragrammaton (see Names of *God)
when spelled out in full have the numerical value of 45, as do
the letters of the word Adam. In this fact support was found
for the revelation of God in the form of a spiritual man (Mi-
drash Ruth Neelam in the Zohar). In contrast to the First Man
Adam, this spiritual man is called in the Zohar proper the
adam kadmaah ilaah (“primordial supreme man’), and in Tik-
kunei Zohar he is called Adam Kadmon (“primordial man’) or
Adam Kadmon le-khol ha-kedumim (“prototype of primordial
man’). In the Kabbalah of Isaac *Luria, great importance and
new significance is given to Adam Kadmon. There Adam Kad-
mon signifies the worlds of light which, after the retraction of
the light of *Ein-Sof (“The Infinite”), emanated into primeval
space. This Adam Kadmon is the most sublime manifestation
of the Deity that is to some extent accessible to human medita-
tion. It ranks higher in this system than all four worlds: Azilut
(“emanation”), Beriah (“creation”), Yezirah (“formation”), and
Asiyyah (“making”). The portrayal of this Adam Kadmon and
his mysteries, and in particular the description of the lights
which flow from his ears, mouth, nose, and eyes plays an im-
portant role in Hayyim *Vital’s Ez Hayyim and in other kab-
balistic works of the Lurianic school. Through this theory the
mystical anthropomorphism of the school becomes crystal-
lized. This anthropomorphic figure recurs in all the stages
and in all the worlds. Consequently there is an adam de-ve-
riah (“man of creation”), adam di-yzirah (“man of formation”),
and an adam de-asiyyah (“man of making”). In contrast to
Adam Kadmon, who is from the holy emanation, stands Satan,
from the world of iniquity. In the Tikkunei Zohar, and subse-
quently in the Lurianic Kabbalah, Satan is called adam beliyyaal
(“evil man”). In the Lurianic Kabbalah, there is no relationship
between Adam Kadmon, which is the light which transcends
all other lights, and the *Messiah. Such a connection was made
only in the system of the extreme Shabbateans, who believed
in the divinity of the Messiah and regarded *Shabbetai Zevi
as the incarnation of Adam Kadmon. (He figures as such in a
number of poems of the sect of the *Doenmeh.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.A. Horodezky, in: Ha-Goren, 10 (1928),
sft.
[Gershom Scholem]
ADAMS, ARLIN MARVIN (1921- ), U.S. jurist, public ser-
vant, and legal educator. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Adams worked for a produce distributor during the Depres-
sion to pay for college at Temple University. When he gradu-
ated first in his class in 1941, the chair of the political science
department took him by trolley to the University of Penn-
sylvania, where he obtained a full scholarship for the young
man by declaring to the law school registrar: “He is the best
that we've ever had.”
A day after Pearl Harbor, Adams volunteered for the
Navy, received a commission, and in 1942 was sent to the north
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADAMS, ARLIN MARVIN
Pacific. After the war, he resumed his studies at Penn, where
he served as editor-in-chief of the law review and graduated
second in his class in 1947. He completed a clerkship with
Horace Stern, probably Pennsylvania's greatest chief justice,
and then joined Philadelphia’s premier law firm, Schnader,
Harrison, Segal and Lewis. Adams earned a reputation as a
brilliant, yet humble attorney, and after only three years he
became the youngest associate in the firm’s history to make
partner. At this time, he also earned an M.A. in economics
from Temple and Penn.
In 1963, Adams joined Governor William Scranton’s cabi-
net. As Pennsylvania's secretary of public welfare (1963-66),
he instituted a medical program for indigents that anticipated
Medicaid and developed educational training for poor chil-
dren that became the prototype for the federal Head Start
program. Scranton described Adams as “the ablest and most
effective secretary of welfare that this Commonwealth has
ever known.”
When President Nixon nominated Adams for a seat on
the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the
Senate unanimously approved the selection without holding
any hearings. Adams served 18 years on the court (1969-87),
earning the highest praise and ensuring himself a place along-
side scholar-judges such as Learned Hand and Benjamin
*Cardozo. As with Hand, appointment to the United States
Supreme Court eluded Adams, although he was three times
on the short list for selection to the High Court. While Adams
wrote landmark opinions in several areas, his most enduring
legacy came in decisions involving the First Amendment reli-
gion clauses. His erudite, careful opinions possessed a Burkian
quality, striking a balance between the nation’s commitment
to institutional separation between church and state and rec-
ognition of a vital role for religion in public life. In a concur-
ring opinion in Malnak v. Yogi (1979), Adams led the way in
defining “religion” for constitutional purposes, fashioning a
three-part test that widely influenced courts in America and
in other nations.
In 1987, the indefatigable Adams returned to the Schnader
firm, where he continued to accept major public duties, most
notably as independent counsel (1990-95) to investigate ir-
regularities in President Reagan’s Department of Housing
and Urban Development and as trustee in the New Era pro-
ceedings (1995), then the largest non-profit bankruptcy case
in US. history. Adams achieved unparalleled results in both
cases, securing 16 criminal convictions or guilty pleas in the
HUD scandal and obtaining a collection rate of over 90 per-
cent in New Era, thereby saving numerous charities from fi-
nancial ruin.
Throughout his life, Adams faithfully served academia,
the community, and his religion. He held positions as chair-
man of Penn Law School’s Board of Overseers (1985-92);
president of the American Philosophical Society (1993-96),
founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin; and president of Knes-
eth Israel, one of Philadelphia's oldest synagogues. For almost
three decades, Adams taught a Freedom of Religion seminar
379
ADAMS, FRANKLIN PIERCE
at Penn Law School. The course inspired Adams to write nu-
merous articles and A Nation Dedicated to Religious Liberty,
a groundbreaking book that resurrected William Penn as a
champion of religious freedom and asserted that the core
value of the religion clauses was religious liberty, not separa-
tion of church and state.
In 2004, Penn Law School recognized “a lifetime of ded-
icated public service” by endowing a chair in constitutional
law in his name. When he received the esteemed Philadelphia
Award in 1997, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said: “[Adams]
has accomplished more in his lifetime than a hundred ordi-
nary heroes combined. ... He saw that the rule of law had to
be administered with a spirit of compassion and a caring for
those in need.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.M. Adams and C.J. Emmerich, A Nation
Dedicated to Religious Liberty: The Constitutional Heritage of the Re-
ligion Clauses (1990).
[Charles J. Emmerich (2"4 ed.)]
ADAMS, FRANKLIN PIERCE (1881-1960), U.S. newspa-
per columnist known by his byline “EP.A” and noted for his
wit and erudition. Born in Chicago, he started his daily col-
umn “The Conning Tower” in the New York Tribune in 1914.
It appeared successively in the World, the Herald-Tribune,
and the Post.
A member of the illustrious Algonquin Round Table,
Adams lunched every day in the 1920s and 1930s at a round
table at New York City’s Algonquin Hotel with a group of
some of the most brilliant writers of that period. They traded
quips and critiques, many of them still repeated today. The
group was formed at the suggestion of Dorothy *Parker, who
was living in the Algonquin Hotel at the time. There was
no formal membership, so people came and went, but the
primary early members included Parker, Adams, Robert
Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, George S. *Kaufman, Edna
*Ferber, and Harpo *Marx. Others visited as well, including
actors and entertainers such as Douglas Fairbanks, George
*Gershwin, Irving *Berlin, Jascha *Heifitz, Moss *Hart, Budd
*Schulberg, and Oscar *Hammerstein. But most of the Round
Table members were critics. Outspoken and outrageous,
they would exchange ideas and gossip, which found their way
into Adams’ “Conning Tower” column in the Tribune the
next day. Though society columns referred to them as the
Algonquin Round Table, they called themselves the Vicious
Circle. “By force of character,’ observed drama critic Brooks
Atkinson, “they changed the nature of American comedy
and established the tastes of a new period in the arts and
theater.”
Adams’ epigrams, verse, and parodies were reprinted
extensively, and his weekly Diary of Our Own Samuel Pepys
is regarded as historical source material. His appearances on
Information Please on radio and Tv (1939-52) had a large fol-
lowing.
[Ruth Beloff (2™4 ed.)]
380
°ADAMS, HANNAH (1755-1831), considered the first Ameri-
can woman professional writer. Hannah Adams early interest
in religion led to her Dictionary of All Religions and Religious
Denominations (1817*), a superficial compilation, but signifi-
cant for the sympathetic tone of the article on Jews. Ina later,
more careful work, History of the Jews from the Destruction
of Jerusalem to the Present Time (1812), she relied on contem-
porary historical and demographic information prepared by
Jewish correspondents. The chapter concerning the Jews in the
New World is of particular interest, and has been reprinted
and translated into German and Hebrew.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Stark, in: DAB, 1 (1928), 60-61; J.L.
Blau and S.W. Baron, Jews of the United States, 1790-1840, 1 (1963),
87-93.
[Joseph L. Blau]
°ADAMS, JOHN (1735-1826), first vice president (1789-97)
and second president (1797-1801) of the United States. Adams,
a champion of religious freedom and separation of church and
state, was also a fervent admirer of the Old Testament in the
tradition of his New England ancestors, and a Judeophile. In a
letter written to Mordecai Manuel *Noah in 1818 he remarked:
“I wish your nation may be admitted to all the privileges of
citizens in every country of the world. This country has done
much. I wish it may do more, and annul every narrow idea
in religion, government and commerce.” In the course of his
lengthy correspondence with Thomas Jefferson during the last
two decades of his life, Adams exhibited a steady interest in the
religious philosophy of the Jews. He advocated that Hebraic
studies become part of a classical education, and in a codicil
to his will four years before his death he bequeathed land for
the erection of a school in which he expressed the hope that
Hebrew would be taught together with Latin and Greek. Ina
characteristic attack on Voltaire’s derogatory attitude toward
the Bible and the Jewish people, he wrote to his friend Judge
Francis Adrian van der Kemp in 1808: “How is it possible
this old fellow should represent the Hebrews in such a con-
temptible light? They are the most glorious Nation that ever
inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their Empire were but
a Bauble in comparison of the Jews. They have given Religion
to three quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs
of Mankind more, and more happily than any other Nation,
ancient or modern.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I.S. Meyer, in: AJHSP, 37 (1947), 185-201; 45
(1955), 58-60.
[Isidore S. Meyer]
ADAMS, THEODORE L. (1915-1984), U.S. rabbi. Adams
was the epitome of the emerging modern Orthodox rabbis
in America during much of the 20" century. Born in Bangor,
Maine, he was the son of the town shohet. His pious immi-
grant parents sent their son to New York for a proper Jewish
education. After studying at Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, he went
to Yeshiva College (B.A., 1936) and continued for semikhah at
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Yeshiva's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (1938).
He occupied pulpits in Congregation Mt. Sinai in Jersey City
and Congregation Ohab Zedek in Manhattan. In these he
transformed the congregations from their old-style European
immigrant milieu into modern Orthodoxy.
With a commanding presence dressed in self-confidence,
he attracted the attention of many Jewish causes. His rabbinic
colleagues elected him to the presidencies of the *Rabbinical
Council of America and the interdenominational *Synagogue
Council of America. In his later years, he earned a Ph.D. in
Jewish education and joined the staff of *Touro College.
[Jeanette Friedman (2"4 ed.)]
ADANI, DAVID BEN AMRAM (13* or 14‘ century), Ye-
menite rabbi and scholar. An ancient source calls him “David
b. Amram, the nagid from the city of Aden.’ It is not clear
whether the title referred to David or his father. *Nagid, how-
ever, was a title borne by the leader of the Jewish community
of Aden from the 12" century. Adani was a renowned scribe
whose copies of the Pentateuch were much sought after be-
cause of their exactness. He is the compiler of the *Midrash
ha-Gadol.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: HB, 20 (1880), 135ff.; Steinschneider, Arab
Lit, no. 205, n. 2.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
ADANI, DAVID BEN YESHA HA-LEVI (15"* century), Ye-
menite commentator on Maimonides. His works include Ara-
bic glossaries which explain difficult phrases in Maimonides’
Mishneh Torah and a commentary on the Mishnah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Ratzaby, in: KS, 28 (1952/53), 276.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
ADANI, MAHALAL (originally Mahallal ben Shalom ben
Jacob; 1883-1950), Yemenite scholar and industrialist. His
wife, Hannah, was the daughter of Judah Moses, president of
the Aden Jewish community (1922-24). Mahalal was a singu-
lar figure in the Aden Jewish community, being both learned
and an entrepreneur. He obtained his general and Jewish ed-
ucation auto-didactically and set up factories for cigarettes
and ice. Mahalal visited Erez Israel in 1895 and 1903, and af-
ter fulfilling a central role in strengthening the community’s
connections with the Zionist movement and in establishing
a modern educational system, he finally immigrated to Erez
Israel in 1930. Adani continued his business activities in Erez
Israel but devoted most of his time to the study of religious,
philosophical, and historical texts. He left behind dozens of
handwritten essays, including commentaries on most of the
biblical books; an interpretation of Rabbi *Kook’s Orot ha-
Kodesh; and a philosophical novel entitled Rayon Ruah. Dur-
ing his lifetime he published only two books: Or ha-Hozer
(1940) on Ecclesiastes and Bein Aden ve-Teiman (“Between
Aden and Yemen,” 1947, 19887), which was edited by D. Sadan.
From 1988 his books were brought to press by Y. Tobi. These
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADANI, SAMUEL BEN JOSEPH
include his commentaries: Job (1993); Song of Songs, Proverbs,
and Ecclesiastes (1997); Psalms, Pirkei Avot, Ruth, Lamenta-
tions, and Esther (1998); Ha-Nefesh ha-Hayyah and Ruah ha-
Kodesh (2001); and Pirkei Mikra (2004).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Tobi, in: Mahalal ha-Adani, Bein Aden ve-
Teiman, Il, 357-424, 479-513.
[Yosef Tobi (24 ed.)]
ADANI, MIZRAHI SHALOM (second half of 19" century),
kabbalist and scholar. The appellation Mizrahi was given to
Adani because of his eastern Yemenite origin. In manhood he
immigrated to Jerusalem where he joined the kabbalistic circle
of the bet ha-midrash Bet El. He wrote Sukkat Shalom (“Tab-
ernacle of Peace,” 1891), novellae on the tractate Bava Kamma,
the introduction to which contains a description of his ad-
ventures on his way to Erez Israel; and Shelom Yerushalayim
(“The Peace of Jerusalem,’ 1899), novellae on the Ez Hayyim
of R. Hayyim *Vital, as well as some others on the kabbalistic
writings of R. Shalom *Sharabi. He used a wealth of sources,
the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, the halakhic authori-
ties, and the responsa literature.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Ratzaby, in: KS, 28 (1952/53), 269, no. 81,
398, No. 193.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
ADANI, SAADIAH BEN DAVID (Sa‘id ibn Daud, known
also as al- Yamani al-Rabbani; 15‘” century), talmudist. Adani
lived in Damascus, Aleppo, and Safed. His works, written in
Judeo-Arabic, deal with subjects studied in the Yemenite com-
munities: Midrash, halakhah, and lunar intercalation. Najat
al-Ghdariqin (“The Salvation of the Drowning”) and Zafenat
Pane‘ah (“Deciphering Mysteries”) are aggadic and halakhic
commentaries on the Pentateuch and the Sabbath readings
from the Prophets. At the request of students Saadiah wrote
a commentary on Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah. Adani used
the form of catechism popular among the Jews of Yemen.
He prepared an Arabic calendar entitled al-Jadwalavn which
contains a philosophic poem. In his writings, he shows famil-
iarity with the practices of Yemenite Jewry, although he did
not live there. It is noteworthy that this 15" century Yemenite
scholar could state: “Thank God the belief in shedim (‘demons
and devils’) has ceased, like other superstitions and magical
practices. I have enlarged on this matter only because most
European Jews and some also in these countries still cling to
many preposterous beliefs.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 202; S. Assaf, in:
KS, 22 (1945/46), 240-4.
[Yehuda Ratzaby]
ADANI, SAMUEL BEN JOSEPH (Yeshua; 1863-?), author.
Adani’s grandfather, R. Yeshua, was the head of the Jewish rab-
binical court in Aden and his mother’s grandfather, R. Shilo,
was a member of it. In 1878 he married the granddaughter of
Menahem Mansur, then head of the Jewish court. Adani was
381
ADAR
a great scholar and studied the Kabbalah with Aden’s rab-
bis. He visited Erez Israel in 1899 and 1902. His book Nahalat
Yosef (Jerusalem, 1906) is the most important work of Aden-
ese scholarship. This work is to some extent an encyclopedia
in two parts: (a) General instruction in Jewish tradition - He-
brew grammar, halakhah, angelology, paradise, astronomy,
etc. Though the author asserts that enlightenment does not
threaten tradition, he takes a definite position against the Jew-
ish philosophers and educators in the new age, who prefer the
conclusions of research and Aristotelian views to Jewish tra-
dition (1, 14, 70a-77b). On the other hand, he opposes those
who presume to be too strict with the laws of Judaism (1, 15,
77a-85b). (b) The traditions of Adenese Jewry during the year
and the life cycle, an account of his family, a description of his
visits to Erez Israel, and riddles and jokes as well as his poetry.
The chapter about his family is the main source on the Aden
community in the 19" century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Ahroni, Yehudei Aden (1991), 188-95;
idem, The Jews of the British Crown Colony of Aden (1994), 170-72.
[Yosef Tobi (24 ed.)]
ADAR (Heb. 178), the post-Exilic name (of Assyrian origin)
of the 12 month in the Jewish year. Occurring in Assyrian
inscriptions and also in Hebrew and Aramaic biblical records
(Esth. 3:7 with seven parallels; Ezra 6:15), it is held to be iden-
tical with the first element in the compound proper name
*Adrammelech of a patricidal son of *Sennacherib (11 Kings
19:37; Isa. 37:38) and of the Molech-like idol worshiped by the
Sepharvite ancestors of the Samaritans (11 Kings 17:31). The
zodiacal sign of this month is Pisces. In some years an extra
month is added to the year (see *Calendar) which is called
Adar Sheni (“Second Adar” or ve-Adar - so vocalized against
a firm rule in Hebrew vocalization). In such years the original
month is called Adar Rishon (“First Adar”). The addition of a
second Adar raises problems with regard to the celebration of
*bar mitzvah and the observance of * Yahrzeit and the recita-
tion of *Kaddish. The law is as follows: A boy born in Adar of
a regular year but whose 13" year is a leap year celebrates his
bar mitzvah in Adar 11 (Sh. Ar., OH 55:10). For a person de-
ceased in Adar of a regular year, the Yahrzeit in a leap year is
observed in Adar 1; there are, however, conflicting opinions in
this and it is suggested that Kaddish be recited also in Adar 11
(ibid. 568:7). In the present fixed Jewish calendar, the month
consists of 29 days in regular years while in leap years Adar 1
consists of 30 days and Adar 11 of 29 days. The first day of Adar
(of Adar 11 in a leap year) never falls on Sunday, Tuesday, or
Thursday. In the 20 century Adar in its earliest occurrence
extends from February 12 to March 1 or 12 and in its latest
from March 2 to 30 while the 59 days of Adar 1 with Adar 11
extend from February 2 to March 31 or April 1 at the earliest
and from February 11 to April 9 or 10 at the latest.
Memorable days in Adar (Adar 11 in leap years) comprise:
(a) The Four Special Sabbaths (Shekalim may be read on the
Sabbath before Adar 1 and ha-Hodesh on Nisan 1, but invari-
382
ably Sabbaths Zakhor and Parah fall in Adar). (b) The seventh
of Adar, the anniversary of the death of Moses as calculated
from Deuteronomy 34:8 and Joshua 1:11; 3:2; and 4:19, observed
as a fast (Meg. Taan. 13, ed. Neubauer). According to tradi-
tion Adar 7 was also the date of Moses birth (see *Adar, the
Seventh of). (c, d) Adar 9 and 24 once observed as fasts (ibid.)
commemorating the fateful controversies between the Schools
of Shammai and Hillel (Shab. 17a) and the leprosy which be-
fell King Uzziah (11 Kings 15:5; 11 Chron. 26:19-21). (e) Nica-
nor Day on Adar 13 at first observed as a feast commemorat-
ing the Hasmonean victory over the Syrian general Nicanor
(1 Macc. 7:49; 11 Macc. 15:36; Meg. Ta’an. 12) and subsequently
observed as the Fast of *Esther preliminary to Purim (Piskei
ha-Rosh, Meg. 1:1). (f, g) *Purim and Shushan Purim on Adar
14-15. (h) The 16" of Adar was not to be a day of mourning for
on that day they commenced to build the walls of Jerusalem
(Meg. Ta’an. 12); by order of Nehemiah or perhaps under the
Maccabees. (i) The 17‘ was a feast commemorating the mi-
raculous escape of the Sages of Israel from their Herodian or
Roman enemies. (j) The 20" was a feast day because on that
day Onias (*Honi ha-Me’aggel) effected deliverance from a
drought (ibid.). These invest the whole month with a joyful
character, hence the talmudic ruling “When Adar comes in,
gladness is increased” (Taan. 29a).
[Ephraim Jehudah Wiesenberg]
ADAR, THE SEVENTH OF, anniversary of both the birth
and death of Moses according to talmudic tradition (Meg. 13b;
Kid. 38a, etc.). The date is derived from a comparison of bibli-
cal dates (Deut. 34:8; Josh. 1:11; 3:3; 4:19; Jos., Ant., 4:327, gives
the first day of Adar as the day of Moses’ death). In Oriental
communities it became a day of fasting and commemoration
for the pious because of the belief that a spark of the soul of
Moses is found in every righteous person. In medieval Egypt
the date signaled a central event in the life of the community.
During the preceding Hanukkah, messengers were sent to
all Jews in the area to invite them to come to celebrations at
the ancient synagogue in the village of *Dumuh near Cairo
which, according to tradition, was erected 40 years before
the destruction of the First Temple on the spot where Moses
had prayed before going to Pharaoh. The seventh of Adar
was a day of prayer and supplication. The eighth was a day of
celebration, apparently of a “carnival” nature. To insure the
serious aspect of the festivities, the rabbis of Egypt enacted
certain prohibitions. Women must be accompanied by their
husband, brother, or grown son; men and women were sepa-
rated in seating; dancing, singing, and the putting on of plays
or “shadow shows” (a sort of puppet show) were forbidden.
While this observance was later discontinued, Sephardi Jews
still light candles for the “ascension of the souls of the righ-
teous” on the seventh of Adar. Some communities recite spe-
cial piyyutim on this date and also on Simhat Torah, when
the biblical account of Moses’ death is read in the synagogue.
Among these are “Cry! O Jochebed, with a bitter, hard voice!
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Sinai, Sinai, where is Moses?!” (Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 371);
“Be graceful to us, O Lord because of the merit of Moses”
(ibid., 3 (1930), 416); and “Happy art thou, O Mount Abarim,
over all the high mountains” (ibid., 1 (1924), 8446). In 17**-cen-
tury Turkey and Italy (and later also in Northern Egypt) it be-
came customary in some circles to observe this date as a fast
day, and to recite portions from a special tikkun (selected pas-
sages from Scripture, Mishnah, and Zohar), compiled by Sam-
uel *Aboab of Venice. In Eastern and Central Europe, as well
as in the United States, this day was observed by the members
of the hevra kaddisha as a fast day which was terminated by a
special banquet at which new members were admitted and a
new board elected. After the Minhah service in the synagogue,
the rabbis used to eulogize Moses and all famous rabbis and
Jewish scholars who had passed away during the preceding
year. The day is still widely celebrated in Orthodox commu-
nities. In Israel, it has been officially designated as the day for
commemorating the death of Israeli soldiers whose last rest-
ing place is unknown.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Hakohen, Seder Zayin Adar, Mekorot,
Minhagot Selihot u-Tefillot (1961); Ashtor, Toledot, 2 (1951), 385.
ADAR, ZVI (1917-1991), Israel educator. Adar was born
in Petah Tikvah and became a teacher at the Bet ha-Kerem
teachers’ seminary in Jerusalem (1938-53). He subsequently
taught at the School of Education at the Hebrew University
where he became a professor. He interested himself in the
speculative aspects involved with Jewish identity in the past
and its meaning in the present, transmitting his thoughts to
the younger generation through the medium of education. He
wrote extensively, his most important work being Ha-Arakhim
ha-Hinnukhiyyim shel ha-Tanakh (1954; Humanistic Values in
the Bible, 1968). In this work Adar attempted to use literary
analysis to reveal the educational values in the biblical narra-
tive. As the Bible was one of the main subjects of instruction
in the Israel educational system Adar tried to show how the
Bible could be used as a means for character education. He
also wrote The Book of Genesis: An Introduction to the Biblical
Word (1990). He was one of the editors of the Enziklopedyah
Hinnukhit (1961-69). He also wrote Ha-Mikzo ot ha-Humanis-
tim ba-Hinnukh ha-Tikhon (1969), and on Jewish education in
Israel and the U.S. in his book Ha-Hinnukh ha- Yehudi be-Yis-
rael u-ve-Arzot ha-Berit (1970; Jewish Education in Israel and
the United States, 1977). In 1969 he was appointed dean of the
faculty of humanities at the Hebrew University.
ADARBI, ISAAC BEN SAMUEL (15102-15842), rabbi and
halakhic authority. Adarbi was preacher of the congregation
of Lisbon Jews in Salonika and later rabbi of the Congrega-
tion Shalom, Salonika (before 1554). He was a disciple of Jo-
seph *Taitazak (whose novellae he published as an appendix
to his own work) and was a colleague of Samuel b. Moses de
Medina. His efforts to unite the various Salonikan commu-
nities were reflected in his Divrei Shalom (Salonika, 1580), a
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADASA
collection of 30 of his sermons. He appended homiletic com-
ments to the Pentateuch, some chapters of which (on Exo-
dus) are preserved in the Guenzburg Manuscripts (Moscow)
No. 158. Four hundred and thirty of his responsa were pub-
lished in Divrei Rivot (Salonika, 1581; republished Venice, 1587;
Sudzilkon, 1833). These responsa show that he was a halakh-
ist of distinction, fearless in his judgments, and often differ-
ing in his decisions from Samuel de Medina, who in his turn
attributed hostile personal motives to Adarbi (Responsa Ma-
harashdam, HM No. 40). Nevertheless, they approved each
other’s halakhic rulings.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benjacob, Ozar, 106, no. 121, 130; Rosanes,
Togarmah, 2 (1938), 102; I.S. Emmanuel, Histoire des Israélites de Sa-
lonique, 1 (1936), 184-5; idem, Mazzevot Saloniki, 1 (1963), 159-60;
M.S. Goodblatt, Jewish Life in Turkey in the 16* Century (1952), 18,
passim.
[Abraham Hirsch Rabinowitz]
ADASA (Heb. nU19, Hadashah). (1) A village on a small hill
strategically overlooking the Beth-Horon road close to the
place of Judah Maccabee’s final victory over Nicanor. Nica-
nor fell in the battle and his army fled toward Gazera/Gezer
(1 Macc. 7:39-40, 45; cf. Elasa which is probably a scribal er-
ror for Adasa in 11 Macc. 14:6). The town is mentioned in the
Mishnah as a place with 50 inhabitants, or with three court-
yards and two households (Er. 5:6). It is the present-day Khir-
bet ‘Adasa, a little more than 5 mi. (9 km.) north of Jerusalem.
‘The site has not been excavated, but visible archaeological re-
mains include the remains of a settlement with scattered Hero-
dian, Roman, and Byzantine pottery, rock-hewn caves, and ag-
ricultural features round about. This site is not to be confused
with another Khirbet ‘Adasa north of Jerusalem, situated im-
mediately to the northeast of Tell el-Ful, mentioned by some
scholars, which has remains that only date back to Mamluk
times. Yet another Khirbet ‘Adasa is situated west of Gibeon
(el-Jib), but the remains there are primarily of the Byzantine
period. (2) Hadashah/Adasa is also the name of a town in the
Shephelah of Judah. It is mentioned in Joshua 15:37 and located
close to Migdal-Gad and Zenan. Since Lachish and Eglon are
referred to in the same district, Adasa's location should prob-
ably be sought in southwest Judah. However, no convincing
suggestion has thus far been proposed for the site. Eusebius
(26:1) situated Adasa of Joshua 15:37 at a totally different lo-
cation, close to Gophna (Jifna), but Jerome (27:1) rightly ex-
pressed his doubts about this identification.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Bagatti, Ancient Christian Villages of
Samaria (2002), 20-21; B. Bar-Kochva, Judas Maccabaeus (1989),
349 ff.; M. Fischer, B. Isaac, and I. Roll, Roman Roads in Judaea.
11: The Jaffa-Jerusalem Roads (1996), 120-22; G.S.P. Freeman-Gren-
ville, R.L. Chapman, and J.E. Taylor, The Onomasticon by Eusebius
of Caesarea (2003), 22-105; A. Kloner, Survey of Jerusalem: The North-
eastern Sector (2001), 21; Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J. Green, Tab-
ula Imperii Romani. Iudea, Palaestina. Maps and Gazetteer (1994),
57-
[Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
383
ADASKIN, MURRAY
ADASKIN, MURRAY (1905-2002), Canadian violinist,
conductor, composer, teacher. Adaskin was born in Toronto
of Russian immigrant parents. He studied music in Toronto
and while still in his teens became a violinist with the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra (1923-36). He played with the Banff
Springs Trio (1932-41) and Toronto Trio (1938-52). Adaskin
was a major figure in the decentralization of Canadian con-
cert music. From the 1930s to 1950s, he toured the country
with his wife, Frances James, Canada’s leading soprano, and
both were pioneers in disseminating contemporary music by
radio broadcasting.
After studying composition with John Weinzweig (1944)
and, in Santa Barbara and Aspen with Charles Jones (1949-51)
and Darius Milhaud (1949-53), Adaskin was appointed to
the University of Saskatchewan (1952-72). There he served
as head of music and composer-in-residence and conducted
the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (sso). In 1973, he moved
to Victoria, where he continued to compose and teach violin
and composition.
A leader in postwar cultural nationalism, Adaskin in-
sisted that the sso commission Canadian works annually and
based many of his own pieces on Canada’s landscape and early
history as well as its First Nations’ traditions. A conservative
modernist, Adaskin’s neo-classic works also include music on
Jewish themes. His T’filat Shalom (1973) was commissioned
by the father of Adaskin’s violin student Jeff Krolik who pre-
miered the piece in Jerusalem.
A founding member of the Canadian League of Compos-
ers, Adaskin served on the Canada Council (1966-69) and was
named an Officer of the Order of Canada (1980).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Lazarevich, The Musical World of Frances
James and Murray Adaskin (1988).
[Jay Rahn (24 ed.)]
ADASS JESHURUN, ADASS JISROEL, originally the
breakaway (Austritt) minority of Orthodox congregations
in Germany in the mid-19* century (see *Neo-Orthodoxy).
These congregations dissociated themselves on religious
grounds from the unitary congregations established by state
law in which the majority tended toward *Reform Judaism.
Their main aim was to safeguard strict adherence to Jewish
law. The Hebrew terms Adass (or Adat, Adath) Jeshurun and
Adass Jisroel, meaning “congregation of Jeshurun” and “con-
gregation of Israel,” were chosen by these congregations to ex-
press their conviction that, even if in the minority, they were
the “true Israel.” The names were cherished for their sociore-
ligious connotations by Orthodox groups in the West where
Reform Judaism was widespread. ‘The Israelitische Religion-
sgesellschaft of Frankfurt on the Main, with Samson Raphael
*Hirsch as rabbi, called itself Adass Jeshurun from 1851, as
did a similar community in Cologne from 1867. The congre-
gation founded in Berlin in 1869, the first rabbi of which was
Azriel *Hildesheimer, and one in Koenigsberg in 1913, chose
the name Adass Jisroel. The Berlin Adass Jisroel established
384
its own educational network. Between 1890 and 1903 there
was an Adass Jeshurun congregation in Belfast, composed
of immigrants from Russia. In England, the strictly Ortho-
dox congregation which grew out of the north London bet
ha-midrash (1909) was called Adath Yisroel. After 1933, im-
migrants from Germany, loyal to the concept of Adass Jisroel,
formed a congregation in northwest London; Manchester has
both an Adass Jeshurun and an Adass Jisroel synagogue. Such
communities have also been formed in various places in the
United States, the best-known in Washington Heights, New
York City. Others exist in Canada, Australia, South Africa,
and Israel. The names have also been used by other groups,
e.g., by the Reform Adass Jeshurun in Amsterdam in 1796.
The synagogue of an Adas Israel congregation in Louisville,
Ky., was consecrated in 1849.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Schwab, History of Orthodox Jewry in
Germany (1950); A. Carlebach, Adath Yeshurun of Cologne (1964);
M. Sinasohn, Adass Yisroel Berlin (1966).
[Alexander Carlebach]
ADDA BAR AHAVAH (Ahavah).
(1) Babylonian amora of the third century. He was born
on the day R. Judah ha-Nasi died (Kid. 72a-b; Gen. R. 58:2).
A distinguished pupil of Rav, he twice rent his garments in
mourning for Rav’s death; the second time, when he realized
that there was now no authority to consult on halakhic matters
(Ber. 42b-43a). His main interest centered on halakhah, which
is reported in his name by the leading sages of his day. He was
extremely pious and reputed to work miracles; his contem-
poraries were convinced that in his company no hurt would
befall them (Taan. 20b). During a drought his prayers for rain
were answered immediately (TJ, Taan. 3:13, 67a). When asked
by the sages how he had attained a ripe old age, he replied:
“No one ever came to synagogue before me, or remained be-
hind when I left. I have not walked four cubits without medi-
tating on the Torah, and never in an unclean place. I have not
indulged in regular sleep. I have not disturbed my colleagues
at the academy, nor called any of them by a nickname. I have
not rejoiced at a colleague's misfortune, nor gone to sleep with
an angry thought against a colleague. I have not gone in the
market place to anyone who owed me money, nor ever lost my
temper at home’ (TJ, Taan. 3:13, 67a; cf. Taian. 20b). Another
dictum is: “One who has sinned and confesses his sin but is
unrepentant is to be compared to a person who holds in his
hand an unclean insect. Even though he immerses himself in
all the waters of the world, nothing avails him” (Ta’an. 16a).
In TJ, Taanit 2:1, 65a this statement with slight variations is
ascribed to Abba b. Zavda. A work entitled Baraita (Tekufah)
de-Rav Adda dealing with the principles of intercalation is as-
cribed to Adda. It is no longer extant, but it was still known
in the 14" century (Zunz-Albeck, Derashot 274).
(2) Babylonian amora of the fourth century. A favor-
ite pupil of Rava who called him “my son,” he esteemed his
teacher so highly that he said to his colleagues: “Instead of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
gnawing bones under Abbaye, you should rather eat fat meat
under Rava” (BB 22a), Many of the rabbis blamed themselves
for his premature death because of their treatment of him
(ibid.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 102-3; Frankel, Mevo,
61b.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ADDIR BI-MELUKHAH (Heb. 11939732 178; “Mighty in
Kingship”), acrostical hymn recited toward the close of the
Passover seder in the Ashkenazi and some other rites. It enu-
merates various attributes of God in the first two lines of each
strophe, followed by a list of the various types of angels and
the praises which they voice.
The hymn is first found in German manuscripts of the
early 13" century and was probably written in Germany about
that time.
In the Ez Hayyim of the 13'*-century Jacob Hazzan of
London (edited by I. Brodie, 1 (1960), 332), an additional
stanza gives the acrostic Jacob, and conceivably this author
wrote the poem.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Responsa Meir of Rothenburg, ed. by Y.Z. Ka-
hana, 1 (1957), 279, no. 462; Zunz, Vortraege, 133; Kaufmann, in: JQrR, 4
(1892), 32, 560-1; Davidson, Ozar, 2 (1929), s.v. Ki Lo Nach; E.D. Gold-
schmidt, Pessach-Haggada (Heb., Ger., 1937), 100-2; idem, Haggadah
shel Pesah (1947), 74-75; idem, Haggadah shel Pesah (1960), 97.
ADDIR HU (Heb. 817: 1°78; “Mighty is He”), a hymn in the
form of an alphabetic acrostic enumerating the qualities of
God (mighty, blessed, great), and imploring Him to rebuild
the Temple, a prayer which is repeated in the refrain:
“Speedily, speedily/In our days, and soon to come;/ Build,
O God! Build, O God/ Build Thy house speedily”
Addir Hu is one of several hymns added to the Passover
*Haggadah in the Middle Ages to be chanted after the con-
clusion of the formal part of the *seder service according to
the Ashkenazi rite. Since the 16" century Addir Hu appears
in printed texts. A Judeo-German version recited by Ashke-
nazi Jews was first printed in Gershom b. Solomon ha-Kohen’s
Haggadah (Prague, 1527). Because of the refrain in that ver-
sion (Bau dein Tempel shire) the Jews of southern and western
Germany called the seder night “Baunacht” and the celebrat-
ing of the seder “bauen,” i.e., to build. In the Avignon Mahzor
(1775) it is recited on all festivals.
{Ernst Daniel Goldschmidt]
Music
Only in the Ashkenazi tradition is Addir Hu given greater
prominence than the other Haggadah songs. It is sung to ba-
sically the same tune in all Jewish homes, and this is used in
the synagogue as a musical motif of the festival. The music ap-
peared in print as early as 1644 but may be even older, since
one of its variants is in a Shtayger scale with a diminished
seventh. In the 18 century it was often quoted in cantorial
Passover compositions. In the synagogue, the tune is used in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADELAIDE
various parts of the service, including the *Hallel, the *Kaddish
over the Scroll of the Law, and the Priestly Benediction. The
domestic versions introduce many variations, abbreviations,
and distortions characteristic of folk music.
[Hanoch Avenary]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.D. Goldschmidt, Haggadah shel Pesah
(1960), 75; Davidson, Ozar, 1 (1924), 52, no. 1086; E. Pauer, Traditional
Hebrew Melodies (1896); Selig, in: Der Jude, 3 (1769), 385-7 (see fac-
simile). music: Idelsohn, Melodien, 6, pt. 1 (1932), 63, no. 155; 68-69,
NOS. 164, 165, 167; 72, NO. 171; $3, NO. 199; 184, no. 200; ldelsohn, Music,
index (18'h-cent. works); EJ. Fétis, Histoire générale de la Musique, 1
(1869), 467 (earliest Oriental version).
ADEL (Hodel), only daughter of *Israel b. Eliezer Baal Shem
Tov. Hasidim recall her name with veneration and she figures
in many hasidic legends. She cared for her father on his sick-
bed. Her husband Jehiel Ashkenazi was honored by contem-
porary Hasidim and by his father-in-law. The couple earned
their living from the store which she supervised. She was the
mother of the zaddikim *Moses Hayyim Ephraim of Sudylkow
and *Baruch of Medzibezh. Her daughter, Feige, the wife
of Simhah b. Nahman of Gorodenka (Horodenca), was the
mother of *Nahman of Bratslav who said of his grandmother
that “all the zaddikim believed her to be endowed with Divine
Inspiration, and a woman of great perception.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Shivhei ha-Besht (1931), 108-9, 180-1; Maasiy-
yot me-ha-Gedolim ve-ha-Zaddikim (1909), 33-38.
[Mordecai Ben- Yehezkiel]
ADELAIDE, capital of South Australia, established in 1836.
Among its first settlers were a number of Jews engaged in
commerce and sheep farming. Joseph Barrow Montefiore,
a cousin of Sir Moses *Montefiore, who became in 1832 the
first president of the Sydney Synagogue, lived in Adelaide at
the time of the founding of the synagogue there. Local Jew-
ish life was stimulated after 1838 by Emanuel Solomon from
Sydney, who organized religious services on the New Year
and the Day of Atonement and in 1845 successfully applied to
the government for land for a cemetery. In 1847 Eliezer Levi
Montefiore sought state support for Jewish religious institu-
tions. In 1848 there were 58 Jews living in Adelaide, and the
first congregation was organized with Judah Moss Solomon
as its president. J.B. Montefiore gave addresses in English
during the High Holidays. The first synagogue, used also as
a schoolroom, was opened in 1850 and the present one, ad-
joining it, in 1870, when the community numbered 435. A.T.
*Boas was invited to act as minister in 1870 and served for
nearly half a century. Vabian Louis *Solomon, son of Judah
Moss Solomon, was premier of the colony for a brief period in
1898. The community declined considerably in numbers after
World War 1, but there was a subsequent increase, especially
with the emigration of Jews from Egypt after the mid-1950s.
Since the 1960s the Jewish population of Adelaide has num-
bered about 1,200, although, unlike most other Jewish com-
munities in Australia, there has been a decline in population
385
ADELANTADOS
in recent years. In 2001, according to the Australian census,
979 persons declared themselves to be Jewish by religion. An
Orthodox and a Liberal synagogue operated. There were no
other organized Jewish communities in South Australia apart
from Adelaide, where the South Australian Board of Deputies
had its headquarters.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Munz, Jews in South Australia (1936);
Saphir (trans. by Falk), in: Journal of the Australian Jewish Histori-
cal Society, 1 (1948), 192-4; Goldman, ibid., 4 (1958), 351, 376; Apple,
ibid., 6 (1968), 206-7, 209-10. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.L. Rubin-
stein, in: JA 1, index, and WD. Rubinstein, in: JA 11, index; B.K. Hy-
ams, Surviving: A History of the Institutions and Organisations of the
Adelaide Jewish Community (1998).
[Israel Porush / William D. Rubinstein (2™4 ed.)]
ADELANTADOS (singular Adelantado or Adelantatus),
one of the designations applied in documents of Christian
*Spain to the parnasim, elective members of the Jewish com-
munity board who were invested with executive authority.
They are sometimes referred to in Castile as viejos (Heb.
zekenim; “elders”) or muqudddmin, in Catalonia as fideles
(Heb. ne’manin; “trustees”), and in Aragon and Navarre both
as muqaddamin and as jurados.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Neuman, Spain, index s.v. mukkadmin.
ADELKIND, ISRAEL CORNELIUS (16 century), Italian
printer. Adelkind was the son of a German immigrant who
settled in Padua. He worked in the publishing house of Dan-
iel *Bomberg in Venice from the time of its establishment,
except for intervals at other Venetian publishers, such as Dei
Farri (1544; where one of his brothers and later his son Dan-
iel also worked) and Giustiniani (1549-52). Adelkind greatly
admired the Bomberg family, adding the name of Daniel
Bomberg’s father, Cornelius, to his own, and named his son
after Daniel himself.
Adelkind supervised the publication of the first editions
of the two Talmuds (1520-23), which Bomberg printed, and
the Midrash Rabbah (1554) printed jointly by Bomberg and
Giustiniani. In 1553 the printer Tobias Foa invited Adelkind
to manage a printing press in Sabbioneta and, in particular,
to supervise the publication of the Talmud. However, a ban
was imposed on the Talmud in 1553 after only a few tractates
had appeared. Nevertheless, he remained with the firm until
1555 and took part in the publication of other works. He also
printed books in Judeo-German, e.g., Elijah Levita’s transla-
tion of the Psalms (1545). The statement of a Christian con-
temporary that Adelkind was converted to Christianity is
questionable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.W. Amram, Makers of Hebrew Books in
Italy (1909), 176, 180ff.; J. Bloch, Venetian Printers of Hebrew Books
(1932), 12 ff., 22ff.; Sonne, in: Ks, 4 (1927/28), 57; 5 (1928/29), 176, 278;
6 (1929/30), 145; Perles, Beitraege zur Geschichte der hebraeischen und
aramaeischen Studien (1884), 209ff.; British Museum, Catalogue of
Italian Books 1465-1600 (1958), 758-9.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
386
ADELMAN, URI (1958-2004), Israeli writer. Adelman stud-
ied and later taught musicology at Tel Aviv University, wrote
for the stage and for television, and published four books on
computers. His reputation rests on four thrillers, all of them
bestsellers, which combine wit, erudition, and suspense. The
first, “Concerto for Spy and Orchestra” (1993), intertwines es-
pionage and musicology within the confines of the Pravoslav
church in Jerusalem. “Lost and Found” (1998) was followed
by “Tropic of Venus” (2000), a story of love and mysterious
identities which won Israel’s Golden Book Prize. Adelman’s
last novel, published shortly before his sudden death, is enti-
tled Shaot Metot (“Dead Hours”), a thriller played out against
the background of the Intifada, in which a young surgeon who
wishes to save lives finds himself accused of homicide.
WEBSITE: www.ithLorg.il.
[Anat Feinberg (24 ed.)]
ADELSON, HOWARD LAURENCE (1925-2003), U.S. me-
dieval historian. Born in New York, Adelson taught at Prince-
ton, served with the U.S. Air Force in the Korean War, and
then joined the faculty of City College, New York. He began
teaching economic history, early medieval history, and an-
cient and medieval numismatics in 1954 and remained there
for nearly 50 years. He developed the Ph.D. program in medi-
eval history at the Graduate Center at City University of New
York (1969). He was also an officer of the National Commit-
tee on American Foreign Policy.
An ardent Zionist active in Jewish affairs, he served,
from 1994, as co-chair of American Academics for Israel’s
Future; was on the Board of Governors of the Hebrew Uni-
versity of Jerusalem; chaired the Academic Affairs Commit-
tee of the University’s Rothenberg International School; and,
in the last ten years of his life, was chairman of the Anna
Sobel Levy Foundation, which supports junior U.S. military
officers studying Israel. For more than 20 years he wrote a
weekly column for the Jewish Press that had a large follow-
ing. Adelson was active as well in the American Numismatic
Society and did research in medieval economic history and
political thought. Among his achievements was the discov-
ery, by analyzing the movement of coins, that there had been
trade between the eastern and western halves of the Byzan-
tine Empire. Adelson’s books include: Light Weight Solidi and
Byzantine Trade during the Sixth and Seventh Centuries (1957);
The American Numismatic Society 1858-1958 (1958); and Me-
dieval Commerce (1962).
[Ruth Beloff (2™4 ed.)]
ADELSTEIN-ROZEANU, ANGELICA (1921-2006), Roma-
nian table tennis player; considered the greatest female table
tennis player in history, winning 18 world titles, including six
straight singles championships from 1950 to 1955. Born in Bu-
charest, Romania, Adelstein-Rozeanu was the first Romanian
woman to win a world title in any sport. She began playing at
the age of nine and won her first title in competitive play at the
age of 12. She won the Romanian National Women’s Cham-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
pionship in 1936 at age 15 and won it every year until 1957 ex-
cluding the war years. In addition to her run of individual
world titles, she picked up seven gold medals in women’s and
mixed doubles between 1950 and 1956 and helped Romania
win the team championship in 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, and 1956.
Adelstein-Rozeanu served as president of the Romanian Ta-
ble Tennis Commission from 1950 to 1960, and in 1954 was
awarded the Merited Master of Sport, the highest sports dis-
tinction in Romania. She also received four Order of Work
honors from her government. Adelstein-Rozeanu moved to
Israel in 1960, where she won the Maccabiah Games Table
Tennis Championship in 1961 and the Israeli national cham-
pionship in 1960-1962.
[Elli Wohlgelernter (274 ed.)]
ADEN, port and city in S.W. Arabia, now part of the Federa-
tion of South Arabia, possibly identical with the Eden referred
to in Ezekiel 27:23. Aden had a medieval Jewish community of
great importance for the history of Jewish letters. It reached
its peak during the 12" century. About 150 letters and docu-
ments written in, sent to, or concerning Aden were found in
the Cairo Genizah. In addition, Yemenite Jews of that period
communicated with other Jewish communities via Aden. By
the end of the 11 century there was a “representative of the
merchants” in Aden, Abu Ali Hasan (Heb. Japheth) ibn Bun-
dar (probably a name of Persian origin). He bore the Hebrew
title sar ha-kehillot (“chief of the congregations”), which in-
dicates that he was head of the Jewish communities of both
Aden and *Yemen. His son, *Madmiin, was “nagid of the Land
of Yemen?”
In addition to business and family ties, there were com-
munal and religious relations between the Jews of Aden and
practically all the Jewish communities of the Islamic empire.
“Aden and India” formed one juridical diocese: the Jewish
merchants and craftsmen of about 20 different ports of India
and Ceylon were under the jurisdiction of the rabbinical court
of Aden. In Yemen itself the authority of the court of Aden
extended as far as Sa‘da, the northernmost important Jewish
community of the country. In turn, the rabbinical court of
Aden regarded itself subordinate to that of the Egyptian cap-
ital, which had been instituted by the head of the Palestinian
academy. In a letter addressed in 1153 to Old Cairo, the rabbis
of Aden describe themselves as authorized by their exilarch
and their nagid, but add that they acknowledge their “masters
in Egypt” as an authority higher than themselves (see Strauss
(Ashtor), in Zion, 4 (1939), 226, 231).
Conflict of Religious Authority
Because of relations with both Iraq and Palestine-Egypt, the
Jewish community of Aden was drawn into the rivalry be-
tween the respective Jewish authorities. The dissensions of the
Old Cairo community were transmitted to Aden, where they
erupted in the spring of 1134. On the Sabbath before Passover
that year, a scholarly Jew from Sa‘da was asked to lead the com-
munity in prayer. Following his home custom and the written
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADEN
instructions of the nagid Madmin, he mentioned both the ex-
ilarch and the Palestinian gaon in his sermon. However, the
Old Cairo opponents of Mazli’ah, who happened to be pres-
ent, objected; and a cousin of the exilarch, recognized as his
representative, forced the scholar from Sa‘da to recant his er-
ror publicly. After Passover the merchants from North Africa
and Egypt who went to Aden - most of them ardent followers
of the Palestinian gaon - gathered around Halfon b. Nethanel
Dimyati, known in Hebrew literature as an intimate friend of
the poet Judah Halevi. The followers of Mazli’ah even threat-
ened to apply to the Fatimid authorities to settle the dispute,
but did not carry out the threat.
It is known that at the end of the 11" or the beginning
of the 12" century the Jews of Aden contributed regularly to
the upkeep of the academies of Iraq (see Goitein, in Tarbiz,
31 (1961/62), 363). Madman and other well-to-do merchants
of Aden also sent regular contributions consisting partly of
money and partly of precious Oriental spices and clothes to
the gaon and members of the rabbinical court in Old Cairo.
The Jews of Aden and Yemen submitted religious que-
ries to the scholars of Egypt even before the time of Maimo-
nides. For example, Madman once sent gaon Mazli’ah a set of
translucent Chinese porcelain accompanied by the religious
query, often repeated in later sources, whether china should
be regarded ritually as glass or pottery. Isaac b. Samuel ha-
Sephardi, one of the two chief judges of Old Cairo between
1095-1127, sent responsa to Yemen, which, like Maimonides’
letters to Yemen, were certainly sent via Aden. (See the article
on *nagid for the later negidim of Aden and Yemen.)
The Aden tradition of contributing to the academies
of Iraq and Palestine was extended to that of *Maimonides.
A very large donation for it is indicated in a letter sent from
Aden. Abraham, Maimonides’ son and successor, answered
queries addressed to him by the scholars of Aden.
Adani and Yemenite Jews
The impressive number of chiefs of congregations and negi-
dim of Aden in the 11" and 12" centuries and later may be
misleading: these notables did not exercise authority over
the Jews of Yemen throughout the whole period. Despite the
close connection between the Jews of Aden and those of in-
ner Yemen, there were tangible differences between them,
and they were referred to as “Adani” and “Yemeni,” respec-
tively, when traveling abroad. In the 12" century Adanis were
found in Egypt and as far west as Mamsa in Morocco (cf. DIT,
no. 109 (= manuscript Cambridge, T.-s., 12. 1905), Yosef al-
‘Adani al-Mamsawi).
There were also Karaites in Aden. They tried to gain ad-
herents to their beliefs, and the poems of Abraham Yiju in
honor of Madmin b. Japheth credit him with crushing their
efforts. Disputations with Karaites are reflected in Yemenite
writings of that period.
The Importance of Aden for Hebrew Literature
The Jews of Aden were ardent collectors of books. Madmin b.
387
ADEN
David in his letter of July 1202 asked to have the medical trea-
tises of Maimonides and other useful books sent to him; he
specifically requested copies written on good paper and in a
clear hand. The Jews of Aden were such avid bibliophiles that
the Egyptian India traveler Halfon b. Nethanel went there for
books that he could not get elsewhere (DIT, no. 246). Many
of the most important literary creations written in Hebrew,
such as the poems of Judah Halevi and Moses ibn Ezra, have
been preserved in manuscripts found in Yemen. The Midrash
ha-Gadol of David *Adani shows that he possessed an excep-
tionally rich, specialized library, containing works that have
not yet been found in their entirety elsewhere.
Most of the letters from Aden, consisting predominantly
of business correspondence, are in Arabic, which was in those
days the lingua franca of commerce throughout the Islamic
world and beyond. However, the often very long Hebrew po-
ems appended to these letters, as well as the personal letters
written in Hebrew, prove that their writers were well versed
in Hebrew literature and inclined toward the midrashic style
and the piyyut.
Jewish Tombstones
A great many tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions were
found in Aden. Some are preserved in the British Museum
and many more in museums in Aden, but most of them have
become known through rubbings and photographs made of
tombs still in situ. The oldest inscriptions are from the 12
century; and those referring to persons mentioned also in the
genizah documents are of particular interest. There are others
from the 13'* and 14‘ centuries and a great number from the
16'" through the 18". The wording in the older inscriptions is
extremely modest and concise, while the later ones are occa-
sionally more elaborate. In the tombstones of women, as a rule,
the names of their fathers, but not those of their husbands, are
indicated, even when the woman concerned was described as
an ishah hashuvah (“an important lady”). (The comprehensive
study of the subject by H.P. Chajes in the Sitzungsberichte of
the Viennese Academy of Sciences, 147 (1904), no. 3, was com-
plemented by additional material published by I. Ben-Zvi, in
Tarbiz, 22 (1952/53), 198 ff.; E. Subar, in JQR, 49 (1959), 301ff.;
S.A. Birnbaum, in jss, 6 (1961), 95 ff.; and by the critical sur-
vey by S.D. Goitein, in Jss, 7 (1962), 81-84.).
Aden remained a busy port and its Jewish community
prospered well into the 16 century. Despite a decline in Jew-
ish participation in the India trade, Jewish Mediterranean
merchants continued to frequent Aden, and scholars called
Adani and known to have lived in Aden made consider-
able contributions. The replacement of a local dynasty by the
Ottoman Turks in 1538 did not adversely affect the fortunes
of the Jews of Aden. A Muslim book of legal opinions from
the beginning of the Ottoman period gives the number of
Jewish male taxpayers as 7,000. Since taxes customarily were
paid for boys at the age of nine approximately, this number of
taxpayers indicates the existence of about 3,000 Jewish fami-
lies in Aden. In the 18" century, when the India trade was at
388
its lowest ebb and the tribal sultan of Lahj ruled it, Aden fell
into ufversdeeay: [Shelomo Dov Goitein]
Modern Period
A new chapter in the history of Aden Jewry, as part of the po-
litical and economic changes in Aden itself, began with the
conquest of the port and city from the Sultan of Lahj by the
British captain $.B. Haines in 1839, supposedly in response
to the aggressive action of the sultan against a British ship
anchored next to Aden. In fact, the conquest of the port was
intended to assure a safe place to anchor and fuel for British
ships arriving from the Mediterranean basin via the Red Sea
and Aden on their way to India. In 1839 the population of
Aden was only 600, 250 of them Jewish and 50 Banyans (In-
dians). Soon after the British had occupied Aden, the gov-
ernor abrogated the Jews’ status as a protected community
(*dhimmi) and restored discriminatory laws in accordance
with Islamic tradition (Ghiydr). This was done despite the
sultan’s explicit orders. Haines’ reports describe the delighted
reaction of the Jews to the British conquest as do the later ac-
counts of the Jewish sources: Y. Sappir, S.D. Karasso, and M.
ha-Adani. As a result of the occupation, the economic devel-
opment of Aden took wing, especially after the opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869. As a consequence, a profound transforma-
tion occurred in the economic structure of Aden’s Jewry from
traditional handcrafts to various kinds of commerce. Particu-
larly prominent was the Moses (Messa) family, whose head,
Menahem Moses (d. 1864), was the president of the commu-
nity. This family became very wealthy, especially as suppliers
to the British army and its administration in Aden, which
trusted the Jewish merchants more than the Muslim ones. The
Moses family continued to be the social and economic leaders
of Aden Jewry in the next two generations, particularly Mena-
hem Moses’ son, Banin (d. 1922), who succeeded his father as
the head of the family and president of the community.
Because of the equal rights enjoyed by the Jews and the
access to the outside world, Aden became attractive to Ye-
menite Jews. Many Jews emigrated to Aden as refugees escap-
ing Yemen and the deteriorating political situation that par-
ticularly affected Jews and merchants. Jewish ship passengers
and emissaries stopped at Aden and some decided to settle
there. The number of Jews in Aden in 1860 was 1,500 and, by
1945, 4,500 Jews inhabited the city. In this way the Aden com-
munity took on a somewhat “international” character some-
what different from that of Yemen Jewry. Aden became the
entry port to Yemen. Leaders of the local community, such as
Moses Hanoch ha-Levi from the Caucasus and Banin Moses
looked out for the well-being of Yemenite Jews and the refu-
gees passing through Aden on their way to Erez Israel. Banin
Moses even supported educational and outreach institutions
of various Diaspora communities in Jerusalem and many of
the emissaries from Erez Israel used to apply to him for con-
tributions.
The profound political and economic changes did not
result in social and cultural change. The Moses family, and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
especially Banin Moses, who held the economic reins of the
community, virtually controlled single-handedly the social
and religious administration of the community. He stymied
all innovation, such as the establishment of modern schools
and cooperation with the Zionist movement. Asa result, a pro-
fessional class of Jews did not come into being in Aden. Only
after the death in 1924 of Judah Moses, the third family presi-
dent, did a new family president, Selim (1924-38), another son
of Menahem Moses, establish a modern educational system
for girls and boys and strengthen the connections with the
Zionist movement in Erez Israel. His partner in these activi-
ties was Mahalal *Adani. In this way the young generation -
women as well as men - acquired a modern Zionist Hebrew
education; however, none continued on to higher education.
Neither did the small Hebrew printing press established in
Aden in 1891 become a milestone in the cultural development
of the community, as only a small number of religious books
were printed there for the needs of religious life: various li-
turgical books and rules for ritual slaughter.
The abrogation of the status of the Jews as a protected
community led to a deterioration in relations with the Mus-
lim majority, heightened by the conflict with the Arabs in Erez
Israel. Even though the Jewish community in Aden grew in
numbers, the growth of the Muslim community was incom-
parably larger. As opposed to their relative size at the start
of the British occupation in 1839, when they constituted ap-
proximately half the population, at this stage they became just
a small religious minority. Apart from individual Muslim at-
tacks against Jews, a large-scale attack on the Jewish quarter
occurred in 1932 and continued for a few days. The Jewish
stores were pillaged, many Jews were beaten, and the “Farhi”
synagogue was desecrated. The British police showed its indif-
ference by doing little to punish the attackers. Following these
incidents, Aden Jewry no longer felt safe and immigration to
Erez Israel became an alternative. Simultaneously, the Islamic
nationalist movement began to develop in Aden, seeking to
end the British occupation. The situation of the Jews further
deteriorated after the riots in Erez Israel in 1936-39. However,
Yemenite and Aden Jews faced difficulties in immigrating to
Israel because of British Mandate policy, which limited the
number of certificates to Palestine.
In contrast to the declining political and economic situ-
ation, educational and social activities increased among the
young generation in Aden thanks to the numerous emissar-
ies arriving from Erez Israel. These emissaries included Ye-
menite and Aden Jews who had already moved to Israel such
as Yosef ben David, Ovadia Tuvia, Binyamin Ratzabi, and Shi-
mon Shaer (Avizemer). These activities were not approved of
by the traditional Jewish religious authorities, which caused
tension between them and the younger rebellious generation.
But social change was nipped in the bud as Arab violence was
stepped up following the uN decision to establish a Jewish
state in Palestine. In the new pogroms, which continued for
three days with no British intervention, nearly a hundred Jews
were killed in Aden and the nearby city of Sheikh “‘Uthman.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADEN
Others were injured, two Jewish schools were burned down,
and most Jewish stores and small businesses were pillaged.
The Jewish community lost all at once its economic under-
pinning and its faith in the British government. An investigat-
ing committee initiated by the British government did little
to improve the financial and mental state of the Jews. Most
of them preferred to immigrate to Israel with the founding
of the Jewish state. Out of a population of 4,500, only 1,100
remained in 1946. In the mid-1950s, 830 lived there, a small
minority among the 135,000 members of the Muslim commu-
nity. The number of Jews diminished further in the course of
the following years when their political situation worsened
due to the tension between Israel and the Arab states and the
radicalism of the Islamic nationalist Arab movement in Aden
and its struggle against the British occupation. The 1958 inci-
dents are an example of this trend: Jews were attacked in their
synagogues, cars were destroyed, and an attempt was made
to burn the Jewish school. With Britain’s departure after the
Six-Day War in June 1967, many of the Jews who still lived in
Aden left. In the following November an independent state
was established in Aden. The remnants of the Jewish com-
munity arrived partly in Israel and partly in London, leaving
their belongings and institutions behind them. The Jews who
immigrated to London as British citizens joined the members
of the community who had moved there several years earlier.
This strengthened the Aden community in London, which
still retains its religious traditions.
[Yosef Tobi (24 ed.)]
Folklore
The folklore of the Jews of Aden was strongly influenced and
dominated by that of the Jews of *Yemen. This was especially
evident in their narrative lore. Among the unrelated local cus-
toms: The fallit (“mandil”) was worn with green silk edges; a
goat was slaughtered and placed under the bed of a mother in
childbirth; on the first day of the seven-day wedding celebra-
tion a heifer was slaughtered. These animal sacrifices were also
practiced by neighboring non-Jewish tribes, and it is doubtful
whether they stem directly from ancient Jewish traditions.
[Dov Noy]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: R.B. Serjeant, Portuguese off the South Ara-
bian Coast (1963), 139-40; J. Saphir, Even Sappir, 2 (1874); H. von
Maltzan, Reise nach Suedarabien, 1 (1873), 172-81; Mahalal ha-Ad-
ani, Bein Aden le-Teiman (1947); Y. Sémach, Une Mission d’Alliance
au Yémen (1910); S. Yavnieli, Massa le-Teiman (1952); Great Britain,
Admiralty, Handbook of Arabia (1920); Colonial Office, Report of the
Commission of Enquiry into Disturbances in Aden in December 1947
(1948), no. 233; Histadrut ha-Ovdim, Zeror Iggerot al ha-Shoah be-
Aden (1948); Bentwich, in: Jewish Monthly (April 1948); Yesha’ya, in:
Yalkut ha-Mizrah ha-Tikhon (Feb. 1949); Jewish Agency, Dappei Ali-
yah (1949-50); Samuel b. Joseph Yeshua Adani, Nahalat Yosef (1907);
E. Brauer, Ethnologie der jemenitischen Juden (1934); S. Assaf, Mekorot
u-Mehkarim be-Toledot Yisrael (1946); A. Yaari, Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-
Arzot ha-Mizrah, 1 (1937), 86 ff. idem, in: Ks, 24 (1947/48), 70. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Aharoni, Yehudei Aden (1991); idem, The Jews
of the British Crown Colony of Aden (1994); J. Tobi, West of Aden: A
Survey of the Aden Jewish Community (1994).
389
ADENAUER, KONRAD
°ADENAUER, KONRAD (1876-1967), first chancellor of the
postwar German Federal Republic. Son of a Catholic official
in the Cologne law courts, Adenauer was elected in 1906 to
the city council of Cologne on behalf of the Center (Catholic)
Party, and in 1917 became mayor of the city, a post which he
held until he was dismissed by the Nazis in March 1933. Jew-
ish friends helped him financially during the Nazi period. Ad-
enauer was twice arrested by the Gestapo and escaped from a
Nazi prison shortly before the Rhineland was occupied by the
Allies. In 1949 Adenauer emerged as leader of the new party,
the Christian Democratic Union, and was elected chancellor
of the Federal Republic. He was instrumental in gaining its full
sovereignty in 1955. Prompted not only by political motives but
also by his own deep feelings, Adenauer tried to open lines of
communication with the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
His offer of financial assistance coincided with the initiative
of the Israel government and of Jewish organizations which,
immediately after the war, demanded restitution and compen-
sation from the Allies and later from both the East and West
German governments. In 1952, after the *Reparation Agree-
ments with Israel and the Jewish organizations were signed in
Luxembourg, Adenauer proposed to establish full diplomatic
relations with Israel, but was refused. Despite the opposition
to the financial commitment in reparations and compensa-
tion by influential groups both in his own party and outside,
Adenauer realized both its moral importance and its political
advantage for Germany. In 1960 he met with the Israeli prime
minister David *Ben-Gurion in New York and promised to
continue financial aid to Israel after the end of the reparation
commitment. Later, he declared himself ready to supply arms
to Israel. He changed his mind on the establishment of diplo-
matic relations, however, because he feared that it might re-
sult in Arab recognition of East Germany. (See Israel Relations
with *Germany.) In 1966, three years after his resignation from
the post of chancellor, Adenauer visited Israel as a guest of the
Israeli government. He devoted a chapter in his memoirs (Er-
innerungen, 3 vols., 1965-67; in English Memoirs, 1, 1966) to
his relationship with Israel and with world Jewry.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.P. Schwarz, Adenauer (1986-91); H.
Koehler, Adenauer, Eine politische Biographie (1997); Y.A. Jelinek, in:
Orient, 43 (2002), 4157.
[Shlomo Aronson]
ADENI, SOLOMON BAR JOSHUA (1567-1625?), commen-
tator on the Mishnah. In 1571 he immigrated with his father,
a hakham in Sarva, Yemen, and his family to Safed, where
he studied under David Amarillo. In 1577-78 Adeni’s father
moved to Jerusalem. After his father’s death (1582) Adeni, then
in difficult circumstances, was cared for and supported by R.
Moses b. Jacob Alhami. Alhami continued, until his death, to
support Solomon, who arranged Adeni’s marriage in 1590. In
about 1582 Adeni entered the yeshivah of the kabbalist Hayyim
*Vital, but later studied under others as well, among them
Bezalel *Ashkenazi, who came to Jerusalem. Studying in seclu-
sion, he wrote annotations in the margins of the Mishnah, and
390
as these increased, he abbreviated them. It was apparently after
the death of Bezalel Ashkenazi that Adeni settled in Hebron,
where he earned a meager living as a schoolteacher. His wife,
daughter, and two sons died in 1600, apparently from a plague.
His eight children from a second marriage all died in child-
hood from epidemics and diseases.
Adeni’s commentary on the Mishnah, Melekhet She-
lomo, was intended to encompass the entire Torah, explain
the Talmuds, and to concentrate their commentaries and
halakhic discussions in one place. The importance of the work
is twofold: (1) to determine the clearest text of the Mishnah;
and (2) to explain the Mishnah according to primary sources
by his own method.
Adeni made use of many manuscripts of the Mishnah
and the foremost rabbinic authorities then available in Erez
Israel. Adeni’s method is remarkably accurate. He checked
his quotations from primary sources. If the original text was
not available, he noted from whom he copied his citation.
His commentaries are the closest to the literal meaning of the
Mishnah. He comments on the biographies of rabbis and he
illustrates the orders Zera’im and Tohorot with many illustra-
tions, and corrects the classical mishnaic commentators. He
opened his comments with the words “the compiler states” and
when he differed with a scholar, he modestly wrote, “And to
me, a layman, it seems my humble opinion....”
Because of these attributes his work became an indis-
pensable commentary for study of the Mishnah. In addition, it
is an important source for philologists. Yom Tov Heller’s com-
mentary on the Mishnah, Tosafot Yom Tov (Prague, 1585-87)
appeared after Adeni had finished his work. However, praising
Heller’s work highly, Adeni included selections from it when
his book was published. Despite its importance the commen-
tary was printed for the first time only in 1905. Adenialso pro-
duced some of Bezalel Ashkenazi’s glosses and commentar-
ies on the Mishnah and the Talmud in a work called Binyan
Shelomo le-Hokhmat Bezalel.
Another work equally important, but less famous because
it was lost in manuscript, is Divrei Emet, glosses on the Bible.
H.J.D. *Azulai saw this manuscript in Jerusalem and used it
extensively in his work on the Bible, Homat Anakh.
Little is known about Adeni’s later life. The last informa-
tion about him dates from 1625.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 1 (1878), 120, no. 573 2 (1878), 20, no.
7; A. Marx, in: JQR, 2 (1911/12), 266-70; Epstein, Mishnah, 2 (1948),
1290; E.Z. Melamed, in: Sinai, 44 (1959), 346-63; M. Benayahu, ibid.,
30 (1952), 66-68; idem, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (1959), 134.
ADERCA, FELIX (Froim Zeilig; 1891-1962), Romanian nov-
elist and journalist. Born in Puiesti (near Vaslui) and educated
in Craiova, Aderca made his literary debut with volumes of
poetry. The titles of the first two reflect his early preoccupa-
tion with feeling and harmony: Motive si simfonii (“Motifs and
Symphonies,’ 1910) and Fragmente si romante (“Fragments
and Romances,” 1912). Then came the cold, cerebral period of
Reverii sculptate (“Sculptured Reveries,” 1912) and Prin lentile
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
negre (“Through Black Lenses,” 1912), finally emerging into
the sensuality of Stihuri venerice (“Erotic Poems,” 1915). Eroti-
cism was to become the keynote of Aderca’s first novels. Moar-
tea unei republici rosii (“The Death of a Red Republic,” 1924)
gave expression to his deep humanitarianism and pacificism.
The reconstruction of the tragic atmosphere in Romania in
World War 1 in 1916 represents not only Aderca’s outstanding
work but is regarded as one of the best war books ever written.
Two of his novels are distinctly Kafkaesque in form: Aventu-
rile domnului Ionel Lacusta Termidor (“The Adventures of Mr.
Ionel Lacusta Termidor,” 1932) and Revolte. The latter, written
in 1938 but only published in 1945, is a series of sketches lam-
pooning legal procedures.
Ebullient and argumentative, Aderca was a prolific jour-
nalist. His interviews with men of ideas, collected in Marturia
unei generatii (“Testimony of a Generation,” 1929), introduced
a new genre into Romanian literature. In his youth, Aderca
contributed to various Romanian Jewish publications (Ha-
Tikvah, Lumea evree, and Adam) and showed some attach-
ment to Judaism and Zionism. He also published hundreds
of articles about antisemitism. Aderca translated into Roma-
nian books dealing with Jewish themes, among them the tril-
ogy of Sholem Asch. Aderca believed in the idea of symbiosis
between his Judaism and the Romanian language and culture.
Persecuted during the Holocaust period (1938-44), he worked
as a librarian in the Jewish community of Bucharest. He was
unpopular with the Communist regime after World War 11
and from 1947 was allowed to publish virtually nothing but
instructional literature for young people. One of his last works
was a monograph on Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (1948),
the Russian-Jewish refugee literary critic and sociologist who
promoted socialist theories in Romania. Some of Aderca’s lit-
erary works were republished in the “liberalization” period
(after 1965), but most of them were republished only after the
collapse of the Communist regime in Romania (1989). Frag-
ments of his works were translated into Hebrew in Israel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Calinescu, Istoria literaturii romane
(1941), 705-8; T. Teodorescu-Braniste, Oameni si Carti (1923), 71; E.
Lovinescu, Evolutia Poeziei Lirice (1927), 366-8; C. Baltazar, Scriitor
si Om (1946), 11-14. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Mirodan, Dictionar
neconventional, 1 (1986), 25-35, 438-9; M. Aderca, F. Aderca si prob-
lema evreiasca (1999).
[Dora Litani-Littman / Lucian-Zeev Herscovici (274 ed.)]
ADIABENE, district in the upper Tigris region. During most
of the Hellenistic period Adiabene was a vassal kingdom
within the Parthian Empire. From 36 to 60 c.g. Adiabene was
ruled by Izates, son of King *Monobaz and Queen *Helena. By
that time the small kingdom had attained a measure of power
and influence within the Parthian Empire, and it was Izates
who restored the deposed Parthian king Artabanus 111 to his
throne. For this, Izates was granted the extensive territory of
Nisibis and its surroundings, and proceeded to play an im-
portant part in the dynastic struggles within Parthia after the
death of Artabanus 111.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADIABENE
Before he became king, both Izates and his mother Hel-
ena had been converted to Judaism. As a youth, Izates had
been sent to Charax Spasinu (capital of the kingdom of Cha-
rakene, between the Tigris and the Euphrates) and it was
there that he came under the influence of a Jewish merchant
named *Ananias. At the same time, Helena had been con-
verted by another Jew, and when Izates returned to Adiabene
he was determined to complete his own conversion by under-
going circumcision. Against the wishes of Helena and Ana-
nias the rite was performed, for Izates had been convinced
by another Jew, a Galilean named Eleazar, that failure to do
so would be considered “the greatest offense against the law
and thereby against God.” This story, as it appears in Jose-
phus (Ant., 20:34ff.), bears an interesting resemblance to the
account given in the Midrash (Gen. R. 46:11). Monobaz and
Izates were sitting and reading the book of Genesis; when
they came to the verse “ye shall be circumcised,” they began to
weep, and secretly had themselves circumcised. “When their
mother learned of this she went and told their father: ‘A sore
has broken out on our sons’ flesh, and the physician has or-
dered circumcision:” The king then gave his consent to what
had already been performed.
After their conversion the Adiabenian rulers were quick
to establish strong ties with the Jews of Palestine. Apprecia-
tion of their generosity toward the population and the Temple
is expressed in a variety of talmudic sources. “King Monobaz
(older brother and successor to Izates) made of gold all the
handles for the vessels used on the Day of Atonement. His
mother Helena set a golden candlestick over the door of the
Sanctuary. He also donated a golden tablet on which the para-
graph of the Suspected Adulteress was written” (Yoma 3:10; cf.
Tosef. ibid. 2:3; Tj ibid. 3:8, 41a; TB ibid. 37a-b). Josephus re-
ports that when Queen Helena visited Jerusalem (c. 46 C.£.)
the journey greatly benefited the inhabitants, who were suf-
fering from severe famine. Helena sent her attendants to Al-
exandria and Cyprus to procure grain and dried figs, which
were distributed forthwith to the needy. “She left a very great
name that will be famous forever among all our people for
her benefaction. When her son Izates learned of the famine,
he likewise sent a great sum of money to leaders of the Jeru-
salemites” (Jos., Ant., 20:49 ff.). The Mishnah (Naz. 3:6) con-
nects Helena’s pilgrimage to Palestine with a Nazarite vow she
took. With regard to the famine, the Talmud relates that King
Monobaz dissipated all his treasures and those of his ancestors
in years of scarcity. When reproached by members of the court
for squandering his money, Monobaz replied: “My fathers
stored up below and I am storing up above,’ i.e., in heaven
(BB 11a; see also Tosef. Pe'ah 4:18; Ty ibid. 1:1, 15b). This piety
is praised in other sources as well. Although there is no need
to affix a mezuzah to a temporary abode, “the house of King
Monobaz used to do so when staying at a hostel, merely in
remembrance of the mezuzah” (Tosef. Meg. 4:30; Men. 32b).
While in Judea, Helena erected a large sukkah in Lydda for
the Feast of Tabernacles, and it was frequented by the rabbis
(Tosef. Suk. 1:1).
391
ADJIMAN
The allegiance of the Adiabenians to the Jewish State was
again proved during the Roman War of 66-70 in which the
royal family took an active part. Josephus comments that “in
the Jewish ranks the most distinguished for valor were Mono-
baz and Cenedaeus, kinsmen of Monobaz, king of Adiabene”
(JJos., Wars, 2:520).
By the late second century c.£., Judaism must have
been firmly established in Adiabene. Christianity, which usu-
ally spread in existing Jewish communities, was accepted in
Adiabene without difficulty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., index; selected bibliography in Josephus
Works (Loeb Classics edition), 9 (1965), 586; see also Neusner, Baby-
lonia, 1 (1965), 58-64; Schalit, in: ASTI, 4 (1965), 171ff.
[Isaiah Gafni]
ADJIMAN, family in Constantinople. Some members held
important positions at the court of Ottoman sultans in the 18"
and early 19'" centuries. Some Adjimans were purveyors and
treasurers of the Janissaries and therefore were called by the
titles Ocak Bazergani (“Merchant to the Corps”) or Ocak Sar-
rafi (“Banker to the Corps”). The bazergans must have ranked
among the most prominent figures in the Istanbul markets,
conducting large-scale transactions. They were also known
as philanthropists.
BARUCH ADJIMAN was the first rich man of the fam-
ily in Istanbul. He settled in Jerusalem and died there in
1744. His two sons, Yeshaya Adjiman (d. 1751-2) and Eliya
Adjiman, remained in Istanbul. His daughter was married to
David Zonana.
ELIYA ADJIMAN was one of the wealthiest persons in
the Jewish community and a philanthropist who helped Rabbi
Ezra *Malkhi during his visit to Istanbul in 1755. His sons
were Baruch, Abraham, and David Adjiman. He was ocak
bazergani in 1770.
YESHAYA ADJIMAN died in 1751 or 1752 and like his
brother was one of the wealthiest Jews in Istanbul. His sons
were Baruch (first mentioned in 1755 and last information
from 1791/2 or 1803) and Jacob, who is mentioned in the years
1755 and 1769/70.
BARUCH ADJIMAN was ocak bazergani from 1766-68 to
1782. It is not clear if he was the son of Eliya or of Yeshaya, as
each had sons named Baruch. He was a wealthy man and a
philanthropist in Istanbul. Jewish and Ottoman sources tell
about his financial difficulties during the war between the
Ottoman Empire and Russia (1768-74) and also in 1777. He
left many debts. There is also a document from the year 1791/2
in which Baruch, son of Yeshaya Adjiman, signed his name as
Pakid Erez Israel in Istanbul.
Another YESHAYA ADJIMAN signed his name as Pakid
Yerushalayim in Istanbul. There are documents which deal
with his assistance in 1820 in building a hotel in Jaffa for pil-
grims to the Jewish festivals. He was the last Jewish ocak ba-
zergani, serving from c. 1820 until he was executed with Bek-
hor Isaac *Carmona in 1826. An elegy was written in their
memory.
392
ABRAHAM ADJIMAN was appointed a member of par-
liament in Istanbul in 1877-78. He served as the head of the
Jewish community in Istanbul in 1880 but, following a dispute
in which he was involved, he ceased to occupy his office. The
dispute was between Adjiman and Nissim bar Nathan, who
declared that Adjiman had wished to do harm to the rabbis,
wishing to control the meat tax, which the rabbis opposed. In
response Adjiman did not pay the chief rabbi his salary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Franco, Essai sur l’histoire des Israélites de
l Empire Ottoman (1897), 134; A. Galanté, Histoire des Juifs d’'Istanbul,
2 (1942), 58; Yehudei ha-Mizrah be Erez Yisrael, 2 (1938), 28-29; Ben-
Zvi, Erez Yisrael, 677. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rosanes, Togarmah, 5,
141-43, 416-17; Yaari, Sheluhei, 663; H. Kayali, in: A. Levy (ed.), The
Jews of the Ottoman Empire (1994), 509-17; A. Levy, in: ibid., 427-28;
idem, in: M. Rozen (ed.), Yemei ha-Sahar (1994), 257-61.
[Abraham Haim / Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky (274 ed.)]
ADLER, family originally from *Frankfurt. There are different
theories as to the origin of the family name. According to one,
the early members of the family lived in a house bearing the
sign of an eagle (Ger. Adler). The main branch, whose mem-
bers were kohanim, i.e., of priestly stock, traced its descent to
Simeon Kayyara (see *Halakhot Gedolot), the presumed author
of the Yalkut Shimoni. The first outstanding member of the
family was the kabbalist Nathan B. Simeon “Adler (1741-1800),
whose pedigree may be traced back to an earlier Nathan
Adler of the beginning of the 18 century. MARCUS (MOR-
DECHAI; d. 1843), served as dayyan in Frankfurt and subse-
quently for 25 years as rabbi of Hanover. He had six children,
most noted of whom was Nathan Marcus *Adler (1803-1890)
who became the chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi congregations
of Great Britain in 1848. He was succeeded by his second son,
Hermann Naphtali *Adler (1839-1911). Nathan Marcus’ el-
dest son, MARCUS NATHAN ADLER (1837-1911), mathemati-
cian and educator, was active in England in Jewish commu-
nal life and published a critical edition and translation of the
Travels of Benjamin of Tudela (1907, reprinted 1964); a half-
brother Elkan Nathan *Adler (1861-1946), Nathan’s youngest
son, was an outstanding Hebrew bibliophile. Marcus Nathan's
son HERBERT MARCUS (b. 1876), a lawyer, was director of
Jewish education in London. Hermann’s daughter NETTIE
(1869-1950), a social worker and educator, wrote articles on
child welfare.
A second Adler family, unconnected with the Frankfurt
family (above), originated in Worms. The first known, ISA AC
ADLER (d. 1823), served as rabbi in Worms from 1810. One of
his sons, Samuel *Adler (1809-1891), was rabbi in New York.
Samuel’s son, Felix *Adler (1851-1933), was founder of the
*Ethical Culture movement.
[Cecil Roth]
ADLER, US. theatrical family. The founder was JACOB ADLER
(1855-1926), one of the leading Jewish actor-managers of his
time, and a reformer of the early Yiddish theater. Born in
Odessa, he first acted with amateurs, and in 1879 joined one
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER FAMILY NATHAN ADLER
FRANKFURT
D. 1707
ADLER
——
LEZER
d.1746
MEIR
SALMAN
a
SIMEON MARCUS SOLOMON
d.1756 MORDECAI SCHIFF
d.1758
NATHAN BAER YENTE DAVID TEVELE *SCHIFF
pietist d.1767 SCHIFF Chief Rabbi in London from 1765
1741-1800 | d. 1792
MARCUS
MORDECAI BAER
HIRSCH MOSES
WORMS
REBECCA
rabbi of Hanover FRAENKEL
®
d. 1843 |
NATHAN M. GABRIEL BAER @) ESTHER
Chief Rabbi of England HENRIETTA CELESTINE rabbi of Oberdorf WORMS
from 1845 WORMS LEHFELD
b. 1803 Hanover
d. 1890 Brighton
MARCUS N. HERMANN N. ELKAN N.
actuary and scholar Chief Rabbi of England bibliophile
b. 1837 Hanover from 1891 1861-1946
d. 1911 London b. 1839 Hanover
d. 1911 London
HERBERT M. Rev. alfred HENRIETTA RUTH D. ALFRED EICHHOLZ
director of Jewish 1876-1910 (NETTIE) educationalist
education in London public worker 1869-1933
1876-1940 1869-1950
1
of Abraham *Goldfaden’s touring companies. Good looks as-
sured him early success in young-lover roles and he continued
touring until the Czarist prohibition of Yiddish theater in 1883
forced him to leave Russia. In London, he appeared with his
second wife, Dinah Lipna, in melodramas and in Gutzkow’s
Uriel Acosta. Success brought him invitations from New York,
but he remained in London until disaster struck the Jewish
Theater at the Prince's Club in January 1887 when a false cry of
“Fire” caused a stampede and the death of 17 people. Arriving
in the U.S., he found himself crowded out of New York and he
could play only in Chicago. He returned to Europe on a tour
which included Warsaw, Lodz, Lemberg, and London, and
which made his reputation as a dynamic actor of striking per-
sonality. Returning to New York in 1890, he opened at Poole’s
Theater with a play that failed, but he quickly followed it with
Moshele Soldat (“Soldier Moshele”) which was an immediate
success and made him an idol of the Yiddish theater.
As an actor, Adler was often criticized as stagy, but he
could always captivate an audience and he displayed remark-
able power in heroic roles. He was dissatisfied with the melo-
dramas and operettas then in vogue, and looked for plays
that gave him dramatic scope. He found them in the work
of Jacob *Gordin, a serious writer whose plays other actors
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
had rejected. The two produced Gordin’s Siberia (1891) and
inaugurated what has been called the “golden epoch” of the
Yiddish theater. They followed this success with Gordin’s The
Great Socialist, Der Yidisher King Lear, and Der Vilder Mensh.
In these productions, Adler achieved a triumph which was
capped by his appearance as Shylock in Shakespeare's The
Merchant of Venice, 1893, playing in Yiddish while the rest of
the cast played in English.
In ensuing years, Adler controlled various theaters such
as The People’s and the Grand, where his children often per-
formed with him. He interspersed serious plays with melo-
dramas. After World War 1, now almost a legendary figure, he
went on brief tours, appeared in the film Michael Strogoff, and
was portrayed in a Broadway play, Cafe Crown, which satirized
his flamboyant way of life and his large family. Illness made
his later appearances infrequent, but he never lost his glam-
our for the Jewish public. His memoirs, serialized in Yiddish
in Die Varheit, mostly between 1916 and 1919, appeared for
the first time in English in 1999 as A Life on the Stage. In it he
describes his tempestuous actor’s life in the Ukraine and the
pogroms he barely escaped.
SARA ADLER (LEVITSKY; C. 1858-1953), Adler’s third
wife, played opposite her husband and became associated
393
ADLER, ALEXANDRE
with his pioneering work. She appeared in hundreds of plays,
most notably as Katusha Maslova in Gordin’s adaptation of
Leo Tolstoy's Resurrection, which established her reputation
as a great star of the Yiddish stage. Her autobiography, My
Life, was serialized in the Yiddish daily Forward (New York,
1937-39).
CELIA (1889-1979), daughter of Jacob Adler and Di-
nah Lipna, appeared at the age of nine with her father in Der
Yidisher King Lear. In 1919 she joined Maurice *Schwartz’s
Yiddish Art Theater, directed her own repertory company,
1925-1926, with Samuel Goldenberg, and in 1937 appeared in
the Yiddish film, Vu iz Mayn Kind? Of the children of Jacob
and Sara Adler, FRANCES (1892-1964) toured America in
Yiddish repertory. JULIA (1899-1995) played Jessica to her
father’s Shylock, following this with roles in Jacob Gordin’s
plays. Stella *Adler (1902-1992) acted on the English-speaking
stage and became a founding member of the New York Group
Theater and a renowned acting teacher. LUTHER (1903-1985)
was a noted actor on the New York and London stage and in
motion pictures. His successes included Ben Hecht’s drama
of Israel A Flag is Born, Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy, and Ar-
thur Miller’s A View From the Bridge. He also played Tevye
in Fiddler on the Roof, the musical based on stories by *Sha-
lom Aleichem.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Gorin, Geshikhte fun Yidishen Teater, 1
(1918); L. Kobrin, Erinerungenfun a Yidishen Dramaturg, 2 (1925).
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Rosenfeld, Bright Star of Exile: Jacob Adler
and the Yiddish Theater (1977, 19887).
ADLER, ALEXANDRE (1950-_), French historian and jour-
nalist. After completing his studies in history, he specialized
in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East and quickly
became one of the most eminent French experts in geopoli-
tics. A professor in higher military education on behalf of the
French Ministry of Defense, Adler is mainly known for his
contributions to newspapers, news magazines, and radio and
television. He was the editorial director of the weekly Cour-
rier International and a regular columnist for the conservative
daily Le Figaro. In addition, he helped found Proche-Orient
Info, a website devoted to Middle East affairs and committed
to the fight against new forms of racism and antisemitism,
and was appointed adviser to the chairman of the Represen-
tative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (criF). Adler
published several books, among them Jai vu finir le monde
ancien (2002), an essay on the consequences of the terror at-
tacks on the World Trade Center, and LOdyssée Américaine
(2004), a reflection on the evolution of American behavior in
international affairs.
[Dror Franck Sullaper (24 ed.)]
ADLER, ALFRED (1870-1937), Austrian psychiatrist. He was
the founder of individual psychology, a theory of personality
and method of psychotherapy based on the concepts of unity,
self-determination, and future-orientation of man. His views
394
were opposed to the elementaristic and mechanistic views of
man which prevailed at that time. Born in Vienna, Adler quali-
fied at the university there in 1895. After his marriage he ad-
opted Protestantism, a small minority denomination in Aus-
tria at that time, considering it the most liberal religion. Adler's
theories were set forth in such a manner as to be understand-
able and useful to a wide audience, including especially teach-
ers and counselors. He himself established many child-guid-
ance clinics. In 1902 Freud invited Adler to participate in his
discussion group which had weekly meetings in Vienna. In
1910 Adler was elected the president of the Vienna Psycho-
analytic Society, which grew out of the informal discussion
group. In 1911 he resigned from the society as a consequence of
his new theoretical views and established his own society and
journal. From 1926 on Adler visited the United States regularly
and eventually settled in New York where he was professor of
medical psychology at the Long Island Medical College. He
died while on a lecture tour in Scotland.
Primary in Adler’s system is the conception that the or-
ganism, growing from a single cell, remains biologically and
psychologically a unit. All partial processes such as drives,
perception, memory, and dreaming are subordinated to the
whole. Adler called this unitary process the individual’s style
of life. A unitary concept of man requires one overall motivat-
ing force. For Adler it is a striving to overcome and compen-
sate for inferiorities directed toward a goal of superiority or
success, which the individual creates quite uniquely. Though
the goal may take on strange forms, it always includes main-
tenance of self-esteem. The individual, however, cannot be
considered apart from society. The three important life prob-
lems, occupational, social, and sexual, are all actually social
and require a well developed “social interest” for a successful
solution. Thus the individual's goals will include social useful-
ness corresponding to the ideals of the community. Neurotic,
psychotic, sociopathic, addictive, suicidal, and sexually devi-
ant personalities are all failures in life because of an under-
developed social interest and strong inferiority feelings. The
role of the psychotherapist is to raise the patient's self-esteem
through encouragement, illuminate his mistakes in lifestyle,
and strengthen his social interest. In this way a cognitive reor-
ganization is produced and the patient directed toward more
socially useful behavior. Birth order (among siblings), dreams,
and early recollections are used by the therapist in diagnosing
the patient's lifestyle.
Interest in Adler’s psychology increased with the gain in
the humanistic conception of man, which he pioneered. Ad-
lerian societies exist in numerous European countries, in the
United States, where the Journal of Individual Psychology is
published, and in Israel. A government supported Adlerian
institute was established in Tel Aviv to train school psycholo-
gists, counselors, and teachers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. and R. Ansbacher (eds.), Individual Psy-
chology of Alfred Adler; A Systematic Presentation in Selections from
his Writings (1956; paperback, 1964), including extensive bibliogra-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
phies and indices. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Weiss-Rosmarin, in:
Individual Psychology, 46 (1990), 108-18.
[Heinz L. Ansbacher]
ADLER, CHARLES (1899-1980), U.S engineer and inventor.
A life-long resident of Baltimore, Maryland, Adler began his
career as an inventor at 14, receiving a patent on an electric
automotive brake. After attending Johns Hopkins University,
he served briefly in the army during World War 1 and in 1919
became associated with the Maryland and Pennsylvania Rail-
road. In 1928 he developed and installed the first traffic-actu-
ated signal light (actuated by the sound ofa car horn). In 1937
he became a consultant to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
continuing to invent safety and signal devices for automobiles,
trains, and aircraft. He was granted over 60 U.S. patents for
devices in general use. He was a member of the Maryland Traf-
fic Safety Commission from 1952 until his death.
[Bracha Rager (2"¢ ed.)]
ADLER, CYRUS (1863-1940), U.S. Jewish scholar and pub-
lic worker. Adler was born in Van Buren, Arkansas, son of a
cotton planter. In 1867, upon his father’s death, Adler and his
family moved to Philadelphia, where they lived with Mrs.
Adler’s brother, David Sulzberger. They were members of the
Sephardi Congregation Mikveh Israel, and its atmosphere,
together with the influence of Adler’s uncle and his cousin,
Mayer *Sulzberger, did much to shape Cyrus Adler's religious
traditionalism and devotion to scholarship. Graduating from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1883, Adler thereafter stud-
ied Assyriology under Paul *Haupt at Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity. He taught Semitics at the university, becoming assistant
professor in 1890. Meanwhile, he had joined the Smithsonian
Institution, and became librarian there in 1892. Two years be-
fore, he had been sent to the Orient as special commissioner
of the Columbian Exposition.
Adler took part in the founding of the *Jewish Publica-
tion Society of America (1888), serving as chairman of its vari-
ous committees throughout his life. He was responsible for the
establishment of the Society’s Hebrew press. Adler was also
a founder of the ‘American Jewish Historical Society (1892),
and its president for more than 20 years. He edited the first
seven volumes of the American Jewish Yearbook (1899-1905;
the last two vols. with H. Szold) and was a departmental edi-
tor of The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-06).
Adler played an active role in reorganizing the *Jewish
Theological Seminary of America under the presidency of
Solomon *Schechter. He was president of the Board of Trust-
ees from 1902 to 1905, dividing his time between the Seminary
and the Smithsonian. When Schechter died, he became act-
ing president (1915), taking office permanently in 1924. Adler
maintained the academic standards set by Schechter, and was
responsible for erecting the Seminary’s new buildings. He was
one of the founders of the *United Synagogue of America
(1913) and served as its president. In 1908 Adler was elected
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER, DANKMAR
president of *Dropsie College, conducting its affairs and those
of the Seminary simultaneously. Together with Schechter he
had taken over the editorship of the *Jewish Quarterly Review
(1910) on behalf of Dropsie College, and after Schechter’s death
served as sole editor (1916-40).
Adler was one of the founders of the *American Jew-
ish Committee (1906). He became chairman of its executive
board in 1915 and in 1919 represented the Committee at the
Paris Peace Conference. Appointed president of the Com-
mittee in 1929, Adler, by then aging, had to face the bitterness
of the economic depression, followed by the rise of Nazism.
Adler frequently found himself in opposition to the leaders
of American Zionism, but he took part in the *Jewish Agency
for Palestine.
Adler’s success lay in his ability to bridge worlds which
early in the 20% century had little common ground. An ob-
servant Jew, knowledgeable in the field of Jewish scholarship,
he was also familiar and respected in the world of American
government and scholarship. Adler was a tireless worker and
a scrupulous and constructive administrator. He was able to
interpret the needs of traditional-minded Jews to the men of
wealth in American Jewry. His style allowed little scope for
public display of emotion, and this, combined with his aloof-
ness from Zionism, limited his relations to those with whom
he was closest in his observance of Judaism.
He wrote a Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of Ob-
jects of Jewish Ceremonial Deposited in the U.S. National Mu-
seum by Hadji Ephraim Benguiat (1901), with index, I Have
Considered the Days (1941), and Lectures, Selected Papers, Ad-
dresses (1933), which contains a bibliography of his writings
and addresses.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.A. Neuman, in: AJYB, 42 (1940-41),
23-144; H. Stern, The Spiritual Values of Life (1953), 88-105; L. Lip-
sky, A Gallery of Zionist Profiles (1956), 208-13; H. Parzen, Architect
of Conservative Judaism (1964), 79-127; Ben-Horin, in: AJHSQ, 46
(1966), 208-31.
[Sefton D. Temkin]
ADLER, DANKMAR (1844-1900), U.S. architect and engi-
neer. Adler was born in Stadtlengsfeld, Germany, the son of
Rabbi Liebmann Adler (1812-1892). He was taken to the U.S.
at an early age and was trained at American universities. Dur-
ing the Civil War he practiced as an engineer and later built
up a successful architectural practice in Chicago. In 1879 Louis
Sullivan (1856-1924) joined the firm and in 1881 became a part-
ner. Adler and Sullivan are credited with introducing a com-
pletely new concept of office architecture and this found its
expression in the steel-framed skyscraper. Their first framed
building (Chicago, 1887) was a commercial building called the
Auditorium and was later acquired by Roosevelt University.
Together they designed more than a hundred structures, in-
cluding the transportation building at the Chicago Columbian
Exposition in 1893, and two impressive skyscrapers: the Wain-
wright Building in St. Louis, Missouri, and the Prudential
395
ADLER, DAVID BARUCH
Building in Buffalo, New York. They were responsible for the
Kehillath Anshe Maariv in Chicago, where Adler’s father had
become rabbi in 1861. Here, too, they broke with tradition.
Believing that form follows function, they made the facade of
this synagogue secondary to the tall roof that covered the main
body of the hall. The Adler-Sullivan partnership was dissolved
in 1895 and neither architect did any distinguished work after
that. It was in their office that Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959),
one of America’s greatest architects, was trained.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Morrison, Louis Sullivan (19627), 283-93;
Roth, Art, 749-50.
ADLER, DAVID BARUCH (1826-1878), Danish banker and
politician. The banking firm of D.B. Adler and Co., which
Adler founded in 1850, promoted the establishment of an in-
dependent modern credit system in Denmark. He was among
the founders of the Privatbank (1857), remaining a director
until 1866, and helped to launch the Kjobenhavns Handels-
bank in 1873. He negotiated foreign loans on behalf of the
government, and was a founder member of the Copenhagen
Chamber of Commerce. Adler entered politics as a Liberal
and Free Trader, and became a member of parliament, city
councilor, and member of the Board of Representatives (Re-
praesentantskabet) of the Jewish community. He encouraged
Danish art and industry, and gave generously to charity. One
of his daughters was the educationalist Hanna Adler, and an-
other, Ellen, was the mother of Niels *Bohr.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dansk biografisk leksikon, 1 (1933).
[Julius Margolinsky]
ADLER, ELKAN NATHAN (1861-1946), Anglo-Jewish bib-
liophile, collector, and author. Adler, the son of Chief Rabbi
Nathan Marcus “Adler, was a lawyer by profession and had un-
usual opportunities to travel under favorable conditions and
to build up a remarkable library. He was among the first per-
sons to realize the importance of the Cairo Genizah. He visited
Egypt in 1888 and 1895-96 and brought back approximately
25,000 fragments from the Genizah. His library ultimately in-
cluded about 4,500 manuscripts of which he published a sum-
mary Catalogue of Hebrew Manuscripts in the Collection of E.N.
Adler (1921). He also had a collection of some 30,000 printed
books in Judaica and in general fields. In order to make good
the embezzlements of a business associate he sold his library
in 1923 to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in
New York and the duplicates of the printed books (including
many incunabula) to the Hebrew Union College in Cincin-
nati, thus helping to raise both of these libraries to positions
of significance. By an agreement made at that time, the man-
uscripts that he subsequently collected passed after his death
to the Jewish Theological Seminary. Adler’s published writ-
ings were mainly based on his travels and on materials in his
own collection. Among them are About Hebrew Manuscripts
(1905), a collection of bibliographical essays; A Gazetteer of
Hebrew Printing (1917); Jews in Many Lands (1905); Auto de
396
Fé and Jew (1908); History of the Jews of London (1930); Jew-
ish Travellers (1930, repr. 1966); and articles on the Samaritans
and on the Egyptian and Persian Jews. Adler played an active
role in English-Jewish communal affairs, especially as regards
educational and overseas matters, and was an early member of
the Hovevei Zion in England. His personal archives are at the
library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Essays... E.N. Adler (JHSEM, 4-5 (1942-48),
includes his bibliography); Register of the Jewish Theological Seminary
of America (1923); Jc (May 4, 1923, Sept. 20, 1946); United Synagogue
Recorder, 3 (1923); E.C.R. Marmorstein, Scholarly Life of E.N. Adler
(1962); M. Ettinghausen, Rare Books and Royal Collections (1966).
[Cecil Roth]
ADLER, ELMER (1884-1962), U.S. publisher and bibliophile.
In 1922 Adler established Pynson Printers in New York City
and began to produce books noted for excellent design and
craftsmanship. A cofounder of Random House, he printed its
first publication, a limited edition of Voltaire’s Candide with
illustrations by Rockwell Kent.
From 1930 to World War 11, he published and edited the
Colophon, a quarterly in book form for bibliophiles. A few is-
sues appeared in 1948 as the New Colophon.
In 1940 Adler dissolved the Pynson Printers, presented
his magnificent library of printing and printing history to
Princeton University, joined its library staff, and organized
a department of graphic arts. He retired from Princeton in
1952 and moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Here he built up
another outstanding printing arts library and museum for
the university.
[Israel Soifer]
ADLER, EMANUEL PHILIP (1872-1949), U.S. newspaper
publisher, born in Chicago. He began his career in Iowa and
rose to be president of Lee Syndicate Newspapers, controlling
ten dailies in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, and Wiscon-
sin. He founded the Tri-City Federated Jewish Charities in
1921 and organized the Jewish Community Office to act for
Jewish organizations in Davenport, Des Moines, and Sioux
City, Iowa. His son, Philip David Adler, later publisher of the
Davenport Times, issued a book about him (1932) written by
A.M. Brayton.
ADLER, FELIX (1851-1933), U.S. philosopher and educator.
Adler was born in Germany, the son of the Reform rabbi Sam-
uel “Adler. He studied at Columbia University and preached
as a rabbi at Temple Emanu-el in New York, but was too ra-
tionalistic to accept Judaism in any traditional sense. In 1874
he accepted a professorship in Hebrew and Oriental literature
established at Cornell. Two years later he founded the Society
for Ethical Culture, which advocated an ethic apart from any
religion or dogma. The Society gained support mainly among
intellectuals in America and abroad. Adler worked for various
social causes such as maternal and child welfare, vocational
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
training schools, medical care for the poor, labor problems,
and civic reform. In 1883 he founded the first U.S. group for
child study. Adler was appointed professor of social ethics at
Columbia in 1902. His main writings include Creed and Deed
(1877); Moral Instruction of Children (1892); Prayer and Wor-
ship (1894); An Ethical Philosophy of Life (1918), which is partly
autobiographical; and The Reconstruction of the Spiritual Ideal
(1924; The Hibbert Lectures). He was an editor of the Interna-
tional Journal of Ethics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Simonhoff, Saga of American Jewry from
1865-1914 (1959), 178-85; H. Cohen, They Builded Better Than They
Knew (1946), 32-40; H. Neumann, Spokesmen for Ethical Religion
(1951), 3-62.
[Richard H. Popkin]
ADLER, FRIEDRICH (1878-1942), German designer of arts
and crafts. Born in Laupheim, Southern Germany, Adler went
to Munich to study at the Royal School for Applied Arts at
the age of 16. In the world of Munich art nouveau Adler was
especially influenced by the artist Hermann Obrist. In order
to break with Wilhelminian traditions, Obrist propagated
a reform concept of cultural policy and art related to the art
nouveau movement. In 1902 Adler continued his studies at
the newly founded Debschitz School in Munich, where he be-
came a teacher in 1903. The aim of the school was to intensify
the contact between artists and manufacturers in the applied
arts. Adler taught the technique of working in stucco and of
edifice sculpture. From 1907 to 1933 he taught at the Hamburg
School for Applied Arts, where he was appointed professor
in 1927. When he lost his position after the National Socialist
takeover in 1933, Adler continued to offer private lessons to
Jewish students. From 1935 he took an active part in the Ham-
burg Jewish Cultural Union (Juedischer Kulturbund). In July
1942 he was deported to Auschwitz and apparently murdered
there in the same year. Adler’s work was multifaceted and his
creations and designs were shown in several exhibitions such
as the International Exhibition for Modern and Decorative
Arts in Turin (1902) and the world exposition in Brussels
(1910). His principal fields of activity were handcrafted work
and the design of furniture and metal objects especially made
of tin. During the exhibition of the German Werkbund in Co-
logne in 1914 he met with universal approval for his concept
of a synagogue building and for his Jewish ceremonial objects.
The latter were fine silver objects in the style of art nouveau
and were manufactured by the famous Heilbronn company
for silverware Peter Bruckmann & Sons. Only a few of these
ritual objects have survived, such as a magnificent Passover
set made of silver, ivory, and glass from 1913/14 and an Eter-
nal Light from the same year (both in the Spertus Museum,
Chicago).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Spurensuche: Friedrich Adler zwischen
Jugendstil und Art Déco (Muenchner Stadtmuseum (Catalogue,
1994).
[Philipp Zschommler (2"4 ed.)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER, GUIDO
ADLER, FRIEDRICH (1879-1960), prominent figure in the
Austrian labor movement and secretary of the Socialist In-
ternational. The son of Victor *Adler, he was born in Vienna,
studied physics in Switzerland, and lectured at Zurich Uni-
versity. Adler, who was baptized at the age of seven and later
renounced Christianity, had no religion. Adler returned to
Austria at the age of 32 and entered active political life. Dur-
ing World War 1 he attacked the policy of the Austrian govern-
ment and criticized his own Socialist party for supporting it. In
order to awaken the public conscience against the horrors of
war he shot and killed Count Sturgkh, the prime minister, in
a Vienna restaurant on October 21, 1916, and was sentenced to
death. His sentence was commuted to 18 years imprisonment,
and, under the amnesty which followed the fall of the monar-
chy in 1918, he was released. Adler was one of the founders of
the left-wing International Working Union of Socialist Parties
in 1921. From 1923 to 1939 he acted as secretary of the Labor
and Socialist International. During World War 11 he lived in
the United States but returned to Europe after the defeat of
Germany. While he had many contacts with Zionist Socialists
and although he had a Jewish marriage, he believed in assimi-
lation and opposed Jewish national aspirations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Braunthal, Victor und Friedrich Ad-
ler (1965). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Biographisches Handbuch der
deutschsprachigen Emigration, 1 (1980), 6-7, incl. bibl.; R. Ardelt,
Friedrich Adler. Probleme einer Persénlichkeitsentwicklung um die
Jahrhundertwende (1984).
[Robert Weltsch]
ADLER, GEORG (1863-1908), German economist and eco-
nomic historian. Born in Posen, Adler taught at the universi-
ties of Berlin, Basle, and Kiel, and became professor of politi-
cal economy at Freiburg. While in Basle, in 1894, he drafted
the first law on workmen’s unemployment insurance at the
request of the Swiss government. He nevertheless considered
the labor movement as necessary for social reform. A follower
of the German historical school of economists, he advocated
moderate socialism and bitterly opposed the revolutionary
socialism of Karl *Marx. He remained a protagonist of so-
cial insurance and of international legislation for the protec-
tion of labor. His works include Die Geschichte der ersten so-
zial-politischen Arbeiterbewegung in Deutschland (1885); Die
Grundlagen der Karl Marx’schen Kritik der bestehenden Volks-
wirtschaft (1887); and Geschichte des Sozialismus und Kom-
munismus (1899).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: NDB, 1 (1953), 69.
[Joachim O. Ronall]
ADLER, GUIDO (1855-1941), Austrian musicologist; one
of the founders of modern musicology. Born at Eibenschitz
(Moravia), he was appointed lecturer in musicology at Vienna
University in 1881. He was a founder and editor of the Vier-
teljahrsschrift fuer Musikwissenschaft (1884-94) and in 1898
succeeded his former teacher, Eduard Hanslick, as professor
397
ADLER, HARRY CLAY
of music history at Vienna, a position he held until his retire-
ment in 1927. Adler made Vienna one of the leading centers
of musicological training and research. The International So-
ciety of Musicology, founded upon his initiative, elected him
its honorary president in 1927. He was editor-in-chief of Denk-
maeler der Tonkunst in Oesterreich, which he had founded in
1894, but was removed from this position by the Nazis in 1938.
He remained in Vienna until his death. His work contributed
much to the development of musicological discipline. Im-
portant publications are his Richard Wagner (1904), Gustav
Mahler (1916), and the Handbuch der Musikgeschichte (1924),
which he edited.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: MGG, s.v.; P. Nettl, in: Musica, 15 (1961), 97,
Ger.; Guido Adler... Festschrift (1930); Sendrey, Music, index.
[Judith Cohen]
ADLER, HARRY CLAY (1865-1940), U.S. newspaper execu-
tive. Adler was born in Philadelphia. He was chairman of the
board and general manager of the Chattanooga Times from
1901, a paper owned by his brother-in-law, Adolph S. *Ochs,
who later became publisher of the New York Times. When
Ochs went to New York, Adler, already an executive on the
paper, was appointed general manager, a position he held for
30 years. He served as chairman of the southern division of the
Associated Press from 1917 to 1922, and was considered the “fa-
ther” of Chattanooga's commission form of government. Adler
used the editorial columns of his newspaper, and the Citizens’
League which he organized, to campaign against the policies
of the entrenched political machine until it was overthrown.
He was active in charities and for three years was a president
of the Mizpah Congregation in Chattanooga.
[Stewart Kampel (2"¢ ed.)]
ADLER, HERMANN (Naphtali; 1839-1911), British chief
rabbi, son of Nathan Marcus *Adler. Born in Hanover, Her-
mann Adler was taken to London as a child, when his father
became British chief rabbi, and was educated at University
College School and at University College, London, where he
graduated with a B.A. in 1854. Adler was thus one of the first
British rabbis to receive a middle-class secular education in
England. He continued his studies in Prague under Rabbi S.J.
*Rappaport, where he was ordained as a rabbi in 1862. Adler
went on to receive a doctoral degree from Leipzig Univer-
sity, his thesis being on (of all things) Druidism. In 1863 he
became principal of *Jews’ College, and in 1864 minister of
Bayswater Synagogue in the West End of London. After 1879
he deputized as delegate chief rabbi for his father who was ill
and was elected to succeed him in 1891. Adler followed and
developed the tradition set by his father, combining Ortho-
doxy with organizational ability, as well as having a firm feel-
ing for the dignity of his office. He was largely instrumental
in securing general recognition of the chief rabbi as the main
representative of English Jewry, taking his place alongside the
heads of other religious communities on public occasions. Op-
398
posed to the ideas of Theodor *Herzl, in 1897 Adler termed
political Zionism an “egregious blunder,’ although he had
previously visited Palestine and been active in the Hovevei
Zion movement. His period of office coincided with the great
Russo-Jewish influx into the British Isles. This created a large
“foreign” element in the community, whose confidence he
did not gain. Despite periods of friction, Adler succeeded in
maintaining his position as chief rabbi of Anglo-Jewry as a
whole, the *Reform and *Sephardi communities being satis-
fied to be formally represented by him on public occasions.
In the relatively small Anglo-Jewish community of the second
half of the 19 century, with its integration into non-Jewish
society and its painfully achieved balance, Adler saw a sort of
self-contained “National Jewish Church,’ led on the lay side
by the head of the Rothschild family and on the ecclesiasti-
cal by the Adlers, as the Jewish equivalent of the Anglican or
Catholic hierarchy; Hermann Adler even imitated the Angli-
can episcopal garb. Hence they were seriously perturbed by
the influx of Eastern European refugee immigrants from 1882
onward, which disturbed the delicate balance of the commu-
nity. In politics, Adler was an avowed Tory and supported the
Boer War. Adler published historical and other studies and nu-
merous sermons, as well as preliminary studies for an edition
of the Ez Hayyim by the 13" century scholar *Jacob b. Judah
Hazzan of London. A selection of his sermons was published
under the title Anglo-Jewish Memories (London, 1909). Adler’s
career is evidence of how comprehensively the acculturated
section of Anglo-Jewry had adapted to Britain and had been
accepted by its “Establishment.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, in: L. Jung (ed.), Jewish Leaders,
1750-1940 (1953), 475-90; L.P. Gartner, Jewish Immigrant in England,
1870-1914 (1960), 114-6, 209-10; Schischa, in: J.M. Shaftesley (ed.),
Remember the Days (1966), 241-77; Roth, Mag Bibl, index; H.A. Si-
mons, in: Judaism, 18 (1969), 223-31. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB
online; G. Alderman, Modern British Jewry (1992), index.
[Cecil Roth]
ADLER, HERMANN (pseudonym Zevi Nesher; 1911-_),
German-language poet, essayist, and playwright. Adler was
born in Deutsch-Didszeg, near Pressburg (Bratislava), but
grew up in Nuremberg and after graduating from a teach-
ers’ seminary at Wuerzburg taught in Landeshut (Kamienna
Gora), Silesia. He returned to Czechoslovakia in 1934 and
enlisted in 1939 in the Czechoslovak Legion in Poland. Dur-
ing World War 11, he joined the Jewish resistance movement
in Lithuania and Poland, playing an active part in the ghetto
uprisings in Vilna and Warsaw. He escaped to Budapest, but
was later deported to Bergen-Belsen, from which he was sub-
sequently released, taking up residence in Switzerland, where
he remained. His experiences of Nazi brutality on the one
hand and of human dignity and heroism on the other were
reflected in several gripping books, partly factual reporting,
partly poetic crystallization, such as Ostra Brama, Legende
aus der Zeit des grossen Untergangs (1945), Ostra Brama being
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the name of a Catholic monastery near Vilna where a num-
ber of Jews were hidden and rescued; Geséinge aus der Stadt
des Todes (1945); Ballade der Gekreuzigten, Auferstandenen,
Verachteten (1945).
Among other books which Adler wrote on the fate of the
Jews during the Holocaust, and religious poetry, are Fieber-
worte von Verdammnis und Erloesung (1948) and Bilder nach
dem Buche der Verheissung (1950). He frequently chose the me-
dium of radio and television. One of his Tv plays (which won
a prize from the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) was Feldwebel
Anton Schmidt, the story of a German sergeant who during the
occupation of Vilna had helped Adler to organize the escape
of Jews who joined up with the Jewish resistance movement
elsewhere. Schmidt, who was subsequently arrested and sen-
tenced to death by the Nazis, is also referred to in his Ostra
Brama. The significance of Adler’s descriptions of the Holo-
caust for Christian readers was stressed by the Swiss-Catho-
lic historian and theologian Karl *Thieme in his epilogue to
his selection from Adler’s writings (Vater ... vergib! Gedichte
aus dem Ghetto, 1950).
Writing more often on psychological themes in later
years, Adler published Judentum und Psychotherapie (1958) and
Handbuch der tiefenpsychologischen Symbolik: Ein Lexikon der
Symbolik mit Lesetexten und Index (1968). He also translated
Itzhak *Katzenelson’s Warsaw Ghetto epic Dos Lid fun Oysge-
hargetn Yidishn Folk from Yiddish into German (Das Lied vom
letzten Juden, 1951). Of his own works, Gesaenge aus der Stadt
des Todes appeared in Hebrew and Dutch translations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Israelitisches Wochenblattfuer die Schweiz
(Oct. 8, 1971); D. Stern, Werke jiidischer Autoren deutscher Sprache
(1967).
[Erich Gottgetreu]
ADLER, HUGO CHAIM (1894-1955), cantor and com-
poser. Born in Antwerp, Adler served as a chorister to Yossele
*Rosenblatt in Hamburg. He officiated as cantor in Mannheim,
1921-39, studied composition with Ernst *Toch, and was
strongly influenced by the modern musical idiom. The Jue-
disches Lehrhaus of Franz *Rosenzweig in Frankfurt helped
to shape his thoughts and he set to music some of Rosenz-
weig’s Hebrew hymns. Adler adopted the idea of the musical
Lehrstueck, an ethical-political cantata first realized by Brecht
and Hindemith, and composed a Maccabean cantata Licht
und Volk (performed in 1931) and Balak und Bileam (1934).
The performance of his Akedah was prevented by the Kristall-
nacht pogrom of November 1938. After his escape to the U.S.
he was appointed cantor in Worcester, Massachusetts. There
he reshaped the music of the service and composed music for
complete liturgies as well as many short pieces and the can-
tatas Parable of Persecution (1946), Behold the Jew, and Jona
(1943). Adler’s importance rests upon his skill in replacing 19*h-
century additions to synagogue song by a lucid contemporary
idiom and striving, in his cantatas, for a collective musical ex-
pression of Jewish consciousness.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER, JACOB
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sendrey, Music, indexes; American Hazan, 2,
no. 1 (1956); Fromm, in: Jewish Music Notes (Fall 1956), 3-4.
[Hanoch Avenary]
ADLER, ISRAEL (1925- ), Israeli musicologist and librar-
ian. Born in Berlin, Adler immigrated to Palestine in 1937 and
studied at yeshivot. From 1949 to 1963 he studied in Paris with
Solange Corbin at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and J.
Chailley at the Institut de Musicologie. In 1963 he took a doc-
torat de 3*™¢ cycle with a dissertation on the music of Jewish
communities in 17"*- and 18*-century Europe. He was the
head of the Hebraic Judaic Section of the Bibliotheque Natio-
nale from 1950 to 1963. He returned to Israel in 1963, and be-
came head of the music department of the Jewish National and
University Library in Jerusalem. He founded and was director
of the Jewish music research center at the Hebrew University
from 1963 to 1969 and 1971 to 1994, and was chief editor of Yu-
val, the record of its studies. In 1964 he founded the National
Sound Archives as part of the music department of the Na-
tional Library and in 1967 he founded the Israel Musicologi-
cal Society. From 1969 to 1971 Adler was director of the Jewish
National and University Library. In 1971 he was appointed as-
sociate professor at Tel Aviv University and in 1973 he joined
the Department of Musicology at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. From 1967 he was a member of the RISM commit-
tee and vice president of the Association Internationale des
Bibliothéques Musicales (1974-77). He was a guest lecturer at
numerous European and North and South American univer-
sities. Among his publications are La pratique musicale sa-
vante dans quelques communautés juives en Europe aux XvII°
et XVIIT° siécles, 2 vols. (1966); Musical Life and Traditions of
the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam in the xvii"
Century (Jerusalem, 1974); Hebrew Writings Concerning Mu-
sic in Manuscripts and Printed Books from Geonic Times up
to 1800, RISM, B/1X/2 (1975); “Three Musical Ceremonies for
Hoshana Rabba at Casale Monferrato (1732-1733, 1735), in:
Yuval, 5 (1986), 51-137; Hebrew Notated Manuscript Sources up
to circa 1840: A Descriptive and Thematic Catalogue, With a
Checklist of Printed Sources (Munich, 1989); The Study of Jew-
ish Music: A Bibliographical Guide (Jerusalem, 1995).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online; MGG’.
[Gila Flam (24 ed.)]
ADLER, JACOB (1872?-1974), Yiddish poet and humorist,
often writing as B. Kovner. Adler was born in Dinov, Aus-
tria~Hungary (now Dynow, Poland), but in 1894 immigrated
to the United States where he worked in sweatshops, agitated
for socialism, and wrote nostalgic poems about the “old coun-
try” for various journals, especially his mentor David Pinski’s
Der Arbeter. These poems were collected in his first volume,
Zikhroynes fun Mayn Haym (“Memories of My Home,’ 1907),
with an introduction by Pinski. They are full of nostalgia for
the Jewish milieu of his childhood, which he views as care-
free and idyllic, despite its poverty: the festive Sabbaths and
399
ADLER, JANKEL
holidays, spent in the sweet comfort of the synagogue; the
pure yearnings of first love; the final, sad parting from fam-
ily and birthplace. The volume ends with a lament for him-
self, sick and weak though young, his life ebbing away in an
alien land. He sought relief from the misery of existence in
sardonic humor, contributing under various pseudonyms to
the popular humorous periodicals Der Groyse Kundes and
Der Kibetser, and co-editing Der Yidisher Gazlen with Moyshe
Nadir. In 1911, Abraham Cahan, editor of Forverts, invited
him to join his staff and assigned him the pseudonym of B.
Kovner, thus enabling him to exchange a former pseudonym
“Der Galitsiyaner” for a new identity as a “Litvak” Kovner’s
humorous feuilletons immediately became a success and his
characters, such as the shrewish busybody Yente Telebende,
her henpecked husband Mendl, Moyshe Kapoyer, and Peyshe
the Farmer soon became household names in American Yid-
dish homes. His anecdotes and witticisms circulated widely.
His characters inspired many songs and stage routines. Many
of Adler’s humorous sketches were collected in six Yiddish vol-
umes between 1914 and 1933 and two in English translation
(Laugh, Jew, Laugh, 1936, and Cheerful Moments, 1940). His
Lider (“Poems,” 2 vols., 1924), which appeared at the height of
his fame, revealed the sadness and loneliness of the humor-
ist. These poems were grouped into cycles with such titles as
“Alone” and “Between Gray Walls.” Even the few poems des-
ignated as humorous were bitterly satiric. He continued to
write prolifically until his late nineties.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rejzen, Leksikon, 1 (1928), 42-44; LNYL, 1
(1956), 24f.; M. Nadir, Teg fun Mayne Teg (1935), 220-273; H. Rogoff,
Der Gayst fun “Forverts” (1954), 257-259.
[Sol Liptzin / Ben Furnish (24 ed.)]
ADLER, JANKEL (Jacob; 1895-1949), painter, graphic artist,
and art critic. Adler was born in Tuszyn, near Lodz. Asa child,
he received a traditional Jewish education. In 1912, living with
his uncle in Belgrade, he worked in the post office and stud-
ied to become an etcher. In 1913, he moved to Germany and
settled in Barmen (now Wuppertal), where he was employed
as a textile worker and shop assistant. From 1916, he attended
the local school of applied arts (Kunstgewerbschule), where
his tutor was Gustav Wiethuechter. In 1917-18, Adler got to
know many young German intellectuals, writers, and mod-
ernist artists and became close to the “Das Junge Rheinland”
artistic group, who were seeking ways for a renewal of Ger-
man art. While interested in modernist trends in European
culture and establishing ties within the German artistic com-
munity, Adler never lost touch with his national roots. His
works, starting from the earliest ones, always treated Jewish
themes quite distinctly. By way of example, his still-lifes of
this period incorporate images of Jewish ritual objects bear-
ing symbolic significance. In 1918, Adler returned to Poland.
Together with other young Jewish artists, he took part in the
exhibition arranged by the Artistic Society of Lodz. His desire
to express national self-awareness in contemporary art forms
brought him close to young Jewish artists in Lodz who were
400
pursuing the same goal. This circle formed “Yung Yiddish,” a
group that brought together Yiddish writers and modernist
artists. Adler was among its founders; he took an active part in
its performances and published his poems and etchings in
its anthologies. In 1919, he displayed his works at the Jewish
Kultur-Liga exhibition in Bialystok. His works of this period
are executed in an expressionist style incorporating elements
of cubism and are characterized by ecstatic pathos and use
of Jewish mystic symbols (as in My Parents, 1919; Muzeum
Sztuki, Lodz). In 1920, Adler returned to Germany and for
some time resided in Berlin, where he established close con-
tacts both with German radical avant-garde artists and Jew-
ish artistic circles, among them Marc *Chagall, Elsa Lasker-
Schueler, and Henryk *Berlewi, with whom he collaborated.
Later, Adler returned to Barmen and in 1920-21 participated
in events organized by Dadaist and other avant-garde groups
from Duesseldorf and Cologne. He continued maintaining
close contacts with Poland and the Jewish modernist artis-
tic movement there. He illustrated two collections of Yiddish
poetry published in Lodz in 1921, one of them being Peril oifn
brik by Moshe *Broderzon, the founder and artistic standard-
bearer of the “Yung Yiddish” group. At the International Ar-
tistic Exhibition in Duesseldorf, he represented Polish artists.
Together with Berlewi, he represented East European Jew-
ish artists and was active in organizing the Congress of the
Union of Progressive International Artists (Duesseldorf, May
29-31, 1922) and signing the Union's manifesto. He showed his
works at the International Exhibition of Revolutionary Art-
ists in Berlin. In 1922, Adler joined the “Das Junge Rheinland”
group and from 1923 participated in “Novembergruppe” ex-
hibitions. After “Das Junge Rheinland” split, Adler became
the leader of the “Rheinland” group. In 1924, he took part in
the First General German Art Exhibition in the U.S.S.R. He
executed monumental murals for the Duesseldorf Planetar-
ium in 1925-26. In the late 1920s, Adler frequently visited Po-
land, where several of his solo exhibitions took place. Being a
prominent figure in German avant-garde art, he unambigu-
ously called himself a “Jewish artist” in his interviews to the
Polish and German press. In his publications and statements
of the 1920s and 1930s, Adler formulated his own idea of “con-
temporary Jewish art,’ which, in his view, should express the
striving for “creating new forms” which he believed to be in-
herent in Judaism and connected to hasidic humanistic mys-
ticism. During the 1920s and the early 1930s, his individual
artistic manner crystallized, organically combining elements
of cubism, primitivism, expressionism, and “Neue Sachlich-
keit.” At the same time, he often incorporated images of Jews,
Jewish inscriptions, and kabbalistic symbols into his compo-
sitions. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power in Germany,
Adler moved to France. In 1935-37 he lived in Poland and
had two solo exhibitions in Warsaw and Lodz. In 1937, Adler’s
works were withdrawn from German museums as embodi-
ments of “degenerate art.” Several of them were shown at “En-
tartete Kunst” and “Der ewige Jude.” In 1937, Adler moved to
France; when the country was occupied by Germans in 1940,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
he fled to the south where he joined the Polish Army. After
the Battle of Dunkirk, he was evacuated together with other
Polish soldiers to Glasgow, Scotland, and was discharged due
to poor health. From 1941, he lived in London, where he was
among the initiators of artistic events presenting artists who
had fled continental Europe. In addition, he was active in the
Ohel club in London, where Jewish intellectuals and artists
congregated. Adler’s works from the mid-1930s and espe-
cially in the 1940s are characterized by a complete rejection
of figurative manner and transition to symbolic abstraction.
A number of his works created in this period treated “Jewish
themes” and reflect his understanding of the Holocaust (as
in Two Rabbis, 1942; Museum of Modern Art, New York). In
1946-47, Adler's solo exhibitions were on display in London,
Dublin, Paris, an d New York.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.W. Hayter, Jankel Adler (1948); Y. Sandel,
Plastishe kunst bei Poilishe Yiden (1964), 146-55; A. Klapheck, Jankel
Adler (1966); Jankel Adler 1895-1949, Catalogue (Koeln, 1985); J. Ma-
linowski, Grupa “Jung Idysz” i zidowskie srodowisko “Nowej Sztuki”
w Polsce. 1918-1923 (1987); idem, Malarstwo i rzezba Zydow Polskich
w XIX iXX wieku (2000), 159-62, 164-68, 170-72, 175-80.
[Hillel Kozovsky (24 ed.)]
ADLER, JOSEPH (1878-1938), U.S. rabbi, scholar, and educa-
tionist. Adler was born in Kletzk, Lithuania, and immigrated
to America in 1909 after failing in the wood-product indus-
try. His extensive religious education - including stints in ye-
shivot in Nesvizh, Minsk, Mir, Slobodka, Kovno, and Aish-
ishok as well as rabbinical ordination —- probably provided
him with little preparation for the cutthroat lumber business,
but served him well in the New World. His studies were not
confined solely to religious subjects, as he also acquired a fa-
miliarity with Russian and Hebrew literature. After arriving
in New York City, Adler served as rabbi in a succession of
Orthodox synagogues. He joined the Agudat ha-Rabbonim,
an organization whose membership was limited to Euro-
pean-trained rabbis. Adler was also active in the religious
Zionist movement, directing the Downtown Keren ha-Yesod
and becoming an office bearer in the Mizrachi Organization
of America. Concerned with the religious laxity of many of
his fellow immigrants, he became one of the organizers of
the Jewish Sabbath Alliance, an initiative aimed at fostering
Sabbath observance within the New York Jewish community.
Similar motives most likely inspired his participation in the
development of the system of Orthodox religious education.
Adler was appointed in 1923 by Shraga Feivel *Mendlowitz, a
pioneer of religious day school education in America, as a Tal-
mud teacher at Yeshivah Torah ve-Daat in Brooklyn. While
the school and its later imitators maintained a traditional focus
and approach to textual study, Mendlowitz sought to produce
a generation of religiously educated American Jews, not train
future religious functionaries. In 1931, Adler became the Tal-
mud teacher and principal of Mesivta Tipheret Jerusalem, a
yeshivah on the Lower East Side for young men who wanted
to combine yeshivah studies during the daytime with evening
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER, LARRY
university classes. This yeshivah was part of an expanding net-
work of religious schools that were established in the interwar
and postwar periods by a resurgent Orthodox movement. He
held this position until his death.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Jewish Year Book, 41 (1939-1940);
J. Sarna, American Judaism: A History (2004); M. Sherman, Ortho-
dox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook
(1996); Who's Who in American Jewry (1926).
[Adam Mendelsohn (2"4 ed.)]
ADLER, JULES (1865-1952), French artist. A prolific painter
of landscapes, Adler was better known for his urban and in-
dustrial scenes such as The Strike, The Factory Interior, and
Towing the Barge. These works reveal his socialist outlook
and his keen interest in social problems. Adler was regarded
as a leading member of the realist school of painting. His
son Jean (1899-1944), a painter of promise and integrity, was
killed by the Nazis.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roth, Art, 581-2.
[Edouard Roditi]
ADLER, JULIUS OCHS (1892-1955), U.S. newspaperman
and soldier. Adler was born in Chattanooga, Tenn. He grad-
uated from Princeton University and then joined the staff of
the New York Times, published by his uncle, Adolph *Ochs. At
the same time he enrolled as a citizen-soldier. Before World
War t he was in the cavalry, but he transferred to the infantry
on the outbreak of war. Adler was gassed while commanding a
battalion on the Western Front. During World War 11 he com-
manded the 77" Infantry Division which was responsible for
the defense of the Hawaiian Islands from 1941 to 1944. In 1948
he was promoted to major-general in the reserve. Meanwhile,
Adler became vice president of the New York Times, and af-
ter a number of years he became the paper's general manager
(1935). He was also publisher of the Chattanooga Times. In 1945
Adler was one of 17 newspaper executives invited by General
Eisenhower to visit the liberated concentration camps and he
wrote a series of moving and dramatic articles on them for
the New York Times. In 1954 he was appointed chairman of the
National Security Training Commission, and later headed a
commission supervising the building of a combat-ready re-
serve through a modified form of universal military train-
ing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Rubin, 140 Jewish Marshals, Generals and
Admirals (1952), 287; J. Ben Hirsch, Jewish General Officers, 1 (1967),
91; New York Times (Oct. 4-7, 1955).
[Irving Rosenthal]
ADLER, LARRY (1914-2001), harmonica (mouth organ)
player. Born in Baltimore, Adler won the Maryland Harmon-
ica Championship at the age of 13. He first performed in re-
vues and films, developing the technique of the 12-hole chro-
matic harmonica. He worked in England from 1934 to 1939,
with many prominent jazz musicians. In 1939 he made his
debut as a concert soloist with the Sydney Symphony Or-
401
ADLER, LAZARUS LEVI
chestra. In 1940, determined to read music, he studied with
Ernst Toch.
During World War 11 Adler joined the dancer Paul
Draper touring for U.S. organizations abroad. On his return
to the U.S. in 1959, he embarked on a career as a concert per-
former appearing as a soloist with leading symphony orches-
tras. Adler was acknowledged as the first harmonica player
who elevated the instrument to concert status. His repertoire
included arrangements of classical works, and famous com-
posers wrote for him such as Darius *Milhaud, R. Vaughan
Williams, Gordon Jacob, and Malcolm Arnold. Adler toured
extensively and broadcast frequently on radio and television.
He appeared in films and composed scores for the cinema,
such as Genevieve and A High Wind in Jamaica.
In 1988 Adler was made a fellow of Yale University. His
cp The Glory of Gershwin earned him a place in the Guinness
Book of Records as the oldest artist to reach the British pop
charts. He also recorded as a pianist and singer and published
several books, including How I Play (1936), Harmonica Favor-
ites (1944), the autobiography It Ain’t Necessarily So (1984),
and Have I Ever Told You (2001).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online, s.v.; Baker's Biographical Dic-
tionary (1997).
[Naama Ramot (24 ed.)]
ADLER, LAZARUS LEVI (1810-1886), German rabbi and
pedagogue. Adler’s education included intensive Talmud study
in Gelnhausen (Hesse-Nassau) and Wuerzburg and secular
studies culminating in a doctorate from the University of Er-
langen in 1833. In 1852 Adler became district rabbi of the prov-
ince of Hesse-Kassel and retained this post until his retirement
to Wiesbaden in 1883. Adler represented the more conservative
branch of the Reform movement in Germany. While a con-
sistent advocate of religious and educational progress, he op-
posed measures, such as the abolition of circumcision, which
he felt would create an unbridgeable gulf between factions of
the Jewish community. He was president of the Kassel rab-
binical conference (1868) and an important participant in the
German-Jewish synods of Leipzig (1869) and Augsburg (1871).
From 1837 to 1839 Adler published Die Synagoge, a periodi-
cal containing sermons, popular historical studies, and essays
dealing with contemporary Jewish issues. His final religious
position is presented in Hillel und Schamai (1878).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Kayserling (ed.), Bibliothek juedischer
Kanzelredner, 2 (1870), 222-5.
[Michael A. Meyer]
ADLER, LIEBMAN (1812-1892), U.S. rabbi. Born in the town
of Lengsfeld in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Adler re-
ceived his education at the Jewish high school in Frankfurt and
later trained at the teachers’ seminary in Weimar. He taught at
the synagogue school in Lengsfeld until 1854, immigrating to
America in his early forties. Adler served as rabbi at Temple
Bethel in Detroit before assuming the pulpit of Kehillath An-
402
she Maarabh in Chicago in 1861. His arrival coincided with
a period of dissension within the German congregation over
the introduction of liturgical reforms. A self-styled “orthodox
reformer, Adler proved to be a perfect fit for the divided con-
gregation, able to act as a mediator between the younger re-
form-minded generation and older traditionalist immigrants.
Under his stewardship, the synagogue gradually adopted re-
formist innovations. Adler served the congregation for over 20
years, earning the adoration of its membership. He delivered
sermons in German until 1872, when the congregation hired
a minister able to preach in English. During the Civil War, he
spoke out forcefully against slavery. Adler was a regular con-
tributor to the German-language Jewish press in America.
He also published three volumes of sermons in German. The
Jewish Publication Society printed a collection of his sermons
in translation in 1893.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Adler, Sabbath Hours (1893); CCAR Year-
book (1912), 293-95; M. Gutstein, A Priceless Heritage: The Epic Growth
of Nineteenth Century Chicago Jewry (1953), 101-4; B. Felsenthal and
H. Eliassof, History of Kehillath Anshe Maarabh (1897), 40-45; J. Sarna,
yes: The Americanization of Jewish Culture, 1888-1988 (1989), 43.
[Adam Mendelsohn (24 ed.)]
ADLER, MAX (1866-1952), U.S. merchant-executive, musi-
cian, and philanthropist, who provided the money for Amer-
ica’s first planetarium. Born in Elgin, Illinois, Adler as a child
revealed remarkable talent for the violin. After receiving in-
struction in Elgin and Chicago, he was sent in 1884 to study
at the Royal Conservatory in Berlin. Upon his return to the
United States in 1888, he joined Boston’s Mendelssohn Quin-
tet as violinist and manager. In 1897, in response to the invi-
tation of his brother-in-law, Julius *Rosenwald, president of
Sears, Roebuck and Company, Adler left the concert platform
to supervise the firm’s music department. He rose rapidly to
a vice presidency and membership on the board of direc-
tors. His enthusiasm for music never waned, and among his
many philanthropic acts was the assistance he gave promis-
ing young musicians. His principal philanthropy was his gift
to Chicago in 1930 of the Adler Planetarium and Astronomi-
cal Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: PD. Bregstone, Chicago and its Jews (1933);
H.J. Smith, Chicago’s Great Century, 1833-1933 (1933).
[Morton Mayer Berman]
ADLER, MAX (1873-1937), Austrian socialist theoretician.
Adler studied law at the university of his native Vienna, where
he was professor of sociology from 1920. He joined the social-
ist movement in his youth and was a Social-Democratic dep-
uty in the Austrian parliament for more than twenty years.
In his first major work, Kausalitaet und Teleologie im
Streite um die Wissenschaft (1904), as well as in such later
writings as Das Soziologische in Kants Erkenntnis-Kritik (1924)
and Kant und der Marxismus (1925), he considers society and
social phenomena not only as products of social interaction,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
but also as a priori concepts of the human mind. The social
nature of consciousness brings about actual sociation and so-
cietal development. Using this theory as a basis, he formulated
a dynamic proletarian (as opposed to a static bourgeois) soci-
ology, and epistemologically clarified the materialistic concep-
tion of history. He attempted to fortify the dialectic elements
in Marxism with the principles of idealistic philosophy. These
ideas are worked out in Marxistische Probleme (1913), Weg-
weiser-Studien zur Geistegeschichte des Sozialismus (1914), Die
Staalsauffassung des Marxismus (1922), Marx als Denker (24
ed. 1925), Lehrbuch der materialistisehen Geschichtsauffassung
(1930-32), and Das Raetsel der Gesellschaft (1936). His book
Neue Menschen (1926) was translated into Hebrew under the
title Anshei ha-Mahteret (1931).
Adler’s combination of philosophical idealism and socio-
economic realism led him to a deterministic interpretation of
Marxism and to revisionism in socialist politics. He warned
that the ruling classes would be likely to abandon parliamen-
tary democracy as soon as class antagonisms became intensi-
fied and that a revolutionary posture of the unified Socialist
movement was therefore necessary. This position is clarified
in his book Politische oder soziale Demokratie (1926).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Blum, in: Archiv fuer die Geschichte des Sozi-
alismus und der Arbeiterbewegung, 8 (1919), 177-2473 Hort, in: Archiv
fuer Geschichte der Philosophie und Soziologie. 38 (1928), 243-58; Foga-
rasi, in: Unter dem Banner des Marxismus, 6 (1932), 214-31; Braunthal,
in: Der Kampf (Wien), 26 (1933), 7-13; Franzel, in: Der Kampf (Prag),
4 (1937), 291-7 NDB, 1 (1953), 71-2.
[Werner J. Cahnman]
ADLER, MICHAEL (1868-1944), English minister and his-
torian. Born into an immigrant Russian-Jewish family, he later
adopted the name Adler. In 1890 he was appointed minister
of the newly founded Hammersmith Synagogue in London
and was for many years minister of the Central Synagogue. In
World War t he served as senior Jewish chaplain to the armed
forces, receiving a medal for his efforts. He was also chairman
of the Jewish Central Lads’ Brigade. He published, mainly in
the Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England (of
which he was president, 1934-36), a number of fundamental
essays on the history of the Jews in England in the Middle
Ages, based largely on documentary sources. Many of these
were republished in his The Jews of Medieval England (1939).
He also published two Hebrew grammars and edited British
Jewry, Book of Honour (1922) on the service of the English
Jews in World War 1.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: JHSET, 15 (1946), 191-4; M. Adler, History of
the Hammersmith Synagogue (1950), 9-13 (memoir by A. Barnett);
The Times (Oct. 2, 1944); Jc (Oct. 6, 1944).
[Cecil Roth]
ADLER, MORITZ (1826-1902), Hungarian painter. Born in
Budapest, Adler studied in Munich and in Paris. On his re-
turn to Hungary, he settled in Budapest. Adler's reputation was
created with his painting Memento Mori (1852). A meticulous
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER, MORTIMER JEROME
artist, he was popular as a painter of genre and still life, and
made portraits of many eminent Hungarians of his time. His
Apotheosis of Baron Joseph Eotvés pays tribute to this cham-
pion of the emancipation of Hungary’s Jews.
ADLER, MORRIS (1906-1966), U.S. Conservative rabbi.
Adler, son of a rabbi, was born in Slutzk, Russia, and was
brought to the U.S. in 1913. After serving in Buffalo, N.y.,
Rabbi Adler accepted the pulpit of Shaare Zedek in Detroit,
Mich. (1938), where, except for his chaplaincy (1943-46), he
remained for the rest of his life. Under Rabbi Adler’s leader-
ship the congregation grew into one of the largest in the world,
and he was considered by many to be the leading spokesman
of the Detroit Jewish community. He was especially devoted
to the field of adult Jewish education, on which he lectured
and wrote extensively. A friend of labor leader Walter Reuther,
Rabbi Adler served as chairman of the Public Review Board
of the United Auto Workers (1957-66) and was a member of
the Michigan Fair Election Practices Commission and the
Labor-Management Citizens’ Committee. He was a member of
the Governor's Commission on Higher Education (1963-66).
Positions he held in the Jewish world included chairman-
ship of the Bnai B'rith Adult Jewish Education Commission
(1963-66) and various offices in the Rabbinical Assembly. He
wrote Great Passages from the Torah (1947) for adult Jewish
study, and World of the Talmud (1958). He also edited the Jew-
ish Heritage Reader (with Lily Edelman, 1965).
He was killed during Sabbath services in his synagogue
by a mentally ill youth. The day of his funeral was declared
by Governor George Romney a day of mourning in the state
of Michigan. A collection of his writings, compiled by his
widow Goldie Adler and Lily Edelman, May I Have a Word
With You, appeared in 1967. A second posthumous volume,
‘The Voice Still Speaks: Message of Torah for Contemporary Man
(ed. Jacob Chinitz), appeared in 1969.
[Alvin Kass]
ADLER, MORTIMER JEROME (1902-2001), U.S. philoso-
pher and educator. Born in New York, Adler studied and later
taught psychology at Columbia. From 1927 to 1929 he was as-
sistant director of the People’s Institute in New York. In 1930,
he was appointed associate professor of philosophy of law at
the University of Chicago (full professor in 1942), where he
was active in curriculum reform. In 1952 he became director
of the Institute for Philosophical Research in Chicago. Adler
opposed John Dewey’s influence in education, and advocated
studying the great books of the Western tradition. While he
continued his educational reforms on a more conservative ba-
sis, the concept of seminars on “great books” and “great ideas”
continued to become integrated into programs at other educa-
tional institutions. In 1952, his work in this area culminated in
the publication of the Great Books of the Western World by the
Encyclopaedia Britannica company in 54 volumes (1945-52),
with R.M. Hutchins.
403
ADLER, NATHAN BEN SIMEON HA-KOHEN
Adler helped found the Institute for Philosophical Re-
search and the Aspen Institute. He taught business leaders the
classics at the Aspen Institute for more than 40 years. He was
also on the board of the Ford Foundation and the Board of
Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, where his influence
was clearly felt in its policies and programs. He was also the
co-founder, along with Max Weismann, of the Center for the
Study of Great Ideas.
In 1977, Adler published an autobiography entitled Phi-
losopher at Large, which was later followed by another account
entitled A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Au-
tobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher at Large (1992). He
spent a lifetime making philosophy’s greatest texts accessible
to everyone. Throughout his teaching career, he remained de-
voted to helping those outside academia educate themselves
further. According to Adler, no one, no matter how old, should
stop learning. He wrote more than 20 books after the age of 7o,
and at the age of 95 was working on his 60", The New Tech-
nology: Servant or Master?
Adler’s main works include Art and Prudence (1937); St.
Thomas and the Gentiles (1938); How to Read a Book (1940);
A Dialectic of Morals (1941); The Capitalist Manifesto (with
L. Kelso, 1958); Great Ideas from the Great Books (1961); The
Conditions of Philosophy (1966); The Difference of Man and the
Difference It Makes (1968); Reforming Education: The Open-
ing of the American Mind (1977); The Time of Our Lives: Eth-
ics of Common Sense (1970); Aristotle for Everybody: Difficult
Thought Made Easy (1980); The Paideia Proposal: An Educa-
tional Manifesto (1982); The Angels and Us (1982); Six Great
Ideas (1984); A Vision of the Future: Twelve Ideas for a Better
Life and a Better Society (1984); Ten Philosophical Mistakes
(1985); How to Speak / How to Listen (1985); A Guidebook to
Learning: For a Lifelong Pursuit of Wisdom (1986); Truth in Re-
ligion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth (1990);
How to Think about God: A Guide for the 20°*-Century Pagan
(1991); Desires, Right & Wrong: The Ethics of Enough (1991);
and Adler’s Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the
Philosopher's Lexicon (1995).
A self-described pagan for most of his life, Adler con-
verted to Christianity in 1984 and was baptized by an Episco-
palian priest. In 1999, he converted to Roman Catholicism.
[Richard H. Popkin / Ruth Beloff (2"¢ ed.)]
ADLER, NATHAN BEN SIMEON HA-KOHEN (1741-
1800), German rabbi. Born into a distinguished family in
Frankfurt, Adler was a student of Tevele David *Schiff, and
became known as an “illui” (an extraordinarily talented stu-
dent of Talmud). In addition to talmudic subjects, he studied
the natural sciences and Hebrew and Aramaic grammar. At
the age of 20 he had achieved a reputation for his scholarship
and piety. He founded a yeshivah which drew students from
many cities. His students included Seckel Loeb *Wormser,
Mendel *Kargau, and Moses *Sofer. Adler was especially at-
tracted to practical Kabbalah. He gathered a congregation in
his home and conducted the services from the prayer book of
404
Isaac *Luria, employing the Sephardi pronunciation he had
learned from R. Hayyim Modai of Jerusalem who had been
his houseguest for several years. Adler even had the priestly
blessing recited daily, and departed from accepted practices in
other particulars. He was especially stringent in regard to laws
relating to ritual slaughter and the dietary laws. Although he
was careful not to cite the Zohar or to canvass disciples for his
views, there was considerable friction between his followers
and the community leaders. Nevertheless, his profound learn-
ing and impeccable conduct were universally acknowledged.
In 1779, his followers excommunicated one of the members of
the Frankfurt community. Adler was summoned to the bet din
to account for this presumptuous act. He refused to appear,
and in consequence a resolution was passed and proclaimed
in the synagogues, forbidding him to conduct services in his
house, forbidding any member of the community from par-
ticipating in these services, and threatening transgressors
with excommunication. Adler ignored the order, whereupon
a statement was issued by the rabbis and communal leaders
of Frankfurt, signed by Phinehas *Horowitz. It threatened to
place Adler under a ban which would prevent him from fulfill-
ing any rabbinic functions and withdraw his right to decide on
religious matters. The decision was referred to the civil author-
ities and approved by them, and Adler was obliged to submit.
A temporary truce resulted when Adler was invited to accept
the post of rabbi of Boskowitz in Moravia (1782). His devoted
follower, Moses Sofer, decided not to abandon his master, and
Adler encouraged him to accompany him. Eighteen years later,
in his eulogy on Adler, Sofer declared, “I ran after him for 100
miles, forsaking my mother’s house, and the home in which I
was born.’ On their way, they passed through Prague where
they were received with great honor by Ezekiel *Landau. Adler,
however, was not happy in Boskowitz, and after three years a
dispute broke out between him and the community as a re-
sult of his attempt to introduce regulations regarding terefot
which were more stringent than those hitherto in use. As a
result he was obliged to leave the city. He and Sofer reached
Vienna in the spring of 1785, but eventually Adler returned to
Frankfurt, while Sofer settled in Prossnitz. In Frankfurt Adler
reopened his yeshivah and reconvened his congregation. No
action was taken by the community, but, in 1789, two of his
students were punished by the communal leaders for alarm-
ing the community with accounts of their dreams. Adler and
his disciples placed great significance on heavenly signs, mir-
acles, and especially dreams. Adler himself was well-known
for his dreams. As part of his kabbalistic life style, he was in
constant search of divine revelation and prophetic visions.
The excommunication pronounced ten years earlier against
Adler and his dayyan, R. Lazer Wallase (the maternal grand-
father of Abraham *Geiger), was renewed. About that time
an anonymous polemical pamphlet entitled Maasei Taatw’im
(1790) appeared in Frankfurt, describing the practices of the
Hasidim who were attracted to Adler. The author of the bro-
chure, a certain Loeb Wetzler, who wrote in the style of the
early Haskalah, claimed that the Hasidim had devised new
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
laws. Adler’s community did deviate from common practice in
the areas of prayer, asceticism, and wearing two sets of fefillin
instead of the usual one, all based on their study of Kabbalah.
The added strictures of law, the asceticism, and the life style
based on Kabbalah were very close to similar practices of the
nascent hasidic communities developing in Eastern Europe
during the same period. To a certain extent the opposition to
these “deviant” practices was motivated by a resurgence of in-
terest in the Shabbatean movement that occurred at the same
time. The excommunication on Adler was removed on the 11"
of Elul 1800, only three weeks before his death. The eulogy was
delivered by R. Phinehas Horowitz, av bet din of Frankfurt.
Adler left no writings except some brief notes, based on ex-
planations he had heard from Tevele David Schiff. He wrote
these in the margins of his copy of the Mishnah. Some, on
Berakhot and tractates of the order Zera’im, were published by
R. Zevi Benjamin Auerbach under the title Mishnat Rabbi Na-
than (1862). Some of Adler’s views on halakhah and aggadah
and his minhagim were published in Moses Sofer’s Hatam
Sofer and Torat Moshe (19067). Adler’s method in teaching the
Oral Law was original. He took the Mishnah as his starting
point, gave the results of the discussion of the Gemara on it,
and then pointed out the various stages in the development
of the halakhah as it appears in the works of the early codifi-
ers, particularly Maimonides and Alfasi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z.B. Auerbach, Mishnat R. Nathan (1862),
introd.; A. Geiger, in: HB, 5 (1862), 77-79; M. Horovitz, Frankfurter
Rabbinen, 4 (1885), 38-51; idem, Avnei Zikkaron (1901), liii, no. 4478; L.
Loew, Gesammelte Schriften, 2 (1890), 91-95; A.Y. Schwarz, Derekh ha-
Nesher (1928); Dubnow, Hasidut, 2 (1930), 434-41; J. Unna, in: Guard-
ians of Our Heritage, ed. by L. Jung (1958), 167-85; O. Feuchtwanger,
Righteous Lives (1965), 69-71; Y. Katz, in: Studies in Mysticism and
Religion (1967), 119-22 (Hebrew section). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
R. Elior, in: Zion, 59 (1994); idem, in: Mysticism, Magic and Kabbalah
in Ashkenazi Judaism: International Symposium Held in Frankfurt
a.M. (1995), 223-42.
[Zvi Avneri / David Derovan (2"4 ed.)]
ADLER, NATHAN MARCUS (1803-1890), British chief
rabbi. Nathan Adler was born in Hanover, then under the Brit-
ish crown, and was educated in Germany. He became rabbi
of Oldenburg in 1829 and succeeded his father, Marcus Baer
Adler, at Hanover the following year. In 1844 he was elected
chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British
Empire in succession to Solomon *Hirschel. He was chosen
by a representative gathering of national delegates, and not, as
with his predecessors, by the London Great Synagogue alone.
S.R. *Hirsch was among the other candidates. During his 45
years of office the Anglo-Jewish community developed its
modern features, which Adler did much to shape. His firm but
enlightened orthodoxy was coupled with a strong and attrac-
tive personality. Adler was largely responsible for the failure of
the *Reform movement, established in England shortly before
his arrival, to make much headway there. His wide-ranging
and ambitious conception of his office was made clear in his
Laws and Regulations for all the Ashkenazi Synagogues in the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER, POLLY
British Empire, issued in 1847. He was mainly responsible for
the establishment of *Jews’ College in 1855 and was a moving
spirit in the organization of the Jewish Board of Guardians in
1859. In 1866 he took the first steps toward the creation of the
*United Synagogue. His pastoral tours and visits to provincial
communities made his influence felt throughout the country,
and he was also able to secure recognition of his authority in
the British colonies. Adler regarded Anglo-Orthodoxy as lax
compared with the Continent and therefore in need of cen-
tral direction. Outside the community he was regarded as the
official representative and public spokesman for Judaism. Ill
health curtailed his activity after 1879, when his son Hermann
*Adler was appointed delegate chief rabbi. His principal liter-
ary work is Netinah la-Ger, a Hebrew commentary on the Tar-
gum *Onkelos (Vilna, 1875; published in numerous editions).
His Ahavat Yonatan, a commentary on the Targum Jonathan,
remains in manuscript (jTsA, Ms. Adler, 1173). Adler enjoyed
an international reputation for his scholarship. He greatly
strengthened the position of the chief rabbi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, in: L. Jung (ed.), Jewish Leaders
1750-1940 (1953), 477-90; Friedlaender, in Jar, 2 (1890), 369-85;
Schmidt, in: YLBI, 7 (1962), 289-311; Jc (Jan. 24, 1890); C. Roth, His-
tory of the Great Synagogue... (1950), 266ff.; L.P. Gartner, Jewish Im-
migrant in England 1870-1914 (1960), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
ODNB online; G. Alderman, Modern British Jewry (1992), index.
[Cecil Roth]
ADLER, PAUL (1878-1946), German author. Adler studied
law in his native Prague and served for a short time as a judge.
He moved to France and Italy and finally settled in Hellerau,
an artists’ community near Dresden. He joined the “Hellerau
Circle,’ inspired by the publisher Jacob Hegner, who gathered
about him neoromantic and expressionist authors, the expo-
nents of an esoteric, religious mysticism. Adler was coeditor
of Neue Blaetter, the circle’s periodical. In 1933, he returned to
Czechoslovakia and survived the Nazi occupation in hiding.
Adler’s best known legendary tales, collected in Elohim (1914),
teem with fantastic characters, and anticipate those of Franz
*Kafka. Elohim’s giants, angels, and titans combine the symbol-
ism of the Talmud, of Christianity, and of paganism. Adler’s
two major novels were Naemlich (1915) and Die Zauberfloete
(1916); here he interpreted creation as a work of destruction.
In later years he became interested in Japanese literature and
collaborated in a monograph, Japanische Literatur (1925).
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Herzog, in: Aschkenas, 9 (1999),
483-502; D. Hoffmann, in: A. Kilcher (ed.), Metzler Lexikon der
deutsch-juedischen Literatur (2000), 6f. D. Hoffmann, in: Trumah,
13 (2003), 209-26.
[Rudolf Kayser]
ADLER, POLLY (Pearl; 1900-1962), U.S. author and owner
of bordellos. The eldest of nine children of Gertrude Koval and
Morris Adler, a tailor, Pearl Adler hoped to complete gym-
nasium studies in her native Belorussia. However, her father
sent her to America to prepare the way for the immigration
of the rest of the family. On her own in New York, she was
405
ADLER, RENATA
raped at 17 by a sweatshop foreman and resorted to an abortion.
Alienated from relatives, she learned to support herself in the
sex industry, a survival necessity followed by a significant num-
ber of Jewish female immigrants from Eastern Europe. Unsuc-
cessful in legitimate undertakings, Adler became a madam,
operating a series of increasingly upscale brothels catering to
gangsters and the fashionable upper classes. She retired in 1943
to Burbank, California, where she completed high school and
enrolled in college courses. Her notoriety as the classic Ameri-
can madam, “a feisty, albeit disreputable, victor over adversity,’
was sealed by the publication of her popular memoir, A House
Is Not a Home (1953) and its film version (1964).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.M. Millin, “Adler, Polly, in: PE. Hyman
and D. Dash Moore (eds.), Jewish Women in America, 1 (1997),
16-17.
[Judith R. Baskin (2"4 ed.)]
ADLER, RENATA (1938-_), U.S. journalist, novelist, and film
critic. Born in Milan, Italy, Adler graduated from Bryn Mawr
College in 1959; the Sorbonne in 1961; Harvard University in
1962; and Yale University Law School. Trained as a journalist,
Adler worked intermittently for 20 years at the New Yorker
magazine. Hired in her twenties by the legendary editor Wil-
liam *Shawn, she reported from Vietnam; from Selma, Ala.,
a civil rights hot spot; and from the Middle East. Her first two
books were collections of essays and reviews written on assign-
ment for that magazine and for the New York Times, where she
worked, still in her twenties, for 18 months as a film critic, at a
time when film became a serious intellectual, artistic, and po-
litical pursuit. Her generally negative reviews so angered the
movie-making industry that in 1968 United Artists took out
a full-page ad in the New York Times denouncing her. Strom
Thurmond attacked her on the floor of the Senate for her cri-
tique of the John Wayne film The Green Berets.
She returned to the New Yorker and was promptly sent to
report on the civil war in Biafra. Then she went to Washing-
ton, where she was hired by the House Committee investigat-
ing the Watergate scandal to write speeches for the chairman,
Representative Peter Rodino. In 1969, she turned to writing
short stories. Her early work surfaced in the New Yorker, and
she eventually collected and reshaped much of this short fic-
tion into an award-winning first novel, Speedboat, a collec-
tion of short paragraphs offering snippets of narrative, some-
times presented randomly. Essentially Adler was creating a
disturbing portrait of urban life. The critics, however, were
unimpressed. The literary controversy was rekindled in 1983
with her second novel, Pitch Dark, an autobiographical story
about a young woman running from her relationship with a
married man. It was similar in style to her first novel, with a
skeletal plot and observations arranged haphazardly.
Her legal training was reflected in her 1986 book, an ex-
haustive investigation into shoddy news reporting practices,
Reckless Disregard: Westmoreland v. css et al.; Sharon v. Time.
It dealt with Ariel Sharon's libel suit against Time for its report-
ing of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon and West-
406
moreland’s suit against cBs for accusing him of deception in
estimating North Vietnamese troop strengths. Adler accused
the defendants of refusing to acknowledge even the possibility
of error and their lawyers with having displayed “a concerted
disregard for the fundamental goals of truth and accuracy.”
cBs tried to get the book suppressed; the network was unsuc-
cessful and the manuscript was published without change.
In the late 1980s, Adler became a single mother by adopt-
ing a baby and wrote little. Her critique of the venerated New
Yorker film critic Pauline *Kael, published in the New York
Review of Books, was particularly noteworthy for the vicious-
ness of her attack. In 1999, she published Gone: The Last Days
of the New Yorker, a critique of the magazine after it changed
ownership and editors. In 2001 came Canaries in the Mine-
shaft: Essays on Politics and Media. She also contributed arti-
cles and short stories, sometimes under the pseudonym Brett
Daniels, to the magazines National Review, Vanity Fair, Harp-
ers Bazaar, Commentary, and Atlantic. She was a member of
the editorial board of American Scholar from 1969 to 1975. She
was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1973-74, won first prize in the O.
Henry Short Story Awards in 1974, won the American Acad-
emy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award in 1976, and the
Ernest Hemingway Prize in 1976 for the best first novel. She
taught at several universities and was a member of PEN and
the National Academy of Arts and Letters.
[Stewart Kampel (2"¢ ed.)]
ADLER, RICHARD (1921-_), U.S. composer, lyricist. Bronx-
born Adler, the son of a classical pianist-teacher, Clarence
Adler, graduated from the University of North Carolina and
served as a lieutenant (jc.) in the U.S. Navy during World
War 11 before concentrating on composing. He began collab-
orating with Jerry Ross, also Bronx-born and Jewish, in 1950
and had a popular success with the song “Rags to Riches.”
But their first Broadway musical, The Pajama Game, in 1954,
brought them recognition for the way the songs worked with
the plot and for their integration of American speech idi-
oms. The show, about a labor-union conflict and the threat
of a strike in a pajama factory, was directed by the venerable
George Abbott and also launched the career of Harold *Prince
as a producer and established Bob Fosse as a major choreo-
grapher. Jerome *Robbins was hired as a backup in case Fosse
did not work out. The show had hit songs like “Hernando’s
Hideaway,’ “Hey There,’ and “Steam Heat.” The next year Adler
and Ross gave Broadway Damn Yankees, a musical comedy
version of the Faust story, with such songs as “Whatever Lola
Wants” and “(You Gotta Have) Heart.” But Ross died that
year, at the age of 29, of a bronchial infection and Adler be-
gan to work alone.
Adler had little commercial success with Broadway mu-
sicals in the 1960s and 1970s but his symphonic works, includ-
ing “Yellowstone Overture”; “Wilderness Suite,’ commissioned
by the Interior Department for full orchestra to celebrate the
wilderness park lands; and “The Lady Remembers,” commis-
sioned by the Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island Foundation to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
celebrate the statue’s centennial, also for full orchestra; and
his ballets were performed widely and won awards. He also
achieved success at composing musical commercials (“Let
Hertz Put You in the Driver’s Seat”) and earned himself the
sobriquet “king of the jingles.” Adler was also called on to pro-
duce shows to mark celebrations and stage entertainments for
inaugural galas. Perhaps his most celebrated show was pro-
duced on May 19, 1962, when Marilyn *Monroe sang “Happy
Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy during a birthday sa-
lute at Madison Square Garden. Adler won two Tony (theater)
awards and four Pulitzer Prize nominations; he was a member
of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
In later years, Adler turned to a form of meditation
called Siddha Yoga, which he said helped him deal with the
grief when his son died of cancer at the age of 30 and when
he himself battled throat cancer.
[Stewart Kampel (274 ed.)]
ADLER, SAMUEL (1809-1891), rabbi and pioneer of the Re-
form movement. Adler, born in Worms, was the son of Rabbi
Isaac Adler, who gave him his early education. He received a
traditional education at the Frankfurt Yeshivah and studied
privately with Rabbi Jacob Bamberger. He also received a sec-
ular education at the University of Bonn and Giessen, where
he studied philosophy and especially Hegel under Joseph
Hillebrand. He officiated as preacher and assistant rabbi at
Worms, and in 1842 was appointed rabbi of the Alzey (Rhen-
ish Hesse) district. Adler was one of the early protagonists
of Reform and took part in the rabbinical conferences of
1844-46 (see *Reform Judaism). He worked strenuously for
the improvement of Jewish education and the removal of le-
gal disabilities affecting Jews. He believed that rituals had to
be changed to fit contemporary circumstance and worked on
improving the status of women in Jewish education and in
prayer. In 1857 Adler went to America as rabbi of Congregation
Emanu-el in New York, succeeding Leo *Merzbacher. A classic
reformer, he rejected supernatural revelation and the author-
ity of the law. He omitted references to the return to Zion in
the prayer book and during the parts of the service that were
not devotional, head covering was removed at Emanu-El. He
published a revised edition of its prayer book in 1860, and in
1865 helped form a theological seminary under the auspices
of his congregation. He was also one of the founders of the
Hebrew Orphan Asylum. Adler’s interests were scholarly, and
he appears to have exercised little influence on the commu-
nity. In 1874 his congregation resolved on his retirement and
appointed him rabbi emeritus. When the Central Conference
of American Rabbis was established (1889), Adler was made
honorary president. Among his publications are A Guide to
Instruction in Israelite Religion (1864) and a selection of his
writings, Kobez al Jad, was published privately (1886). An Eng-
lish translation of Adler’s memoirs was published privately by
A.G. Sanborn (1967). His son Felix was presumed to be his
successor but left the rabbinate to found the Ethical Culture
Society and therefore take his father’s ideas to the next stage
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER, SAUL AARON
of their evolution where the particularity of Jews and Judaism
are no longer necessary.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Berenbaum: “The Dimension of
Samuel Adler’s Religious View of the World,’ in Hebrew Union Col-
lege Annual, 46 (1975), 377-412; K.M. Olitzsky, L.J. Sussman, and
M.H. Stern, Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary
and Sourcebook (1993), 4-6.
[Sefton D. Temkin / Michael Berenbaum (2"4 ed.)]
ADLER, SAMUEL M. (1898-1979), U.S. painter. Born in New
York City, Adler began drawing as a child. His parents saw the
life of an artist as a challenge and thus did not encourage his
interest. Nonetheless, at the age of 13 — several years earlier
than typical admissions - Adler began artistic training at the
National Academy of Design in New York. A talented violin-
ist as well, he supported himself by playing in various venues,
from weddings to symphonies. Before graduation Adler left
the Academy, dedicating himself to music full time.
In 1933 Adler returned to painting. His first one-man
show was not until mid life, when he had a 1948 exhibition
at the Joseph Luyber Galleries in New York. This exhibition
showed only his current work as two years previously he had
destroyed all but two of his paintings. Overnight, critics lauded
Adler as an important contemporary artist. Within the year
he was teaching art at New York University and from this pe-
riod on his works were displayed at, and acquired by, various
venues in New York and elsewhere.
While Adler grew up with little religious training, he
turned to depictions of the Jewish experience when he en-
tered the art world. He created dozens of paintings of rabbis,
including White Rabbi (1951), which shows a young rabbi in
a tallit and kippah standing in front of Sabbath candles. In
this work, and others, one can see the influence of Amadeo
*Modigliani’s simplified, symmetrical approach to the human
figure. Adler always kept the human form at the center of his
art, even as he moved away from representational painting to
more abstract collages.
Adler discussed his view of Jewish art in a 1964 public
lecture: “I believe in a dimension in every work of art that
lies beyond the measurables, an inexplicable, a quality of life
we call presence, that cannot be construed as either Jewish
or Christian.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: ‘Jewish Art Explained by Prof. Adler,” in: The
News-Gazette (Champaign, Illinois, March 8, 1964), 16; E. Grossman,
Art and Tradition (1967); S. Adler, Samuel M. Adler: 25 Years of the
Image of Man 47-’72 (1972).
[Samantha Baskind (24 ed.)]
ADLER, SAUL AARON (1895-1966), Israeli physician and
parasitologist. Adler was born in Karelitz, Russia, but was
taken to England as a child of five. He studied medicine at
Leeds University and specialized in tropical medicine at the
University of Liverpool. During World War 1 he served as a
doctor and pathologist with the British armies on the Iraqi
front. Between 1921 and 1924 he did research on malaria in
Sierra Leone. In 1924 he made his home in Jerusalem and
407
ADLER, SELIG
joined the staff of the Hebrew University Medical School.
Four years later he was appointed professor and director of
the Parasitological Institute of the university. Adler translated
Darwin's Origin of Species into Hebrew.
Under the auspices of the British Royal Society, he or-
ganized a number of scientific expeditions in the countries
and islands of the Mediterranean. He specialized in the eti-
ology and pathology of tropical diseases, the ways in which
parasites pathogenic to man and animals are spread, and the
immunology of protozoan infections. Adler introduced the
Syrian golden hamster (brought to the Hebrew University
from Aleppo by Israel *Aharoni) into experimental medicine.
His work on malaria, cattle fever, leprosy, and dysentery, and
his pioneer research into the Leishmania diseases (the Jericho
and kala-azar groups) and their carriers, the sandflies, won
him an international reputation. In 1933 Adler was awarded
the Chalmers Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene for his work on the transmission of
kala-azar by the sandfly. In 1957 he was made a Fellow of the
Royal Society. eevee)
ADLER, SELIG (1909-1984), U.S. historian. Born in Balti-
more, Maryland, Adler graduated from the University of Buf-
falo in 1931. He was appointed to the history faculty of the
University of Buffalo in 1938 and subsequently named Sam-
uel Paul Capen Professor of American History at the State
University of New York at Buffalo in 1959. He specialized in
American diplomatic and American Jewish history. His Iso-
lationist Impulse (1957) is a study of isolationist thinking in
the United States between the two World Wars. American
Foreign Policy Between the Wars (1965) is a judicious, widely
accepted account of that contentious subject. From Ararat to
Suburbia: A History of the Jewish Community of Buffalo (with
Thomas E. Connolly; 1960) is one of the most extensive and
exact histories of any Jewish community. He was also the ar-
chivist for the Buffalo Jewish community archives that bear
his name, which are located in the Butler Library at Buffalo
State College. Active in Jewish communal and cultural affairs,
Adler was a member of the New York Kosher Law Advisory
Board and of the executive board of the American Jewish
Historical Society.
[Lloyd P. Gartner / Ruth Beloff (2° ed.)]
ADLER, SHALOM BEN MENAHEM (1847-1899), rabbi
and author. Adler was educated in the home of his uncle R.
Hillel *Lichtenstein. In 1869 Adler was appointed rabbi of
Szerednye (now Sered, Slovakia), a position he occupied for
30 years until his death. His Rav Shalom, published posthu-
mously by his son-in-law Elijah Sternhell (1902), is distin-
guished for its inspiring homilies and beautiful style. His un-
published works include novellae on the Talmud and responsa.
His three sons were all rabbis: Menahem Judah, his succes-
sor; Phinehas, the rabbi of Radvancz; and Joab, the rabbi of
Tapoly-Hanusfalva, who was born in 1880 and killed by the
Nazis.
408
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P.Z. Schwartz, Shem ha-Gedolim me-Erez
Hagar, 2 (1913), 36a; A. Stern, Melizei Esh, 3 (1962); Kislev, 16, no. 42;
B. Eisenstadt, Dor, Rabbanav ve-Soferav, 6 (1965), 10; O.Z. Rand and
A.M. Grynblatt, Toledot Anshei Shem, 1 (1950), 1.
[Naphtali Ben-Menahem]
ADLER, STELLA (1901-1992), U.S. actress and acting
teacher. An exponent of Method acting and probably the
leading American teacher of her craft, Adler was born into
a celebrated acting family rooted in the Yiddish theater (see
*Adler). She made her stage debut at four, appeared in nearly
200 plays, and occasionally directed productions. She also
shaped the careers of thousands of performers at the Stella
Adler Conservatory of Acting, which she founded in Man-
hattan in 1949 and where she taught for decades.
Born in Manhattan, the youngest daughter of Jacob Adler
and the former Sara Levitzky, Russian immigrants who led the
Independent Yiddish Art Company, Stella had five siblings,
and they all became actors, notably Luther. Her parents were
the leading classical Yiddish stage tragedians in the United
States. Stella started on the stage in 1905 at the Grand Street
Theater on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. She played both
girls’ and boys’ roles and then ingénues in a variety of classical
and contemporary plays over ten years in the United States,
Europe, and South America, performing in vaudeville and
the Yiddish theater. She won acclaim as the leading lady of
Maurice *Schwartz, but she sought more versatility. Her work
schedule allowed little time for formal schooling.
She was introduced to the Method theories of Konstantin
Stanislavsky, the legendary Moscow Art Theater actor and di-
rector, in 1925 when she took courses at the American Labo-
ratory Theater school, founded by Richard Boleslavski and
Maria Ouspenskaya, former members of the Moscow troupe.
Adler’s most frenetic years were with the Group Theater, a
cooperative ensemble dedicated to reinvigorating the the-
ater with plays about important contemporary topics. The
Group, founded by Harold *Clurman (whom she married in
1943), Lee *Strasberg and Cheryl Crawford, also believed in a
theater that would probe the depths of the soul. Both aspects
appealed to her and she joined in 1931. She won high praise
for performances in such realistic dramas as Success Story by
John Howard Lawson and two seminal Clifford *Odets plays,
Awake and Sing! and Paradise Lost. She was also hailed for di-
recting the touring company of Odets’ Golden Boy. Recalling
her years with the company, she deplored a dearth of good
roles for women in “a man’s theater aimed at plays for men.”
But she credited the company with evoking in her an ideal-
ism that shaped her later career. “I knew that I had it in me to
be more creative, had much more to give to people,” she said.
“It was the Group Theater that gave me my life.”
Before the Method revolutionized American theater,
classical acting instruction had focused on developing exter-
nal talents. Method acting was the first systematized training
that also developed internal abilities, sensory, psychologi-
cal, and emotional. Strasberg, who headed the Actors Studio
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
until his death in 1982, rooted his view on what Stanislavsky
stressed in his early career. Adler went to Paris and studied
intensively with Stanislavsky for five weeks in 1934. She found
he had revised his theories to stress that the actor should cre-
ate by imagination rather than by memory and that the key
to success was “truth, truth in the circumstances of the play.”
She instructed: “Your talent is your imagination. The rest is
lice” She was a stern taskmaster, believing that a teacher’s job
is to agitate as well as inspire. She demanded craftsmanship
and self-awareness, calling it the key to an actor’s sense of ful-
fillment. When students failed to understand roles, she acted
them out, insisting: “You can’t be boring. Life is boring. The
weather is boring. Actors must not be boring”
She appeared in three films: Love on Toast (1938), Shadow
of the Thin Man, and My Girl Tisa (1948). Her later stage roles
included a fiery lion tamer in a 1946 revival of He Who Gets
Slapped and in London an eccentric mother in a black com-
edy, Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and
I'm Feeling So Sad, in 1961. She restated her theories in Stella
Adler on Acting, published by Bantam Books in 1988. For
her students, who included Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro,
Warren Beatty, and Candice Bergen, she was both the tough-
est critic and the most profound inspiration, saying: “You act
with your soul. That’s why you all want to be actors, because
your souls are not used up by life.”
[Stewart Kampel (274 ed.)]
ADLER, VICTOR (1852-1918), pioneer and leader of the Aus-
trian Social-Democratic party and a prominent figure in the in-
ternational labor movement. Born in Prague, Adler was taken
as a child to Vienna where his father became a rich man and,
two years before his death, embraced Catholicism. A physician
by profession, Adler devoted his life to the cause of the working
class. His greatest political victory was the granting of universal
suffrage by the Imperial Government in 1905. He was a mem-
ber of the Austrian parliament from 1905 to 1918 and foreign
minister in the Socialist government of 1918. Adler was a vic-
tim of antisemitic agitation and suffered from the ambivalent
attitude to Jews on the part of his colleagues at school and uni-
versity. After his marriage he converted to Christianity “to save
his children from embarrassment.” During his long political life
he was always conscious of his origin but avoided taking a clear
stand on Jewish issues. He opposed a debate on antisemitism
at a congress of the Socialist International in Brussels in 1891.
In later life, free from any religious affiliations, Adler refused
to acknowledge the specific problems of the Jewish proletariat
and opposed the idea of Jewish nationhood.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Silberner, Western European Socialism
and the Jewish Problem (1800-1918) (1955). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
L. Meysels, Victor Adler (1997).
[Schneier Zalman Levenberg]
ADLERBLUM, NIMA (1881-1974), author and philosopher.
Adlerblum, a daughter of Hayyim *Hirschensohn, was born in
Jerusalem but left the city with her parents when she was about
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADLER-RUDEL, SALOMON
1, moving to Turkey and later to the United States. She studied
in Paris and subsequently at Columbia University, where she
became closely associated with John Dewey. Her doctoral the-
sis, A Study of Gersonides in His Proper Perspective (Columbia
University Press, 1926), was actually a call for a new approach
to Jewish philosophy, which she felt was wrongly assessed by
being viewed in its relation to other contemporary philoso-
phies, maintaining that its true main thrust could be detected
only when it was examined within its own environment. This
conception, she argued, was best expressed by *Judah Halevi
(1075-1145) who, in his Kuzari, maintained that Judaism had
its own spiritual ideas and ideals, which were intimately bound
with the historic experience of the Jewish people. Her attitude
coincided with John Dewey’s philosophical theory that the
value of abstract thinking depended on its concern with liv-
ing experience and its fruitful application to life, but her views
were challenged and criticized by many scholars.
In her A Perspective of Jewish Life Through Its Festivals
(1930) she further expounded her philosophical theory of Ju-
daism, and in her Elan Vital of the Jewish Woman (1934) she
stressed that woman’s sensitivity in certain areas was vital
and would enrich Jewish scholarship when it was opened up
to them. She also published philosophical treatises on medi-
eval Jewish thinkers. Adlerblum served on the international
committee for spreading the teaching of John Dewey (out-
side America), was a member of the American Philosophical
Association, and a life fellow of the International Institute of
Arts and Letters. She was active in Hadassah from its incep-
tion, serving on its National Board from 1922 to 1935.
After an absence of 80 years she returned to Israel. A
number of her articles on the vivid impact of her childhood in
Jerusalem on her thinking were included in The Jewish Heri-
tage Series edited by Rabbi Leo Jung (New York).
[Penina Peli (2™4 ed.)]
ADLER-RUDEL, SALOMON (1894-1975), social worker.
He was born in Czernowitz, Austro-Hungary (now Ukraine).
Adler-Rudel was director of the Welfare Organization of East-
ern Jews in Berlin (1919-30) and was active in developing
welfare services for Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe.
As director of the Berlin Jewish community's department of
productive welfare from 1930 to 1934, he contributed to pro-
grams to reduce dependence and to increase self-support
among welfare cases. From 1926 to 1929 he served as editor
of the Juedische Arbeits - und Wanderfuersorge. When the
Nazis came to power, he moved to London where he was ad-
ministrator of the *Central British Fund (1936-45). During
World War 11, he was prominent in rescue activities of Jews
from Europe. After the war he settled in Erez Israel and was
director of the Jewish Agency’s department of international
relations. In this capacity, he prepared agreements with the
International Refugee Organization and other international
migration bodies for the transfer to Israel of the “hard-core”
cases in the European Displaced Persons Camps. From 1958
he was director of the *Leo Baeck Institute for German Jews
409
ADLIVANKIN, SAMUIL
in Jerusalem. In 1959 he published Ostjuden in Deutschland
1880-1940.
[Jacob Neusner]
ADLIVANKIN, SAMUIL (1897-1966), painter and graphic
artist. Adlivankin was born in Tatarsk, Mogilev province,
Russia. As a child, he received a traditional Jewish educa-
tion. In 1912-17, he studied at the Odessa Art School. In 1916,
he became a member of the Odessa Association of Indepen-
dent Artists and participated in their exhibitions. In 1918-19,
Adlivankin studied at the Moscow Free Art Workshops, where
his tutor was V. Tatlin (1885-1953). In the constructivist works
created by Adlivankin in 1919-20, Tatlin’s influence is clearly
manifested. In 1921-23 he joined the New Painters’ Society
(NOZH) and showed his work at its 1921 exhibition in Moscow.
His works of this period feature scenes of everyday Soviet life,
treated ironically or satirically and executed in the expression-
ist manner, sometimes incorporating elements of primitivism.
In 1923-28, Adlivankin drew caricatures for various magazines
and worked on political posters together with V. Mayakovsky.
In the late 1920s he worked for a number of film studios and
made set designs for several productions. In the early 1930s,
he made several trips to Jewish agricultural communities in
the Crimea and Ukraine that inspired several works portray-
ing the life of Jewish kolkhozes and showed them at the exhi-
bition dedicated specifically to this theme, which took place
in Moscow in 1936. In the notorious, overtly antisemitic cam-
paign launched in 1949 against “cosmopolitism,’ Adlivankin,
together with other Soviet culture figures who happened to be
ethnic Jews, was subjected to severe criticism and distanced
from public cultural life until the mid-1950s: his works were
not accepted for exhibits, he received no commissions, etc.
The first and only one-man exhibition in his lifetime was held
in 1961 in Moscow.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The Great Utopia. Russian and Soviet Avant-
Garde-Art 1915-1932. Exh. Cat. Moscow (1993), 748 (Rus.).
[Hillel Kazovsky (274 ed.)]
ADLOYADA (Heb. y??7y; Aramaic y1? 897 TY), Purim
carnival. The name is derived from the rabbinic saying (Meg.
7b) that one should revel on Purim until one no longer knows
(ad de-lo yada) the difference between “Blessed be Mordecai”
and “Cursed be Haman.” The first Adloyada was held in Tel
Aviv (1912) and spread to other communities in Israel. It is cel-
ebrated by carnival processions with decorated floats through
the main streets, accompanied by bands.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.T. Lewinski (ed.), Sefer ha-Moadim, 6
(1956), 277-296.
ADMISSION, legal concept applying both to debts and facts.
Formal admission by a defendant is regarded as equal to “the
evidence of a hundred witnesses” (BM 3b). This admission had
to be a formal one, before duly appointed witnesses, or before
the court, or in writing. When the denial of having received
a loan is proved to be false, this is regarded as tantamount to
410
an admission that it has not been repaid. Admissions were
originally regarded as irrevocable, but in order to alleviate
hardships caused by hasty admissions, the Talmud evolved
two causes for their revocation; a plea that the person mak-
ing the admission had not been serious, or that he had had
a special reason for making the admission. When partial ad-
mission has been made, the admission is accepted and he is
bound to take an oath with regard to the remainder. Admis-
sions can also apply to procedural matters; e.g., on the part
of a party to an action that he has no witnesses, in which case
he cannot subsequently call one.
The formal admission of a debt, or of facts from which
any liability may be inferred, is in civil cases the best evidence
of such liability (Git. 4ob, 64a; Kid. 65b). The requirements of
formality may be met: (1) by making the admission before two
competent witnesses, expressly requested to hear and witness
the admission (Sanh. 29a); (2) by way of pleading before the
court, whether as plaintiff or defendant (Sh. Ar., HM 81:22);
(3) in writing (ibid., 17); (4) through any of the recognized
modes of kinyan (“acquisition” ibid.); (5) on oath or the “sym-
bolic shaking of hands by the two parties... which is the equiv-
alent of an oath” (ibid., 28; Herzog, Instit, 2 (1939), 103).
While generally the admission must be explicit, in an ac-
tion for the recovery of a loan, the denial of the loan would
amount to an admission of nonpayment which is implicit in
the denial (BB 6a; Shevu. 38b); on proof of the loan, the defen-
dant will then be bound by his admission that he has not re-
paid it. Conversely, where a plaintiff claims that the defendant
owes him a certain species of goods without reserving his right
to claim also some other species, he is deemed to have admit-
ted that the defendant owes him only the species claimed and
no other, and any admission by the defendant that he does owe
another species than that claimed, will not avail the plaintiff
(BK 35b). The general rule in a conflict between two contradic-
tory admissions is that the explicit prevails over the implicit
and the negative (e.g., “I have not acquired property“) over
the positive (e.g., “I have transferred my property”; Tosef.,
BB 10:1; Git. 4ob), but an admission presumed to stem from
the knowledge of the relevant facts prevails over one possibly
made in ignorance of those facts (cf. BB 149a).
As formal admissions were originally irrevocable, they
were widely used as a means of creating new liabilities, as dis-
tinguished from the mere acknowledgment of already existing
ones. Even though recognized as factually false admissions,
they were held to bind the person making them (BB 149a),
whether by way of gratuitously incurring a new and enforce-
able obligation (Ket. 101a-102b; Maim. Yad, Mekhirah, 11:15),
or by way of transfer (kinyan). The property concerned thus
passes from the owner to the person now admitted by him to
have acquired it from him, the concurrence of the beneficiary
not being required as he was only benefiting by the admission
(Git. 40b; Maim. Yad, Zekhiyyah, 4:12). Admissions of this
nonprocedural variety are also termed udita or odaita.
With a view to alleviating hardships caused by precipi-
tate admissions, talmudic jurists evolved two *pleas for having
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
them revoked: the plea of feigning (hashtaah) and the plea of
satiation (hasbaah). Where a man, not of his own accord but
in reply to a question or demand, made an admission, and on
being sued maintained that he had not been serious about it
and that the admission was not true, an oath would be admin-
istered to him to the effect that he had not intended to admit
the debt and that he did not in fact owe it (Sanh. 29b). Simi-
larly, a statement of a person that he had admitted debts owed
by him, only for the purpose of ostensibly reducing his assets
so as not to appear rich was accepted (Sanh. 29b). Neither
plea is valid against admissions made in court, or in writing,
or by kinyan, or on oath (Sh. Ar, HM 81). As to admissions
made in writing, some scholars hold that so long as the deed
has not been delivered to the creditor, the admittor may plead
that he was not serious or that he wrote it in order to appear
poor (Sh. Ar., HM 65:22 and Isserles to Sh. Ar, HM 81:17). A
dying man is presumed not to be frivolous on his deathbed,
and his admissions are irrevocable (Sanh. 29b), so are admis-
sions made by his debtors in his favor and presence while he
is dying (Isserles ibid., 81:2). The public (the community) must
be presumed neither to make rash admissions nor to be inter-
ested in appearing without means, hence none of the pleas is
available against admissions made by or on behalf of the pub-
lic (Isserles ibid., 81:1). Where only part of a claim is admitted,
the admittor will be adjudged to the extent of his admission
and be required to take the oath that he does not owe the re-
mainder (Shevu. 7:1). This rule is based on the presumption
that no debtor has the temerity to deny his debt falsely in the
face of his creditor (Shev. 42b; BM 3a), a presumption which,
curiously enough, does not necessarily apply to a debtor de-
nying the whole (as distinguished from a part) of the debt.
Where the whole is denied, the oath is administered to the
defendant upon the presumption that a plaintiff will not nor-
mally abuse the process of the court (Shev. 40b). Where the
defendant satisfies the admitted portion of the claim without
adjudication, the claim is deemed to be for the nonadmitted
portion only and to be denied in whole (BM 4a, 4b). While a
part admission must fit the subject matter of the claim (Shev.
38b), it need not necessarily fit the cause of action; thus, the
admission of a deposit might fit the claim on a loan (Sh. Ar,
H.M. 88:19). The claim of the whole must precede the admis-
sion of the part, the admittor who is not yet a defendant being
regarded as a volunteer returning a lost object (Sh. Ar., HM
75:3). An admission is not allowed to prejudice the admittor’s
creditors: the holder of a bill may not be heard to admit that he
has no claim on it, or the possessor of chattel that they belong
to somebody else, so as to deprive his creditors of an attach-
able asset (Kid. 65b; Ket. 19a). Admissions need not relate to
substantive liabilities, but may be procedural in nature: thus
a party may admit that he has no witnesses to prove a par-
ticular fact, and he will not then be allowed to call a witness
to prove it, lest the witness be suborned (Sanh. 31a); or, hav-
ing once admitted a particular witness to be untrustworthy,
he will not later be able to rely on his testimony (Ket. 44a).
Admissions could be accepted for one purpose and rejected
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADMON, YEDIDYAH
for another, e.g., the admission of a wrongful act would be
inadmissible as a *confession in criminal or quasi-criminal
proceedings, but could afford the basis for awarding dam-
ages in a civil suit. This rule is found to have been applied to
larceny (BM 37a; see *Theft and Robbery), to the seduction
of women (Ket. 41a; see *Rape), to arson (Solomon b. Abra-
ham Adret, resp. 2:231), to *usury (ibid.), to embezzlement
(see *Theft and Robbery), and to breach of trust (Isserles to
Sh. Ar., HM 388:8; Yom Tov b. Abraham Ishbili, Ket. 72a); a
wife admitting her adultery was held to lose, on the strength
of her admission, any claim to maintenance or other mone-
tary benefits, but not her status as a married woman, thus in-
curring no liability to be divorced or punished (Maim. Yad,
Ishut, 24:18). An early authority posed the question whether
the injunction, “you shall have one standard of law” (Lev.
24:22), should not be read to prohibit any distinction between
civil and criminal law with regard to admissions; the answer
is in the negative, because in civil causes it is said: “He shall
pay”; but in criminal cases it is said: “He shall die” (Tosef.
Shevu. 3:8).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z. Frankel, Der gerichtliche Beweis nach mo-
saisch-talmudischem Rechte (1846), 127-30, 336-58; M. Bloch, Die
Civilprocess-Ordnung nach mosaisch-rabbinischem Rechte (1882),
41-43; Gulak, Yesodei, 2 (1922), 44-473 4 (1922), 78-84; Gulak, Ozar,
211-3; Karl, in: Ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri, 3 (1927/28), 95-98; Herzog, In-
stit, 1 (1936), 196-200, 268; 2 (1939), 42, 44, 94-973 ET, 1 (19513), 116-7,
253-4, 267-8; 8 (1957), 404-31; J.J. Rabinowitz, Jewish Law (1956),
257-63. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Lifshitz, Obligation and Acquisi-
tion in Jewish Law (1988).
[Haim Hermann Cohn]
ADMON (Gorochov), YEDIDYAH (1897-1982), Israeli com-
poser. Admon, who was born in Yekaterinoslav, Ukraine, went
to Erez Israel in 1906. From 1923 to 1927 he studied theory of
music and composition in the U.S. In 1927 he returned to Pal-
estine and in the same year published his first songs, among
them the popular “Gamal Gemali” (Camel Driver’s Song).
In 1930 he went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger, the
French music teacher. For several years Admon was director
of the Israeli Performing Rights Society (acum). After spend-
ing 13 years in America, he returned to Israel in 1968. Admon
was a pioneer in the field of Israeli song. He was one of the
first Israeli composers, and one of the earliest to create a new
style which served, often subconsciously, as a model for other
composers. This style blends four elements: the music of the
Oriental Jewish communities, especially the Yemenite and Per-
sian; Arab music; hasidic music; and Bible cantillation. The
result is an absolute organic unity. The rhythm of the Hebrew
language is also an important factor in Admon’s music. He
was awarded the Israel Prize for the arts in 1974. His work in-
cludes music for the theater - Bar Kokhba; Michal, Daughter
of Saul; and Jeremiah — for piano and violin, and a symphonic
poem, The Song of Deborah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Gradenwitz, Music and Musicians in Israel
os
(1959°), index. [Herzl Shmueli]
4ll
ADMON BEN GADDAI
ADMON BEN GADDAT, one of the few civil law judges in
Jerusalem whose name is mentioned in talmudic literature
(Ket. 13:1-9; TB, Ket. 105a). Admon probably lived in the lat-
ter days of the Second Temple, as three of the seven halakhot
in his name are supported in the Mishnah by R. *Gamaliel the
Elder. Admon and his colleagues received a salary of 99 maneh
(1 maneh = 100 denarii) from the Temple treasury. However,
due to early variants in mishnaic tradition regarding Admon’s
title, his precise judicial function is not clear. He is referred to
as either one of the dayyanei gezerot (nin14 "277 “decree judges”)
or one of the dayyanei gezelot (n1233 °2°T “robbery judges”). On
this and similar changes of the Hebrew letters 1 and ? see Ep-
stein, Tarbiz, 1 (1930), n. 3, 131-2.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frankel, Mishnah, 63-65; Weiss, Dor, 1
(1904*), 181ff.; A. Buechler, Das grosse Synhedrion in Jerusalem (1902),
111-4.
[Isaiah Gafni]
ADMONI, VLADIMIR GRIGORYEVICH (1909-1993),
Soviet Russian literary and linguistic scholar. A professor
at the Pedagogical Institute of Leningrad, he specialized in
Germanic and Norwegian languages and literature and in
the theory of literary translation. He wrote monographs on
Ibsen (1956) and Thomas Mann (1960; in collaboration with
T.I. Silman) and on problems of German syntax (1955). He
also translated and edited the standard Russian version of the
works of Ibsen (4 vols., 1956-58). During the 1964 trial of the
young Leningrad Jewish poet Yosif *Brodski, Admoni, who
testified for the defense, was ridiculed by the presiding Soviet
judge for his “strange-sounding” (i-e., Jewish) name.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Brodski, Stikhotvoreniya i poemy (1965);
Kratkaya literaturnaya entsiklopediya, 1 (1962), 88.
[Maurice Friedberg]
ADMOR (Heb. 117938; plur., Admorim), the title by which
hasidic rabbis are known. The term is an abbreviation of
the Hebrew words Adonenu, Morenu, ve-Rabenu (“our lord,
teacher, and master”).
ADOLPHUS, English family, known in the synagogue as Bira.
Its members included JACOB ADOLPHUS, stockholder in the
Bank of England (late 17" century), founder member of the
London Ashkenazi Synagogue. Among his sons were: SIMON,
a physician, who was admitted to the University of Halle at the
request of Frederick William 1 of Prussia on condition that he
did not practice there, and MosEs (b. c. 1690), who married
Abigail, daughter of Benjamin *Levy, founder of the London
Ashkenazi community. In his 56" year he matriculated at the
University of Leiden, Holland, in philosophy and literature,
along with his son sIMHAH (Joy, 1714-1760), who graduated
in medicine and subsequently practiced in Cleves, Germany
(1748-56) where he headed the Jewish community. Joy Adol-
phus published Histoire des Diables Modernes (London, 1763;
Cleves, 1770, 1771), Satirizing the political and social scene, and
dedicated the book to Frederick the Great, whom he is said to
412
have served as personal physician. Another son of Moses was
MICHAEL Or MEIR (died 1785), prominent in London com-
munal life, and as warden of the Great Synagogue, one of the
original members of the *Board of Deputies of British Jews.
JOHN (1768-1845), historian and lawyer, grandson of Joy, was
author of History of England from the Accession of King George
111 to the Conclusion of Peace in 1783 (3 vols., London, 1802).
His mother was Christian and he was out of touch with the
Jewish community. However, he was caricatured by Crui-
kshank as a Jew. Originally a solicitor, he became a barrister
in 1807 and achieved notable success at the bar. His son, JOHN
LEYCESTER ADOLPHUS (1794-1862), educated at Oxford, was
a barrister and literary critic. He became a close friend of Sir
Walter Scott. There was also an Adolphus family in America
in the colonial period, founded by 1saac (died 1774) who
came to New York from Bonn, Germany, about 1750. An-
other family of this name was established in Jamaica not later
than 1733, its most eminent member being Major General Sir
JACOB ADOLPHUS (1775-1845), inspector general of army
hospitals.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Emden, Jews of Britain (1943), 62; C. Roth,
History of the Great Synagogue (1950), 160-3; Roth, Mag Bibl, index;
E. Henderson, Recollections of John Adolphus (1871); F. Baer, Proto-
kollbuch der Land udenschaft des Herzogtums Kleve (1922), 63, 122;
Stern, Americans, 5; J.P. Andrade, Record of Jews in Jamaica (1941),
148-9, 207-8; Rubens, in: JHSET, 19 (1955-59), 25; Roth, in: JHSEM,
4 (1942), 106-7; A. Rubens, Anglo-Jewish Portraits (1935), 2-4. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB Online.
[Cecil Roth]
ADONAI, ADONAI, EL RAHUM VE-HANNUN (Heb.
pad) O17 ON A 71; “The Lord, The Lord, God, merci-
ful and gracious”; Ex. 34:6-7), initial words of the Thirteen
Attributes of God. Based upon a talmudic saying that God
Himself revealed this formula to Moses as being effective for
obtaining Divine Pardon (RH 17)), it is recited on the follow-
ing occasions:
(1) in the *Selihot of the month of Elul, during the *Ten
Days of Penitence, and on fast days including the Day of
Atonement when it is preceded by the piyyutim “El Melekh
Yoshev” or “El Erekh Appayim’;
(2) before removing the Torah scrolls from the Ark on
Rosh Ha-Shanah, the Day of Atonement, and the three Pil-
grim festivals (Ashkenazi rite);
(3) at the opening of the piyyut attributed to *Amittai
(11) which is recited on the fifth day of Selihot, on the Day
of Atonement, and on Mondays and Thursdays (Ashkenazi
rite);
(4) at the morning and afternoon prayers before Tahanun
(mostly Sephardi rite);
(5) during prayers in an emergency situation, e.g., for a
critically ill person. In the liturgical recital of the Thirteen At-
tributes the final words lo yenakkeh (“He does not remit all
punishment”; Ex. 34:7) are omitted.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Ritus, 408; Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 222;
Davidson, Ozar, 1 (1929), 31, no. 629.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADONI-BEZEK (Heb. 773 71178; “the lord [of the city] of
Bezek”), Canaanite ruler in the early stages of the Hebrew
conquest of Canaan (Judg. 1:1-7) and probably leader of an
anti-Israelite coalition formed by “the Canaanites and the
Perizzites.” The allies gathered at *Bezek and forced the tribe
of Judah, together with Simeon, to take defensive action. The
coalition was defeated at Bezek and retreated eastward to-
wards Jerusalem. The tribe of Judah pursued and captured
Adoni-Bezek and mutilated him. He was brought to Jeru-
salem where he died.
Adoni-Bezek is most likely a title since, as a personal
name, the second element would refer to a place or a god.
However, a city as a component in biblical proper names is
without analogy and a deity Bezek is not otherwise attested.
The name is most likely a corruption of *Adoni-Zedek (cf.
Josh. 10:1ff.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Amit, Judges (1999), 32.
ADONIJAH (Heb. 37°778 ,7°378; “yHwH is my lord”), fourth
son of King David by his wife Haggith of Hebron (11 Sam.
3:2 ff; 1 Chron. 3:1ff.). 1 Kings 1:5-6 notes that his father had
not disciplined him. After the death of his brothers Amnon,
Absalom, and, presumably, Chileab, Adonijah conducted
himself as heir apparent (1 Kings 1:5-6). When David was on
his deathbed, Adonijah attempted to seize power in order to
forestall succession by *Solomon. In this he was supported by
such veteran courtiers of David as *Joab and *Abiathar, and
by many members of the royal family and the courtiers of the
tribe of Judah (ibid. 7). Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet,
and others who had risen to prominence more recently, sided
with Solomon (ibid. 8). Under Nathan's influence, David or-
dered that Solomon should be anointed king in his own life-
time, in accordance with his promise to Bath-Sheba (ibid.
10ff.). At first Solomon took no action against his brother
(ibid. 50-53), but after David’s death, when Adonijah wished
to marry *Abishag the Shunammite, his father’s concubine,
Solomon correctly interpreted this as a bid for the throne and
had him executed (ibid. 2:13 ff.).
Other biblical figures of the same name were Adonijah a
Levite who, with other Levites, priests, and princes, taught in
the cities of Judah during the reign of Jehoshaphat (11 Chron.
17:8); and Adonijah, one of the leaders who signed the cov-
enant in the days of Nehemiah (Neh. 10:17).
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica]
In the Aggadah
Adonijah was one of those who “set their eyes upon that which
was not proper for them; what they sought was not granted
to them; and what they possessed was taken from them” (Sot.
gb). The biblical verse “and he [Adonijah] was born after Ab-
salom” (1 Kings 1:6) is interpreted to mean that, although the
two were of different mothers, they are mentioned together
since Adonijah acted in the same way as Absalom in rebelling
against the king (BB 109b). The extent of his rebellion is illus-
trated in the aggadic tradition that he even tried the crown
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADONI-ZEDEK
on his head (Sanh. 21b) and according to Rashi (loc. cit.), it
would not fit. The importance and danger of Adonijah’s re-
bellion is emphasized by the teaching that, although Solomon
succeeded to the throne by the law of inheritance, he was cer-
emoniously anointed in order to counteract Adonijah’s claim
(Mid. Tan. 106).
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Cogan, 1 Kings (2000), 164-68.
ADONIM BEN NISAN HA-LEVI (c. 1000), paytan and
rabbi. Adonim, who served as a rabbi in Fez, Morocco, was
among the first to use Arabic-Spanish metrics in his writings.
Only a few of his piyyutim have survived, among them the
lamentation “Bekhu, Immi Benei Immi”; the reshut to Parshat
ha-Hodesh (see Special *Sabbaths) “Areshet Sefatenu Petah Ho-
dayot”; and the selihot “Eli Hashiveni me-Anahah u-Mehumah”
and “Roeh Yisrael Ezon Enkat Zonekha.” His piyyutim excel in
their fine poetic language and their originality. Several philo-
sophical concepts which were discussed in intellectual circles
in his days find expression in his works.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Pinsker, Likkutei Kadmoniyyot (1860),
56-57, 105-7; Fuenn, Keneset, 72; Scheiber, in: A. Marx Jubilee Vol-
ume (1950), 539-42; Zulay, in: Sinai, 29 (1951), 24-34.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
ADONIRAM (or Adoram, Hadoram; Heb. ,0778 ,OVIIN
0773; “the Lord / my Lord is exalted”), son of Abda. Adoni-
ram is described in a list of King David’s officials from the later
years of David's reign (11 Sam. 20:24) as the minister “in charge
of forced labor” He continued in the same office during Sol-
omon's reign (1 Kings 4:6) and was in charge of the levy of all
Israel sent to *Lebanon to cut lumber (1 Kings 5:27-28). Dur-
ing the first year of *Rehoboam, Adoniram was sent to face
the discontented and revolting assembly at Shechem (12:1-19).
The people, for whom he no doubt personified the detested
corvée, stoned him to death (12:18). B. Mazar (Maisler) has
suggested that Adoniram was of foreign origin, as the insti-
tution of forced labor was adopted by the Israelite monarchy
from Canaanite patterns, and that it was only natural to ap-
point a Canaanite official as its head. The names of Adoniram
and his father support the view of his Canaanite origin, since
ad is synonymous with ab (av - father - in West-Semitic lan-
guages), while “Abda” is an abbreviated theophorical name
found in Phoenician inscriptions. Some scholars believe that
the lengthly tenure assigned by the Bible to Adoniram’s office
is due to chronological confusion.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mendelsohn, in: BASOR, no. 85 (1942), 14 ff;
Maisler (Mazar), in: Leshonenu, 15 (1947), 38-39; idem, in: BJPES, 13
(1947), 108; de Vaux, Anc Isr, 128-9, 144 ff.; EM, 1 (1965), 116-7. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Cogan, 1 Kings (2000), 204.
[Hanna Weiner]
ADONI-ZEDEK (Heb. 773 7178; “[the god] Zedek [the god
of justice] is lord” or, “my Lord is righteousness”), king of
*Jerusalem at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan
(Josh. 10:1-3). Adoni-Zedek was the leader of a coalition to-
413
ADON OLAM
gether with four of the neighboring *Amorite cities - Hebron,
Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. The coalition was formed as a
reaction to the conclusion of a covenant between the Israel-
ites and the *Gibeonites as well as to the conquest of *Ai by
the Israelites, who threatened the region and the sovereignty
of the city-states over this area. The members of the coalition
attacked Gibeon. The Gibeonites, however, solicited the aid
of Joshua, who preferred to fight against the Amorites in an
open area. The Amorites were defeated at Gibeon, and, finding
no alternative route of escape, retreated to Beth-Horon where
their pursuers routed them with the help of a hailstorm; the
five allied kings hid in a cave at Makkedah but were found
and killed. Nothing is said about the capture of Jerusalem,
although its king had lost his life; a reduction of Jerusalem's
influence, however, did result from the war.
It is apparent that Jerusalem was an important city-state
at the time, as is clear not only from this biblical passage but
also from the *El-Amarna letters (14 century B.c.£.). Six of
these letters, sent by the king of Jerusalem (Abdi-Hepa) to the
pharaoh of Egypt, warrant the conclusion that Jerusalem (and
Shechem) controlled the hill country of Judah and Ephraim
and ruled over “the land of Jerusalem” (Pritchard, Texts,
487-9). Adoni-Zedek is unknown from other sources, but
he fits well into the above picture of pre-lsraelite Jerusalem.
Some identify him with *Adoni-Bezek (Judg. 1:5-7), because
the Septuagint reads Adoni-Bezek in place of the masoretic
Adoni-Zedek.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Noth, Personennamen, 114, 161ff.; idem, in:
PJB, 33 (1937), 23-26; idem, Das Buch Josua (19537), 60-63; Yeivin, in:
Maarakhot, 26-27 (1945), 63; Albright, in: JBL, 54 (1935), 193, n. 66;
Levy, in: HUCA, 18 (1943-44), 435. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Batto,
in: DDD, 929-34.
ADON OLAM (Heb. 0719 7178; “Lord of the World”), rhymed
liturgical hymn in 12 verses (in the Ashkenazi rite) extolling
the eternity and unity of God and expressing man’s absolute
trust in His providence. The Sephardi rite has 16 verses. The
author is unknown, though it has been attributed to Solo-
mon ibn *Gabirol (11't century). It may, however, be much
older and stem from Babylonia. The hymn has appeared as
part of the liturgy since the 14'* century in the German rite
and has spread to almost every rite and community. It was
incorporated into the initial section of the Shaharit Service,
but it has been suggested on the basis of the penultimate line
that it originally formed the conclusion of the Night Prayers
where it also still appears. Its main place now is at the con-
clusion of the Sabbath and festival Musaf Service (with the
Sephardim even on the Day of Atonement) and of the *Kol
Nidrei Service. Adon Olam has become a popular hymn. In
Morocco it serves as a wedding song and it is also recited by
those present at a deathbed. The hymn has been translated
several times into English verse, among others by George
Borrow in his Lavengro (reprinted in Hertz, Prayer, p. 1005)
and by Israel Zangwill (reprinted ibid., 7, 9), and into other
European languages.
414
SS SS
‘A- don’o - lam A ~ fer ma- lak be- te- rem kal ye-
$2555 5=
-gir niv-ya oe - ef ona" ‘a - da bé- hef- zo kol
— Go = py mace
3émo nig *
[== See SS
va has ré ie - fet hak - kol lé- yad-do = yim-
SSS Ss Tae
~iok no- ra
SSS SS
wehu yih- ye be - tif-'a ~ Pcie cer
we- hu ha- ya bu = ho- we
- ho wiv Son) we- tu ab- ron [é-
~hah- bi - ra
rere SSSA
~k6l ho - mer > él > a
(SSS SS SS
ma - lak bé-
- don ‘o> - lam__ % - Ser
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Music
Adon Olam is generally sung by the congregation. In the Ash-
kenazi tradition it is also sometimes rendered by the cantor
on certain festive occasions, and then the melody is adapted
to the nosah of the section of the prayer into which it is in-
corporated. The great number of melodies for Adon Olam in-
cludes both individual settings, and borrowings from Jewish
and Gentile sources. Ex. 3, from Djerba, is a North African
“general” melody for piyyutim. Two versions from Germany
in Idelsohn (Melodien, 7 (1932), nos. 59 and 336) both bor-
row the western Ashkenazi melody of Omnam Ken, while no.
346a is a German folk tune. A melody from Tangiers (I. Levy,
Antologia, 1 (1965), no. 96) is the tune of the Romance Esta
Rahel la estimoza. The composed or adapted tunes are mostly
based upon a strict measure of four or three beats, both equally
suitable for conforming to the hazak-meter of the text - one
short and three longs. The melody is sung in many schools in
Israel at the end of the pupils’ morning prayer (in 4/4 measure;
cf. the same, in 3/4 measure, YE, vol. 1, p. 514). Salamone de’
*Rossi included an eight-voice composition of Adon Olam in
his Ha-Shirim Asher li-Shelomo (Venice, 1622/23).
[Avigdor Herzog]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 88; Abrahams, Com-
panion, vii-ix; Davidson, Ozar, 1 (1924), 29, no. 575; C. Roth, Essays
and Portraits (1962), 295ff.; Baer S., Seder, 35; idem, Tozeot Hayyim
(1871), 57. Music: Sendrey, Music, indexes.
ADOPTION, taking another's child as one’s own.
Alleged Cases of Adoption in the Bible
The evidence for adoption in the Bible is so equivocal that
some have denied it was practiced in the biblical period.
(A) GENESIS 15:2-3. Being childless, Abram complains
that *Eliezer, his servant, will be his heir. Since in the ancient
Near East only relatives, normally sons, could inherit, Abram
had probably adopted, or contemplated adopting, Eliezer. This
passage is illuminated by the ancient Near Eastern practice of
childless couples adopting a son, sometimes a slave, to serve
them in their lifetime and bury and mourn them when they
die, in return for which the adopted son is designated their
heir. If a natural child should subsequently be born to the
couple, he would be chief heir and the adopted son would be
second to him.
(B) GENESIS 16:2 and 30:3. Because of their barrenness,
Sarai and Rachel give their servant girls to Abram and Jacob
as concubines, hoping to “have children” (lit. “be built up”)
through the concubines. These words are taken as an expres-
sion of intention to adopt the children born of the husbands
and concubines. Rachel's subsequent statement, “God... has
given me a son” (30:6) seems to favor this view. A marriage
contract from *Nuzi stipulates that in a similar case the mis-
tress “shall have authority over the offspring” That the sons
of Jacob’s concubines share in his estate is said to presuppose
their adoption. Bilhah’s giving birth on (or perhaps “onto”)
Rachel’s knees (30:3; cf. 50:23) is believed to be an adoption
ceremony similar to one practiced by ancient European and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADOPTION
Asiatic peoples among whom placing a child on a man’s knees
signified variously acknowledgment, legitimation, and adop-
tion. Such an adoption by a mistress of the offspring of her
husband and her slave-girl would not be unparalleled in the
ancient Near East (see J. van Seters, JBL, 87 (1968), 404-7),
but other considerations argue that this did not, in fact, take
place in the episodes under consideration. Elsewhere in the
Bible the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah are viewed only as the
sons of these concubines, never of the mistresses (e.g., 21:10,
13; 33:2, 6-7; 35:23-26). Rachel’s statement “God... has given
me a son’ reflects not necessarily adoption but Rachel’s own-
ership of the child’s mother, Bilhah (cf. Ex. 21:4, and especially
the later Aramaic usage in Pritchard, Texts’, 548a plus n. 5).
The concubines’ sons sharing in Jacob’s estate does not presup-
pose adoption by Rachel and Leah because the sons are Jacob’s
by blood and require only his recognition to inherit (cf. The
Code of Hammurapi, 170-1). Finally the alleged adoption cer-
emony must be interpreted otherwise. Placing a child on the
knees is known from elsewhere in the ancient Near East (see
IJ. Gelb et al., The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 2 (1965),
256, s.v. birku; H. Hoffner, JNEs, 27 (1968), 199-201). Outside
of cases which signify divine protection and/or nursing, but
not adoption (cf. T. Jacobsen, JNES, 2 (1943), 119-21), the knees
upon which the child is placed are almost always those of its
natural parent or grandparent. It seems to signify nothing more
than affectionate play or welcoming into the family, sometimes
combined with naming. (Only once, in the Hurrian Tale of the
Cow and the Fisherman (J. Friedrich, Zeitschrift fuer Assyrio-
logie, 49 (1950), 232-3 ll. 38ff.), does placing on the lap occur
in an apparently adoptive context, but even there it is not clear
that the ceremony is part of the adoption.) Some construe the
ceremony as an act of legitimation, but no legal significance
of any sort is immediately apparent. Significantly, the one un-
equivocal adoption ceremony in the Bible (Gen. 48:5-6) does
not involve placing the child on the knees (Gen. 48:12 is from
a different document and simply reflects the children’s position
during Jacob’s embrace, between, not on, his knees). Further-
more, Genesis 30:3 speaks not of placing but of giving birth on
Rachel's knees. This more likely reflects the position taken in
antiquity by a woman during childbirth, straddling the knees
of an attendant (another woman or at times her own husband)
upon whose knees the emerging child was received (cf. per-
haps Job 3:12). Perhaps Rachel attended Bilhah herself in or-
der to cure, in a sympathetic-magical way, her own infertility
(cf. 30:18, which may imply that Rachel, too, had been aiming
ultimately at her own fertility), much like the practice of bar-
ren Arab women in modern times of being present at other
women's deliveries. Genesis 50:23 (see below) must imply Jo-
seph’s assistance at his great-grandchildren’s birth; or, if taken
to mean simply that the children were placed upon his knees
immediately after birth, it would imply a sort of welcoming or
naming ceremony.
(C) GENESIS 29-31. It is widely held that Jacob was ad-
opted by the originally sonless Laban, on the analogy of a
Nuzi contract in which a sonless man adopts a son, makes him
415
ADOPTION
his heir, and gives him his daughter as a wife. This in itself is
not compelling, but the document adds that, unless sons are
later born to the adopter, the adopted son will also inherit his
household gods. This passage, it is argued, illuminates Rachel's
theft of Laban’s household gods (31:19), and herein lies the
strength of the adoption theory. But M. Greenberg (JBL, 81
(1962), 239-48) cast doubt upon the supposed explanation of
Rachel's theft, thus depriving the adoption theory of its most
convincing feature. In addition, the Bible itself not only fails to
speak of adoption but pictures Jacob as Laban’s employee.
(D) GENESIS 48:5—6. Near the end of his life Jacob, recall-
ing God's promise of Canaan for his descendants, announces
to Joseph: “Your two sons who were born to you ... before I
came to you in Egypt, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh
shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are”; subsequent sons
of Joseph will (according to the most common interpretation
of the difficult v. 6), for the purposes of inheritance, be reck-
oned as sons of Ephraim and Manasseh. In view of the context
— note particularly that grandsons, not outsiders, are involved
— many believe that this adoption involves inheritance alone,
and is not an adoption in the full sense. (M. David compares
the classical adoptio mortis causa.) This belief is strengthened
by the almost unanimous view that this episode is intended
etiologically to explain why the descendants of Joseph held,
in historical times, two tribal allotments, the territories of
Ephraim and Manasseh.
(E) GENESIS 50:23. “The children of Machir son of
Manasseh were likewise born on Joseph's knees” is said to re-
flect an adoption ceremony. To the objections listed above (b),
it may be added that unlike (d), Joseph’s adoption of Machir’s
children would explain nothing in Israel’s later history and
would be etiologically pointless.
(E) EXODUS 2:10. “Moses became her [= Pharaoh's daugh-
ter’s] son.” Some, however, interpret this as fosterage.
(G) LEVITICUS 18:9. A “sister... born outside the house-
hold” could mean an adopted sister, but most commentators
interpret it as an illegitimate sister or one born of another
marriage of the mother.
(H) JuDGEs 11:1ff. S. Feigin argued that Gilead must
have adopted Jephthah or else the question of his inheriting
could never have arisen. But since Jephthah was already Gilead’s
son, the passage implies, at most, legitimation, not adoption.
(1) RUTH 4:16-17. Naomis placing of the child of Ruth
and Boaz in her bosom and the neighbors’ declaration “a son
is born to Naomi” are said to imply adoption by Naomi. But
the very purpose of Ruth’s marriage to Boaz was, from the
legal viewpoint, to engender a son who would be accounted
to Ruth’s dead husband (see Deut. 25:6 and Gen. 38:8-9) and
bear his name (Ruth 4:10). Adoption by Naomi, even though
she was the deceased’s mother, would frustrate that purpose.
The text says that Naomi became the child’s nurse, not his
mother. The child is legally Naomi’s grandson and the neigh-
bors’ words are best taken as referring to this.
(J) ESTHER 2:7, 15. Mordecai adopted his orphaned
cousin Hadassah. (This case, too, is taken by some as rather
416
one of fosterage.) This possible case of adoption among Jews
living under Persian rule is paralleled by a case among the Jews
living in the Persian military garrison at Elephantine, Egypt,
in the fifth century c.g. (E. Kraeling, The Brooklyn Museum
Aramaic Papyri (1953), no. 8).
(K) EZRA 2:61 (= Nehemiah 7:63). One or more priests
married descendants of Barzillai the Gileadite and “were
called by their name.” This may imply adoption into the fam-
ily of Barzillai.
(L) EZRA 10:44. Several Israelites married foreign women.
The second half of the verse, unintelligible as it stands, ends
with “and they placed/established children.’ S. Feigin, on the
basis of similar Greek expressions and textual emendation,
viewed this as a case of adoption. Since the passage is obvi-
ously corrupt (the Greek text of Esdras reads differently), no
conclusions can be drawn from it, though Feigin’s interpreta-
tion is not necessarily ruled out.
(M) I CHRONICLES 2:35-41. Since the slave Jarha (ap-
proximately a contemporary of David according to the gene-
alogy) married his master’s daughter, he was certainly manu-
mitted and, quite likely, was adopted by his master; otherwise,
his descendants would not have been listed in the Judahite
genealogy.
(N) In addition to the above possible cases, one might
see a sort of posthumous adoption in the ascription of the
first son born of the levirate marriage (Gen. 38:8-9; Deut.
25:6; Ruth 4) to the dead brother. The child is possibly to be
called “A son of B [the deceased]”; in this way he preserves
the deceased’s name (Deut. 25:6-7; Ruth 4:5) and presumably
inherits his property.
suMMARY. Of the most plausible cases above, two (A, D) are
from the Patriarchal period, one reflects Egyptian practice (F),
and another the practice of Persian Jews of the Exilic or post-
Exilic period (J). From the pre-Exilic period there is a pos-
sible case alleged by the Chronicler to have taken place in the
time of David (Mm), one or two other remotely possible cases
(G) and (x), the latter from the late pre-Exilic or Exilic period)
and the “posthumous adoption” involved in levirate marriage
(N). The evidence for adoption in the pre-Exilic period is thus
meager. The possibility that adoption was practiced in this pe-
riod cannot be excluded, especially since contemporary legal
documents are lacking. Nevertheless, it seems that if adoption
played any role at all in Israelite family institutions, it was an
insignificant one. It may be that the tribal consciousness of
the Israelites did not favor the creation of artificial family ties
and that the practice of polygamy obviated some of the need
for adoption. For the post-Exilic per-iod in Palestine there is
no reliable evidence for adoption at all.
Adoption as a Metaphor
(A) GOD AND ISRAEL. The relationship between God and
Israel is often likened to that of father and son (Ex. 4:22; Deut.
8:5; 14:1). Usually there is no indication that this is meant in
an adoptive sense, but this may be the sense of Jeremiah 3:19;
31:8; and Hosea 11:1. (B) IN KINGSHIP. The idea that the king is
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the son of a god occurs in Canaanite (Pritchard, Texts, 147-8)
and other ancient Near Eastern sources. In Israel - which
borrowed the very institution of kingship from its neighbors
(1 Sam. 8:5, 20) — this idea could not be accepted literally; bibli-
cal references to the king as God's son therefore seem intended
in an adoptive sense. Several are reminiscent of ancient Near
Eastern adoption contracts. Thus, Psalms 2:7-8 contains a dec-
laration, “You are my son,’ a typical date formula “this day”
(the next phrase, “I have born you,’ may reflect the concep-
tion of adoption as a new birth), and a promise of inheritance
(an empire); 11 Samuel 17:7 contains a promise of inheritance
(an enduring dynasty), a declaration of adoption, and a state-
ment of the father’s right to discipline the adoptive son (cf. Ps.
89:27 ff; 1 Chron. 17:13; 22:10; 28:6).
Since the divine adoption of kings was not known in
the ancient Near East, and the very institution of adoption
was rare — if at all existent — in Israel, the question arises as to
where the model for these metaphors was found. According
to M. Weinfeld (jaos, 90 (1970)) the answer is found in the
covenants made by God with David and Israel. These are es-
sentially covenants of grant, a legal form which is widespread
in the ancient Near East. In some of these a donor adopts the
donee and the grant takes the form of an inheritance. Thus in
the biblical metaphor God’s adoption of David serves as the
legal basis for the grant of the dynasty and empire, and God's
adoption of Israel underlies the grant of a land (Jer. 3:19; also
noted by S. Paul). According to Y. Muffs, the pattern of the
covenant in the Priestly Document (P) is modeled on adop-
tion by redemption from slavery (cf. Ex. 6:6-8). In later times
adoption was used metaphorically in the Pauline epistles to
refer variously to Israel’s election (Rom. 9:4), to the believers
who were redeemed from spiritual bondage by Jesus (Rom.
8:15; Eph. 1:5; Gal. 4:5), and to the final eschatological redemp-
tion from bondage (Rom. 8:21-23). Whether Paul modeled the
metaphor on biblical or post-biblical, ancient Near Eastern,
or Roman legal sources is debated.
[Jeffrey Howard Tigay]
Later Jewish Law
Adoption is not known as a legal institution in Jewish law. Ac-
cording to halakhah the personal status of parent and child
is based on the natural family relationship only and there is
no recognized way of creating this status artificially by a le-
gal act or fiction. However, Jewish law does provide for con-
sequences essentially similar to those caused by adoption to
be created by legal means. These consequences are the right
and obligation of a person to assume responsibility for (a) a
child’s physical and mental welfare and (b) his financial posi-
tion, including matters of inheritance and maintenance. The
legal means of achieving this result are (1) by the appointment
of the adopter as a “guardian” (see *Apotropos) of the child,
with exclusive authority to care for the latter’s personal welfare,
including his upbringing, education, and determination of his
place of abode; and (2) by entrusting the administration of the
child’s property to the adopter. The latter undertaking to be
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADOPTION
accountable to the child and, at his own expense and without
any right of recourse, would assume all such financial obliga-
tions as are imposed by law on natural parents vis-a-vis their
children. Thus, the child is for all practical purposes placed in
the same position toward his adoptors as he would otherwise
be toward his natural parents, since all matters of education,
maintenance, upbringing, and financial administration are
taken care of (Ket. 101b; Maim., Yad, Ishut, 23:17-18; and Sh.
Ar., EH 114 and Tur ibid., Sh. Ar., HM 60:2-5; 207:20-21; PDR,
3 (n.d.), 109-125). On the death of the adopter, his heirs would
be obliged to continue to maintain the “adopted” child out of
the former's estate, the said undertaking having created a legal
debt to be satisfied as any other debt (Sh. Ar., HM 60:4).
Indeed, in principle neither the rights of the child to-
ward his natural parents, nor their obligations toward him
are in any way affected by the method of “adoption” described
above; but in fact, the result approximated very closely to
what is generally understood as adoption in the full sense of
the word. The primary question in matters of adoption is the
extent to which the natural parents are to be deprived of, and
the adoptive parents vested with, the rights and obligations
to look after the child’s welfare. This is in accordance with the
rule that determined that in all matters concerning a child,
his welfare and interests are the overriding considerations al-
ways to be regarded as decisive (Responsa Rashba, attributed
to Nahmanides, 38; Responsa Radbaz, 1:123; Responsa Samuel
di Modena, EH 123; Sh. Ar., EH 82, Pithei Teshuvah 7).
Even without private adoption, the court, as the “father
of all orphans,” has the power to order the removal of a child
from his parents’ custody, if this is considered necessary for his
welfare (see *Apotropos). So far as his pecuniary rights are con-
cerned, the child, by virtue of his adopters’ legal undertakings
toward him, acquires an additional debtor, since his natural
parents are not released from their own obligations imposed
on them by law, i.e., until the age of six. Furthermore, the nat-
ural parents continue to be liable for the basic needs of their
child from the age of six, to the extent that such needs are not
or cannot be satisfied by the adopter; the continuation of this
liability is based on Dinei Zedakah - the duty to give charity
(see *Parent & Child; ppR, 3 (n.d.), 170-6; 4 (n.d.), 3-8).
With regard to right of inheritance, which according to
halakhah is recognized as existing between a child and his
natural parents only, the matter can be dealt with by means of
testamentary disposition, whereby the adopter makes provi-
sion in his will for such portion of his estate to devolve on the
child as the latter would have gotten by law had the former
been his natural parent (see Civil Case 85/49, in: Pesakim shel
Beit ha-Mishpat ha-Elyon u-Vattei ha-Mishpat ha-Mehoziyyim
be- Yisrael, 1 (1948/49), 343-8). In accordance with the rule that
“Scripture looks upon one who brings up an orphan as if he
had begotten him” (Sanh. 19b; Meg. 13a), there is no halakhic
objection to the adopter calling the “adopted” child his son and
the latter calling the former his father (Sanh. ibid., based on
11 Sam. 21:8). Hence, provisions in documents in which these
appellations are used by either party, where the adopter has no
417
ADOPTION
natural children and/or the child has no natural parent, may be
taken as intended by the one to favor the other, according to the
general tenor of the document (Sh. Ar., EH 19, Pithei Teshuvah,
3; HM 42:15; Responsa Hatam Sofer, EH 76). Since the legal acts
mentioned above bring about no actual change in personal sta-
tus, they do not affect the laws of marriage and divorce, so far
as they might concern any of the parties involved.
In Israel
In the State of Israel, until 1981, adoption was governed by
the Adoption of Children Law, 5720/1960, which empow-
ered the district court and, with the consent of all the parties
concerned, the rabbinical court, to grant an adoption order
in respect of any person under the age of 18 years, provided
that the prospective adopter was at least 18 years older than
the prospective adoptee and the court were satisfied that the
matter was in the best interests of the adoptee. Such an order
had the effect of severing all family ties between the child and
his natural parents. On the other hand, such a court order cre-
ated new family ties between the adopter and the child to the
same extent as are legally recognized as existing between natu-
ral parents and their child - unless the order was restricted or
conditional in some respect. Thus, an adoption order would
generally confer rights of intestate succession on the adoptee,
who would henceforth also bear his adopter’s name. However,
the order did not affect the consequences of the blood rela-
tionship between the adoptee and his natural parents, so that
the prohibitions and permissions of marriage and divorce
continued to apply. On the other hand, adoption as such does
not create such new prohibitions or permissions between the
adopted and the adoptive family. There was no legal adoption
of persons over the age of 18 years.
[Ben-Zion (Benno) Schereschewsky]
In 1981 the Knesset repealed the Adoption of Children Law,
5720/1960 and enacted in its stead the Adoption of Children
Law, 5741/1981 (hereinafter - the Law), empowering the Fam-
ily Court to issue adoption orders. The Law and its subsequent
amendments provide for two substantively different modes of
adoption. The first is local adoption, in which the Child Wel-
fare Authority — a branch of the Welfare Ministry — functions
as an adoption agency: it determines the adoptive parents’ eli-
gibility and even initiates adoption proceedings of the minor
in the court, by way of special welfare officers for adoption.
Proceedings to declare a minor adoptable can only be initi-
ated by these welfare officers. The Child Welfare Authority is
similarly responsible for the removal of a child from the cus-
tody of his natural parents against their wishes, for purposes
of adoption. Occasionally, and under special circumstances,
even prior to the child being declared adoptable the Author-
ity may hand over the child “to a person who has agreed to
receive him into his house with a view to adopting him” ($12
(c) of the Law). The second mode is that of “intercountry” (ie.,
international) adoption, in which the adoption is undertaken
by non-profit organizations under the supervision of a “cen-
tral authority,’ ie., the Child Welfare Authority.
418
The difference between the two kinds of adoption is as
follows: local adoption also involves numerous cases in which
the biological parents do not consent to hand their child over
for adoption, in which case, quite naturally, the identity of the
adoptive parents is withheld (closed adoption) to protect the
adopted child from potential harm at the hands of his natural
parents. In international adoption, the adoption is the prod-
uct of negotiations between the prospective adoptive parents
and the natural family. Under the Law, the rabbinical court is
also permitted to issue adoption orders with the consent of
all the parties, ie., the parents (or adoptive parents, respec-
tively) and the minor (when the case concerns a minor above
the age of nine) or with the consent of the attorney general
(in cases of a minor below nine). Even in those cases in which
the rabbinical court has jurisdiction pursuant to the parties’
consent, it is nevertheless obliged to comply with all the pro-
visions of the law ($27).
The arrangements for international adoption were trans-
formed when the law was amended in 1996, in accordance with
the format of the Hague Convention on Protection of Chil-
dren and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption,
which Israel ratified in 1993. Together with the incorporation
of the Convention's provisions in the Law, the legislature also
addressed a particular problem, unique to the State of Israel
by virtue of its Jewish character. Under section 5 of the Law:
“The adopter shall be of the same religion as the adoptee.” How
then can a Jewish family receive an adoption order for a non-
Jewish child, brought to Israel from abroad? The legislature re-
solved this problem by amending section 13a of the Capacity
and Guardianship Law, 5722/1962, which now provides that the
court may give an instruction for the minor’s religious conver-
sion “to the religion of the person who provided for the minor
with the intention of adopting him, during the six months that
preceded the filing of the application for conversion.”
In addition to the court’s authorization, the minor who is
a candidate for adoption must undergo a conversion process;
according to the halakhah, a minor who is to be converted
must be ritually immersed for conversion through the author-
ity of the bet din. This is so, “because it [the conversion] is a
benefit to him” (Ketubot 11a). The Israeli rabbinical courts have
avoided converting minors who are candidates for adoption
when the prospective adoptive parents will not provide him/
her with an education based upon religious observance.
The case law of the Israel Supreme Court on adoption
(given by Deputy President Menachem *Elon) emphasized
the extensive impact of Jewish law on actual adoption pro-
cedures. The Law provides that “the adoption shall not affect
any legal prohibition or permission as to marriage or divorce”
(§16(c)); accordingly, the Adoption Register may be inspected
by a marriage registrar in the course of carrying out his official
function (§30 (2)). In doing so he raises the legal “veil” sepa-
rating the adopted child from his natural family in order to
establish the “legitimacy of his pedigree”; in other words, to
prevent marriages between a brother and sister, etc. Further-
more, an adoption performed “for the benefit of the adoptee”
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
does not represent the optimal solution, and preference should
be given to the other arrangements, which do not sever the
child from his natural family, despite their defective parental
capacity. “Adoption is not intended as a punishment for the
natural parents... we punish by confiscating property; we pun-
ish by denying freedom, but we do not punish by taking chil-
dren away” (C.A. 3063/90 P.D. 45 (5) 837, 848), save for cases
in which there is unequivocal, objective proof that the parents
are incapable of raising their children.
As arule, there is no discussion of the “child’s best inter-
ests” until after examination as to whether there is any statu-
tory ground for “removing the child from the natural guard-
ianship of his parents and placing him in the home of the
adopters” (H.C. 243/88 Konsols v. Turgeman, 45 (5) P.D. 837,
848). For the same reason, all possible efforts should be made
to avoid ordering that the adoption of the minor be a “closed”
adoption, which separates the minor from his natural iden-
tity. Indeed, in its capacity as the “father of minors,” the court
is commanded to “ensure the welfare and the future of the
minor” and order that he be severed from his natural family -
but this, only done when the court is convinced that leaving
the minor with his family, or placing him with a foster fam-
ily or in an “open adoption” will cause him terrible suffering
due to his parents’ incompetence (Elon, in the following judg-
ments: C.A. 310/82, 37 (4) P.D. 421; C.A. 3763/92, 47 (1) P.D. 869).
Similarly, the court will order the Child Welfare Service to se-
riously consider a request from the natural family that their
child be given to “a family belonging to their own religious
community, that maintains a religious lifestyle” (c.a. 3063/90
45 (3) 837) and, in exceptional circumstances, consider assent-
ing to the parents’ request that their child be adopted by their
relatives who have no children of their own. This is in accor-
dance with the prevalent custom in a number of Jewish com-
munities whereby “when a couple belonging to the extended
family is childless, another couple in the family, blessed with
children, gives one of them to the couple that was denied their
own offspring, and the latter can adopt and raise the child, as
if he was their own child” (c.A. 568/80 35 (3) 701, 702).
Where the question arose of severing an adoptee minor
from the religion of his natural parents, Justice Elon raised
another consideration for withholding authorization of an
adoption performed against the natural parents’ wishes, or
with their coerced consent: “We remember the battles fought
by Jewish families and institutions in order to restore Jewish
children to their families and religion. Prior to being sent to
the death camps and gas chambers these families placed their
children with Christians to care for them and raise them. It is
befitting that we emulate their conduct in similar situations,
when the tables are turned and the context is no longer the
death camps but rather gangs of avaricious criminals” (the
case of the “Brazilian girl” who was abducted from her natu-
ral mother; H.C. 243/88, 45 (2) P.D. 652).
In describing the character of the institution of adoption,
its interpretation and implementation by the Israeli judiciary,
Justice Elon further stated:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADOPTION
I wholeheartedly agree that we must not hinder the develop-
ment of the institution of adoption, having regard primarily for
its crucial importance in locating a warm and secure home and
a loving, devoted family for children who have suffered at the
hands of fate. In pursuing this important goal we must also en-
sure the totality of the adoptive parents’ rights and obligations
in their relations with the adopted child. However, we must not
ignore our principal and basic obligation, which is to maintain,
promote and preserve the earliest and most fundamental so-
cial unit in human history: the natural family, its descendants,
offshoots and progeny, the unit which always has, does, and al-
ways will continue to guarantee the survival of human society.
This is certainly the case when dealing with the history of the
Jewish family, in which the family unit, in both the immedi-
ate and extended sense, was the central pillar that guaranteed
Jewish survival and continuity. This principle applies a fortiori
in our times, in which the institution of the natural family has
encountered tumultuous upheavals and frequent crises, which
have weakened its capacity to function. (c.A. 488/77, 32 (3)
P.D. 421 434)
And, in another decision:
Tearing a child away from his biological parents is more difficult
than splitting the Red Sea. The same applies to all decisions con-
cerning a minor’s adoption; all the more so ina case such as the
one confronting us, in which the children are no longer infants
and know their parents and their siblings. But as a court that is
the “father of all minors,’ it is our responsibility to ensure their
welfare and their best interests. It is incumbent upon us to find
them a home in which they will merit love and warmth, physi-
cal well-being and spiritual tranquility, and all of the basic, el-
ementary needs that they are not receiving in the home of their
biological parents. (C.A. 658/88, 43 (4) P.D. 468, p. 477)
[Yisrael Gilat (274 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: BIBLE COMMENTARIES: J. Skinner, The
Book of Genesis (1cc, 19307); E. Speiser, Genesis (1964); N.M. Sarna,
Understanding Genesis (1966); W. Rudolph, Ruth (1962); M.J. Da-
hood, Psalms, vol. 1 (1966). GENERAL: T.H. Gaster, Myth... in the
Old Testament (1969), 448-9, 741-2; de Vaux, Anc Isr, 51-54, 111-3
(bibl. 523); S. Feigin, in: JBL, 50 (1931), 186-200; idem, Mi-Sitrei he-
Avar (1943), 15-24, 50-53; H. Grangqvist, Birth and Childhood Among
the Arabs (1947), 60, 114, 252-9; M. David, Adoptie in het Oude Israel
(Dutch, 1955); Z. Falk, Hebrew Law in Biblical Times (1964), 162-4;
E Lyall, in JBL, 88 (1969), 458-66; H. Donner, in: Oriens Antiquus, 8
(1969), 87-119; H.E. Baker, Legal System of Israel (1968), index. sPE-
CIAL STUDIES: B. Stade, in: ZAW, 6 (1886), 143-56; G. Cooke, ibid.,
73 (1961), 202-25; C. Gordon, in: BA, 3 (1940), 2-7; H.H. Rowley, The
Servant of the Lord... (1952), 163-86 (= HTR, 40 (1947), 77-99); I. Men-
delsohn, in: 1EJ, 9 (1959), 180-3; R. Patai, Sex and Family in the Bible
and the Middle East (1959), 42, 78-79, 92-98, 205, 224; W.F. Albright,
in: BASOR, 163 (1961), 47; H. Hoffner, in: JNEs, 27 (1968), 198-203; J.
Preuss, Biblisch-Talmudische Medizin (1923), 460-1; S. Kardimon, in:
JSS, 3 (1958), 123-6; J. van Seters, in: JBL, 87 (1968), 401-8; Z. Falk, in:
Tura, 17 (1966), 170-1. JEWISH LAW: J. Kister, Sekirah al Immuz Ye-
ladim... (1953); G. Felder, Hakohen, in: Sinai, 48 (1961), 204ff.; Find-
ling, in: Noam, 4 (1961), 65 ff.; Ezrahi, ibid., 94 ff.; Rudner, ibid., 61ff.;
B. Schereschewsky, Dinei Mishpahah (19677), 395 ff. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: M. Elon, Jewish Law - History, Sources Principles (1994),
827, 1763-1765; idem, Jewish Law (Mishpat Ivri): Cases and Materials
(Mathew Bender Case Books, 1999), 313-22; A. Abraham, “Imuz Ye-
ladim, in: Hamaayan (1994), 29; “Sample of Adoption Order given
419
ADORAIM
by the Rabbinical Court for a Minor, in accordance with the Hala-
khah,” in: Shurat ha-Din (2000), 475; A.J. Goldman, Judaism Con-
fronts Contemporary Issues (1978), 63-73; Y. Rosen, “Giyyur Ketinim
ha-Me’'umazim be-Mishpahah Hillonit,” in Tehumin, 20 (2000), 2.45;
M. Steinberg, Responsum on Problems of Adoption in Jewish Law
(1969); I. Warhaftig, Av u-Veno, Mehkarei Mishpat, 16 (2000), 479;
R. Yaron, “Variations on Adoption,” in: Journal of Juristic Papyrol-
ogy, 15 (1965), 171-83.
ADORAIM (Heb. 07178), ancient city of Judah, southwest of
Hebron. It appears in the Bible only in the list of cities forti-
fied by Solomon's son, *Rehoboam (11 Chron. 11:9). Adoraim
(Adoram) is also mentioned in the Book of Jubilees 38:8-9.
In the Hellenistic period, when it was known as Adora, it
was one of the chief cities of Idumea; the Ptolemaic official
Zeno visited it in 259 B.c.E. (Zeno papyri, 76). The city is also
mentioned in 1 Maccabees 13:20 in connection with the cam-
paigns of the Hasmonean *Jonathan and his adversary Try-
phon in 143 B.c.£. It was later captured by John Hyrcanus to-
gether with Marisa and the whole of Idumea (Jos., Wars, 1:63;
Ant., 13:257). The Roman proconsul Gabinius (d. 48/7 B.c.E.)
chose it as the seat of one of his synhedria (“councils”; Jos.,
Ant., 14:91) and it retained its Jewish character until the end
of the Bar Kokhba War (135 c.£.). The site is occupied by the
twin villages of Dara al-’Arajan, 5 mi. (8 km.) south west of
Hebron, situated on a plateau overlooking the coastal plain,
with a population of 10,000.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
Modern Period
The name Adoraim also describes a ridge of the Hebron Hills.
Most of the ridge, including the site of ancient Adoraim, re-
mained until 1967 on the Jordanian side of the 1949 armistice
lines. However, the name Adoraim was given in the middle
1950s to a specially planned region in the Judean Foothills
under Israel control between the Bet Guvrin-Hebron road
and Kibbutz.
[Efraim Orni]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: EM 1 (1965), 103—4; Abel, in: RB, 35 (1926), 531;
36 (1927), 145; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 239; W.E. Albright, in: BASOR, 89
(1943), 14 no. 37; Albright, Stone, 347 D. Kallner (Amiram), in: BJPEs,
14 (1948-49), 30-37; Kanael, in: 1£J, 7 (1957), 98-106.
ADORNO, THEODOR W. (1903-1969), German philoso-
pher, sociologist, composer. As a sociologist (in conjunction
with Max *Horkheimer et al.) he developed the Critical The-
ory of society (the so-called Frankfurt School project) and
published treatises in the fields of literary and cultural criti-
cism. As a composer he produced over 30 musical works in
various genres.
After completing his academic studies in philosophy,
psychology, sociology, and musical sciences in Frankfurt/Main
in 1925, Adorno took composition lessons with Alban Berg in
Vienna — an education he had begun (with Bernhard Sekles)
when he was still a high school student. Alongside his stud-
ies with Berg he also published numerous musical reviews. In
420
1931 he qualified as a university professor in philosophy and
took up a chair in philosophy at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Universitat of Frankfurt/Main. During this time Adorno was
most strongly influenced by Walter *Benjamin and particu-
larly by his notion that language preserves historical truth.
When the National Socialists came to power, he was deprived
of his chair. Adorno had always considered his Jewish descent
(his father was Jewish and Adorno’s last name was Wiesen-
grund-Adorno until his mid-forties) to be unimportant but
the race laws introduced by the Nazis made him into an out-
sider. This turning point in his life and his personal experi-
ence of having an outsider status in society generated a po-
litically accentuated intellectualism. In the period 1934-49 he
lived as an emigré - initially in England (Oxford) and then in
the United States (New York and Los Angeles). During this
period he wrote major philosophical and sociological works,
most of which were published after his return to Germany
(October 1949): The Philosophy of Modern Music (1949), Di-
alectic of Enlightenment (1947), The Authoritarian Personal-
ity (1950), Minima Moralia (1951), and Against Epistemology:
Meta-Critique - Studies in Husserl and the Phenomenological
Antinomics (1956).
Teaching philosophy and sociology in the 1960s, Adorno
made a name for himself not only as an extremely success-
ful university lecturer and public intellectual but also as the
director of the Institute of Social Research in Frankfurt,
gaining fame for such publications as What Does It Mean:
Working Up the Past (1959) and Education after Auschwitz
(1967).
Adorno’ critical stance towards the world and the nega-
tivism of his social criticism resulted from his personal expe-
rience of sustained horror: Exposure to the monstrous cruelty
of the Nazi genocide was the guiding moral force behind
his philosophical theory of society and its ultimate source.
His intellectuality resided in his ability to maintain the ten-
sion between opposing phenomena instead of synthesizing
or harmonizing the differences. The individual experience
of acknowledging the uniqueness of the Other crystallized
into a fundamental concept which Adorno brought to bear
in seeking a decent social order: “living one’s difference with-
out fear”
In the 1960s Adorno published a volume on Gustav
Mahler (1960), three volumes of Notes on Literature (1965-68),
and his main philosophical opus, Negative Dialectics (1968).
During this decade he was given the German Critics’ Award
for Literature and for his 60" birthday the city of Frankfurt/
Main bestowed the Goethe Medal on him. His Aesthetic The-
ory was published posthumously. In addition to a large num-
ber of letters he exchanged with contemporaries, his Complete
Works comprise his musical compositions, 20 volumes of col-
lected writings, and the equally comprehensive posthumous
writings (Suhrkamp Verlag).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Jay, Adorno (1984); S. Miiller-Doohm,
Adorno. A Biography, trans. R.Livingstone (2005).
[Stefan Miiller-Doohm (24 ed.)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADRAMMELECH (Heb. 771178). (1) A deity named Adram-
melech was worshiped, together with *Anammelech, by
the people of *Sepharvaim (11 Kings 17:31), possibly Assyr-
ian Saparré, who settled in Samaria after its destruction in
722 B.C.E. No Assyrian or Babylonian deity is known by the
name Adrammelech. Inscriptions from Gozan (Tell Halaf on
the Khabur, beginning of the ninth century B.c.£.) were once
thought to attest the name of a god Adad-Milki. Accordingly,
it was suggested to correct Adrammelech to Adadmelech as-
suming the common graphic confusion of dalet and resh. But
the reading Adad-Milki in the Gozan inscriptions themselves
now seems questionable. The element melech in the name is
probably the Hebrew word for king, so Addir-Melech, “the
glorious one is king,” is a possibility. At the same time Addir-
Molech, “glorious is (the god) Molech” (see *Moloch), can-
not be ruled out.
(2) According to the received Hebrew text, Adram-
melech was the name of a son of *Sennacherib, king of As-
syria (11 Kings 19:37; Isa. 37:38). Together with his brother
*Sharezer, Adrammelech murdered his father in the tem-
ple of Nisroch and escaped to the land of *Ararat (cf. 11
Chron. 32:21). Abydenus (Eusebius, Armenia Chronicle,
ed. Schoene, 1:35) gives the name of the murderer as Adra-
melus. That reading is now confirmed by cuneiform evi-
dence that gives the regicide’s name as Arda-Mulissi, “ser-
vant of Mulissu,” Mulissu being the neo-Assyrian name of
the goddess Ninlil. In turn we may correct the Hebrew to
DINTIN.
The biblical description of Sennacherib’s murder is given
in relation to the Assyrian defeat near Jerusalem (11 Kings
19:36-37; Isa. 37:37-38; cf. 11 Chron. 32:21). In point of fact,
many years elapsed between Sennacherib’s campaign in Phoe-
nicia and Erez Israel (c. 701 B.c.£.) and his death (681 B.c.£.),
but the Bible telescopes these events to show that the proph-
ecy of Isaiah about Sennacherib (11 Kings 19:7; Isa. 37:7) was
fulfilled.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) S. Kaufman, in: JNES, 37 (1978),
101-9; A. Millard, in: ppp, 10-11; G. Heider, in: DDD, 581-85. (2) S.
Parpola, in: Mesopotamia, 8 (1980), 171-82.
[Yuval Kamrat / S. David Sperling (2"4 ed.)]
ADRET, MOSES IBN (d. 1772), rabbinic scholar of Smyrna.
H.J.D. *Azulai described Adret as an eminent and saintly
scholar with extensive knowledge in rabbinic literature, en-
dowed with a keen intellect and a phenomenal memory.
Adret often took an independent and critical stand against
older authorities. Twelve of his works, listed by Azulai, in-
clude novellae on the major part of the Talmud, notes on the
Mishnah, *Maimonides’ code, *Asher b. Jehiel’s compendium,
and *Jacob b. Asher’s Arba‘ah Turim, as well as responsa, and
Bible commentaries. Only Berakh Moshe, novellae on various
Talmud tractates, has been published (Salonika, 1802). His
Torat Moshe (commentary on the Mishnah) was supposed to
have appeared in Leghorn, but has not survived. Responsa by
Adret were incorporated in E. Malki’s collection Ein Mishpat
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADRET, SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM
(Constantinople, 1770, yD, nos. 7, 8, 9, 10). In responsum no.
10 Adret boasted of his complete mastery of the whole range
of talmudic sources and the various halakhic works he had
composed to justify his stand in his protracted dispute with
Malki, who speaks sarcastically of Adret’s vaunted piety and
modesty (ibid., no. 11).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 1 (1852), 130, no. 95, s.v. Moshe
Adret.
ADRET, SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM (known from his
initials as RaShBa, Rav Shlomo Ben Abraham; c. 1235-c. 1310),
Spanish rabbi and one of the foremost Jewish scholars of his
time, whose influence has remained to this day. Adret be-
longed to a well-to-do family of Barcelona where he lived all
his life. His principal teacher was Jonah b. Abraham *Gerondi
and Adret always refers to him as “my teacher.’ He also studied
under Nahmanides, being considered one of his outstanding
students and principal exponent of his “school” in the inter-
pretation of the Talmud.
While still young, Adret engaged extensively in financial
transactions, and the king of Aragon was among his debtors.
After a few years he withdrew from business and accepted the
position of rabbi in Barcelona, which he held for more than
40 years. Adret was recognized as the leading figure in Span-
ish Jewry before he was 40 and his opinions carried weight
far beyond the frontiers of Spain. He was a man of great ac-
complishments, strong character, and incorruptible judgment.
Not long after he entered upon his office as rabbi, he vigor-
ously defended an orphan against leading court Jews and the
powerful Christian nobles who supported them. Yet, he was
a humble man, with a warm, sensitive heart. Pedro 111 of Ara-
gon submitted to him for adjudication of a number of com-
plicated cases that had arisen between Jews of different com-
munities. Against his will, the case of an informer belonging
to an aristocratic family was assigned to him for trial by or-
der of the king: he sentenced the man to death. Three years
later the relatives of the condemned man appealed the verdict.
Adret referred the case to *Meir b. Baruch of Rothenburg, the
foremost rabbinic authority in Germany, who sustained the
verdict.
Questions were addressed to Adret from all parts of the
Jewish world including Germany, France, Bohemia, Sicily,
Crete, Morocco, Algiers, Palestine, and Portugal. The com-
munities gathered his responsa into special collections and
kept them as a source of guidance. He explained the most ab-
struse matters in clear and simple terms. Many of his responsa
deal with the clarification of problematic biblical passages,
and some of them touch on questions of philosophy and the
fundamentals of religion. Altogether Adret wrote thousands
of responsa (3,500 have been printed). One responsum, writ-
ten a few days before his death, is signed by his son. Adret’s
responsa constitute a primary source of information for the
history of the Jews of his period and, to some extent, also for
general history. When Maimonides’ grandson David was de-
nounced to the Sultan of Egypt, Adret collected 25,000 dinars
421
ADRET, SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM
from the Spanish community to secure his release. Similarly
when the Rome community wished to translate Maimonides’
commentary on the Mishnah into Hebrew, Adret secured the
necessary manuscripts and translators, one of whom testified,
“Tt is because of the awe with which our master inspires us,
that we have persisted in our undertaking”
Adret acquired a considerable knowledge of Roman
law and local Spanish legal practice. He played a vital role in
providing the legal basis for the structure of the Jewish com-
munity and its institutions, and many of his responsa are de-
voted to communal matters and to the activities of rabbinic
courts. He defended the rights of the Jewish communities
and opposed all attempts at arbitrary control and recourse to
non-Jewish tribunals. That Adret was considered by his con-
temporaries to be one of the outstanding authorities of the
generation is obvious from the efforts that Abba Mari *As-
truc made to enlist his support in the campaign for the pres-
ervation of the traditional way of study and traditional val-
ues against the philosophical school. These efforts ultimately
culminated in a ban (see below). The correspondence on the
subject was included by Astruc in his Minhat Kenaot (Press-
burg, 1838).
Adret had a considerable knowledge of philosophy and
was well-versed in the scientific literature of his day, although
he headed the movement against the spreading of these sub-
jects among the masses. To an opponent of a ban on secular
studies he wrote: “You seem to think that we have no share
in (secular) wisdom... This is not the case... for we know
these lofty sciences and we are aware of their nature” (Abba
Mari b. Moses of Lunel, Minhat Kenaot (1838), 43). He de-
fended Maimonides in the second attack directed against his
writings in France and in Palestine. He opposed both the alle-
gorical method of interpreting the Bible that was then preva-
lent among the rationalists in southern France and in Spain,
and the extreme mystical tendency which was making head-
way in Spain, and he strongly attacked the activities of Abra-
ham *Abulafia. He also took precautions against those who
denied the Divine origin of the Torah and forsook its study
for that of the sciences. In the bitter conflict which flared up
in the communities of southern France, Adret was on the
side of the traditionalists. There were extremists who wished
to prohibit the study of the sciences completely; in the text of
the ban which they suggested to Adret they proposed that
such studies be prohibited until the age of 30. However, Adret,
in the famous ban he proclaimed in Barcelona in 1305, ad-
opted a middle course. He permitted the study of physics and
metaphysics from the age of 25, put no restriction at all on
the study of astronomy and medicine, and sanctioned the
reading of Maimonides’ works. In the end the communities
in southern France resisted Adret’s ban. In part, their resis-
tance stemmed from the efforts of Philip the Fair (1285-1314)
to unite all of France. Since rabbinic bans required autho-
rization from the State, the acceptance of a ban originating
in Spain might have been viewed as treason by the French
crown.
422
Adret took up arms also, both in oral and written dis-
putes, against detractors of Judaism, such as Raymond *Mar-
tini and his work Pugio fidei. Adret replied to this in a spe-
cial work in which he defended the eternity of the Torah and
the value of its practical commandments. In his responsa (4,
187) he gave details of a disputation he had with a leading
Christian scholar. He wrote a book refuting the attacks of the
11"6-century Mohammedan scholar, Ahmad ibn Hazm (pub-
lished by Perles, 1863). A variety of reasons have been sug-
gested as to why Adret wrote his attack on ibn Hazm. They
include the fact that Christian polemicists drew many of their
arguments from ibn Hazm’s tract, that Adret’s book served to
bolster the communities of Jews under Muslim rule, and that
Adret was fearful that ibn Hazm’s biblical criticisms might
be accepted.
Collections of the responsa of Adret are extant today.
They pose a difficult literary problem. The first collection was
printed in Rome before 1480 and the second, of which only
a few copies remain, in Constantinople in 1516. In 1908 (on
the front page incorrectly 1868) these two collections were
reprinted in Warsaw, and the editor called them “Part 7” of
the responsa of Adret. An additional collection, containing
1255 responsa, was printed in Bologna in 1539. It is this which
is referred to as the Responsa of Adret “Part 1.” The so-called
“Part 2” containing 405 responsa, called Toledot Adam, was
published in Leghorn in 1657, and “Part 3” with 488 responsa,
also in Leghorn, in 1788. “Part 4” was published in Salonika in
1803 and “Part 5” in Leghorn in 1825. “Part 6” was published
together with the 1908 Warsaw edition previously mentioned.
Many of the responsa are not the work of Adret, but of other
scholars whose responsa the copyists collected together with
his. On the other hand, most of the responsa in the collection
attributed to Nahmanides (Venice, 1519) are the work of Adret.
These collections, amounting to a few thousand responsa, con-
tain many responsa identical in wording and context. A criti-
cal edition of Adret’s responsa, which should facilitate iden-
tification and determine authorship, is a primary scholastic
need and is still lacking.
Adret headed a yeshivah to which students flocked, even
from Germany (Responsa 1,395) and other countries. Among
his distinguished students were *Yom Tov b. Abraham of Se-
ville, Shem Tov *Ibn Gaon, and *Bahya b. Asher. According to
Adret, his academy housed valuable manuscripts of the Tal-
mud brought from the Babylonian academies or which had
been checked in the academies of Kairouan. It appears that
he composed his famous novellae to the Talmud in connec-
tion with his lectures to his students. His novellae to 17 trac-
tates of the Talmud have been published: Berakhot (Venice,
1523); Shabbat (Constantinople, 1720); Eruvin (Warsaw, 1895);
Bezah (Lemberg, 1847); Rosh Ha-Shanah (in part, Constanti-
nople, 1720, and in a complete, critical edition, 1961); Megillah
(Constantinople, 1720; complete edition, 1956); Yevamot (Con-
stantinople, 1720); Gittin (Venice, 1523); Kiddushin (Constanti-
nople, 1717); Nedarim (ibid., 1720); Bava Kamma (ibid., 1720);
Bava Mezia (in part, Jerusalem, 1931); Bava Batra (ibid., 1957);
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Shevuot (Salonika, 1729, and in full, Jerusalem, 1965); Avodah
Zarah (in part in Jerusalem, 1966); Hullin (Venice, 1523); Nid-
dah (Altona, 1797 and a complete edition, Jerusalem, 1938).
The novellae to Menahot are not his, and the novellae to Ke-
tubbot ascribed to him are actually by Nahmanides. Ketubbot
and Nazir are still in manuscript. In his novellae, Adret was
greatly influenced by Nahmanides’ method, a synthesis of the
methods of French scholars and of the early Spanish authori-
ties such as Joseph *Ibn Migash and his colleagues. He carried,
however, Nahmanides’ methods to their extreme, establishing
the French school in Spain, though there exist strong literal
ties between the two methods. The novellae enjoyed a wide
circulation; they have gone through many editions and are still
extensively consulted by students of the Talmud.
Adret also devoted much time to commenting on the ag-
gadot in the Talmud and wrote a special work on the subject
(Hiddushei Aggadot ha-Shas, Tel Aviv, 1966). In his commen-
taries, Adret followed the methods of inquiry of the moder-
ate Spanish scholars; the influence of Maimonides’ Guide
is also evident. It is evident from many places in his works
that Adret interested himself in Kabbalah and even acquired
great knowledge of it. In this he resembled his teacher Nah-
manides. On the other hand it appears that he did his best to
conceal his opinions on the subject. However it is significant
that most of his pupils wrote commentaries to the mystical
part of Nahmanides’ commentary on the Pentateuch, many
of them still in manuscript.
Beside his responsa and novellae, Adret wrote two legal
manuals. The more important, Torat ha-Bayit, deals with most
of the ritual observances, such as ritual slaughter, forbidden
foods, gentile wine, and the laws of niddah (Venice, 1607), to-
gether with Shaar ha-Mayim - laws of mikveh (first published
in Budapest, 1930, and again in Jerusalem, 1963). The book is
divided into seven parts, is written with great profundity and
perception, and embodies detailed halakhic discussions. He
reviews the methods of his predecessors, raises and meets ob-
jections, refutes and corroborates, decides among opposing
views, and advances his own opinion. For practical purposes
of guidance, he wrote a compendium of the larger work, Torat
ha-Bayit ha-Kazer (Cremona, 1566). Aaron ha-Levi of Barce-
lona (see *Ha-Hinnukh), a fellow townsman and old friend of
the author, wrote many critical notes on this book in his Bedek
ha-Bayit. Although Aaron ha-Levi in his introduction and
criticisms wrote in a respectful tone, Adret felt offended and
wrote in reply his Mishmeret ha-Bayit (all included in the 1608
Venice edition) which was issued anonymously and contained
no clue to the author's identity. It purports to have been writ-
ten by a scholar solicitous of Adret’s honor. However, in one
of his responsa Adret revealed that he was the author. Adret’s
refutations are written in a pungent style reminiscent of *Abra-
ham b. David of Posquiéres’ strictures on Maimonides, and in
this book he reveals himself as a doughty polemicist.
Adret’s Avodat ha-Kodesh on the laws of the Sabbath
and the festivals is also extant. It appeared in two versions,
one complete and the other abridged. The former has not yet
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADULLAM
been published, while the latter was published in Venice in
1602. He also wrote Piskei Hallah (Constantinople, 1516) on
the laws relating to *Hallah.
The changes in rabbinic study in Spain started by Nah-
manides were finally effected by Adret. His responsa have at
all times been highly influential and were a major source of
the Shulhan Arukh.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index, s.v. Solomon b. Abra-
ham ibn Adret (Rashba); J. Perles, R. Salomo b. Abraham b. Adereth
(Breslau, 1863); I. Epstein, The “Responsa” of R. Solomon ben Adreth of
Barcelona (1962); A. Rosenthal, in: Ks, 42 (1966/67); A.S. Halkin, in:
Perakim (1968), 35-57; Havlin, in: Moriah, 1 (1968), 58-67; L.A. Feld-
man, in: Sinai, 33 (1969), 243-7. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Adang,
in: Judios y Musulmanes en al-Andalus y el Magreb (2002), 179-209;
S. Klein-Braslavy in: “Encuentros” and “Desencuentros”: Spanish Jew-
ish Cultural Interaction throughout History (2000), 105-29; M. Saper-
stein, in: Jewish History, 1:2 (1986), 27-38; L. Feldman, in: Rabbi Joseph
H. Lookstein Memorial Volume (1980), 119-24; D. Horwitz, in: Torah
u-Madda Journal, 3 (1991-92) 52-81.
[Simha Assaf / David Derovan (24 ed.)]
ADRIEL (Heb. ONTIN; “God is my help”), son of Barzillai
the Meholathite; the husband of *Merab, the daughter of Saul
(1 Sam. 18:19). Saul pledged his daughter Merab to David;
however, when the time came to fulfill his promise, he gave
her to Adriel. Critics have suggested that the name Michal in
11 Samuel 21:8 is an error for Merab (which is read by the Lu-
cianic recension of the Septuagint and by the Peshitta). David
handed over the five sons of Adriel and Merab to the Gibeon-
ites for impalement (11 Sam. 21:8-10).
ADULLAM (Heb. o?ty), city in Judah in biblical times. It was
originally a Canaanite town, the seat of Hirah the Adullamite
(friend and father-in-law of Judah (Gen. 38:1, 12, 20)). Adul-
lam’s king was defeated by Joshua and the city is mentioned
together with 13 others as belonging to the second district of
Judah (Josh. 12:15; 5:35). This region contained many caves
which could offer refuge to outlaws. In one of these, David
hid after fleeing from Saul, and it served as his headquarters
for a time during his war with the Philistines (1 Sam. 22:1). It
was there that the three “mighty men” brought David water
from the well at Beth-Lehem (11 Sam. 23:13; 1 Chron. 11:15 ff;
Jos., Ant., 6:247). Rehoboam included Adullam in his line
of fortifications beside Soco in the valley of Elah (11 Chron.
11:7). After the return from Babylonian exile it is mentioned
in Nehemiah 11:30 among the places inhabited by Jews. It re-
mained a Jewish town in Hasmonean times (11 Macc. 12:38,
cf. 1 Macc. 5:59-60); Judah the Maccabee withdrew to Adul-
lam after his battle against Gorgias near Marissa (Mareshah)
in 163 B.c.E. Eusebius (Onom., 24:21) describes fourth-cen-
tury Adullam as a large village, 10 Roman mi. east of Eleu-
theropolis (Bet Guvrin). It has been identified with al-Sheikh
Madhkir, 9 mi. (15 km.) northeast of Bet Guvrin. The name
Adulam may have survived in Khirbat Id al-M@ (or Miyeh)
in the vicinity of that tell.
423
ADULLAM REGION
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Clermont-Ganneau, Arch, 2 (1899), 429 ff.;
Dalman, in: PyB, 9 (1913), 33ff.; Albright, in: BAsoR, 15 (1924), 3 ff;
Abel, in: RB, 33 (1924), 22; Beyer, in: zDPV, 54 (1931), 115; Abel, Geog,
2 (1938), 239; Press, Erez, 4 (1955), 686; Aharoni, Land, index. apD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Japhet, 1 & 11 Chronicles (1993), 665-66.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ADULLAM REGION (Heb. 0?7y 729), settlement region in
southern Israel, N.W. and W. of the Hebron Hills, comprising
over 100,000 dunams (25,000 acres). Geographically, it be-
longs partly to the Judean Hills and partly to the Shephelah.
The name was chosen because the assumed site of ancient
*Adullam lies in the center of this region. After the principle
of comprehensive regional planning had been adopted by
the relevant authorities in the mid-1950s, the area was first
included in the *Lachish Region (which eventually became
the prototype of all such planning). After 1957, however, the
Adullam Region was treated as a separate area, as conditions
there were much more difficult and land reclamation had to
precede all settlement activity. The Jewish National Fund,
therefore, assumed responsibility for the first stage of the ur-
gent development of this border region. In the project, three
clusters of villages were arranged around the “rural centers”
of Zur Hadassah in the northeast, Neveh Mikhael in the cen-
ter, and Li-On (later renamed Sarigim) in the southwest. New
villages were founded in the framework of the regional plan
(e.g., Aviezer, Roglit (later united with Neveh Mikhael), Ad-
deret, Givat Yeshayahu, Zafririm), and earlier settlements in
adjoining areas (e.g., Netiv ha-Lamed He, Bet Guvrin, Mevo
Beitar, Matta, Bar Giora, and Nehushah) were included in the
project. Farming land was reclaimed by terracing and stone
clearing, and by drainage of soil in small valleys. The water
supply was greatly improved by drilling of deep wells in and
near the region. The actual development of villages and their
farming branches was carried out by the Jewish Agency's Ag-
ricultural Settlement Department. In the higher northeastern
part of the region with its limestone rocks, terra rossa soils,
and its cool and relatively wet climate, deciduous fruit and
grapevines became important factors in the local economy,
and poultry breeding constituted a main source of income.
In the lower southwest parts with their broader valleys and
deeper rendzina or alluvial soils, the economy was based on
field crops (wheat, cotton, sunflowers, sorghum, etc.) as well
as tobacco, vegetables, sheep, and cattle. In 1968 a road was
built connecting Neveh Mikhael with the reestablished *Gush
Ezyon bloc. At the beginning of the 21° century the region in-
cluded 16 moshavim, a kibbutz, and two rural communities,
reaching a population of approximately 8,000. The economy
of the region developed to include wine and olive oil produc-
tion, citrus groves, fruit orchards, cotton, and flowers. In ad-
dition to farming, many of the settlers earned their livelihoods
in the tourist industry.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
424
ADULTERY (Heb. *}Ni, nif; sometimes, loosely, ni31, ze-
nut; DIN, zenunim; lit. “fornication, whoredom’). Volun-
tary sexual intercourse between a married woman, or one
engaged by payment of the brideprice, and a man other than
her husband.
Biblical Period
The extramarital intercourse of a married man is not per se
a crime in biblical or later Jewish law. This distinction stems
from the economic aspect of Israelite marriage: the wife was
the husband’s possession (of a special sort, see *Marriage),
and adultery constituted a violation of the husband's exclu-
sive right to her; the wife, as the husband’s possession, had no
such right to him. Adultery is prohibited in the Decalogue (Ex.
20:13; Deut. 5:17), where it is listed between murder and theft
(cf. Jer. 7:9; Ezek. 16:38; Hos. 4:2; Ps. 50:18; Prov. 6:30ff.; Job
24:14-15) among offenses against one’s fellow. Like all sexual
wrongs, it defiles those who commit it (Lev. 18:20; Num. 5:13).
It is termed “(the) great sin” in Genesis 20:9 and in Egyptian
and Ugaritic texts (cf. [ha]-‘Averah, “[the] transgression,” for
sexual crimes in rabbinic texts, e.g., Av. Zar. 3a). Its gravity is
underscored by its being punishable by the death penalty for
both the man and the woman (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22). Ston-
ing by the public, a procedure often prescribed for crimes felt
to threaten the well-being of the nation as a whole, among
which were sexual crimes (Lev. 18:24-27; 20:22; Deut. 24:4;
cf. Jer. 3:1-2), is mentioned in Deuteronomy 22:24; cf. Ezekiel
16:40; 23:46-47 (cf. John 8:3-7). Other punishments are re-
flected in non-legal texts. Burning is mentioned in Gen. 38:24
(cf. Lev. 21:9). Stripping, known in ancient Near Eastern di-
vorce procedure, is reflected in the metaphor of Hos. 2:5 and
mentioned in Ezekiel 16:37, 39; 23:26. The mutilation men-
tioned in Ezekiel 16:39; 23:25 does not seem to reflect Isra-
elite practice, but rather the legal traditions of Mesopotamia,
where Ezekiel lived (cf. 23:24: “[the nations] shall judge you
according to their laws,” and, cf. The Middle Assyrian Laws, 15
in Pritchard, Texts, 181; the same punishment for adulteresses
in Egypt is attested by Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, 1:18, ac-
cording to G.A. Cooke, The Book of Ezekiel, 254).
Other ancient Near Eastern law collections also pre-
scribe the death penalty for adulterers, but, treating adultery
as an offense against the husband alone, permit the aggrieved
husband to waive or mitigate the punishment (The Code of
Hammurapi, 129, in: Pritchard, Texts, 171; The Middle Assyr-
ian Laws, 14-16, in: Pritchard, Texts, 181; The Hittite Laws,
197-98, in: Pritchard, Texts, 196). Biblical law allows no such
mitigation. Because the marriage bond is divinely sanctioned
(cf. Mal. 2:14; Prov. 2:17) and the prohibition of adultery is of
divine origin, God as well as the husband is offended by adul-
tery (cf. Gen. 20:6; 39:8-9; Ps. 51:6), and an offense against God
cannot be pardoned by man. Mesopotamian religious litera-
ture also views adultery as offensive to the gods, but, unlike
the situation in Israel, this religious conception is not reflected
in Mesopotamian legal literature.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Whether the severe provisions of the law were actually
carried out in biblical times cannot be ascertained. Proverbs
6:23-35, warning of the harm and disgrace which will befall
the adulterer, and Job. 31:11, which terms adultery “an assess-
able transgression” (E.A. Speiser, JBL, 82 (1963), pp. 301-306)
seem to assume that the crime could be composed monetarily
at the husband’s discretion. But whether passages from the
wisdom literature, with its strong international literary ties,
reflect actual practice in Israel is a moot question.
As in other cases (see M. Greenberg, 1DB, 1 (1962), 739),
here too, biblical law distinguishes between intentional and
unintentional acts. In the Priestly Code, the final clause in
Numbers 5:13 (lit. “she was not caught”; cf. the use of the word
in Deut. 22:28) may mean that a woman who has had extra-
marital intercourse is guilty only if she was not forced. In the
Deuteronomic Code (Deuteronomy 22:23-27), the presump-
tion of consent on the part of the engaged girl is treated: If
in the open country where no help would be available in re-
sponse to a cry from the girl, she is presumed to have been
forced and only her attacker is executed; if the crime occurred
in the city, where help would presumably have been afforded
her had she cried out, she is presumed to have consented, and
is stoned with her paramour. No such presumptive distinc-
tion is made in this passage regarding the married woman:
she and her lover must die in any case (Deut. 22:22; unlike The
Hittite Laws, 197, in: Pritchard, Texts, 196, which makes this
very distinction for married women). According to J.J. Fin-
kelstein (JAOS, 86 (1966), 366ff.; JCS, 22 (1968-9), 13), the ab-
sence of such a distinction may reflect reality: the experience
of daily life may have shown that married women who had
had extramarital intercourse were likely to have been seeking
sexual experience. While payment of a brideprice established
a marriage tie constitutive of adultery, the “designation” of a
slave woman to marry a man (free women are engaged by
brideprice while slave women are designated for marriage by
their masters; cf. Ex. 21:8) does not establish such a tie before
the woman has been redeemed or freed. Hence a designated
slave woman and her paramour are not executed, but the par-
amour must pay an indemnity and bring a guilt offering (Lev.
19:20-22). The question of the slave woman's consent is not
raised in the law, presumably because she is not a legal person
and her consent is legally immaterial.
Evidence for prosecution of adultery is scant in the Bible.
Some passages suggest the husband's initiative in prosecuting
(Num. 5:11-31; cf. Prov. 6:32-35), while another might be con-
strued as reflecting public initiative (Deut. 22:22; cf. Sus. 28-41,
6off.). None of these passages is decisive. If a husband in a fit
of jealousy but without evidence suspects his wife of adultery,
the case is turned over to God (by means of the “ritual for cases
of jealousy,’ Num. 5:11-31; see *Ordeal of Jealousy) for decision
and, where the wife is guilty, for punishment.
IN NARRATIVE, PROPHETIC, AND WISDOM LITERATURE.
The theme of adultery appears in several biblical narratives.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADULTERY
Abrahams and Isaac’s wives were taken or nearly taken by for-
eigners who believed them to be the patriarchs’ sisters (Gen.
12:10-20; 20:2ff.; 26:6-11), but Genesis 20:4 and 26:10 deny
that any sexual contact took place. It is noteworthy that these
passages seem to assume that these foreigners would sooner
commit murder than adultery, “the great sin.” Tamar’s forni-
cation (Gen. 38) might be viewed as technically adulterous,
since she had already been assigned for Shelah. Potiphar’s
wife attempted to seduce Joseph, who refused to sin against
his master and against God (Gen. 39:7-12). David committed
adultery with Bath-Sheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite (11 Sam.
11). The narrative about Hosea’s marriage (Hos. 1) describes
Hosea’s wife as adulterous, but this is probably a legendary
motif of the sort typical in third-person prophetic narratives
(see *Hosea).
Adultery is one of the crimes with which the prophets,
particularly Hosea (4:2; etc.) and Jeremiah (7:9; 23:10, 14; etc.),
charged Israel. The adultery and ravishing of wives is mentioned
among threatened punishments (Deut. 28:30; Amos 7:17).
The book of Proverbs warns extensively against the se-
ductions of the adulterous woman (2:16-19; 5:1-14; 6:24-353
7:5-27; cf. 30:20). She is a gadabout (a frequent description of
promiscuous women in the ancient Near East: cf. Gen. 34:1;
The Code of Hammurapi, 141, 143, in: Pritchard, Texts, 172; J.J.
Finkelstein, Jaos, 86 (1966), 363, with nn. 28-29), rarely found
in her own home (Prov. 7:11-12). She uses a smooth tongue to
lure the foolish - like oxen to the slaughter — to her bed (2:16;
5:33 6:24; 7:13ff.). Adulterers seek the protection of darkness
(7:9; cf. Job 24:15; Eccles. 23:18). The adulterer is more foolish
than a thief, who will at least escape with his life (Prov. 6:30 ff.).
Wisdom warns (6:20 ff; 7:4ff.) that traffic with the adulter-
ous woman leads inevitably to loss of wealth (5:9-10) and life
(2:18-19; 5:53 6:32-35; 7:22-23, 26-27). One ought to “drink wa-
ter from his own cistern” (5:15) and not from another’s.
AS A METAPHOR FOR IDOLATRY. ‘The exclusive loyalty which
Israel must give God is analagous to the exclusive fidelity a
wife owes her husband. Thus, Israelite religion seized upon
the metaphor of marriage to express Israel's relationship with
God and already in early texts employed language from the
sphere of adultery to describe worship of other gods: Israel
“goes a-whoring” (zanah) after other gods (Ex. 34:16; Num.
15:39-40) and yHwH, the “impassioned” or “jealous” (qanna)
God, becomes “wrought up,’ or “jealous” (qanna) over Israel
(Ex. 20:5; 34:14; Deut. 5:9; cf. Num. 5:14); idolatry, like adultery,
was described as “great sin” (Ex. 32:21, 30-31; 11 Kings 17:21).
Later prophets, especially the author of Hosea 1-3 and after
him Jeremiah (2:23; 3:1ff.) and Ezekiel (16:1ff.; 23:1ff.), gave the
metaphor full and explicit expression.
[Jeffrey Howard Tigay]
In Jewish Law
It appears that originally it was the husband's right to punish
his adulterous wife himself (cf. the story of Judah - ordering
425
ADULTERY
even his daughter-in-law to be burned: Gen. 38:24) and that he
could take the law into his own hands even against the adul-
terer (cf. Prov 6:34). It was only when adultery was elevated
to the rank ofa grave offense against God as well that the hus-
band was required to resort to the priests or to the courts. Yet,
so far as the adulterer was concerned, it is probable that he
could always buy himself off by paying to the husband a sum of
money by way of compensation: *compounding was not pro-
hibited for adultery (cf. Prov. 6:35) as it was for murder (Num.
35:31). Where sufficient evidence was available both of the act
of adultery (Mak. 7a) and of the adulterer and the adulteress
having first each been duly warned (Sanh. 41a), both would be
liable to the death penalty. The trial reported in the apocryphal
book of *Susannah (37-41) was held without any evidence be-
ing adduced of a previous warning having been administered,
either because the book predates the mishnaic law to this ef-
fect, or because the warning appeared irrelevant to the point
of the story. No particular mode of execution is prescribed in
the Bible, but talmudical law (Sifra 9:11) prescribed strangula-
tion as being the most humane mode of *capital punishment
(Sanh. 52b et al.). An older tradition appears to be that the
punishment for adultery was stoning: the lighter offenses of
the unvirginal bride (Deut. 22:21) and of the betrothed woman
and her adulterer (Deut. 22:24) were punished by stoning, and
the severer offense of adultery would certainly not have car-
ried a lighter punishment. Stoning of adulteresses is more-
over vouched for in prophetic allegories (e.g., Ezek. 6:38-40)
and is described in the New Testament as commanded by the
Law of Moses (John 8:5). In the aggravated case of adultery
by a priest’s daughter, the adulteress was burned (Lev. 21:9),
while the adulterer remained liable to strangulation (Sif. 5:19).
Burning is provided for another similar offense (Lev. 20:14)
and is also found in prophetic allegory (e.g., Ezek. 23:25; Nah.
3:15). Where the woman was a slave “designated” for another
man, the punishment was not death (Lev. 19:20), but he had
to bring a sacrifice (ibid. 21:7), while she was flogged (Ker. 114).
Where insufficient evidence was available (the nature of the of-
fense being such as usually took place in secret: cf. Job 24:15),
a husband was entitled to have his wife, whom he suspected
of adultery, subjected to the *ordeal of the waters of bitterness
(Num 5:12-31). If found guilty, her punishment was a kind of
talio, she being made to suffer with those organs of her body
with which she had sinned (Sot. 1:7). One of the features of the
ordeal was that the woman’s hair was “loosened” (Num. 5:18),
that is, disarranged (except, according to R. Judah, if her hair
was very beautiful: Sot. 1:5). This disarrangement of the hair
(usually covered and concealed) may be the origin of the later
punishment of shaving a woman's head - more particularly
in cases where lesser misconduct, and not the act of adultery,
could be proved against her. Other punishments meted out to
adulteresses in post-talmudic times included death, both by
strangulation (hanging) and by burning, imprisonment, and,
commonly, public flogging.
[Haim Hermann Cohn]
426
Maimonides rules that “if a woman has, while married
to her husband, committed adultery unwittingly or under du-
ress, she is permitted to him...” (Yad Ishut 24:19). Adultery
committed under duress is rape, and is dealt with at length in
the relevant entry (see *Rape). The question is what defines
“{nadvertent adultery” in this context and how it is adapted
to the modern legal categories of mistake of law and mistake
of fact.
ADULTERY DUE TO MISTAKE OF FACT. Ina situation where a
woman thought that the man with whom she engaged in sex-
ual relations was her husband, but was in fact another man,
the halakhah regards the act as “inadvertent” or, in contempo-
rary terminology - a mistake of fact. The Mishnah (Yeb. 3:10)
deals with a case in which two men betrothed two women and,
at the time of marriage, they exchanged the women between
themselves. The Mishnah rules that in such a case, where the
parties acted unwittingly and unintentionally (see TB Yeb. 33b
where it explains that the term “[they were] exchanged” indi-
cates that the exchange was inadvertent), all four parties in-
volved must bring sin offerings, because they unwittingly vio-
lated the prohibition against relations with a married woman.
However, the original couples are permitted to continue living
together as man and wife (following an initial separation of
three months in order to enable determination of the biologi-
cal father in the event of pregnancy). The halakhic ruling is
that “at all events they are permitted to one another after three
months, for they are considered to have acted under duress
because they were mistakenly exchanged” (Yam shel Shlomo,
to Yebamot, ch.3, $17).
Another source dealing with adultery as the result of a
mistake of fact was based on an actual case, recorded in TB
Nedarim 91a-b. A woman informed her husband that they had
conducted sexual relations on the previous night. The husband
expressed astonishment; denying that this had taken place.
The woman responded that apparently she had sexual rela-
tions with one of the spice sellers, mistakenly assuming that
it was her husband. R. Nahman rules that the woman was not
to be believed, for “perhaps she set her eyes on another” and
made up the story, so that she could receive a divorce from
her husband. He explains that this case concerned the wife of
a kohen (priest) who would be forbidden to her husband even
in the event of rape. Had the case involved the wife of an Isra-
elite “since even according to her words she believed he was
her husband, then there is no greater duress than that - and
when there was duress regarding one of Israelite descent, she
is permitted”
What follows from these sources is that adultery result-
ing from mistake of fact is governed by the law of duress, and
therefore the law of adultery, including the prohibition of the
woman to her husband, does not apply.
ADULTERY RESULTING FROM IGNORANCE OF THE LAW.
The responsa literature contains a number of responsa dis-
cussing the question of how to view adultery when it resulted
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
from a mistake in the law (ie., ignorance of the law). One
case dealt with by Rashba concerned a woman who had ac-
cepted a ring from a man to whom she had been introduced
during a meal, and a few years later she married another man.
Rashba ruled that she is considered an adulteress, and is pro-
hibited to both of them. In his responsum, he discusses the
claim that the woman was unaware that she was married to
the first man, and that the adultery was therefore the result
of a mistake. He wrote as follows: “Should it be claimed that
she was under duress because she did not know that she was
forbidden to marry - this is incorrect, for she ought to have
verified the matter, and in any case where she did not examine,
she is prohibited to both of them ... But what kind of duress
was there that she could rely upon in order to marry? For if
so [were we to accept this claim], we would permit all women
who had committed adultery, by saying: she believed that she
had not become prohibited by this action. And the matter is
clear” (Resp. Rashba, 1:1189).
When R. Joseph Colon (Maharik) was asked how to
judge a woman “who had intentionally committed adultery
while married to her husband, and did not know whether the
act was forbidden: should it be regarded as an unintentional
act?” His response was: “In my humble opinion, she cannot
be permitted to her husband under the law applying to one
who acted inadvertently, because she intended to betray her
husband, and committed adultery while still married to him”
(Resp. Maharik, 168). He based his position on Numbers 5:12:
“If any man’s wife go aside and commit a trespass against
him” - in other words: the trespass is against the husband
and not against the law (or, in Maharik’s language, against
God). There is no requirement that the woman actually in-
tend to commit the sin of adultery; it is sufficient that she be-
trays her husband. Maharik offers the following explanation
of the aforementioned passage from Maimonides - that the
woman who commits adultery inadvertently is permitted to
her husband - “this is only applicable where the mistake re-
lates to the act of adultery, and was not a mistake regarding
the prohibition itself, for the reason that her adultery is not
considered to have been inadvertent is that she intended to
commit adultery, but was unaware of the prohibition. What
case would be deemed as inadvertent adultery? One in which
she thought that it was her husband, as in the case mentioned
in Nedarim 91”
These responsa were codified in later halakhic literature
(see Beit Yosef on Tur EH 115, 8.v. u-mishum hakhi; Rema, to
Sh. Ar. EH 178.3; Yam shel Shlomo, Yeb. 3:17). The subject was
the source of further discussion in subsequent responsa lit-
erature (see Lehem Yehudah of R. Judah Eish, Hilkhot Ishut
24; Hida, Hayyim Sheal, 2: 48).
In a judgment given in Israel, by the Ashkelon Regional
Rabbinical Court (8 ppR 184) the aforementioned conception
was accepted: namely, the distinction between a mistake of
fact, which constitutes a defense with respect to adultery, and
a legal-halakhic mistake - ignorance of the halakhah - which
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ADVERTISING
cannot exempt the woman from the consequences of the act of
adultery. In the case in question, the Rabbinical Court ruled
that the parties must divorce, and a few months later the get
was given. It was proven to the court that the woman and
another man had engaged in sexual relations after a divorce
judgment had been given, believing that once a divorce judg-
ment had been issued there was no longer any prohibition in-
volved, even though they knew that the get had not yet been
given. The Rabbinical Court based its ruling on the aforemen-
tioned responsa of Rashba and Maharik (as well as additional
halakhic sources). The woman and the man, with whom she
had become pregnant during the intermediate period between
the divorce ruling and the get, were forbidden to marry each
other, in accordance with the law that an adulterous woman
is forbidden both to her husband and to her lover.
Summing up the position of Jewish law - which is also
the positive law of the State of Israel in this area - adultery un-
der duress is not considered adultery. As for adultery resulting
from a mistake, a distinction is drawn between a mistake in
fact, which is regarded as a case of duress, and hence not in
the category of adultery, and a legal-halakhic mistake - i.e.,
ignorance of the prohibition on adultery, or of the law that
only a get terminates the marriage; neither of the variants of
the latter category will be regarded as duress. A woman en-
gaging in sexual relations with another man under such cir-
cumstances is deemed an adulteress, and as such forbidden
both to her husband and to her lover.
[Moshe Drori (2™ ed.)]
Family Aspects
See *Mamczer; *Divorce; *Husband and Wife.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: BIBLE: M. Greenberg, in: Sefer Y. Kaufmann
(1960), 5-28; idem. in: IDB, 1 (1962), 739; de Vaux, Anc Isr, 36-37; S.
Loewenstamm, in: BM, 13 (1962), 55-59; 18-19 (1964), 77-78; M. Wein-
feld, ibid., 17 (1964), 58-63; E. Neufeld, Ancient Hebrew Marriage Laws
(1944), 163-75; L. Epstein, Sex Laws and Customs in Judaism (1948),
194-215; G. Cohen, in: The Samuel Freedland Lectures (1966), 1-21;
H.L. Ginsberg, in: Sefer Y. Kaufmann (1960), 58-65; J.J. Finkelstein,
in: JAOS, 86 (1966), 355-72. JEWISH LAW: Buechler, in: MGwy, 5 (1911),
196-219; idem, in: WZKM, 19 (1905), 91-138; V. Aptowitzer, in: JQR, 15
(1924/25), 79-82; ET, 2 (1942), 290-3; 4 (1952), 759-64; Sh. M. Paul,
Studies in the Book of the Covenant in the Light of Cuneiform and Bib-
lical Law (Leiden, 1970), 96-98. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Drori:
“Inadvertent Adultery (Shegagah) in Jewish Law: Mistake of Law and
Mistake of Fact,’ in: H. Ben-Menahem and N.S. Hect (eds.), Author-
ity, Process, and Method - Studies in Jewish Law (1998), 231-67; A.
Enker: “The Claim of Ignorance of the Law in Jewish Criminal Law,”
in: Mishpatim, 25 (1995), 87-128 (Heb.); idem, “Mistake of Law and
Ignorance of Law in Jewish Criminal Law,’ in: Jewish Law Associa-
tion Studies, 7 (1994), 41-50.
ADVERTISING. In few modern industries have Jews had
greater influence than in advertising, and this applies par-
ticularly in America. It has even been suggested that Jewish
advertising men are responsible for the wide scope and shape
of the modern advertising agency. Though the use of adver-
427
ADVERTISING
tising began after the Civil War of 1865, until the beginning
of the 20" century, business concerns wishing to promote
the sale of their goods or services developed their own pro-
grams and even wrote their own copy. The existing agencies
were thus brokers in media space. This was the pattern when
Albert D. Lasker, often called the father of modern advertis-
ing, joined the Chicago agency of Lord and Thomas in 1898.
He soon realized that by providing first-rate copywriters, who
were creative, imaginative artists, the agency could be of far
greater help to the client than by just offering the service of
selling him space for his advertisements. In 1904, when only
24 years of age, he became a partner in the firm and by 1912,
Lasker became the sole owner of Lord and Thomas. He built
it in three decades into one of the best known and most re-
spected advertising agencies in America.
Milton H. Biow may be regarded as the man who molded
the advertising agency into a form which would meet the re-
quirements of modern business. He began in 1918 with a one-
man business and in the four decades of its existence, it be-
came one of the largest and best known agencies both in the
United States and abroad. Biow’s agency was credited with
being the first to use radio and television “spots” for short ad-
vertisements. This era saw the development of the partnership
agencies. One of these, Grey Advertising, was founded in 1917
by 18-year-old Lawrence Valenstein. Later he formed a three-
man partnership with two men he had taken into his employ-
ment, Arthur C. Fatt and Herbert D. Strauss. Each of the three
was successively president of the company. All three believed
advertising to be an important ingredient in the wider activ-
ity of marketing, and the firm played a leading part in devel-
oping the system of creating a demand for a product before
introducing it to the market. In 1936 the agency started Grey
Matter, a newsletter of merchandising comment and interpre-
tation, which was widely read both by the advertising industry
and by business generally. By the late 1960s the agency was
one of the most successful with branches in Canada, Japan,
and a number of European countries.
Two former directors of Grey Advertising, William
*Bernbach and a non-Jew, Ned Doyle, joined with Maxwell
Dane in 1949 to form another three-man partnership, Doyle,
Dane, Bernbach, which developed rapidly. Bernbach may
well be regarded as the successor to Lasker, Biow, and the
Grey partners, becoming the leader of the “creative revolu-
tion” that was sweeping across Madison Avenue, the New
York center of American advertising. Bernbach began to use
copy in which advertisers spoke to the public in low-keyed,
even self-deprecating terms. This new approach of intelli-
gent subtlety was quickly and widely emulated. In 1955 Nor-
man B. Norman and a number of his associates in the agency
firm of William H. Weintraub and Co. bought control of the
agency and changed its name to Norman, Craig, and Kum-
mel. They soon expanded its business by the use of the “em-
pathy” formula, which Norman described as “emotional ad-
vertising” aimed at having the reader find himself inside the
advertisement.
428
Other Jews who have made important contributions to
advertising are Julian Koenig and Frederic S. Papert (1926)
who founded Papert, Koenig, and Lois; Maxwell B. Sackheim
(d. 1982), an expert in mail order advertising; David Altman,
of Altman, Stoller, and Chalk, specialist in fashion advertis-
ing; Ernest Dichter, a psychologist who founded the Institute
for Motivational Research; Stanley Arnold, sales promotion
consultant; and Monroe Green, an advertising vice president
of the New York Times. Green was largely responsible for
building the New York Times Sunday Magazine into a pow-
erful combination of trade and consumer publication. In the
1920s and 1930s Jews in advertising were mainly relegated to
media or market research jobs, and had no part in front of-
fice, account-management, or contact functions. But the skill
and accomplishments of many of them opened the gates to
Jews and other members of minorities, in a profession that
had been restricted to gentiles for decades. Among the Jews
who rose to prominence in the American advertising indus-
try in more recent years were Carl *Spielvogel, who later be-
came United States ambassador to Slovakia; Donny Deutsch,
who sold his agency for many millions and began a career in
television; and Linda Kaplan Thaler, whose creativity started
with advertising jingles and expanded into a flourishing, mul-
tifaceted agency.
It was not until the 20" century after World War 11, that
Jews rose to prominence in advertising in Britain. The multi-
plicity of media used in modern advertising called for creative
ability and Jews found outlets for their skills in this profession.
Jewish agencies include Caplan’s Advertising, Progress Ad-
vertising, and Richard Cope and Partners. Probably the best-
known contemporary British advertising agency is Saatchi
& Saatchi, founded by the two *Saatchi brothers. In general,
however, Jews play only a limited role in British advertising.
On the continent of Europe advertising developed slowly
until after World War 1 when the growth of methods of com-
munication was rapid, but Jewish participation was brought
to an abrupt close by the Nazi Holocaust. Since World War 11
expanding American agencies and to some degree British
agencies have extended their operations to the continent to
compete with their European counterparts and it is here that
Jews have begun to play a creative role.
In Israel
There was little organized advertising in Mandatory Palestine.
The first advertising agency was set up in Jerusalem in 1922 by
Benjamin Levinson, who was followed by a handful of others.
Several more modern agencies were established by newcom-
ers from Germany in 1933-39. Large-scale advertising started
only with the rapid development of industry and the creation
of a growing consumers’ market in Israel, especially after the
Sinai Campaign (1956). Today, Israeli advertising is indistin-
guishable in its methods and pervasiveness from advertising
in any other Western-style consumer society.
The favorite medium is still the daily press: In 2003
Israel's newspapers received 53% of advertising revenues ($293
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
million). Next came television with 33% and radio with 7%.
Internet advertising, the new frontier, had a modest 2%. The
Israel Advertising Association, established in 1934, has 60
agencies as members.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B.B. Elliott, A History of English Advertising
(1962); J. Gunther, Taken at the Flood: The Story of Albert D. Lasker
(1960); M. Mayer, Madison Avenue, USA (1958); M.H. Biow, Butting
In: An Adman Speaks Out (1964). IN ISRAEL: Sefer ha-Shanah shel
ha-Ittonaim (1965), 353-70.
[Jack Barbash]
AELIA CAPITOLINA, name given to the rebuilt city of
Jerusalem by the Romans in 135 c.£. Following the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 c.£. the city remained
in ruins except for the camp (castrum) of the Tenth Legion
(Fretensis), which was situated in the area of the Upper City
and within the ruins of the Praetorium (the old palace of
Herod the Great), protected, according to the first-century
historian Josephus (War, 7, 1:1) by remnants of the city wall
and towers on the northwest edge of the city. Although Jews
were banished from the city (except apparently during the
Ninth of *Av), some Jewish peasants still lived in the coun-
tryside, and remains of houses (with stone vessels) have been
found immediately north of Jerusalem (close to Tell el-Ful).
Following the disastrous *Bar Kokhba Revolt, the emperor
*Hadrian began rebuilding Jerusalem, from 135 c.E., naming
Aelia Capitolina.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AERONAUTICS, AVIATION, AND ASTRONAUTICS
it after himself (Aelius Hadrianus) and the god Jupiter Capi-
tolinus. Some scholars believe that an impetus for the break-
out of the Bar Kokhba revolt was the pagan construction ac-
tivities in the city, but archaeological finds would appear to
indicate that most of the principal building activities there
(including those on the Temple Mount) took place only after
the revolt had been quashed and when a colony was already
established there. Jews were no longer allowed access to the
city and it was populated by foreigners and settled Roman
veterans. Aelia (approximately 120 acres in size) rapidly took
on the character of a pagan city with special gates, civic cen-
ters (demosia), bathhouses, latrines, sanctuaries, and shrines,
and pagan equestrian statues were even set up on the Tem-
ple Mount. The whereabouts of the Capitoline Temple is de-
bated, with some scholars placing it in the area of the present
Church of the Holy Sepulcher, while others suggest situating
it in the area of the destroyed “Antonia Fortress on the north
side of the Temple Mount. Shrines to Aphrodite and Serapis
are also known. Most of the building activities took place in
the northern sectors of the Old City of today (in the Christian
and Moslem Quarters), and around the southwestern foot of
the Temple Mount. The city remained unfortified until after
the Tenth Legion had been transferred to Aila (Eloth), with a
fortification wall built in the third century around the north-
ern part of the city only. The name Aelia was perpetuated in
the Early Islamic period as Ilia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Issac, “Roman Colonies in Judaea: the
»
Foundation of Aelia Capitolina, in: The Near East under Roman
Rule (1998), 87-111; F. Millar, “The Roman Coloniae of the Near East:
A Study of Cultural Relations,” in: H. Solin and M. Kajava (eds.),
Roman Eastern Policy and Other Studies in Roman History (1990),
28-30; D. Bar, “Aelia Capitolina and the Location of the Camp of the
Tenth Legion,” in: Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 130 (1998), 8-19;
G.D. Stiebel, “The Whereabouts of the x Legion and the Boundaries
of Aelia Capitolina, in: A. Faust and E. Baruch (eds.), New Studies
in Jerusalem (1999), 68-103.
[Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
°AELIAN (Claudius Aelianus; c. 170-235 C.£.), Greek sophist.
Aelian mentions the Jews in several places. In Varia Historia,
12, 35, he includes the Jewish Sibyls (see *Apocalypse) in a list
of *Sibylline oracles. In his De Natura Animalium, 6, 17, he
tells of a snake enamored of a girl in Judea during the reign of
Herod. He also mentions the deer on Mount Carmel.
AERONAUTICS, AVIATION, AND ASTRONAUTICS.
An early contribution by a Jew to aviation was the cigar-
shaped airship with an aluminum framework designed in 1892
by the Zagreb timber merchant David *Schwarz. His designs
were sold to Count Zeppelin, who carried them through to
produce the airship known as the “Zeppelin.” Another pio-
neer of flight-theory was Josef *Popper (1838-1921), who as
early as 1888 considered the problems of flight-theory in his
Flugtechnik. The development of French aviation was fur-
thered by Henri *Deutsch de la Meurthe (1846-1919), who
donated the first prize won by the Brazilian Santos-Dumont
429
AESCOLY, AARON ZE EV
in October 1901 for flying an airship around the Eiffel Tower.
After establishing an experimental aeronautics station at Sar-
trouville, Deutsch founded the Aeronautic Institute at Saint-
Cyr in 1909. His daughter Suzanne (1892-1937) continued his
work. In 1901 Arthur *Berson, director of the Prussian Aero-
nautical Observatory and a major personality in contempo-
rary investigations of the upper atmosphere, navigated a bal-
loon to what was then a record height of 35,100 feet (10,700
meters), and in 1908 he made a flight over the equator in East
Africa at great heights. Other Jewish aviation pioneers were
Emile *Berliner, the first man to make lightweight revolv-
ing-cylinder internal-combustion engines and to equip air-
planes with them; Eduard *Rumpler, whose “Rumplertaube”
was used by Germany in World War 1; August Goldschmidt
of Vienna, an inventor of a novel type of balloon in 1911; the
Russian pilot Vseuolod Abramovich, who held the world re-
cord in 1912; Fred Melchior of Sweden, an expert pilot who
won many awards; Arthur L. *Welsh, U.S. aviation instructor
and test pilot, who died in 1912 while testing a new load-car-
rying military biplane; Ellis Dunitz (1888-1913), chief instruc-
tor in the German Naval Air Service; Victor Betman, winner
in 1914 of the speed flight between Vienna and Budapest; Ar-
thur Landmann of Germany, holder of the world endurance
record for 1914; and Leonino Da Zara, the father of Italian
aeronautics.
Interwar Period
Marcel Bloch (later *Dassault) became a major aircraft man-
ufacturer in France from the period between the two world
wars. Harry F. Guggenheim (see *Guggenheim Family) was a
US. pilot in World War 1, and later a lieutenant-commander in
the U.S. Navy (and U.S. ambassador to Cuba). His father, Dan-
iel Guggenheim, established the Guggenheim Foundation, at
that time the leading private organization in the aeronautics
field, and in 1925 he created a pioneer school of aeronautics
at New York University. Still active after World War 1, Emile
Berliner, with the help of his son Henry Adler *Berliner, de-
signed and built three different kinds of helicopters (1919-26).
Karl Arnstein was chief construction engineer with the Zep-
pelin Company; in 1924 one of his airships flew the Atlantic.
With the coming of the Nazis he left Germany for America,
and from 1934 was employed by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Cor-
poration as chief engineer and vice president. Among the
many airships he designed were the dirigibles “Los Angeles”
and “Akron,” which were used by the U.S. Navy. America’s
first civilian superintendent of airmail was Captain Benjamin
B. Lipsner, and Harold Zinn of Savannah was the first flying
mail carrier in North and South Carolina. Sergeant Benja-
min Roth was the mechanic in the aeronautic squad in the
Byrd expedition to the Antarctic in the 1920s. Professor Aldo
Pontremoli, head of the department of physics at the Uni-
versity of Milan, was in charge of meteorological research in
the 1928 Italian expedition to the North Pole, an expedition
which cost him his life. Charles A. Levine (1897-1991) was
the first flight passenger over the Atlantic. In 1927 he trav-
430
eled 3,903 mi. (6,295 km. — a world record at the time) from
New York to Eisleben, Germany. Levine himself financed
this pioneer flight. In 1930 the Viennese Robert Kronfeld cre-
ated a world record by gliding 93 mi. (150 km.) and in 1931 he
won the London Daily Mail prize by gliding over the English
Channel. Jewish women pilots included Mildred Kauffman
of Kansas City, Peggy Salaman of England (winner of the
third prize in the King’s Cup Race in 1931 who established a
record in the same year by her flight from England to Cape
Town with Gordon Score), and Lena Bernstein of France.
A number of Jews were also academic authorities on aero-
dynamics.
Postwar Aeronautics
Sir Ben *Lockspeiser was deputy director at the British Min-
istry of Aircraft Production in the critical years of the war
from 1941. In France, René Bloch was director of aviation in
the French Navy and later in the Ministry of Defense. Erich
Schatzki was a pilot and then chief engineer of Lufthansa in
pre-Nazi days, and an early general manager of Israel’s El Al.
Benedict Cohn was head aerodynamicist for the Boeing Com-
pany, and Benjamin Pinkel headed the Rand Corporation's
aero-astronautical department. Richard Shevell (1920-2000)
helped design the pc-10 at Douglas Aircraft and taught aero-
nautics at Stanford.
Astronautics
Jews were involved in the activities of the National Advisory
Council for Aeronautics in the U.S.A., and many are con-
cerned with some aspect or other of its successor organization,
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa),
which operates the U.S. astronautical program. Three direc-
tors of large divisions of Nasa were Abe *Silverstein (Lewis
Research Center), Abraham Hyatt (program planning and
evaluation), and Leonard Jaffe (Communications Systems
of Satellites). Daniel Saul *Goldin was the longest-serving
director of NASA (1992-2001). Astronaut Jeffrey * Hoffman
(1944- ) participated in five space missions in the 1980s and
1990s. Two Jewish astronauts who met tragic ends were Ju-
dith *Resnik, who died on January 28, 1986, on a space shuttle
mission when her Challenger spacecraft blew up on launch,
and the Israeli Ilan *Ramon, lost on re-entry in the Columbia
mission of January 16—-February 1, 2003.
Little is known of the personalities involved in the techni-
cal management of the Soviet space program. While it is quite
likely that some of them are of Jewish origin, this cannot ac-
tually be proved. However, the Soviet cosmonaut Lieutenant-
Colonel Boris Volynov, commander of spaceship “Soyuz-5”
which in January 1969 performed the first link-up in space
with a transfer of cosmonauts from one spaceship to another,
was reported to be Jewish.
{Samuel Aaron Miller]
AESCOLY (Weintraub), AARON ZE’EV (1901-1948), He-
brew writer, historian, and ethnologist. Aescoly studied in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Berlin, Liége, and Paris, where for a short time he taught at
the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes. In 1925
he immigrated to Palestine, although he did scholarly re-
search in Paris from 1925 to 1930 and from 1937 to 1939. From
1939 he directed the I. Epstein Training College for kinder-
garten teachers which he had founded. During World War 11
he served in the British Army and, as chaplain, in the Jewish
Brigade. Aescoly’s contributions to Jewish scholarship cover a
wide field. In the introduction to his critical edition of Sippur
David Reuveni (“Story of David Reuveni,” 1940), and in a
number of other studies, he dealt with messianic movements.
His edition of Hayyim Vital’s Sefer ha-Hezyonot (1954) and
his Ha-Tenuot ha-Meshihiyyot be-Yisrael (“Messianic Move-
ments in Israel,” 1956) were both published posthumously. His
ethnological writings include Geza ha-Adam (“The Human
Race,’ 19567), Yisrael (19537), and a number of studies on the
*Beta Israel (Sefer ha-Falashim, 1943; Habash, 1936; Recueil
de textes falashas, 1951). Aescoly’s historical studies include
Ha-Emanzipazyah ha-Yehudit, Ha-Mahpekhah ha-Zarefatit
u-Malkhut Napoleon (“Jewish Emancipation, the French Rev-
olution and the Reign of Napoleon,’ 1952); a history of his na-
tive community of Lodz (1948); and an edition of S. Luzzatto’s
book on the Jews of Venice (published with D. Lattes’ trans-
lation, 1951). On literature he wrote Maamar ha-Sifrut (1941)
and translated writings of Lao-Tse (1937). He also edited S.D.
Luzzatto’s Yesodei ha-Torah (1947).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1956), 161.
AFENDOPOLO, CALEB BEN ELIJAH (14642-1525), Kara-
ite scholar and poet. Born probably in Adrianople, he lived
most of his life in the village of Kramariya near *Constanti-
nople, and ultimately in *Belgrade where he died. A pupil of
his brother-in-law, Elijah *Bashyazi, Afendopolo remained an
Orthodox Karaite of the school of *Aaron b. Elijah of Nicome-
dia, although he was on friendly terms with several Rabbanite
scholars. He acquired much of his knowledge of arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, and Greek- Arabic philosophy, includ-
ing the works of Maimonides, from the Rabbanite Mordecai
*Comtino, and learned modern languages, such as Italian,
Greek, and Arabic. Maimonides’ views on the messianic era
and on the purpose of the commandments proved a forma-
tive influence. Afendopolo taught and wrote on a variety of
subjects. Most of his numerous treatises remain in manu-
script, now in various collections, and often treat diverse un-
related topics.
While surpassing his Karaite contemporaries in the
depth and breadth of his scientific studies, Afendopolo lacked
originality. A talented eclectic, he mastered the wealth of
past and contemporary scholarly material at his disposal, and
his writings are a valuable source of reference concerning
scholars and works whose existence would otherwise remain
unknown. He owned an extensive library of original manu-
scripts as well as copies he made himself. His works include
(1) an unfinished supplement to Adderet Eliyahu by Eli-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AFFONSO
jah Bashyazi (1532); (2) Iggeret ha-Maspeket, on dietary and
other laws; (3) Patshegen Ketav ha-Dat, on the reading of the
Pentateuch and haftarot; (4) Asarah Maamarot, sermons re-
flecting his religious views (fragments are included in Dod
Mordekhai by *Mordecai b. Nisan ha-Zaken, Hamburg, 1714);
(5) indices to Ez Hayyim by Aaron b. Elijah and to Eshkol
ha-Kofer by Judah b. Elijah *Hadassi; (6) Avner ben Ner, a dis-
course on ethics in the style of the Arabic maqamdt; (7) Gan
ha-Melekh, poetry and prose, containing autobiographical
and historical details as well as two elegies on the expulsion
of the Jews from Lithuania in 1495; (8) Mikhlal Yofi, on the
principles of astronomy, withrelation to the calculation of the
calendar (9) liturgical poems, included in the Karaite prayer
book; (10) a commentary on the Nicomachean arithmetic;
(11) Gal Einai, on astronomy (known only by the title); and
(12) Iggeret Maspeket, mainly a glossary of astronomical ter-
minology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Bernstein, in: Horeb, 11 (1951), 53-84;
Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Steinsch-
neider, Gesammelte Schriften (1925), 184-96; M. Malachi, in: Shay le-
Heiman (1977), 343-62; H. Ha-Levi, Hagut Ivrit be-Arzot ha-Islam
(1982), 167-72; S.B. Bowman, The Jews of Byzantium (1204-1453),
1985, index; Z. Malachi, in Masoret ha-Piyyut, 3 (2002), 31-44; M.
Polliack (ed.), Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary
Sources, (2003), index.
[Moshe Nahum Zobel]
°AFFONSO. Name of several kings of Portugal. AFFONSO
HENRIQUES (1139-1185), the first king of Portugal, contin-
ued the relatively tolerant policy to the Jews of his Castilian
forebears, giving the Jews autonomy in civil as well as crimi-
nal cases. His almoxarife or treasurer was Yahia ibn Ya’ish,
to whom he granted considerable privileges. His grandson,
AFEONSO II (1211-1223), also had Jews in his employment
in responsible offices, though he confirmed the anti-Jew-
ish provisions of the *Lateran Council of 1215 and endorsed
the resolutions passed by the Cortes at Coimbra encouraging
baptisms. AFFONSO III (1245/8-1279) on the other hand, al-
most systematically disregarding many ecclesiastical restric-
tions against the Jews, employed them widely in the financial
administration, and reorganized the internal affairs of the
Jews of the kingdom. He was responsible, among other mat-
ters, for the organization of the office of chief rabbi (*Arraby
moor) of Portugal, with its far-reaching powers. AFFONSO IV
(1325-1357) was unfavorably disposed toward the Jews, en-
forced the wearing of the Jewish *badge, and restricted the
right of emigration for any person of property. AFFONSO V
(1438-1481) relaxed the enforcement of the anti-Jewish regu-
lations. He is memorable for having in his service Isaac *Abra-
banel and Joseph ibn Yahia, with whom he is said to have had
learned discussions on science and philosophy. He attempted
with only qualified success to suppress the anti-Jewish riots of
1449 and punish the ringleaders. In his compilation of laws,
collected under the title Ordenagées Affonsinas, the regulations
concerning the Jews occupy a prominent place (book 2). In
431
AFGHANISTAN
an edict of 1468, while renewing the restriction of the Jews to
their judiarias, he permitted them to do business at the fairs
elsewhere.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mendes dos Remedios, Judeus em Portugal
(1895), passim; M. Kayserling, Geschichte der Juden in Portugal (1867),
passim; M.B. Amzalak, Uma carta de lei... de D. Afonso v (1926);
Roth, Marranos, index.
[Cecil Roth]
AFGHANISTAN, Muslim state in central Asia (Khorasan or
Khurasan in medieval Muslim and Hebrew sources).
History
Early Karaite and Rabbanite biblical commentators regarded
Khorasan as a location of the lost *Ten Tribes. Afghanistan
annals also trace the Hebrew origin of some of the Afghan
tribes, in particular the Durrani, the Yussafzai, and the Afridi,
to King *Saul (Talut). This belief appears in the 17'-century
Afghan chronicle Makhzan-i-Afghan, and some British trav-
elers in the 19'* century spread the tradition. Because of its
remoteness from the Jewish center in Babylonia, persons un-
wanted by the Jewish leadership, such as counter-candidates
for the exilarchate (see *Exilarch), often went to live in or were
exiled to Afghanistan.
Medieval sources mention several Jewish centers in Af-
ghanistan, of which *Balkh was the most important. A Jew-
ish community in Ghazni is recorded in Muslim sources, in-
dicating that Jews were living there in the tenth and eleventh
centuries. A Jew named Isaac, an agent of Sultan Mahmud
(ruled 998-1030), was assigned to administer the sultan’s
lead mines and to melt ore for him. According to Hebrew
sources, vast numbers of Jews lived in Ghazni but while their
figures are not reliable, Moses *Ibn Ezra (1080) mentions
over 40,000 Jews paying tribute in Ghazni and *Benjamin of
Tudela (c. 1170) describes “Ghazni the great city on the River
Gozan, where there are about 80,000 [8,000 in a variant
manuscript] Jews...” In Hebrew literature the River Gozan
was identified with Ghazni in Khorasan from the assertion
of Judah *Ibn Bal’am that “the River of Gozan is that river
flowing through the city of Ghazni which is today the capi-
tal of Khorasan.”
A Jewish community in Firoz Koh, capital of the medi-
eval rulers of Ghir or Ghuristan, situated halfway between
Herat and Kabul, is mentioned in Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, a chroni-
cle written in Persian (completed around 1260) by al-Jizjani.
This is the first literary reference to Jews in the capital of the
Ghirids. About 20 recently discovered stone tablets, with Per-
sian and Hebrew inscriptions dating from 1115 to 1215, con-
firm the existence of a Jewish community there. The Mongol
invasion in 1222 annihilated Firoz Koh and its Jewish com-
munity.
Arab geographers of the tenth century (Ibn Hawaal,
Istakhri) also refer to Kabul and Kandahar as Jewish settle-
ments. An inscription on a tombstone from the vicinity of
Kabul dated 1365, erected in memory of a Moses b. Ephraim
432
: Tadzhikistan 7°
F Uzbekistan J /
Turkmenistan ) 4
ve 7 l
\ a = =], Satie \
ee :
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| 2 ,
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4 Herat .) (Firoz Koh) Ss © Kabul r
s : J
/ Be () Ghazni “\
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\ FE G va /
!
Le Q Kandahar ii Se
you PAKISTAN
fo j
tK. 3 ) medieval settlement
i
5 Se —_— e contemporary settlement
Map of Afghanistan showing places of Jewish settlement in the Middle Ages
and modern times.
Bezalel, apparently a high official, indicates the continuous
existence of a Jewish settlement there.
The Mongol invasion, epidemics, and continuous war-
fare made inroads into Jewish communities in Afghanistan
throughout the centuries, and little is known about them
until the 19" century when they are mentioned in connec-
tion with the flight of the *anusim of Meshed after the forced
conversions in 1839. Many of the refugees fled to Afghanistan,
Turkestan, and Bokhara, settling in Herat, Maimana, Kabul,
and other places with Jewish communities, where they helped
to enrich the stagnating cultural life. Nineteenth-century
travelers (*Wolff, *Vambery, *Neumark, and others) state that
the Jewish communities of Afghanistan were largely composed
of these Meshed Jews. Mattathias Garji of Herat confirmed:
“Our forefathers used to live in Meshed under Persian rule
but in consequence of the persecutions to which they were
subjected came to Herat to live under Afghan rule.’ The lan-
guage spoken by Afghan Jews is not the Pushtu of their sur-
roundings but a *Judeo-Persian dialect in which they have
produced fine liturgical and religious poetry. Their literary
merit was recognized when Afghan Jews moved to Erez Israel
toward the end of the 19"* century. Scholars of Afghanistan
families such as Garji and Shaul of Herat published Judeo-
Persian commentaries on the Bible, Psalms, piyyutim, and
other works, at the Judeo-Persian printing press established
in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20" century. The Jews of
Afghanistan did not benefit from the activities of European
Jewish organizations. Economically, their situation in the last
century was not unfavorable; they traded in skins, carpets,
and antiquities.
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Recent Years
Approximately 5,000 Jews were living in Afghanistan in 1948.
Of these, about 300 remained in 1969. They were concentrated
in Kabul, Balkh, and mainly Herat. (See Map: Jews in Afghani-
stan.) Jews were banished from other towns after the assassina-
tion of King Nadir Shah in 1933. Though not forced to live in
separate quarters, Jews did so and in Balkh they even closed
the ghetto gates at night. A campaign against Jews began in
1933. They were forbidden to leave a town without a permit.
They had to pay a yearly poll tax and from 1952, when the Mili-
tary Service Law ceased to apply to Jews, they had to pay ran-
soms for exemptions from the service (called harbiyya). Gov-
ernment service and government schools were closed to Jews,
and certain livelihoods forbidden to them. Consequently, most
Jews only received a heder education. There were only a few
wealthy families, the rest being poverty-stricken and mostly
employed as tailors and shoemakers. Until 1950 Afghan Jews
were forbidden to leave the country. However, between June
1948 and June 1950, 459 Afghan Jews went to Israel. Most of
them had fled the country in 1944, and lived in Iran or India
until the establishment of the State of Israel. Jews were only
allowed to emigrate from Afghanistan from the end of 1951. By
1967, 4,000 had gone to Israel. No Zionist activity was permit-
ted, and no emissaries from Israel could reach Afghanistan.
There was a hevrah (“community council”) in each of the three
towns in which Jews lived. The hevrah was composed of the
heads of families; it cared for the needy, and dealt with burials.
The hevrah sometimes meted out punishments, including ex-
communication. The head of the community (called kalantar)
represented the community in dealings with the authorities,
and was responsible for the payment of taxes.
According to the New York Times, one Jew remained in
Afghanistan in 2005.
[Haim J. Cohen]
Folklore
A survey of local Jewish-Afghan folk tales and customs reveals
the influence of both Meshed (Jewish-Persian) and local non-
Jewish traditions. This is especially true of customs relating to
the year cycle and life cycle. The existence of several unique
customs, such as the presence of “Elijah’s rod” at childbirth,
and several folk cures and charms are to be similarly explained.
Jewish-Afghan folk tales have been collected from local narra-
tors in Israel and are preserved in the Israel Folk Tale Archives.
A sample selection of 12 tales from the repertoire of an out-
standing narrator, Raphael Yehoshua, was published in 1969,
accompanied by extensive notes and a rich bibliography.
[Dov Noy]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nimat Allah, History of the Afghans (Lon-
don, 1829), tr. by B. Dorn; Holdich, in: Journal of the Royal Society of
Arts, 45 (1917), 191-205; H.W. Bellew, Races of Afghanistan (1880); I.
Ben-Zvi, The Exiled and the Redeemed (1961), index; Fischel, in: HJ,
7 (1945), 29-50; idem, in: JAOS, 85, no. 2 (1965), 148-53; idem, in: Jc,
Supplement (March 26, 1937); idem, in: L. Finkelstein (ed.), Jews,
their History, Culture and Religion, 2 (1960°), 1149-90; G. Gnoli, Le
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AFIKIM
iscrizioni giudeo-Persiane del Gur (Afghanistan) (1964), includes bib-
liography; E.L. Rapp, Die Juedisch-Persisch Hebraeischen Inschriften
aus Afghanistan (1965); Brauer, in: Jsos, 4 (1942), 121-38; R. Klass,
Land of the High Flags (1965); N. Robinson, in: J. Freid (ed.), Jews
in Modern World, 1 (1962), 50-90. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Ye-
hoshua-Raz, Mi-Nidhei Yisrael be-Afganistan le-Anusei Mashhad be-
Tran (1992); Pe‘amim, 79 (1999); A. Netzer, “Yehudei Afganistan; in:
G. Allon (ed.), Ha-Tziyyonut le-Ezoreiha (2005).
AFIA, AARON (16 century), Sephardi physician and philos-
opher in practice in Salonika. With wide linguistic and scien-
tific knowledge, he collaborated in the Hebrew translation by
*Daniel b. Perahyah of the “Perpetual Almanac” of Abraham
*Zacuto (Salonika, 1543), and in Moses *Almosnino’s still un-
published version of the “Treatise on the Sphere” by Johannes
de Sacrobosco and other works. His own treatise on the na-
ture of the soul (Opiniones sacadas de los philosophos sobre la
alma...) was appended to Los dialogos de Amor (Venice, 1568),
the Spanish translation of Judah *Abrabanel’s (Leone Ebreo)
“Dialogues of Love.” Afia was friendly with the great physi-
cian *Amatus Lusitanus, who records (Centuria 7, 24 cure)
how they discussed together with a colleague recently arrived
from Portugal the source of laughter, which Afia, following
Aristotle, placed in the heart. Afia is a remarkable exemplifica-
tion of the fashion in which European culture in its broadest
sense continued to flourish for a time among the descendants
of the exiles from Spain.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 645; Neu-
bauer, Cat, 1 (1886), 699; Rosanes, Togarmah, 2 (1938), 105-7; H. Frie-
denwald, Jews and Medicine, 2 (1944), 707; J. Nehama, Histoire des Is-
raélites de Salonique, 4 (1936), 159.
AFIKE JEHUDA (Heb. 1717 ?"DN), society for the “advance-
ment of study of Judaism and of religious consciousness,”
founded in Prague in 1869 on the initiative of Samuel Freund,
and named in memory of Judah Teweles. It supported the tal-
mud torah (until taken over by the community in 1879), and
Teweles’ yeshivah. The society organized lectures (to which
women were admitted from 1879) by outstanding scholars and
published them, mainly in the two anniversary volumes, Afike
Jehuda Festschrift (1909 and 1930). A project initiated in 1919
by the society to publish a Jewish biographical lexicon did not
materialize. The society continued to exist until the German
occupation of Prague in 1939.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Deutsch, in: Zeitschrift fuer Geschichte der
Juden in der Tschechoslowakei, 1 (1931), 174-9.
AFIKIM (Heb. 0°?°5x; “stream courses,’ referring to the Jor-
dan and the Yarmuk Rivers), kibbutz in the central Jordan
Valley, in Israel. Afikim, affiliated with Ihud ha-Kevuzot ve-
ha-Kibbutzim, was founded in 1932 by pioneer youth from
Soviet Russia, who were among the last organized groups able
to leave that country in the 1920s. In 1967 Afikim had 1,290
inhabitants from many countries, making it one of the larg-
est communal settlements in Israel. In 2002 its population
433
AFIKOMAN
was 1,030. In addition to engaging in intensive farming (ir-
rigated field crops, fodder, milch cattle, poultry, carp ponds,
bananas, dates, grapefruit), the kibbutz economy was based
on a large plywood factory, producing principally for export.
It also became a partner in the nearby factory for cellotex and
similar materials. The prehistoric site of al-’ Ubaydiyya is situ-
ated near the kibbutz.
[Efraim Orni]
AFIKOMAN (Heb. 721j7°D8), name of a portion of mazzah
(unleavened bread) eaten at the conclusion of the Passover
evening meal. In most traditions, early in the evening, the
person conducting the seder breaks the middle of the three
mazzot into two pieces, putting away the larger portion, des-
ignated as afikoman, for consumption at the conclusion of the
meal. Some Yemenites, who use only two mazzot, break off
a part of the lower mazzah just at the beginning of the meal.
The word afikoman, of Greek origin but uncertain etymology,
probably refers to the aftermeal songs and entertainment (cf.
TJ, Pes. 10:8, 37d), accompanied by drinking, which was com-
mon after festive meals in ancient times. The Mishnah states:
“One may not add afikoman after the paschal meal” (Pes. 10:8),
for the paschal meal was not to be followed by customary
revelry (Pes. 119b-120a). This ruling was later understood to
mean that the paschal lamb should be the last food eaten dur-
ing the evening and, after the cessation of the paschal sacrifice,
mazzah replaced it as the last food eaten during the evening.
This mazzah is first referred to as afikoman in medieval times
(cf. Mahzor Vitry). This afikoman has become a symbolic re-
minder of the paschal sacrifice.
In many Ashkenazi communities it is customary for the
children present to attempt to “steal” the afikoman from the
person leading the seder (who therefore tries to “hide” it from
them). A favorite time for such a “theft” is while the leader is
washing his hands before the meal, and the “ransom” is usually
the promise of presents. The custom encourages the children
to keep awake during the seder (see Pes. 109a). This practice
of stealing the afikoman is, however, nearly unknown in Se-
phardi Jewish communities.
It became a folk custom to preserve a piece of the afiko-
man as a protection against either harm or the “evil eye,” or
as an aid to longevity. The power attributed to this piece of
mazzah is based on the assumption, in the realm of folklore
rather than law, that its importance during the seder endows
it with a special sanctity. Thus, Jews from Iran, Afghanistan,
Salonika, Kurdistan, and Bukhara keep a portion of the afiko-
man in their pockets or houses throughout the year for good
luck. In some places, pregnant women carry it together with
salt and coral pieces, while during their delivery they hold
some of the afikoman in their hand. Another belief is that
this special mazzah, if kept for seven years, can stop a flood if
thrown into the turbulent river, and the use of the afikoman
together with a certain biblical verse is even thought capable
of quieting the sea. At the seder Kurdi Jews tie this mazzah
to the arm of one of their sons with this blessing: “May you
434
so tie the ketubbah to the arm of your bride.” Sephardi Jews
in Hebron had a similar practice. In Baghdad someone with
the afikoman used to leave the seder and return disguised as a
traveler. The leader would ask him, “Where are you from?” to
which he would answer, “Egypt,” and “Where are you going?”
to which he would reply, “Jerusalem.” In Djerba, the person
conducting the seder used to give the afikoman to one of the
family, who tied it on his shoulder and went to visit relatives
and neighbors to forecast the coming of the Messiah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Maim. Yad, Hamez u-Mazzah, 6:2; 8:9; Sh.
Ar., OH 473:6; 477:1-7; 418:1-2; Moshe Veingarten, Haseder He’arukh
(1990), 554-562; E. Brauer, Yehudei Kurdistan (1947), 235-6; J. Kafih,
Halikhot Teiman (1961), 22; M. Mani, Hevron ve-Gibboreiha (1963),
69-70; M. Zadoc, Yehudei Teiman (1967), 181-2; D. Benveniste, in:
Saloniki Ir va-Em be-Yisrael (1967). 151. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.
Tabory, The Passover Ritual Throughout the Generations (Hebrew;
1996), 23 N. 49; 65-66; 318-24; I.J. Yuval, “Two Nations in Your Womb”:
Perceptions of Jews and Christians (Hebrew; 2000), 249-58.
[Dov Noy / Joseph Tabory (2"¢ ed.)]
AFRICA. The propinquity of the land of Israel to the Afri-
can continent profoundly influenced the history of the Jew-
ish people. Two of the patriarchs went down to *Egypt; the
sojourn of the children of Israel in that land left an indelible
impression on the history of their descendants; and the Exo-
dus from Egypt and the theophany at Sinai, in the desert be-
tween Africa and Asia, marked the beginning of the specific
history of the Hebrew people. Later, in the time of the judges
and the monarchy, Palestine was periodically occupied by the
Egyptian pharaohs, especially after Thutmose 111, in their at-
tempts to extend their influence northward. Important Egyp-
tian archaeological remains have been found throughout Erez
Israel, testifying to indubitable Egyptian influences in the
background, literature, and language of the Bible. After the
destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.c.£. some of the sur-
vivors took refuge in Egypt and the Jewish military colony at
*Elephantine; ample records which survive from the Persian
period seem to have originated at about this time. This settle-
ment at Elephantine marked the beginning of the extension of
Jewish influences toward the interior of the continent, and in
all probability it was not the only colony of its kind.
Intensive Jewish settlement in Africa began after the
conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.c.E.
For the next hundred years or more, Erez Israel was intermit-
tently under the rule of the Egyptian Ptolemies, alternating
with the Syrian Seleucids; the country naturally gravitated
toward Africa economically as well as politically. Moreover,
in the course of their periodic campaigns north of the Sinai
Peninsula the Ptolemies deported some elements of the local
population to the central provinces of their empire, or brought
there prisoners of war as slaves. According to ancient tradition,
Alexander had specifically invited Jews to settle in his newly
founded city of *Alexandria, and it is certain that early in its
history they formed a considerable proportion of its popula-
tion. Before long, Alexandria became a great center of Jewish
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AFRICA
1947
e
ETHIOPIA
BELGIAN KENYA
% CONGO
|| Area with large Jewish population
Yul. Area with small Jewish population
°
e ‘%. Falashas
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ETHIOPIA
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ore
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eee
e Jewish community
Main concentrations of Jewish population on the African continent at dif-
ferent periods.
culture expressed in the Greek language and largely in terms
of Greek civilization culminating in the *Septuagint transla-
tion of the Bible and in the allegorical writings of *Philo. It is
significant that inscriptions found near Alexandria provide
the earliest positive evidence of the existence of the synagogue
as an institution. From Egypt the Jewish settlement spread
westward along the North African coast reaching *Cyrene at
least as early as the second century B.c.z. According to some
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
scholars, Palestinian Hebrews had reached further west long
before this, as early as the days of the First Temple, accompa-
nying and helping the *Phoenicians in their expeditions and
playing an important role in the establishment of the Punic
colonies, including *Carthage itself. It is further suggested that
these settlers had a considerable influence in the interior of
Africa and were ultimately responsible for the vaguely Jewish
ideas and practices that may still be discerned in certain ar-
eas. In any case, in the Roman imperial period there were Jew-
ish settlements throughout the Roman provinces as far west
as the Strait of Gibraltar. In some areas the Jewish colonies
were of great numerical importance and were able to play an
independent political role. In Egypt the friction between the
Alexandrian Jewish colony and its neighbors was so marked
that it developed into a perpetual problem and seems almost
to have anticipated the 19'-century antisemitic movement.
After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 c.£, *Zealot or Sicarii fugi-
tives from the Palestinian campaigns fled to Egypt, where
they instigated a widespread revolt among the Jewish popu-
lation. The rebels succeeded in dominating large stretches of
the countryside, though they were unable to capture the for-
tified cities. A similar revolt on a smaller scale, about which
less information has survived, seems to have occurred simul-
taneously in Cyrene.
Although swiftly subdued by the Romans, these out-
bursts were soon followed by the Great Revolt of 115-7 all
along the North African coast, at least as far as Cyrene, as well
as in Cyprus and Mesopotamia. This revolt, organized ap-
parently by some directing spirit of real genius, momentarily
achieved sweeping success, with the insurgents dominating
Cyrene and large tracts of the Egyptian countryside. It was,
however, bloodily suppressed, and the Jewish settlements in
435
AFRICA
the area of revolt never fully recovered from this blow. When
Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman
Empire, Judaism was at a further disadvantage. Force as well as
blandishment was exerted against the Jews; there were bloody
anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria, and the significance of North
African Jewry for a time waned almost to vanishing point.
When in the sixth century the Byzantines reoccupied the for-
mer Roman provinces of North Africa, organized Jewish life
was systematically suppressed. On the other hand, Jewish in-
fluence during the preceding period had not been restricted to
the coastal strip, or to persons of Jewish birth. There is some
evidence that suggests conscious proselytizing efforts by the
Jews in the African interior, or at least extensive imitation of
Jewish rites and beliefs there. Traditions of Jewish origin and
traces of Jewish practice are to be found among Berber tribes
and black peoples well into the continent and it may well be
that the *Beta Israel of Ethiopia survive as testimony to a pros-
elytizing activity that once attained considerable proportions.
The curious tales told in the ninth century by the Jewish trav-
eler *Eldad ha-Dani of independent Jewish tribes apparently
in the African interior, may be a romanticization of what he
had actually seen and experienced. The Arab invasions of the
seventh century seem to have found only very small scattered
Jewish communities along the African coast. The story of the
“Jewish” Berber queen Dahiya al-Kahina seems to be largely
legendary although it may be that at that time a woman ruled
over a Judaizing Berber tribe. After the Arab conquest these
communities were revived and probably reinforced by new
immigrants, mainly from Asia, who accompanied the Arab
conquerors, or who came to take advantage of the new eco-
nomic opportunities. The new communities were completely
Arabized in language and social life; hardly an echo or trace
of the previous Greco-Roman Jewish culture can be discerned
among them. The newly founded city of Fostat (Old *Cairo)
became the largest Jewish center in Egypt; further west *Kai-
rouan in *Tunisia was of primary importance and, indeed,
from the eighth to the 11" centuries was perhaps the greatest
center of rabbinic culture outside Babylonia. The documents
found in the Cairo Genizah make possible a reconstruction of
the economic, social, and religious life of the Jews throughout
this area in graphic detail. It is significant that in the ninth cen-
tury *Saadiah Gaon, who may be credited with the revitaliza-
tion of Jewish scholarship in Mesopotamia, was born, and ap-
parently educated, in the Fayyum district of Egypt. The work
of the physician and philosopher Isaac *Israeli, who lived in
Kairouan, typified the contribution that the Jews of this area
made to contemporary science. The condition of the Jews in
Africa under Muslim rule was generally favorable, subject to
the usual discriminatory provisions of the Islamic code, which
were sporadically enforced; there was a surge of violent per-
secution in Egypt in the early 11" century, but it was an iso-
lated episode. The triumph of the fanatical, unitarian *Almo-
had rulers in the 12"* century proved disastrous to the Jews;
the practice of Judaism was prohibited in *Morocco and the
neighboring lands, and they were forcibly converted to Islam.
436
The result was that for a long time Judaism could be observed
only in clandestine circumstances. A considerable number of
Jews, including the family of Moses *Maimonides, migrated
east, making Egypt a major center of Jewish cultural life. Af-
ter the Almohad domination ended, Jewish life in northwest
Africa recovered slowly, but on a restricted and culturally ret-
rograde scale. The wave of massacres and expulsions in Spain
and the Balearic Islands in 1391 resulted in a large migration
across the Strait of Gibraltar; first there were refugees from
these onslaughts and later, on a larger scale, those who had
been baptized by force and now desired to revert to Judaism.
Thus, especially in the coastal towns of what was later called
*Algeria, alongside the old established, quasi-native “Berber”
communities, fresh “Spanish” colonies with their own rites
and traditions and of a far higher cultural standard arose. The
number of Spanish (and later Portuguese) fugitives reaching
Africa, primarily Morocco, again increased after the expul-
sion from Spain in 1492. Their sufferings at the hands of ma-
rauders and rapacious local rulers were sometimes appalling.
However, in the end they were able to adjust themselves, and
henceforth a well-organized Spanish-speaking community,
observing the religious regulations provided by “*takkanot of
Castile,’ dominated Jewish life as far east as Algiers. Further
along the Mediterranean coast and in the interior (exceptin
the largest towns), the Spanish element was less significant.
The Jews generally continued to live under the universal
Muslim code, in many places compulsorily confined to the
Jewish quarter, their lives hemmed in by discriminatory regu-
lations. They were often compelled to wear a distinctive garb,
they had to show respect to Muslims in the street, and they
were excluded from certain occupations. On the other hand
they were at least allowed to reside at will, except in one or two
“holy” cities such as Kairouan, and the periodic Christian in-
cursions on the coastal towns frequently entailed disaster for
them. In the ports especially, the Jews played an economic role
of great importance, and, with their linguistic versatility, were
the principal intermediaries for transactions with European
merchants. Occasionally, Jews were dispatched as ambassa-
dors or envoys to the European powers. Sometimes, a person
of outstanding ability would become minister of finance or
even vizier, wielding much influence until the disastrous fall
which was generally in store for him, sometimes involving his
coreligionists as a body.
This description characterizes the history of the Jews al-
most throughout the Barbary States from the 16 century until
well into the 19". Conditions were somewhat but not conspicu-
ously better in the areas farther east, particularly in Egypt, es-
pecially after the establishment of Turkish rule at the beginning
of the 16" century. It was only with the introduction of Euro-
pean influences, beginning in Algeria in 1830 and culminating
in Morocco and Tripolitania after 1912, that the North African
Jews were relieved to a great extent of their medieval status.
Nevertheless, except in Egypt and some coastal towns, the
process of modernization within the communities was slow.
On the other hand, in the upper classes the outward occiden-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
talization of the Jews in language and social life became very
marked, while the French administration in Algeria formally
recognized the Jews as a European element, the *Crémieux de-
cree in 1870 giving Algerian Jews French nationality.
Meanwhile occidental Jews had established themselves
in areas of European settlement at the southernmost tip of
the African continent. Isolated settlers are recorded here in
the early 19 century; a community largely of English origin
was founded in *Cape Town in 1841, spreading from there to
other places. The Kimberley diamond field, which opened
in the 1860s, was a considerable stimulus to new settlement.
With the discovery of gold in Transvaal in the 1880s many
Jews emigrated there from Eastern Europe, founding impor-
tant communities in and around *Johannesburg. After World
War I, immigration, especially from Lithuania, assumed rela-
tively large proportions, and the *South African Jewish com-
munity of some 100,000 was among the most affluent in the
world. From South Africa the Jewish settlement spread north-
ward into Rhodesia (*Zimbabwe), as soon as that territory was
opened up in the 1890s. During the period between World
War 1 and World War 1 there was a Sephardi influx as well,
mainly from Rhodes, which spread to the Belgian *Congo.
There were also small European Jewish colonies in the Brit-
ish East African territories, joined by immigrants from Egypt
and even Yemen.
The Vichy regime in France during World War 11 brought
a temporary setback in Jewish status in the French-dominated
areas of North Africa and the revocation of the Crémieux de-
cree. The subsequent Nazi military occupation had distressing,
although not enduring, consequences. The European with-
drawal from Africa after World War 11, coupled with economic
changes in that continent, profoundly affected the Jewish com-
munities, all the more so with the wave of anti-Jewish feeling
that spread throughout the Arab world after the foundation of
the State of Israel. A large portion of the Jewish community of
Tunis and almost the whole Jewish community of Algeria left
(mostly for France) when the French period of domination
ended. The changed circumstances resulted in the migration
also of the Jews of Egypt and Cyrenaica, in great part to Israel.
Aliyah to Israel, immigration to France, and other countries
also reduced the Jewish settlement in Morocco, numerically
the largest in Africa, to one-fifth of its former number, ap-
proximately 50,000 in 1969; political conditions there did not
deteriorate formally. The only part of the continent in which
the Jewish communities did not initially diminish was South
Africa, although gradually with the end of apartheid the com-
munity dropped significantly in numbers. By 2005 the com-
munity had fallen to about 75,000 with some 1,800 Jews a year
emigrating to other countries largely because of the dramatic
rise in violent crime.
The most remarkable example of Black Judaizing move-
ments is to be found in South Africa and Zimbabwe among
the *Lemba tribe, and there are similar movements through-
out the continent which range from movements which depend
on perceived shared origins - sometimes invoking the myth
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AFRICA, NORTH: MUSICAL TRADITIONS
of the *Ten Lost Tribes of Israel — to movements of conversion
such as the *Bayudaya in Uganda.
The establishment of the State of Israel brought a re-
newal of the movement to bring the *Beta Israel of Ethiopia
into closer relations with world Jewry. The State of Israel also
established cordial relations with the emergent African states,
entering into diplomatic relations with them and sending eco-
nomic, military, and agricultural experts to assist them in solv-
ing their problems (see *Israel, Historical Survey, Internal Aid
and Cooperation). However, under pressure from the Arabs
after the Yom Kippur War of 1973, 29 African countries broke
off diplomatic relations with Israel, though in the course of
the years, starting with the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(formerly Zaire) in 1982, most reestablished relations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bibliographies will be found under the indi-
vidual countries. The following general works will be found useful: A.
Cahen, Les Juifs dans l'Afrique septentrionale (1867); D. Cazés, Essai
sur histoire des Israélites de Tunisie (1888); J. Chalom, Les Israélites
de la Tunisie (1908); S. Mendelssohn, Jews of Africa (1920); N. Slous-
chz, Judéo-Hélénes et Judéo-Berbéres (1909); idem, Travels in North
Africa (1927); G. Saron and L. Hotz, Jews in South Africa (1955); L.
Herrmann, History of the Jews in South Africa (1930); J.J. Williams,
Hebrewisms of West Africa: From Nile to Niger with the Jews (1930);
M. Eisenbeth, Les Juifs de l'Afrique du Nord (1936); idem, Les Juifs au
Maroc (1948); C. Martin, Les Israelites Algériens de 1830 d 1902 (1936);
A.N. Chouraqui, Between East and West (1968); Institut far Yidishe
Inyonim, Di Yidishe Yeshuvim in di Arabishe Lender (1957); H.Z.
Hirschberg, Me-Erez Mevo ha-Shemesh (1957); Hirschberg, Afrikah,
2 vols. (1965); idem, in: Journal of African History, 4 (1963), 313-393
M. Simon, Recherches @histoire Judéo-Chrétienne (1962), 30-100;
Monteil, in: Hesperis, 38 (1951), 265-98; M. Krein in, Israel and Africa:
A Study in Technical Co-operation (1964); S.W. Baron, et al., in: sos,
24 (1962), 67-107. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Parfitt, The Lost Tribes
of Israel: The History of a Myth (2002); idem, Journey to the Vanished
City - The Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel (1999).
[Cecil Roth]
AFRICA, NORTH: MUSICAL TRADITIONS. Geograph-
ically, North Africa (the countries of the Maghreb, i.e., Mo-
rocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya) belongs to Africa, but cul-
turally it is a part of the Islamic world. Some scholars have set
up a twofold division of the entire area: the musical culture
of the coastal region and that of the interior, roughly corre-
sponding to “urban” and “rural,” or “Andalusian” (i.e., Span-
ish-influenced) and “Berber” (i.e., autochthonous) music.
Neither of these areas however, is homogeneous, and there
are sometimes considerable differences in musical style be-
tween one coastal or interior district and another. North Af-
rica is therefore a musical crossways of many traditions: old
Mediterranean, Berber, Bedouin, Near Eastern (including
Turkish, and recently Egyptian), Andalusian (or “Moorish”),
and Saharan. Not all of these are present at the same place
and time, and often one is faced with stylistic blends, which
are difficult to define.
The Jews, historically among the oldest elements of the
population, have taken an active part in each stage of the ar-
eas musical history. They have also preserved more elements
437
AFRICA, NORTH: MUSICAL TRADITIONS
from older traditions, with the conservation typical of “fringe
cultures,” and, in addition, have absorbed still other outside
influences through factors in their own history. Both before
and after the appearance of Islam there was close and per-
manent contact with Palestinian, Babylonian, and Egyptian
Jewry. During the reconquista and after the expulsion of the
Jews from Spain, Spanish, Portuguese, and later also Italian
Jews settled in North Africa. The musical usages of the immi-
grants were influenced by the local ones and influenced them
in return. This blending of styles and openness to influence
has remained typical of North African Jewish music.
Thus, the musical traditions and practices of the North
African Jews represent a conglomerate of a variety of old and
new, sacred and secular, folk and art, local and shared musi-
cal styles. One can also add the advent of recent innovative
stylistic blends representing the attempt to modernize the old
tradition. Interestingly, talented Jewish musicians in all four
countries were intimately involved in the creation and promo-
tion of the new styles. As a rule, one can state that the musical
traditions and practices of the North African Jews are inter-
connected in various ways with those of the non-Jewish envi-
ronment. However, comparisons between the Jewish and non-
Jewish musical styles are particularly difficult to make, since
each is in itself a complex of historical and cultural entities,
not to mention the serious obstacles characterizing any other
oral tradition — the lack of musical documents and the lack of
accuracy in oral transmission. This makes it impossible to state
what derives from a Jewish and what from an Arab source.
Nevertheless, one can speak of certain specific traits.
It seems nevertheless that the distinguishing traits should
be essentially sought in the linguistic, thematic, and functional
particularities. First and foremost are the musical rendering of
biblical readings and prayers, and the singing of liturgical He-
brew poems, piyyutim, written by the most famous poets of the
Jewish people as well as by locally distinguished ones. These
include hymns of praise, supplications, lamentations, and the
celebration of holidays. The French specialist in Moroccan
music, Alexis Chottin, mentions the remarkable fact that when
Hebrew texts are adapted to replace the original, they main-
tain the Arab metric and prosody, which, he points out, is not
translation. In addition to the setting of the borrowed melo-
dies to Hebrew texts, this type of arrangement usually leads
to melodic and rhythmical changes, so their functional use
in Jewish-specific circumstances may be considered as factor
highlighting their Jewishness. A special category of bilingual
poetry called matriz (combined Hebrew and Arab verses and
strophes) should also be noted. The question of Jewishness in
the Oriental music appeared in connection with the intrigu-
ing phenomenon which arose from the broad-based ethnic
movement of the 1980s in Israel. Challenging the widely held
belief that Oriental musical traditions have a folk and indig-
enous background, representatives of the latter responded by
arguing that the erudite mystical-religious ceremonial music
known as *bakkashot, should be placed on the same level as
western classical music.
438
The singing of bakkashot and piyyutim always refers to
North African classical music, which, itself, is identified with
the Andalusian compound and multi-sectional form of the
nuba in all of the African centers. Established in Spain, the
basic components and characteristics of the Andalusian niiba
have survived in the major traditions of Fez, Tlemcen, Algier,
and Tunis where they are called respectively: dla, gharnati,
san‘a, and ma’liuf. Some differences notwithstanding, they are
very similar in spirit and structure. The individual niba is
named after the mode or fab” (nature or temperament); for
example nuba dil, nuba rasd, etc. The overall physiognomy of
the nuba in all centers is more or less alike: it comprises an in-
strumental prelude or preludes and a series of pre-composed
vocal pieces that represent autonomous phases of the niba,
each having its own set of poetic texts as well as melodic and
rhythmic characteristics. Most of the poems sung in this rep-
ertory consist of muwashshahat and free-measured pieces that
intersperse the various phases. The overall structure as well as
the individual phases are governed not only by modal unity
but also by rhythmic acceleration that reaches its peak toward
the end of the naba.
Morocco
Travelers who record their impressions usually display excep-
tional intellectual curiosity and their observations can supply
important evidence. By an extraordinary coincidence, three
different travelers recorded their impressions of wedding cer-
emonies held in the same community of Tangier: the Jewish
Italian writer Samuel *Romanelli in 1787; the French painter
Delacroix in 1832; and the French author Alexandre Dumas in
1832. All three travelers describe Jewish women dancing, and
the traditional group of three musicians, which accompanies
the dancing and singing: the ‘dd (the classical Arab short-
necked lute), the kamanja (short-necked bowed lute) or the
modern violin which has come to be its substitute, the darbuka
(pottery vessel-drum) or the tar (frame drum). The kamanja
or violin is played in the medieval fashion, with the body of the
instrument resting on the knee. Delacroix, who also recorded
in his journal that the Jewish musicians of Mogador were the
best in all Morocco, depicted this traditional ensemble along
with a dancer. Romanelli records that the instrumentalists,
poet-singers, and preachers were remunerated in two ways. In
the synagogue, the intended payment was only announced out
loud, but outside the synagogue the coins were immediately
put on the instrument or on the performer's breast.
Jewish musicians also distinguished themselves as enter-
tainers in local gentile society, either in company with Mus-
lim musicians or as special “Jewish bands.” One folktale tells
how such a Jewish ensemble was commanded to give a con-
cert before the sultan on the Ninth of Av (see *Av, Ninth of).
Since they could not refuse to appear, they played the melo-
dies of the traditional *kinot, and henceforth were known as
“The Singers of Woe.”
The art of the paytan (religious poet, and by extension,
singer of religious poetry) is also rooted strongly in the Anda-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
lusian tradition. In almost every synagogue there is a paytan
in addition to the hazzan. His principal task is to sing prayers
such as Nishmat and *Kedushah, and all the piyyutim. A
paytan may take part in the performance of the bakkashot,
but not every paytan possesses the necessary knowledge for
this special art, so that a vocally and musically gifted layman
will often function as the “leader” there. Since the bakkashot
were performed early on Sabbath mornings, the instrumen-
tal part is completely avoided. As a result, the singers evolved
the habit of adding passages sung to the syllables na na na in
which the role of the accompanying instrument is thus imi-
tated. These syllables and the wealth of vocalizes (textless or-
namented phrases) is in fact a remarkable feature of the North
African art of singing. When the bakkashot and piyyutim are
sung on a weekday, they are usually accompanied by the tra-
ditional instrumental ensemble.
In the realm of folk music one should mention the folk
tradition of group performance, especially in the Atlas Moun-
tain regions, often in the form of women’s ensembles. Their
music and dances are not different from those of the Berber
tribes.
Music plays an important role in the pilgrimage festivals
at the numerous hillulot (sing. *hillula). It marks and enhances
the celebration of a revered public figure and the mass pilgrim-
age to the site of his burial, which, in some cases, is venerated
by both Jews and Muslims. The ritual of sainthood is deeply
entrenched in all strata of the people.
A special Moroccan custom is the tahdid, a ceremony
conducted the night before circumcision when it is believed
that the newborn, subject, prior to circumcision, to harm by
evil forces, is at the highest vulnerability. In this event a sword
is used to banish the evil spirits while a selection of appropri-
ate biblical verses is chanted.
Another well-known celebration marked by singing
and dancing is the *Maimuna (which has been transferred
to Israel). At these gatherings many original creations of the
qasida type can be heard. The qasida, a popular song in He-
brew or in the vernacular, is sung both by the educated and
the lower classes. Some qasida songs are anonymous and well-
known poets created others. In the framework of the bakkashot
were introduced dozens of qasidas composed by local poets
borrowing their tunes from Arab gasidas. Their texts include
praises of the saints, ethical and religious subjects, and com-
ments on historical and present or recent events. They are sung
with or without accompaniment, and the tunes are mostly
adaptations of well-known melodies. Such qasida songs are
found in all North African countries. One of the most talented
poets of this genre was David Elkayim (1851-1940), and among
the most celebrated paytanim were David Hasin (1727-1792),
David Iflah, and David *Buzaglo (1903-1975).
Tunisia
The first and earliest documents focusing on the eternal debate
concerning the permissibility of music are the two responsa
of *Hai Gaon to questions addressed by representatives of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AFRICA, NORTH: MUSICAL TRADITIONS
Tunisian Jewry. One of them, perhaps addressed to the com-
munity of *Kairouan, forbids the hazzanim to sing poems in
the “language of the Ishmaelites,” even at banquets. Another
one, often quoted in later literature, is addressed to the com-
munity of *Gabés, and discusses whether the traditional pro-
hibition (Git. 7:1) against singing with instrumental accom-
paniment and which restricts all secular songs in memory of
the destruction of the Temple also applies to wedding celebra-
tions. Hai Gaon approved of singing pious hymns of praise
on such occasions, but secular Arab love songs were strictly
forbidden, even without accompaniment; “and so to what you
have mentioned ... that women play the drums and dance [at
such festivities], if this is done in public there is nothing more
grave; and even if they ... only sing, this is most unseemly and
forbidden.” The free and unsegregated participation of women
singers in wedding festivities, family rejoicings, pilgrimages to
saints’ tombs, and their prominence as professional mourn-
ers, were probably related to similar usages in Berber society
and have survived until the present.
The Tunisian term /a‘b (lit. amusement but used for
dancing) is mentioned in two *Genizah documents: in one,
the birth of a boy in Fostat, Egypt, is celebrated with la‘b by
his family at Mahdia in Tunisia; in another, a poor Tunisian
teacher alludes, surprisingly, to la‘b at the burial of his son.
In proximity to Gabés lay the famous Island of *Djerba,
home to a quite old Jewish community. It was there that in 1929
Robert *Lachmann carried on important fieldwork research
with the hope of disclosing in their liturgical cantillation older
stratum of Jewish music. His important analytical study of this
tradition was published after his premature death (see Bibl.).
The output of piyyutim and songs the Jewish poets wrote
in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic is considerable and played an im-
portant educative and socio-cultural role. They cover numer-
ous song genres and themes related to Jewish life.
Toward the end of the 19» century and during the first
decades of the 20 Jewish musicians played an essential role
in the indigenous cultural reform movement as well as in the
crystallization of a new musical style. They were involved in
the growth of the cinematographic and record industries and
the introduction of the modern Egyptian musical style, and
distinguished by the remarkable involvement of numerous
talented female musicians. Some of those female musicians
established their own café-concert halls, which attracted nu-
merous Jewish and non-Jewish music fans. Leila Sfez, who
owned a popular café-concert hall, was the aunt of the leg-
endary actress and singer Hbiba Msika, whose tragic prema-
ture death was the subject of a film produced by the Tuni-
sian Slama Bachar. Interestingly, the first records of Tunisian
music, published in 1908, included the interpretations of the
Jewish female musicians: Louisa the Tunisian, and the sisters
Semama, Fritna, and Hbiba Darmon.
In an article dedicated to Jewish musicians published
in 1960, the Tunisian author ‘Ali Jandubi warmly extolled
the valuable contribution they made to Tunisian music and
musical life. He mentions the special skills of many famous
439
AFRICAN JEWISH CONGRESS
Jewish female and male musicians, including a few of Libyan
origin. Among the famous singers and instrumentalists he
mentions are Isaac, Abraham Tibshi, Khaylu al-Sghir, Mri-
dakh Slama and his son Sousou, Gaston Bsiri, Hbiba Msika,
and Raoul Journo.
In 1928, the Jerusalemite cantor, paytan, and composer
Asher Mizrahi arrived in Tunis, staying until 1967, the year of
his return to Israel. He soon became a dominant figure, par-
ticularly in the realm of synagogal and paraliturgical music,
thus enriching the musical life of the community.
Algeria
Following the riots against the Jews in Spain in 1391, a wave
of refugees found shelter in Algeria. Among the newcomers
was the rabbinic authority, philosopher, and kabbalist Simeon
ben Tzemah *Duran (b. Majorca, 1361), who was elected chief
rabbi of Algeria in 1408 and died in 1444. Duran was the au-
thor of a comprehensive book, Magen Avot, which deals with
religious philosophy and diverse sciences, including an im-
portant section on the science of music. In addition to gener-
alities he wrote on music, its nature and influence, the bulk of
his exposition concerns the biblical accents, which are “genera
of melodies,’ extolling their importance for the understanding
of biblical texts and their rhetoric-musical meanings. Regard-
ing the melodies used for the piyyutim, he tends to admit that
they were adopted from other nations.
We find years later interesting and unique evidence of
the involvement of Jewish musicians in indigenous music.
It occurs in the book of a young Russian pianist, Alexandre
Christianowitch (1835-1874): Esquisse historique de la musique
arabe, published in 1863. The author, an officer in the czar’s
navy, was compelled, for reasons of health, to stay in Algiers.
For two years he did research on the local classical music. He
reports that his first encounter with indigenous music took
place in a Moorish café-concert hall where he heard a group
of Jewish musicians, and that later on his Muslim mentor
was critical concerning the authenticity of the classical mu-
sic played by the Jews. This is, however, not the case in recent
Muslim sources, which, on the contrary, warmly extol the role
played by Jewish musicians such as Maalem Benfarachou,
Laho Seror, and Mouzinou in the preservation of the old clas-
sical Andalusian tradition. This approach characterizes in par-
ticular the book of Algerian musicologist Nadya Buzar-Kasb-
adji: LEmergence artistique algérienne au xx° siécle (published
in 1988). The first chapter of this book is, to a large extent,
dedicated to the Jewish musician Edmond Nathan Yafil. The
author describes him as “an outstanding personage who has
been the pivotal actor in an artistic Renaissance movement
wherein Arab-Andalusian music constituted the leaven.” She
adds that Yafil remained faithful to the Arab-Andalusian tra-
dition, which connected Jews and Arabs, endowing them with
a feeling of common identity. Yafil also founded in 1911 the
al-Moutribiyya music society, most of whose members were
Jewish musicians.
Like their Moroccan, Tunisian, and Libyan Jewish col-
440
leagues who immigrated to France, Jewish Algerian musicians
pursued a successful career in their new environment, often
in close collaboration with non-Jews. This is, for instance,
the case with the blind female singer and ‘ud player Sultana
Daud, alias “Reinette ’Oranaise,” who, after she achieved re-
markable success in Algeria, continued to be admired by her
numerous fans in France for her expressive and poignant art.
Samples of her repertory were issued in several cassettes and
cps. Another example is the recent comeback of the popular
singer Enrico Massias to the classical music of Algeria. This
occurred after the assassination of his master and father-in-
law, the celebrated Jewish musician Raymond Leiris.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.Z. Idelsohn, Melodien, 5 (1928), devoted
to Morocco; R. Lachmann, Jewish Cantillation (1940); A. Mizrahi,
Maadanei melekh (1945); A. Herzog, The Intonation of the Pentateuch
in the Heder of Tunis (1963); Sh. Romanelli, Ketavim nivharim (1969),
29, 54-56; I. Ben-Ami, “Nagganim ve-lahagot; in: Tazlil, 10 (1970); E.
Gerson-Kiwi, “Robert Lachmann; in: Yuval, 3 (1974), 100-108; idem
(ed.), R. Lachmann: Gesange der Juden auf der Insel Djerba (1978 - Yu-
val Monograph Series, 7); idem, Migrations and Mutations of the Mu-
sic in East and West (1980), 130-136; A. Chottin, Tableau de la musique
marocaine, ed. P. Geuthner (n.d.), 149-53; I. Ben-Ami, in: Tazlil, 10
(1970), 54-58; Levy, Antologia, passim; A. Amzalag, Shir yedidot, in:
Peamim, 32 (1982), R.E. Davis, “Some Relations between Three Piyyu-
tim from Djerba and Three Arabic Songs,’ in: The Maghreb Review,
5-6 (1984/85), 134-144; A. Shiloah, “The Language of the Heart,’ in:
Ariel, 105 (1997), 15-28; idem, “Rencontres et ententes,” in: Perspectives
9 (2002), 170-183; idem, in: H. Saadoun (ed.), Kehillot Yisrael - Mo-
rocco (2003), 205-212; idem, in: S. Fellous (ed.), Juifs et Musulmans
en Tunisie (2003), 309-316.
[Amnon Shiloah (274 ed.)]
AFRICAN JEWISH CONGRESS. The African Jewish Con-
gress was founded in 1992 as a representative coordinating
body for the Jewish communities in Sub-Saharan African
countries. Its main aims are (a) to enable smaller Jewish com-
munities to establish and maintain contact with larger Jewish
communities, which in turn provide them with access to vari-
ous facilities, and (b) to give Africa and African Jews a voice
in international Jewry through a properly constituted forum.
The establishment of the ayc was made possible by the demise
of white minority rule in South Africa, which ended South Af-
rica’s isolation on the international stage and enabled its large
Jewish community to take the lead in setting up a represen-
tative body for African Jewry. The ajc has its head offices in
*Johannesburg, *South Africa, located within the administra-
tive structure of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies
(sAJBD) and is affiliated to the *World Jewish Congress. The
main professional officer of the ajc is its spiritual leader, who
regularly travels to the affiliated countries to, amongst other
things, officiate at religious services and life-cycle events, visit
individual Jews living in isolated areas, and oversee the main-
tenance of Jewish cemeteries. Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft has ful-
filled this role since the organization’s creation while founder-
member Mervyn Smith, a former national president of the
SAJBD, has served as its president and represented the orga-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
nization at the World Jewish Congress. The ajc holds annual
meetings on a rotational basis in the various affiliate countries.
These include Botswana, Democratic Republic of the *Congo
(Zaire), *Kenya, Lesotho, *Madagascar, Malawi, *Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania,
*Uganda, *Zambia, and *Zimbabwe.
[David Saks (2"4 ed.)]
AFTALION, ALBERT (1874-1956), economist, born in Bul-
garia. Aftalion acquired distinction through his work on
the theory of crises, which he attributed to cyclic trends in
economic growth. His teaching at the universities of Lille
and Paris reflected the influence of the economic theories of
the Viennese school. His work represents an analysis of the
events of the interwar period, an examination of French in-
flation from 1919 to 1924, and the movements of gold and in-
ternational currency in relation to the balance of payments.
Aftalion’s writings include Les crises périodiques de surproduc-
tion (1913), La valeur de la monnaie dans léconomie contempo-
raine (1948°), Lor et sa distribution mondiae (1932), L’équilibre
dans les relations economiques internationales (1937), and L’or
et la monnaie, leur valeur. Les mouvements de lor (1938).
[Joachim O. Ronall]
AFTERLIFE. Judaism has always maintained a belief in an
afterlife, but the forms which this belief has assumed and the
modes in which it has been expressed have varied greatly and
differed from period to period. Thus even today several dis-
tinct conceptions about the fate of man after death, relating to
the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and
the nature of the world to come after the messianic redemp-
tion, exist side by side within Judaism. Though these concep-
tions are interwoven no generally accepted theological system
exists concerning their interrelationship.
In the Bible
The Bible is comparatively inexplicit on the fate of the indi-
vidual after death. It would seem that the dead go down to
*Sheol, a kind of Hades, where they live an ethereal, shadowy
existence (Num. 16:33; Ps. 6:6; Isa. 38:18). It is also said that
Enoch “walked with God, and he was not; for God took him”
(Gen. 5:24); and that Elijah is carried heavenward in a chariot
of fire (11 Kings 2:11). Even the fullest passage on the subject,
the necromantic incident concerning the dead prophet Samuel
at En-Dor, where his spirit is raised from the dead by a witch
at the behest of Saul, does little to throw light on the mat-
ter (1 Sam. 28:8ff.). The one point which does emerge clearly
from the above passages is that there existed a belief in an af-
terlife of one form or another. (For a full discussion see Peder-
sen, Israel, 1-2 (1926), 460 ff. A more critical view may be found
in G. von Rad, Old Testament Theology, 2 vols., 1962.) Though
the talmudic rabbis claimed there were many allusions to the
subject in the Bible (cf. Sanh. gob-91a), the first explicit bibli-
cal formulation of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead
occurs in the book of Daniel, in the following passage:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AFTERLIFE
“Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches and
everlasting abhorrence” (Dan. 12:2; see also Isa. 26:19; Ezek.
37:1 ff.).
In Second Temple Literature
In the eschatology of the apocryphal literature of the Sec-
ond Temple period, the idea of heavenly immortality, either
vouchsafed for all Israel or for the righteous alone, vies with
the resurrection of the dead as the dominant theme. Thus
1v Maccabees, for instance, though on the whole tending to-
ward Pharisaism in its theology, promises everlasting life with
God to those Jewish martyrs who preferred death to the viola-
tion of His Torah, but is silent on the subject of resurrection.
11 Maccabees, on the other hand, figures the latter prominently
(cf. 11 Macc. 7:14, 23; 1v Macc. 9:8; 17:5, 18). The doctrine was,
however, stressed by sectarian groups and is vividly expressed
in the New Testament. For Philo the doctrine of the resurrec-
tion is subservient to that of the immortality of the soul and
is seen by him as a figurative way of referring to the latter.
The individual soul, which is imprisoned in the body here on
earth, returns, if it is the soul of a righteous man, to its home
in God; the wicked suffer eternal death (see H.A. Wolfson,
Philo, 2 vols. (1947-48); index, s.v. Soul, Resurrection).
In Talmud and Midrash
When a man dies his soul leaves his body, but for the first 12
months it retains a temporary relationship to it, coming and
going until the body has disintegrated. Thus the prophet Sam-
uel was able to be raised from the dead within the first year of
his demise. This year remains a purgatorial period for the soul,
or according to another view only for the wicked soul, after
which the righteous go to paradise, Gan Eden, and the wicked
to hell, Geihinnom (Gehinnom; Shab. 152b-153a; Tanh. Va-Yi-
kra 8). The actual condition of the soul after death is unclear.
Some descriptions imply that it is quiescent, the souls of the
righteous are “hidden under the Throne of Glory” (Shab. 152b),
while others seem to ascribe to the dead full consciousness
(Ex. R. 52:3; Tanh. Ki Tissa 33; Ket. 77h, 104a; Ber. 18b-19a).
The Midrash even says, “The only difference between the liv-
ing and the dead is the power of speech” (PR 12:46). There is
also a whole series of disputes about how much the dead know
of the world they leave behind (Ber. 18b).
In the days of the messianic redemption the soul re-
turns to the dust, which is subsequently reconstituted as this
body when the individual is resurrected. It is somewhat un-
clear whether the resurrection is for the righteous alone, or
whether the wicked too will be temporarily resurrected only
to be judged and destroyed, their souls’ ashes being scattered
under the feet of the righteous. A view supporting the doc-
trine of eternal damnation is found, but this is disputed by
the claim, “There will be no Gehinnom in future times” (RH
17a; Tos. to RH 16b; BM 58b; Ned. 8b and Ran, ibid.; Av. Zar.
3b). The doctrine of the *resurrection is a cornerstone of rab-
binic eschatology, and separated the Pharisee from his Sad-
441
AFULAH
ducean opponent. The Talmud goes to considerable lengths
to show how the resurrection is hinted at in various biblical
passages, and excludes those who deny this doctrine from
any portion in the world to come (Sanh. 10:1; Sanh. gob-91a;
Jos., Wars, 2:162ff.). The messianic reign is conceived of as a
political and physical Utopia, though there is considerable
dispute about this matter (Ber. 34b; Shab. 63a; and the glosses
of Rashi). At its end will be the world to come (olam ha-ba),
when the righteous will sit in glory and enjoy the splendor of
the Divine Presence in a world of purely spiritual bliss (Ber.
17a). About this eschatological culminating point the rabbis
are somewhat reticent, and content themselves with the verse
“Eye hath not seen, O God, beside Thee” (Isa. 64:3; Ber. 34b),
i.e., none but God can have a conception of the matter. In the
world to come the Divine Presence itself will illuminate the
world. (For a general discussion see “The Doctrine of the Res-
urrection of the Dead in Rabbinic Theology” by A. Marmor-
stein in Studies in Jewish Theology, 1950.)
In Medieval Jewish Philosophy
The medieval Jewish philosophers brought conceptual and
systematic thought to bear on the more imagist rabbinic es-
chatology, and one major problem they faced was to integrate
the notions of immortality and resurrection. *Saadiah Gaon
was perhaps the most successful among them, since he con-
ceived of the state of the reunited soul and body after the res-
urrection as one of spiritual bliss (Book of Beliefs and Opinions,
9:5). Due to the nature of Greek psychology, however, the em-
phasis among the other Jewish philosophers, both Platonist
and Aristotelian, is on the soul’s immortality - the resurrec-
tion being added only because of doctrinal considerations. It
is clear in the case of *Maimonides, for instance, that the im-
mortality of the soul is paramount (Guide, 2:27; 3:54). Though
he makes the belief in the resurrection, rather than in the im-
mortality of the disembodied soul, one of his fundamental
principles of Jewish faith (cf. Mishnah, Sanhedrin, introd. to
Helek), it is only the latter which has meaning in terms of his
philosophical system. Indeed the resurrection does not figure
in the Guide of the Perplexed at all.
In general the neoplatonists saw the soul’s journey as
an ascent toward the Godhead, and its beatitude as a purely
spiritual bliss involving knowledge of God and spiritual be-
ings and some form of communion with them. Their nega-
tive attitude toward the flesh, in favor of the spirit, left no
room for a resurrection theology of any substance. The Jew-
ish Aristotelians, who thought of the acquired intellect as the
immortal part of man, saw immortality in terms of the intel-
lectual contemplation of God. Some of the Jewish Aristote-
lians held that in their immortal state the souls of all men are
one; while others maintained that immortality is individual.
This emphasis on salvation through intellectual attainment
was the subject of considerable criticism. Crescas, for exam-
ple, claimed that it was the love of God, rather than knowl-
edge of Him, which was of primary soteriological import (Or
Adonai, 3:3).
442
In Kabbalistic Literature
Kabbalistic eschatology, more systematic than its rabbinic pre-
decessor, is, if anything, more complex in structure and var-
ied as between the several kabbalistic subsystems. The soul is
conceived of as divided into several parts, whose origin is in
Divine Emanation, and is incarnated here on earth with a spe-
cific task to fulfill. The soul of the wicked, i.e., of he who has
failed in his assigned task, is punished and purified in hell or
is reincarnated again (*gilgul) to complete its unfinished work.
In certain cases, however, the wicked soul is denied even hell
or reincarnation and is exiled without the possibility of finding
rest. Much of the literature is devoted to detailing the various
stages of ascent and descent of the soul and its parts. (For a
discussion of the various kabbalistic systems, and the variety
of views held, see G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysti-
cism, particularly ch. 6.)
In Modern Jewish Thought
Orthodox Judaism has, throughout, maintained both a be-
lief in the future resurrection of the dead as part of the mes-
sianic redemption, and also a belief in some form of immor-
tality of the soul after death. The former figures in the liturgy
at a number of points, including the morning prayer (Hertz,
Prayer, 18), expressing the believer's trust that God will return
his soul to his body in time to come. It is also a central mo-
tif of the second benediction of the *Amidah (ibid., 134). The
belief in the soul’s survival after death is implicit in the vari-
ous prayers said in memory of the dead and in the mourn-
er’s custom of reciting the Kaddish (ibid., 1106-09, and 212,
269-71). Reform Judaism has, however, given up any literal
belief in the future resurrection of the dead. Reform theol-
ogy concerns itself solely with the belief in a spiritual life af-
ter death and has modified the relevant liturgical passages
accordingly.
AFULAH (Heb. a?1Dy; OXYIP Vy, Ir Yizre’el), city in the
Jezreel Valley, Israel. It lies at the foot of both the southwest-
ern and northwestern slopes of Givat ha-Moreh and received
municipal status in 1972. Afulah was founded in 1925 by the
American Zion Commonwealth, which planned to make the
town the urban center of the Jewish settlements in the Jezreel
Valley. Old Afulah’s location on a highway and railroad cross-
roads (N. and N.W. to Nazareth and to Haifa, N.E. to Tiberias,
S.E. to Beth-Shean, S. to Jenin and Nablus, S.W. to Megiddo
and Haderah) was seen as a promising asset. The hopes at-
tached to Afulah, however, only materialized to a small de-
gree, because the kibbutzim and moshavim of the valley rarely
used its facilities, except for the regional hospital of Kuppat
Holim (the first in the country). Instead they developed their
own services or preferred to use those of Haifa. In addition,
the speculative sale of building plots to absentee, mostly over-
seas, proprietors hampered the town’s development. In 1948
Afulah had a population of 2,500.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, however,
many immigrants were housed in Afulah, and a new sec-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
tion, Afulah Ilit (Upper Afulah), was laid out at a distance of
1.8—3.1 mi. (3-5 km.) from the older part of the town on Givat
ha-Moreh, climbing to about 984 ft. (300 m.) above sea level.
Industries - principally textile as well as a sugar refinery and
a plastics factory — were opened in the city, which became the
seat of the Jezreel subdistrict, its territory extending over 11 sq.
mi. (28.6 sq. km.). The population of Afulah grew to approxi-
mately 17,000 in the late 1960s and 38,500 in 2002. Among the
city’s residents are recent immigrants from the former Soviet
Union, Latin America, and Ethiopia.
The name Afulah, preserved by a small Arab village al-
‘Afula (which lay at the site until World War 1), may come from
the Canaanite-Hebrew root ofel (“fortress tower”), possibly
mentioned in the list of Thutmose 111. In excavations carried
out at the ancient tell of Afulah, remnants of the Middle and
Late Canaanite and Early Israelite periods were discovered. A
settlement of the transition period from the Chalcolithic to the
Early Bronze Ages (c. 32™4 century B.C.E.) was discovered in
the vicinity. Near the site of the present-day town Napoleon's
army defeated the Turks in 1799. The place became a station
on the narrow-gauge railway built in 1905, from Haifa to Da-
mascus, and a second railway was laid from Afulah to Jenin
and Nablus in 1913. The former ceased operating in 1948, and
the latter in 1936.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
AGA, family name of Crimean Karaites, originating in the
title given to the holder of an important office (Turk.). The
first person to go under this name was Samuel ben Abraham
(1717-1770), the son of *Abraham ben Josiah Yerushalmi,
the prominent Karaite scholar of the Crimea. Samuel lived
in Chufut-Kale and was the leader of its community, also
known by the title rosh ha-golah (exilarch). He was a “court
Jew” in the court of Tatar Khan Qirim Giray, who appointed
Samuel to mint coins for the Khanate in 1768. Samuel pro-
tected the interests of his community before the officials. He
wrote a number of liturgical poems and some of them were
included in the Karaite siddurs. Unknown persons murdered
him on his way from Bakhchisarai, the capital of the Khanate,
near Chufut-Kale. He had three sons: Eliezer, Benjamin, and
Simhah.
His son BENJAMIN AGA (d. 1824) was a leader and in-
tercessor for the community of Chufut-Kale. He also was ap-
pointed to mint coins for the Khanate in the court by the new
Khan, Shahin Giray. In 1781 Benjamin leased the custom duties
on the sale of wine. He became one of the Khan’s unofficial
court advisers. Like his father, he protected his community’s
interests. In 1777 he succeeded in annulling a harmful decree
of Devlet Giray, the pretender to the Khan's throne, who falsely
accused the Karaites of stealing the Khan’s money. Benjamin
corresponded with Karaite leaders of Poland, Lithuania, Con-
stantinople, and Jerusalem and financially supported their
communities in times of distress. Following the Russian an-
nexation of the Crimea he continued to serve as the official
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGADATI, BARUCH
head of the community and to represent it before the Russian
authorities. In 1795 Benjamin was chosen together with two
other community leaders of the Crimean Karaites to travel to
St. Petersburg on a special mission to the government. Their
delegation won exemption for Crimean Karaites from the
double taxation imposed on all the Jews of the Russian Em-
pire, and to secure other rights, such as the purchase of im-
movable property. In 1806 Benjamin reestablished, together
with his brother Simhah, a publishing house in Chufut-Kale.
Benjamin was an expert in Karaite halakhah and an author-
ity on the Karaite calendar.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Akhiezer, in: M.Polliack (ed.), Karaite Ju-
daism (2003), 737-39; EE. Miller and J.S. Luzki, Iggeret Teshuat Yisrael
(1993); S. Poznanski, Ha-Kara’i Avraham ben Yoshiyahu Yerushalmi
(1894), 5; S. Pigit, Iggeret Nidhhei Shemuel (1894), 6-10; Mann, Texts,
2 (1935), 1535, 1582, index.
[Golda Akhiezer (24 ed.)]
AGADATI (Kaushanski), BARUCH (1895-1975), dancer,
visual artist, filmmaker, and cultural animateur. Agadati was
born in Bessarabia (Russia). As a teenager, he arrived in Jeru-
salem and enrolled in the Bezalel Academy for Fine Arts,
founded and run by the sculptor Boris *Shatz. He was then one
of many students from abroad (mainly Russia) who enrolled
before World War 1 in Bezalel or in the Herzliyyah Gymna-
sium in Tel Aviv. In the summer of 1914 when wwi broke out,
Agadati was visiting his parents abroad and could not return
for the next term.
In Odessa he studied visual arts as well as ballet. At the
age of 18 he became soloist of the ballet company of the mu-
nicipal theater there. He was interested in Jewish culture and
prepared a series of cartoon portraits of types of men of the
shtetl which he performed with great success.
Agadati returned to Erez Israel in 1919. After a few
months he began to perform what he called concerts, danc-
ing solos with the accompaniment of a piano. He was deeply
influenced by the “constructivist” abstract painting style prev-
alent in Russia at the time, making his movements slow but
powerful, sculptural, and cubistic, and designing his own
costumes in abstract forms. He soon added new “portraits
in movement” to his shtetl characters, such as an effeminate
Arab dandy from Jaffe and a Yemenite agricultural worker
from Petah Tikvah.
In the mid-1920s he published a book on “The He-
brew Dance,’ calligraphically handwritten in a limited edi-
tion of only 100 copies, with many photos and illustrations.
He also began organizing Purim balls, which developed into
the Tel Aviv *Adloyada - a procession of floats and much
dancing.
Every year Agadati would tour in Europe, to great criti-
cal acclaim. His attitude to the musical accompaniment was
radically new: sometimes he would let his accompanist play
the music and only after the end of the music would he dance
in silence — to the music he had just heard. In 1929 he decided
to go a step further and composed a dance to be performed in
443
AGADIR
total silence - an approach used many decades later by Jerome
*Robbins (in Moves) and Merce Cunningham. In 1929, how-
ever, the audience was unprepared for such a radical experi-
mental approach and after Agadati finished the performance
there was no applause. Agadati felt he had lost contact with his
audience and decided to stop dancing altogether.
He turned to films and directed and produced (with
others) the first Hebrew-speaking movie. He also returned to
painting. His wooden shack in Tel Aviv became the unofficial
center of modernist artists active in Erez Israel in the 1930s
and 1940s. “Agadati’s Shack” was later torn down by small-
minded municipal officials.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Manor, Agadati - The Pioneer of Modern
Dance in Israel (1986).
[Giora Manor (2"4 ed.)]
AGADIR, Atlantic seaport and important tourist resort in
southwestern Morocco; the site of the ancient Roman Portus
Risadir. It lies near the Haha province and the Sous, the latter
region having served in past centuries as an important mar-
ketplace (suq) on the fringes of the Sahara Desert. Because
Agadir was strategically located on both the Atlantic sea-
board and near the Sous Valley, it became a vital trade depot
for European and local merchants. Important caravans passed
through Agadir into the Sous from the earliest times to the 19
century. They brought African slaves, gold dust from western
Sudan, and ostrich feathers from the southern Sahara Des-
ert. Textile products and leatherwork from *Marrakesh also
found their way to the Sous through Agadir, as did European
medicines and guns.
In the latter half of the 15" and early 16 centuries the
Portuguese penetrated Morocco - then ruled by the Wattasid
dynasty — and took control of the coastal areas. In 1505, they
occupied Agadir and held on to it until 1541, when the new
Sa‘dian kings of the Sous, who then founded the Moroccan
Sharifian Sa‘di dynasty, liberated the city. Under the Portu-
guese occupation and subsequently, Agadir and the Sous at-
tracted Genoese merchants who traded in Sudanese gold and
in local products like wax, hides, gum, and indigo.
Agadir’s importance as a trade/transit route reached its
zenith in the 1760s. Until then the trade activities of the local
merchants, many of whom were Jews, gained considerable
support in Moroccan ruling circles. In 1764, however, that city
lost out to the new port of Essaouira (*Mogador), which was
constructed by the Sharifian Alawite sultanate with the aim
of replacing Agadir as the outlet for the Sous trade. Essaouira
then became the most important port in Morocco until the
end of the 19" century.
To attract merchants from different parts of Morocco to
Essaouira, including Jewish entrepreneurs, known as tujjar
al-sultan (“Sultan’s merchants”), the makhzan (governmen-
tal administration) built, or allowed the merchants to build,
houses, extended credit, and lowered customs duties for the
new arrivals. Not only did prominent Jewish merchants from
444
Agadir relocate to Essaouira, moving their businesses to the
new town, other members of the Jewish community settled
there permanently.
Agadir captured the attention of European diplomacy
during the colonial period, as Morocco was about to be di-
vided into French and Spanish protectorates. At the time, lo-
cal Moroccan opposition culminated in revolts against the
French. France responded by sending an occupation force to
*Fez in May 1911. Germany, which then regarded itself as a se-
rious contender for influence inside Morocco, saw in French
aggression an effort to curtail Moroccan independence and
sought to challenge it. In a veritable show of force and under
the pretext of “protecting our interests and the safety of our
citizens,’ the Germans dispatched the gunboat Panther to the
shores of Agadir (July 1911). It was done with the clear intent
of pressuring France to reduce her territorial aspirations in
Morocco to a minimum. In November, a Franco-German ac-
cord was signed. The agreement stipulated that the Germans
would not oppose the imposition of a French protectorate over
Morocco in return for some French sub-Saharan territories
to be ceded to Germany. Two years later the French were in
full control over Agadir.
Under the French Protectorate (1912-56), growth in Aga-
dir began with the construction of a major port (1914), the
development of the Sous plain, and exploitation of inland
mineral resources as well as the fishing and fishing-canning
industries. After the 1930s, the French turned Agadir into an
attractive tourist resort and encouraged extensive urbaniza-
tion, laying the groundwork for modern infrastructures.
Agadir has also known tragedies. Early in March 1960
two earthquakes, killing 12,000 people, destroyed the city.
Among those killed were several hundred persons belong-
ing to Agadir’s 2000-strong Jewish community, buried under
the rubble of the collapsed buildings. As many as 800 Jew-
ish survivors were lodged temporarily at an army base on the
outskirts of *Casablanca. After prolonged negotiations with
the authorities, the Casablanca Jewish community took many
refugees into their homes. Orphans whose parents were killed
in the earthquake were adopted by Casablanca’s leading fami-
lies. A new central city, including an international airport, was
built in the 1960s to the south of the old town, linked by road
with *Safi and *Marrakesh. As many as 110,000 people subse-
quently lived in Agadir; few among them were Jews.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib in
the Islamic Period (1987); E. Burke 111, Prelude to the Protectorate of
Morocco: 1860-1912 (1976); P. Guillen, LAllemagne et le Maroc (1967);
C.-A. Julien, A History of North Africa: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco from
the Arab Conquest to 1830 (ed. and rev. by R. Le Tourneau, 1970); C.R.
Pennell, Morocco since 1830: A History (2000); D.J. Schroeter, Mer-
chants of Essaouria: Urban Society and Imperialism in Southwestern
Morocco, 1844-1886 (1988).
[Michael M. Laskier (24 ed.)]
AGAG (Heb. 33), the name of an *Amalekite king who was
captured by *Saul (1 Sam. 15). By sparing Agag’s life Saul dis-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
obeyed *Samuel’s order to annihilate the Amalekites. This oc-
casioned the final break between Samuel and Saul. Later Sam-
uel killed Agag at Gilgal “before the Lord” (ibid. 33).
One of Balaam’s oracles sets Israel’s king “higher than
Agag” (Num. 24:7). The Septuagint adds “Agag” as the subject
of another short oracle (ibid. 23). The name may have served as
a recurrent designation for Amalekite chieftains or a clan.
Agagite (Heb. °238) is the gentilic name of *Haman, in the
*Scroll of Esther (3:1; 10:8, 5, etc.). It connects the archenemy of
the Jews in Persia with the Amalekites. It has been suggested
that designation of Haman as an Agagite sounds legendary.
It may represent a nickname, applied to this persecutor of
the Jews because the Amalekites are denounced as the arch-
enemy of Israel in the Torah (Deut. 25:17-19). Some scholars
prefer the Septuagint’s reading: Bovyatoc (“Bugaean” instead
of “Agagite”), a Persian gentile name, baga, meaning “God.”
{Hanna Weiner]
In the Aggadah
Agag’s death came too late. Had he been killed by Saul dur-
ing the course of the battle, a later generation of Jews would
have been spared the troubles caused by Haman. It is taught
that in the short span of time between the war and the execu-
tion of Agag, he became the ancestor of Haman (SER 20). The
delay is attributed to the powers of persuasion of Doeg the
Edomite over Saul. He argued that the law prohibits the slay-
ing of an animal and its young on the same day. How much
less permissible was it to destroy old and young at one time
(Mid. Ps. 52:4).
When Agag was eventually sentenced to death, it was
according to heathen, and not Jewish, law. Thus, there were
no witnesses to his crime, and he was given no warning of his
punishment (PdRK 3:6).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: AGAG: Albright, in: JBL, 63 (1944), 218ff.
AGAGITE: J. Hoschander, The Book of Esther in the Light of History
(1923), 21ff.
AGAI, ADOLE (A. Rosenzweig; 1836-1916), Hungarian
novelist, editor, and physician. Born in Janoshalma, Agai was
the son of a prominent physician. After studying medicine in
Vienna, he accepted a hospital appointment in Budapest. He
also turned to writing, and his features in Budapest dailies,
written under the pen-name “Porz6,” were extremely popular.
In 1868 Agai abandoned medicine when he began the publi-
cation of a successful satirical weekly, Borsszem Janko. Three
years later he launched and became editor of the first long-
lived Hungarian children’s newspaper, Kis Lap (“Little Pa-
per”), which appeared until 1904. Although he was opposed
to Zionism, Agai contributed to Herzl’s Zionist journal, Die
Welt. In his essays, he frequently depicts scenes from provin-
cial Jewish life, based on memories of his childhood. Collec-
tions of his feuilletons are included in Porz6 tarcalevelei (“Por-
zos Feuilletons,” 1876) and Utazds Pestrél Budapestre (“Trip
from Pest to Budapest,’ 1908). His collected novels appeared
under the title Igaz térténet (“True Story,’ 1893).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGATHARCHIDES OF CNIDUS
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Irodalmi Lexikon (1927); Magyar Zsido
Lexikon (1929); L. Steiner, Adolf Agai (Hung., 1933).
[Jeno Zsoldos]
AGAM, YAACOV (1928- ), Israeli painter and sculptor.
Born Yaakov Gibstein in Rishon le-Zion to an Orthodox Jew-
ish family. His father, a rabbi, sent him to religious schools.
Agam was arrested in 1945 by the British on suspicion of be-
ing a member of the Jewish underground and kept in prison
for 18 months. He received his professional training at the
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem under the
influence of his modernist teacher Mordecai *Ardon. Agam
continued his art studies in Zurich with Johannes Itten and
at the Atelier d’Art Abstrait in Paris. In 1953 he had his first
one-man show at the Galerie Craven, in Paris, where he pre-
sented his preliminary Kinetic Art. These works went under
the general title of “Transformable Pictures” and character-
ized his style during the 1970s (Pace of Time, 1970, Tel Aviv
Museum of Art). The works featured parallel triangles painted
with abstract forms. Through the movement of the spectator
the views changed and the kinetic quality of the work came
to the fore. Agam said that his interest in concepts of time de-
rived from Jewish spirituality, in which the world is seen as
involved in a perpetual dynamism.
With his kinetic sculpture the spectator was required
to be more active, to touch and move the sculpture’s compo-
nents. More than once Agam referred to these works in the
terminology of the world of games. The images appearing in
them were mostly derived from Jewish symbolism (The Hun-
dred Gates, 1972, President’s Residence, Jerusalem). Over the
years, Agam enlarged his repertoire of works. His involvement
with the environment was expressed through his decoration
of building facades and interiors. His famous kinetic fountain
combining water, fire, and music altogether, is a very impres-
sive and complex piece of art (Fire and Water, 1986, Dizengoff
Square, Tel Aviv).
In 1996 Agam was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Edu-
cation on his didactic plan for combining art and science.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: EF. Popper, Agam (1990); S. Aragaki, Agam -
Beyond the Visible (1997).
[Ronit Steinberg (2"¢ ed.)]
°AGATHARCHIDES OF CNIDUS (second century B.c.£.),
Hellenistic historian and scholar. A native of Cnidus, Ag-
atharchides lived in Egypt (Alexandria) during the reigns of
Ptolemy vi Philomater (181-145) and Ptolemy vii Euergetes
(145-116). His principal works are a history of Asia in ten
books and a history of Europe in 49 books, neither of which
is extant. There is no evidence that he referred to Jews very
much in his work, except for a passage quoted twice by Jo-
sephus (Apion, 1:205-11; Ant. Jud., 12:5-6) referring to the
“superstition” of the Jewish defenders of Jerusalem which
prevented them from fighting on the Sabbath: “The people
known as Jews ... have a custom of abstaining from work ev-
ery seventh day; on those occasions they neither bear arms
445
AGDE
nor take any agricultural operations in hand, nor engage in
any other form of public service, but pray with outstretched
hands in the temples until the evening”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews
and Judaism. Volume 1: From Herodotus to Plutarch (1974), 104-9.
[Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
AGDE (Heb. °7?X or 748), town 13 mi. (20 km.) E. of *Béziers
in southern France. Jews are mentioned in Canon 40 promul-
gated by the Council of Agde held by the church there in 506.
By the middle of the 13 century Jews had settled permanently
in Agde under the jurisdiction of the bishop. The majority of
these became liable to the crown tax in 1278. The Jews of Agde
buried their dead in the cemetery of nearby Béziers. After the
general expulsion of the Jews from the Kingdom of France in
1306, some of the Agde community found refuge in Perpignan
and *Carpentras, then not under French suzerainty. At the
beginning of World War 11 about 2,000 Jewish refugees from
Austria and Germany were sent to a forced labor camp near
Agde, the number increasing to 3,000 after the Franco-Ger-
man armistice in June 1940. Most of them were deported on
Aug. 24, 1942.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, Gal Jud, 21ff.; G. Saige, Juifs du
Languedoc (1881), 5, 34; 39, 225, 309; B. Blumenkranz, in: Mélanges le
Bras (1965), 1055; Z. Szajkowski, Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer,
1939-5 (1966), 198.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
AGE AND THE AGED.
Old Age
IN THE BIBLE. Extreme longevity is attributed to the Fa-
thers of Mankind (e.g., Methusaleh, 969 years) and the Fa-
thers of the Israelite People (Abraham, 175; Isaac, 180; Jacob,
147; Moses, 120). By some, Genesis 6:3 is taken to mean that
God has set a limit of 120 years to human life (Hizzekuni, cf.
Ibn Ezra); in accord with this notion is the popular Jewish
reckoning of a long life. However, sober reality is reflected
in Psalms 90:10: “The days of our years are 70 years, and if
by reason of strength, 80 years.” The Bible regards longevity
(Isa. 65:20; Zech. 8:4; Ps. 92:15), a long life followed by death
at “a good old age” (Gen. 15:15; et al.), as a blessing; whereas
the opposite is regarded as a curse (1 Sam. 2:31-32). Long life
is promised as a reward for observing certain commandments
(Ex. 20:12; Deut. 22:7; 25:15), or for obeying the Law as a whole
(Deut. 6:2). But there are also some grim descriptions of old
age (11 Sam. 19:33-38). Especially instructive are the descrip-
tions of old age in Ecclesiastes (12:1-7) in which old age is
“the calamitous days” in which a man takes no pleasures. It
may be noted that a similar view of old age can be found in
the Epic of Gilgamesh (See *Flood). A realistic observation
prompted the moving prayer: “Do not throw me away in the
time of old age; when my strength is failing me, do not for-
sake me” (Ps. 71:9).
The experience of the aged caused the belief that old
age and wisdom went together (Job. 12:12; cf. ibid., 20). Nev-
446
ertheless, the Book of Job also stresses that there are young
men who are wiser than old men (Job 32:6ff.; Eccles. 4:13).
The Bible enjoins respect for the aged: “You shall rise before
the aged and show deference to the old” (Lev. 19:32). This was
probably the custom throughout the whole ancient Middle
East (Ahikar 2:61). Consideration for old age and its disabili-
ties is mentioned frequently in the Bible. Disrespect for the
aged was regarded as a sign of a corrupt generation (Isa. 3:5).
Ruthlessness toward the aged is a manifestation of extreme
harshness by an enemy: “... who will show the old no regard”
(Deut. 28:50); “Upon the old man you made your yoke very
heavy” (Isa. 47:6); and “He has shown no favor to the elders”
(Lam. 4:16; cf. 5:12). The actual chronological age of a man
was not an absolute factor in regard to the disabilities of old
age; thus, Samuel says of himself “I have grown old and gray”
(1 Sam. 12:2) when he is only 52. And King David is described
as “very old” (1 Kings 1:15) when he was 70. There are few de-
scriptions of the physical signs of old age in the Bible: that of
Isaac when his eyes were dim (Gen. 27); that of the manner of
Eli’s fall, “because the man was old and heavy” (1 Sam. 4:18);
and Barzillai’s deafness (11 Sam. 14:33-38). By contrast with
these descriptions, there are idyllic descriptions of old age:
“There shall yet be old men and women in the public squares
of Jerusalem” alongside “boys and girls playing in her public
squares” (Zech. 8:4). The biological process of aging is seen as
the depletion of the body’s “natural heat” as, for instance, in
the case of King David. (“King David was now old, advanced
in years; and though they covered him with bedclothes, he did
not feel warm” (1 Kings 1:1)). This view was a basic premise
with Galen and was accepted by preceding generations almost
until modern times.
Ecclesiastes (12:1-6) gives an outstanding description of
old age. Later geriatric literature was based on this section.
Many Jewish commentators found biological symbolism in its
details and in the 16‘ to 18» centuries John Smith and others
also explained these verses in medical terms. In its crisp and
concentrated metaphorical style, Ecclesiastes contains one of
the most striking descriptions in world literature of the infir-
mities of old age. It appears to be entirely expressive of the state
of mind and view of life of an aging or old man, and it was thus
interpreted by the sages. King Solomon, who in his youth is
supposed to have written The Song of Songs, in his maturity
Proverbs, and in his old age Ecclesiastes, was regarded by them
as a symbol of the changes which take place in the being and
in the experiences of a man in the course of his life: “When a
man is young, he quotes poetry; when he matures, he quotes
proverbs; when he grows old he speaks of futilities ...” (Song
R. 1:10). Similarly, A. Schopenhauer states, “Only in his 70"
year does a man understand the full meaning of the [second]
verse of Ecclesiastes.” In the Second Temple era old age was
regarded as a blessing and the aged as worthy of respect (Ec-
cles. 8:9; 11 Macc. 6:23, 27; 1v Macc. 5:4ff.; 7:13-15). Yet it was
stressed, that not the number of years was important but wis-
dom and honesty (Wisdom of Solomon 4:8-9, 16). Ben Sira
(30:24) recognized that anxiety ages a man, while in the Book
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of Jubilees (23:11) premature aging accompanied by mental
confusion is caused by sin. That is why in the Dead Sea Sect
nobody above 60 years of age could act as judge (Damascus
Covenant X:7-10); yet in general the Sect and the Essenes re-
spected old men (Manual of Discipline v1:8; Philo, Prob. 81,
87; Josephus, Wars, 2:9-10).
RABBINIC PERIOD. According to the Talmud, old age (zik-
nah) begins at 60, ripe old age (seivah, “grey hairs”) at 70 (Avot
5:21), though oldness may appear prematurely (Shab. 152a;
Eruv. 56a; Tanh., Hayyei Sarah 2). Like Ecclesiastes, the rab-
bis viewed the later years of life as unattractive (Shab. 151b);
the old resemble apes (Lam. R. 1:2), they cannot reason (Shab.
89b). The afflictions of the old are described, as in Ecclesias-
tes, metaphorically: “The rocks have grown tall, the near have
become [too] distant [to visit], two [legs] have become three
[with a cane], and the peacemaker of the house has ceased [to
function as such].” So it is said, “Youth is a crown of roses; old
age a crown of [heavy] willow rods” (Shab. 152a). A man must
pray that in his later years “his eyes may see, his mouth eat, his
legs walk, for in old age all powers fail” (Tanh, Mi-Kez 10).
There are some rare instances of praise for oldness itself.
R. Simeon b. Eleazar valued the advice of the old: “If the old
say ‘tear down’ and the children ‘build’ - tear down, for the
‘destruction’ of the old is construction; the ‘construction’ of
the young, destruction” (Meg. 31b). According to R. Johanan,
only elders sat in the Sanhedrin (Sanh. 17a). These statements
reflect the ancient view that age, with its experience, is a guar-
antee of wisdom, and without age there is no understanding.
The general opinion, however, is that with age comes loss of
intellectual capacity. Elisha b. Avuyah said, “What does learn-
ing when old resemble? It is like writing on blotted-out pa-
per” (Avot 4:20). Oldness itself is not a virtue - wisdom and
knowledge of Torah determine its value (Kin. 3:15). Even the
opinions of the old were not universally preferred to those
of the young. When R. Abbahu claimed authority in a given
dispute due to his age, R. Jeremiah answered, “Is the mat-
ter decided by age? - It is decided by reason” (BB 102b). Tar-
gum Onkelos also reflected this view when translating “You
shall rise before the aged” (Lev. 19:32) as “Arise before those
knowledgeable in Torah.” The rabbis held that even a young
scholar is called zaken (“elder”) and should be honored, while
no honor is due the ignorant or sinful, though old (Sifra, Ke-
doshim, 7:12). However, Isi b. Judah differed: “‘You shall rise
before the aged’ - all the aged”; R. Johanan agreed, even con-
cerning gentile elders; but R. Nahman and Rav did not act in
this manner (Kid. 32b-33a). According to Maimonides, one
must honor the exceedingly old, even if they are not wise, by
rising (Yad, Talmud Torah 6:9).
An age limit existed, past which one was not to hold a
responsible position. Already in biblical times, the levites’ ser-
vice in the Tabernacle was limited: “At the age of 50, they shall
retire from the work force and serve no more” (Lev. 8:25-26).
The retired could do less strenuous work, either assisting their
fellows, or guarding. In talmudic times, it was forbidden - for
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGE AND THE AGED
psychological reasons — to have the very old serve as Sanhed-
rin members (Sanh. 36b. Maim., Yad, Sanhedrin 2:3). In kab-
balistic literature and tradition, those well-versed in mystic
knowledge are represented as aged; many of the names in the
Zohar are followed by “elder” (saba).
[Moshe David Herr]
Care of the Aged
In the society of ancient Israel the aged and elderly were highly
respected, and accorded a central position in family life and
the tribal structure. This continued after a national organiza-
tion based on kingship was adopted. This attitude is essen-
tially linked with the biblical precept enjoining fear and honor
of, and obedience to father and mother (kibbud av va-em, cf.
Lev. 19:3, 32). Barbarism in an alien nation is described by
denouncing it as one “that shall not regard the person of the
old” (Deut. 28:50). A state of anarchy in Israel is character-
ized by the fact that “the child shall behave insolently against
the aged” (Isa. 3:5; 47:6). The term “elders” appears through-
out the Bible, Mishnah, and Talmud as a synonym or desig-
nation for judges, leaders, or sages. The Jewish image of the
aged was therefore originally one denoting leadership and
rule. Of course, physical facts asserted themselves and hor-
ror of weakness and senility was frequently acknowledged. In
talmudic times the problem of earning a livelihood in old age
was faced: “Every profession in the world is of help to a man
only in his youth, but in his old age he is exposed to hunger”
(Kid. 82b). Respect alone was of little assistance to the aged in
the changed circumstances of late antiquity and the transfor-
mation which society had undergone. However, no attempt
was made to issue specific regulations or create institutions to
help the aged or care for them as such. If not living among the
family, as was customary, destitute aged people were treated
as part of the general social problem created by poverty and
weakness and the precepts concerning *charity and alms giv-
ing (zedakah) applied to them. Thus, although old age was
originally invested with strength and majesty, people of the
lower strata of society who had lost the support and care pro-
vided by the family underwent much suffering, if not humili-
ation, in their old age. The transition from the position of the
powerful elder to that of an aged pauper requiring special as-
sistance outside the frame of the family is an outcome of the
heritage of Judaic-Muslim-Christian civilization.
IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The aged are singled out in medieval
Jewish ethical works and general halakhic regulations (tak-
kanot) as worthy objects for special charity and tender treat-
ment. In the 11 century *Rashi defined the age requiring
assistance as “when I shall be 60 or 70” (commentary to Ps.
71:17). Persecutions and massacres in the Middle Ages led to
the breakup of families, and large-scale migrations brought
additional suffering for the aged. A resolution passed at the
Council of Lithuania (see *Council of the Lands) in 1650, af-
ter the *Chmielnicki massacres, stressed the duty to support
“... in any case married and unmarried women and old per-
sons” and reflects the breakup of the family under catastro-
447
AGE AND THE AGED
phe. About the same date, the Jewish community in Rome
introduced care of the aged as one of the four divisions of its
charitable activity. A home for the aged was founded in Am-
sterdam by the Sephardi community in 1749.
EIGHTEENTH TO NINETEENTH CENTURIES. From the sec-
ond half of the 18" century the need for introducing special
treatment and care of the aged was felt more strongly in Jew-
ish societies which were beginning to experience the breakup
of the traditional family cohesion. These were more prepared
to view old age as a social problem separate from poverty.
In this period the time-honored concept of respect for the
aged began to combine with new feelings of estrangement
between the generations together with compassion and un-
derstanding for the weakness of the old as part of social re-
sponsibility. Thus an increasing number of Jewish foundations
to care for the aged were established. The Mishenet Zekenim
(“Support of the Aged”) society, established in Hamburg in
1796, made weekly provision for the needy aged. An old-age
home was founded in Berlin in 1829, and in 1839 the Hamburg
community set aside a building for old men and women where
they received lodging, support, and clothing. The Frankfurt
community founded a home in 1844 for men and women aged
over 60 without means of support. A Viennese family donated
several houses for accommodating aged Jews of the com-
munity. The number of Jewish homes for the aged increased
from the middle of the 19 century, as social care of the aged
developed. By the present century most large communities
in Europe included a home for the aged (often called Moshav
Zekenim) among their welfare institutions. In 1938, there were
in Germany 67 homes for the aged with 3,568 beds.
The revolutionary changes in society affecting the gen-
eral attitude toward the aged and provisions for their welfare
which began at the end of the 19 century are deepening and
becoming increasingly pronounced and complicated. Among
general factors responsible for this change are the modern
appreciation of youth and understanding of its specific psy-
chological and social needs, coupled with a corresponding
understanding of the needs of the old, their psychology and
social requirements; the demographic changes, first through-
out the western world and later in other countries, resulting
from birth control on the one hand and the prolongation of
life expectancy on the other; and the introduction of pension
laws and schemes as the problems of the aged emerge as a
political factor in appealing to electorates with an increasing
percentage of aged persons.
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD. In addition, factors specific to
Jewish society are the huge emigration from Europe from
the end of the 19» century, the Nazi Holocaust, and forced
emigration from Arab countries in the Near East and North
Africa after the creation of the State of Israel. The impact of
these general changes is most clearly seen in the main Jewish
centers of today, and in the experiments currently being at-
tempted to solve the problems to which they have given rise.
448
U.S. CARE FOR AGED. In the United States, the cultural and
social estrangement that developed between “second-” or
“third-generation” Jews and their “first-generation” immigrant
parents and grandparents inevitably strained the close, tightly
knit Jewish family life that was a legacy of Europe. The first
homes of the aged, therefore, often tended to be institutions
of “last resort.” Care of the aged in America was also origi-
nally hindered by a resistance to paid social workers. Simi-
larly, family agencies displayed a reluctance to deal with the
aged. Over the years this pattern has significantly altered so
that care for the aged is largely in professional hands. Fam-
ily agencies served about 20,000 persons aged 60 and over in
their homes in 1966.
The general tendency in the United States is to avoid
employing terms or arrangements traditionally linked
with old age and care for the aged; aged persons are re-
ferred to as “senior citizens,’ for whom “towns” and “resorts”
have been established. Emphasis has been placed on provid-
ing services to enable the aged to remain in their communities
where they can retain the satisfactions of normal community
life. At the same time experiments to meet the specific needs
and inclinations of the aged are made while attempting to
provide them with accommodation apart from the family.
This trend is gaining ground in Jewish society. The con-
cept of institutional care for the aged has changed from
one of a permanent retreat to a resource to be used as
needed.
IN ISRAEL. Two basically different traditional patterns of
family life are encountered: the Oriental in families from
the Near East and North Africa, and the European in fami-
lies from Europe and the United States. The Oriental family
has retained much more of the traditional veneration for the
aged and is much less influenced by the modern attitude to-
ward youth than the western family. However, the mass exo-
dus from the Arab countries created a problem of care for the
aged in families who have been broken up by forced migra-
tion. Thus, the traditional Oriental family also encountered
modern problems concerning its old people in Israel. Provi-
sion also had to be made for the survivors of the Nazi Holo-
caust and concentration camps. The combined problems of
abandonment, physical weakness, illness, premature aging,
and old age were dealt with by the *Malben organization,
founded and maintained by the *American Jewish Joint Dis-
tribution Committee and its institutions. In addition, a new
social phenomenon in Israel was that of family life in the kib-
butz, which had specific problems concerning aging and the
relationship between the generations. Although the kibbutz
provided collective support and care of the individual mem-
ber irrespective of his family status, health, or psychological
problems, the strain on the aged and the aging was particu-
larly great since it was a society originally created by the senior
members themselves, founded on the ideal of physical labor
and appreciation of the supreme and eternal value of youth.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
In this framework the spiritual and psychological side of ag-
ing is present in its “pure form,’ i.e., separate from the usual
physical and material problems.
In Israel in 1964, 5.5% of the male population and 5.9%
of the female population were aged over 65 (the age of retire-
ment). The majority were living within the family or indepen-
dently. About 7,500 old persons were in special institutions.
These consisted of the traditional old-age homes (moshav ze-
kenim) and the more modern living centers for the aged, of
which there are different forms. By the early 20008, 10% of Is-
rael’s population was aged over 65, with 250,000 Israelis aged
over 75. The consequence has been a great strain on public
facilities and a proliferation of upscale retirement homes and
the fashion of employing live-in Filipino caretakers among the
well-to-do. The care of the aged in 21° century Israel therefore
fully reflected the economic imbalances that prevailed in the
country. The poor among the aged have become a marginal
group barely able to survive.
[Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Loew, Die Lebensalter in der juedischen
Literatur (1875), 253-75; J. Preuss, Biblisch-talmudische Medizin (1911),
515; H. Rolleston, Aspects of Age, Life and Disease (1928), 31-34; G.
Weil, Maimonides ueber die Lebensdauer (1953); Plessner, in: Jerusalem
Post (Jan. 9, 1953); Leibowitz, in: Journal of the History of Medicine, 18
(1963); idem, Al Orah ha-Hayyim le-ha-Rambam (1953); Habermann,
in: Haaretz (Jan. 16, 1953); idem (ed.), Kitvei R. Avraham Epstein, 2
(1957), 34-37; L. Bergman, Ha-Zedakah be- Yisrael (1944); Council of
Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, Inc., N.y., Administration of
Homes for the Aged (1951); idem, Council Reports (1949- ); Central
Atlantic Regional Conference on Services to the Aged, Disturbed
and Disturbing Aged Person (1955); Symposium on Research and
Welfare Policies for the Elderly (Jerusalem, November 1968), Fam-
ily Life, Social Relationships, and the Need of the Aged (1968); Israel,
Central Bureau of Statistics, Special Publication No. 199 (1966); AJYB,
57 (1956), 3-98 passim.
AGEN, capital of the Lot-et-Garonne department, southwest-
ern France. A charter of 1263 specifies the charges imposed on
Jewish residents in Agen for all articles brought into the city,
in addition to dues they owed to the bishop. In 1309 (not 1250,
as stated by U. Robert) the seneschal of Agen was directed to
seize copies of the Talmud and other Jewish works, probably
left behind after the general expulsion of the Jews in 1306. A
number of Jews returned to Agen in 1315 and perished in the
*Pastoureaux massacres of 1320. The “Rue des Juifs,” first docu-
mented in 1342, certainly existed earlier. Remains of the syna-
gogue were still visible in the 16" century. In 1968 the Jewish
community in Agen, which consisted of approximately 500
persons, mostly immigrants from North Africa, had a syna-
gogue and community center.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, Gal Jud, 44; Ibn Verga, Shevet Yehudah
(1947), ed. by A. Schochat and Y. Baer, 22; Revue de l’Agenais (1917),
218-9; A. Ducom, La Commune d’Agen (1892), 162, 284-5; U. Rob-
ert, in: REJ, 3 (1881), 214.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGENCY
AGENCY, legal concept whereby the lawful acts of someone
authorized by, and acting on behalf of, another are as effec-
tive as if performed by the principal; recognized in Jewish
law from ancient times. A basic concept in the Talmud is that
“a man’s agent is as himself,” i.e., that a man is bound by the
acts of his duly constituted agent as if he himself had acted.
Throughout the ages Jewish law developed a complex and so-
phisticated civil law of commerce and finance in which the law
of agency played an important part, being the subject of many
talmudic discussions and halakhic rulings. For example, the
contrary principle was enacted that there can be no agency to
do a wrongful act; the sender is not held accountable for the
deeds of his agents. The law also laid down rules governing
the manner of constituting an agency, its limitations, its mode
of execution, and its revocation or termination. The appoint-
ment, competence, and powers of an agent are also dealt with.
Because of their contractual aspects, agency was also recog-
nized in matters of marriage and divorce, whereby an agent
could legally acquire a wife for his principal or effectively de-
liver to her a bill of divorce on his principal’s behalf. Gener-
ally the Jewish law of agency was developed to meet the social
and commercial needs of the community as it constantly
changed from age to age; therefore it was inclined to be
more flexible and adaptable than some other legal subjects,
which, consequently, did not always enjoy the same degree
of contemporary relevance. In the State of Israel agency is a
matter of civil law and is governed by a principal statute of
1965.
Details
As a result of agency, the possible field of legal activity is ex-
tended beyond the normal physical and other limitations.
The concept of agency was not recognized in ancient le-
gal systems. Only in the later stages of Roman law did agency
achieve a limited form of recognition - a phenomenon as-
cribed to the powerful status of the Roman pater-familias
(“family head”) on whose behalf all acquisitions by his kins-
men or servants were made in any event, thus obviating any
urgent need for developing a doctrine of agency. In Jewish
law the principle of agency was, however, already recognized
in ancient times. While there is no express scriptural pro-
vision for it, the tannaim applied the doctrine of agency in
various halakhic fields, i.e., to the laws of mamonot (“com-
mercial law”), terumah (“heave offering”), sacrifices, divorce,
and betrothal, and established the rule that “a man’s agent
is as himself” (Sheliho shel adam kemoto). According to the
Tosefta (Kid. 4:1), Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel agreed that a
person appointed to carry out a specific mandate is disquali-
fied from acting as a witness in a case involving such man-
date, whereas amoraic sources quote a tannaitic tradition to
the opposite effect (Kid. 43a) and the talmudic halakhah was
decided accordingly. The agent is not regarded as the princi-
pal, in the full sense of the term “as himself” since the agent
is competent to testify with regard to the subject matter of his
449
AGENCY
mandate in circumstances where the principal is disqualified
from being a witness.
CRIMINAL LAW. In this field a contrary rule was laid down,
namely, that “there can be no agent to do a wrong” (Ein shaliah
li-devar averah; Kid. 42b). The reasoning behind the rule is
derived in answer to the hypothetical question: “Whose words
does one obey? Those of the master” (i.e., the Almighty) “or of
the pupil” (i.e., the mandator)? The legal import of the rule is
that the agent himself is the transgressor, and liable, whereas
the principal is exempt in respect of any transgression com-
mitted by the agent in execution of the former's mandate.
There is, on the other hand, a tradition that a person who says
to his agent, “Go forth and kill that soul!” (Kid. 43a), is person-
ally liable, but the halakhah was decided to the effect that “in
all matters a person's agent is ‘as himself’ except with regard
to wrongdoing ...” (Isserles to Sh. Ar., HM 182:1). However, the
scholars laid down that in three fields the doctrine of agency
applied also to transgression: (1) misappropriation of a deposit
(shelihut yad); (2) slaughtering and selling (of stolen animals -
see *Theft and Robbery); and (3) conversion of consecrated
property (see *Hekdesh) to profane use (me’ilah).
In addition to these three specifically excepted cases,
there are also a number of general exceptions to the rule that
there can be no agent to do a wrongful act. According to the
amora Ravina, the rule does not apply if the prohibition does
not extend to the agent himself, e.g., where a priest commis-
sions an Israelite to celebrate kiddushin with a divorcee on the
priest’s behalf (a marriage prohibited to a priest). Similarly, the
amora Samma is of the opinion that an agency is constituted
when the agent, in committing transgression, fails to act of
his own free will; e.g., when he is unaware that his act amounts
to a transgression (BM 10b; Isserles to Sh. Ar., HM 182:1 and
348:8). Furthermore, an agency to do a wrong is constituted
whenever an agent delegated to commit a wrong must be
presumed likely to execute his assignment because he is
known to commit such wrongs (Sh. Ar., HM 388:15, gloss; see
also Siftei Kohen, ibid., 67 for a contrary opinion). Whenever
the law recognizes agency in the commission of a wrong,
the agent himself will be liable (Siftei Kohen sub. sec. 4 to
Sh. Ar., HM 292; see also Netivot ha-Mishpat to Sh. Ar., HM
348:4).
LIMITATIONS. The rabbis of the Talmud, relying on the scrip-
tural text, excluded the operation of the maxim that a person's
agent is as himself in certain instances (TJ, Kid. 2:1; Yev. 101b).
Some of the posekim exclude agency when the mandate cannot
be carried out at the time of the agent’s appointment (Darkhei
Moshe to Tur, HM 182:1, based on Naz. 12b); but others differ
(Responsa Maharit 2:23; Arukh ha-Shulhan to Sh. Ar., HM
ibid.). On the question of the husband’s competence to annul
the vows of his wife on the day of hearing them (Num. 30:9),
the rabbis decided that it would not be the same if the vows
were heard by an agent, and that the latter was not compe-
tent to annul them since “the appointment of an agent is not
450
appropriate to a passive act” (be-midi de-mi-meila; Ned. 72b).
Similarly, there can be no agency with regard to a precept
(mitzvah) which one is personally obliged to perform, such
as laying tefillin or sitting in a *sukkah (Tos. to Kid. 42b).
So, too, the rabbinical enactment permitting *assignment of
debt by way of maamad sheloshtan, has been interpreted as
requiring the participation of the parties themselves and the
assignor could not appoint an agent for this purpose (Sh. Ar.,
HM 126:20). Some scholars hold that an agent can not deliver
an oath on behalf of his principal (Responsa, Noda bi-Yhu-
dah, first series, yD 67 and last series yD 147).
It is not a requirement of agency that the manner of car-
rying out the mandate should be specifically detailed; the
principal may grant his agent a degree of discretion, e.g., in
celebrating kiddushin on his principal's behalf, an agent may
be authorized to treat either with a specific woman or with
one of a larger group (Maim., Yad, Ishut 3:14). Or, the prin-
cipal can instruct his agent, “Go and purchase for me a field
which you consider suitable,’ in which case the choice of the
field is left to the full discretion of the agent. To be properly
constituted, agency requires that the parties thereto are both
legally competent and it was laid down that einam benei daat
(“persons who lack proper understanding,’ i.e., Heresh, sho-
teh, ve-katan (“deaf-mutes, idiots, and minors”)) were dis-
qualified from acting as either principal or agent (Git. 23a;
Sh. Ar., HM 188:2).
APPOINTMENT AND POWERS. It appears from tannaitic and
amoraic sources, neither of which specifically discuss the man-
ner of appointing an agent, that such appointment may be
done orally. The halakhah was so decided, it being held that
there was no need for a formal kinyan (see Modes of *Acqui-
sition). In various places it nevertheless became the practice
to assign by way of a formal kinyan. This was partly due to the
influence of an analogous procedure in certain matters where
an act of kinyan was required by law, such as the appointment
of an agent in a lawsuit or for the purposes of agency in di-
vorce - although the kinyan is not essential to the underly-
ing agency itself but rather for the purpose of bittul modaah
(see *Ones). It was also due in part to the desire of the par-
ties to express in a formal act that the decision to conclude an
agency was a serious one, and not one undertaken irrespon-
sibly (Maim., Mekhirah 1, 12-12).
The agent is required to act strictly within the scope of
his mandate, and if he exceeds his authority, all his actions are
rendered null and void. The same result follows if the agent
errs in any detail of his mandate, since the latter is appointed
“to uphold and not to depart from the mandate” (Maim., Yad,
Sheluhin 1:3, Sh. Ar., HM 182:2). The possible consequences of
a complete nullification can, however, be averted by especially
stipulating for such a contingency (Maim. and Sh. Ar,, ibid.).
Thus it became the practice for a condition of this kind to be
inserted in written instruments (see Hai Gaon, Sefer ha-Shet-
arot, 65-67).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Some authorities went so far as to hold that even in the
absence of such a condition, there was a presumption — if the
mandate were carried out — that the principal had authorized
the agent to “uphold and to depart from the mandate,” unless
the contrary could be proved by the principal (Sh. Ar., HM
182:4). An agent who departs from the terms of his mandate
and deals with a third party without disclosing that he is act-
ing as an agent, will be liable for his actions (Maim., Sheluhin
2:4; Sh. Ar., 182:2 and 6).
REVOCATION. The mandate of the agent may be revoked by
the principal. The Talmud records a dispute between the Pal-
estinian amoraim, Johanan and Resh Lakish, as to whether
or not revocation can be done orally (TJ, Ter. 3:4, 42a and Git
4:1, 45c; see also Kid. 59a), and the halakhah was decided in
favor of such revocation. Where a formal kinyan accompanies
the agent’s appointment, some take the view that the “act” of
kinyan cannot be revoked orally, but the general opinion is in
favor of it. In order to prevent the principal from withdrawing
his agent’s mandate, it became customary to submit the for-
mer to an oath to this effect. This procedure normally served
as an effective deterrent, but if, despite the oath, the principal
revoked it, the revocation is effective. Agency is also termi-
nated upon the death of the principal.
It was recognized that a revocable mandate could preju-
dice a third party who was unaware of it, e.g., a debtor who
paid his debt to the creditor’s agent would continue to be in-
debted to the creditor or his heirs if it subsequently transpired
that the agent’s mandate had previously been revoked. It was
determined, on various grounds, that in such circumstances
the debtor would be released from his obligation. Isaac b. Abba
Mari expressed the opinion that a defendent who received a
deed of authorization from the agent, would suffer no damage
even if it later transpired that the mandate had been revoked
(Sefer ha-Ittur, harshaah). Abraham b. David of Posquiéres
justified the debtors release on the ground that the creditor's
revocation of the mandate was tantamount to negligence.
Later the above rule was justified on the further ground that,
even if by the laws of agency the defendant had dealt with a
person who was no agent, the transaction was nevertheless af-
forded legal validity by virtue of the laws of suretyship (Arukh
ha-Shulhan to Sh. Ar., HM 122:2).
BROKERAGE. On the question of the agent's failure to observe
the terms of his mandate, Jewish law distinguishes between an
agent who acts in a voluntary capacity (shalia) and one who
does so for payment called a sarsur (“broker” or “factor,’) e.g.,
one who receives property for the purposes of sale, the latter
being required to make good any consequent loss to the prin-
cipal. Maimonides adds that in a case where the broker sells
property at less than the authorized price, the purchaser must
restore the goods to the owner if he knows that it was being
sold by a broker on behalf of the true owner (ibid., 2:6; and see
Sh. Ar., HM 185:1). Similarly, in case of theft or loss the liabil-
ity of the broker is equal to that of a bailee for reward (Maim.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGENCY
and Sh. Ar., ibid.). An agent may not purchase for himself the
property which he has been authorized to sell, even at the au-
thorized selling price (Sh. Ar., ibid).
NON-PERFORMANCE OR IMPROPER PERFORMANCE BY THE
AGENT. The principal has no claim for pecuniary compensa-
tion against an agent who relinquishes his appointment with-
out fulfilling his mandate (Sh. Ar., ibid., 183:1). However, one
opinion says that the principal has a claim for “loss of prof-
its” against an agent who acts for payment, e.g., for the prof-
its likely to have been earned by the principal had the man-
date been properly carried out (Netivot ha-Mishpat to Sh. Ar.,
ibid., Be'urim, 1).
When the agent is given money by his principal in order
to purchase property, and such property is purchased by the
agent for himself with his own money the transaction is valid,
“although the agent is a rascal,” but the transaction will be for
the benefit of the principal if the agent purchased for himself
with the money of the principal (Sh. Ar., ibid., and Isserles).
AGENCY FOR THE RECOVERY OF DEBTS. (See *Attorney).
The appointment of an agent for the recovery at law of a debt
owing to a claimant, is the subject of particular problems.
The rabbis of *Nehardea decided (Bk 70a) that the claimant's
representative must be equipped with an “instrument of per-
mission” (ketav harshaah, “power of attorney”), bearing the
following written instruction by the claimant: “Go and take
legal action to acquire title and secure for yourself” Unless
this is done the defendant may plead that the representative
has no standing in the matter. The possibility of a plea of this
nature arises from the talmudic principle that a creditor’s
representative cannot seize property in settlement of a debt
owing to his principal, if there are additional creditors (Ket.
84b). This principle was construed at the commencement of
the geonic period as applying whether the action of the agent
is likely to prejudice other creditors, or merely the debtor or
himself (She’iltot de-Rav Ahai Gaon, 150). Another explana-
tion offered for the aforesaid plea is the possible suspicion that
the mandate was no longer in force, because of the principal's
death or because it had been revoked by him. The aforesaid
wording of the authorizing instrument rendered the agent a
party to the legal proceedings, which in turn gave rise to the
fear that the agent would keep whatever he recovered for him-
self. It therefore became customary at first to supplement the
authorization with a further formality such as the principal’s
declaration before witnesses that he was appointing the agent
as his representative (Hal. Gedolot, Bx 88, col. 3), and in other
ways. Gradually these additional measures were abandoned,
and the instrument of authorization itself was accepted - with-
out further formality - as constituting the agent a party, along
with the defendant, to the proceedings and at the same time
as safeguarding the rights of the principal (Temim De’im, 61;
Or Zarw’a, BK 4:300). Since, according to the abovementioned
wording of the authorization, or power of attorney, the princi-
pal in effect assigned (haknaah) to the agent the subject mat-
451
AGENCY
ter of the power of attorney, it was impossible - according to
talmudic halakhah - for such power of attorney to relate to
matters which could not validly be assigned. Thus the rabbis
of Nehardea decided that no power of attorney could be writ-
ten relating to movables, in respect of which the defendant
denied the claim. In the post-talmudic period these restric-
tions were removed - by way of interpretation, custom and
rabbinical enactment - and Jacob b. *Asher records the prac-
tice of giving a power of attorney unrestricted as to subject
matter (Tur., HM 123:2). A convenient act of kinyan employed
to accompany the authorization, was assignment of the sub-
ject matter of the claim aggav karka (incidental to land; see
Modes of *Acquisition).
In the geonic period, when most Jews had ceased to be
landowners, it became necessary to find ways of employing the
method of kinyan aggav karka, making it applicable to those
who possessed no landed property. Thus arose the custom of
assignment by way of *arba ammot be-Erez Israel (“four cubits
of land” which every Jew was considered to own in Erez Israel;
Responsum Nahshon Gaon, Responsa Geonica, ed. 1929, p. 31;
see Modes of *Acquisition). In post-geonic times, diminish-
ing reliance was placed on this method, and Maimonides
was of the opinion that an assignment (i.e., power of attor-
ney) so effected was not binding on the debtor (Yad, Sheluhin
3:7). In Germany and France it became customary to rely on
hodaah (i.e., an admission by the principal that he owned land;
see *Admission; Modes of *Acquisition). Nahmanides sug-
gested kinyan or assignment incidental to a synagogue seat
or a place in the cemetery, common to all (Novellae to BB
44b) and further modes of assignment are discussed by other
scholars.
ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY THROUGH A THIRD PARTY
OTHER THAN AN APPOINTED AGENT. This may arise
through an application of the rule that “a benefit may be con-
ferred on a person in his absence” (Eruv. 7:11). Thus A may
acquire property from B on behalf of C without the latter’s
knowledge, if this is to his benefit — for instance, a gift. C be-
comes the owner of the property as soon as A’s acquisition
thereof is complete, unless C, upon hearing of the matter, re-
jects such ownership, in which event the transaction is void
ab initio (Maim., Yad, Zekhiyyah, 3:2; Sh. Ar., HM 243:1; see
also Modes of *Acquisition).
In the State of Israel the laws of agency are governed by
the “Agency Law, 5725-1965,’ which confirms the doctrine
that “a man’s agent is as himself” and further provides that
the actions of the agent, including his knowledge and inten-
tion, are binding on and benefit the principal - as the case
may be (sec. 2).
[Nahum Rakover]
Legal Acts that Are Not a Subject for Agency
There are certain acts that by definition cannot be an object of
agency and others in which it is the law that proscribes their
performance by way of an agent.
452
AN ACT WHICH BY DEFINITION REQUIRES PERSONAL
PERFORMANCE. In principle, any legal or religious act can
be performed by way of an agent, provided that performance
of the act is not also its purpose. This is the case, for example,
with the betrothal of a woman, in which giving the money
is not the goal as such, but is rather a means for altering the
woman's status from that of an unmarried woman to that of
a married woman. However, when the actual performance of
the act is also the goal, such as donning tefillin or dwelling in
the sukkah, such an act cannot be an object of agency (Re-
sponsa, Iggerot Moshe, EH. 1 #156).
AN ACT WHICH BY LAW REQUIRES PERSONAL PERFOR-
MANCE. By way of example, the law does not permit the
agent to act on the principal’s behalf when his act involves
the violation of third party rights (Ket. 84b; Piskei ha-Rosh,
Gittin, 1:13). There are certain acts regarding which opinions
are divided as to whether the law permits their performance
by way of an agent, such as the abandonment of an asset
(Bet Yosef, oH. 434:4; cf. Commentary of Gra (Vilna Gaon)
ibid); an undertaking (Netivot ha-Mishpat, 45:2. cf. Kezot ha-
Hoshen, ibid. 2); admission (Resp. Ribash, 392, cf. Resp. Ma-
harshdam, HM, 439); oath (summary of positions in Resp.
Maharsham, 5:26).
“THERE IS NO AGENCY FOR [THE COMMISSION OF] AN
OFFENSE.” ‘The codifiers disputed the legal import of this
rule. According to some, this rule is exclusively relevant in the
criminal realm. In other words: One does not punish a person
for an offence committed by another person operating as his
agent, despite the fact that in the civil sense the legal conse-
quences of the act are the same as they would have been had
the principal performed it himself (Netivot ha-Mishpat 182:1).
On the other hand, there is a view that extends this rule to
the civil dimension too, arguing that a prohibited action per-
formed by an agent also lacks any legal effect on the civil level
too, because by definition the act was not a subject of agency
(Resp. Nodah bi-Yehudah, 1* ed., EH, 64, 75).
The halakhic authorities disputed the applicatory scope
of the rule “there is no agency for [the commission of] an of-
fence”. According to Rabbina, there can be agency for an of-
fence wherever the agent “does not incur liability” (“eino bar
hiuva”) (BM 10ob). In reliance on this view, there are authori-
ties who rule that there can be agency for an offence wherever
the agent does not hesitate over whether to obey the teacher
(= God) or the student (the principal) and the principal can
rely on him to perform the agency, as in the case in which the
agent acts on the basis of a mistake (shogeg) (Rema, HM, 182:1,
and 348; and see Sema, ibid.).
According to R.Sama, the possibility of agency for an of-
fense is restricted to cases in which the agent does not exercise
free will or discretion regarding whether or not to commit the
act. In reliance on this view, other authorities ruled that can be
agency for the commission of an offence in cases in which the
agent acted under duress. However, other authorities dispute
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
this view too, and in their opinion the denial of agency for an
offence even applies where an act is committed under duress,
because the agent's act itself is nonetheless volitional, hence
the principal will not incur liability. On the other hand, the
agent too is exempted from liability for the same act by force
of the rule in Jewish Law, that a person acting under duress
is exempt from liability (Resp. Nodah bi-Yehudah, 1* ed., EH,
75; ibid., 80:16).
LEGAL CAPACITY. Apart from the disqualification of the
deaf, the mute, and minor from serving as an agent or a
principal, there is also a requirement that the agent and his
principal be of the same religious identity, even for the per-
formance of a legal action which is not of a religious charac-
ter, such as purchasing and selling. As such, one who is not
Jewish (ben brit) is disqualified from serving as the agent of
another Jewish person, or as his principal (Bavli, Kiddushin
41a). However, these restrictions were only established in re-
lation to agency for the performance of a legal act, but where
it concerns the performance of a material act (nuntius), even
if that act has legal ramifications, such as the paying of debt,
nothing prevents its performance by one who is not Jewish
(Resp. Hattam Sofer, oH 201).
DIGRESSION FROM AUTHORIZATION AND DAMAGE TO
THE PRINCIPAL'S INTERESTS. If the agent fundamentally
digresses from the terms of his authorization, his action is in-
valid ab initio (Maim, Yad. Hilkhot Sheluhin ve-Shutafim, 1:2).
If he discharged his agency in a manner that harms the eco-
nomic interests of the principal, his agency can be annulled by
the principal, who may claim “T sent you to repair and not to
damage” (Maim, Yad. Hilkhot Sheluhin ve-Shutafim, 1:2-3; Sh.
Ar. HM, 182:2-3, 6). Asa rule, regardless of whether the agency
was invalidated ab initio or annulled by the principal, the third
party must restore to the situation to what it was initially.
On the other hand, there are cases in which even if the
agent digressed from his authorization, or harmed the prin-
cipal’s interests, it is impossible to invalidate his actions in
respect of a third party or to return to the original situation.
In these cases the agent must indemnify the principal for the
damage he caused. For example: Where the agent did not
present himself as an agent in his dealings with a third party,
in other words, where the agency was hidden (Maim, Yad.
Hilkhot Sheluhin ve-Shutafim, 2:4; Sh. Ar. HM, 182:2); where
the principal does not succeed in proving that the agency was
only for the purpose of repairing and not to damage (Sh. Ar.
HM, 182:6, and Sema ibid., s.10); and according to some au-
thorities, where the agent intentionally mislead the third party
into thinking that he was acting under authorization (Shitah
Mekubezet, BM 74b, in the name of the Ra’abad).
In this context, the liability of an unpaid agent does not
differ from that of a paid agent (a middelman) (Sema., HM
185:1: “For even when not paid, the agent is liable when he di-
gresses”), however, if the agent has possession of the princi-
pal’s asset, then the liability imposed on him is that of a paid
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGENCY
bailee, if he was a paid agent; and of an unpaid *bailee if he
was an unpaid agent.
Secondary Agency
An agent can appoint a secondary agent, whose action will
directly credit and obligate the principal (Kid. 41a), provided
that the principal himself has no opposition (to the appoint-
ment) and the agency itself is not defined as ‘words’ (mili).
There is a dispute regarding the precise definition of the con-
cept ‘mili, but all agree that an action defined as mili is one
that does not achieve a legally valid result. For example, an
agent for the writing of a get (divorce bill) cannot appoint a
secondary agent, because the actual writing of a get has no le-
gal consequences (Mordechai, Gittin, 420)
The death of the principle agent does not annul the sec-
ondary agency (Git. 29b). From this it may be inferred that
the secondary agent operates as the extended arm of the prin-
cipal. Even so, it is still disputed whether the main principal
can annul the agency of the secondary agent (Taz, EH 26, and
on the other hand, Kezot ha-Hoshen, 188:2)
The Decisions of the Israel Supreme Court
The provisions of Jewish law regarding agency served as a
basis for the decision of the Israel Supreme Court in the case
of Moverman (ca 604/77 Moverman v. Segal, PD 32(3) 85). In
that case the Court was required to make a determination re-
garding the validity of an agreement that the executor of an
estate made with a woman who was designated as a benefi-
ciary of the estate. The agreement provided for a waiver of
the woman's rights under the will in exchange for the receipt
of a fixed monthly payment from the executor of the estate.
The Court found that the agreement contained a number of
legal flaws, such as a suspicion that the executor of the estate
exerted undue influence on the woman prior to her signing
the agreement. The Court (Justice Menachem Elon) did not
rely on that suspicion as the only reason for invalidating the
agreement, and ruled that according to Jewish law, a transac-
tion that the executor of an estate carries out regarding the
estate for his personal needs, requires prior approval by the
court, and if the executor did not take steps to obtain such ap-
proval prior to carrying out the transaction, the court must
engage in a “thorough examination of the reasonableness and
fairness of the transaction, vis-a-vis the estate and the benefi-
ciary (ibid., p. 97). The Court ruled on the question from the
perspective of the laws of agency:
The question of invalidating a legal transaction because of a sus-
picion of conflict of interest has been dealt with thoroughly in
Jewish law ... regarding the sale of the object of the agency ...
‘an agent cannot buy it for himself even for the price at which
the owner has authorized him to sell it’ (Sh. Ar., HM, 185:2).
According to the view of some of the sages ... the reason is
one of suspicion, in other words, a conflict of interest between
his acting on behalf of the principal and his acting on his own
behalf (see, e.g., Beit Yosef on the Tur, HM. ibid.; Prisha on
the Tur, HM 175:30, and Bach. ibid; Sema, Sh. Ar. HM 175:26).
453
AGGADAH
According to the view of other sages, the flaw inherent in an
agent buying for himself is rooted in the fact that in such a case
there has been no transfer from one domain to another:
‘For an agent cannot buy for himself, even at the price
that the owner has authorized him to sell it, inasmuch as he
was made an agent to sell the land to a client, but he cannot
authorize himself to buy it for himself, for a man cannot sell to
himself; for the definition of a sale is the transfer of the object
from one domain to another, and this hasn't left his domain
insofar as he is acting in place of the owner’ (Tur, HM, 185.3,
in the name of Rashba)” (Ibid, p. 98).
In accordance with the above, in addition to a similar
conclusion that is arrived at from the perspective of the laws
of inheritance and guardianship in Jewish Law (see under
Apotropos), Justice Elon rules that the validity of the transac-
tion that the executor has carried out for himself with regard
the estate that he is administering is contingent upon the prior
approval of the court. Because no such approval was given,
the transaction is subject to judicial review and the court must
“examine the nature and the essence of the transaction from
the perspective of what is in the best interests of the benefi-
ciary” (ibid, p. 101).
[Michael Wygoda (2"¢ ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Simmons, in; JQR, 8 (1896), 614-31; M. Cohn,
in: Zeitschrift fuer eergleiechemde faechtswissenschaft, 36 (1920), 124-13,
354-460; Gulak, Yesodei, 1 (1922), 42-50; 2 (1922), 198-9; 4 (1922),
54-60; Gulak, Ozar, 191-2, 272-9; t. H. Levinthal, Jewish Law of
Agency (1923); Herzog, Institutions, 2 (1939), 141-53; ET; 1 (1951),
338-42; 12 (1967), 135-98; Rakover, Ha-Shelihut ve-ha-Harshaah ba-
Mishpat ha-Ivri (1972); idem; Sinai, 63 (1968), 56-80; idem, H.E.
Baker, Legal System of Israel (1968), 118-21; 65 (1969), 117-38. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Elon, Ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri (1988), 1:100, 255,
288, 337f, 462-4, 526, 533-4, 573» 813; 2:1136, 12593 311345, 1362, 1464,
1628. idem, Jewish Law (1994), 1:112, 298, 342f, 404f; 2:564-6, 641f.,
649-51, 706, 996; 3:1364—65, 1505; 4:1606, 1625; 1739; 1939; idem, Jew-
ish Law: Cases and Materials (1999), 14-15; M. Elon and B. Lifshitz,
Mafteah ha-Sheelot ve-ha-Teshuvot shel Hakhmei Sefarad u-Zefon
Afrikah (1986), (2), 525-530; B. Lifshitz and E. Shochetman, Mafteah
ha-Sheelot ve-ha-Teshuvot shel Hakhmei Ashkenaz, Zarefat ve-Ita-
lyah (1997), 532-55; A. Kirshenbaum, Iyyunim bi-Shelihut li-Devar
Averah (1), Dinei Israel (4) 1973, 55; idem, “Ha-Kelal Milei Lo Mim-
seran le-Shaliah: Nituah Teoreti; in: Shenaton ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri, 5
(1978), 243; idem, “Ha-Kelal Milei Lo Mimseran le-Shaliah: Halakhah
le-Maaseh” in: Shenaton ha-Mishpat ha-Ivri, 6-7 (1979-1980), 271; S.
Shilo, She-elot Yesod be-Sugyat ha-Shelihut ba-Mishpat ha-Ivri be-
Hashvaah le-Hok ha-Shelihut, in: Dinei Israel, 9 (1978-1980),120; D.
Frimer, Hearot le-Sugyat Mahut ha-Shelihut, in: Shenaton ha-Mishpat
ha-Ivri, 10-11 (1982-1983) 113; D. Sinclair, Pasluto shel Goy be-Dinei
ha-Shelihut, in: ibid., 95; S. Etinger, Pirkei Shelihut ba-Mishpat ha-Ivri
(1999); M. Wygoda, “On the Relationship Between the Capacity to
Perform a Legal Task and the Capacity to Appoint an Agent to Per-
form It, in: Jewish Law Annual, 14:315-30.
AGGADAH or HAGGADAH (Heb. 1738, 773; “narrative”),
one of the two primary components of rabbinic tradition, the
other being halakhah, usually translated as “Jewish Law” (see:
Kadushin, The Rabbinic Mind, 59f.). The term aggadah itself is
454
notoriously difficult to define, and it has become the custom
among scholars to define aggadah by means of negation - as
the non-halakhic component of rabbinic tradition (Fraen-
kel, Midrash and Aggadah, 20). While fair enough, one must
be careful in adopting this approach not to define the paral-
lel term halakhah too narrowly. The halakhah of the rabbinic
tradition can be described in part as a system of laws, but not
infrequently it also has the character of a personal moral and
spiritual discipline. It can be expressed in the form of con-
crete judgments about specific cases, but also in rules involv-
ing varying degrees of abstraction and generality. Talmudic
tradition often uses stories to express a halakhah. This is ob-
viously so when the story reports an explicit legal precedent.
But it may also be true when a story merely describes the be-
havior of a notable sage, if it is understood that this behavior
is worthy of imitation. Despite the varied forms in which the
halakhah is expressed, the rules, judgments and precedents
included in talmudic literature all have one thing in common:
they all categorize specific forms of behavior and well defined
areas of experience in line with formal dichotomies, such as
“permissible” or “forbidden,” “pure” or “impure,” “holy” and
“profane,” etc. Aggadah, on the other hand, investigates and
interprets the meaning, the values, and the ideas which un-
derlie the specific distinctions which govern religious life. In
line with the accepted tendency to define aggadah as “that
which is not halakhah; one could say that the relation be-
tween aggadah and halakhah is similar to the relation between
theory and practice, between idea and application, and, in the
area of ethics, between character and behavior.
[Stephen G. Wald (24 ed.)]
‘The aggadah is first and foremost the creation of Palestin-
ian Jewry, from the time of the Second Temple to the end of
the talmudic period. Throughout that time, Palestine was the
meeting ground of different religions and cultures as well as
the field of violent political clashes. Its Jewry, confronted in-
cessantly by bitter struggles with a variety of foes from within
and without, evolved in the aggadah an ingenious instrument
for deriving guidance from the Torah, for educating the peo-
ple, strengthening their faith, and bolstering their pride and
courage. Though much aggadic material has been preserved
in the Babylonian Talmud, it, too, is predominantly of Pales-
tinian origin, as are all the older Midrashim. The contribution
of Babylonian Jewry in the field of aggadah, although often
reworking earlier Palestinian aggadic themes, often achieves
new levels of imagination and originality, frequently striking,
engaging, and earthy. Sometimes a “mere” linguistic clarifi-
cation can be the occasion for developing and elaborating a
fragmentary tradition in new and unexpected directions (see:
Friedman, BT Bava Mezia v1, Commentary, 148).
According to Bacher the word haggadah is derived from
the expression higgid (or maggid) ha-katuy, “Scripture related
[or relates],” with which an aggadic discourse often opened.
However, the aggadah did not always derive from biblical ex-
egesis, but often arose independently of it. The word aggadah
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
is rather to be understood as meaning simply “relating,” ie.,
events which have occurred, and in Sotah 7b “devarim shel
aggadah” is used in this sense (cf. B. Lifshitz, The Jewish Law
Yearbook, 22, 233-328, and the debate between Lifshitz and
J. Fraenkel in Netuim, 11-12 (2004), 63-91). The important
consideration here is the “telling,” the narration, the wording,
the style. The “telling,” in this instance aggadah, however, is
designed to touch the human heart (Yoma 75a), “so that one
should recognize Him who created the world, and so cling to
His ways” (Sif. Deut. 49). Its purpose is “to bring Heaven down
to earth and to elevate man to Heaven” (Zunz).
Content and Form
The aggadah comprehends a great variety of forms and con-
tent. It includes narrative, legends, doctrines, admonitions to
ethical conduct and good behavior, words of encouragement
and comfort, and expressions of hope for future redemption.
Its forms and modes of expression are as rich and colorful
as its content. Parables and allegories, metaphors and terse
maxims; lyrics, dirges, and prayers, biting satire and fierce
polemic, idyllic tales and tense dramatic dialogues, hyper-
boles and plays on words, permutations of letters, calcula-
tions of their arithmetical values (gematria) or their employ-
ment as initials of other words (notarikon) — all are found in
the aggadah. “Whatever the imagination can invent is found
in the aggadah, with one exception: ‘mockery and frivolity”
(Zunz), the purpose always being to teach man the ways of
God. The aggadah’s variegated contents and multiplicity of
forms can be accounted for by a consideration of its sources
and its manner of growth.
The Folkloristic Aggadah
Although the aggadic literature as known is an expression of
the ideas and feelings of the tannaim and amoraim, in many
instances it merely adapted ancient material to its needs.
Ready at hand were myths dating back to biblical times, pop-
ular legends of national heroes - patriarchs, prophets, and
kings - and fanciful stories, some the product of the Jewish
imagination and “wisdom,” and others remnants of the folk-
lore treasury of nearby and faraway peoples, which had be-
come judaized in the course of time. The sages, however, were
interested in establishing a connection between the current,
popular aggadah and the Bible. Many aggadot seem to stem
solely from Bible exegesis or a penetrating examination of the
text; yet modern scholarship has been able to determine the
place and time of their origin and so to separate the original
layers from the later additions of the sages. The study of the
epic literature of the ancient Orient, the apocrypha, and the
legends of other peoples has helped greatly in this regard, as
the following instances show. “R. Judah stated in the name of
*Rav: ‘When the Holy One blessed be He sought to build the
world, He said to the Prince of the Sea “Open your mouth and
swallow all the waters in the world.” He said to Him “Master of
the World, it is enough that I should retain my own” Imme-
diately He struck him with his foot and he died, as it is said:
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AGGADAH
“He breaks the sea with His power; with His understanding
He smites through *Rahab”’” (BB 74b). Similar statements
(Ginzberg, Legends Jews, 5 (1925), 17-18, 26-27) are merely
the traditional myths of the revolt of the sea which were pre-
served in popular memory, and which parallel, fundamentally,
the Mesopotamian myth of the war of the god creator against
Tiamat, and Canaanite legends recorded in the Ugaritic in-
scriptions (Cassuto, in: Keneset, 8 (1943), 141-2).
It is related in a baraita that when an accused adulteress
was being summoned to confess, she was reminded of biblical
parallels for confession, as when not only *Judah but *Reu-
ben too, “confessed and were not ashamed” (Sot. 7b; Sif. Deut.
35:5). With regard to Reuben this is not evident from the bib-
lical narrative itself, but in the Talmud it is derived from the
text by homiletical exegesis, by comparing it with the passage,
“May Reuben live and not die.... And this he said for Judah”
(Deut. 33:6-7; Sot. ibid.). The details of the story, however, ap-
pear in the apocryphal Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
(Reu. 3). The influence of universal folklore on the aggadah
is especially evident in the proverbs and fables. Late talmudic
and post-talmudic sources ascribe to *Hillel the knowledge of
the “conversations of trees and clouds, and of the beasts and
animals” (Sof. 16:9), an element common to the folklore of all
peoples. Another relatively late tradition (Suk. 28a) states that
his pupil, Johanan b. Zakkai, knew the parables of laundrymen
and fox fables. The amora, Johanan, related that R. Meir had
known 300 fox fables. On the other hand, there is no confir-
mation from tannaitic sources for this claim, and it seems that
the real “hero” of this tradition is the early amora, Bar Kap-
para, whose talents in this field may have been transferred to
the earlier figure R. Meir by the aggadah (see: Friedman, The
Talmudic Parable, 28). For his own part Johanan states that
he himself knew only three such fables (concerning which
he quotes only three biblical verses): “The fathers have eaten
sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Ezek.
18:2); “Just balances, just weights” (Lev. 19:36); “The righteous
is delivered out of trouble” (Prov. 11:8). The Talmud (Sanh.
38b-39a) takes it for granted that the fables to which these
verses correspond were known to all. When *Hai Gaon was
asked to expatiate upon Johanan’s statement, he said: “Know
that these fables contain moral lessons which are presented as
if they emanated from the mouths of the beasts of the fields,
like the writings of the Hindus which are called Kitab Kalila
wa-Dimna and which contain moral lessons, wise sayings, and
metaphors in the forms of animal fables. As for these fables of
R. Meir, each was attached to a biblical verse which expressed
a similar idea. So the story would be told: ‘It happened that
a lion caught a fox and wanted to eat it. The fox said to him:
What do I possess that can appease your appetite ..”” (B.M.
Levin, Ozar ha-Geonim, 6, pt. 2, on Sukkah (1934), 31-32).
A more Jewish version of the fable is quoted by Rashi (in
Sanh. 39a). Sometimes only the proverb or moral teaching is
given, the story itself being known from Aesop or from In-
dian fables. At other times only the title of the story is men-
tioned: “Said R. Ammi: ‘Come and see how great are the men
455
AGGADAH
of faith. From what is this derived? - from the incident of the
weasel and the well. If it is so with one who trusts a weasel
and a well, how much more so with one who trusts in God’”
(Taan. 8a and Rashi ibid.). Yet other stories which were widely
known among all peoples have no known earlier source than
the aggadah. Although these are recorded as incidents in the
lives of the sages, they have a folk origin (pdrxk 7 - the story
about R. Simeon b. Yohai - this tale of the wise farmer’s daugh-
ter has spread among the Germanic, Slavic, and Romanian
peoples). “The Jews may well be described as the great dis-
seminators of folklore. Many a legend that originated in Egypt
or Babylonia was appropriated by the European peoples, and
many a European fairy tale found its way to Asia through the
medium of the Jews, who on their long wanderings from the
East to the West, and back from the West to the East, brought
the products of Oriental fancies to the occidental nations, and
the creations of occidental imagination to the Oriental peo-
ples” (Ginzberg, Legends Jews, 5 (1925), vii).
The Discourse
From the earliest times the public reading from the Torah and
the prophetic books occupied a prominent place in the syn-
agogue service (BK 82a; TJ, Meg. 1:1, 70b). “They read in the
book, in the Law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense
and caused them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:8). At the
conclusion of the reading, an exposition adapted to the level of
the listeners would be delivered. This exposition contained the
seeds of the derashah or discourse, which may be regarded as
a continuation of the activities of the prophets “who reproved
in the gates” (Isa. 29:21; Amos 5:10). The ordinance requiring
the appropriate exposition to be delivered before the festivals
was regarded as of the greatest antiquity, the sages asserting:
“Moses ordained that Israel should enquire and expound con-
cerning the Festivals” (Sif. Num. 66). Philo mentions the dis-
course many times (De Somniis 2:127; Apologia 7:12). On the
Sabbath that Paul came to Antioch, after the Torah and haf-
tarah reading, the congregants turned to him and asked him
whether he wished to preach (Acts 13:14-15). Gamaliel, Joshua,
Eleazar b. Azariah, and Akiva delivered discourses in Rome
(Ex. R. 30:9). There is also an account of Akiva’s address in the
town of Ginzak in Media (Gen. R. 33:5). These discourses were
delivered to the common people, in some instances gentiles
being present in the audience. “At the time the elder sits and
discourses, many strangers become proselytes” (Song R. 4:2).
The “words of admonition” spoken on fast days were none
other than a derashah (Taan. 2:1; Tosef., Taan. 1:8). Addresses
were also delivered on the occasion of family joys and sorrows
(Ket. 8b). People flocked to these addresses (Sot. 40a), and en-
joyed listening to them. It was accurately said: ““The delights of
the sons of man’ - these are the aggadot, which are Scripture’s
delight” (Eccl. R. 2:8). The aggadah eventually became the core
of the discourse, the preacher utilizing the occasion to point
to the virtues and faults of his audience, to voice their feelings
and aspirations, to scrutinize the events of the time, and to
judge their deeds and those of their enemies. Whatever he had
456
to say would be linked to the portion of Scripture they had just
heard. At times it is difficult to determine whether the biblical
exegesis is the source of the aggadic idea or whether the idea
was read into the Scriptural passage. This, however, is imma-
terial. The spirit of the Bible pulsates in these derashot. Only
individuals permeated with this spirit, in whom the words of
the Bible had become alive, could relate their thoughts and
feelings so closely to the text as to emerge with an exegesis and
aggadic idea which seem, at times, to have arisen simultane-
ously. This total involvement with Scripture also explains why,
despite the wide differences in the form, style and content of
aggadic literature, and the vast distances in time and often in
space which it spanned, no radical differences in its essential
nature are perceivable.
In addition to its role in the public address, aggadah was
studied and taught in the academies. Periods of instruction
and study would be enlivened by aggadic interludes. When
R. Zeira, on one occasion, was not up to delivering a halakhic
discourse, he was besought, “Let the Master deliver an aggadic
exposition,’ the latter requiring less exertion (Taan. 7a). The
exegesis of some word in the course of a halakhic investigation
would often lead to an aggadic discourse (BB 78b). The word-
ing of a halakhah would sometimes recall a popular maxim
(BK 92b). Obviously the aggadic expositions of the sages in the
academies were subsequently made use of by popular preach-
ers, just as those of the public sermons found their way back
to the academies. The aggadah is a fusion of both.
Aggadic Methods
The freedom of interpretation allowed to the aggadah is given
expression in the 32 hermeneutical principles included in the
*Baraita of the Thirty-two Rules attributed to Eliezer b. Yose
the Galilean (appearing in the printed editions of the Babylo-
nian Talmud after the tractate Berakhot and in Mishnat Rabbi
Eliezer (ed. by H.G. Enelow (1933), 10 ff.)), but probably post-
talmudic in its present formulation. Some of these principles
are the same as those used in halakhic exposition, such as the
seven principles of Hillel and the thirteen of R. Ishmael. Oth-
ers are either exclusively or generally intended for the aggadah.
Not invented by the sages, they closely resemble the exegetical
methods used by the Greek orators and the grammarians of
the ancient world (see: Lieberman, Hellenism). The talmudic
sages employed these principles in finding scriptural allusions
to and support for their ideas and in holding the attention and
interest of their audiences. To personify the relationship be-
tween God and the people of Israel, the talmudic sages like
the interpreters of Homer, from Anaxagoras onward, and like
Philo of Alexandria, used parables as allegories. The aggadah
knows of no conflict between literal and figurative explana-
tions. The verb “pashat” is used both in reference to the plain
or literal meaning (peshat) and to interpretations which are
obviously homiletic (derash). Only toward the end of the
amoraic period does the rule appear: “A verse cannot depart
from its plain meaning” (Shab. 63a; Yev. 11b; cf. Bacher, Exege-
tische Terminologie der Juedischen Traditions literatur, 2 (1905),
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
170-3; R. Loewe in: Papers of the Institute of Jewish Studies,
London (1964), 140-85) and a distinction was thus established
between the two. (See also *Midrash.)
The Structure and Style of the Discourse
The derashot or discourses of the tannaim and amoraim have
rarely come down in their original form. Ideas that were once
coherent are now separated and scattered. In the extant Tal-
muds they are fragmented, joined with other elements, and
removed from their original order. To the words of the early
expositors the remarks of the later sages on the same topic
have been added. Most evidence on the arrangement of the
addresses dates back to amoraic times. The Talmud states
that R. Meir would devote one third of his discourse to hala-
khah, one third to aggadah, and the rest to parables (Sanh.
38b). Since the discourses were based primarily on the weekly
Torah and haftarah readings, some preachers would link ele-
ments from both. Indeed, the linking together of verses from
all three divisions of the Bible and the exposition of Torah
verses through verses in the other books was an integral part
of the discourse. The Midrash relates that “R. Eliezer and R.
Joshua ... sat and occupied themselves with Torah ... and they
linked (the correct reading is horzin) words of the Torah to
the Prophets, and of the Prophets to the Hagiographa ...” (Ty,
Hag. 2:1, 77b; cf. Lev. R. 16:4).
A striking feature of most extant Midrashim is the proem
or introduction (petihah). A verse from a remote source, usu-
ally the Hagiographa or the later Prophets, is adduced. This
verse is then interpreted and eventually associated with the
section to be expounded, at which point the preacher con-
cludes by repeating the original verse. In some aggadic Mi-
drashim, a series of proems (petihot) serve as introductions
to the systematic exposition of an entire portion of the Torah.
Although it seems that each petihah served as the introduction
to a specific sermon, some were, very likely, complete sermons
in themselves (Heinemann, in: Fourth World Congress of Jew-
ish Studies, 1968). Vestiges of such sermons as delivered by the
tannaim have been preserved. The petihah, though primarily
an expository instrument, also served the purpose of empha-
sizing the unity of the Bible.
It was customary to conclude aggadic discourses with
words of comfort. The sages took note that “all the prophets
began with words of reproof and ended with words of com-
fort” (PdRK ed. Mandelbaum, 238). Sometimes the conclusion
of the discourse flowed naturally from the content of the dis-
course; sometimes it was a deliberate addition. There are many
stylistic resemblances between the derashah and the stoic and
cynic diatribe, both being rich in dramatic description, an-
ecdote, and antithesis. In these discourses, dialogues are cre-
ated within the context of biblical events, e.g., “The Egyptians
said, ‘Let us flee from the face of Israel’ The wicked and fool-
ish among them said: ‘Shall we flee from before the afflicted
and degraded people? Shall we flee from before Israel?’ The
wise among them replied: “Let us indeed flee from the face of
Israel’” (Mekh., Be-Shalah, 8).
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AGGADAH
The aggadic expositors focused their attention upon top-
ics of everyday life, not hesitating to color their remarks with
popular maxims, some translated from Greek to Aramaic
while others were retained in the original. Aggadic homilies,
often faithful reflections of actual customs and institutions of
the Roman Empire, are rich in analogy: “This may be com-
pared to aking ...” “To a prince ...” and the like.
Two styles may be discerned in the aggadah, one simple
and the other ornate. In the first, the folklore basis is clearly
evident. There is no striving after refinement; no embellish-
ment is added and the language itself is sharp, and even coarse.
In the second, the refined and the pleasant, the arresting and
the attractive, are consciously sought after. In most aggadic
works both styles are indiscriminately represented. Points of
contact between the heikhalot literature and rabbinic sources
may occasionally be detected in the Talmuds and Midrashim
(see: G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and
Talmudic Tradition (1962), 23-27), as well as rudiments of po-
etry (Mirsky in: yMHSI, 7 (1958), 1-129). The tannaitic homi-
lies may be seen as representing the first stirring of the *piyyut
style, the later amoraim refining and polishing until the piyyut
form was finally assumed (see: Mirsky, ibid., passim).
Historical Aggadah
This category consists of additions and supplements to the
Bible narrative and ancient aggadot preserved among the
people, some dating back to Bible times themselves. Incidents
and deeds only hinted at in Scripture serve as the kernels of
dramatic accounts. Minor biblical figures become leading he-
roes. Biblical heroes become prototypes, for instance Abra-
ham is the archetype of all proselytizers, Esau the fashioner
of violence and deceit. In aggadic history, the limitations of
space and time are transcended and anachronisms abound.
Shem and Eber, for example, founded academies (battei mi-
drash) where Jacob studied Torah (Gen. R. 63:9). Biblical he-
roes and their deeds are freed from the restraining bonds of
time, the aggadic authors striving to discover in them mean-
ing for their own and for their subsequent generations. The
verse: “The voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the
hands of Esau” is seen as the contrast not only between Jacob
and Esau but also between their descendants, Israel and Rome,
for “the deeds of the fathers are a sign to the children” In the
aggadah can be found side by side a tendency to clear national
heroes of all guilt, to exalt and glorify the nation and its past,
and harsh criticism of even the patriarchs and the prophets.
What is more, these two attitudes do not necessarily repre-
sent opposing views of different sages, but may even appear
in the dicta of the same rabbi. Yet there is no contradiction or
lack of consistency. For when they spoke of the past, their eyes
were fixed on the present. Just as they desired to comfort and
encourage by their words of praise, so were their critical ob-
servations intended to reprove and chastise. Yet their attitude
to the present did not always determine their outlook on the
past (see: Urbach, in: Molad (1961), 368-74). Aggadic litera-
ture even preserved stories and legends which were “foreign
457
AGGADAH
growths in the vineyards of Israel.” Some of these had trav-
eled far before reaching the Jewish people; others were the
creations of propagandizing sects and parties now extinct.
Later generations, while still maintaining their fierce hatred
of the sects, accepted vestiges of their doctrines without being
aware of their origins. Parallels in the apocryphal literature,
in Philo and Josephus, and in the early Church Fathers attest
to the antiquity of aggadot of this type. In the course of time
the historical aggadah was expanded. To the portrayal of the
history of Israel in the distant past, was added a description
of the sufferings and disasters and the gratifications and con-
solations of the present. Alongside the stories of Bible heroes,
biographical details of the tannaim and amoraim, their deeds,
virtues, conduct, and manners, were introduced. With the ob-
vious pleasure taken by the aggadists in the actual telling of a
story, it must not be forgotten that their principal motive was
not to create works of art, but to aid man, to instruct him “to
know how to fear God and walk in His ways.”
Doctrines
Systematic philosophies or theological doctrines are not to
be found in the aggadah (see: Kadushin, The Rabbinic Mind,
280-81). Nevertheless, numerous attempts are made to provide
well considered, if fragmentary, answers to questions concern-
ing God, His attributes, the secret of Divine Providence, His
rule over man and creation, the nature of idolatry, the source,
character, and purpose of human existence, the relationship
of man to God and to the world, the problem of the righteous
and the wicked, reward and punishment, the position of the
Jews among the gentile nations, the mission of the Jews, the
Messianic era, and the world-to-come. It is true that the eso-
teric doctrine of “what is above and below; what came before
and will come afterward” only concerned the elect, who were
bold enough to enter the world of mysticism and to occupy
themselves with the “Creation” and “Chariot” chapters of the
Bible (Gen. 1 and Ezek. 1), but many esoteric teachings be-
came part and parcel of the aggadah. The older works of the
aggadah are also the most ancient sources of Jewish mysticism
(Urbach, in: Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to G.
Scholem (1967), Heb. sect. 1-28).
On all other topics most of the fannaim and amoraim ex-
pressed their views freely. There is hardly a generation which
did not submit contradictory solutions to the problems men-
tioned above. To mention a few examples: Bet Shammai and
Bet Hillel differed on whether the heavens or the earth were
created first. Four generations later, R. Simeon delivered his
opinion: both were created simultaneously, like a pot and its
lid (Gen. R. 1:15). The amora, Resh Lakish, differs and offers
a compromise: “When they were created, He created heaven
first and afterward the earth; when He stretched them forth,
He stretched forth the earth first and afterward the heaven”
(Hag. 12a).
Again, in respect to proselytes, the Talmud contrasts
Shammai’s impatience with them to the well known patience
of Hillel (Shab. 31a). These opposing attitudes are ascribed to
458
amoraim as well. R. Eleazar, in the third century, declared:
“God dispersed the Jews among the nations only that prose-
lytes should join them” (Pes. 87b). R. Helbo, a generation later,
made the biting remark: “Proselytes are as hard for Israel to
endure as a scab (sappahat), as it is written (Isa. 14:1): ‘And the
stranger shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave
(nispah) to the house of Jacob” (Yev. 47b).
The verse, “This book of the law shall not depart out of
thy mouth all the days of thy life” (Josh. 1:8) was interpreted
by R. Ishmael to mean “Make them follow the way of the
world” i.e., engage in normal occupations. Simeon b. Yohai
objected: “Is it possible that man should plow in the proper
season, sow in the proper season, reap in the harvest sea-
son? What will happen to the Torah? But when Israel obeys
the will of the All-Present, its chores are performed by oth-
ers.’ On this, the amora Abbaye commented: “Many followed
the advice of Ishmael and it worked well, of Simeon b. Yohai
and failed” Abbaye’s colleague, Rava, forbade the sages
to gather at the academy during the harvest seasons (Ber.
35b).
R. Eliezer and R. Joshua disagreed as to whether the re-
demption of Israel is conditional upon its repentance, the
controversy reappearing in a different version several gen-
erations later, between Rav and Samuel. “Rav said: ‘All pre-
destined dates have passed. Everything now depends on re-
pentance and good deeds? Samuel said: ‘It is sufficient for the
mourner to keep his period of mourning’” (i.e., they will be
redeemed even without repentance; Sanh. 97b). Special em-
phasis was given to those derashot dealing with the Messiah,
the world to come, resurrection, the redemption of Israel
and of the world. Here too, controversies abound, some sages
adopting the apocalyptic trend and others a more realistic ap-
proach. All, however, share a common conviction — the even-
tual triumph of the Jewish people over all their sufferings, and
the ultimate victory of Judaism over all the world’s evils and
abominations. All that has been said in this regard revolves
around two poles: the nation and its land, on the one hand,
and the universal, the perfection of the world on the other. It
would be surprising if aggadic literature, which grew over a
period of over 1,000 years in lands of different religions and
cultures, did not bear the imprint of time and place. Foreign
languages (Greek in Erez Israel, Persian in Babylonia) en-
riched the Hebrew and Aramaic vocabularies; elements of
Platonic, Stoic, and Pythagorean philosophies, and concepts
which had gained currency in the prevalent Hellenistic cul-
ture infiltrated into the aggadah. Political and religious events
also influenced trends of beliefs and doctrines in certain areas
of the aggadah. On certain issues of religious thought, there
were many-sided polemics which persisted for many genera-
tions. The later sages revived the discussions of the problems
from the changed perspective of their own times (Urbach, in:
Y. Kaufmann Jubilee Volume (1960), Heb. sect., 122-48) with
even greater vigor and boldness. The editors of the aggadah
collected the various views pro and con, and left them side
by side, since in their opinion all were “the words of the liv-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ing God.” The ethical doctrines in the aggadah, the teaching
and preaching of virtuous conduct to the public, clearly re-
flect not only the views and opinions of the sages who strove
for human betterment, but also the political, social, and cul-
tural environment of the generations to whom they addressed
themselves. They brought all classes, without prejudice, under
critical review. Even the sages themselves were not spared. The
spiritual trends and the various sects, whether they remained
within the Jewish fold or abandoned it, left their impress on
the aggadah. Stories, interpretations of verses, and many dicta
are eminently polemics against Sadducean, Gnostic, Christian,
and especially Judeo-Christian sects. The aggadic sages rebut
the charges of emperors, various heretics, and even philoso-
phers against the Torah - and then go over to the attack.
Whatever the Jewish people, including its sages, scribes,
teachers, and preachers, thought or felt during a period of
more than 1,000 years is reflected in the aggadah. Later gen-
erations found in this great treasury the expression of their
own deepest feelings. On the one hand they derived support
and proofs for their views and concepts, and on the other,
they were able, when necessary, to declare that the aggadic
view contrary to their own was not binding, or that it con-
stituted a foreign addition. The attitudes of scholars and rab-
bis toward the aggadah - its literary or free interpretation,
its evaluation as binding doctrine or as imaginative, liter-
ary creation - differed widely at various periods in history.
Even after the aggadah had ceased to grow and other modes
of creative expression had replaced it (i-e., piyyut, philoso-
phy, Kabbalah), it remained a perennial source of inspiration
and insight.
The Aggadists
Although most of the masters of the aggadah excelled in hala-
khah as well, there were sages, tannaim, and amoraim, who
specialized in aggadah. Although it was said of Akiva that he
“composed halakhic and aggadic interpretations” (TJ, Shek.
5:1, 48c), the Talmud ascribes to one of his contemporaries,
Eleazar b. Azariah, a negative evaluation of his expertise in
aggadah: “Akiva, what have you to do with the aggadah? Cease
your talk, and turn to the laws of Nega’im and Oholot” (Hag.
14a). R. Tarfon is reported to have said of R. Ishmael: “He is
a great scholar and expert in homiletic exposition” (MK 28b).
R. Johanan stated in the name of R. Eleazar b. R. Simeon,
“Wherever you find the words of R. Eleazar b. R. Yose the
Galilean, shape your ear like a funnel” (Hul. 89a). Among the
Palestinian amoraim were many masters of the aggadah; R.
Jonathan, R. Samuel b. Nahman, R. Isaac Nappaha, R. Levi, R.
Abba b. Kahana, R. Berechiah, and R. Tanhuma are especially
famous as aggadists. Some of them apparently, are referred to
by the collective name, rabbanan de-aggadeta (“the rabbis of
the aggadah,’ Ty, Ma’as. 1:2, 48d; TJ, Yev. 4:2, 5c). They were
not immune to criticism, however. It is told of R. Zeira that
he used to rebuke the aggadic expositors, calling them “magi-
cian scribes” and characterizing their interpretations as turn-
ing over and over and conveying nothing (TJ, Maas. 3:9, 51a).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGGADAH
R. Johanan’s thrust, “There is a tradition transmitted by my
fathers not to teach aggadah to a Babylonian or a southerner
since they are uncouth and not learned in Torah” (1, Pes. 5:3,
32a; Pes. 62b), is no more than a rejoinder to remarks such as
those expressed by R. Ze’ira.
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica]
Women in Aggadah
The many aggadic images of females and the feminine offer
a complex, nuanced portrait of women. Through midrashic
expansions of biblical narratives and rounding out of biblical
characters, biblical women are given a voice, albeit a voice fil-
tered through the minds of men. In aggadah, one hears Sarah
protesting her imprisonment in the house of Pharaoh (Gen.
Rab. 41:2), Leah praying that her last child will be a daughter
(b. Ber. 60a), and Rachel describing how she assisted her father
in his deception of Jacob in order to protect her sister from
embarrassment (Lam. Rab. Proem 24). Biblical women, like
their male counterparts, are constructed in aggadah as para-
digms and models for all Jews; thus Tamar’s willingness to be
burnt unless Judah identified his seal, staff and cord serves to
teach that “it is better that a person throw himself into a fiery
furnace than shame his fellow in public” (b. Ber. 43b). The
range of aggadah illustrates that there is no monolithic rab-
binic view of women; classical aggadah includes both acco-
lades and sharp critiques. While the women of the generation
of the Exodus are praised for their faith and devotion (Midrash
Tanhuma Pinhas 7), Eve is blamed for “corrupting Adam”
and “extinguishing his soul” (Gen. Rab. 17:8). Just as there
are aggadot that praise the good qualities of the matriarchs,
so too there are aggadot that highlight their shortcomings. In
many aggadot that describe some aspect of the relationship
between God and the people Israel, Israel is portrayed in the
feminine. When God is compared in parables to a “flesh and
blood king,’ Israel may be portrayed as the king’s consort or
his daughter. These parables are used to describe the divine-
human relationship as one marked by love, anger, betrayal
and reunion. The use of the feminine to symbolize Israel is
inconsistent; parables are equally likely to characterize Israel
as God's son. It would be incorrect to read the emotional tur-
moil of the king-parables as an indication of rabbinic dislike of
women or as a critique on family life among the ancient rabbis.
Instead, these aggadot demonstrate the rabbis’ willingness to
identify, as part of collective Israel, with the feminine. Scholars
who have attempted to compare or contrast attitudes toward
women in halakhah and aggadah have drawn no clear-cut
conclusions. At times, aggadic traditions attempt to explain
or justify women’s legal status and obligations. Some discus-
sions of the three commandments especially associated with
women (separation of dough, separation during menstruation,
and lighting the Sabbath lights) describe these responsibili-
ties as punishment or atonement for the shortcomings of Eve
(Gen. Rab. 17:8). In other cases, aggadah may serve to soften
or critique a law that touches on the lives of women, as in the
case of divorce (Gittin 35a).
[Dvora E. Weisberg (24 ed.)]
459
AGGADAH
WOMEN’S OTHERNESS. Although aggadic views about
women vary, they are generally based on the conviction of
women’ essential alterity from men. “Women are a separate
people” (Shabbat 62a) asserts the predominant supposition
that the physical characteristics, innate capacities, and social
functions of females are inherently dissimilar and generally
less valued than those of males. Niddah 31b points out that
males are welcomed at birth because of their physical potential
for generativity and because they enter the covenant through
circumcision. Females, on the other hand, are not a cause for
celebration; they are empty wombs requiring male insemina-
tion, their birth delays their parents’ resumption of sexual re-
lations by an additional week, and their menstruation requires
them to be separated from their husbands for almost half of
each month. Woman's otherness is said to originate in the sec-
ondary nature of her creation. The final segment of Niddah
31b suggests that the preferred position for sexual intercourse
is that in which the man, on top, looks towards his origins in
the earth (i.e., to the cosmic substance from which God cre-
ated him) while the woman, facing upward, looks toward the
man from whose body she was created. The assumption that
the initial human creation was a solitary male from whose
body a woman was subsequently built is the view that most
commonly appears in the rabbinic aggadah (e.g., Ketubbot
8a; Gen. Rab. 18:2). Several extended aggadic narratives cata-
log and justify a series of female disabilities as consequences
of the lesser nature of female creation and the first woman's
subsequent deleterious moral choices (Gen. Rab. 17:8; ARN B
9; Eruvin 100b). Aggadic passages reflect anxiety regarding
women’s sexual unreliability; unaccompanied women in the
public sphere are suspect and may be divorced (Ketubbot 7:6;
Gittin 90b); women gathering in groups are connected with
witchcraft (Pesahim 8:7; Avot 2:7; Pesahim 110<, 1114). Hav-
ing to wear a veil outside of the domestic sphere (Sotah 3:8)
is seen as a female burden connected with guilt and shame
(Gen. Rab. 17:8; Eruvin 100b); ARN B 9 comments: “In the
same way Eve disgraced herself and caused her daughters to
cover their heads.” A woman who remains veiled even within
the home is truly pious and will be rewarded (Yoma 47a). For-
eign women, like Hagar (Gen. 16-21) and Cozbi (Num. 25),
are usually understood to exemplify unrestrained sexuality
and ill will towards Israel and are represented with particular
hostility in aggadic sources (Gen. Rab. 53:13-14; Meilah 17b;
b. Sanhedrin 82a; Num. Rab. 21:3). Rahab, the noble harlot of
Joshua 2 and 5:25, and Ruth, the Moabite ancestress of King
David, are among the few women from outside the Israelite
community who are praised, essentially because each is un-
derstood to have joined herself to the community of Israel
through faith and marriage (Zevahim 116a-b; Megillah 14b;
Sifre Num. 78; Ruth Rab. 2:1).
[Judith R. Baskin (2"4 ed.)]
The Aggadah in Modern Scholarship
Leopold *Zunz’s classic work, Die Gottesdienstlichen Vortraege
der Juden (1832), marks the beginning of modern research
460
in the field of aggadah. Ever since then, scholars, prominent
among them Nachman *Krochmal, S. *Rapoport, S. *Buber,
A.H. *Weiss, A. *Epstein M. *Friedmann, J. *Theodor, W.
*Bacher, H. *Albeck, and I. *Heinemann, have concentrated
on three tasks: (1) to publish critical and corrected editions
and also such material as was still in manuscript, (2) to com-
pile the aggadic treasury in some systematic form; and (3) to
examine the contents, ideas, and methods of the midrashim
and thus to determine the dates of the various works. An es-
pecially significant and original contribution was made by
Bacher, who gathered and arranged in chronological order,
the aggadic material of all the tannaim and amoraim, thus
making the aggadic creation of each sage accessible, and en-
abling us to assess his particular approach and “world of ideas.”
Bacher’s works: Die Agadah der Tannaiten (1878) and Die
Agadah der Palaestinensischen Amoraeer (1892-99) were pub-
lished in German and translated into Hebrew. Louis *Ginz-
berg, in his Legends of the Jews (1909-38), arranged the aggadot
around a chronology of biblical personalities and events.
His collection is extraordinarily rich and broad in scope,
and his notes and explanations are a gold mine of informa-
tion on the history of the aggadah, especially in its relation to
the Apocrypha and Patristic Literature. The Sefer ha-Aggadah
of *Bialik and *Rawnitzki is a popular work which has achieved
a very wide circulation. It includes most of the important
branches of the aggadah, (in Hebrew translation, where
the sources are in Aramaic). The first section is arranged in
chronological order, the second, according to topics. The
compilers found it necessary to graft versions to one another,
and also to omit material offensive to the modern reader.
A subject index is appended to the work. First published
in 1910, the Sefer ha-Aggadah has gone through eighteen
impressions, including an enlarged edition published in
1936.
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica]
Later Studies
Since the 1970s, when literary theory emerged as a burgeoning
field of interest, intersecting with other areas of inquiry, stud-
ies in aggadah have been marked by an increasing awareness
of its literary features. Scholars, primarily in North America,
but also in Israel, have come to pay less attention to the his-
torical veracity of aggadic texts, and to focus their attention
more on the “literariness” of classical rabbinic texts. Underly-
ing this new trend in the study of aggadah is the notion that
rabbinic stories not only reflect beliefs, values, and customs,
but also possess the earmarks of literature and should thus be
examined in light literary motifs, themes, and structure. Many
contemporary scholars are thus no longer interested, for ex-
ample, in how a story about a certain rabbi may be utilized in
constructing his historical biography. Instead, rabbinic narra-
tives are analyzed in terms of their literary quality. At the same
time, however, they are regarded as artifacts that function as
conveyors and mediators of rabbinic culture. The historical
import of narratives is therefore undiminished to the extent
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
that they yield insight into the milieu of those who recorded,
transmitted and lived by them.
The following is a précis of some of the many works that
have affected contemporary studies of aggadah.
Neusner’s The Development of a Legend has proven to be
a turning point in the field of rabbinics. Here he methodically
demonstrates how stories depicting the life of Rabbi Johanan
Ben Zakkai evolved into what is considered the “normative
tradition,’ and how they tell us more about those who pro-
duced the narratives or deemed them authoritative than about
the actual personage. Rather than viewing the corpus of rab-
binic literature as monolithic, Neusner’s source and form-criti-
cal analyses highlighted the importance of the diachronic, as
well as structural aspects of rabbinic texts. More fundamen-
tally, his work called attention to the need to explore basic as-
sumptions about the nature of rabbinic literature. Neusner’s
underlying assumptions, shared by his compatriots in biblical
studies - Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament - provided
the basis for much future study in rabbinics.
Advancements in literary studies and theory attracted
such scholars as Boyarin and Stern, whose work exemplify
the interdisciplinary approach to aggadah and Midrash that
broadly speaking characterizes the general trend in North
American research into rabbinics today. Boyarin’s Intertextu-
ality and the Reading of Midrash, dealing primarily and ex-
plicitly with Midrash through a postmodern critical lens, is a
significant contribution to the field of academic rabbinic re-
search. Here Boyarin discusses rabbinic interpretation as dis-
course that is historically and ideologically situated. Through
a study of the Mekhilta and its use of quotations, he illustrates
how rabbinic interpretation is both the continuation and dis-
ruption of tradition. Although the work does not deal with
aggadah per se, it provides a methodological framework for
analyzing rabbinic narratives, and as such it has been regarded
by many scholars as groundbreaking. Stern's Parables in Mi-
drash is an in-depth analysis of the function of the mashal
(parable) in rabbinic literature that explores its compositional
and exegetical techniques, its rhetoric and role in midrashic
discourse. Stern draws the conclusion that parables about
kings constitute the preeminent form of narrative in rabbinic
texts. Although he emphasizes the mashal, Stern also exam-
ines other literary forms such as the petihta (the proem of
the homiletic Midrash), and the maaseh (reportage). Stern’s
later work, Midrash and Theory, investigates rabbinic texts
theoretically and deals squarely with the impact of literary
criticism on rabbinic exegesis. Kugel’s In Potiphar’s House ex-
amines a series of stories that elaborate on the Joseph narra-
tive in Genesis. Here he traces the development of aggadah
vis-a-vis traditions found in sources as diverse as early Chris-
tian writing, piyyut, and the Qur'an, in light of the manner by
which exegetical motifs are created and evolve. In addition to
examining the historical development of rabbinic narratives,
in the final chapter of his book, “Nine Theses,” he reflects on
several aspects of Midrash and aggadah, and formulates gen-
eral conclusions about the workings of early biblical exegesis.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGGADAH
Kugel’s The Bible as it Was, an expansive collection of bibli-
cal interpretation, also contributes significantly to the study
of rabbinic narratives in so far as it offers erudite commen-
tary on the ancient interpretive traditions, and elucidates how
they in turn gave rise to crucial transformations in the mean-
ing of a biblical story.
Talmudic scholars, such as Kalmin and Rubenstein, have
focused on the study of aggadah in the Talmud. In The Sage
in Jewish Society of Late Antiquity, Kalmin compares stories
produced more or less at the same time but in different loca-
tions. By doing so, he demonstrates how the differences be-
tween Babylonian and Palestinian rabbinic social structures
help explain distinctions between depictions of biblical he-
roes in aggadic texts. In the same vein of attempting to read
narratives for their cultural significance, in Talmudic Stories:
Narrative Art, Composition and Culture, Rubenstein closely
examines six talmudic stories with an eye toward both liter-
ary aspects and cultural contexts.
Israeli scholarship has also contributed to the study of
aggadah from a literary and interdisciplinary perspective.
First and foremost, the comprehensive works of Isaac Heine-
mann (Darkhei Ha-Aggadah) and Jonah Fraenkel (Darkhei
Ha-Aggadah ve-Ha-Midrash and Midrash ve-Aggadah) have
shaped the ways in which generations of Israeli scholars and
students have approached and understood the aggadic litera-
ture (see below). Dov Noy, whose folkloristic approach in gen-
eral, and his listing of rabbinic folkloric motifs, Motif Index of
Talmudic-Midrashic Literature, in particular, signaled a seri-
ous shift in the study of aggadah. These scholars in turn paved
the way for a new generation of scholars whose are deeply en-
gaged in aggadic studies. Noteworthy Israeli contributors to
literary analysis of aggadah include Ofra Meir, who examines
the relationship between rabbinic biblical exegesis and narra-
tive from a literary perspective, Avigdor Shinan, who engages
the nexus between aggadah and targum, Galit Hasan-Rokem,
who approaches the study of rabbinic folktales from a cultural
poetics perspective, and Joshua Levinson, who examines rab-
binic narrative expansion and reformulation of biblical stories
in the light of contemporary critical literary theory.
[Carol Bakhos (2"4 ed.)]
The tendency toward interdisciplinary methodology and
theoretical generalization described above has for the past two
decades been accompanied by a parallel and probably related
tendency toward the erosion of accepted and authoritative
cultural canons in both literary and religious studies. While
primarily characteristic of North American scholarship, these
trends have also had their followers in Israel (see above). Nev-
ertheless, it would be fair to say that in many Israeli circles the
classical literature of the aggadah has largely retained its ca-
nonical status as well as much of its cultural and (for some) its
religious authority. As a result, the fundamental assumption
underlying much study and research into the aggadic litera-
ture in Israel (and similar Hebrew language research outside
of Israel) is that the study of aggadic texts in their original
461
AGGADAH
languages (Hebrew and Aramaic) and the detailed explica-
tion of the form and content of these texts are fully justified
for their own sake, and are of interest to a wide audience of
professional and non-professional students. This assumption
has shaped much of the direction and focus of recent Israeli
studies of the aggadah.
By the early 1970s Israeli scholarship had already pro-
duced a number of seminal works in the field of aggadah. First
of all, Zunz’s Gottesdienstlichen Vortraege had been translated
into Hebrew, and richly annotated and updated by Hanoch
Albeck (1946) thus placing a fairly comprehensive, reliable
and accessible introduction to aggadic literature in the hand
of every student. Second, Isaac Heineman published in 1950
(second edition 1954) his revolutionary typology of the rab-
binic aggadah, Darkhei ha-Aggadah, which provided a de-
tailed description of the methods of rabbinic aggadic under
two general headings: “creative historiography” and “creative
philology”. The significance of this work lay in focusing the
reader’s attention for the first time on the ways in which the
rabbis actually interpreted biblical texts and narratives, thus
largely replacing the age-old polemical and apologetic discus-
sions of how the rabbis “should have” interpreted the scripture.
Thirdly, Ephraim Urbach published in 1969 his monumental
work, Hazal (translated: The Sages: Their Concepts and Be-
liefs, 1987), which restated the entire theological, ethical, and
eschatological content of the world of the aggadah in a mod-
ern format easily accessible to student and scholar alike. By
1970 the student of aggadah also possessed, in addition to the
classic critical edition of Genesis Rabbah, begun by Theodor
and finished by Albeck, critical editions of Levitcus Rabbah
(M. Margulies) and Pesikta de-Rav Kahana (B. Mandelbaum),
comprising, together with aggadah in the Talmudim, the ba-
sic corpus of the classical amoraic aggadic literature. Viewing
aggadic literature as an integral part of talmudic rabbinic lit-
erature as a whole, the work of J.N. Epstein, H. Albeck, and
S. Lieberman was seen to have laid firm foundations for the
historical and philological analysis of the textual traditions in
which the literature of the aggadah was preserved.
Without a doubt, the most important Israeli figure in the
study of aggadah for most of the last three decades has been
Jonah Fraenkel. One cannot overestimate the profound and
pervasive impact of Fraenkel’s work, both as a scholar and as
a teacher. His influence is in some ways even stronger today,
despite the fact that many of his former students have moved
in new and different directions. This is due to the publica-
tion of his two comprehensive and synthetic works, Darkhei
ha-Aggadah ve-ha-Midrash (1996) and Midrash ve-Aggadah
(1996), which have appealed to a wide audience, and are not
limited to a small circle of professional scholars. Similarly the
recent publication of Sippur ha-Aggadah - Ahdut shel Tokhen
ve-Zurah (2001) has made many of his classic studies, along
with a number of new articles, easily accessible to the gen-
eral public. Aside from popularizing the fruits of modern re-
search into the aggadah, Fraenkel’s own contribution lies in
two areas. First of all, building upon the work of Isaac Heine-
462
mann, Fraenkel further developed and elaborated the typol-
ogy of the aggadah viewed from the perspective of the isolated
act of rabbinic scriptural interpretation. More importantly,
however, Fraenkel described and analyzed the macro-forms
in which these interpretations are imbedded: the expanded
biblical narrative, narratives relating to the talmudic sages
themselves, the parable, the aggadic memra (amoraic state-
ment), etc. Moreover, he shows the articulation and explica-
tion of these forms, understood in the light of modern liter-
ary theory, to be essential to the appreciation of the ideational
content of the aggadah itself, thus continuing the work of his
teacher, Ephraim Urbach. In one respect, however, Fraen-
kel made a clear break with Urbach’s methodolology, a point
which he has repeatedly emphasized. Urbach tended to com-
pare and contrast parallel versions of a given tradition, and
after philological and higher-critical analysis to posit a re-
constructed original, which he then used as the basis for his
analysis. Fraenkel’s insistence on the unity of form and con-
tent in each and every version of a tradition led him to reject
Urbach’s approach and to refrain from conflating - and even
from comparing - alternative versions of a tradition, basing
his exposition on a detailed and exhaustive analysis of data
present in a given talmudic text.
At the same time the scholarly tradition of Epstein, Al-
beck, and Lieberman has not been ignored. Scholars such as
Jacob Elbaum, Menahem Kister, Chaim Milikowsky, Avigdor
Shinan, Menachem Hirshman, Joseph Tabory, Paul Mandel,
Menachem Kahana, M.B. Lerner, and Hananel Mack have
written hundreds of studies both analyzing particular passages
and addressing broader critical and methodological issues.
Most of these scholars are also deeply involved in long term
projects of preparing the next generation of critical editions
and commentaries on the classical and post classical aggadic
works. Shamma Friedman's work on the historical aggadah
of the Bablylonian Talmud is noteworthy, because, on the
one hand, it provides a radical alternative to one of Fraen-
kel’s most fundamental notions, and, on the other hand, it
may also be seen as complementary to Fraenkel’s approach
as a whole.
Friedman has produced a series of studies concerning
a wide range of topics within the field of talmudic research,
treating both halakhah and aggadah, and frequently of the re-
ciprocal relation between them. One theme runs through all
these studies: the notion of “development” or “evolution” - that
later talmudic scholars often self-consciously reinterpreted
and reformulated earlier versions of a given tradition. Apply-
ing the results of these studies to the historical aggadot of the
Babylonian Talmud, Friedman has shown that the elaborate
and colorful descriptions of events in the lives of both the
tannaim and the more significant amoraim do not reflect an-
cient and independent traditions, but rather are the product
of a synthetic literary process of deliberate and considered
editorial revision. While Jacob Neusner deserves credit as a
pioneer in this field of research, Friedman’s exacting philo-
logical and higher-critical studies allow one to go beyond the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
largely negative conclusions of Neusner and his school, and
to proceed to the positive task of reconstructing the substan-
tial and formal considerations which went into this elaborate
process of editorial revision. Stories originally told of one sage
are transferred to another. Several independent and fragmen-
tary traditions are combined into an extended and integrated
whole, whose narrative and ideational aims far transcend the
relatively limited scope of the original sources.
On the one hand Friedman’s method contrasts with
Fraenkel’s emphasis on viewing each text as an integral whole -
and studying it in isolation from other parallel versions of the
tradition. On the other hand Friedman’s comparative and de-
velopmental analysis of parallel traditions also represents an
equally explicit rejection of conflating parallel texts, in that it
demands a rigorous distinction and demarking of the bound-
aries between parallel traditions, in order to determine the
causal and interpretive links which hold between them.
[Stephen G. Wald (24 ed.)]
In Islam
Aggadic Bible tales and views were disseminated in pre-Is-
lamic *Arabia by Jews. A. *Geiger first showed in his pio-
neering treatise Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume
aufgenommen? (1833) that the aggadah had an important
bearing on the shaping of ideas about Allah and the history
of mankind held by *Muhammad and the hanifs, his mono-
theistic-minded contemporaries (cf. e.g., Koran 22, 32; 30,
79; 98, 4). In the *Koran Muhammad preferred to use vague
expressions, often avoiding the mention of names of biblical
personalities or even changing them. The earliest commen-
tators endeavored to explain such passages and tales, which
they did with the help of the aggadah. Muslim authors pre-
pared special books called Qisas Al-Anbiya (“Legends of the
Prophets”), something similar to later *Midrashim, in which
aggadic tales from the Bible - which also for the Muslim in-
cludes the New Testament — have been gathered. (For further
information see: *Bible (in Islam); *Koran; and sections on
biblical personalities (such as Abraham) in Islam.)
[Haim Zew Hirschberg]
Aggadah in IlIJuminated Manuscripts
Recent investigations have revealed that many aggadic mo-
tifs appear in the illuminations of Christian Old Testaments,
such as the sixth-century Vienna Genesis, the seventh-century
Ashburnham Pentateuch, and the 11"'/12"»-century Byzantine
Octateuchs. These manuscripts are all assumed to be based on
lost earlier models. The appearance of these aggadic motifs has
led some scholars to put forward the theory that an ancient
illustrated Jewish manuscript tradition served as inspirations
for the Christian manuscripts. This theory is not conclusive, as
no illustrated Jewish manuscripts are known before the ninth
century. In addition, knowledge of early Christian biblical il-
luminations is very limited, since the earliest preserved Chris-
tian Old Testament manuscripts date from the sixth century.
Furthermore, the writings of the Church Fathers incorporated
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGGADAH
many aggadic motifs which may have inspired the Christian
aggadic illustrations.
Aggadic motifs in the Vienna Genesis include the ac-
counts of how Joseph encounters the angel Gabriel on his way
to find his brethren, Potiphar’s wife visits Joseph in prison; and
Asenath, Joseph's wife, is present at Jacob’s blessing.
In the Ashburnham Pentateuch Adam and Eve build a hut
after their expulsion; the giants drown during the flood; Re-
bekah inquires at the academy of Shem and Eber; Joseph and
his brothers dine together at the same table in Egypt; and The
Angel of Death slays the Egyptian firstborn. In the Octateuchs,
the serpent walks upright in the Garden of Eden; Lamech
kills Cain and Tubal-Cain; the raven sent out by Noah feeds
on human carcass: and God, Himself, intervenes in the sac-
rifice of Isaac. Some other legends appearing in manuscripts
are: Nimrod casting Abraham into the fiery furnace; Pharaoh's
daughter, bathing in the nude, finds Moses; the test of Moses,
Moses’ imprisonment, and his wedding to Zipporah; Pharaoh
bathing in the blood of Jewish children; Mount Sinai hovering
over the children of Israel; the legendary throne of Solomon;
and Mordecai stepping on Haman’s back and Haman’s daugh-
ter emptying a chamberpot on her father. C.O. Nordstrém has
pointed out many Jewish legends in Byzantine, Spanish, and
French art, mainly in the life of Moses, and his miracles. In
his book on the Alba Bible he refers to many aggadic motifs
in this very important manuscript. For a critical analysis of
this book, see The Art Bulletin, 51 (1969), 91-96.
[Joseph Gutmann]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: AGGADAH: Zunz, Vortraege, Zunz-Albeck,
Derashot; Bacher, Bab Amor; Bacher, Tann; Bacher, Pal Amor; Ginz-
berg, Legends, L. Ginzberg, Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvaetern und
in der apokryphischen Literatur (1900); H.L. Strack, Introduction to the
Talmud and Midrash (1931), 201-34, Graetz, in: MGWJ, 3 (1854), 311-9,
352-5, 381-92, 482-31, 4 (1855), 186-92; Guedemann, in: Jubelschrift...
L. Zunz (1884), 111-21; V. Aptowitzer, Kain und Abel in der Agada...
(1922), Marmorstein, in: HUCA, 6 (1929), 141-204; Heller, in: J. Bolte
and G. Polivka (eds.), Anmerkungen zu den Kinder und Hausmaerchen
der Brueder Grimm, 4 (1930), 315-418, Stein, in: HUCA, 8-9 (1931-32),
353-71, I. Heinemann, Altjuedische Allegoristik (1935); idem, Darkhei
ha-Aggadah (1954), H.N. Bialik, Halakhah and Aggadah (1944), S.
Lieberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine (1942), 144-60, idem, Hellenism
in Jewish Palestine (1950), 47-82; Seeligmann, in: vt, Suppl. (1953),
150-81 (Ger.), Zeitschrift fuer Theologie und Kirche, 52 (1955), 129-61;
B. Gerhardsson, Memory and Manuscript (1961); G. Vermes, Scripture
and Tradition in Judaism (1961); A.J. Heschel Torah min ha-Shamayim
be-Aspaklaryah shel ha-Dorot, 2 vols. (1962-65), vol. 3 (1995); E.E.
Halevi, Shaarei ha-Aggadah (1963). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Ka-
dushin, Organic Thinking (1938); idem, The Rabbinic Mind (1952); J.
Heinemann, Aggadot Ve-Toldotehen (1974); J. Fraenkel, in: J.W. Welch
(ed.), Chiasmus in Antiquity: Structures, Analyses, Exegesis (1981)
183-97; idem, Iyyunim be-Olamo ha-Ruhani shel Sippur ha-Aggadah
(1981); idem, Darkhei ha-Aggadah ve-Hamidrash (Hebrew; 1996);
idem, Midrash ve-Aggadah (1996); idem, Sippur ha-Aggadah — Ahdut
shel Tokhen ve-Zurah (2001); S. Friedman, BT Bava Mezia v1, Com-
mentary (1990); idem, “The Talmudic Parable in its Cultural Setting,”
in: Js1J, 2 (2003), 25-82; idem, “The Historical Aggadah of the Bab-
ylonian Talmud” (Hebrew), in: S. Friedmand (ed.), Saul Lieberman
463
AGGADAT BERESHIT
Memorial Volume (1993),119-64; Idem, “A Good Story Deserves Re-
telling - The Unfolding of the Akiva Legend, in: js1J, 3 (2004), 1-39;
idem, “The Further Adventures of Rav Kahana - Between Babylonia
and Palestine; in: P. Schafer (ed.), The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-
Roman Culture, 3 (2002), 247-71; idem, “History and Aggadah: The
Enigma of Dama Ben Netina” (Hebrew), in: Jonah Fraenkel Festschrift
(forthcoming); idem, “The Aggadah of Rav Kahana and Rabbi Yo-
hanan (Bava Qamma 117a-b) and the Hamburg-Geniza Recension”
(Hebrew), in: Meyer S. Feldblum Memorial Volume (forthcoming); S.
Wald, pT Pesahim 111 (2000), 211-39, 253-68; A. Kosman, in: Hebrew
Union College Annual, 73 (2002) 157-90; M.A. Friedman & M.B. Le-
rner (eds.), Te’uda x1 - Studies in the Aggadic Midrashim, in Memory
of Zvi Meir Rabinowitz (1996); M. Kister, in: Tarbiz, 67 (1998), 483-529.
WOMEN IN AGGADAH: J.R. Baskin, Midrashic Women: Formations of
the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature (2002); M.A. Friedman, “Tamar,
a Symbol of Life: The ‘Killer Wife’ Superstition in the Bible and Jew-
ish Tradition, in: ays Review, 15 (1990), 23-61; D.M. Goodblatt. “The
Beruriah Traditions;” in: Persons and Institutions in Early Rabbinic
Judaism (1977); D.E. Weisberg, “Men Imagining Women Imagining
God: Gender Issues in Classical Midrash,’ in: Agendas for the Study
of Midrash in the Twenty-First Century (1999); T. Ilan, Mine and
Yours are Hers: Retrieving Women’ History from Rabbinic Literature
(1997). LITERARY AND INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES: D. Boyarin,
Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash (1990); M. Fishbane, Bib-
lical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking (2003); A. Goshen-Gottstein,
The Sinner and the Amnesiac: The Rabbinic Invention of Elisha Ben
Abuya and Eleazar Ben Arach (2000); G.H. Hartman and S. Budick
(eds.), Midrash and Literature (1986); G. Hasan-Rokem, Web of Life:
Folklore and Midrash in Rabbinic Literature, tr. Batya Stein (2000);
idem, Tales of the Neighborhood: Jewish Narrative Dialogues in Late
Antiquity (2003); J. Kugel, in: Midrash and Literature, G. Hartman
and S. Budick (eds.) (1986); idem, In Potiphar’s House: The Interpre-
tive Life of Biblical Texts (1990); idem, The Bible as It Was (1997); J.
Levinson, “Literary Approaches to Midrash,’ in: C. Bakhos (ed.), Cur-
rent Trends in the Study of Midrash (2006); idem, The Untold Story -
Art of the Expanded Biblical Narrative in Rabbinic Midrash (Heb.,
2005); H. Mack, The Aggadic Midrash Literature (1989); O. Meir, Ha-
Sippur ha-Darshani (1987); D. Noy, “Motif Index of Talmudic-Mi-
drashic Literature” (Doctoral diss., Indiana University. Bloomington,
1954); idem, Mavo le-sifrut ammamit (1966); J. Neusner, Development
of a Legend: Studies on the Traditions Concerning Yohanan Ben Za-
kkai (Studia Post-Biblica, vol. 16) (1970); J. Rubenstein, Talmudic
Stories: Narrative Art, Composition, and Culture (1999); idem. The
Culture of the Babylonian Talmud (2003); R. Sarason, in: Studies in
Aggadah, Targum and Jewish Liturgy in Memory of Joseph Heinemann,
Ezra Fleischer and Jacob Petuchowski (eds.), (1981); A. Shinan, Tar-
gum va-Aggadah Bo (1992); D. Stern, in: Prooftexts, 1 (1981), 261-91;
idem, Parables in Midrash (1991); idem, Midrash and Theory: Ancient
Jewish Exegesis and Contemporary Literary Studies (1996); D. Stein,
Memra, Magyah, Mitos: Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer le-Or Mehkar ha-
Sifrut ha-Amamit (2004). AGGADAH IN ILLUMINATED MANU-
SCRIPTS: Mayer, Art, nos. 1809-1901, C.O. Nordstrém, The Duke
of Alba’s Castilian Bible (1967), Gutmann, in: Gesta, 5 (1966), 39-44,
H.G. Enelow, Significance of the Agada (1914), I. Heinemann, Dark-
hei ha-Aggadah (19547) L. Ginzberg, On Jewish Law and Lore (1955);
S. Spiegel, in: L. Ginzberg, Legends of the Bible (1956), introduction,
O. Camhy, in: Judaism, 8 (1959), 68-72, S.M. Lehrman, World of the
Midrash (1961); G. Vermes, Scripture and Tradition in Judaism (1961),
J. Neusner, History and Torah (1965), 17-29 (repr. from Judaism, 9
(1960), 47-54).
464
AGGADAT BERESHIT (Heb. 1°WN73 N7aN), an aggadic Mi-
drash to the Book of Genesis. In the Oxford manuscript (see
below) the book is called Seder Eliyahu Rabbah, while in the
Middle Ages it was cited under the names Tanna devei Eliyahu
and Huppat Eliyahu; the name Aggadat Bereshit first appear-
ing in the first printed edition. Aggadat Bereshit is a homileti-
cal Midrash constructed in a unique manner. It consists of 83
(or 84) sections in cycles of three, the first interpreting a verse
from Genesis, the second a verse from the Prophets, and the
third a verse from Psalms. The verse from Genesis is in gen-
eral the beginning of the weekly scriptural reading accord-
ing to the triennial cycle which was in vogue in Erez Israel
in early times. The verse from the Prophets is usually from
the haftarah and that from Psalms also has a relevance to the
portion of the Law and the haftarah (some scholars think it
was taken from a chapter of Psalms read on that particular
Sabbath). Both the beginning of the Midrash (which in its
present state starts in Gen. 6:5) and its end (the last section
of the Psalms) are missing. Each section has a proem of the
classical type which begins: “This is what Scripture tells us,”
i.e., opening with a verse not of the portion expounded and
finally connected with the verse at the beginning of the por-
tion expounded. However, the introduction, like the Midrash
proper, shows signs of relatively late composition. The sections
on the Pentateuch are longer than those on the Prophets, and
the sections on Psalms the shortest of all, consisting, in gen-
eral, only of the introduction. The language of the Midrash
is late mishnaic Hebrew; there are some Greek words. Agga-
dat Bereshit is a collection of homilies from different sources.
The editor made use of early Midrashim of the amoraim and
also of many Midrashim of the *Tanhuma-Yelammedenu type.
This factor - together with its Aramaic-free Hebrew, pseudo-
graphic sayings, signs of late style and terminology, and an ex-
plicit polemic against Christianity (27 and 31) - would appear
to place its date of editing at about the tenth century. Agga-
dat Bereshit was first published at the end of the Shetei Yadot
(Venice, 1618) of Menahem di *Lonzano. After this it was re-
published in Vilna, 1802, by ‘Abraham b. Elijah of Vilna, and
frequently thereafter. In 1903 S. Buber collated the first printed
edition with an Oxford manuscript and published a critical
edition with introduction and notes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz-Albeck, Derashot, 124, 394; J. Mann,
The Bible as Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue, 1 (1940), pas-
sim.
[Moshe David Herr]
AGHLABIDS (known as Bani al-Aghlab), Arab Muslim
dynasty that ruled Ifriqiyya (modern-day *Tunisia and east-
ern *Algeria) from 800 to gog. Its rulers were princes com-
monly referred to as amirs. It was subject to the *Abbasid
caliphs of Baghdad but was in fact independent. The capi-
tal city was *Kairouan (al-Qayrawan) in Tunisia. During the
ninth century Kairouan civilization flourished, its capital be-
coming one of the largest Maghrebi commercial centers. The
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
amirs invested funds in public works to conserve and dis-
tribute water, contributing to the prosperity of their country.
Their fleet was supreme in parts of the Mediterranean and
their corsairs captured ships at sea. Captured persons and
property were subsequently redeemed for profit. The Aghla-
bids also gained temporary control over Sicily, Malta, and
Corsica.
The data on the Jews of this principality are scant. It is
known, however, that the Jews of Kairouan began to expand
and prosper under the Aghlabid amirs. They fostered and
preserved intimate and strong bonds with the Babylonian
geonim and the Jewish communities of Palestine and Egypt.
A medical school existed in Kairouan. One of its noted teach-
ers was Isaac *Israeli, the physician to the last Aghlabid amir
Ziyadat Allah 111.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: PK. Hitti, History of the Arabs (1958); Nissim
b. Jacob, Hibbur Yafeh min ha-Yeshu‘ah, ed. H.Z. Hirschberg (1954);
I.M. Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies (2002).
[Michael M. Laskier (2"4 ed.)]
AGHMATI, ZECHARIAH BEN JUDAH (late 12" and early
13" centuries), North African talmudist. He apparently came
from Agmat in southern Morocco. His name has only recently
become known, and there are hardly any data on his life and
work. Aghmati wrote a comprehensive work, Sefer ha-Ner, on
the halakhot of *Alfasi. He uses geonic material extensively and
quotes statements of *Baruch b. Samuel of Aleppo, *Hananel,
Isaac *Ibn Ghayyat and Joseph *Ibn Migash, for which Sefer
ha-Ner is sometimes the sole source. The book also quotes
from other early scholars, among them Ashkenazi luminaries,
such as Rashi and *Gershom b. Judah. The variant versions of
the Talmud quoted by Aghmati are of great importance. The
author himself seldom introduces his own opinion. His com-
mentaries on the tractates Berakhot (Jerusalem, 1958), Bava
Kamma, Bava Mezia, and Bava Batra (London, 1961, facsim-
ile edition) have been published, while those on Shabbat and
Eruvin are still in manuscript. His book was probably com-
pleted between 1188 and 1190.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.D. Ben-Shem (ed.), Sefer ha-Ner li-
Verakhot (1958), introd.; J. Leveen (ed.), Digest ... compiled by Zech-
ariah b. Judah Aghmati (1961), introd.
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
AGMON (Bistritski), NATHAN (1896-1980), Israeli dra-
matist and publicist. He began his literary career while still
in Russia, publishing articles of literary criticism in Hebrew
journals. In 1920 he arrived in Palestine, and from 1922 un-
til his retirement in 1952 worked in the central office of the
Jewish National Fund in Jerusalem, directing its Youth and
Information Departments. His early writings in Palestine
described life in collective agricultural settlements. Among
the first original Hebrew dramatists to be presented on the
Palestinian stage, his first play Yehudah Ish-Keriyyot (“Judas
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGNON, SHMUEL YOSEF
Iscariot”) was published in 1930. In 1931 he wrote Shabbetai
Zevi, which was produced by the Ohel Theater in 1936. Mes-
sianism, which he considers a symbol of humanity’s struggle
to achieve a just society, is the central motif in his dramas,
especially the two above-mentioned plays. He also published
articles and books on South American Jewry and on Zionism.
His collected plays appeared in 1960 in three volumes. In 1964
Agmon published a philosophical work, Hazon Adam (“Hu-
man Vision”); his autobiography, Be-Sod ha-Mitos (“Knowing
the Secret of the Myth”), appeared in 1980.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Yardeni, Sihot im Soferim (1961), 83-92.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 3 (1988),
70-76; T. Hess, Shiur Komah shel Marvad Nashiyut ba-Kovez Kehila-
teynu u-va-Roman Yamim ve-Leylot me-et Natan Bistritski (1995).
[Getzel Kressel]
AGMON, SHMUEL (1922- ), Israeli mathematician. Born
in Tel Aviv, Agmon is the son of writer Nathan *Agmon (Bi-
stritski). He received his doctorate from the University of Paris
in 1949. His work focused on the theory of partial differen-
tial equations of elliptic type and on spectral and scattering
theory of Schrodinger operations. He was a member of the
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities from 1964 and
received the Rothschild Prize in mathematics in 1959 and the
Israel Prize in exact sciences in 1991.
AGNON, SHMUEL YOSEF (Czaczkes, Samuel Josef; 1888-
1970), Hebrew writer; Nobel Laureate in literature. One of the
central figures in modern Hebrew fiction, his works deal with
major contemporary spiritual concerns: the disintegration of
traditional ways of life, the loss of faith, and the subsequent
loss of identity. His many tales about pious Jews are an artis-
tic attempt to recapture a waning tradition. He was born in
Buczacz, Galicia, where his father, an erudite follower of the
Hasidic rebbe of Chortkov, was a fur merchant. Rabbinic and
Hasidic traditions as well as general European culture influ-
enced the home. Agnon’s education was mainly private and
irregular. He studied the Talmud and the works of Maimo-
nides with his father; read much of the literature of the Gali-
cian maskilim; and studied Hasidic literature in the synagogue
of the Chortkov Hasidim. He learned German from Mendels-
sohn’s translation of the Pentateuch (the Biur) as well as from a
tutor and read books from his mother’s small German library,
where he also found German translations of Scandinavian
writers. He began writing at the age of eight in Hebrew and in
Yiddish. In 1903 he published his first work, a Yiddish poem
on Joseph Della Reina and a rhymed “haskamah” (preface)
in Hebrew to Zevi Judah Gelbard’s Minhat Yehudah. In 1904
he began to publish regularly, first poetry and then prose, in
Ha-Mizpeh, edited in Cracow by S.M. Laser, who continually
encouraged him. In 1906 and 1907, he also contributed sev-
eral poems and stories in Yiddish, primarily to Der Juedische
Wecker, which appeared in his own town. Up to his departure
465
AGNON, SHMUEL YOSEF
from Buczacz he published some 70 pieces in both languages -
poems, stories, essays, addresses, etc., that were occasionally
signed Czaczkes but more often appeared under a pseudonym.
His most comprehensive Yiddish work of that period, Toytn-
Tants (1911), attests to the development of his literary talent
and to a definite affinity with German neo-romanticism. But
once he left Buczacz, he no longer wrote in Yiddish.
When Agnon left for Erez Israel, in 1908, he was already
a well-known young author. His emigration removed him
from shtetl life, which no longer answered his spiritual needs
and placed him in the midst of a new and evolving creative
Hebrew literary center. However, he was atypical of the pio-
neers of the Second Aliyah; those who espoused the “conquest
of labor” considered him bourgeois, while the Russian Jews
scorned him as a Galician. He supported himself by tutoring
and occasional literary efforts. He also worked intermittently
in a number of clerical positions and resided in both Jaffa
and in Jerusalem. While he abandoned his religious prac-
tices during these years, he was not completely identified with
the modernism of the new settlers. On the contrary, he was
charmed by the old yishuv and was drawn more and more to
Jerusalem, where the Jewish historical milieu nurtured his
creative imagination. In “Agunot” (“Forsaken Wives”), his
first story published in Palestine during the Jaffa period (Ha-
Omer, Fall 1908), he first used the pseudonym “Agnon”; and
in 1924 it became his official family name. Many other stories
followed (appearing mostly in Ha-Poel ha-Zair). Although
most of his works from this period are unknown, those few
that were later republished, such as “Agunot;’ were radically
reedited by Agnon. One of his stories, “Ve-Hayah he-Akov le-
Mishor,’ was republished separately by J.H. Brenner (1912) and
became his first book. Like many of his youthful contempo-
raries, Agnon was drawn to Germany. Arriving in midsum-
mer of 1912, he remained there until the fall of 1924. His pres-
ence in Germany during those years was a major influence on
Zionist youth, who found in him a change from the accepted
circle of Hebrew writers in Germany, who were contemptuous
of Agnon and his style. During his first years in Germany he
supported himself by tutoring and by editing for the Juedischer
Verlag with Aaron Eliasberg. Finally he met the wealthy busi-
nessman S. *Schocken who became his admirer, supporter,
and publisher. In Berlin and Leipzig he associated with Jew-
ish scholars and Zionist officials. He read widely in German
and French (in German translation) literature and expanded
his knowledge of Judaica. He also began to acquire and collect
valuable and rare Hebrew books. Some of his stories, in the
German translation of M. Strauss, appeared in Martin Buber’s
journal, Der Jude, and spread his fame among German Jews.
The most productive of Agnon’s creative years in Germany
were spent in Wiesbaden and Bad Homburg near Frankfurt.
He was unburdened by the quest for livelihood: during the
inflationary years he lived quite comfortably, as did other He-
brew writers of that day, due to the support of A. Stybel. In
Homburg he was a member of a circle of Hebrew writers. He
also began to prepare with M. Buber a collection of Hasidic
466
stories and lore. However, this radiant period ended in 1924,
when fire swept his home and destroyed most of his books
and manuscripts, including Bi-Zeror ha-Hayyim (“In the Bond
of Life,” whose imminent publication by Stybel had already
been announced), a long novel depicting the flow of modern
Jewish history against an autobiographical background. The
destruction by fire of his writings makes it difficult to assess
the scope of his creativity in this crucial period. However, a
scrutiny of the other published works of that time and of some
published subsequently reveals several basic facts: (1) Most of
the stories are set in Poland in the world of pious Jews (new
versions of stories of the Jaffa-Jerusalem period appear, as do
other distinctive works such as “Bi-Neareinu u-vi-Zekeneinu,”
“Ovadyah Baal Mum,” and “Bi-Demi Yameha”). (2) In most
stories of this period Agnon’s characteristic style approximates
that of the world depicted: the Hebrew of the pietistic books
of the last centuries whose linguistic structure is influenced
by Yiddish. (3) Because of the suspension of many Hebrew
publishing ventures in Europe during World War 1, Agnon
published no Hebrew stories during the early war years, al-
though some appeared at that time in German translation. (4)
He had already acquired a circle of readers who eagerly read
three collections of his stories: Sippurei Maasiyyot (1921), Be-
Sod Yesharim (1921), and Al Kappot ha-Manul (1922).
In 1924, Agnon returned to Palestine and settled in Jeru-
salem. In the riots of 1929, his home in the Talpiyyot suburb
was plundered and many books and rare manuscripts deal-
ing with the history of the Jewish settlement in Palestine were
destroyed.
The first edition of Agnon’s collected works in four vol-
umes (1931) included selected stories published until mid-
1929, as well as the second version of Hakhnasat Kallah (The
Bridal Canopy, 1937), which had been lengthened to a novel.
This folk-epic was recognized as one of the cornerstones of
modern Hebrew literature, and the entire collection estab-
lished Agnon as one of its central figures. The impression of
Agnon as a pietistic writer was enhanced by the collection of
stories Be-Shuvah va-Nahat (1935) and strengthened by two
non-fiction collections: Yamim Noraim (1938; Days of Awe,
1948), an anthology of High Holiday traditions; and Sefer,
Sofer ve-Sippur (1938), about books and writers. Even the novel
Sippur Pashut (1935; A Simple Story, 1985), which is set at the
close of the previous century and depicts the clash between
the older and younger generations, did not openly convey to
the readers the profound tension which underlies Agnon’s
“serenity.” A cycle of five stories called Sefer ha-Maasim was
published in 1932, followed a year later by Pat Shelemah (A
Whole Loaf, 1956). Readers were astounded by the nightmar-
ish environment of these short works of fiction which artisti-
cally articulated the confusion of the author standing on the
threshold between the new world and the old. The eradication
of boundaries between fantasy and reality, the inner mono-
logue, and the perplexing environment exist also in “Panim
Aherot” (1933), “Afar Erez Yisrael? and “Ba- Yaar u-va-Ir.” These
stories were collected only in 1941 in Ellu ve-Ellu. In addition,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
in the 1930s three narratives appeared which subsequently
became the nucleus of Temol Shilshom (“Rabbi Geronim Ye-
kum Purkan” in 1931; “Tehillato shel Yizhak” in 1934; “Balak”
in 1935). In spite of this evidence of the darker side of Agnon,
the critics and readers were not attuned to this new mode un-
til the early 1940s. Agnon rose to a new level of artistic cre-
ativity in his book Oreah Natah Lalun, which was originally
published in serial form in Haaretz (Oct. 18, 1938, to April 7,
1939) and then appeared in his collected works (1939; A Guest
for the Night, 1968). In this novel an anonymous narrator visits
his town in Galicia after an absence of many years and wit-
nesses its desolation. Although the factual core of the story
was Agnon’s short visit to Buczacz in 1930, the novel mirrors
the hopelessness and spiritual desolation of the Jewish world
in that decade in Europe and in Palestine. A grotesquely night-
marish scene of the city is presented: its synagogues are empty;
its people are shattered; and its society, generally, is mori-
bund. Although Agnon was directly motivated to write this
novel by the events of the 1930s, it is noteworthy that even in
his youthful writings he envisioned his town as a “city of the
dead.” At times the narrative technique of Oreah Natah Lalun
is similar to that of Sefer ha-Maasim where the despair is of-
ten recorded by shocking portrayals. Thus, at the onset of the
19408, the readers learned to react not only to Agnon’s story of
the lives of the pious but also to a wide variety of subjects and
narrative techniques. Critics such as G. Krojanker, B. *Kurz-
weil, and Dov *Sadan began to give Agnon the interpretation
he merited. They demonstrated that, however indirectly, his
works were concerned with the deep psychological and phil-
osophical problems of the generation. His greatest novel, Te-
mol Shilshom, made its appearance in 1945 (Only Yesterday,
2000). The setting and time of this work are in Palestine in
the days of the Second Aliyah, but its spirit parallels the pe-
riod in which it was written, the years of the Holocaust. The
novel focuses upon an unsophisticated pioneer, who returns
to the ways of his forebears, but after being bitten by a mad
dog, dies a meaningless death. The complex situations and
interlocking motifs of his novel, as well as its moral concern,
marked a new peak in Hebrew fiction.
Agnon collected some of his stories in two volumes,
Samukh ve-Nireh (1951) and Ad Hennah (1952); re-edited
Hakhnasat Kallah, Oreah Natah Lalun, and Temol Shilshom;
and, in 1953, published the second edition of his collected
works in seven volumes (an eighth volume, Ha-Esh ve-ha-
Ezim, was published in 1962). However many stories were
omitted, including Shirah, a novel set in the academic com-
munity in Jerusalem (see below). With the publication of this
last edition, the scope of his writings could be evaluated for
the first time: novels, folktales, and “existentialist” stories. Fol-
lowing the appearance of the 1953 edition, Agnon published
about half a dozen new short works every year, mainly in the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the majority of them dealing with
Buczacz. As separate books he published Attem Re’item, a
collection of rabbinic commentaries related to the revelation
at Sinai (1959), and Sifreihem shel Zaddikim, tales of the Baal
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGNON, SHMUEL YOSEF
Shem Tov and his disciples (1961). The modern nightmar-
ish theme is evidenced during these years, by the stories “Ad
Olam” (1954; “Forevermore, 1961), “Hadom ve-Kisse” (1958),
“Ha-Neshikah ha-Rishonah” (1963), and “Le-Ahar ha-Se'udah”
(1963). Agnon received many awards including the Israel Prize
(in 1954 and 1958). The crowning honor was the Nobel Prize
for literature (1966), the first granted to a Hebrew writer.
[Arnold J. Band]
Posthumous Publications and Works on Agnon
Since Agnon’s death many volumes of his literary remains,
prepared for publication by his daughter, Emunah Yaron, have
appeared. These volumes include stories which appeared dur-
ing Agnon’s lifetime, but which were not included in editions
of his collected writings.
Shirah (1971; Shira, 1989) is a novel about Manfred
Herbst, a lecturer in Byzantine history at the Hebrew Uni-
versity in Jerusalem. Approaching middle age, and the father
of two grown daughters, Herbst is torn between his affection
and loyalty to his devoted wife, who has just borne him a third
daughter, and his passion for the nurse Shirah. The novel un-
folds in Jerusalem of the 1930s and 1940s.
Ir u-Meloah (“The City and the Fullness Thereof,” 1973)
is a collection of tales about Buczacz, Agnon’s native city. The
stories cover 600 years of life in the city and are, in effect, the
history of Poland and its Jews.
Ba-Hanuto shel Mar Lublin (“In Mr. Lublin’s Shop,’ 1974)
is an account of Agnon’s years in Leipzig during World War 1.
A rich gallery of personalities from all strata of the population,
both Jewish and German, passes before our eyes.
Lifnim min ha-Homah (“Within the City’s Wall,” 1975)
comprises four major stories. The first, the title story, demon-
strates in poetic style Agnon’s deep attachment to Jerusalem;
the second, Kisui ha-Dam (“The Blood Screen’), is replete with
incidents that occur within and beyond the land of Israel; the
third, Hadom ve-Kisse (“The Footstool and the Chair”), is a
mythological account of the author’s birth and his previous
life; the last story in the volume, Le-Ahar ha-Se’udah (“After
the Feast”), in which Agnon describes his own departure from
the world, represents the apex of his writings.
Me-Azmi el Azmi (“By Myself for Myself? 1976) is a col-
lection of Agnon’s articles, speeches, and sundry other matters,
while Pithei Devarim (“Opening Remarks,” 1977) is a volume
of stories, most of which were previously unpublished. Sefer,
Sofer, ve-Sippur (“The Book, the Writer, the Tale,” 1978) is an
expanded version of the 1938 edition with new material.
In 1977 the Hebrew University issued a volume of sto-
ries and poems of juvenilia written by Agnon in Yiddish, en-
titled Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Yiddish Work. It consists of stories
and poems that appeared in various periodicals from 1903
to 1912, i.e., from when he was 15 years old until he settled in
Erez Israel, and it contains an extensive introductory chapter
in Yiddish by Dov Sadan.
Korot Bateinu (“History of Our Families,” 1979) contains
two stories, one about Jewish family life in Galicia and the
467
AGNON, SHMUEL YOSEF
other tracing the history of Agnon’s own family beginning
with the Middle Ages, interweaving imagination and historical
truth. Esterlein Yekirati (“Estherle My Dear,’ 1983) contains the
correspondence between Agnon and his wife, Esther, in the
years 1924-1931. Sefer ha-Otiyyot (Agnon’ Alef Bet, 1998) is an
abecedary in verse written in 1919 at the behest of the Culture
Committee of the Zionist Organization and for some reason
never published. The manuscript was a late discovery.
Takhrikh shel Sippurim (“A Shroud of Stories,” 1984) con-
tains stories published in periodicals in Agnon's lifetime as
well as some found among his literary remains, mostly about
the life of the Jews in Poland and Erez Israel. Another two,
about the Jews of Germany, were added for the 1989 printing:
“Gabriella” and “Leregel Iskav” (“For Business Reasons”).
Sippurei ha-Besht (“Tales of the Baal Shem Tov,’ 1987)
was part of the Codex Hasidicum planned by Agnon and Bu-
ber when Agnon was still in Germany. It was ready for press
in 1924 but was destroyed in the fire in Agnon’s Bad Homburg
home. The present volume was put together by Emuna Yaron
and her husband from material in the literary remains.
S.Y. Agnon - S.Z. Schocken, Hillufei Iggerot 1916-1959
(1991) is the correspondence between Agnon and his pub-
lisher. Attem Re’item (Present at Sinai, 1994) adds new material
to the 1959 edition. Mi-Sod Hakhamim (“From the Circles of
the Wise,” 2002) contains the correspondence of Agnon with
Brenner, Y. *Lachower, Sadan, and Berl Katznelson.
Also appearing were two volumes of Kovetz Agnon, ed-
ited by Reuven Mirkin, Dan Laor, Rafael Weiser, and Emuna
Yaron and containing, among other writings, unpublished
chapters of Shirah, a 1909 story called “Beerah shel Miriam o
Keta’im mi-Hayyei Enosh” (“Miriam's Well, or Chapters from
Human Life”), and chapters from Sefer Maasim not included
in the original edition. In addition, there are letters to Martin
Buber from the years 1909-24 and correspondence between
Agnon and Hanokh *Yalon as well as essays on Agnon.
Dramatizations of Agnon’s work have proliferated. Habi-
mah presented Hakhnasat Kallah (The Bridal Canopy); the
Cameri Theater performed Ve-Hayah he-Akov le-Mishor (“And
the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight”); and the Khan Theater
of Jerusalem staged Ha-Rofe u-Gerushato (“The Doctor and
His Divorcee”), Panim Aherot (“Metamorphosis”), and Bi-
Demi Yameha (“In the Prime of Life”).
In 1980 Habimah Theater produced Sippur Pashut and
Orna Porat’s Youth and Children’s Theater adapted five of
Agnon'’s stories for the stage. Shirah and Esterlein Yekirati have
also been put on stage, a number of stories have been adapted
for the screen (“Farnheim, “Maaseh ha-Oz; etc.), and two
films have been made about Agnon’s life.
After Agnon’s death the author’s family donated his pri-
vate archives to the Hebrew University. They include manu-
scripts and drafts of most of his works, his published writings
in all existing editions, and translations of his works into nu-
merous languages. The archives also contain everything that
has been written about Agnon: books, essays, and articles as
well as letters written by and to Agnon, and a collection of
468
photographs and photocopies. The material is kept up-to-
date and an annual evening of study of Agnon’s work has been
held. It also issued a book: Anthology of Shai Agnon, Research
and Documents on His Work edited by Gershon Shaked and
Raphael Weiser (1978). In 1982, the Jerusalem Municipality
opened Agnon’s Talpiyyot home to the public. The library was
catalogued and researchers can consult the books. Various ac-
tivities focusing on Agnon and his work are held in the house
for schoolchildren and adults.
A complete bibliography of Agnon’s works was pub-
lished by Yohanan Arnon in 1971 as well as a comprehensive
bibliography of books and articles on his works by Dr. Yonah
David (1972). After Agnon’s death, critical studies of his work
gained new momentum, taking a new turn. Arnold Band, in
his book Nostalgia and Nightmare, opened new vistas in ana-
lyzing Agnon’s work by examining his stories in their various
versions, although Dov Sadan previously used this method of
analysis on some of the stories. The bibliography at the end of
Band’s book contributed greatly to the study of Agnon in that
it was the first comprehensive bibliography of Agnon’s work
from its early beginning up to 1967. Agnon has been translated
into 34 languages, including Persian, Chinese, and Mongo-
lian, and written about critically in dozens of books and well
over a thousand articles and essays. In 1996, the Institute for
the Translation of Hebrew Literature issued a bibliography of
his work in translation, including selected publications about
Agnon and his writing.
[Emuna Yaron (24 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.J. Band, Nostalgia and Nightmare (1968),
497-521 (includes list of works, translations, and bibliography); B.
Kurzweil, Massot al Sippurav shel Shai Agnon (1963); idem (ed.), Yu-
val Shai (1958); D. Sadan and E. Urbach (eds.), Le-Agnon Shai (1959);
M. Tochner, Pesher Agnon (1968); Goell, Bibliography, index; Y. El-
stein, Iggulim ve-Yosher (1970); D. Canaani, Agnon beal Peh (1971);
M.Y. Herzl, Shai Olamot, Mekorot le-Agnon, Hakhnassat Kalah (1973);
H. Barzel, Bein Agnon le-Kafka, Mehkar Mashveh (1972), Sippurei ha-
Ahavah shel Agnon (1975), and Agnon, Mivhar Maamarim al Yezirato
(with introduction) (1982); G. Shaked, Iyyunim be-Sippurei Agnon
(1973); R. Lee, Masa el Rega ha-Hesed, Iyyunim be-Yezirato shel Agnon
ve-H. Hazaz (1978); D. Sadan, Al S.Y. Agnon, Masot U-Maamarim
(1978); E. Aphek, Maarakhot Milim, Iyyunim be-Signono shel S.Y.
Agnon (1979); A. Bar-Adon, S.Y. Agnon u-Tehiyyat ha-Lashon ha-
Ivrit (1977); M.Z. Kaddari, S.Y. Agnon Rav Signon (1980); Y. Mazor,
Ha-Dinamikah shel Motivim be-Yezirot S.Y. Agnon (1979); Yediot
Genazim S.Y. Agnon z”l (1970); Yediot Genazim, S.Y. Agnon (1981); H.
Weiss, Parshanut le-Hamishah mi-Sippurei S.Y. Agnon (1974), Agunot,
Bein Galui le-Samui, Revadim be-Sippur ha-Ivri ha-Kazar (1979), and
Agunot, Ido ve-Einam, Mekorot Mivnim Mashmauyot (1981); B. Ho-
chman, The Fiction of S.Y. Agnon (1970); H. Fisch, S. ¥. Agnon (1975).
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Aberbach, At the Handles of the Lock:
Themes in the Fiction of S.J. Agnon (1984); B. Arpali, Rav-Roman:
Hamishah Maamarim al Temol Shilshom (1988); G. Shaked, Shmuel
Yosef Agnon: A Revolutionary Traditionalist (1989); A. Hoffman, Be-
tween Exile and Return, S.Y. Agnon and the Drama of Writing (1993);
N. Ben-Dov, Agnon'’s Art of Indirection: Uncovering Latent Content in
the Fiction of S.Y. Agnon (1993); D. Schreibaum, Pesher ha-Halomot
bi-Yezirato shel Sh. Y. Agnon (1993); Y. Friedlander, Al Ve-Haya he-
Akov le-Mishor (1993); H. Barzel and H. Weiss (eds.), Hikrei Agnon:
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Iyyunim u-Mehkarim bi-Yezirat Agnon (1994); D. Laor, Shai Agnon:
Hebetim Hadashim (1995); A. Holz, Marot u-Mekomot: Hakhnasat
Kalah (1995); W. Bargad, From Agnon to Oz: Studies in Modern He-
brew Literature (1996); N. Ben-Dov, Ahavot lo Me‘usharot: Tiskul Eroti,
Omanut u-Mavet bi-Yezirat Agnon (1997); D. Laor, Hayyei Agnon
(1998); S. Katz, The Centrifugal Novel: S.Y. Agnon'’s Poetics of Composi-
tion (1999); A. Oz, The Silence of Heaven: Agnon’s Fear of God (2000);
Sh. Werses, Shai Agnon ki-Feshuto (2000); M. Shaked, Ha-Kemet
she-be-Or ha-Rakia: Kishrei Kesharim bi-Yezirat Agnon (2000); Sh.
M. Green, Not a Simple Story: Love and Politics in a Modern Hebrew
Novel (2001); D.M. Harduf, Mikhlol ha-Shemot be-Kitvei Shmuel Yosef
Agnon (2002); R. Katsman, The Time of Cruel Miracles: Mythopoesis
in Dostoevsky and Agnon (2002). WEBSITE: www.ithLorg.il.
“AGOBARD (779-840), archbishop of Lyons from 814. Ago-
bard, who was born in Spain, was canonized by the Catholic
Church. His metropolitan province included some of the most
important Jewish settlements in Western Europe. A prolific
writer and active church leader, he sharply opposed the Jews,
both in his deeds and in his writings, out of religious, political,
and social motives. Six of Agobard’s pamphlets are devoted
to the Jewish question: (1) Epistula de baptizandis Hebraeis
(“On the Baptism [of the children] of Jews”); (2) De baptismo
judaicorum mancipiorum (“On the Baptism of Jewish-owned
Slaves”); (3) Contra praeceptum impium de baptismo judaico-
rum mancipiorum (“Against an Impious Precept Concerning
the Baptism of Jewish-owned Slaves”); (4) De insolentia Judae-
orum (“On the Insolence of the Jews”); (5) De judaicis supersti-
tionibus (“On the Superstitions of the Jews”); (6) De eavendo
convictu et societate judaica (“On the Necessity of Avoiding
Association with Jews”). His writings are of interest not only
as the earliest outspoken anti-Jewish document of the Caro-
lingian period, but even more because of the comprehensive
nature of his attacks on the various aspects of Jewish life. In
820 Agobard attempted to convert by force Jewish children in
Lyons as well as in Chalon, Macon, and Vienne. From his let-
ter to Emperor Louis the Pious in justification of his efforts,
it appears that the imperial authorities had previously pro-
tected Jews against this design. The problem of the religious
adherence of pagan slaves owned by Jewish merchants was
raised by Agobard. He complained that the way to the Chris-
tian faith was closed to them because, in contrast to the prin-
ciples of canon law regarding Christian slaves, the church was
not given jurisdiction over pagan slaves. His attempt to exert
ecclesiastical influence in such cases, however, was frustrated
by the intervention of the missi dominici (plenipotentiary em-
issaries of the emperor). Agobard also attempted to preach a
trade boycott of staples of wine and meat brought to market by
Jewish landowners. His writings contain information about
the influence that Jewish preachers had over some Christians.
To counterbalance intellectual sympathy with the religious
activities of the synagogue, Agobard took up the theme of
Jewish superstition as a topic of controversy. He maintained
that the Jews were falsifying their own tradition by mytho-
logical interpretations of the Bible and urged the severance of
existing social contacts between Christians and Jews. His
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGORANOMOS
pupil Amulo continued his anti-Jewish policy and propa-
ganda.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Blumenkranz, Les auteurs chrétiens latins
du moyen age sur les Juifs et le Judaisme (1963), 152-70 (full biblio-
graphical data in notes); A. Bressolles, Saint Agobard, évéque de Lyon
(1949); H. Reuter, Geschichte der religioesen Aufklaerung im Mittelal-
ter (1875), 24-41; A. Kleinclaus, LEmpire Carolingien (1902), 268-76;
J.A. Cabaniss, Agobard of Lyons (1953).
AGORANOMOS, inspector of market transactions in Greek
cities. This office was imported into Erez Israel during the Hel-
lenistic period and existed during the whole Roman period.
The agoranomos supervised the making of weights and mea-
sures, the quality of goods and the transactions between buy-
ers and sellers. The sources give no indication as to whether
he regulated matters between employee and employer, as was
the case in Hellenistic cities. Several inscribed lead and stone
weights (from Maresha, Scythopolis, Ashdod, Tiberias, Gaza,
and Jerusalem), as well as a standard of measures for liquids
(from Maresha), are the material evidence of the responsibil-
ity of this office in regard to weights and measures during the
Hellenistic, Herodian, and Roman periods. In Jerusalem, the
controversy between Onias, the high priest, and Simeon in
regard to the office of the agoranomia was one of the causes
of the civil war in the early 70s of the second century B.c.E.
(11 Macc. 3:4ff.). This episode may refer to the responsibility
of the agoranomos levying the taxes of the Temple. The au-
thority to appoint the agoranomos was apparently vested in
the high priest, and later in the king: the known weights of
the Herodian period are dated according to the regnal years of
Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, Agrippas 1, and Agrippas 11.
According to Josephus the tetrarch Herod Antipas appointed
Agrippa I as agoranomos of Tiberias before he was appointed
king by Caius Caligula in order to provide him with an income
(Ant., 18:149). Josephus also refers to the agora in Jerusalem,
where the agoranomos probably sat (Ant., 14:335; Wars, 1:251).
There are several rabbinic sources that provide evidence about
the office of the agoranomos. However, the word was variously
altered: agronimon, agardemis/agardemin, hagronimos, igrana-
min, and so on. Interestingly, although the Old Testament re-
fers to the obligation of using accurate weights and measures,
nothing is known about how this law was enforced, or about
the persons responsible for it, before the Hellenistic period.
In Jerusalem, before 70 c.£., the holder of this office had au-
thority only over measures, but in Babylon he could also fix
the prices of commodities (Tosef., BM 6:14; BB 89a; TJ, ibid.
5:11). In Babylon the appointment of this official in the cit-
ies, where commerce was concentrated in Jewish hands, was
a function of the exilarch. For some time Rav filled this role.
The agoranomos had authority to inspect merchandise such
as wine or bread in order to evaluate its quality. When the
agoranomos appeared in the marketplace, merchants would
sometimes hide and the shopkeepers would lock their doors
for fear of punishment. The importance of the agoranomos is
attested by a passage (Lev. R. 1:8) which notes that a king, on
469
AGRAMUNT
visiting a province, would first discuss matters with the ago-
ranomos. The name of the office seems to have been translated
from the third century c.g. on as baal ha-shuk, and also as-
similated with the office of logistes (accountant), itself trans-
lated as khashban. Other offices related to the management of
the supply on the market of Greek cities are evidenced in rab-
binic sources: the astynome, a parallel to the agoranome (TJ,
Maaser Sheni 5:2, istononsin), and the sitones, supplying the
grain (ibid. 4:1, khatonaya/sitonaya).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Krauss, in: Tal Arch, 2 (1911) 372ff. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Finkielsztejn, “Administration du Levant sous
les Séleucides. Remarques préliminaires,” in: M. Sartre, La Syrie hellé-
nistique, Topoi Suppl., 4, (2003), 465-84; D. Sperber, in: zDMG, 127
(1977), 227-43; idem, “On the Office of the Agoranomos in Roman
Palestine,” in: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft,
127 (1977), 227-43.
[Menahem Stern / Gérald Finkielsztejn (24 ed.)]
AGRAMUNT, town in northeast Spain, belonging to the
former county of Urgel. Jews living in Agramunt in the 13
century were liable to the same fiscal duties as the Christian
townspeople but were also obliged to pay taxes to the count
of Urgel and the king of Aragon. In 1272 Solomon b. Abraham
*Adret was appointed arbitrator of a disagreement between
the Agramunt and *Lérida communities. The infant Alfonso
received permission to settle 40 Jewish families in Agramunt
in 1316. Agramunt was a cultural center. Ezra b. Solomon
b. Gatifio (see *Gatigno) completed his glosses on Abraham
*Ibn Ezra’s biblical commentary there in 1372. In the early
15" century Solomon *Bonafed corresponded with friends
in Agramunt. Shealtiel Isaac Bonafos practiced as a physi-
cian there toward the end of the 1420s. A tombstone with a
Hebrew inscription, probably of the 13"* century, is preserved
in Agramunt. In the 1980s one of the streets traditionally
known as the medieval Jewish quarter was renamed carrer
del Call.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Regné, Cat, no. 550; Coleccion de documen-
tos inéditos del archivo general de la Corona de Aragon, vol. 10, p. 276,
Neubauer, Cat, nos. 230, 232, 1426, 1984 A, 38; Baer, Urkunden, 1
(1929), 148, 861f., 1070; Cantera-Millas, Inscripciones, 280-3, Piles
Ros, in: Sefarad, 10 (1950), 179, Millas, ibid., 14 (1954), 387-8.
AGRANAT, SHIMON (1906-1992), third president of the
Supreme Court of Israel. Agranat, who was born in Louis-
ville, Kentucky, went to Palestine in 1930, and settled in Haifa,
where he entered private law practice. He was appointed a
magistrate in 1940 and president of the Haifa District Court
in 1948. In 1950 Agranat was appointed justice of the Supreme
Court, becoming its deputy president in 1960 and president
in 1965, retiring from the position in 1976. From 1954 until
1960 he was visiting professor of criminal law at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, and, from 1960 to 1966, president of
the court of the World Zionist Organization. He wrote Dinei
Oneshin (“Penal Law,’ 1960). Agranat was awarded the Israel
Prize in 1968. In November 1973 he was appointed chairman
470
of a commission (named the Agranat Commision) to investi-
gate and report on the civil and military aspects of the *Yom
Kippur War. Its findings led to the resignation of Chief of Staff
David *Elazar, and though it exonerated government leaders
for the country’s lack of preparedness, Prime Minister Golda
*Meir subsequently resigned as well.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tidhar, 14 (1965), 4534.
[Edwin Samuel, Second Viscount Samuel]
AGRARIAN LEAGUE (in German “Bund der Landwirte’),
extreme conservative German organization for the defense of
agrarian interests, formed in 1893. Its membership included
most of the Protestant farmers and farm laborers in the pe-
riod of the German Kaiserreich. Ideologically, the League
constituted a bridge between the tenets of Christian German
nationalism (“Das Christliche Deutschtum”) and romantic
and racialist tendencies. It was outspokenly antisemitic, al-
though in a religious rather than a racialist sense. This did
not prevent it from cooperating with the racialist antisem-
ites of the Berlin Movement (Berliner Bewegung, see *Anti-
semitism). Non-Christians were explicitly excluded from the
League by its program. The League waged a campaign against
what it considered the three enemies of the “true Germany:
the Liberals, the Social Democrats, and the Jews.” In 1921,
the Agrarian League was united with other agrarian associa-
tions in the Reichslandbund, which took part in the “national
opposition” against the Weimar Republic. From 1931 on,
the Reichslandbund supported Hitler’s National Socialist
Party.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.-P. Pulzer, The Rise of Political Anti-Semi-
tism in Germany and Austria (19887); H.-P. Mueller, in: Zeitschrift fuer
wuerttembergische Landesgeschichte, 53 (1994), 263-300; H.-U. Wehler,
in: Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, 4 (2003), 91-93, 382-84.
[Marcus Pyka (2™4 ed.)]
AGRAT BAT MAHALATH, “Queen of the Demons” in tal-
mudic legend. It was taught that “a person should not go out
alone at night, on Wednesdays and Sabbaths, because Agrat
bat Mahalath and 180,000 destroying angels go forth, and each
has permission to wreak destruction independently’ Hanina
b. Dosa limited her power to these nights; Abbaye further re-
duced it (Pes. 112b). Another authority states that the following
sentence, whispered repeatedly, is effective against witchcraft:
“Agrat bat Mahalath came and caused the death, by arrows,
of [two other female demons,] Asya and Belusia” (Pes. 1114;
see Ein Yaakov version). According to Numbers Rabbah 12:3:
“Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night” (Ps. 91:5),
refers to Agrat bat Mahalath and her chariot. Some scholars
hold that Agrat bat Mahalath is identical with *Lilith. The view
that the name “Agrat” is derived from the Persian “A(n)gra,”
meaning enemy or demon, and Mahalath from the root mhl
(2m; “dance”) meaning therefore “the dancing witch,’ has
been shown to be without foundation. The kabbalists identify
Mahalath with the daughter of Ishmael (Gen. 28:9), who gave
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
birth to demons and evil spirits. The midrashic source for this
is now lost (cf. Maharsha Pes. 112b).
For recent views of the meaning of the name “Agrat,” see
Sokoloff (Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic), pp. 10a
and 233b. The name also occurs in Jewish magic amulets; see
Shaked and Naveh, pp. 78-81. For Agrat bat Mahalath in the
Zohar, see Margaliot, p. 205.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Kohut, Ueber die juedische Angelologie
und Daemonologie (1866), 88; Ginzberg, Legends, 5 (1955), 39; He-
Arukh ha-Shalem (1937), $.V. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Naveh and
S. Shaked, Amulets and Magic Bowls (19877); R. Margaliot, Malakhei
Elyon (1988).
[Israel Moses Ta-Shma / Stephen Wald (24 ed.)]
AGREST, DIANA (1945- ), architect. Agrest was born in
Buenos Aires and received her degree in architecture from
the University of Buenos Aires in 1967. She studied in France
with Roland Barthes, known for his work in semiotics. Agrest
and Mario *Gandelsonas, her husband, together designed
a trio of apartment houses in Buenos Aires (1977) that re-
sponded to modern tradition but also explored issues such
as scale, typology, and material within the classical traditions
and contemporary conditions within the city. Agrest came to
New York in 1971, where she became a fellow of the Institute
of Architecture and Urban Studies (1972-84). She taught at
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Archi-
tecture, New York, where she was an adjunct professor from
1976, and at Columbia University. She was a worldwide lec-
turer and also taught at Princeton and Yale universities. Her
theoretical ideas are expressed in a wide variety of publications
such as Skyline and Oppositions. Her books include: Architec-
ture from Without, Theoretical Framing for a Critical Practice
(1991), and The Sex of Architecture (1996). These volumes ex-
plore the symbolic performance of architecture in relation to
the urban condition, the formal and ideological development
of building types, the relationship between architecture and
other visual discourses, including film, and, most uniquely,
the position of gender and body in Western architecture. In
1980 she went into partnership with Mario Gandelsonas to
form the firm A & G Development Consultants, Inc. The firm
became a leader in a field which refines late modernism with
semiotics and Freudian theories. A & G also designed office
and apartment interiors, including furniture. A Park Avenue
apartment interior (c. 1990) used materials such as pink mar-
ble, granite, and exotic woods combined in a geometric se-
vere design. The firm built an unusual house, Villa Amore, in
Sagaponack, Long Island, New York. It is made up of a clus-
ter of buildings designed to reflect farmland that is fast be-
coming tracts for housing. The 8,o00-sq. ft. home, completed
in 1991, built partly on stilts, connects by walkways to other
components. The master bath is a glass cylinder and there is
a waterfall and a pool. In 2000, the firm completed the Mel-
rose Community Center in a low-income neighborhood in
the Bronx, New York. It was designed to accommodate the
3,000 youngsters who live in neighboring housing projects.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
The main low building is oval-shaped and the exterior is silver
and red. These colors continue in the interior of the building.
The 14,000-sq.ft. building took six years to complete and con-
tains a full-size basketball court, a dark room, a restaurant-
style kitchen, and a computer lab.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Agrest, S. Allen, and S. Ostrow, Archi-
tecture, Technique and Representation (Critical Voices in Art, Theory,
and Culture) (2000).
[Betty R. Rubenstein (2"4 ed.)]
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS
AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL. Erez
Israel is a small country with a topographically fragmented
territory, each geographical region having a distinctive charac-
ter of its own. These regions include: the coastal plain, the low-
lands, the hilly country, the inland valleys, the north-south rift
valley, and the arid and desert areas. The whole of the country,
excluding the desert regions, has an area of a little over 10,000
sq. miles (26,000 sq. km.) and it has been estimated that of
this only 2,500 sq. miles (6,544 sq. km.) are capable of cultiva-
tion. The country’s semi-tropical climate, with a hot and dry
season (between April and October) and a cold season with
an unpredictable rainfall (between November and March), its
varying altitudes, terrain, and soils, all imposed limitations on
the type of land management which could be undertaken in
the different parts of the country. There were very few springs
of water, so dry farming was practiced in most parts. Agricul-
ture in semi-arid regions, for instance the Negev, depended
entirely on run-off irrigation. As a result, certain regions were
suited for the cultivation of grain crops, others for fruits and
vegetables, and some for animal husbandry. The writer of
Deuteronomy was under no illusion regarding the restricted
agricultural potential of the land. Speaking to the People of
Israel before the entrance to Canaan, Moses said: “For the
land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the Land of
Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowest thy seed,
and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs. But the
land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys,
and drinketh of the rain of heaven” (Deut. 11:10-11).
While the geographical fragmentation of the country
would seem to encourage political and cultural regional-
ism, the diversity of the economic pursuits within the coun-
try resulted inevitably in heightened commercial interaction
between people from one part of the country and the other,
rather than isolationism. During the Bronze and Iron ages,
more than 50 percent of the population in Erez Israel were
agriculturalists living in the countryside. The rest lived in
towns or small cities and dealt primarily with administrative
and commercial and industrial activities. Almost all farmers
lived in small villages or hamlets, since the isolated farmstead
was not known until the eighth century B.c.£. In the vicin-
ity of these settlements they established fields and grew their
crops and orchards. Numerous agricultural land-management
techniques and implements were used over the millennia. By
the Byzantine period (sixth to seventh centuries C.E.) crop
471
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
yields appear to have reached levels that have only been ap-
proached in modern times.
Topographical
In ancient times the rural countryside was divided into vine-
yards and olive groves, arable fields, orchard plantations, veg-
etable gardens, and areas of public land given over to pasture
and industrial activities (e.g., lime and charcoal burning,
and stone quarrying). Topographically, the vineyards and
olive groves were more suited to sloping ground or to the
highlands. Vines are unable to grow with ease above 2750 ft.
(900 m.) above sea level. Olives are also said to be difficult to
grow above 2450 ft. (800 m.) or below 1225 ft. (400 m.). How-
ever, olive presses have been found on Mount Hermon at sites
with elevations up to 3,300 ft. (1000 m), as at Kafr Dura. Olive
trees could even be grown in areas with an annual rainfall of
only c. 200-300 mm., as in northern Africa. Grain was best
adapted to the plains, the broad valleys, and some of the in-
ternal valleys. Vegetables and certain types of fruit trees were
grown in areas with access to permanent sources of water,
springs, wells, or cisterns.
The location of many fields reflect traditional answers to
the problems of the natural environment. Hence, field bound-
ary walls were established along the same lines as those built
thousands of years earlier, simply because they were the most
topographically convenient. North-facing slopes were par-
ticularly favored for the establishment of new fields and this
is because they were less exposed to the sun and their soils
were able to retain moisture for longer. The size and shape
of fields was usually affected by the steepness of the ground,
with smaller and narrower fields on extremely steep slopes.
The appearance of the field could also be dictated by the rocki-
ness of the terrain. In Samaria and in the Modi in foothills,
for example, vines and olive trees were cultivated in “boxlike”
pockets of deep soil scattered in certain areas of rocky out-
crops. Whether or not the field was used for arable purposes
or for fruit trees would very much depend on the type of soil
available, the rockiness of the ground, aspect, drainage, and
so forth. The position of natural sources of water used for ir-
rigation, whether a spring or well, would have an effect on the
location, shape and function of nearby fields.
Land Management
Agricultural fields and their crops are mentioned in a number
of ancient written sources, principally the Bible and the early
Jewish writings from the Roman period. Information about
fields may also be found in some of the Classical sources, but
these are usually not directly relevant to Erez Israel. A smaller
amount of information may also be derived from ancient in-
scriptions and various other epigraphic materials.
The Bible contains a wealth of information about agricul-
tural practices and the landscapes of the country during the
Iron Age 11 period, although some of the passages may con-
tain strands of information relating to earlier periods. Each
town and village had its own surrounding territory of fields
472
and common land. Most of the agricultural land was in pri-
vate ownership and the family inheritance was referred to as
the nahalah or ahuzah. Royal estates also existed and ozarot
(“storehouses”) were built in the fields (1 Chron. 27:25). Land-
marks were set up between the various plots of land. The
general term for cultivated land was sadeh (Lev. 27:16). The
word was used to designate cultivated pieces of land next to
the towns as well as open areas used for pasturage. The area
of land which could be plowed with a pair or team of oxen
during the course of a single day was referred to as the zemed
sadeh (1 Kings 19:19). A maanah was half of that area (1 Sam.
14:4). The kerem referred to vineyards and olive groves (kerem
zayit, Judg. 15:5). Mixed fruit trees were grown in the gan or
ginnah, usually next to the houses (Song 5:1; 6:2; 14:12), or in
the pardes (Song 14:13). Plantations of fruit trees (the mat-
tah) were grown further afield and were sometimes irrigated
(Ezek. 31:4).
Isaiah 5:1-8 has a description of terraced fields being
prepared for a vineyard: the vegetation was uprooted (‘zq),
stones were cleared (sq!) and then stone fences and an ob-
servation tower were built: “My well-beloved hath a vineyard
in a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the
stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built
a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein:
and he looked that it should bring forth grapes...” (Isa. 5:1-2).
A subsequent verse (5:5) implies that the stone fence (gader)
surrounding the terraced unit was surmounted by a thorny
hedge. This was used to protect the grapes from animals and
also from people walking along the mishol ha-keramim, the
“path between the vineyards” (Num. 22:24). Some of the ter-
raced slopes were not plowed but dug with hoes (Isa. 12:11).
The heaps of stone visible in the terraced areas are referred to
in Hosea 12:11 as the gallim (“heaps”) “in the furrows of the
fields” and in Micah 1:6 as the ai (“pile”) in the field.
It has been suggested that one of the terms used in the
Bible for terraces (especially for vineyards but also for or-
chards) is sadmot (11 Kings 23:4; Jer. 31:40; Deut. 32:32; Isa.
16:8). Hence, Habakkuk 3:17 should perhaps now be read as
follows: “The fig tree does not blossom/ There is no produce
on the vines/ The yield of the olive fails/ The shadmot (“ter-
races”) do not produce food.” The shdmt are also mentioned in
two Late Bronze Age Ugaritic texts. The first, cra 23: 8-11, is
rendered: “Let them fell him [the god Mot] on the terrace like
a vine.” The second, CTA 2.1.43, isa damaged text and the con-
text is not as clear. Another suggestion that has been made is
that gbi (Jer. 39:10; 52:16) was an alternative word for “terrace”
and that yogevim referred to the workers/owners of irrigated
terraces. This seems unlikely and the reference is probably to
the vats of winepresses located in vineyards (cf. King 1993,
159). Additional references to terraces in the Bible include the
meromei sadeh mentioned in the premonarchic Song of Deb-
orah (Judg. 5:18) and the sadeh teromot in David’s Elegy for
Saul and Jonathan (11 Sam. 1:21), both of which seem to refer
to “built fields” on hillslopes. Terraces are more commonly re-
ferred to as madregot, and in Ezekiel 38:20 it is written: “...and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
the mountains shall be thrown down, and the madregot (‘ter-
races’) shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’ (cf.
sing. madregah mentioned in Song of Songs 2:14).
The surfaces of fields were fertilized with manure, house-
hold rubbish, and ashes. Strict laws existed about fallowing
land on the seventh year (Ex. 23:11). Roads are mentioned
passing next to vineyards and fields of wheat (Deut. 19:14;
Num. 22:30). Fields were sometimes expropriated and given
by the ruler as presents to his supporters (1 Sam. 8:14; 22:7).
The process of buying a field was described in Jeremiah 32:44:
“Men shall buy fields for money and subscribe evidences, and
seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in
the places about Jerusalem...” Recent archaeological evidence
indicates that during the Iron 11 period, specifically from the
eighth century B.c.£., there was an unprecedented expan-
sion of agricultural territory with extensive terracing in the
highlands. Terracing later spread into the Negev and Judean
Deserts. Similarly, various biblical passages indicate a hunger
for land during the course of the Divided Monarchy with the
break-up of family inheritances and the creation of large es-
tates owned by rich landlords. These landlords were cursed
in Isaiah 5:8, where it is said that “woe unto them that join
house to house, that lay field (sadeh) to field, till there be no
place (left)....” Micah 2:2 spoke out against those who “...covet
fields, and take them by violence....”
Fields were frequently mentioned in early Jewish sources
from the Roman period. Fields were of different sizes, from the
small plot known as the beit roba (approximately 336 sq. ft. 32
sq. m.) to the bet seah which had an area of 940 sq. yds. (784
sq. m.). The agricultural holding, the bet kor, was about 23.5
dunam in size, but most peasants probably had holdings of a
much greater size than this. Boundaries for fields were some-
times indicated by a road, a path, a wadi — bed, an expanse of
water, or even a water channel (Pe’ah 2:1-3). Much informa-
tion is provided in these sources about the surface treatment
of fields (plowing, manuring, and fallowing) and their yields.
The depth of plowing achieved during this period was men-
tioned in Bava Kamma (2:5) as 3 tephahim (about 11 in., or
27 cm.) which is far greater than the maximum depth of 8 in.
(20 cm.) known from recent traditional farming. This indi-
cates that either a heavier form of plow was used or that the
line of the furrows was plowed twice over to achieve the re-
quired depth. An area plowed during one day with a yoke of
animals was known as bet hafarash. Fields with different types
of soils were known by different names, for example sadeh
madrin and sadeh kaskasin. Fields were even established on
the summit of hills where the soil was so thin that “the oxen
cannot pass over with the plow” and they had to be cultivated
with mattocks (Pe’ah 2:2). The yield of a field was frequently
estimated while the crop was still standing. The land of an or-
chard could belong to one person and the trees to another (see
Pe’ah 3:4), a practice which still existed at the beginning of the
20% century. A distinction was made between fields used for
dry-farming (bet baal) and for irrigation (bet selahin).
There were two kinds of gardens in Erez Israel during
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
antiquity: the horticultural garden and the decorative gar-
den. There is no evidence that a combination of the two ever
existed. Vegetable gardens were usually located near a source
of water, a spring or a cistern. Important archaeological evi-
dence for irrigated garden plots has come to light during the
investigation of Byzantine monasteries in the Judean Desert
and elsewhere. Decorative gardens and groves of trees prob-
ably existed adjacent to temples and palaces from very early
times, but direct archaeological evidence is still lacking. For
the later periods, remains of decorative gardens have been dis-
covered at the Herodian palace complex at Jericho. Plants and
bushes were planted in ceramic pots with holes in their sides.
Similar pots were found in the first-century gardens at Pom-
peii and in the second-century gardens at Hadrian's villa at
Tivoli. Planting pots with holes in their sides are mentioned in
Demai 5:10 and in connection with a vineyard in Kilayim 7:8.
Cucumbers are said to have been grown in planting pots made
of cattle-dung and unfired clay. The latter also had round holes
in their sides, the size of which is debated in Ukzin 2:9-10,
“How great should be the hole?” the answer being, “such that
a small root can come out.”
Very few ancient epigraphic finds have been made con-
cerning agricultural land management in Erez Israel. Most of
the inscriptions and documents which have been found deal
with matters of economic administration and only very in-
directly with work in agricultural fields. However, some evi-
dence does exist and a number of examples will be given. The
Gezer calendar is probably one of the earliest and most inter-
esting of the documents preserved relating to agricultural ac-
tivities. It lists information about the activities which needed
to be undertaken at different points during the agricultural
year. The text was clearly written by an inexperienced hand,
perhaps by an apprentice scribe, and can be dated to the end
of the 10 century B.c.E. Information on fields exist in a num-
ber of other Iron Age inscriptions. For example, the Tel Siran
inscription from Jordan, dated to c. 600 B.c.E. which men-
tions a vineyard (krm) and gardens (gnt).
A larger amount of material exists for the Roman and
Byzantine periods. Interesting information on agricultural
plots in the lower Dead Sea region has emerged from the Ba-
batha archive, deposited in c. 132 C.E. in a cave in the Judean
Desert. The largest of the plots owned by Babatha measured 20
bet seahs or 12.5 dunam. One of the Greek papyri (BB 21) deals
with the sale of a date crop and indicates the names of three
orchards in the area of Maoza from which the dates came: the
Pherora orchard, the Nikarkos orchard, and the Molkhaios or-
chard. Another document (BB 16) is the land registration for
four other groves of palm trees owned by Babatha at Maoza.
Two of them are described as extending down towards the
Dead Sea. For each grove an identifying name was given, the
size of the grove, the taxes paid on it and the names of lands
or features abutting the groves.
An important batch of non-literary papyri dating from
the sixth and seventh centuries c.E. came to light during the
Colt expedition to Auja Hafir (Nessana) in the central Negev.
473
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
They include a vast amount of information on the agricultural
lands belonging to the settlement, on sown land, vineyards,
gardens, reservoirs, water channels, rights to water, and data
on crops of wheat, barley, aracus, olives, and dates.
Terracing
Very little is known about the earliest forms of agricultural ter-
racing in the highlands of Erez Israel. It seems reasonable to
assume that the technology of creating flat areas on hillsides
by building walls and leveling fills was invented by various ru-
ral groups acting in cooperation at a local level, in different
parts of the Levant and at different times. Hence, various cen-
ters of origin for terrace construction may have existed, with
Erez Israel being one of them. Incipient forms of terracing,
such as soil held in place by logs of wood, by rows of wooden
stakes, or piled rocks, would be very difficult to detect in the
archaeological record. It was probably recognized early on that
obstructions placed across a stream channel would eventu-
ally help towards stopping the movement of eroded soils and
would induce a process of alluviation. Early slope terracing
may have taken place initially in the lower parts of hills with
newer terraces later being built further up the slopes. Another
suggestion which has been made is that the natural steplike
appearance of many of the slopes in the highlands, with thin
layers of chalky marl interposed between limestone or dolo-
mite strata, may have prompted man’s first attempts at terrac-
ing. However, no evidence supports the assumption made by
some investigators that the earliest terraces with stone walls
must have been crudely executed, low in height, and built on
relatively slight slopes. Indeed, the earliest terrace found at
Sataf, which is of Early Bronze Age date (late fourth millen-
nium B.C.E.), was relatively well constructed and was built on
avery steep slope. It has also been suggested that the origins of
terracing should be sought in the marginal semi-arid regions
of the Near East. The suggestion is that the “channel-bottom,
weir terrace” type was possibly the earliest form of terrace.
However, terracing in the Negev and in the Judean Desert can-
not be shown to be older than the Iron Age 11 (seventh century
B.C.E.), even though flood farming itself existed in the Negev
from as early as the Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age. Studies
of New World terracing have also shown that the earliest ter-
raced sites must have been in the /ess arid areas first.
Another important point which needs to be taken into
account is that the idea of creating leveled areas on hillslopes
for agricultural purposes is not dissimilar from the basic
technology of architectural terracing or slope stabilization.
At settlement sites in Erez Israel, architectural terracing can
be traced back to as early as the Natufian period. A system of
four architectural terraces supporting 13 hut dwellings, are
known from the Natufian site of Nahal Oren. These terraces
were 80 ft. (24 m.) in length and 6-17 ft. (2-5 m.) in breadth,
and their retaining walls were built of field stones. At many
Early Bronze Age sites, architectural terracing supported
houses and other structures on the slopes of hills. Examples
of EB architectural terracing are known from Tel Yarmut, Tell
474
el-’Umeiri, and sites in the Wadi el-Hasa. Architectural ter-
racing continued to be used throughout the rest of the Bronze
Age. At Jerusalem, a remarkable series of architectural terraces
were unearthed by Kenyon on the east slopes of the City of
David, probably dating from the very beginning of the Iron
Age. Since the technology of architectural terracing in Erez
Israel can be traced back to late prehistoric times, it is possible
to assume that terracing for agricultural purposes likewise had
a similar antiquity in the hilly areas of the country.
Archaeological evidence indicates that terracing was in-
troduced into the highlands of Erez Israel at the beginning
of the Early Bronze Age. It is not surprising that the earliest
known use of terracing in the highlands should coincide with
the introduction of plow agriculture in that area. However,
terracing was clearly only practiced on a limited scale during
the Early Bronze Age and as late as the eighth century B.c.E.
No evidence supports the theory that the early Israelites (or
Proto-Israelites) were responsible for inventing or introducing
terracing into the highlands during the early Iron Age. They
simply made use of an existing technology without any spe-
cial adaptations or innovations. This refutes the stand taken
by some scholars who have suggested, without any supporting
evidence, that terracing prior to the early Iron Age was “un-
systematic.” Archaeological work has shown that the major ex-
pansion of terracing in the highlands took place at a number of
times over a period spanning some 1600 years, from the Iron
Age 11 (eighth century B.c.£.) to the *Abbasid period, with
cycles of contraction operating in the landscape at intervals of
between 250 and 350 years. A decline in the use of the terraced
areas appears to have set in around 750 c.E£. and apart from
some signs of renewed terracing activities during the *Mamluk
and *Ottoman periods, especially in areas of irrigated terraces,
this decline continued until the present century.
Demarcation of Agricultural Territory
The demarcation of agricultural territory was quite frequently
referred to in biblical passages. The boundary, or territory, was
referred to as gevulah. In Deuteronomy 19:14 the injunction is
that “thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's gevul (landmark),
which they of old time have set in thine inheritance...” (see
also Prov. 22:28). The practice of tampering with landmarks,
especially with those in the “fields of the fatherless” - aban-
doned fields - was apparently prevalent during the Iron Age,
and if caught the perpetrator was cursed and punished (Deut.
27:17; Job 24:2; Prov. 23:10). The physical appearance of these
“landmarks” is unknown but they were probably perma-
nent and immovable. A boundary stone at the edge of a field
of grain is depicted in a New Kingdom tomb painting from
Egypt. These boundary markers were often swept away by
the inundations of the Nile and had to be replaced by refer-
ence to documented cadastration. This problem did not exist
in Erez Israel, but markers could be moved during disputes
between neighboring farmers. There is no evidence, however,
to suggest that the exact locations of the markers were docu-
mented in any way. Josephus, writing in the late first century
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
c.E., warned: “Let it not be permitted to displace boundary
marks, whether of your own land or of the land of others with
whom you are at peace; beware of uprooting as it were a stone
by God's decree laid firm before eternity.” (Ant. Iv, 8:18).
Very little archaeological evidence exists for the demar-
cation of territory in Erez Israel during ancient times. Hence,
there are difficulties in defining the extent of cultivation and
pastureland belonging to a settlement at any given period. But
some evidence does exist. The lands of *Gezer, for example,
were marked out during the late second or early first century
B.C.E. with inscribed boundary stones. Some of these mark-
ers also refer to the adjoining estates of Alkios, Alexa, and
Archelaus. Boundary stones are known to have been set up to
delimit taxable properties between cities, towns, and villages
in the Roman provinces. Inscribed boundary stones delim-
iting agricultural territories, dating from the time of Diocle-
tian (late third century), have been found in the Hauran, the
western Golan, and in the Huleh Valley.
Less information exists on the use of stones or markers
to demarcate the ownership over lands of a specific farm or
individual plots of land. The more permanent type probably
took the form of prominent natural rocks, ancient trees, large
piles of stones, posts, fences, or walls (see Or. 16:5). Bound-
ary markers in the form of monoliths were found along roads
bordering areas of fields in Samaria and Modi’in and dated to
the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In Bava Batra (4:8) it is
stated that “if a man sold a field he has sold also the [bound-
ary] stones that are necessary to it.”
Temporary markers made of piles of stones were the easi-
est to create and they can be seen all over areas of ancient and
traditional field systems. In the highlands near Jerusalem such
landmarks were known in Arabic as rassem or hejar et-tuhm.
The latter term was also used for the pile of stones located at
both ends of a cultivation strip in the plains. One commen-
tator of the 19" century noted that the lands of the Sharon
were marked out with small lumps of stone. Mark Twain in
his description of agriculture in the Lebanon (1869) wrote
that he saw “rude piles of stones standing near the roadside
at intervals, and recognized the custom of marking bound-
aries which obtained in Jacob’s time. There were no walls, no
fences, no hedges - nothing to secure a man’s possessions but
these random heaps of stones.” Wilson in 1906 reports that to
mark off two plots a double furrow was driven between them
and piles of stones were set up at short intervals within the
furrow. These piles were usually quite small.
Care has to be taken not to identify all stone piles seen
in the fields as markers delimiting ownership. Many of the
larger piles in the fields are clearance heaps of surplus stones
(see Shev. 2:3; 4:1). Others covered the ruins of ancient struc-
tures and this was referred to in Oho. 15:7. The remains of
numerous structures were found beneath piles of stones dur-
ing archaeological surveys around Jerusalem. Some of these
may have been memorial heaps, for example the large stone
pile (gal avanim) mentioned as having been erected over the
place where Achan was stoned and set on fire (Josh. 7:26). A
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
group of large stone piles investigated in southwestern Jeru-
salem, dating from the Iron 11, may have been memorials of
this sort, or perhaps they were connected with harvest rites
since agricultural installations, including a wine press, are
known in their immediate vicinity. Many piles of stones on
the top of hills were perhaps connected with peasant rituals,
and Rabbi *Akiba (second century c.£.) warned that “where-
soever thou findest a high mountain or a lofty hill and a green
tree, know that an idol is there!” (Av. Zar. 3:5). Aborted fetuses
were sometimes buried within cairns (Oho. 16:12). At the be-
ginning of this century, stone cairns (rujm) were being set up
at sites where murders had taken place. A stone heap of this
kind was known in Arabic as meshad, i.e., a “witness.”
All individual fields were originally marked out in one
way or another, even if only in a very rudimentary fashion. It
was only then that the clearing and plowing of the land could
begin. All agricultural work carried out with plows or with
hoes produce scarps or banks of soil along the edges of the
plots being prepared for cultivation. Loose stones from the
surface of the field, which are a hindrance to plowing proce-
dures, would have been thrown to the edges of the plots, thus
creating boundary lines of low piled stones. In areas where
there was very little competition for the land, this way of mark-
ing out the plot was clearly sufficient. Alternatively the plot of
land could be marked out with a ditch (which had to be at least
3 ft. (0.93 m.) deep and about 1 ft. (0.37 m.) wide according to
Kilayim 4:1). Ridged or dug-out boundaries of this sort may
be detectable on the ground but field boundaries made out of
perishable materials, such as piled logs of wood or reeds, will
usually not be archaeologically evident.
In areas where there was pressure on the land or where
there was a possibility of disputes between neighboring farm-
ers, a proper system of field boundaries became necessary.
Such fences tended to be built of stone where rocky outcrops
were available to the farmer. In areas where stone was not
freely available, especially in the plains and in the broad val-
leys, the field boundary was probably defined by a furrow in
the ground, a wooden fence, a row of fruit trees (see Or. 1:1), or
a thorny hedge. Archaeological evidence for such boundaries
is rarely found. Stone fences, however, survive quite well and
traces can still be seen in many parts of the country, as well as
in the arid areas of the Negev and Judean Deserts.
Thorny hedges are referred to in various biblical pas-
sages. In the Parable of Jotham there is mention of plots of
fruit trees edged by the atad bush which, if unattended, would
easily grow wild (Judg. 9:15). It has been suggested that this
was the thorny bush (Lycium europaeum) which still grows
in the Kisuphim area where it originally was used during the
Byzantine period as a hedge around fields. The mesukat hedek
(identified as Solanum incanum L.) is another type of thorny
hedge, sometimes mentioned in association with stone walls
(Isa. 5:5; Prov. 15:19; Hos. 2:6). Hedges surrounding fields were
also mentioned in the Mishnah (Bx 3:2). The hedge was re-
ferred to as the hasav in TB, BB 55a. The thorny bush Sarcope-
teria spinosum is presently used by traditional farmers as a
475
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
hedge around cultivated fields. The practice of surrounding
fields with cactus bushes (Arabic sabreh) dates back only to
the Ottoman period when the cactus was first introduced into
Erez Israel. In the 19" century, rectangular fields were cleared
within the woodland of northern Golan, leaving rows of oak
trees standing as boundaries between the various plots.
Stone fences were usually built to a height of about 3ft.
(1 m. and with an average width of over 2 ft. (0.75 m.). This wall
(known in Arabic as jedar) was built without the use of mortar.
It has been estimated that a modern builder could construct
a dry-stone wall around 15 ft. (4.5 to 5 m.) in length, 1.5 ft.
(0.50 m.) thick and 4 ft. (1.4 m.) high (using 115 cu. ft. - 3.3 cu.
m.) of stone) in the space of one working day. Principally the
walls served to keep animals (dogs, foxes, and jackals) away
from the crops. Frequently the tops of such walls were rein-
forced with a thorny bush (netsh in Arabic; usually this was the
Poterium spinosum in the central highlands). The bush would
project a few inches beyond the upper edge of the wall and was
kept in place with the weight of a few stones. Repairs to these
walls were always made in time for the period leading up to
the vintage. In the Bible, the stone fence around a vineyard
is referred to as the gader avanim (Prov. 24: 31; cf. Isa. 5:5; Ps.
62:4). Special builders known as goderim were employed for
the task of building stone fences (cf. Ezek. 22:30).
The stone fence was also known as a gader among Jew-
ish farmers in the Roman and Byzantine periods (Matt. 21:33;
Pe'ah 2:3; Oho. 17:3). The hayis apparently referred to the sec-
ondary partition wall in the field systems and the gader to the
main enclosure wall. The boundary path between two plots of
land was referred to as the mesar (TJ, Kid. 1:5). It was appar-
ently not customary to build stone fences in the flat lands of
wide valleys (BB 1:2). The minimum measurements that this
fence had to have according to the Mishnah, was a height of
3 ft. (0.93 m.) and a width of 1 ft. (0.37 m.) (Kil. 2:8). If it was
less than this height then it could be regarded as a “quarry”
and its stones dismantled and taken away. However, its foun-
dations (to a height of about 4 in. (10 cm.) always had to be
left intact (see Shev. 3:6). The boundary markers were set up
outside the line of the fence so that if the wall collapsed the
farmer still could claim ownership over the place and the
fallen stones. However, in the case of two separately owned
plots of land, the boundary stones were set up on either side
and if the wall collapsed then the stones belonged to both of
the farmers (BB 1:2). Ditches were sometimes dug along the
foot of the fences (BB 7:4) and in a vineyard a border 7.35 ft.
(2.24 m.) wide was left uncultivated between the fence and
the vines (Kil. 6:1).
The use of stone fences around fields has been found dat-
ing back to the period of the Iron Age 11. The fact that they
have not yet been found does not mean, however, that stone
fences were not built during earlier periods as well. Iron Age
stone fences have been documented at sites in the Judean
Hills, but fewer in Samaria. A possibility to consider is that
stone fences around fields may originally have been derived
from the type of stone walls used to surround animal pens,
476
for example those from the Iron Age 1 which are known from
Mount Ebal and Giloh.
Roads can be most useful in outlining the borders of ag-
ricultural lands or in separating one group of fields from an-
other, particularly in defining the extent of fields which were
not in any other way demarcated with stone fences. Three
types of roads are known from the rural countryside of Erez
Israel: highways, regional roads, and local rural roads. A bor-
der of about 25 ft. (8 m.) was left uncultivated on either side
of the highway, which was of no prescribed width (BK 6:4).
The local roads were the access routes which linked the farms
and villages with their fields and areas of pasture. They also
gave farmers access to the regional roads leading to the mar-
ket settlements. Produce would have been conveyed to market
using beasts of burden. Wheeled transport was rarely used as
roads were too narrow and stony. Most local roads extended
between sites with prominent water sources (such as springs)
and served as “corridors” between blocks of fields. Cisterns
and wells are frequently found alongside both types of roads.
High walls built of stone were erected on either side of roads,
to separate the public space from the agricultural land. They
prevented animals from entering unattended fields and dam-
aging crops, especially the flocks of sheep and goats which
were shepherded along these roads from the animal pens next
to the settlement to the area given over to pasture which was
usually located some distance away. The walls also served to
discourage passing travelers from entering the fields and pick-
ing fruit during the harvest seasons.
Natural “gates,” or private roads, led from the local roads
into the field systems. Local roads were either for public use
or were under private ownership and a clear distinction was
made between the two during Roman times (see Pe’ah 2:1 and
Kil. 4:7). A private road (derekh ha-yahid) was prescribed as
having a width of about 6.5 ft. (2 m.) and a public road (derekh
ha-rabbim) a width of about 25 ft (8 m.) (BB 6:7). A road end-
ing at a cistern, lime kiln, cave, or wine press was usually a
private road (Toh. 6:6). In some cases blocks of fields may be
observed laid out within a pre-existing network of local roads.
When such roads can be dated, they can then provide a termi-
nus ante quem date for the field systems. Datable roads when
encroached on by field systems will provide a terminus post
quem date. Bowen (1961) wrote that the “integration of fields
with any trackway leading into a settlement seems the best
assurance of contemporary relationship, or at least in some
phase, though the individual fields might of course have suf-
fered considerable subsequent alteration and not necessary
be characteristic of the period of the settlement”
Shape and Size of Fields
Agricultural fields in Erez Israel were usually very small and
approximately rectangular. There were, of course, exceptions
to the rule as well as regional and local variations. The fields
in the flat areas of the plains and broad valleys were on the
whole proportionally larger and more rectangular than the
fields located on sloping ground. Fields in extremely rocky
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AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
terrain were even smaller in size. The shape of an individual
field on sloping ground was quite often determined by topo-
graphical and lithological factors. The edges of the fields were
either defined by natural features (such as a wadi, a gully,
rocky outcrops, etc.) or by man-made boundaries (such as
stone markers, stone fences, or terrace walls). The size of
the fields also depended on the type of farming technology
available to the farmer. Plowed land was always larger than
land cultivated only with hoes. This was also true of the dig-
ging and clearing equipment which were essential in the
highlands for clearing stones, breaking up the ground, and
flattening the field surfaces. Different sized fields are to
be found in the areas around the villages. Some of this may be
the result of the fragmentation of land owing to the division
of property at different times. The fields associated with
farms, however, appear to have been much more uniform
in size and were sometimes part of integral systems that
were quite well defined. Compared to the fields used for dry
farming, irrigated plots of land tended to be smaller and
extremely regulated, with flatter surfaces and well-defined
boundaries.
Fields also tended to be of rectangular shape because they
were easier to measure for the purpose of estimating surface
area or the quantity of crops grown in them. Measuring lines
(kavei ha-middah) or cords (hevelim) are mentioned in a num-
ber of biblical passages referring to the measuring of lands and
fields for the purpose of division (11 Sam. 8:2; Isa. 34:17; Jer.
31:39; Micah 2:4-5; Amos 7:17; Ezek. 47:3; Ps. 16:6). The “line”
or “cord” had knots at specified intervals along its length. The
measurement of the distance between the knots of the bibli-
cal cord is unknown. Perhaps it was the length of the kaneh
(“measuring reed”) mentioned in Ezekiel 40, which was used
for measuring small areas and expanses. A tax assessor who is
seen measuring standing crops with a knotted cord to deter-
mine the yield was skillfully depicted in a painting on the wall
of a New Kingdom tomb in Egypt. The knotted cord is shown
extended horizontally across the top of the crops and held be-
tween the assessor and his assistant. A roll of additional cord
is shown slung across the assessor's left shoulder.
In Roman Erez Israel, land which was to be sold had first
to be “measured by the line” (BB 7:2-3; see also the methods
of measuring differently shaped fields as explained by Col-
umella v, 1,13-2, 10). It is reported that the farmers of Beth
Namer “used to reap their crops by measuring-line and leave
peah (gleanings) from every furrow” (Pe'ah 4:5). The division
of agricultural land by surveying is mentioned in one of the
Nessana papyri (P Ness. 58) dating from the late seventh cen-
tury. Measuring cords are also mentioned in a passage from
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, dated to between the eighth and early
ninth century, which deals with the Muslim conquest of Erez
Israel in the seventh century c.£. It says that the conquerors
will “measure the land with ropes, and make the cemetery
into a dunghill where the flock rests, and they will measure
them and from them unto the tops of the mountains ....” The
knotted cord during the Roman and Byzantine periods was
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
probably marked out with a measuring rod of a standard size
used in Erez Israel (cf. Kel. 7:6), perhaps identical to the or-
gua or kalamos measures. An iron measuring rod, five cubits
in length and dating to the seventh century, has been discov-
ered during excavations at an ecclesiastical farm at Shelomi in
Western Galilee. This rod may have been a kalamos measure of
u1 spithamai, 8.5 ft. (257.4 cm.) Long cords for the purpose of
measuring village lands for taxation purposes were still used
by the Ottomans in the 19 century. In Southern Erez Israel,
lands were divided up with a measuring line (havaleh) before
plowing. This line was made of goat’s hair and was a little more
than one centimeter thick.
The earliest archaeological evidence for the general ap-
pearance of the layout of field systems in Erez Israel dates from
the Iron Age 11. This may have been the period during which
widespread field systems were first laid out as blocks of rect-
angular-shaped plots on high ground and along the valleys. In
some areas, it would appear that these blocks of fields devel-
oped piecemeal, but in the highlands and in the semi-arid re-
gions a number of these systems appear to have been planned
in advance. However, it is only during the Roman and Byz-
antine periods that fields were laid out in a specific pattern
in different parts of Erez Israel and Syria. Some even follow
Roman land-partition principals.
The size of the individual field used for arable purposes
during antiquity was usually the area of land which could be
plowed with a yoke of oxen during the course of one day’s
work. According to Bava Batra (1:6) the practical size of sown
ground in dry farming was an area of 11,000 sq. ft. (1,176
sq. m.) (but according to R. Judah - 24 century c.z. - this
could be reduced to as little as 5,500 sq. ft. (588 sq. m.). The
size of plots used as vegetable gardens and vineyards were
even smaller. The size of plots were apparently progressively
reduced in the course of the third and fourth centuries. In Sa-
maria, at Khirbet Buraq most individual plots were between
1and 7.5 dunam in size, with the largest not exceeding 15 du-
nam. The size of individual plots is in fact not helpful in an
attempt to reconstruct the area of smallholdings, since most
families in the Roman period would have owned more than
several plots and these could very easily have been scattered.
Furthermore, a family could also have controlled areas of pas-
ture and woodland outside the field system.
Various suggestions have been put forward regarding the
size of the lands cultivated by the individual peasant small-
holder in Roman and Byzantine Erez Israel. As a result of his
archaeological surveys in Samaria, Dar has estimated the size
of the typical family holding around a number of Byzantine
village sites at between 25 and 45 dunam (note that four du-
nam are the equivalent to one acre). At Khirbet Buraq the
holdings were estimated at 25 dunam each and around Qa-
rawat bene Hassan at between 39.7 and 45.6 dunam in size.
These figures do not take into account the possibility of the
scattered ownership of land. At sites in the Galilee, holdings
averaged between 6 and 11 dunam and around Nablus between
15 and 18 dunam (compare these figures with the average of
477
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
16 dunam for a block of enclosed fields noted by some schol-
ars for the Galilee).
In a study of the economy of Roman Erez Israel, Safrai
proposed that an average family of four individuals, practicing
subsistence agriculture, would have required lands covering an
area of approximately 11 dunam (or 13.7 dunam for a family of
five). However, with the burden of taxes and the need for out-
side purchases a minimum of 20 dunam seemed to him to be
a far more realistic figure. Safrai’s figures are based on calcula-
tions regarding the possible harvest yields of plots used for the
cultivation of wheat, olives, figs, grapes, and legumes. How-
ever, such yields could have varied quite substantially from
one part of the country to another, depending on the type of
soils available, location and precipitation levels.
Broshi in another study has suggested that a family of
five needed an area of 50 dunam for subsistence, a figure
which seems quite reasonable compared to estimates of the
sizes of traditional holdings during recent times. This also fits
well with the estimated minimum requirement of 20 iugera
(= 50 dunam) for a farm in Roman Italy which cultivated
land with the plow and kept animals. However, Broshi does
not believe that manuring was carried out in the sown areas
and so in antiquity the smaller areas did not produce yields
which were any greater than those of traditional agriculture
of the 19 century.
A number of ancient sources exist dealing with the ques-
tion of the size of the peasant holding in antiquity (note the
following equivalents are used here: 25 dunam = 2.5 hectare =
10 iugera = 20 plethra). In his Historia Ecclesiastica (111, 20:1),
Eusebius mentions Judas’s nephews cultivating an area of 39
plethra (= 48.7 dunam). Thus each farmer would have had a
holding of about 24 dunam. Talmudic sources also contrib-
ute much information, but more about the quantity of yields
and the measurement of individual plots of land than about
the size of the individual holding. Additional figures are avail-
able regarding the sizes of holdings in other ancient Medi-
terranean countries and Egypt. Apparently the smallest and
largest allocation of land in Roman Italy was from 2 iugera (=
2.5 dunam) to 200 iugera (= 5,000 dunam) or more. Since 2
iugera was clearly insufficient to support a family even on a
subsistence level, this allotment must have been additional to
areas used for pasturage. In 133 B.c.E., allotments for the poor
in Italy measured between 10-30 iugera (= 25-75 dunam). In
Greece, in the Metaponto area, plots varied between 48 and
530 dunam, with 50 percent of these totaling about 138 dunam
in size. In Egypt, the average property size varied during the
mid-fourth century: 76 iugera (190 dunam) at Hermopolis
and 37 iugera (92.5 dunam) at Antinodpolis).
The above figures make it quite clear that there are many
difficulties in estimating the size of the average small peasant
holding in antiquity, prior to the Abassid period when there
was a general decline in the agricultural productivity of the
land lasting until modern times. However, the size of a hold-
ing will have differed considerably from one type of environ-
ment to another, with larger holdings in the more rugged en-
478
vironments having poorer soils, and smaller allotments in the
flat fertile plains and internal valleys where there was much
more pressure on the land. At times when there was a seri-
ous fragmentation of holdings, with lands being absorbed by
larger estates, such as during the 3'—4" centuries C.£., there
would have been pressure on privately owned ancestral hold-
ings and these would naturally become smaller with individ-
ual fields being sold off piecemeal. The size of the holding also
depended on the type of agricultural regime being practiced
and whether or not it included the replenishment of soil fer-
tility with proper manuring and fallowing procedures. The
lack of such procedures could well have restricted the size of
the areas being cultivated. Finally, the minimum size of a sub-
sistence holding will differ considerably between one which
had to support a family and one which supported an extended
family. Furthermore, a peasant farmer could have held more
than one holding. The attempts made by Dar and Safrai to di-
vide up the fields surrounding ancient villages into holdings of
theoretical sizes, seems to be fundamentally flawed when one
considers the evidence regarding the lands owned by Rabbi
Yohanan in the 3"¢ century, whose fields were not concentrated
at one location at all but scattered at different locations in the
countryside between Tiberias and Sepphoris.
However, the existence of such problems should not
mean that scholars should abandon the attempt to delimit
the minimum size of peasant holdings in Erez Israel during
the different periods. The maximum cultivable land in Erez
Israel in 1931 amounted to 6.54 million dunam which, subdi-
vided by the population number of 600,000 for that general
period, provides an average of 11 dunam of land per inhabit-
ant. This figure can be compared favorably with Broshi’s sug-
gested 10 dunam of land per individual in antiquity. However,
two facts need to be taken into consideration regarding the
1931 figure: first, not all the population at that time were in-
volved in agriculture and, secondly, a large percentage of the
available cultivable land was not necessarily being cultivated.
For example, records show that up to 55 percent of the hills
around Nablus-Tulkarm had neglected terraces in the Man-
date period. Hence, a more realistic minimum of 5 dunam per
individual seems likely. A family of five would therefore have
had a holding of approximately 25 dunam or more. Hence, the
suggested size of a peasant holding in Erez Israel during the
time preceding the Abassid period, i.e., before 750 C.£., prob-
ably varied considerably between 25 and 50 dunam.
It is interesting to compare these figures with information
known about the size of the average smallholding in different
parts of the Near East during more recent times. An average
of 50 dunam per peasant family has been estimated accord-
ing to figures taken from an Ottoman census of 1909, for the
lands in the three sanjaqs of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre; 85
percent of landowners from Hebron cultivated areas ranging
between 1-20 dunam. The sizes of average holdings in three
present-day agricultural villages in the Zarqa River basin in
Jordan range between 19 and 68 dunam. In Syria, however, a
peasant holding in an area of dry farming was much larger,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
averaging 50-70 dunam. At Episkopi in Cyprus, the village was
estimated to have had a total of 10,000 dunam of land and a
maximum population of 700 individuals; thus a holding for
a family of five would have averaged at about 71.5 dunam. At
Ashvan in Anatolia the total landholding per family averaged
122 dunam but 40 dunam of this was used for pasturage.
The systematic study of field systems during archaeologi-
cal work, combined with a critical examination of evidence
gathered from a variety of sources, provides very important
information on the history of rural land management in dif-
ferent parts of Erez Israel. One of the major problems in es-
tablishing a typology of field systems for Erez Israel is that the
best evidence comes from hilly areas and from the marginal
semi-arid areas, and it is questionable whether these patterns
were also the same in areas of flat land. While the tenurial
organization of land cannot be worked out solely from the
archaeological remains of the fields themselves, the archaeo-
logical work is able to provide historians with empirical data
on the appearance and extent of ancient field systems of dif-
ferent periods. In some field systems the evidence points to
continuity, with the position of boundaries being respected
and retained from period to period. In some cases substan-
tial changes have occurred and this may have been the result
of the dispossession of lands, new property relationships, or
new forms of exploitation.
Dating fields is still an acute problem for archaeologists.
One scholar wrote in 1984 in a pessimistic vein that in his
opinion “it is very rarely possible to attribute an ancient ag-
ricultural field or system of old terraces to a specific period.”
Research in the 1990s and early 2000s shows that this is no
longer the case and methods of landscape archaeology enable
scholars to disentangle field systems belonging to several pe-
riods. The first step, of course, is to evaluate the degree of as-
sociation between a system of fields and adjacent villages and
farms, and the network of communications (paths, roads, etc.).
Field boundaries and their relationships with earlier features,
from dolmens to earlier fields, must be examined. Some of
these earlier features may have been respected or dismantled.
‘The extent of a field system also needs to be determined. It is
not always an easy task to establish where one system stops
and another starts. Attempts should also be made to examine
patterns of field boundaries and the stages of construction of
stone fences defined through structural analysis. Some field
systems are of an aggregate pattern and others may have a
planned parcelation arrangement with a more rectilinear de-
sign. Some systems are responsive to the local terrain, oth-
ers are not. Ancient boundaries are frequently “fossilized” in
modern boundaries. A comprehensive study subsequently
needs to be made of sherd scatters located next to the settle-
ments, around cisterns, wine and oil presses, alongside the
edges of fields and across the field surfaces. Many of these
sherd scatters may turn out to be the result of ancient ma-
nuring practices. This will provide the surveyor with a gen-
eral idea as to the date of the fields which are being exam-
ined. The excavation of test pits within the settlement and
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
next to the various features seen within the area of the fields,
can serve as a “control” over the results from the survey. The
overall results will show whether or not there has been cul-
tural continuity or discontinuity within a given landscape of
agricultural fields.
Recent work has shown that a variety of ancient land-
management systems were operating in different parts of Erez
Israel in antiquity. These reflect the many different ways that
the rural population responded to environmental and climatic
constraints. The quality of these responses depended on the
level of social and economic organization achieved by the
different farming communities and on the level of farming
technologies available to them. ‘The tactics of village commu-
nities differed considerably from those of individual farmers,
and this had a clear effect on the general layout of fields in a
landscape. The earliest known evidence for the imposition of
a regular and widespread cultivation pattern in Erez Israel can
be dated to the Iron 11 period. The parcelation of land was con-
solidated during the Hellenistic to Roman periods. Thereafter,
areas of field systems expanded and in time, particularly dur-
ing the Byzantine and Umayyad periods, became much more
complex and fragmented than before.
Today, the shape and character of fields in Erez Israel
have changed dramatically. Mechanized equipment now al-
lows for the cultivation of extremely large tracts in areas of
flat land. Terraces can be cut into the slopes of hills with bull-
dozers and soil can be transported by truck from one place to
another. The use of artificial fertilizers has meant that fields
no longer need to lie fallow and yields can be constantly
high. A wide variety of weeds, however, are thus being ban-
ished to the margins of fields and complete wildlife habitats
are being destroyed. Large areas of fields in the traditional
landscape have already been eradicated. Their boundaries
and fences have now been erased forever and can only be
seen in aerial photographs. The morphology of the agricul-
tural landscape is no longer the same and the growing of cash
crops has replaced the economic variability of ancient times.
While it is sad to observe the rapidly disappearing traditional
landscapes, harvests in Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan are
now much greater and more plentiful than they ever were in
antiquity and this can only be to the advantage of the local
farmers of today.
Manuring Procedures
In ancient Erez Israel, an enormous amount of effort was dedi-
cated to the proper organic fertilization of fields and periodic
fallowing. The archaeological evidence for ancient manuring
is represented by the very large quantities of sherds which can
be found scattered in the fields all over the country. In many
cases they represent frequent farming procedures undertaken
to improve the fertility of the soil, especially in areas where
frequent cropping was undertaken with very little fallowing.
The fertilizers and manure had to have the right composition
of potassium, phosphorus, lime, magnesium and nitrogen, al-
lowing for the proper growth of the crops in the fields.
479
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
Fertilizers and manure of all sorts were extremely valued
in antiquity as soil-improving agents. The most frequently-
used manure was the dung of cattle, sheep and goats which
was collected from the mangers and animal pens and distrib-
uted in the fields with household rubbish. The term domen
was used in the Bible when referring to manure left in the
field as an organic fertilizer (11 Kings 9:37; Ps. 83:11; Jer. 9:21).
When animal dung was mixed wet with straw, it was known
as madmena (Isa. 25:10). Household rubbish and sherds were
probably added to the dung while wet and this would have
helped break down the dung before being scattered in the
fields. Human excrement was not apparently used and was
clearly forbidden by Jewish custom, unlike in China where
human faeces, diluted and fermented, was one of the prin-
cipal manuring agents used in the fields. However, ashes
(efer: cf. Ezek. 28:18) and burnt ashes from animal sacrifices
(deshen: cf. Isa. 34:7) were probably used. This was certainly
the case during the Roman period when ashes of a sacrificed
animal were “sold to gardeners as manure” (Yoma 5:6). A
dove-raising industry existed in Erez Israel in the Hellenis-
tic and Roman periods and is represented by the discovery of
numerous columbaria caves and structures. The dove drop-
pings from these columbaria were highly sought after espe-
cially for fertilizing valuable garden plants. The rule was that
columbaria had to be located at a distance of 25 m. from the
farm or village (BB 2:5). Organic waste materials such as the
cakes resulting from the pressing of olives, were pulverized
and then added to the compost heaps which were then later
scattered on the orchards and gardens. In Roman times, an
importance was attributed to fertilization procedures with
organic materials and compost produced from organic waste
(BK 3:3; Shev. 2:14, etc.). The importance of fertilizer is shown
by the comparison of dung to precious stones (Sanh. 59b).
Blood (Yoma 5:6), ash, and fine sand (Tosef., Shab. 8:9) were
all used. Sheep droppings were applied by enclosing the flock
in a temporary fold (“sahar”). The enclosure would be set up
for some time and then be moved from place to place in the
field (Tosef., Shev. 2:15, 19).
Manure was used in orchards, gardens, and sown fields.
The best time to manure the fields was after the first rains in
time for the winter crops and in the spring for the summer
crops. The rains softened the ground as well as the manure
itself. In irrigated areas, manuring was continued through-
out the year. Manure was distributed to the fields in special
baskets (known in Latin as sirpeas; cf. Kel. 19:10; 24:9) which
were loaded on beasts of burden. It has been estimated that
235 cu. ft. (6.7 cu. m.) of manure were used per dunam of
land. The manure was first deposited in heaps in the field
and was then scattered by a process of plowing or hoeing (cf.
Shev. 3:1-4). Seeds from weeds could sometimes get into the
soil of a field through animal dung and this was something
which concerned Jewish farmers during the Roman period
(Kil. 5:7). A field that had undergone manuring was known
as a bet ha-zevalim. Movable enclosures were sometimes set
up in the fields to help localize the dung of grazing animals.
480
In dry soil, manures could effect the movement of water be-
tween the surface of the ground and the subsoil, and so ma-
nures had to be only lightly covered. But care had to be taken
to make sure that the manure was dug in properly, since un-
rotted manure could burn crops (White 1970: 129). Manure
was heaped around individual trees and then dug in. In Luke
13:8 reference is made to the manuring of a fig tree so that it
should bear fruit.
Broshi has suggested that manure was mainly used in
orchards and gardens during the Roman and Byzantine peri-
ods and not at all in the fields that were used for the growing
of grain. The claim has also been made that because of pres-
sure on the land only one third of it was actually allowed to lie
fallow during that period, but this would have been contrary
to the Jewish rulings of the time (BM 9:7). The true extent of
the manuring practices at that time is clearly demonstrated
by the enormous distribution of sherd scatters in areas used
for the growing of grain across the country. Manuring at a
distance of more than a mile (1.5 to 2 km.) from the village
would probably have been uneconomical without the use of
carts.
The phenomenon of sherd scatters representing ma-
nuring regimes is known from ancient fields investigated in
many of the Mediterranean lands, from Spain to Greece, and
as well as in other parts of the world. Various methods have
now been developed for the study of the distribution of sherd
scatters within agricultural lands and around settlements. In
Erez Israel, organic household, and courtyard rubbish was
gathered and used as a fertilizer for the fields, and this rub-
bish frequently included broken pottery. Household refuse
was sometimes mixed with animal manure to make it easier
to scatter in the fields. In Samaria, sherds have been found in
the fields around Qarawat bene Hassan, up to 2-3 km. from
the village center, as well as around Khirbet Buraq and in other
fields. Sherd distributions have also been studied in the fields
around agricultural settlements in the Golan. Soil was some-
times taken from the ruins of ancient sites and scattered on
the fields as a fertilizing agent. Archaeologically, this is known
only from sites with plots used for irrigation purposes, as at
Sataf west of Jerusalem.
In the Ottoman period sown fields were very rarely ma-
nured and in many areas this eventually resulted in the sub-
stantial exhaustion of the land during the 19'* century and the
early part of the 20" century. Manure was mainly kept for use
in vegetable gardens and some orchards, or dried and used for
fuel. However, Baldensperger in 1907 does mention the ma-
nuring not just of orchards but also of sown ground. Karmon
and Shmueli have also pointed out that unlike other parts of
the country, the regular manuring of terraced plots was being
carried out around Hebron until the 1970s. Reifenberg in 1947
complained that organic manure was often very badly han-
dled in Erez Israel: “the heaps being exposed not only to the
intense sun but also to the torrential winter rains. The dung
is very often left for weeks in small heaps on the field instead
of being plowed in as quickly as possible?
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
Irrigation
Although Erez Israel was described as possessing “brooks of
water, of foundations and depths, springing forth in valleys
and hills” (Deut. 8:7), the reality is that there were very few
permanent sources of water that could be used for agricultural
purposes, namely a number of perennial rivers, and springs
and wells, and mostly what local farmers could rely on was
winter rainwater (Deut. 11.10-11); otherwise their lands would
remain dry (forlorn like “the garden that hath no water,” Isa.
1:30). The few permanent sources of water that did exist were
therefore exploited to the fullest and the danger of drought
was always present (Deut. 11:17). Water rights and ownership
of access to water led to serious disputes in antiquity (e.g., the
disputes with the Philistines regarding wells of water, Gen.
21:25; 26:15-22). Rabbinic legislation covered many aspects
of the distribution of water among those who shared in wa-
ter rights. “Water turns” were assigned (MK 11b) to those en-
titled to use the supply. Some individuals were compelled to
buy or lease seasonal rights (TJ, MK 1:2, 80b). Many biblical
passages make use of the well, spring, and river as symbols of
abundance and security (Isa. 58:11; Jer. 31:11). Orchards, too,
grow better when partially irrigated. Hence the comparison
made between the person who puts his trust in God to “a tree
planted by streams of water” (Jer. 14:8; Ps. 1:3).
Irrigation methods were many and diverse. In those
parts rich in rivers and springs, as in the Jordan and Huleh
valleys, water flowed into the fields by gravitation and was
directed through channels dug with shovels or pressed down
by foot (cf. Deut. 11:10). Trees were similarly irrigated (Ezek.
17:7; Song 5:13): a shallow pit dug around a tree was filled with
water, which would sink deep into the ground and moisten
the roots (Kal. R. 3:52, 4). However, mechanical means were
sometimes needed to lift water into the fields. The most simple
of containers was the deli (“pitcher”) of earthenware or metal
attached to a rope or chain (Shab. 15:2; Kel. 14:3). A similar
utensil was the havit or jug, which was also used for water
drawing (Mak, 2:1). A larger device for lifting water was the
kilon of mishnaic times (Makhsh.. 4:9, etc.), which was also
frequently depicted in ancient Egyptian and Babylonian rep-
resentations; it has survived up to the present time in the tra-
ditional agricultural practices of Egypt (known there in Ara-
bic as the shaduf). It consists of a vertical pillar on which a
long horizontal bar is placed. To the one extremity of the bar,
a jug is attached by rope or pole, while the other extremity is
weighted down by a stone to balance and facilitate the raising
of the full container. Herodotus described the Egyptian use of
this device (Gr. knAwvitoy, “keloneion’; cf. History 1:139). The
bucket wheel was used at wells for irrigation and was turned
by a horse, mule, or ox. Water was conveyed to the fields by
conduits on high stone walls, sometimes arched. Examples of
waterwheels used to raise water from rivers and wells of the
“Persian” type with ceramic jars attached to them (antila),
are known in Erez Israel dating back to the Roman period.
The antila is essentially a vertical wheel to which earthenware
pitchers or wooden containers are attached. An animal rotates
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
a shaft whose attached, wooden-toothed gear in turn engages
the wheel to which the drawing pails are tied. According to the
halakhah, water drawn by an antila invalidates a mikveh, since
the waters are separated from their source during the process.
The Tosefta (Makhsh. 3:4; Mik. 4:2) designates another ves-
sel, the “kevulin” or “kehulin” whose use does not invalidate
the mikveh, since the water is not detached from its source
during the operation. This kehulin (Lat. cochlea, “snail”) con-
sists of an Archimedean screw in a pipe. The screw, turned by
an animal, forces the water to rise. Strabo (17:807) reported
that water for the Roman camps was drawn from the Nile by
means of xoxAiat.The galgal or gullah described in Ecclesi-
astes (12:6), with a wheel turning an axle to which a pail or
two were attached by rope or chain, may have been an earlier
type of antila device. Such a device was frequently mentioned
as UNXavt avtrAovoa (i.e., “drawing machine”) in Hellenistic
Egyptian papyri. Evidence of its use has been found in the
south of Israel in a Byzantine Greek inscription that reads:
“This excellence too of pnxavi, the glorious father Helarion
invented” The horizontal waterwheel may have been devel-
oped in the Upper Galilee during the second century B.c.£.,
but clear archaeological evidence for this is still lacking. The
large upright wheel operated by water power (na@urah in Ar-
abic) was first developed in Syria, the most famous examples
being those at Hama. It was later introduced into Erez Israel,
where it was used to draw water from some of the perennial
rivers and is referred to in the halakhah as a device with “self-
drawn water from the sea or river” (Tosef., Mik. 4:2, so in cor-
rect texts). The Jerusalem Talmud designates this instrument
by the name “agatargatkaya” (TJ, MK 1:2, 80b), which is related
to the Greek term katappdaxtng, “cataract” or “waterfall” It re-
fers to the cataract effect created by the water-driven wheel. In
addition to these water wheels, underground Qanat systems
were constructed to exploit the shallow groundwater in the
arid basins of the Arabah and the lower Jordan Valley. Exam-
ples of these systems have been surveyed by Porath, who has
suggested, on the basis of his fieldwork, that the knowledge of
qanat construction may have been introduced into the region
from Iran either during the late fourth century B.c.£. or (and
this seems much more likely) during the Umayyad period in
the seventh century c.z. However, the use of these chain wells
did not last beyond the Abassid period.
The most important source of water in the hilly regions
are the springs, and an estimated 800 exist in Erez Israel. In
ancient times the lands adjacent to the springs were mainly
used for irrigation purposes. Only a handful of these springs,
namely the Dan, Yarkon, and Naaman springs, have a flow of
more than one cubic meter of water per second. A little more
than 40 produce a volume of between 100,000 and 1,000 liters
per second. The rest produce much smaller amounts of water,
sometimes as little as one liter per minute. Irrigated plots of
land tended to be located fairly close to routes giving ease of
access for those conveying their produce (such as vegetables)
to the markets or back to the village or farm. Irrigated plots
tended to be fairly close to the settlement for security reasons.
481
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
Most springs in the hills of Erez Israel had various installa-
tions attached to them, including flow tunnels and large wa-
ter-storage pools. The irrigated fields were located below the
pools and water was conveyed to the fields along channels by
a process of gravitation (it would “leave higher ground and
go to the lower,” Ta/an. 7a). Each terrace area received water
once every cycle of specified number of days, according to the
size of the terraces owned. Spring-irrigated lands have been
investigated during archaeological surveys in Samaria and in
the Judean Hills. Spring-irrigated system of terraces have been
investigated at Ain Yael, Sataf, and Suba.
Artificially watered or irrigated fields were frequently
mentioned in the Mishnah. Irrigated land was known as bet
ha-selahin to distinguish it from the areas of rain-fed land
known as bet baal. The smallest irrigated allotment was be-
tween 350 and 700 sq. ft (32.5 and 65 sq. m.) (BB). It is inter-
esting to compare this with the allotment of 1 dunam of irri-
gated terraced land which every family farms in present-day
Battir. Title over irrigated lands was given to anyone who
could prove three years undisputed possession (BB 3:1). The
surface of the irrigated field was divided up into square plots
of about 5 x 5 sq. ft. (0.56 x 0.56 m.), separated one from the
other by an earthen border (gubal) about 4 in. (10 cm) in
height (Kil. 3:1). Irrigated plots were heavily manured and
the frequent manuring of beds of cucumbers and other veg-
etables was mentioned in Shevi’it 2:2. Soil taken from ancient
ruined sites was frequently used to top-up and fertilize irri-
gated fields. The furrow or channel which brought water to
these plots had a width and depth of about 10 cm wide and 10
cm deep (Kil. 3:2). Channels led from tree to tree (MK 1:3). In
large areas of irrigated lands, small plastered tanks were fre-
quently built at the end of the main irrigation channels. Be-
cause of evaporation rates, these small tanks were the first to
be filled with water: “The cistern nearest to a water-channel
is filled first - in the interests of peace” (Git. 5:8). It was only
then that the plots between the spring and the tanks could be
directly irrigated from the main channel. Springs in areas of
irrigated fields were known to suddenly dry up (BM 9:2). A
distinction was made in Moed Katan 1:1 between old springs
and “newly flowing springs.”
Irrigation plots were frequently established next to aq-
ueducts leading from the springs. Plots of land irrigated in
this fashion existed next to the aqueduct which led water to
the settlement of Naaran in the Golan. An interesting Greek
inscription of Justinianic date was found near the principal
aqueduct leading to Jerusalem. It prohibited the use of the
land on either side of it, up to 15ft. (4.6 m.), for cultivation
purposes. This was to prevent water from being siphoning
off for irrigation. This prohibition reminds one of the ban in
Roman Erez Israel regarding the cultivation of plots of land
on either side of highways.
Cistern irrigation was also practiced in Erez Israel and
dates back at least to the Iron Age (e.g., Isa. 27:3). Vines wa-
tered by irrigation are mentioned in a field with furrows (aru-
got) in Ezekiel 17:5-7. Cistern-irrigated plots are mentioned in
482
Jewish sources of the Roman period (see MK 1:1;) and in Pe’ah
5:33 a field was irrigated “with a pitcher.” Cistern-irrigated plots
of land have been investigated by Dar at a number of sites in
Samaria (1986a, 200-2). A cistern in an orchard is mentioned
in one of the Nessana papyri (Kraemer 1958).
Traditional irrigation in Erez Israel clearly perpetuates
ancient practices as Dalman was able to show in his pub-
lications. Many of the Arabic toponyms in Erez Israel are
linked to the word ain (“spring”) indicating the importance of
the spring even when it was located a few kilometers away
from the settlement. Descriptions of traditional spring-irri-
gated plots and watering procedures were frequently published
by 19‘ and early 20'" century travelers. Water was divided
up for irrigation either by degrees or by hours. General re-
search on irrigation has been carried out by Avitsur and at
springs in the terraced Judean Hills by Ron. The irrigated
areas investigated by Ron comprised only 0.6 percent of the
total of the terraced areas west of Jerusalem. This percent-
age is probably true for all of the terraced areas of the hills
of Erez Israel.
Installations and Implements
Associated with each system of ancient agricultural fields, in
addition to the villages and farms, are the remains of solitary
structures, towers, caves, cisterns, columbaria, wine and oil
presses, threshing floors, and animal pens. Pools for steep-
ing flax and fig-drying installations are also mentioned in
the sources. Many of these features were linked by roads and
paths. Near them were lime kilns and quarries.
The existence of rural towers in areas of terraced fields
has been frequently commented on by travelers and scholars
since the 19 century. A detailed study of these structures was
carried out by Ron in the terraced zones of the Judean Hills.
Approximately 50 percent of these stone towers were associ-
ated with vineyards and 39 percent with orchards. In general
terms, the layout of the tower resembled the organized space
of the traditional village house, with the lower area serving for
storage and the upper part for habitation. Towers were usu-
ally located at a distance of 500 meters and up to a kilometer
from the village or according to Wilson writing in 1906 up to
6 or 8 km. from the village. The interior was perfect for the
cool storage of agricultural produce, since its temperature was
8 to 13 degrees cooler than outside it. Water cisterns and wine
presses were frequently found next to the towers. Ron believes
that these towers indicate private family ownership of land
with cultivation taking place in small plots, thus reflecting a
traditional subsistence economy. A detailed study of towers
associated with fields in Samaria dating from Hellenistic and
Roman times was made by Dar. Similar structures have been
examined in terraced areas around Jerusalem, some of them
dating back to the Iron Age 11. Additional tower-like struc-
tures in areas of terracing, also dating from the Iron Age 11,
have been examined in the Tell el- Umeiri area in Jordan, to
the southwest of Amman. This kind of structure should per-
haps be identified with the stone-tower (migdal) mentioned
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
in Isaiah 5:2. Additional structures located in fields are men-
tioned in the Mishnah, including “cone-shaped huts, watch
booths, and summer huts” (Ma’as. 3:7; cf. Kil. 5:3). The sale of
a field also meant the sale of the watchman’s hut and its stones,
unless it was made of perishable materials and “if it was not
fastened down with clay” (BB 4:9). The differences between
these ancient structures and the more recent ones are not as
outstanding as Dar believes. Dar argues that these structures
differ architecturally, with the ancient examples built of hewn
stone without built stairs and with the recent examples built
of surplus stone cleared from the fields. The ancient towers,
however, could easily have been supplied with wooden lad-
ders and this would have given them a much better defensive
edge than having built stairs. Furthermore, surveys around
Jerusalem have shown that many of the traditional towers
were in fact built of stone supplied from quarries and not
cleared from fields at all. The similarities between the ancient
and traditional towers are much greater: both sets of towers
were located in fields at a distance from the settlement, they
had cool interiors suitable for storing agricultural produce and
they could have been used as watchtowers during the harvest
seasons. In antiquity, the social standing of the farmer was
probably indicated by the size and appearance of the tower.
Even some of the more recent towers can be quite imposing.
Extremely flimsy structures could also be erected in the fields
during harvest times, such as the traditional structures in the
fields near Beth Shean (Dalman 1932, Pls. 12-13). The Bible
refers to temporary structures of this sort; the melunah in an
irrigated plot of cucumbers and the sukkah in a vineyard (Isa.
1:8; 4:6; 24:20).
Fenced-off animal pens are frequently found adjacent to
field systems, since arable farmers in Erez Israel usually also
kept stock. These were grazed on the common lands and on
arable fields when fallow. At harvest the crops were protected
by tethering animals or keeping them within fenced enclo-
sures. The study of animal pens is instructive in regard to the
relationship in antiquity between livestock to arable activity
in a given landscape.
The excavation of rural sites, such as farms and villages,
has brought to light the remains of agricultural installations,
farming equipment, and food-processing equipment. These
provide information on the level of technology and farming
methods available to the farmers at different periods. Indi-
rectly they also provide information on what was grown in
some of the surrounding fields. Agricultural installations may
include wine and oil presses, and large flour mills. The dating
of a specific type of installation within a settlement can help
towards dating similar installations found associated with the
fields outside a settlement. Important studies of wine and oil
presses have been undertaken in recent years by various schol-
ars, notably by Frankel. Examples of farming equipment may
include digging sticks, plows, mattocks, hoes, sickles, pruning
knives, and so forth. These may be compared with traditional
farming equipment used in Erez Israel (see, for instance, the
work of Avitzur and more recently by Ayalon). Examples of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
food-processing equipment may include pestles and mortars,
querns, rotary mills, and so forth.
[Shimon Gibson (2"¢ ed.)]
Plowing
The light plow (or ard) was one of the most important farm-
ing implements used in the fields of Erez Israel for the break-
ing up of ground and preparing it for cultivation. The intro-
duction of this implement into Erez Israel at the end of the
fourth millennium BcE. probably had a revolutionary effect
on the appearance of the earliest fields and the size of the av-
erage plot probably increased considerably (the earliest evi-
dence for plowing in the Near East are the plow marks dating
to the fourth millennium B.c.£. which were found at Susa a,
and the Uruk pictograms of plows which date from the late
fourth millennium B.c.£.).
Traditional plowing helps to understand the ancient pro-
cedures. Proper plowing ensured a successful harvest. Before
plowing was commenced, especially in a mountainous area,
the plots were cleared of stone with the use of a hoe or mattock
(in a process known in Arabic as naqb). The manner in which
the plot of land was plowed has been described by a number
of different authorities, among them Wilson, Turkowski, and
Avitzur. This operation had to be undertaken properly to en-
sure a successful harvest, otherwise the crop could be ruined
(Job 4:8). Continuous plowing of the entire field was never
attempted. Instead, the area was divided into separate plots
(each plot known in Arabic as a maanah) usually one-third or
one-fourth of a faddan and with a length of between 90 and
120 ft. (27 and 36 m.). According to Wilson, a furrow (Arabic
tilm) was first run on the ground “and others plowed parallel
to this, until a piece of ground of that length and about half
the breadth is finished; then a similar piece is plowed next;
and so on until the whole is completed.” Not only the type of
plow but also the type of draft animal used for the plowing
could affect the overall depth of the resulting furrows. The
maximum depth of plow in modern times was 8 in. (20 cm.)
according to Dalman. In antiquity the plowpoint penetrated
the soil to a depth of three handbreadths (Gen. R. 31; BB 12:2),
ie., 27 cm., and this helped to maintain the overall fertility of
the land (TJ, Taan. 4:8, 68b).
The relatively small area plowed by the farmer per day
in antiquity has been estimated by Feliks (see *Agriculture) to
be about 1,170 sq. m. (cf. Tosef., BM 11:9), which is about one
third of what is usually covered using traditional Arab meth-
ods of plowing. The prophet Isaiah noted that the soil had to
be plowed twice before it was sown: the first time to expose
the soil to the penetration of rainwater, and the second to level
the ground for the planting (Isa. 28:24). The Mishnah, how-
ever, enumerates four separate plowings: one in the summer,
after the harvest, in the form of broad lines or plots that were
set far apart (referred to as the “furrows of patiah” in the lan-
guage of the Mishnah; Kil. 2:6). The second plowing took place
after the first rains, and then, too, the furrows were not placed
close together. Spaces were left intentionally between the fur-
483
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
rows to prevent torrential downpours from eroding the soil.
In this way each field would have the appearance of alternate
furrows and ridges (“gedudim” in the Bible). Rain leveled the
ground and was soaked into it. The Psalmist (45:11) prayed for
a good year in which rain would soak into the soil and level the
“gedudim” in the ground. Following this, the main deep plow-
ing was commenced in which the furrows were placed close
together (the “shiddud” of the Bible) and in this way the soil
was ready for sowing. Finally, the fourth plowing was under-
taken in order to cover the seed itself (Tosef., Kil. 1:15).
To preserve the fertility of the soil, a rotation system was
practiced in which land was sown and left to fallow alternately.
In the fallow year, the field was plowed five to seven times to
rid it of noxious weeds and to restore its fertility. These plow-
ings were called “tiyyuv” or “nir” (Tosef., Shev. 3:10; Men. 85a).
A well-plowed field attracted attention owing to its cleanness
(Avot 3:7). It was not easy for the farmer to adapt himself to
this cycle, since it meant he was only able to plant his field dur-
ing three years out of seven, the seventh (shevi it) being the
Sabbatical year (Mekh. de-Kaspa 20), but he knew that this
was the only way to ensure continuous, abundant harvests.
Only artificially-fertilized fields may be plowed year after year
with fairly good results.
The plow used in antiquity was not essentially different
from that used in traditional Arab farming, except that the
earlier implement was sturdier and was capable of penetrat-
ing deeper into the soil. The main parts of the plow were made
of wood with the plowshare (biblical “et”; talmudic “yated”
or “kankan”) made of metal (bronze in earlier times; later
of iron). Numerous examples of such implements have been
uncovered in archaeological excavations in Israel. The metal
part was funnel-shaped, ending in a sharp point. The plow-
share was attached to the sharp wooden tailpiece (“herev’)
which in turn was joined to the “knee” (“borekh”) and was
tied to the handle, a long pole (“yazul”) attached to the yoke
(see Kelim 21:2).
The plowman depressed the handle with one hand. In
the other he held a long staff or goad (“malmad ha-bakar”),
one end of which held a nail and was used to goad the oxen
and hold them in line, while the other end was shaped like a
shovel and served to clean the plow (“mahareshet” in the Bible;
“harhur” in talmudic literature; see 1 Sam. 13:21; Kelim 13:3).
‘The oxen were tied to the plow by the yoke, which was a pole
(the biblical “motah”) placed on the neck of the ox or cow. To
yoke a pair of oxen, an additional pole was drawn under their
necks while pegs (“simyonim”) joined the two poles together
and thereby enclosed the heads of the oxen in frames. A bro-
ken pole could not be repaired, and the animal would have to
be released. Hence breaking the yoke symbolized liberation
(Jer. 2:20, etc.). Generally the yoke was made of wood; only in
exceptional cases was it made of metal, so accordingly an “iron
yoke” represented abnormal or tyrannical oppression (Deut.
28:48). A single ox was tied to his yoke by ropes (“moserot;
“aguddot motah”). The snapping of these bonds, too, became
a metaphor for liberation (Jer. 2:20; Isa. 68:6).
484
A sturdy strain of oxen capable of bearing a double-poled
yoke was used for plowing. Evidence points to the Zebu oxen,
capable of sustained exertion, as being in common use in
Talmudic times. The Torah regards the ox and the donkey as
plowing animals (Deut. 22:10), and Isaiah mentions the use of
donkeys for tilling the soil (30:24). Rabbinic literature, how-
ever, names only the ox and the cow as plowing animals.
Sowing and Planting
The main crops were the winter grains, which were planted
at various times prior to the rains, and especially following
the first rain. Usually the farmer spaced his sowing activi-
ties at intervals over the winter season as a protective mea-
sure (cf. Eccles. 11:6), for if he planted all his crops together,
a single adverse natural phenomenon could ruin them all
at one blow. The normal planting season lasted from Tishri
(October) to the end of Tevet (December; Tosef., Taan. 1:7).
In some instances, planting also took place in Shevat (Janu-
ary), as was the practice with the barley for the Omer offer-
ing (Men. 8:2).
A distinguishing feature of local agriculture in Roman
times was the small quantity of seed sown per unit of land,
approximately 4-8 kg. of grain per 1,000 sq. m. (Tosef., Kil.
1:16). This is much less than the average amount planted in
traditional Arab farming. This probably explains the mean-
ing of the saying: “Thou shalt carry out much seed into the
field and shalt gather little in’ (Deut. 28:38). The yield of an
Arab farmer is 3-4 times the amount of seed, while the Jewish
farmer during Roman times reaped 30 or 40 fold, sometimes
even obtaining a harvest of “a hundred measures” (BM 105b;
Pes. 87b; see also Matt. 13:8; Varro, Rerum Rusticarum Libri,
1:44). These high yields were a result of rational and intensive
methods of cultivation.
Hoeing and Weeding
The usual cycle in crop cultivation was plowing, planting, hoe-
ing (TJ, Shek. 68:4), with the last activity designed to remove
noxious weeds. The main implement involved, the “maader,”
is somewhat different from the modern hoe. It consisted of
two sticks tied together by a cord (Tosef., Kelim, BB 1:8) to
form an acute angle. At the end of the shorter stick, a metal
“tooth” was inserted (Kelim 13:2). Such hoes frequently ap-
pear in Egyptian drawings. For deeper plowing and hoeing,
the kardom (Peah, 6:4; Kelim 29:7; cf. ibid., 13:3) was used. An
implement resembling the modern hoe, the magrefah, served
for moving earth or fruit (Gen. R. 16; Kelim 13:4). The maader
was used for digging in mountain areas which could not be
successfully plowed (Isa. 7:25; Peah 2:2). The process of deep
digging to prepare the earth for saplings was known as “izzuk”
(Isa. 5:2; cf. Sif. Deut. 355).
Harvesting
No special importance was ascribed to summer planting in
ancient times. Kazir applied to winter crops. There were two
such harvests: first, the early ripening of the grain, the vari-
ous types of *barley; later, the *wheat and rice-wheat harvest
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURAL LAND-MANAGEMENT METHODS AND IMPLEMENTS IN ANCIENT EREZ ISRAEL
(Ex. 9:31). At Passover, the Omer of barley was offered (Lev.
23:10; cf. 11 Sam. 21:9; 11 Kings 4:42). The Gezer calendar also
lists the barley as the first of the cereal harvests. Before the
Omer was offered, the new season's grain was not to be eaten
(Lev. 23:14). Only in the Jericho Valley, was harvesting permit-
ted before Passover (Men.10:8). Seven weeks later, the wheat
harvest began with the offering of “the two loaves of bread”
(Lev. 23:17).
At harvest time, the climate in Israel is hot and dry. More
than once the reaper was felled by sunstroke (cf. 11 Kings
4:18-20; Judith 8:2-3). He rose early to take advantage of the
cool, morning hours (Prov. 10:6), and he had to work quickly
to avoid plunder, pests and the scattering of the grains. He
sought, in addition to his family, to employ hired hands. The
division of labor is depicted in the Book of Ruth. A supervisor
would watch the workers. Girls were occupied with gleaning
and also in making sheaves. The owner supplied part of the
food to his workers, namely bread dipped in vinegar. Only
the wicked who exploited their workers failed to provide food
(Job 24:10-11).
Even though the work was backbreaking, it was per-
formed to the accompaniment of joyous shouts (Ps. 126:5-6;
Isa. 9:2). The poor, who gathered their gifts, also contributed
to the festive atmosphere. Sometimes, joy would be absent and
especially when the land was afflicted by drought (Deut. 11:17,
etc.) or when an enemy had attacked the reapers and pillaged
the harvest (Isa. 16:7).
Various implements were used during the harvesting
procedures. The “Hermesh” (Deut. 16:9) and “maggal” (Jer.
2:16) are two such implements mentioned in the Bible. The lat-
ter is the usual term appearing in rabbinic literature, and it is
almost certain that the two names signify the same object, the
sickle. The scythe, the long handle of which was grasped with
both hands, was not known in ancient Erez Israel. The sickle
had a short handle, in which there was inserted a curved blade
with its short teeth bent backward. (Hul. 7:2). Archaeological
excavations in Israel have uncovered flint, bone, bronze and
iron sickles. Some sickles extend back in time to the Natufian
and Neolithic periods. When harvesting, the reaper grasped
the stalks in his left hand. In his right he held the sickle, which
he would “send out” (Joel 4:14) and pull back, so severing the
stalk (Isa. 17:5; Ps. 129:7). When his left hand was full, he would
lay the grain on the ground in united bundles (“zavitim”; Ruth
2:16) or else tie them together with a straw (“kerikhiot”; Men.
10:9). The small heaps (zevatim or kerikhot) laid along the
harvested rows would be gathered up by the sheaf-binder and
held in his bosom (“Hozen”; Ps. 129:7). They were then put to-
gether in larger bundles, which had no fixed size, fluctuating
between three and 30 pints (% and 17 liters) of kernels (Pe’ah
6:6). The bundles were left lying on the ground or else tied to-
gether in sheaves (Gen. 37:7-8; BM 22a). The next step, which
took place once the grain was dry, consisted of collecting the
grain in a large stack (“gadish”). An alternative practice was
to heap the grain in various types of stacks to hasten or retard
the drying process as desired (Pe'ah 5:8). This stacking was the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
final destination of the grain prior to its being transported to
the goren or threshing floor.
The goren stood close to the city or village (1 Kings 22:10).
To prevent the chaff from being blown into houses, the rab-
bis ruled that the threshing floor should not be nearer than
50 cubits (i.e., approximately 25 metres) from the city (BB 2:8).
The location could neither be on high ground nor exposed to
strong winds which would scatter the grains during winnow-
ing (Ruth R. 5). Usually, the threshing floor was in a broad
public place. It was surrounded by a fence of thornbushes
(Sot. 13a). Trampling (Jer. 51:35) and sprinkling water hardened
and leveled the floor. Then the grain was brought and spread
out in a circle. During the threshing, the straw and ears were
pounded to separate the kernels from the husks. This could be
accomplished in several ways. A wooden board, about 0.70 m.
wide and 1.20 m. or more long, was used. Its underside was set
with stones, mainly of basalt (sometimes of flint), so that when
dragged by a pair of oxen, the board would separate the grain.
The device, the morag, is still used in traditional Arab farm-
ing (Arabic “norg”). Since this tool was only adopted much
later in Greece and Rome, some scholars have suggested that
it might have been an invention of the farmer in Erez Israel.
This assumption may explain the exclamation of Isaiah (end
of ch. 28): “This also cometh from the Lord of hosts; wonder-
ful is His counsel and great His wisdom,’ for in the preceding
verses the prophet enumerates the threshing tools then in use:
the haruz, i.e., the morag haruz (ibid. 41:15), the normal morag
with saw-like strips of iron in addition to the stones set in it.
Isaiah also referred to the “ofan agalah” and “galgal agalah”
(“cartwheels”) which were stone wheels or iron discs sharp-
ened like saws, examples of which are still extant among the
Arab farmers of today. The last type of tool was introduced
into Hellenistic Egypt and Rome. The chronicler of Roman
agriculture called it “plostellum poenicum” (Varro, Rerum
Rusticarum Libri, 1:52). In contrast to mechanical means, an-
other threshing method was the running of several oxen tied
together (“revekah”; Tosef., Par. 2:3) over the grains. Seemingly
other animals were also used in this type of threshing, for the
rabbis interpreted the Pentateuchal prohibition against muz-
zling an ox while threshing (Deut. 25:4) to include other ani-
mals as well (BK 5:7). The heavy implements described above
were suitable for wheat and legumes. More delicate grains
were normally threshed with a stick (Isa. ibid.) as were smaller
quantities of wheat (Judg. 6:11; Ruth 2:17). While the thresh-
ing was in progress, additional quantities of grain would con-
stantly be thrown in the path of the threshers by means of a
wooden-pronged implement resembling a pitchfork (“eter”;
Tosef., Uk. 1:5).
Winnowing
Threshing separated the three components of the grain: ker-
nels, chopped straw, and chaff. Winnowing, which consisted
of throwing the threshed substances into the wind, caused
the lighter elements to be carried away while the heavier ker-
nels fell into a heap. The implement used for this process, the
485
AGRICULTURE
mizreh (Isa. 30:24), resembled a pitchfork with broad prongs.
Following this the kernels would be thrown up by means of
a shovel-like implement, the rahat (cf. Tanh. to Isa. ibid.).
Once this operation was over, the stack was considered to be
complete. The farmer would measure its size (Haggai 2:16)
and stand guard over it until it was transferred to the barn
(Ruth 3:7).
The chopped straw left over from the winnowing was
kept as livestock feed or compost, or was used as an additive
in mortar. The chaff was useless except for making fire (Gen.
R. 83:3). Yet even after the final winnowing, the kernel heaps
still retained waste matter. The grains would then be shaken
horizontally in a sieve (“kevarah”), a round device, to whose
bottom a fiber net was attached. The heavier waste would
fall through the threads, and the lighter material gathered
on top of the kernels. The top waste would constantly be re-
moved, until only the clean kernels remained within the sieve
(cf. Amos 9:9; Maias 15:6). The kernels were then milled or
crushed, and further cleaned with the aid of sieves with per-
forations of various sizes, depending on the required size of
the finished product (Avot 5:15).
[Jehuda Feliks / Shimon Gibson (2"¢ ed.)]
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Avitzur, Man and His Work: Histori-
cal Atlas of Tools and Workshops in the Holy Land (1976); E. Ayalon,
Review, in: Israel Exploration Journal, 55 (2005), 116-20; O. Borowski,
Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (1987); M. Broshi, “The Diet of Pales-
tine in the Roman Period - Introductory Notes,’ in: The Israel Mu-
seum Journal, 5 (1986), 41-56; M. Broshi, “Agriculture and Economy
in Roman Palestine: Seven Notes on Babatha’s Archive,’in: Israel
Exploration Journal, 42 (1992), 230-40; G. Dalman, Arbeit und Sitte
in Palastina, vols. 1-7 (1928-42); S. Dar, Landscape and Pattern: An
Archaeological Survey of Samaria, 800 B.C.E.—636 C.E. BAR Interna-
tional Series 308 (1986); C. Dauphin, “Man Makes His Landscape,”
in: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 11 (1991-92),
22-28; J. Feliks, Agriculture in Eretz-Israel in the Period of the Bible
and Talmud (1990); R. Frankel, Wine and Oil Production in Antiq-
uity in Israel and Other Mediterranean Countries (1999); R. Frankel,
S. Avitsur, and E. Ayalon, History and Technology of Olive Oil in the
Holy Land (1994); C.H.J. de Geus, “The Importance of Archaeologi-
cal Research into the Palestinian Agricultural Terraces, with an Ex-
cursus on the Hebrew Word gbi;’ in: Palestine Exploration Quarterly,
107 (1975), 65-74; S. Gibson and G. Edelstein, “Investigating Jerusa-
lem’s Rural Landscape,” in: Levant, 17 (1985), 139-55; idem, “Agricul-
tural Terraces and Settlement Expansion in the Highlands of Early
Iron Age Palestine: Is there Any Correlation Between the Two?” in:
A. Mazar (ed.), Studies in the Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel
and Jordan (2001); D.C. Hopkins, The Highlands of Canaan: Agricul-
tural Life in the Early Iron Age (1985); A. Kasher, A. Oppenheimer,
and U. Rappaport (eds.), Man and Land in Eretz-Israel in Antiquity
(1986); A.M. Maier, S.Dar, and Z. Safrai, The Rural Landscape of An-
cient Israel. (2003); Z.Y.D. Ron, “Agricultural Terraces in the Judaean
Mountains,” 1zJ, 16 (1966), 33-49, 111-22; idem, “Development and
Management of Irrigation Systems in Mountain Regions of the Holy
Land,’ in: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, N.S. 10
(1985), 149-69; Z. Safrai, The Economy of Roman Palestine. (1994); D.
Sperber, Roman Palestine 200-400: The Land. Crisis and Change in
Agrarian Society as Reflected in Rabbinic Sources. (1978); L.E. Stager,
“The Archaeology of the Family in Ancient Israel,” in: BASOR, 260
486
(1985), 1-35; G. Stanhill, “The Fellah’s Farm: An Autarkic Agro Sys-
tem,” Agro-Ecosystems, 4 (1978), 438.
AGRICULTURE. This entry is arranged according to the
following outline:
IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
In Prehistory
From the Beginning of the Bronze Age to the Conquest of
Joshua
Early Israelite
The Period of the First Temple
The Period of the Return and the Second Temple
The Hasmonean Period
The Mishnaic and Talmudic Period
The Byzantine-Muslim Period
IN BABYLON
Livestock
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Ideals
History
TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS: MIDDLE AGES AND
MODERN TIMES
IN MODERN EUROPE
Ukraine
Belorussia
Poland
Romania
IN THE UNITED STATES
IN CANADA
IN LATIN AMERICA
IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL
The study of the history of ancient agriculture in the Land of
Israel has been the focus of a great amount of research in re-
cent decades. Much more data is now available as a result of
an intensification of data-collection and the use of new meth-
odologies during archaeological excavations and surveys, es-
pecially in regard to the development of rural settlements
(villages, hamlets and farms) and their landscapes (fields, ter-
races, access routes to markets), and the technology of agri-
cultural implements (digging tools, ground stone objects) and
installations (wine and oil presses). The intensive gathering of
plant and wood remains at sites using flotation procedures has
helped to enlarge knowledge about the variety of cultivations
and fruits trees available during different archaeological pe-
riods. Botanical remains are frequently found on the floors of
houses and storage buildings, on the surfaces of courtyards, in
fire-pits and in silos. Inventories of crops are thus produced
and this helps towards a reconstruction of agrarian practices
and dietary patterns. Further insights into the history of ag-
riculture have also emerged as a result of inter-disciplinary
work with geomorphologists, agronomists, and botanists. The
analysis of Phytoliths - fossilized mineral particles produced
biogenetically within plants - under microscope, has been
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
found to be useful in the study of cultivated cereals. Palyno-
logical studies have also contributed to the investigation of
landscape changes and the overall effect humans have on their
environment, though usually only on a regional scale. Pollen
studies are less helpful in elucidating changes on a micro-en-
vironmental level. Pollen cores have hitherto been taken from
the Dead Sea and from the Sea of Galilee.
For a survey of agricultural methods and the conclusions
of recent archaeological research, see preceding entry.
[Shimon Gibson (274 ed.)]
In Prehistory
Some archaeologists date the beginnings of agriculture in
Palestine to the Mesolithic period, when the Natufian culture
made its appearance with its bone and flint artifacts, some of
which have survived to the present day. In the Kabara caves on
Mt. Carmel, a flint sickle with its handle shaped to represent
a fawn’s head has been found. To that same period belong the
sickles, mortars, and pestles which have been discovered in
other localities in Palestine. According to these scholars, all
these artifacts indicate the cultivation of cereals. According to
others, however, these utensils were used merely to reap and
mill wild grain. Archaeological finds testifying to soil cultiva-
tion and cattle raising become more numerous in the Neolithic
Age, the period of caves and huts, agricultural implements,
and cleaving tools. All these are evidence of settled commu-
nities which produced and stored food. To this period, like-
wise, belong excavated, prehistoric locations such as the Abu
Uzbah cave on Mt. Carmel, the Neolithic cave near Shaar ha-
Golan in the Jordan Valley and the lower strata of Jericho. In
the Chalcolithic period, the transition between the Neolithic
and the Bronze Age (4000 B.c.£.), agricultural settlements in
the valleys, especially in the proximity of water sources, in-
creased. Settlements were established in the plains of Moab
(N.E. of the Dead Sea) where the Telleilat el-Asul (Ghassul)
were found - mounds covering simple buildings, grain stor-
ages, agricultural implements, and artisans’ tools made of cal-
careous or flint stone. By the later Chalcolithic period copper
vessels like those found in Tel Abu-Matar near Beersheba ap-
peared. In this area and at nearby Khirbet al-Bitar, excava-
tions have unearthed ricewheat (Triticum dicoccum), einkorn
(Triticum monococcum), two-rowed barley (Hordeum disti-
chum), and lentils (Lens esculenta Moench). Elsewhere, olive
and date kernels, grape seeds, and pomegranate rinds have
been discovered.
From the Beginning of the Bronze Age to the Conquest
of Joshua
This period includes the early (3000 B.c.£.), middle (until
1550 B.C.E.), and part of the late Bronze Age. The earliest liter-
ary evidence of local agricultural activity is provided by an in-
scription on the grave of the Egyptian officer Weni, who con-
ducted a military expedition in Palestine during the reign of
Pepi 1 (beginning of 24 century B.c.£.) “The army returned
in peace after smiting the country of the sand dwellers [the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
inhabitants of the coastal plain]... after he had cut down its
figs and vines.” At that time the King’s Highway running along
the coastal plain and through the Jezreel and Jordan valleys
became increasingly important, and many settlements were
established along its length. Settlements were also founded in
the south of the Judean mountains, for example at Tell Beit-
Mirsim, apparently the biblical Debir. The Sanehat Scroll
(20 century B.c.E.) described the travels in Palestine of this
Egyptian officer and the document proves that, in the south-
ern regions of the country, there were settlements which sup-
ported themselves by farming and cattle raising. Evidence of
many settlements during the 18 century B.c.£. is furnished
by the Egyptian “Execration Texts.” During the Hyksos oc-
cupation, the Habiru, apparently the Hebrew tribes of the
patriarchal era, are first mentioned. They were nomads who
did not establish any permanent settlements. Some occupied
the marginal grasslands and occasionally sowed there. Thus
Isaac planted in the Nahal Gerar region “in that year,’ and, as
a result of plentiful rain fall, reaped a “hundredfold” harvest
(Gen. 26:12). Other scriptural references suggest that the land
was closely settled and highly valued at this time. Abraham's
and Lot’s shepherds quarreled with each other while the “Ca-
naanite and Perizzite dwelt then in the land” (Gen. 13:7). For
a burial plot he wanted to purchase, Abraham had to pay
Ephron, the Hittite, the full price (ibid., ch. 23), and Jacob
similarly had to pay a large sum for the section of the field
in Shechem where he pitched his tents (ibid., 33:19). The de-
piction at the Temple of Amon of Thutmose’s expeditions in
Palestine (c. 1478 B.c.£.) and his famous victory at Megiddo
includes reliefs of the plants he brought from Palestine (the
Karnak “Botanical Garden”). An inscription states that “the
amount of harvest brought... from the Maket [plain of Jez-
reel] was 280,000 heqt of corn [150,000 bushels] beside what
was reaped and taken by the king’s soldiers.”
Early Israelite
In contrast to scriptural references, external evidence on the
state of local agriculture just before and after the Israelite con-
quest is rather meager. Yet from all sources, the incontrovert-
ible fact emerges that no radical climatic changes occurred.
Huntington's theory of the country becoming increasingly arid
from the biblical time until today must, therefore, be rejected.
It is not supported by any examination of the sources or ar-
chaeological discovery. These indicate that the areas sown and
planted then coincide with the regions watered by rain or irri-
gation today. An intensively farmed, settled area existed in the
irrigated regions of the Jordan Valley and another along the
Mediterranean coast (where the annual precipitation exceeds
300 mm.), but there were no stable agricultural settlements
in the northern Negev. The land there was cultivated once in
several years, when plentiful rainfall would yield abundant
harvests. The southern Negev and Arabah were waste, except
for desert oases and irrigation projects where waters flow-
ing down from the mountains were collected in dams. Such
projects were limited during the kingdom, but increased in
487
AGRICULTURE
the Nabatean era (see below). The condition of afforestation
was no different then than at the beginning of Jewish colo-
nization in modern times. Forest and woods spread over the
hill and rocky regions which were difficult to cultivate and in
areas where the lack of security made soil cultivation and the
erection of agricultural installations too hazardous. The “vines
and figs” of the regions bordering the routes of the traversing
armies were pillaged. This explains the presence of woods in
the Nahal Iron (Wadi ‘Arah) district mentioned in the expedi-
tion of Thutmose 111 (and later the “large forest” on the Sharon
Plain mentioned by Strabo). Broad forests also extended along
the north and northeast boundaries of the country - in Gil-
ead, Bashan, and the Lebanon. There, in the vegetation along
the Jordan and in the deserts, lurked wild beasts (see Fauna
of *Israel). During the intervals when the land lay desolate,
animals would invade the ruins where forests had begun to
grow. Several times the scriptural warning against the danger
of a too rapid military conquest had been issued “thou mayest
not consume them too quickly, lest the beasts of the field in-
crease upon thee” (Deut. 7:22; Ex. 23:29; Num. 26:12). Having
wandered in the desert for many years, the children of Israel
were unfamiliar with local conditions and could hardly have
been expected to succeed in mastering the intensive farming
which obtained, for the most part, in the newly conquered ter-
ritory. Furthermore, the neglect caused by wars and conquest
had temporarily devastated large farming tracts, and these had
been overrun by natural forests - a condition later recalled in
Isaiah 18:9. Scrub and woods became widespread, and farm-
land degenerated into pasture (cf. ibid., 7:28).
During the transition period, the children of Israel, pre-
sumably, were primarily engaged in tending flocks, as in patri-
archal days. The Song of Deborah yields no trace of extensive
occupation with agriculture, even though the soil was tilled.
The tribe of Reuben is described as living “among the sheep-
folds, to hear the pipings of the flocks” (Judg. 5:16). Scrip-
ture also testifies to the existence of broad grazing lands in
Gilead, and Bashan in Transjordan, the areas settled by the
tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, all
of whom owned much livestock (Num. 32; Deut. 3:19; Josh.
1:14). Although the Bible does portray the land of Canaan as
“flowing with milk and honey” (date syrup), no conclusions
can be drawn from this expression as to the relative impor-
tance of grazing land (“milk”) as opposed to soil cultivation
(“honey”). Livestock was raised to a limited extent in the bor-
der grassland regions and deserts, or was fed on the stubble of
the grain fields and the stalks of the vegetable gardens. During
the period of the conquest, sheep and cattle were also grazed
in the forests which had covered the farm lands. The talmudic
sages undoubtedly relied on an ancient tradition when they
included, among the ordinances enacted by *Joshua, one per-
mitting the grazing of flocks in the wooded areas (BK 81a).
The agricultural prosperity of Israel, however, is deter-
mined by the rainfall. This fact is emphasized already in the
Bible which praises the country as a land that “drinketh water
as the rain of heaven cometh down” (Deut. 11:10-11), in con-
488
trast to Egypt which was irrigated. This blessing, however,
also entails the danger, repeated several times in the Bible and
rabbinical literature, that, on account of sin, rainfall could be
withheld, with drought and famine resulting. Although the
country is described as “a land of brooks of water, of foun-
tains and depths springing forth in valleys and hills” (ibid.,
8:7), there is no evidence that in ancient times there were
more than the hundreds of small springs and the few mod-
erate and large fountains which now exist. Scripture praises
the plain of the Jordan as “well watered,’ and so it is, even to-
day (Gen. 14:10).
Either through experience or by borrowing the agricul-
tural skills of the indigenous population, the Israelites gradu-
ally mastered the cultivation of the soil. The Talmud describes
their predecessors as “well versed in the cultivation of the
land,’ saying, “Fill this amount with olives; fill this amount
with vines,” and interprets their names accordingly: “Hori
they that smelled the earth; Hivi they that tasted the earth
like a serpent” (Shab. 85a). Even the spies admitted that Israel
was a land “flowing with milk and honey and this is its fruit”
(Num. 13). The Pentateuch states that the conquerors would
enter a land with a highly developed agriculture, fertile soil,
and established agricultural installations (Deut. 6:11). Special
reference is made to hill cultivation where terraced fields were
planted with vines and fruit trees and contained water cisterns,
oil and wine presses, and tanks. Since the Canaanites had not
yet been ousted from the fertile valleys, the wheat fields were
not available to the Israelites (Judg. 1:19, 27-36).
Hill cultivation is intensive by nature; land holdings are
small, and knowledge and experience are needed for such
farming to yield a livelihood. These conditions apparently ex-
plain why the descendants of Joseph (Ephraim and half the
tribe of Manasseh) complained to Joshua that the mountain
of Ephraim was too small to maintain them. Joshua advised
them to go to the forests of Gilead and Bashan (the land of the
Perizzites and Rephaim), fell the trees, and settle there; upon
the assumption that in securing the dominating heights, they
would succeed in dislodging the Canaanites from the valleys
(Josh. 17:14-18). Clearing the forests was by no means easy, and
was not yet completed in the reign of David, for this region
included the “Forest of Ephraim” where the armies of David
and Absalom fought each other (11 Sam. 18:6-8). The Israel-
ites did gradually succeed not only in mastering agricultural
skills but also in organizing permanent town and village set-
tlements. The nomads, enemies of the Israelites from the des-
ert period, now envied the successful Israelite colonization.
Together with their flocks, they raided Israelite territory and
plundered the fields. Between each wave, the Israelites har-
vested their fields in haste and stored the produce in hidden
receptacles (Judg. 6:2). Rather than use an exposed thresh-
ing floor, Gideon was forced to thresh his harvested wheat
in a barn where fleeces were dried (ibid., 6:37-40). He was a
well-to-do farmer, owning cattle and sheep, vines, and wheat
fields. The ordinary Israelite farmer, however, seems to have
been poor. His main diet consisted of barley, and consequently
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the children of Israel were contemptuously represented in the
Midianite soldier's dream as a “cake of barley bread” baked on
coals (ibid., 7:13).
The state of agriculture at this time may be deduced
from the laws of land inheritance in the Pentateuch, and the
descriptions of the settlement of the tribes, the divisions of
parcels of land among the various families, and the procedure
of redeeming estates recounted in the Book of Ruth. These
sources reveal Hebrew agriculture as based on the small sin-
gle family holding. It depicts an idyllic prosperous village life,
although workers were only hired at harvest time, and even
the wealthy Boaz personally supervised the stacking of the
grain after the winnowing. In the course of time, however,
a poor, landless class arose — as Scripture itself had foreseen:
“the poor shall never cease out of the land” (Deut. 25:11). The
unfortunates were the recipients of the gifts to the poor: the
gleanings, the forgotten sheaves, the corners of the fields, the
poor tithe. To the priests and levites, the heave offerings and
tithes were given. The Book of Ruth reflects this, as well as the
redeeming of fields to insure the continuity of family ties with
the land. This almost sacred bond tying the Hebrew farmer
to his inherited land was characteristic of Israel agriculture
in every period. Here, too, is a reason for the speedy recov-
ery of the local agriculture after every period of desolation.
It should also be noted that the Israelite farmer always main-
tained a distinctly high cultural level. This fact is attested to
by the “*Gezer Calendar”, which gives a succinct but compre-
hensive account of the annual cycle of seasonal agricultural
occupations. If the conjecture is correct that this calendar
was a lesson transcribed by a boy, it is evidence that formal
instruction in agriculture was imparted during the period of
the Judges. The Hebrews also acquired agricultural techniques
from their neighbors, as may be deduced from Shamgar the
son of Anath’s smiting the Philistines with an ox goad (Judg.
3:31) — not the primitive implement made entirely of wood,
but one with a metal nail knocked through one end, and a
metal spade attached to the other. In later sources, the dorban
(also an ox goad) is mentioned as one of the few metal imple-
ments the Hebrews were allowed to take to the Philistines to
be repaired and sharpened, metal work being prohibited to
the Israelites lest they fashion arms to war upon their Philis-
tine overlords (1 Sam. 13:19-22). It appears that the children
of Israel adopted agricultural skills and the use of the new
types of implements brought by the Philistines who invaded
the country in the 13'* century from the Aegean islands, and
who settled in the southern coastal region and the lowlands of
Judah. Their main gainful occupation was farming. Although
they were the enemies of the Hebrews, they nevertheless re-
frained from attacking the farms on the hills and in the valleys.
A period of agricultural stability ensued. This period provides
the background for the Book of Ruth.
The Period of the First Temple
Israelite agriculture was based, as has been shown, on the au-
tarchic family farm. With the rise of the monarchy, this order
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
was threatened with collapse. Samuel warned the assembled
people: “He (the king) will take your fields and your vineyards,
and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to
his servants” (1 Sam. 8-14), but it is doubtful if the prediction
came true. Although David owned royal estates over which
he appointed officials (1 Chron. 27:26-29), they were appar-
ently conquered and annexed territories, or else previously
unworked areas which were developed by royal initiative. In
the days of Solomon, boundaries were extended, and ofh-
cials “who provided victuals for the king and his household”
(1 Kings 4:7) administered the royal estates. Agriculture pros-
pered, and the memory of that condition was perpetuated in
Scripture: “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his
vine and fig tree from Dan to Beer-Sheba...” (ibid., 5:5). Uz-
ziah, king of Judah, is called “lover of husbandry,’ and was
noted for owning fields and vineyards, and for building “tow-
ers in the wilderness and hewing out many cisterns” (11 Chron.
26:10). Evidence corroborating this statement has been found
in recent times through the excavation in the Negev hill re-
gion of an agricultural settlement, irrigated by an accumula-
tion of rain water flowing down from the mountains. Settle-
ments of this type were, apparently, guard posts and supply
stations along the Negev caravan routes. In those days agricul-
ture and agronomy reached their peak and were described by
Isaiah as wisdom emanating from God, Who had taught the
sons of man excellent methods of plowing and reaping (Isa.
28:23-29). It is noteworthy that these verses mention thresh-
ing implements which appeared only many generations later
in Egypt and Rome. After the death of Uzziah security dete-
riorated and a decline set in among the Hebrew settlements
in the lowlands. Against this background, Isaiah prophesied
better days to come, when settlements would extend through
the lowlands, when the farmer would sow his irrigated fields
near the springs, and the shepherd tend his flocks without in-
terference (ibid., 32:19-20).
The story of Naboth’s vineyard, which was coveted by
King Ahab, who wished to convert it into a vegetable gar-
den, reflects agricultural conditions in the Northern King-
dom. Whereas the Jewish king respected the sanctity of a
paternal inheritance to an Israel farmer, Queen Jezebel, a
Sidonian princess, could not appreciate it (1 Kings 21). With
the passage of time, apparently, the poor and its widows
and orphans were, in increasing numbers, likewise evicted
from their holdings, and the prophet denounced those “who
join house to house, that lay field to field” (Isa. 5:68). Never-
theless, in the main, the right of inheritance to patriarchal
estates was upheld. When Jerusalem was actually under siege,
Jeremiah, exercising his right of redemption, bought a plot
of land (32:7-12). The remarkable agricultural prosperity
of the land of Israel during the First Temple period is indicated
in Ezekiel 27:17, which lists the exports of Judah and Israel
to the market of Tyre as wheat of Minnith (probably a place
in Transjordan), “pannag” (which cannot be clearly identi-
fied), honey, oil, and balm. With the destruction of the King-
dom of Israel at the end of the eighth century B.c.z. Samaria
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AGRICULTURE
was denuded of its Israelite population, and repopulated by
the nations the King of Assyria transported from other dis-
tricts of his empire. The new inhabitants — later called Samari-
tans and in the Talmud, “Kutim” —- failed to farm their land
properly. Perhaps the lions that attacked them (11 Kings
17:25-27) had found a lair in the forests which encroached
on neglected farms. There is no further information on
conditions in Galilee. Some Israelites must have remained,
since Hezekiah communicated with them (11 Chron. 30), and
Josiah extended his domain over them (ibid., 34:6). A few
biblical passages point to persisting desolation, and a pro-
phecy predicted the restoration of cultivation in Samaria
(Jer. 31:5).
The Period of the Return and the Second Temple
Having destroyed the Temple, Nebuzaradan left “the poor-
est of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen’” (11 Kings
25:12), apparently tenant farmers or hired workers of the royal
estates. He may also have left behind those familiar with local
methods in order to prevent the further deterioration of the
farms by unskilled and inexperienced labor. The impoverished
Jews and the foreigners who settled in abandoned Jewish ter-
ritory could not, however, maintain the terraced hill farms
and orchards. When the exiles returned, they found the land
forsaken and desolate. They proceeded to repair the terraces,
to restore the agricultural installations and to plant vines and
fruit trees. Yet, due to their ignorance of how to exploit the rain
water for hill cultivation, they failed to establish viable farms.
Somewhat later, conditions improved. Farming prospered,
and the prophet Malachi regarded the changed situation as a
manifestation of God’s love for His people. Desolate Edom is
contrasted with prospering Judah (1:2-3). From the books of
Ezra and Nehemiah it appears, however, that this optimism
was premature, particularly in view of the ensuing moral de-
generation. Poor farmers were evicted from their lands by the
rich, and a new landowning class emerged. The new condi-
tions loosened the bonds of devotion tying the farmer to his
patrimony, and Jewish agriculture suffered. Now the foreign-
ers, who had been forced to restore the lands seized from the
Israelites, began to raise their heads. They obtained employ-
ment from the new owners and were often able to buy back
the lands they had forfeited. Fields, vineyards, and orchards
were neglected, and the woods again spread. From these trees,
the Jews were enjoined to cut branches and build tabernacles
(Neh. 8:15). As a result of the social and agrarian reforms in-
stituted by Ezra and Nehemiah the Jewish population became
more securely settled. Although a significant portion of the
land still belonged to the king of Persia, the Jewish settlement
broke through its boundaries by extending northward toward
Galilee. The meager historical source material for the period
includes the Book of Judith, assigned to the early fourth cen-
tury (the period of Artaxerxes 11, 404-359 B.C.E.). The set-
ting of the hook is the hills overlooking Jezreel, and the Jew-
ish settlements mentioned as existing in the vicinity (Judith
7:3-13) apparently formed the link between the inhabited
490
areas of Judea and the colonies that flourished in Galilee in
later generations.
The level of Jewish agriculture in the Hellenistic period
is not altogether clear. The author of the Letter of *Aristeas
(pars. 112-118: early third century B.c.£.) praised the agricul-
tural productivity of the country and the great “diligence of
its farmers. The country is plentifully wooded with numer-
ous olive trees and rich in cereals and vegetables and also in
vines and honey. Date palms and other fruit trees are beyond
reckoning among them.” He apparently exaggerated the ex-
tent of the irrigated areas and the importance of the Jordan
River as a water source. He similarly referred to large parcels
of land - “each a holder of one hundred auroura lots” - about
275,000 square meters. Perhaps he wanted to draw an analogy
between the Nile and the Jordan, comparing the small lots of
Judah with the large holdings of Egypt. Had Erez Israel been
as densely populated as he claimed, the landholding of each
family must have been much smaller than he estimated. His
assertion might, however, indicate the growth of the landown-
ing class on the one hand and a landless class on the other,
conditions that arose soon after the return of the Babylonian
exiles. The book of Ben Sira stresses such a contrast between
the classes. In the *Zeno papyri (259 B.c.£.), Syria and Pales-
tine are described as exporters of agricultural produce: grain,
oil, and wine.
The Hasmonean Period
A period of further consolidation and expansion of Jewish
settlement. The Hasmonean revolt relied mainly on the farm-
ers, who received their just reward once the war had been
won when many Gentile holdings fell into their hands. The
farmers adhered closely to the Torah, especially to the pre-
cepts pertaining to the land, such as the year of release. Jo-
sephus relates (Wars, 1:54-66) that John Hyrcanus was forced
to raise his siege of Ptolemy’s stronghold because of the scar-
city of food occasioned by the sabbatical year. During the
reign of Alexander Yannai the Hasmonean kingdom reached
the peak of its expansion, Jewish colonization of Galilee in-
creased, and it became the largest center of Jewish population
outside of Judea.
The Mishnaic and Talmudic Period
Began a generation before the destruction of the Temple and
ends at the time of the division of the Roman empire. Jose-
phus describes an abundance and fertility in the land at the
end of the Second Temple period. He lavishes praise on Gali-
lee in particular where “the land is so rich in soil and pastur-
age and produces such a variety of trees, that even the most
indolent are tempted by these facilities to devote themselves
to agriculture. In fact every inch of soil has been cultivated by
the inhabitants; there is not a parcel of wasteland. The towns,
too, are thickly distributed and even the villages, thanks to the
fertility of the soil, are all so densely populated that the small-
est of them contains above fifteen thousand inhabitants” (Jos.,
Wars, 3:42-43). The last number is an obvious exaggeration,
especially in view of the number of villages in Galilee, which
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
he elsewhere puts at 204 (Jos., Life, 235). He also describes
Samaria and Judea: “Both regions consist of hills and plains,
yield a light and fertile soil for agriculture, are well wooded,
and abound in fruits, both wild and cultivated... But the sur-
est testimony to the virtues and thriving conditions of the
two countries is that both have a dense population’; but he
is less enthusiastic about Transjordan which “is for the most
part desert and rugged and too wild to bring tender fruits to
maturity.” Yet, he continues, even there, there were “tracts
of finer soil which are productive of every species of crop,
country watered by torrents descending from mountains and
springs” (Wars 3:44-50). He praises the valley of Gennaser-
eth where “there is not a plant which its fertile soil refuses to
produce” — both those “which delight in the most wintry cli-
mate” and those which “thrive on heat; and concludes that
“Nature had taken pride in this assembly, by a tour de force of
the most discordant species in a single spot” (ibid., 3:517-18).
With equal enthusiasm Josephus regarded the valley of Jeri-
cho and the plentiful spring of Elisha which waters it. There
grow “the most charming and luxuriant parks. Of the date
palms watered by it there are numerous varieties differing in
flavor ... here too grow the juicy balsam, the most precious of
all local products, the henna shrubs and myrrh trees so that it
would be no misnomer to describe this place as divine” (ibid.,
4:468ff.). Similar praise of the date palms of Jericho are found
in the nature studies of Pliny, who gives the names and char-
acteristics of the varieties of dates which were export items
(Historia Naturalis, 13:9). He also mentions the balsam groves
of Jericho and En-Gedi, and writes parenthetically: “But to
all the other odors that of balsam is considered preferable, a
plant that has only been bestowed by Nature upon the land of
Judea. In former times it was cultivated in two gardens only,
both of which belonged to kings of that country.... The Jews
vented their rage upon this shrub just as they were in the habit
of doing against their own lives, while, on the other hand, the
Romans protected it; indeed combats have taken place before
now in defense of a shrub ... the fifth year after the conquest of
Judea, these cuttings with the suckers were sold for the price
of 800,000 sesterces” (ibid., 12:25, 24).
On account of the density of the population, holdings
were quite small. The typical size may be estimated from Eu-
sebius’s account (Historiae Eccleseastiea, 3:20, 1ff.) of the two
grandsons of Judah, brother of Jesus, who declared to the
Roman government that they derived their sustenance from
an area of 39 plethra (34,000 m?.) which they cultivated with
their own hands, from which it follows that the average fam-
ily derived its livelihood from 17,000 m”. Several passages in
talmudic literature refer to the unit bet kor or 30 seah (about
23,000 m” in area) as a large field and a substantial inheri-
tance (e.g., Mekh., Be-Shallah, 87-88). On the other hand,
some individuals at the close of the Second Temple period
possessed immense fortunes. Among them was the almost
legendary R. Eleazar b. Harsum (Kid. 49b), a high priest, “of
whom it was said that his father had left him 1,000 cities, yet
he would wander from place to place to study Torah” (Yoma
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
35b). These cities were razed during the Bar Kokhba War (TJ,
Ta’an. 4:8, 69a)
In those times, the state of agriculture fluctuated con-
stantly in accordance with the policies of the Roman conquer-
ors. Josephus relates that, after the destruction, Titus issued a
decree expropriating Jewish landholdings which he ordered
sold or leased out (Wars, 5:421). At first these lands were ac-
quired mainly by Gentiles who leased the plots to the former
Jewish owners, and these later tried to buy back their land. To
assure the restoration of the lands to their former Jewish own-
ers, the talmudic sages enacted ordinances forbidding com-
petition and speculation in land (BB 9:4; TJ, Ket. 2:1, 26b; Git.
52a, et al.). On the other hand, a class of extremely wealthy
landowners emerged at that time like the nasi dynasty, R.
Eliezer b. Azariah, and others, who had acquired heirless es-
tates from the Roman government. Asked what constituted
a wealthy person, their contemporary R. Tarfon answered:
“Whoever owns 100 vineyards, 100 fields, and 100 slaves to
work them” (Shab. 25b). The response, it should be noted, is
one of the isolated instances in rabbinic literature which re-
fers to the employment of slave labor in agriculture (see also
TJ, Yev. 8:1, 8d). Gentile (there were no Jewish) slaves were
chiefly employed in housework and urban domestic services,
whereas agriculture was the province of farmers, tenants,
lessors, and hired workers. In the first years following the
destruction, Gentiles still possessed and also worked many
former Jewish farms. Rabbinic literature alludes to this situa-
tion in the gloomy baraita: “For seven years the Gentiles held
vintage in the vineyards soaked with Israel’s blood without
fertilizing” (Git. 57a). With the passage of time, however, the
Jewish population resettled on the farms and regained own-
ership. Natural increase forced the size of each family’s hold-
ing to decrease, the average now being four-five bet seah, i.e.,
3,000-3,500 m”. of field crops, the area known as bet ha-peras
(Oho. 17:2 - in Latin: forus). Plots of this size are mentioned
in deeds of sale dating from the time of Bar Kokhba, found
in Wadi Murabba‘at in the desert of Judah (Benoit, Milik, de
Vaux, Les grottes de Murabaat, pp. 155ff.). These documents
speak of the sale of “an area where five seah of wheat can be
sown.” Presumably an area of 3,500 m’ sufficed to supply the
cereal needs of a family. In addition the farmer owned vines
and orchards. Executed during Bar Kokhba’s rebellion, these
deeds prove that even in the thick of war, Jews continued to
buy and sell land.
The rebellion and its aftermath seriously affected Jewish
agriculture. Certain localities were utterly devastated, “since
Hadrian had come and destroyed the country” (TJ, Pe’ah 7:1,
20a). Especially in Judea, where the Roman government took
possession of the lands of the thousands of war dead, the deso-
lation was great. In the words of the aggadah: “Hadrian owned
a large vineyard, 18 mil square, and he surrounded it with a
fence of the slain of Bethar” (Lam. R. 2:2, no. 4). Galilee, too,
sustained heavy damage. Before “the times became troubled,”
the area had been so densely populated that R. Simeon b. Yohai
found a way of measuring the distances between the villages
491
AGRICULTURE
so that not one was beyond the Sabbath range (2,000 cubits)
of its nearest neighbor (TJ, Er. 5:1, 22b-c). Its olive groves
had previously been so numerous that one “dipped one’s
feet in oil” there, yet later “olives [were] not normally found
there” (Tj, Pe’ah, 7:1, 20a). Oppressive decrees and heavy
taxes jeopardized the existence, both physical and spiritual,
of the farmer. Before the revolt, Simeon b. Yohai, the disciple
of Akiva, was particularly interested in the religious precepts
applying to land; after it, he complained: “Is that possible? If
a person plows in the plowing season and reaps in the reap-
ing season... what is to become of the Torah?” (Ber. 35a). The
suggested solution was employment in trade and in crafts in
the city. Yet once again, agriculture recovered. Jewish settle-
ment expanded and even penetrated to the northern coastal
regions (Tosef., Kil. 2:16).
Further increases in population led to further decrease
in the size of family holdings. In the next generation there
is a conflict of opinion as to what constituted the minimum
size of land divisible among heirs. The majority of sages held
it to be a plot large enough to provide each heir with one and
a half bet seah (1,176 m?.) while Judah regarded a field even
half that size as divisible among heirs (BB 7:6; Tosef., BM 11:9).
Normally a single owner would have several fields of this size,
yet there were cases where an individual farmer had to sub-
sist on an even smaller plot of land. A certain Samaritan re-
portedly drew his sustenance from a field a bet seah in area
(784 m”; Ket. 112a).
The period from the disciples of Akiva until the third
amoraic generation (middle of second century to end of
third century c.£.), was both spiritually and physically one
of the most productive periods of all times. It saw an unprec-
edented progress in agriculture. Highly cultured, the Jewish
farmer did not allow himself to stagnate and he was always
ready to adopt new techniques and to experiment with new
strains (see “Agricultural Methods). Many aggadot celebrate
the abundance and fertility of the land of Israel at the time,
and mention grape clusters as large as oxen; mustard as tall
as fig trees; two radishes being a full load for a camel; turnips
large enough to constitute a fox’s den; a peach large enough
to feed a man and his animal to satiety, etc. Certain locali-
ties were designated as the referent in “the land of milk and
honey, as for instance, sixteen mil around Sepphoris in Gali-
lee and the vicinities of Lydda and Ono (see Meg. 6a; Ket. 111b;
TJ, Peah 7:4, 20a-b).
Depression set in at the end of R. Johanan’s lifetime.
“In his days, the world changed” (TJ, Pe’ah 7:4, 20a), either
through natural causes (BM 105h) or else through Roman taxa-
tion. In any event the lot of the farmer became progressively
worse. Farmers had, in earlier times, most strictly observed the
prescriptions of the sabbatical year; now they became more lax
(Sanh. 26a). Previously “one was not supposed to raise sheep
and goats” in the land of Israel; now Johanan advocated sheep
raising (Hul. 84a). It had obviously become increasingly diffi-
cult for the Jewish farmer to be self-supporting. In principle,
R. Eliezer, who had previously laid down that whoever did not
492
own land was no man, now came to the cruel realization that
there was no occupation less distinguished than agriculture.
Only those farmers close to the rulers could maintain them-
selves, and he therefore concluded: “Land was only given to
the powerful” (Yev. 63a; Sanh. 58b).
An exodus from village to city ensued in which the pro-
cess of the displacement of the Jewish farmer began. Gentiles
replaced them to such an extent, that the question arose as to
whether most of the land of Palestine was in Gentile or Jew-
ish hands. The new owners neither felt an attachment to the
land nor possessed the skills of their predecessors. Especially
in the hill regions, lands were now abandoned or turned into
pastures, and once more the forests began to encroach on the
deserted farms.
The Byzantine-Muslim Period
Under Byzantine rule, the situation hardly improved. How-
ever there is evidence, even for that time, of the existence of
Jewish settlements in the Valley of Jezreel and in the Negev, as
well, where remains of exquisite ancient synagogues are vis-
ible (Bet Alfa, Nirim, etc.). The Nabatean agriculture which
flourished in the Negev mountain area is also noteworthy. This
people had developed a highly perfected system of gathering
runoff water and so irrigating arid, desolate regions. With the
Moslem conquest, many Byzantine lands were laid waste, the
owners fleeing or killed. These lands became state property
and were leased out to tenant farmers. The Muhammadan rul-
ers were totally ignorant of agriculture and their heavy taxes
drove the owners from the land. Here and there, especially in
Galilee, some Jewish settlements persevered. Later, there was
an improvement. By the 11 century Ramleh figs had become
an important export item, and cotton, sugar cane, and indigo
plants were cultivated.
The Crusader conquest wreaked further damage on lo-
cal agriculture. The Franks, who took possession, farmed large
tracts extensively, using a combination of European and local
techniques. The village population became serfs indentured
to the land. There is almost no information available on Judea
at that time. It is known, however, that Jews suffered less than
the Muslim population at the hands of the crusaders. There
is mention of Jewish settlements in Galilee (Gischala (Gush
Halav), Alma, Kefar Baram, etc.) where the population en-
gaged mainly in handicrafts and trade. Little is known of Jews
in Palestine in the time of the Mamluks. At the end of the
14" century, Jews expelled from France settled in Erez Israel,
among them Estori Parhi, whose work Kaftor va-Ferah de-
scribes the country and its agriculture. The author made his
home in Beth-Shean, an area where Jews were living, as they
did too, in Safed, Gischala, Lydda, Ramleh, and Gaza.
A marked improvement in agriculture and an increase
in population occurred under Ottoman rule, at the end of
the 16" century. Jews were engaged in the manufacture of
finished products from agricultural raw materials: wine, tex-
tiles, and dyeing. They lived in Ein Zeitim, Biriyyah, Peki’in,
Kefar Kanna, and elsewhere. In the 17 century the Jews in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the villages were harassed by both Bedouin tribes and gov-
ernment soldiers; the population there consequently declined.
Dahir al-Amr who ruled over Galilee in the 1740s encour-
aged the settlement of fallahin, and Jews also came to live in
the region, in villages like Kefar Yasif and Shefaram. After his
death, another period of decline ensued. Only at the end of
the 19" century was there noticeable improvement. The Jew-
ish population increased, and Sir Moses Montefiore among
others formulated plans for settling Jews on the land. The
Mikveh Israel agricultural school was founded in 1870 and
a little later the first Jewish colonies, Moza and Petah Tikvah
sprang up. In 1881, the American consul in Jerusalem noted
that 1,000 Jewish families were earning their livelihood from
agriculture. Colonization gained new strength from the First
Aliyah in 1882, and from then and until today the extent of
Jewish agricultural settlement has been constantly expanding
(see *Israel, State of: Agriculture).
[Jehuda Feliks]
IN BABYLON
The Jews in Babylonia enjoyed a considerable measure of in-
ternal autonomy under the rule of the *Exilarch, who was al-
most a tributary monarch; consequently the agricultural cus-
toms and usages appertaining to the land of Israel obtained
in Jewish Babylonia and it is specifically stated that the ten
enactments traditionally attributed to Joshua to protect the
sometimes conflicting rights of cattle owners, farmers, and
the ordinary public, obtained also in Babylon (BK 81b). On
the other hand it was clearly laid down that when the civil
law conflicted with Jewish law in these matters the former
prevailed (cf. BB 55a). During the whole of the period of the
amoraim and their successors the *savoraim, i.e., from the
third to the eighth centuries, the economy of Babylonia was
essentially an agricultural one. From the end of the fifth cen-
tury onward however, that agricultural economy gradually
changed to a money one, and by the eighth century the lat-
ter prevailed. This important change is reflected in the *tak-
kanah enacted by R. Huna ha-Levi b. Isaac and R. Manasseh
b. Joseph, the geonim of Pumbedita, together with their col-
league Bebai of Sura, between 785 and 788 c.£. whereby the
previous law that a widow could claim her ketubbah only on
the landed property of her husband was changed to enable
her to claim on his movable property also. Generally speak-
ing the agricultural conditions in Babylonia were similar to
those of Erez Israel, with the result that the Babylonian amo-
raim found little difficulty in applying the rules laid down in
the Mishnah, which reflects conditions in Erez Israel, to those
of their own country. Nevertheless, there were distinct differ-
ences, some of which are herewith noted. The land was more
fertile than that of Erez Israel. Situated between the Euphra-
tes and the Tigris, and intersected with numerous tributaries
and man-made canals, there was an abundant water supply
which was largely independent of rain, and on the verse of Jer-
emiah 51:13 “thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant
in treasures” the Palestinian amora *Hoshaiah commented
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
“Why are the granaries of Babylonia always filled with grain?
Because there is an abundance of water,’ while the Babylo-
nian Rav commented, “Babylonia is rich, because the harvest
is gathered even when there is no rain” (Tan. 10a). Where in
Erez Israel prayers for the relief of drought were characteris-
tic, in Babylonia public prayers were offered against the peril
of floods, and were even offered up on their behalf by their
coreligionists in Erez Israel (Taan. 22b). The climate was also
distinctly better than in Erez Israel (RH 20a). As a result Jew-
ish Babylonia enjoyed exceptional fertility and the Euphrates
is made to say “I cause plants to grow in 30 days and vegeta-
bles in three days” (Gen. R. 16:3). The date palm was the most
characteristic of the trees of Babylonia. It grew luxuriously
and extensively. Rav stated that their abundance enabled the
Jews of Babylonia to find an easy livelihood there (Ta’an. 29b)
and Ulla, of Erez Israel on a visit to Babylon, remarked that
“the reason God exiled the Jews to Babylonia was that, hav-
ing plentiful dates for food, they could devote themselves to
the study of Torah” (Pes. 87b). At the time of the emperor Ju-
lian (361-63 C.E.) the whole of Mesene as far as the Persian
Gulf was like one huge palm grove. The olive, which was one
of the staple commodities of Erez Israel, did not flourish to
any large extent in Babylonia. From a non-talmudic source
it is learnt that it began to be more extensively cultivated in
the fourth century but in the early period its place, both for
lighting and for food, was taken by sesame oil. Thus when R.
Tarfon wished to limit the oil for the Sabbath lamp to olive
oil (Shab. 2:2) Johanan b. Nuri protested, “If so, what shall the
Babylonians do, who have only sesame oil” (Shab. 26a), and
so characteristic was this difference that whereas “oil” without
any qualification was taken in Erez Israel to refer to olive oil,
in Babylonia it was taken to refer to sesame (Ned. 53a). Cot-
ton seed oil was also in common use (Shab. 21a). Hemp, which
had to be imported into Erez Israel (Kil. 9:7), at least in mish-
naic times (in the amoraic period it seems to have been suc-
cessfully cultivated; cf. Ty, Kil. 32d) was grown extensively in
Babylonia and cloth made from it was common and cheaper
than linen (BM 51a). It was also used for ropes (Ket. 67a). A
plant unique in Babylonia, as compared with Israel, was the
cuscuta from which beer was manufactured. In some parts
of the country it was regarded as the national drink as wine
was in Erez Israel (Pes. 8a); R. Papa was a brewer (Pes. 113a).
Where pepper was regarded as the most exotic of plants in
Erez Israel (cf. Suk. 35a), it was freely grown in Babylonia, as
was ginger (Ber. 36b; Shab. 1412).
Livestock
Despite the agricultural fertility of Babylonia, it would appear
that the rearing and breeding of “small cattle”; sheep and goats,
was even more profitable in Babylonia. Thus it is given as good
counsel that one should sell one’s fields to invest the proceeds
in flocks, but not vice versa, and R. Hisda refers to the wealth
this occupation brings to those who engage in it (Hul. 84a-b).
From a statement that one should clothe himself with the wool
of his own sheep and drink the milk of his own sheep and
493
AGRICULTURE
goats (ibid.), it would appear that every householder had a few,
and there is other evidence that the tendency was for small
individual flocks. Cows and oxen were bred both for plowing
and for slaughter (Naz. 31b). The ass was used for riding and
the mule for transport (BM 97a). Horses were apparently used
only for military purposes (Av. Zar. 16a; Rashi to Pes. 113a).
Camels were also used for travel and the dromedary, the “fly-
ing camel,” is mentioned as a means of rapid transport (Mak.
5a). All the common domestic birds, chicken, ducks, and geese
were extensively raised (cf. Bez. 24a) as was the breeding of
pigeons (BB 23b), and the Jews of Babylonia were skilled agri-
culturists (BB 80a). Fish were abundant in the rivers and lakes
of Babylonia and there is extensive reference to the various
methods of catching them (see Newman, pp. 136-40).
[Louis Isaac Rabinowitz]
IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Ideals
The transition of the Jews in the Diaspora to an urban pop-
ulation mainly constituted of merchants and artisans began
from about the end of the eighth century. Yet Jews continued
to regard agriculture as the ideal and most important Jewish
occupation, the basis of the way of life and social ethics emerg-
ing from the Bible and permeating the whole of talmudic lit-
erature. In 13""-century Germany the Jewish moralist *Eleazar
b. Judah b. Kalonymus of Worms, in describing the primary,
divinely ordained state of society, relates that God “created
the world so that all shall live in pleasantness, that all shall be
equal, that one shall not lord it over the other, that all shall cul-
tivate the land ...” However, “when warriors multiplied, and
every man relied on his might, when they left off cultivating
the land and turned to robbery, He brought down on them the
Flood” (Hokhmat ha-Nefefesh, 22b). The utopian agricultural
society is here described as being destroyed by knightly feu-
dal behavior which brought divine retribution on the world.
Ideals of this kind continued to persist and have inspired the
return to the soil in Zionism and related attempts at Jewish
colonization in modern times.
History
The place of agriculture in Jewish economic and social life
steadily diminished from the fourth century. Increasingly se-
vere edicts were issued by Christian emperors prohibiting Jews
from keeping slaves, first applying to Christian slaves only
and then to all slaves. These restrictions obviated any large-
scale Jewish agricultural undertakings by depriving them of
workers. The church also developed the conception that Jews
should be denied any positions of authority or honor. This at-
titude later automatically excluded Jews from the feudal struc-
ture based on land ownership and the social structure which it
combined. In these conditions, Jews were only fit for the low-
est rank of serfs, but the religious and moral aspects of such a
position made this impossible for all practical purposes.
Under Islamic administrations, both Jewish and Chris-
tian farmers bore the additional burden of a special land tax,
494
the Kharaj, and suffered from a policy by which the produce
delivered in land taxes was excessively undervalued. In Iraq,
where there was a large concentration of Jews engaged in ag-
riculture, they suffered from the general neglect of irrigation
in the first two generations of Muslim rule. On the other hand,
urban life and trading as an occupation were respected in Is-
lamic society; they were a powerful attraction in the Caliph-
ate, in particular to the Jew who wanted to escape oppressive
discrimination in the villages. From the second half of the
ninth century, the cultural milieux of the great Muslim cit-
ies like Baghdad drew increasing numbers of the population.
The expansion of the Caliphate and the diversification of its
economy provided growing opportunities for Jews in urban
occupations. Additionally, the requirements of organized re-
ligion formed a further incentive to urbanization for the ma-
jority of Jews.
Thus from the end of the eighth century agriculture be-
came a marginal Jewish occupation in both Christian and
Muslim lands. However, Jews continued as farmers wherever
legal and social conditions permitted. Large groups of Jewish
farmers are known in North Africa in the ninth century. They
are mentioned in connection with irrigation, gardening, viti-
culture, and the commercial production of cheese (which is
known to have been stamped with the word berakhah, “bless-
ing”). Livestock breeding was apparently an unimportant
branch in Jewish agriculture. In Egypt in the 12" century Jews
entrusted cattle or sheep to non-Jews to be raised for meat.
Similarly, they frequently handed over fields, vineyards, or-
chards, and gardens to Gentile sharecroppers, although Jew-
ish bustdni (gardeners) are mentioned in documents of the
Cairo *Genizah. They perhaps worked in “the orchard of the
synagogue of the Palestinians” in Old Cairo (Fostat). While
cheese making and beekeeping by Jews have a large place in
the Genizah records, they are overshadowed by the produc-
tion of wine. Naturally “pressers” of grapes are mentioned,
although these probably worked only on a seasonal basis.
Another agricultural specialist frequently mentioned in the
Genizah from the 11" to the 13" centuries was the sukkari, the
manufacturer and seller of sugar, which was produced mostly
from cane but sometimes from raisins or dates. In western
North Africa (the Maghreb) Jews owned cultivated land in
the villages and city outskirts. Some of the tales of R. *Nissim
b. Jacob of Kairouan (first half of the 11» century) have a rural
or semirural setting and are probably located in North Africa
(cf. Hirschberg in bibliography).
After the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, Jews there
gradually entered the agrarian sphere taking advantage of
changes such as the apportionment of land, liquidation sales,
or the expropriation of rebels. Andalusia attracted a stream
of immigrants from North Africa, including numerous Jews
who were often skilled farmers. These possibly constituted the
majority of Jewish landowners and peasants mentioned there
in tenth-century records. Problems concerning cornfields and
orchards are dealt with at length in the Spanish rabbinical
responsa of the period, which also mention technical inno-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
vations, for instance pumping methods. The Jewish karram
(winegrower) had to see to every aspect of viticulture, from
amelioration of the soil to grape pressing. After the Spanish
territories passed to Christian rule, Jews continued to engage
in agriculture. In Leon and Castile, Aragon and Catalonia,
Jews are often recorded as settlers and developers of newly
occupied areas, frequently in collaboration with the monas-
teries. Jews owned large tracts of land, in particular near the
towns, since many members of the Jewish upper strata par-
ticipated in the parcellation and recolonization of lands cap-
tured from the Muslims during the Christian Reconquest
from the 12'' century on. Some Jewish smallholders cultivated
their own plots: fields and pastures, orchards and gardens
are mentioned. Jews also employed hired labor. Some dealt
in livestock and agricultural products, or engaged in crafts
based on agricultural materials, such as hides and fibers. It is
not known whether the raw material for the important Span-
ish-Jewish silk industry was produced locally or bought from
Sicilian Jews.
In Italy, Jewish economic activity was not subjected to
legal restrictions until the 16 century, but the majority of
Jews there lived in the cities. However, their (probably unin-
terrupted) presence in rural areas, particularly in central and
southern Italy, is evidenced. Jews were among the first to cul-
tivate the mulberry in Italy, and the flourishing silk industry
was largely controlled by Jews. In Sicily Jews owned and culti-
vated vineyards and olive groves. Some excelled in cultivating
the date palm; Frederick 11 gave certain Jews the stewardship
of his private grove. Beside these farmers there were Jewish
fishermen. Sicilian Jews also owned land or herds which were
looked after by non-Jews on a sharecropping basis. Many Jews
in Sicily in the 13" and 14 centuries were engaged in com-
merce or crafts based on agriculture.
In southern France, especially in Provence, conditions
were similar to those in Spain and Italy. Great Jewish allo-
dia are mentioned in the early Middle Ages, some near Nar-
bonne are recalled in a legendary context. In the greater part
of medieval France and Germany, however, the Jews who en-
gaged in agriculture were the exception rather than the rule.
In the time of Charlemagne (eighth-ninth centuries), some
Jews still farmed large tracts of land. In suitable regions Jews
are found specializing in viticulture, fruit growing, and dairy
farming. These capital intensive and semi urban branches of
agriculture could be combined with commercial activities.
In addition, while vineyards or orchards required expert su-
pervision, they did not demand continual labor, so that even
scholars like *Rashi and Jacob *Tam could grow grapes for a
living while devoting time to study.
In the Balkans and Greece, *Benjamin of Tudela (mid-
12'h century) found a Jewish community of 200 (families?)
in Crissa, engaged in agriculture, and another near Mount
Parnassus. Further east, Jewish farmers were already found
in the tenth century. On the northern shores of the Black Sea
they introduced advanced techniques of plowing and perhaps
also new irrigation methods, and rice growing. Rice was in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
fact widely grown in the Volga region under the *Khazars, but
was discontinued after their downfall.
In Eastern Europe, Jews turned to the countryside more
frequently from the 14"* century. When expelled from many of
the cities, they settled on the estates of the nobility and in vil-
lages. The transition was also due to their increasing connec-
tion with the growing and sale of wine (see *Wine and Liquor
Trade). In Lithuania, Jewish settlement in the towns was early
combined with agricultural activity. Thus Grand Duke Witold
granted the Jews of Grodno in 1389 the right to “use the sown
pasture land which they hold now or may acquire in the fu-
ture, paying to our treasury the same as the gentile citizens.”
With the development of the *arenda (“leasehold”) system and
trade in agricultural products, the Jews in Poland-Lithuania
became increasingly involved in agriculture as leaseholders
of agricultural assets, for instance of distilleries or mills, or as
administrators of the rural estates; they also dealt in every-
thing pertaining to agriculture and supplied the needs of both
peasants and landlords. The Jewish leaseholder (arendar) of
agricultural assets on a large scale gradually developed into
a kind of capitalist farmer, entering agriculture by providing
capital and business management. The large number of small-
scale arendars also became increasingly involved in village life
and affairs. Not only the many Jews living near or in the vil-
lages, but also those in the small Jewish townships that became
characteristic of Polish and Lithuanian Jewry owned vegetable
gardens and orchards near their houses. Their livelihood and
way of life was closely bound up with peasant life and activi-
ties. However, the number of Jews who may be classified as
belonging to the agricultural sector at any given time in the
period remains a moot point. These connections to a certain
degree enabled the renewal of Jewish agriculture in modern
times. It is safe to generalize that the greater part of Eastern
European Jewry was conditioned by semirural environment
until well into the 19 century.
TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS: MIDDLE AGES AND
MODERN TIMES. In the early Middle Ages Jewish interna-
tional trade mainly consisted of commerce in agricultural
products from the Far and Middle East destined for luxury
consumption in Western Europe. Jewish merchants traded in
*spices at least from the sixth century (see *Radanites), and
also in dyestuffs (see *Dyeing). Conducted on a large scale,
this trade was naturally based on the contacts established by
Jews in the Orient with local producers and merchants. In-
formation from the end of the tenth century shows extensive
activity in this sphere by Jewish merchants from Egypt, Tu-
nisia, and Syria. During the 11" and 12" centuries trading in
agricultural products was carried on by Jews in all the Medi-
terranean countries, either as individual enterprises or, when
on a larger scale, frequently in partnerships, which sometimes
also included Muslim merchants. The trade included sugar
exported from Egypt, and dried fruits, especially from Syria,
as well as condiments, dyes, oil, cheese, and wines through-
out the area.
495
AGRICULTURE
The small Jewish merchants at that time included ped-
dlers who acted as intermediaries between the rural producers
and the city. In the Near East as well as in the more backward
European countries they traded their goods for agricultural
products which they sold at the urban markets. Jews living in
the Aegean islands of Byzantium sometimes leased the state
revenues from the trade in grain and wines. Attempts to oust
Jews from dealing in wines, grain, and other foodstuffs were
made in France and Germany in the eighth and ninth cen-
turies, for instance by the Synod of Frankfurt in 794. Bishop
*Agobard complained that the Jews of Lyons in his day dealt
in wines and meat. Jews owned vineyards and dealt in wines
in France up to the 12" century. In England, the Statutum de
judeismo of 1275, after forbidding the Jews to engage in mon-
eylending, authorized them to practice trades and crafts. A
large number of wealthy Jews therefore turned to trade in
grain and wool. While the Jewish merchants of Bristol, Can-
terbury, Exeter, and Hereford mainly dealt in grain, those of
Lincoln, Norwich, and Oxford were wool merchants. In the
states of Christian Spain, the Jewish trade in agricultural prod-
ucts was widely developed, and in some places ordinances
regulating this trade were issued by the local communities.
In Portugal in the 14» century the authorities restricted the
activities of Jewish peddlers and traders who bought honey,
oil, and wax from the mountain villages and sold these com-
modities in the cities.
Even when moneylending became the paramount Jew-
ish economic activity in Western Europe the Jews in the West
continued to deal in agricultural products, in particular in
wines, wool, and grain, frequently in combination with their
loan activities. This is attested in the responsa literature of
the period. In the 15" century many Jews in the southeastern
parts of the German Empire acted as middlemen in buying the
products of the villages and landed estates (Gut) and selling
them to the towns. Buying up, and especially horse-trading,
became the specialties of Jews in *Bavaria and Franconia, in
which they continued to engage well into modern times. The
Jewish peddler later found in the United States was continu-
ing a traditional Jewish occupation in Germany and Eastern
Europe. However, the anti-Jewish enactments passed by the
church frequently succeeded in preventing Jews from trad-
ing in agricultural products. The bull issued by Pope Paul 1v
in 1555 included a provision prohibiting Jews from dealing in
grain. In Venice the ricondotta of 1777 prohibited Jews from
trading in grain and foodstuffs. With the economic develop-
ment of Western Europe after the great geographical discov-
eries of the 15'* and 16" centuries, *Poland-* Lithuania became
the chief supplier of agricultural products, cattle, and forest
produce to the West. Up to the time of the partitions of Po-
land at the end of the 18 century Jews took a considerable
part in the extraction and sale of the agricultural produce on
which the arenda system was based, and thus became associ-
ated with the export trade to the West, using both the river and
land routes. In the late 176 and during the 18" centuries the
role of the *Court Jews as victuallers to the armies of the Haps-
496
burg Empire and princes of Germany was largely facilitated by
their contacts with Jews in Poland-Lithuania who provided the
necessary supplies. The financial success of Jews in this field
often became the basis for the accumulation of large capital, as
instanced by the career of S. *Zbitkower. Trade in cattle, and
especially oxen, was one of the most important branches of the
export trade in which Jews took part from the 16" century. It
entailed the driving of cattle from Eastern Europe to the West,
then the best way of transporting meat. The major part of the
herd was bought in Moldavia; the cattle were fattened for a
time in the Ukraine, and with the additions bought there were
driven to Silesia, West Germany, and France. Jewish dealers
sold part of their cattle at the large fairs in Brzeg on the Oder.
After the partitions of Poland and up to the present century,
the traditional Jewish trade in agricultural products contin-
ued, despite attempts by the Russian authorities to expel the
Jews from the villages. In the *shtetls of the *Pale of Settlement
in *Belorussia, *Volhynia, and the *Ukraine the small-scale
Jewish trader would buy goods from the peasants on market
days, or through itinerant peddlers and dealers, and sell the
village products in bulk to the larger Jewish merchants, who
then exported them to Germany. In consequence, trade in es-
sential agricultural products used in industry, such as bristles,
flax, and hemp, was almost a Jewish monopoly in this area
during the period. Identical in structure was the grain trade
in Galicia and Poland in the 19" century, in which the Dorf-
gaenger or Dorfgeher were engaged. The Jewish traders trav-
eled from village to village, visiting markets and fairs in the
small towns where they bought grain and also cattle, despite
official attempts to prohibit them from doing so.
The grain trade of Poland became almost exclusively a
Jewish preserve during the 19" century. Many Jewish firms
dealt in grain, and Jews also acted as the agents for German
and French firms, some also in Jewish ownership. There were
36,907 Jews occupied in the grain trade in Poland in 1897, i.e.,
6.9% of the Jewish merchants living in this area. Of the 224
grain merchants in business in Warsaw in 1867, 214 were Jews.
In 1873, five Jews became members of the constituent com-
mittee of the Corn Exchange in Warsaw. Jewish grain deal-
ers were also prominent during the establishment of the state
grain stores in Prussia, Silesia, and Galicia in the 18" century.
Jewish contractors undertook to provide approximately 74%
of the grain during the shortage in Galicia in 1785-86. Sev-
eral communities in East Prussia and Latvia, such as those of
Koenigsberg and Riga, owe their origin and development to
the expansion of Jewish interests in the grain trade. In the 18"
century the bulk of the grain exported by the land route from
Poland to Silesia was concentrated in Jewish hands. In Lithu-
ania, Jews who exported grain to Silesia bought colonial goods
in Breslau, which they supplied to the Lithuanian towns. A
large part of the wine export trade of Hungary, which in the
18" and 19‘ centuries went largely to Poland, Ukraine, and
Czechoslovakia, was in Jewish hands. The wine merchants
sometimes organized armed caravans to defend the trans-
ports from marauders. Between the two world wars a large
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
number of Jews in Poland and the Baltic States continued to
engage in the trade in agricultural products, from peddling
to large-scale export business, although attempts were made
on a governmental level to oust the Jews from this economic
sector and, through the creation of state-subsidized agricul-
tural cooperatives, to all but eliminate Jews from trading with
the local agriculturists. Thus from the end of the Middle Ages
Jews played an important role - and, in many regions, a pio-
neering one - in the development of trade between manor and
village on the one hand and the city on the other, an essential
factor in the rise of modern economy.
[Jacob Goldberg]
IN MODERN EUROPE
In the modern period, Jews in Europe developed direct con-
tact with agriculture in various ways. Jewish businessmen in
Western Europe entered the agricultural sphere as part of their
share in the development of capitalist economy. Many of the
merchants owning plantations in the West Indies, especially
of sugar cane, were Jews. In continental Europe from the late
18 century Jewish merchant bankers frequently branched out
into mining and industry, and also into forestry and capital-
ist farming. This type of activity, chiefly financial and com-
mercial at least in origin, for example sugar beet growing, was
developed by a significant number of Jews in southern Ger-
many in the first half of the 19" century and in Russia in the
second half of the century. The number of such pioneer busi-
nessmen who were actively involved in farm management by
the end of the 19"* century cannot be ascertained. Apparently
at least in Galicia, Slovakia, and Romania, the class of Jew-
ish capitalist owners or tenants of agricultural lands or assets
had become quite large by 1900, and was directly concerned
with farming.
It was in Eastern Europe that the movement to settle
numbers of Jews on the land took place. From the middle of
the 19" century the rapid growth of population and deterio-
rating economic conditions in Russia forced many of the Jews
there out of their traditional occupations. A large minority
turned to agriculture, chiefly the suburban type of dairy and
truck farming. By doing so, the small-scale Jewish farmer
could remain in the same locality, avoid the difficulties of ob-
taining larger areas of land, and concentrate on intensive cul-
tivation of commercial crops.
Already from the 18" century the population increase
and economic impoverishment combined with new ideolo-
gies which envisioned a more “natural” mode of existence for
the Jews to press for changes in Jewish social life. The theo-
reticians proposed alterations in the Jewish occupational
structure with the aim of achieving a more balanced Jewish
social stratification. This, they considered, would make Jews
less open to the attacks of antisemites who condemned Jews
for their pursuit of “non-productive” economic activities (see
*History, Jewish Medieval and Modern; *Haskalah, *Antisemi-
tism; *Zionism). Various schemes were proposed on both gov-
ernmental and private initiative for the “productivization” of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
the Jewish masses and included plans for Jewish agricultural
settlement. These were either confined to the country con-
cerned, or combined programs for emigration and coloniza-
tion with broader social and political issues. Among these the
most notable are the Zionist movement and the projects of
Baron *Hirsch, as well as the *Birobidzhan scheme.
Jewish researchers estimate that the number of Jewish
agriculturalists of all types in Eastern Europe reached a max-
imum of between 400,000 and 500,000 in the early 1930s,
ie., forming up to 6% of the total Jewish population there.
They varied both in the form of agricultural organization
and the type of farming undertaken. They included the Jew-
ish shepherds in the Carpathian mountains, beekeepers, own-
ers of milch cows, or vegetable growers in the small Galician
and Bessarabian towns, and the mixed farming colonists in
Ukraine. Although the Jewish output was insignificant in the
total agricultural sector, Jews took an important part and even
predominated in certain branches. In northern Poland, Jewish
farmers predominated in vegetable growing, including hotbed
crops, notably cucumbers. In certain districts in Poland and
Bessarabia, tobacco was practically a Jewish speciality.
The recent development of a Jewish agricultural sec-
tor has undergone many vicissitudes both in direction and
scope, through ideological and political changes, both within
Jewish society and in the attitudes of the environing societ-
ies and states. These are revealed in the history of the Zionist
movement in Erez Israel and of the settlements in *Crimea
and Birobidzhan. The greatest interruptions were caused by
the Russian revolution of 1917 and the British Mandate in
Palestine.
Ukraine
Although proposals for Jewish agricultural colonization were
aired in Austria and Prussia at the end of the 18" century, the
first substantial attempts to carry out such a scheme were
initiated by the czarist government in 1807. They were com-
menced in the governments of Kherson and Yekaterinoslav
as part of renewed efforts by the government to colonize the
steppe and at the same time to assimilate the Jews, to remove
them from the villages and townships of the Ukraine Pale of
Settlement, and to make them less “parasitical” A total of 38
villages, each with 100 to 300 family farms were founded in
these areas. Some were given Hebrew names, such as Nahar-
Tov and Sedei Menuhah. According to Russian official data,
these 38 villages included almost 7,000 farms with 42,000 in-
habitants in 1913. The average area of the holding was 11.8 de-
syatines (about 32 acres).
The Jewish settlements in the Ukraine suffered severely
after World War 1 during the revolution and the civil war,
but most were reconstructed with aid from Jewish organiza-
tions such as orT and 1c. In 1924 additional villages, now
with Yiddish names such as Blumenfeld and Frayland, were
founded, partly by younger members of the old settlements. In
1927 there were 35,000 Jews living in 48 villages in the Ukraine,
farming a total of about 250,000 acres.
497
AGRICULTURE
At first confined to grain production, the colonies in the
Ukraine later diversified their output by introducing livestock
and fodder, vegetables, and fruits. After the war the production
of irrigated crops, notably grapes, was much increased, and co-
operative dairies were set up. Loans and instructors supplied
by 1ca and ort assisted these developments, which resulted
in well established prosperous communities of a pronounced
Jewish and rural character. In the late 1920s the Soviet govern-
ment allocated additional land for Jewish settlements. Around
the existing core there developed three administrative districts
with a majority of Jewish farmers: Kalinindorf, Nay-Zlatopol,
and Stalindorf. The Ukraine thus harbored the largest concen-
tration of Jewish agriculturalists in Europe, who had their own
schools, a newspaper (Der Stalindorfer Emes), and a Yiddish
theater. The new villages, numbering over 50, were based on
mechanized cooperative farming, with more livestock and
acreage per family than previously. Machinery and instruc-
tion were supplied partly by the government and partly by
1cA. Two further sections of Jewish settlement developed in
the Ukraine in the 1920s, in the vicinity of Odessa and in the
district of Pervomaysk. After economic changes villages and
agricultural suburbs comprising several thousands of Jewish
families grew up in these two districts. The movement of Jews
to the soil in the southern Ukraine received a renewed impetus
in 1928-30 with the Soviet drive for collectivization.
Belorussia
The czarist regulations of 1835 provided a legal basis for Jew-
ish colonies within the Pale of Settlement. These western Rus-
sian provinces, which then included Lithuania and Volhynia,
provided many of the settlers of the Ukraine and also saw
the growth of a similar Jewish agricultural sector themselves.
However the climate and soil in the west were much less fa-
vorable. Settlement was more scattered and land tenure less
uniform. At the beginning of the 20 century there were 258
Jewish settlements in the western provinces, with almost 6,000
farms and 36,000 inhabitants. These villages each had a maxi-
mum of 40 family units, farming an average of 18 acres. On
government land a unit might comprise 30 acres, but on land
privately leased or purchased they ranged from 5 to 13 acres.
This compelled intensification (an average of two cows per
unit was high for these regions) and search for supplementary
employment. Tillage remained according to local technique
on a three-year rotation. Technical and living standards im-
proved from the beginning of the 20" century, due to the aid
furnished by ort and ica. In these conditions, the settlers
in the area who overcame the initial hardships never reached
prosperity, but developed a specific Jewish rural way of life in
which they took pride.
After the war most of these villages remained in the
ussr. All had suffered severely from the years of fighting in
World War 1 and the revolution of 1917. In the early 1920s thou-
sands of Belorussians, including Jews, were driven by hunger
to become farmers. The Jews tended to prefer suburban lots,
but collectives received higher land quotas. In the collective, it
498
was also easier to maintain Jewish cohesion and cling to some
vestiges of Jewish religious life. Thus, about 40% of the 2,300
families who settled on the land before 1925 were members of
collective groups. The movement, encouraged by allocation
of public land, continued until 1929. There was then a total of
9,100 Jewish farmer families in Belorussia, with 58,500 mem-
bers and 170,000 acres. Most of these specialized in dairy
farming, preferring fodder crops to grains, and many kept or-
chards and gardens. The introduction of tractors facilitated the
replacement of draft horses by dairy cattle. In the Mogilev and
Bobruisk districts the majority of Jewish agriculturalists were
individual farmers living on the fringes of the small towns, re-
ceiving aid from ort. Collectives predominated in the Minsk
district; they received government assistance and later became
kolkhozes. Many of the Jewish kolkhozes eventually merged
with non-Jewish ones and lost their Jewish identity (see also
*Birobidzhan and *Crimea).
Poland
The dissolution of the state toward the end of the 18" century,
combined with efforts to reform Polish society and political
life, invested the attempts to turn Jews to agriculture with an
importance and attention far beyond their real scope. Even
so, there were considerable achievements, for which the initia-
tive came from various sources, including the upper circles of
Jewish society, enlightened members of the Polish gentry, and
Russian governmental circles. They succeeded in bringing the
movement for settling Jews on the land to public attention,
and in developing Jewish village life. By the middle of the 19
century there were about 30,000 Jews living from agriculture
in the central districts of Poland. Ten Jewish villages were con-
sidered models for the surrounding areas.
After World War 1, Poland inherited the Lithuanian and
Volhynian areas of Belorussia, where there were 1,400 Jew-
ish farms. About half were in the northern section, only one-
third of the farms had less than 15 acres each; in the more fer-
tile south the majority were small-scale units. Especially in
the early 19208, additional Jewish families turned to farming
in northern Poland, settling in areas adjacent to established
units as well as in new locations. The new settlers were all
tenants, and in this respect were worse off economically than
their forerunners. They concentrated in the small towns and
city suburbs rather than in the villages, specializing in truck
farming, notably of cucumbers; from the suburbs of Vilna and
other cities they marketed hotbed vegetables as far as Warsaw.
Near Grodno, Jews specialized in tobacco growing. In the
mid-1930s there were close to 2,900 Jewish farm units in 142
locations in northeastern Poland, with approximately 60,000
acres. In Volhynia, 940 units in 20-odd locations farmed an
additional 11,000 acres.
In Galicia, entirely different conditions had prevailed
under Austrian rule. Here the Jewish agricultural sector com-
prised three classes: large landlords; tenants and agents; farm
hands and smallholders. According to Austrian data of 1902,
out of 2,430 large land- and forest-owners, 438 Jews owned
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
a total of over 750,000 acres. Generally these were absentee
owners: merchants, bankers, and industrialists, but some were
actively concerned with farm management, and a few made
a name for themselves as proficient farmers. Below the two
upper classes, a stratum of Jewish subagents and even farm
hands had developed. However, the majority of East Galician
Jewish agriculturists were village shopkeepers, who also each
owned a small plot. On part he grew vegetables and fodder;
the rest he let to his non-Jewish neighbor. With the develop-
ment of rural cooperative stores, however, many such shop-
keepers were forced toward the end of the 19" century to turn
to these plots as their chief source of livelihood. The agricul-
tural society of Jewish landlords: as well as Baron Hirsch’s
foundation, supported the movement to agriculture and en-
couraged marketing and dairy cooperatives. The 1921 census
records 48,000 Jewish earners as at least partially subsisting
on agriculture.
Developments in the interwar period, particularly after
1929, caused a renewed movement of Galician Jews to agri-
culture. In 1932 Ica opened a central agency in Lvov, and at
the same time grass root initiative culminated in the foun-
dation of y1LaG (“Yidishe Landvirtshaftlikhe Gezelshaft”:
Jewish Agricultural Society). The credit facilities, education,
and instruction provided by these two organizations encour-
aged modernization and cooperation. y1LAG published the
monthly Der Yidisher Landvirt from 1933 to 1939. In 1933 there
were already eight Jewish farming cooperatives and 12 coop-
erative dairies in Galicia, with a total membership of 1,400.
The dairies processed 4% million liters of milk annually. Dairy
farming was quite profitable in the hill regions, where natu-
ral pasture enabled a family to keep up to five milch cows if
the problems of marketing could be solved. The cooperatives
therefore developed transportation as well as processing fa-
cilities, and branched out into retailing. Eventually six shops
(four in Lvov alone) for dairy and poultry products under the
name “Hemah” (“butter” in Hebrew) became very popular
with the Jewish urban customer.
After World War 11, Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, of
whom some had been farmers before the war, settled in vil-
lages in the districts formerly in Germany. orT renewed its
activity in Poland and undertook the vocational guidance of
the new farmers. Various educational projects were started.
However, the whole movement was short-lived, and most par-
ticipants soon left the soil (and the country).
Romania
The various sections of Romania differ greatly in their geog-
raphy and history. In Bukovina, Austrian rule created social
and political conditions similar to those of Galicia, with an
accordingly similar structure of the Jewish agricultural sec-
tor. Of the small-scale farmers, who numbered 2,000 fami-
lies before 1914, many owned their holdings, which averaged
five to 25 acres. However, only approximately 500 families
survived on the land after World War 1, and these were com-
pletely impoverished. In the 1930s their reconstruction was
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
planned and financed by ica, based on dairy or sugar-beet
farming. In Bessarabia, early settlements had been part of the
czarist projects, especially from 1850. Additional villages and
scattered farms brought the number of Jewish farmers up to
perhaps 5,500 families in the late 1920s. Of special interest in
this region were the tobacco growers, who worked diminutive
plots with effort and skill. Although well known for the high
yield of their land and the quality of the leaves they produced,
the Jewish tobacco growers could still barely subsist because
of high rents and fluctuating prices. Before 1914, over 90% of
the tobacco growers in Bessarabia had been Jews; they con-
tinued to predominate in the inter-war period. There were
also many Jewish winegrowers in Bessarabia working under
similar conditions, and with like success. Mixed farming, with
much maize, was also represented in the Jewish sector. In the
Carpathian Maramures, part of which belonged to Romania
and part to Czechoslovakia in the inter-war period, numer-
ous extremely poor Jews, perhaps numbering up to 60,000,
gained a subsistence from cattle and sheep, with some sup-
plementary orchards and beehives. Dairies were set up there
by 1c in the 1930s.
The process of the return of Jews in Europe to the coun-
tryside and villages from the towns is in part due to an inten-
sification of the historical and economic trends which began
in the later Middle Ages. However, the driving forces both
from within Jewry itself and outside it have been mainly ide-
ological and political.
[Shimshon Tapuach]
IN THE UNITED STATES
As indicated in colonial records, there were individual Jewish
landowners and farmers early in the 18" century. The first at-
tempt to establish a Jewish farm community, however, dates
back to the 1820s, when Mordecai Manuel *Noah received
permission to found his model community of Ararat in the
Niagara River region of New York. During the same period,
Moses Elias *Levy settled Jews on a Florida tract, and by 1837,
13 families launched the Sholem farm colony in Wawarsing,
New York. Within five years the last were forced to disperse,
partly because of depressed economic conditions. There were
other isolated instances of Jewish farmers, including some in
California, throughout the century.
By 1881, however, with the beginning of massive Jewish
immigration from Eastern Europe, group settlement received
a major impetus. Many of the newcomers were imbued with
the agrarian idealism of the *Am Olam, stressing the nobility
of farm labor as the most honest of occupations; a few had
experience as agriculturalists in Russia. At the same time, the
relatively small American Jewish community hoped to develop
among the immigrants a healthy yeoman class, away from the
cities; it became increasingly sensitive also to anti-immigra-
tion sentiment stemming not only from nativist elements, but
also from the new urban working class. In a rural setting, phi-
lanthropy would combine with self help to absorb the new-
499
AGRICULTURE
comers. Such settlement efforts were aided by the *Alliance
Israélite Universelle, and a number of new American organi-
zations: at first the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society (1882-83),
then the Baron de Hirsch *Fund (1891-_) and its subsidiary,
the *Jewish Agricultural Society (1900-_). A score of colonies
were established in areas ranging from the swampy bayous of
Louisiana to the dry prairies of Kansas and the Dakotas, as
far northwest as Oregon; within a few years all failed for such
reasons as poor site selection, floods, droughts, factionalism,
insect blight, and always inadequate experience and financ-
ing. In the East, however, the settlements ringing * Vineland,
N.J. (1882), and the all-Jewish town of Woodbine, N.J. (1891),
survived into the 20" century. Their staples were vegetables,
especially sweet potatoes and small fruits.
Early in the 20" century, both Vineland and Woodbine
unfurled the banner of “Chickenville,’ joined later by Jew-
ish farm communities in Toms River and Farmingdale, N,J.
Thereby, the poultry industry was able to absorb Jewish im-
migrants in the 1930s, and beyond World War 11, with new
centers in the Lakewood, N.J. area, Colchester, Manchester,
and Danielson, Conn., and Petaluma, Calif. (north of San
Francisco). New York’s Jewish farmers, especially throughout
Sullivan and Ulster counties, have been well represented since
the turn of the century in the poultry industry, dairying, veg-
etables, and resort facilities. In Connecticut, Jewish farmers
specialized in dairying also, as well as tobacco and potatoes;
others pioneered in the famed potato industry of Aroostook
County, Maine.
Some notable contributions stand out: in the area of edu-
cation, the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School (Woodbine,
N.J.) and the National Farm School (Doylestown, p.a.), both
pioneering institutions. Also, Jewish farmers founded coop-
eratives for joint marketing, especially of poultry and eggs,
purchase of feed and fertilizer, insurance, and comprehensive
community service programs.
At the end of World War 11, there were about 20,000 Jew-
ish farm families with perhaps fewer than half that number by
the late 1960s, mainly because of trends which led to a decline
of American agriculture generally down to only five percent of
the total population. Jews continued to be represented in all
branches of American agriculture, whether citrus in Florida
or vegetables in California's Imperial Valley, but the number
of Jews in agriculture continued to decline in the last third of
the 20 century as the overall number of Americans engaged
in agriculture dropped further to fewer than 2.5 percent.
[Joseph Brandes]
IN CANADA
Canada’s vast and underpopulated expanses of fertile land
were hardly known to the Jews in czarist Russia and other
countries who were seeking asylum. Thus, despite Canada’s
favorable attitude to immigration, only a small segment of
the Jewish emigrants from Europe went to Canada. The first
attempt to establish Jewish agricultural settlement in Canada
500
was made in 1884 (after a two year delay mainly due to the
government's refusal to assign land for the Jews when they
first arrived) when a small group tried to farm 560 acres mear
Moosomin, Saskatchewan. Their experiment ended in failure
after five years of struggle. A few years later, the Young Men's
Hebrew Benevolent Society of Montreal approached Baron
de Hirsch to assist Jewish immigrants in Canada, as he did
the immigrants in the U.S.A., and soon afterward the *Jewish
Colonization Association (1cA) established a special Cana-
dian committee for the promotion of agricultural settlement
among the Jewish immigrants. With the beginning of large-
scale Jewish immigration to Canada in the 1880s some Jews
wished to become farmers under the government's homestead
policy. Because of the belief that Jews would not make good
farmers the government tended to discourage Jewish group-
land settlement. Nevertheless between 1884 and 1910 some
17 Jewish farm settlements were started, mostly in western
Canada with the help of the Jewish Colonization Association.
Among the best known are Oxbow and Wapella (1888), Hirsch
(1892), Lipton (1901), Edinbridge and Sonnenfeld (1906), and
Rumsey (1908). Five or six of these settlements lasted for half
a century or longer.
By 1920 the population in those settlements reached
3,500, while their annual produce totaled over $1,000,000 It
has been estimated that Jewish farmers in Canada produced
enough wheat in the 1930s to feed the entire population of
Canada. Some 200,000 acres were allocated for grain and
the farmers’ assets were valued at $7,000,000. The Jewish set-
tlers, new arrivals from Ukraine, Romania, or Lithuania, had
almost no training in agriculture, nor any knowledge of the
environment, so that their achievement was considerable. De-
spite the extremely difficult climatic conditions in the prairies,
which are covered with snow for eight or nine months of the
year, the small and isolated communities maintained strong
Jewish cultural activity, often using their last means to bring
over itinerant Hebrew teachers for the homesteads. Some-
times a teacher would stay with one family for a whole win-
ter. The younger generation went to study at the colleges of
the prairie cities of Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton,
and Calgary. In time, they became doctors, lawyers, agrono-
mists, and businessmen and settled in town. When the gov-
ernment imposed immigration quotas, the settlements began
to suffer manpower shortages and the aging parents, no lon-
ger able to carry the burden of isolation, loneliness, and hard
work, gradually joined their children in the cities. Some farm-
steads fell into decay and were sold; others are still owned by
the descendants of the original settlers. Only individual Jew-
ish families have remained on farms, especially those in the
proximity of the cities.
IN LATIN AMERICA
Jewish agriculture in Latin America was concentrated in three
separate regions during various periods. The first region, the
plantation area, was located in the northeast of the continent
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
and in the Caribbean Islands. From the beginning of the 16"
century - only a few years after the discovery of *Brazil - *New
Christians were engaged in exploiting the resources of the Bra-
zil tree and exporting its products to Europe. The same group
most probably brought the cultivation of sugar from Madeira
to Brazil. From that time on, Marranos played a leading role in
the development of the sugar cane and sugar refinery indus-
tries at Engenhos. In the middle of the 17" century, after the
Dutch rule ended and the Portuguese took over, Jews engaged
in the cultivation of sugarcane (and possibly other branches of
agriculture) in the Caribbean Islands, especially in the areas of
the Guiana that remained under Dutch rule. In Surinam, the
memory of this period of Jewish agricultural settlement has
been preserved in the name of a village, Joden Savanne.
In the wake of mass immigration by Russian Jews to-
ward the end of the 19" century, new and large agricultural
settlements were established in the grain and beef areas of
southeastern Latin America. The widespread development
of agriculture in the Argentinean pampas and the large-scale
immigration campaign that the government conducted in
Europe brought the settlement project of Baron de Hirsch to
Argentina. Even though the Hirsch project did not fulfill the
expectations of its founder, i.e., to concentrate hundreds of
thousands of Jewish settlers in a compact and autonomous
area, the total area of the project's agricultural land amounted
during its peak period (1925) to 617,468 hectares (1,525,146
acres). The total Jewish agricultural population in the five
provinces reached 33,135, of whom 20,382 were farmers and
their families and the rest were hired laborers and artisans etc.
in 1925 (see *Argentina, Agricultural Settlement).
In 1903 the Jewish Colonization Association (1c) began
to develop additional agricultural settlements in Rio Grande
do Sul, southern Brazil. One hundred thousand hectares
(247,000 acres) were acquired and two settlements were es-
tablished that encompassed several agricultural centers. This
Brazilian project was never consolidated (see *Brazil, Agricul-
tural Settlement). Attempts at agricultural settlement in Uru-
guay on government-owned land in 1914 and on private land
in 1938-39 were also unsuccessful (see *Uruguay).
The persecution of the Jews in Germany during the 1930s
and the limitations imposed upon immigration by the govern-
ments of Argentina and Brazil led to additional experiments
in Jewish agricultural settlement in other geographical ar-
eas, mainly in the Andes. Of all these attempts only one, the
settlement of Sosua, which was established with the support
of the *American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in the
Dominican Republic, partially succeeded.
[Haim Avni]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: EREZ ISRAEL: J. Schwarz, Tevuot ha-Arez (1900°);
M. Zagorodsky, Avodat Avoteinu (1949); B. Cizik, Ogar ha-Zemahim
(1952); Alon, Toledot; S.D. Jaffe, Ha-Hakla‘ut ha-Ivrit ha-Kedumah
be-Erez Yisrael (1959); S. Hurwitz, Torat ha-Sadeh, 3 (1959); Y. Feliks,
Olam ha-Zomeah ha-Mikra’i (1968); idem, Ha-Hakla’ut be-Erez Yis-
rael bi-Tekufat ha-Mishnah ve-ha-Talmud (1963), incl. bibl.; idem,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRICULTURE
Kilei Zera’im ve-Harkavah (1967); idem, in: Sefer ha-Emek (1957),
123-33; Aharoni, ibid., 107-14; Yeivin, ibid., 115-22; H. Vogelstein,
Die Landwirtschaft in der Zeit der Mischna (1894); Krauss, Tal Arch
2 (1911); Loew, Flora; Dalman, Arbeit; A.L.E. Moldenke, Plants of
the Bible (1952). ADD.BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Horowitz, “Pollen: Key
to Negev Climate in Prehistoric Times,” in: ILN, 4 (1978-79), 62-63;
A. Horowitz, The Quaternary of Israel. (1979); U. Baruch, “The Late
Holocene Vegetational History of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee),
Israel,” in: Paleorient, 12 (1986), 37-48; R. Gophna, N. Liphshitz, and
S. Lev-Yadun, “Man's Impact on the Natural Vegetation of the Cen-
tral Coastal Plain of Israel during the Chalcolithic Period and the
Bronze Age,’ in: Tel Aviv, 13-14 (1986-87), 71-84; Y. Weisel, N. Liph-
schitz, and S. Lev-Yadun, “Flora in Ancient Eretz-Israel,” in: A. Kasher
et al. (eds.), Man and Land in Eretz - Israel in Antiquity. (1986); A.
Rosen, “Environmental Change and Settlement at Tel Lachish, Israel,”
in: BASOR, 263 (1986), 55-60; A. Rosen, Cities of Clay: The Geoar-
chaeology of Tells. (1986); idem, “Phytolith Studies at Shiqmim,’ in:
T.E. Levi (ed.), Shiqgmim I: Studies Concerning Chalcolithic Societies
in the Northern Negev Desert, Israel (1982-1984). BAR International
Series (1987), 243-49; D. Zohary and M. Hopf, Domestication of
Plants in the Old World (1988); I. Drori and A. Horowitz, “Tel Lach-
ish: Environment and Subsistence During the Middle Bronze, Late
Bronze and Iron Age,” Tel Aviv, 15-16 (1988-89), 206-11; I. Rovner,
“Fine-Tuning Floral History with Plant Poal Phytolith Analysis,” in:
W.M. Kelso and R. Most (eds.), Earth Patterns: Essays in Landscape
Archaeology (1990), 297-308; U. Baruch, “Palynological Evidence
for Human Impact Upon the Flora of the Land of Israel in Antiq-
uity,” Qadmoniot, 27 (1994), 47-63. BABYLON: J. Newman, Agricul-
tural Life of the Jews in Babylonia (1933), 136-40. MIDDLE AGES: S.D.
Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 1 (1967), 116-27, 425-30; G. Caro,
Sozialund Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Juden im Mittelalter und der
Neuzeit, 2 vols. (1920-24); Ashtor, Korot; Baer, Spain; Baron, Social;
B. Blumenkranz, Juifs et Chretiens dans le monde occidental (1960);
H.Z. Hirschberg, Yisrael be-Arav (1946); Hirschberg, Afrikah; A. Mi-
lano, Vicende economiche degli Ebret nell Italia meridionale ed insu-
lare durante il Medioevo (1954); Neuman, Spain; S. Saige, Les Juifs du
Languedoc (1881); O. Stobbe, Die Juden in Deutschland (1866). TRADE
IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS: Baer, Spain, index, s.v. Commerce; G.
Caro, Sozial-und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Juden im Mittelalter und
in der Neuzeit, 2 vols. (1908-20); Kosover, in: yIvo Bleter, 12 (1937),
533-453 I. Schipper (ed.), Dziee handlu zydowskiego na ziemiach pol-
skich (1938); Roth, England, 73, 115; H.G. Richardson, English Jewry
under Angevin Kings (1960), index, s.v. Corn dealing: S.D. Goitein,
A Mediterranean Society (1967), 116-26, 265. MODERN EUROPE: V.
Niktin, Yevreyskiya poseleniya severo i yugozapadnogo kraya (1894);
Yevreyskoye kolonizatsionnoye obshchestvo, Sbornik ob ekonomiche-
skom polozheniyu Yevreyev v Rossii (1904); S.Y. Borovoi, Yevreyskaya
zemledelcheskaya kolonizatsiya v staroy Rossii (1928); B. Brutzkus, Di
Yidishe Landvirtshaft in Mizrakh-Erope (1926); Jewish Agricultural
Society, Der Yidisher Landvirt (1932-39); S. Tapuach, in: yrvo Bleter,
10 (1936), 19-25; idem, in: Przeglad Socjologiczny; 5 (1937); I. Schip-
per et al. (eds.), Zydzi w Polsce odrodzone, 2 vols. (1932-33), index;
J. Babicki, Yidishe Landvirtshaft in Stanislaver Voyevodshaft (1948);
idem, in: Yidishe Ekonomik, 1-3 (1937-39); L. Babicki, in: Sprawy
NarodowoSciowe, no. 4-5 (1932); Bartis, in: Zion. 32 (1967), 46-75; A.
Tartakower, Megillat ha-Hityashevut (1958); Kh. Schmeruk, Ha-Kib-
butz ha-Yehudi ve-ha-Hityashevut ha-Hakla’it be-Byelorusyah ha-
Sovyetit 1918-32 (1961); Hakla’im Yehudim be-Arvot Rusyah (1965).
UNITED STATES: H.J. Levine and B. Miller, American Jewish Farmer
in Changing Times (1966); E. Lifshutz, in: AJHSQ, 56 (1966), 151-62.
CANADA: Belkin, in: A.D. Hart (ed.), Jew in Canada (1926); Sack,
501
AGRIGENTO
ibid.; A. Rhinewine, Looking Back a Century (1932); L. Rosenberg,
Agriculture in Western Canada (1932); idem, Canada’s Jews (1939);
A.A. Chiel, Jewish Experiences in Early Manitoba (1955); idem, Jews
in Manitoba (1961).
AGRIGENTO (Girgenti), town in Sicily. The Jewish com-
munity of Agrigento dates to classical antiquity, as attested
by a tombstone found there, perhaps of the fifth century. In
598, during the pontificate of *Gregory the Great, a number
of Jews were converted to Christianity. The community con-
tinued to exist throughout the period of Muslim domination
and Girgenti is mentioned in a letter from the Cairo *Genizah
c. 1060. The Jewish community is recorded in 1254 when the
revenues from the Jews were taxed in favor of the church.
*Faraj da Agrigento was one of the most active translators
employed by Charles of Anjou in Naples. In 1397 the Jews of
Agrigento had to equip a force of 200 foot soldiers for one of
King Martin 1 of Aragon’s military expeditions. In 1426 the
citizens of Agrigento petitioned unsuccessfully for royal per-
mission to enforce anti-Jewish measures. In 1476 King John 11
ordered that the money bequeathed by Solomon Anello to
promote Hebrew learning in Agrigento be given instead to
Guglielmo Raimondo Moncada (alias Flavius Mithridates),
a Sicilian Jewish convert to Christianity. Among the reasons
cited was the accusation that Jewish schools in the city taught
calumnies against the Christian faith, alluding to the spread
of a certain Hebrew book among Sicilian Jews. This book is
thought to have been Toledot Yeshu (“The Life of Jesus”), a me-
dieval pseudo-history of the life of Jesus. Anellos heirs con-
tested the decision but in the end the school was closed down
and the revenues were assigned to Moncada. In 1477 a com-
promise was reached and the Jews of Agrigento were ordered
to provide Moncada a house in Palermo instead of the school
building in their city. That same year the heirs of Solomon
Anello finally succeeded in repossessing some of the books
and estate. At the time of the expulsion of the Jews from ter-
ritory under Spanish rule in 1492 the municipal treasurer was
imprisoned for speculation at Jewish expense.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Di Giovanni, L’ebraismo della Sicilia
(1748), 289-98; B. and G. Lagumina, Codice diplomatico dei giudei
di Sicilia, 1 (1884), 6, 21, 182, 388; 2 (1895), 184; 3 (1909), 116; Roth,
Italy, index; Milano, Italia, index; C. Roth, in: JQr, 47 (1956/57),
329-30 (= idem, Gleanings (1967), 74-75). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
S. Simonsohn, “Some Well-Known Jewish Converts during the Re-
naissance,” REJ, 148 (1989), 17-52; idem, The Jews in Sicily, 6 vols.
(1997-2004); H. Bresc, Arabes de langue, juifs de religion. Lévolution
du judaisme sicilien dans lenvironment latin, x11°-xV¢ siécles (2001).
[Cecil Roth / Nadia Zeldes (24 ed.)]
AGRIPPA I (10 B.c.£.-44 C.E.), tetrarch of Batanea (the
Bashan) and Galilee, 37-41 c.£., and king of Judea, 41-44 C.E.;
grandson of *Herod and *Mariamne the Hasmonean, and son
of *Aristobulus and *Berenice. Agrippa was educated in Rome
with other princes at court, and became friendly with Dru-
sus, son of the emperor Tiberius. After a period of dissipation
502
B.C.E
Achum baie a Mariamne @) Herod Salome
Augustus
Caesar
CE Aristobulus Berenice
Tiberius 14
Caligula 37 Herod
7 Agrippa | Cypros Aristobulus
Caludius 41 of Chalcis Ae
he became saddled with debts, and in 23 c.£. had to return
home and he stayed on the family estates in Idumea. He was
subsequently appointed agoranomos (“market overseer”) in
Tiberias by his brother-in-law, the tetrarch Herod “Antipas.
After a quarrel with Antipas, he went to Syria, where he again
became involved in debts, and to escape from his creditors
went to Rome where he became friendly with Gaius, later the
emperor Caligula. While drunk, however, he was caught off
guard expressing a wish that Caligula were emperor instead
of Tiberius, and was sent to prison for his indiscretion. Cal-
igula on his accession released Agrippa and appointed him to
the tetrarchies of *Herod Phillipus and Lysanias consisting of
Bashan-Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Argob, and Abel, with the title
of king. In 39 c.z. he was granted the tetrarchy of Herod Anti-
pas, who had been exiled by Caligula, consisting of Galilee, Ti-
berias, Sepphoris, and Perea. During this period Agrippa used
his connections in Rome to intercede with Caligula on behalf
of the Jews. They wished Caligula to retract an order to erect
his statue in the Temple in Jerusalem. Shortly afterward Cal-
igula was murdered. Agrippa, who was in Rome at the time,
was among those who supported the succession of Claudius.
He was rewarded in 41 c.£. by the addition of Samaria and
Judea to the area under his rule. The event was celebrated with
great ceremony, and an official covenant of friendship was
concluded between Agrippa and Claudius, the deed of the
covenant being placed in the Capitol. With the acquisition of
these territories, Agrippa now reigned over the whole area of
his grandfather Herod’s kingdom and the procuratorship of
Judea was temporarily suspended.
There was little to differentiate Agrippa’s foreign policy
as a client king of Rome from that of other Hellenistic mon-
archs. Agrippa gave financial help to foreign cities, and built
several public buildings, including a theater and amphitheater
in Berytus (Beirut). Because of his connections with Rome,
Agrippa was regarded as the leading vassal king of the East,
and once managed to bring several other kings together in
Tiberias. The meeting was broken up by Marsus, the gover-
nor of Syria, possibly because he suspected a conspiracy with
the king of Parthia.
The three years of Agrippa’s reign were a period of relief
and benefit for the Jewish people of Judea. The residents of
Jerusalem were exempted from the impost on houses. Agrippa
also made an attempt to fortify the walls of the city, until pre-
vented by Marsus. He omitted the patronymic “Herod” from
coins minted for him and followed a markedly pro-Jewish pol-
icy when he was required to arbitrate disputes between Jews
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
and non-Jews, as in a dispute with the citizens of Dor (Dora).
He was also mindful of the welfare of Jews in the Diaspora. His
most important achievement was the attainment of an edict of
privileges for the Jews of Alexandria from Claudius.
Agrippa made frequent changes in the appointment of
the high priest. He was highly sympathetic to the *Pharisees
and was careful to observe Jewish precepts. He married his
daughters to Jewish notables, and withdrew his consent to the
wedding of one daughter to Antiochus, king of Commagene,
when the latter refused to be circumcised. His close associa-
tion with the Pharisees is attested in the statement of Josephus
that “his permanent residence was Jerusalem, where he en-
joyed living, and he scrupulously observed the ancestral laws.”
Apparently, it is Agrippa 1 who is referred to in the Mishnah
which points out that when celebrating the festival of the first
fruits, “even King Agrippa carried the basket [of fruits] on his
shoulder” (Bik. 3:4). He is also apparently mentioned in Sotah
7:8 which states that contemporary rabbinical sages accorded
him particular regard when he made a special point of stand-
ing up to read the Torah, even though it was permissible for
a king to do so while seated. When he reached the passage,
“one from among thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee;
thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee,’ his eyes filled with
tears, since he was not of pure Jewish descent. The sages, how-
ever, called out, “Agrippa, you are our brother! You are our
brother!” Agrippa died suddenly when in Caesarea, possibly
as a result of poisoning by the Romans who feared his popu-
larity with the population. After his death, Judea reverted to
the status of a Roman procuratorship.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Wars, 1:552; 2:178—83; 11:206-20; Ant.,
18:142-204, 228-55, 289-301; 19:278—361; Sehuerer, Gesch, 1 (1901*),
549-64; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 4 (19507), 287-305; Dubnow, Hist, 1
(1967), 728-57.
[Edna Elazary]
AGRIPPA II (Marcus Julius or Herod Agrippa 11; 28-
92 C.E.), last king of the Herodian line; son of Agrippa r. Like
his father he was educated in Rome and he was there when he
learnt of his father’s death. The emperor Claudius refused to
let him succeed on account of his youth. His uncle, *Herod 11
of Chalcis, died in the year 48 and Agrippa received this small
kingdom two years later. Agrippa’s coins indicate that he reck-
oned his reign from the year 50. During his reign he was ac-
corded the title “king” although at no time was he king of
Judea as his father had been. Claudius entrusted to him the su-
pervision of the Temple in Jerusalem and gave him the right to
appoint the high priest. In 54 his rule over Chalcis was brought
to an end; he was compensated with the tetrarchy of Lysanias
which consisted of Bashan-Trachonitis and Gaulanitis and
with the administration of the province of Varus. From then
on he was one of the most important rulers in the eastern part
of the Roman Empire. During Nero’s reign his borders were
extended once again. In 61 he received parts of Galilee includ-
ing Tiberias and two towns in Transjordan. The dates of these
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGRIPPA, CAIUS JULIUS
B.C.E
; Mariamne @p Herod Salome
Actium battle 31
Augustus
Caesar
CE Aristobulus (Berenice
Tiberius 14
Caligula 37 3 Herod
Caludius 4 Agrippa | @® Cypros of Chalcis
Nero 54
Vespasian 69 Herod
Titus 71 Aprippa II
events are recorded on the king’s coins, which, in his non-Jew-
ish territories, bore his likeness. At the Jewish revolt against
Rome in 66, Agrippa was in Alexandria. He hurried back to
Jerusalem to try to convince the people of their helplessness
against the power of Rome. His mission failed and he sup-
ported Rome in the war that ensued. He fought in Vespasian’s
campaign and was slightly wounded in an engagement near
Gamaala. In 68, on receiving the news of Nero’s death, he set
sail with Titus for Rome. On the way they heard of the murder
of the new emperor Galba. Titus immediately returned to his
father while Agrippa journeyed on to Rome. When Vespasian
was proclaimed emperor, he sent word to Agrippa, who left
Rome furtively and offered his services to the new emperor.
Vespasian granted him new estates which appear to have been
in the north. Agrippa’s kingdom was populated mostly by non-
Jews, but his attitude toward Judaism was different from that
of his forefathers. At least while he was in Judea he showed a
superficial respect for Jewish religious practices; some schol-
ars even claim that he was the Agrippa whose attachment to
Judaism was praised by the rabbis. According to the New Tes-
tament he showed an indifferent attitude toward the spread of
Christianity (Acts 25-26). His promotion of Hellenistic culture
is attested by a number of inscriptions. There were rumors that
Agrippa had incestuous relations with his sister *Berenice (cf.
Juvenal, Satires, 6:156), but this may have been merely Roman
gossip based on the fact that Berenice lived for some years in
her brother's house.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (1904*); A.H.M. Jones, The
Herods of Judaea (1938), 217-22, 231-5, 237-42, 249-59, passim.
[Abraham Schalit]
AGRIPPA, CAIUS JULIUS, governor of the Roman prov-
ince of Asia (late first century c.£.). Agrippa’s father, a King
Alexander, is possibly the Alexander referred to by Josephus
(Ant., 18:139 ff.) as a great-grandson of Herod and Mariamne.
This Alexander married Jotape, daughter of Antiochus of
Commagene, and was appointed king of Cetis(?) (notodoc,
amended by A. Wilhelm (Archaeologisch-Epigraphische Mit-
theilungen..., 17 (1894), 5) into knttdoc) in Cilicia by Vespa-
sian. His offspring, apparently including Agrippa, “abandoned
from birth the observance of Judaism and adopted the Greek
way of life” (Greek inscriptions in the British Museum, 3,
sect. 2,187).
503
AGRIPPA, MARCUS VIPSANIUS
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Curtius (T. Mommsen), in: Hermes, 4
(Ger., 1870), 190; Schuerer. Gesch, 1 (1901°), 561, n. 41.
[Isaiah Gafni]
°AGRIPPA, MARCUS VIPSANIUS (63-12 B.c.£.), Roman
general and statesman, devoted friend and son-in-law of the
emperor Augustus. Agrippa was appointed governor of the
eastern provinces, which he ruled (until 21 B.c.£.) from Myt-
ilene, on the island of Lesbos. During his stay there, Agrippa
was visited by Herod; this was the beginning of a long friend-
ship between the two men. Agrippa was eventually named
heir to Augustus. When Agrippa returned to Asia Minor in
16 B.C.E., Herod invited him to visit his kingdom, and the next
year the Roman general was received with great enthusiasm in
Jerusalem. In the spring of 14 B.c.£. Herod, who was in com-
mand of a fleet, offered assistance to Agrippa in his planned
expedition to the Bosphorus. This expedition did not take
place, however, and instead the two allies traveled together
through a great part of Asia Minor. When, in the course of this
journey, the Jews of Ionia complained to Agrippa regarding
an attempt by the Greeks to infringe their civic and religious
rights, the Roman regent, probably under Herod's influence,
upheld them. Their relationship was summed up by Josephus:
“He [Herod] stood in Caesar's affection next after Agrippa,
and in Agrippa’s, next after Caesar.’ In 13 B.c.£. Herod sent
his son Antipater to Rome, entrusting him to Agrippa so that
he might gain Caesar's friendship. The following year, how-
ever, Agrippa died.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Wars, 1:400, 416; Jos., Ant., 12:125-7;
15:318, 350-61; 16:12-62, 86, 141, 157, 167-73; 17:229; Philo, De Legatione
ad Gaium, 291; Schuerer, Gesch, index; M. Reinhold, Marcus Agrippa
(Eng., 1933); Pauly-Wissowa, 24 series, 16 (1961), 1226-75.
[Isaiah Gafni]
AGRIPPINA, station in the line of beacons kindled during
the period of the Second Temple, northward from the Mount
of Olives to announce the time for reciting blessings during
the *New Moon period: “... from Sarteba to Agrippina and
from Agrippina to Hauran...” (RH 2:4). Gropina, the usual
reading found in the Mishnah, is a corruption of the name.
It is probable that Agrippina was included in the network of
fortifications erected by Josephus in 66-67 c.£. Dalman sug-
gested identifying Agrippina with the ruins of Kawkab al-
Hawa’ (now Kokhav ha- Yarden, the Crusader Belvoir) in the
Beth-Shean district, 975 ft. (297 m.) high. Impressive ruins
of the Crusader castle of Belvoir, built in the 12" century by
the order of Knights Hospitallers and captured by Saladin in
1189, have been restored by the Israel Parks Authority. Stones
used for the construction of the fortress were taken from vari-
ous sources, including dismantled ancient buildings from the
Byzantine period. One of these stones probably came from a
synagogue and it has a carved depiction of a seven-branched
menorah between two arches (aediculae) and an Aramaic
dedicatory inscription.
504
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Conder-Kitchener, 2 (1882), 117; Dalman, in
PJB, 18-19 (1923), 43ff.; Avi- Yonah, in: 1-EJ. 3 (1953), 95; J. Schwartz,
Tevuot ha-Arez (1900°). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Tsafrir, L. Di
Segni, and J. Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea - Palaestina. Maps
and Gazetteer. (1994), 168-69.
[Michael Avi- Yonah / Shimon Gibson (2"4 ed.)]
AGRON (Agronsky), GERSHON (1894-1959), Israeli jour-
nalist and mayor of Jerusalem. Agron was born in Mena,
Ukraine, and was brought to the United States as a child. Dur-
ing World War 1 he served with the *Jewish Legion in Pales-
tine. In 1920-21 he was employed by the Zionist Commission
press bureau. From 1921 to 1924 Agron was editor of the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency and correspondent for international press
agencies, for the London Times, and for the Manchester Guard-
ian. In 1932 he founded the English-language daily Palestine
Post (from 1950 The *Jerusalem Post), which served to convey
Zionist aspirations to the British in Palestine and provided the
local population with news from outside Palestine, especially
from the Middle East. An emissary for the Zionist Organiza-
tion on several occasions, Agron was a member of the Jewish
Agency delegation to the uN conference at San Francisco in
1945. He was director of the Israel Government Information
Services from 1949 to 1951. As mayor of Jerusalem from 1955
to 1959, Agron was instrumental in the expansion and devel-
opment of the new city. His diaries and letters appear in Asir
ha-Neemanut (“Prisoner of Trustworthiness,” 1964), published
by S. Shapiro.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tidhar, 2 (1947), 960f.; H.M. Sachar, Aliyah:
The Peoples of Israel (1961), 39-70.
[Semah Cecil Hyman]
AGUD(D)AT HA-SOZYALISTIM HA-IVRIM (“Hebrew
Socialist Union’), first Jewish socialist workers’ organization;
founded in London, England, functioning from May to De-
cember 1876. Its 38 members were workers, mainly tailors and
cabinetmakers, mostly from Russia. The leading founder and
secretary of the union was A.S. *Liebermann. His closest as-
sociate was V. Smirnov, secretary of the revolutionary Russian
periodical Vpered (“Forward”). Lazarus Goldenberg was an
active member. The minutes book was written in Yiddish, the
statutes also in Hebrew. The aim of the Union was to spread
socialist ideas among Jewish workers, to organize them to
fight “oppressors,” and to establish contact with other work-
ers’ organizations. The Union’s attempts to establish Jewish
trade unions failed. Some of its members with cosmopolitan
leanings questioned the existence of the Union as a specifi-
cally Jewish organization, while others, such as Liebermann
and L. Weiner, from the socialist circles of Vilna, believed in
the right of Jewish workers to appear as Jews independently.
In their opinion, the purpose of the London Union was to en-
courage similar organizations in all the Diaspora. The Union
met with opposition from the leaders of the London Jewish
community, and the Jewish Chronicle even accused it of mis-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
sionary intent. This pressure and internal dissension led to its
dissolution. Some of its members later became active in the
Jewish workers’ movement in England.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Tcherikower, in: y1vo, Historishe Shriftn,
(1929), 468-594; L. Gartner, Jewish Immigrant in England (1960),
103-6; Sapir, in: International Review of Social History, 10, pt. 3 (1935);
1-17; Elman, in: JHSET, 17 (1951-52), 57-58, passim; Mishkinsky, in:
Journal of World History, 11, nos. 1-2 (1968), 284-6. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: G. Alderman, Modern British Jewry (1992), 169-72.
[Moshe Mishkinsky]
AGUDAT ISRAEL (Heb. ?x1w” NAN; “Union” or “Associa-
tion” of Israel), world Jewish movement and political party
seeking to preserve *Orthodoxy by adherence to *halakhah
as the principle governing Jewish life and society. The ideal
on which Jewish life should be modeled, in the view of Agu-
dat Israel, is embodied in the social and religious institutions,
the way of life and mores, that obtained in the Diaspora cen-
ters in Eastern and Central Europe in the 19" century. Its geo-
graphical and linguistic orientation made it automatically a
purely Ashkenazi movement. The formation of an organized
movement and political party to achieve these aims was itself
an innovation. It was deemed necessary to present a viable
counterforce to the advances made by assimilation and *Re-
form trends, and by *Zionism, the *Bund, and autonomism
in Jewry. The establishment of a movement was discussed
in 1909 by members of the German *neo-Orthodox group,
but internal dissension in the Orthodox camp delayed it for
three years. The final impetus was given when the tenth Zionist
Congress decided to include cultural activities in its pro-
gram, thereby recognizing a secular Jewish culture coexistent
with the religious. Some members of the *Mizrachi party left
the Zionist movement and joined the founders of Agudat
Israel in an assembly held in May 1912 at Kattowitz in Up-
per Silesia.
Agudat Israel was constituted of three groups reflecting
German neo-Orthodoxy, Hungarian Orthodoxy, and the Or-
thodox Jewries in Poland and Lithuania. These differed in po-
litical and social outlook, and in their opinions on cultural and
organizational matters. A major divergence was the attitude
to general European culture, society, and mores, which Ger-
man Orthodoxy accepted. They also disagreed about whether
to remain part of the main Jewish communal unit or to form
separate Orthodox communities, and whether Jews should
adopt the language of the state or adhere to *Yiddish. Their
attitude toward Zionism was also a moot point.
Branches of Agudat Israel were established throughout
the Ashkenazi world. Later it developed a youth movement
(Ze’irei Agudat Israel) and a women’s movement (Neshei
Agudat Israel) in several countries. In Germany the “Ezra”
youth movement was affiliated with it. The labor movement
that formed within Agudat Israel separated from the parent
body after disagreement on national, social, and religious is-
sues (see *Po’alei Agudat Israel).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUDAT ISRAEL
Within its ranks, Agudat Israel presented a spectrum of
the attitudes which had influenced its creation. Particularly
acute was the question of secular education. Some of the ini-
tiators of the Kattowitz conference tried to achieve a synthesis
by formulating the principle: “The East shall give of its Torah
learning to the West, and the West of its culture to the East,”
Western culture referring to the Western European, German-
style, middle class type. This program was contested sharply
by the Eastern European sector of Agudat Israel, who claimed
that the only plausible basis for unity was maintenance of the
status quo; each group should retain its way of life without
change. This solution was contained in 18 clauses presented
by Hayyim *Soloveichik, rabbi of Brest-Litovsk, as a condi-
tion of the participation of Polish and Lithuanian rabbis in
the movement.
In regard to Zionism, Agudat Israel was created partly by
groups who consistently opposed any attempt to revive Jewish
nationhood in Erez Israel through human agency. This they
compared with a rebellious attempt by a disbanded regiment
to resume its identity and hoist its banner without the ex-
press permission of its commander. The secularist elements
in the nascent Hebrew culture added to Agudist resentment
of Zionism. The *zaddikim of Eastern Europe (*Hasidism) re-
garded the influence of Zionism on the youth, and its nega-
tive revolutionary view of Diaspora existence (see *Galut), as
religiously and socially destructive. Agudat Israel, therefore,
maintained an ambivalent attitude toward renewed settlement
in Erez Israel, mainly because of its opposition to the Zionist
movement. The Agudists resented the cooperation of reli-
gious with non-religious Jews within the Zionist movement
on the basis of national unity, and unequivocally resisted the
creation of a secular Jewish society in the Holy Land. Most
Agudists considered that the way of life and culture gradu-
ally taking shape in the modern settlements in Erez Israel,
and propagated by Zionist educational and cultural activities,
were subverting and destroying the only true Jewish way of
life, upheld by religious families and communities in the Di-
aspora. The revival of Hebrew as a secular language seemed a
sacrilege. With regard to sponsoring independent settlement
in Erez Israel, Agudists were already divided at the Kattowitz
conference. Gradually, however, there emerged an opinion
which after the *Holocaust apparently became the ideologi-
cal basis of the organization in Israel. Erez Israel should fig-
ure at the center of their program, which should, according
to the Agudist leader Isaac *Breuer, aim at “uniting all the
people of Israel under the rule of the Torah, in all aspects of
political, economic, and spiritual life of the People of Israel
in the Land of Israel”
The constituents of Agudat Israel were united in their
aim to reestablish the authority of the prominent rabbis as the
supreme institution of Jewry. This was a basic ideal, even if
views were divided on the qualifications for leadership. Ger-
man members considered secular academic qualifications ac-
ceptable, while Eastern European members demanded exclu-
595
AGUDAT ISRAEL
sively rabbinical qualifications. However, the agreement on the
overall objective, to give expression to rabbinical authority on
all matters, was reflected in the structure and central institu-
tions of the new party, providing them with a unique pattern.
The Agudat Israel central institutions as eventually established
are, in order of formal importance:
(1) The Moezet Gedolei ha-Torah (“Council of Torah
Sages”) in 1964 numbered 15 rabbis, all halakhic authorities,
chosen on the basis of preeminence in talmudic learning.
There are no defined criteria whereby its members are ap-
pointed. The number of members of the council is not pre-
determined. The council ensures, at least, in theory, that no
activity will be undertaken by Agudat Israel without the con-
sent of representatives of halakhic authority. The decisions of
the Council of Torah Sages are accepted as legal verdicts, and
the details of their consultations are secret. In 1964 the party
declared officially: “The absolute obedience to the Council of
Torah Sages gave Agudat Israel its specific character; even its
opponents cannot avoid seeing that it is the only movement
obedient absolutely to a supreme spiritual-Torah authority”
(2) Kenesiyyah ha-Gedolah (“Great Assembly”), “the
highest (political) authority of the association,’ is composed
of representatives of the local branches of Agudat Israel. Each
200 members may elect a representative to the Great Assem-
bly. The first two Great Assemblies were held in Vienna in
1923 and 1929.
(3) Central World Council, or Presidium, is elected by
the Great Assembly.
(4) The World Executive Committee. Before World War 11
the strongest numerically and most active politically of the
branches of Agudat Israel was in Poland. This was partly be-
cause of the support given to the movement by the hasidic
zaddikim, in particular by the dynasty of Gur. Its local political
aims and strength were reflected in the Jewish representation
in the Polish Sejm (parliament) and the Agudist achievements
in the elections. In 1919 Agudat Israel presented an indepen-
dent slate, obtaining 92,293 votes, and returning two depu-
ties to the Sejm. In 1922 it joined the “*Minorities bloc” with
the Zionists (see *Gruenbaum, Yizhak), returning six depu-
ties (to the Sejm) and two senators. In 1928 it formed jointly
with the Folkspartei and the merchants’ organization the list
of the “general Jewish national bloc”; this list, affiliated to the
government list, obtained 183,998 votes, but no seat; the sole
Agudat Israel deputy was returned from the government list.
In 1930, on the same affiliation, it obtained 155,403 votes and
one seat; an additional deputy was returned from the govern-
ment list and one senator. In 1935 one deputy was returned
and one appointed by the president of the state; in 1938 two
deputies were returned. From 1933 onward some leaders, in
particular J. Rosenheim in Germany and Harry Goodman in
England, spoke in the name of Agudat Israel on many politi-
cal issues.
The educational activities of Agudat Israel, conducted
in many countries, concerned Orthodox schools and educa-
tional institutions. In Eastern Europe and Erez Israel these
506
were mainly talmud torah institutions and yeshivot. Later, it
maintained the Bet Yaakov network of elementary and high
schools for girls. From 1953 the Agudat Israel party in Israel
supervised schools of the “independent educational network,”
mainly talmud torah schools, which refused to be included
in the general educational state network (see *Israel, Educa-
tion). The educational enterprises of Agudat Israel are sup-
ported by the Keren ha-Torah (“Torah Fund”), founded by
the movement.
After the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany the pol-
icy of Agudat Israel to Zionist settlement in Palestine changed
fundamentally. The third Great Assembly, held at Marienbad
in September 1937, was influenced by the pressure of politi-
cal events in Palestine and the Diaspora. It discussed anew
its attitude toward the eventual creation of a Jewish state and
cooperation with the Zionists. Ideologically the strict stand
prevailed: “A Jewish State can only be founded on the law of
the Torah being recognized according to the Torah. A Jewish
State not founded on and governed by Torah principles... can-
not possibly call itself a Jewish state.” But Agudat Israel took
part in the St. James Palace Conference convened by the Brit-
ish government early in 1939. The Agudists coordinated their
policies there with those of the Zionist Organization.
The numerical strength of Agudat Israel was seriously
impaired by the Holocaust. By the end of World War 11 the
movement in Eastern Europe was all but annihilated. Most of
its members were living in Erez Israel, although some even-
tually immigrated to the United States and Western Europe.
At the meeting of the Central World Council at Marienbad in
August 1947, three centers for the movement were established:
in Jerusalem, New York, and London.
Agudat Israel cooperated with the Zionist Organization
in extending help to Diaspora Jewry. In practice it completely
identified itself with the Zionist demand for the establish-
ment of a Jewish state. Faithful to its basic principles, Agudat
Israel, nevertheless, hesitated to recognize a secular Jewish
state. However, on the strength of assurances given in a let-
ter from the *Jewish Agency in June 1947 that the status quo
in matters of religion would be observed, Agudat Israel was
prepared to join the provisional council of the State of Israel.
The fourth Great Assembly, held in Jerusalem in 1954, slightly
altered the structure of the leadership, adding a World Execu-
tive. The next Great Assembly was also held in Israel in 1964.
By that time Israeli representatives predominated in the Agu-
dat Israel central institutions.
Agudat Israel in Erez Israel
In Erez Israel Agudat Israel was founded in 1912, but was in-
active in public life until July 1919, when it was refounded in
Jerusalem by members of the extreme Orthodox faction who
were fanatically opposed to Zionism.
From 1919 until 1935, under the leadership of Moshe
*Blau, Agudat Israel was completely identified with the ul-
tra-Orthodox community. The principle guiding its activities
was the achievement of complete social and political separa-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
tion from the community organized under the auspices of the
Zionist Movement. Agudat Israel fought bitterly to avoid being
included in the officially recognized framework of the Jewish
population of Palestine (*Keneset Yisrael) and obtained the
right for those who so wished to cease to belong to it. They es-
tablished separate rabbinical institutions, under the leadership
of R. Hayyim Yosef *Sonnenfeld, which operated alongside the
chief rabbinate headed by R. Abraham Isaac *Kook. Under the
leadership of Jacob Israel de Haan (1922-24), Agudat Israel in
Palestine attempted to achieve a modus vivendi with the Arab
nationalists. However, this policy was discontinued after de
Haan’s assassination by the *Haganah, for subversive activi-
ties (1924). The relentless personal attack carried on by Agudat
Israel against Rabbi Kook violently antagonized most of the
growing yishuv. Other Agudist leaders, notably Isaac Breuer
and Pinhas *Kohn, managed through political action with
the British authorities and the *League of Nations to prevent
the unification of the Jewish community in Palestine within a
single organizational framework. They thus obtained official
recognition of the separation of the settlers of the “old yishuv,”
from the Keneset Yisrael, or organized Jewish community, and
the competence of the *Va'ad Le'ummi (“National Council of
the Jews for Palestine”). An attempt made by Agudat Israel to
establish an agricultural settlement, Mahaneh Israel, failed,
mainly through lack of funds.
In 1935 the waves of emigration from Poland and Ger-
many brought with them a different type of Agudat Israel
member, who wanted to integrate economically and, to a cer-
tain extent, even politically into the new yishuv. This brought
about a fundamental change in the structure, aims, and politi-
cal activities of Agudat Israel in Palestine. In February 1935 a
delegation arrived from the movement’s headquarters in Po-
land, which reorganized the Agudat Israel administration in
Palestine and established an agency to deal with matters of
immigration and absorption and to negotiate with outside
bodies. This agency represented immigrants from Poland and
Germany, the members of the Orthodox workers’ organiza-
tion Po’alei Agudat Israel, and members from the old yishuv.
The latter lost its dominance in the party, and the ultra-Or-
thodox community separated from Agudat Israel (see *Neturei
Karta). Even before this, however (in the late 1920s), Agudat
Israel had begun to cooperate with the official yishuv institu-
tions, particularly in the municipalities. This tendency was
now increased, mainly among Poalei Agudat Israel.
The Peel Commission recommendations on the estab-
lishment of a Jewish state in part of Palestine (July 1937) caused
a heated debate in Agudat Israel in Palestine. In principle, all
rejected the idea of a secular Jewish state, but opinions were
divided as to whether, in view of the existing plight of Euro-
pean Jewry, the idea should be rejected entirely, or whether,
should such a state be established, its inhabitants might not
return to the religious fold. Almost all the representatives of
the old yishuv in Agudat Israel rejected the idea of a Jewish
state. The representatives of the immigrants from Germany
were divided in their opinions. The immigrants from Poland
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUDAT ISRAEL
and Po’alei Agudat Israel tended to accept the idea of a Jew-
ish State.
From 1940 to 1947 Agudat Israel cooperated with the na-
tional Jewish institutions, and also had a special committee to
coordinate policies regarding the British authorities. In April
1940, the leader of Agudat Israel in Poland, the hasidic rabbi
of the Gur dynasty (the “Gerer Rebbe”), and his son-in-law,
Yizhak Meir Levin, arrived in Palestine, and a new drive was
launched for active participation in the life of the yishuv. The
influence of the Polish immigrants in Agudat Israel greatly
increased.
When Agudat Israel joined those who demanded a Jew-
ish state, it received representation in the Provisional Council
of State (Moezet ha-Medinah) which signed the Declaration
of Independence.
Agudat Israel became a political party when the State
of Israel was founded in 1948 and has been represented in all
national and municipal bodies. Its leader, Rabbi Y.M. Levin,
was minister of social welfare from 1949 to 1952. In all these
institutions Agudat Israel fought for the observance of the ha-
lakhah in public life. Its principal campaigns have been in the
field of education and, in 1953, after the educational “trends”
were abolished and a unified school system established under
the law of compulsory free education, Agudat Israel organized
an independent school system of its own. It has also achieved
the exemption of “religious” girls and of yeshivah students
from military service.
Immigration after the establishment of the State of Israel
resulted in increased power for the “Hungarian element” in
Agudat Israel, and the “Polish hegemony” was somewhat
weakened. About the time of the establishment of the State,
friction increased between Agudat Israel and Poalei Agudat
Israel; at the elections to the Second Knesset the two parties
submitted separate lists of candidates, and separated com-
Agudat Israel in the Knesset
Votes Percentage Seats
2nd Knesset, 1951 13,999 2.01 3
3rd Knesset, 1955! 39,836 4.67 6
4th Knesset, 1959! 45,559 4.70 6
Sth Knesset, 1961 37,178 3.69 4
6th Knesset, 1965 39,795 3.30 4
7th Knesset, 1969 44,002 3.22 4
8th Knesset, 1973? 60,012 3.80 15
9th Knesset, 1977 58,652 3.30 4
10th Knesset, 1981 72,132 3.73 4
11th Knesset, 1984 36,079 1.70 2
12th Knesset, 1988 102,714 4.50 5
13th Knesset, 19923 86,167 3.30 4
14th Knesset, 19963 98,657 3.30 4
15th Knesset, 19993 125,741 3.70 5
16th Knesset, 20033 133,087 4.30 5
1 Together with Po’alei Agudat Israel in Torah Religious Front.
2 Together with NRP.
3 Together with Degel ha-Torah in Yahadut ha-Torah.
507
AGUDDAT AHIM
pletely in 1960, when Po’alei Agudat Israel joined the gov-
ernment.
In the elections to the First *Knesset in 1949, Agudat
Israel and Poalei Agudat Israel joined with the *Mizrachi and
*Ha-Poel ha-Mizrachi parties to form a “Religious Front.”
This front gained third place in the distribution of seats in the
Knesset. For subsequent elections, see Table: Agudat Israel.
[Menachem Friedman]
In the United States
The world organization attempted to establish an American
branch in 1922 but without success, though it did establish a
youth section. Agudat Israel of America was actually founded
in 1939. It received considerable impetus from the arrival in
the U.S. in 1941 of R. Aaron *Kotler, who was a member of the
supreme rabbinical council of the world organization. He en-
joyed a preeminent position among Orthodox rabbis and was
devoted to the ideal of establishing institutions for exclusively
Orthodox interests. Agudat Israel also drew support from the
well-organized Adath Jeshurun (Breuer) community of Wash-
ington Heights, N.y., which transplanted the traditions of Ger-
man “Austritt-Orthodoxie,’ and from certain hasidic rabbis.
Agudat Israel of America was active in rescue work among the
Jews of Europe during and after World War 11. It opposed the
participation of other Orthodox bodies in roof organizations
which include non-Orthodox elements. It supported federal
aid to parochial education. Agudat Israel has divisions for chil-
dren, girls, and youth, including camps serving thousands of
youngsters. It also has a job training program called CopE, a
job placement division, and a housing program, is an active
lobbyist at all levels of government, and maintains full-time
regional offices, including one in Washington. In 1952 it began
the publication of a monthly Dos Yidishe Vort, and in 1963 of
an English monthly, the Jewish Observer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Agudas Jisroel, Berichte und Materialien
(1912); I. Breuer, 25 Jahre Aguda (1937); idem, Am ha-Torah ha-
Me'urgan (1944); idem, Moriyyah: Yesodot ha-Hinnukh ha-Leummi
ha-Torati (1954”); idem, Le-Kivvun ha-Tenuah (1936); J. Rosenheim,
Agudist World Problems (1941); Y.L. Orlian, La-Seve’im ve-la-Reevim
(19557); N. Krauss (ed.), Ha-Shenaton ha-Dati ha-Enziklopedi (1962),
186-97; L.J. Fein, Politics in Israel (1967), 93-95, 127, 167, 175; M.H. Ber-
nstein, Politics in Israel (1957), 48, 57, 71-74; Jewish People and Pal-
estine: Statement ... to the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry...
(1947); Liebman, in: AJYB, 66 (1965), 21. PUBLICATIONS: Jewish
Observer (New York, 1963- ), monthly; Agudist Information Ser-
vice (London, 1950-56); Beit Yaakov (Tel Aviv, monthly); Ha-Modia
(1950-_ ), daily.
AGUDDAT AHIM (Heb. 0°78 1738; “The Brotherhood”),
assimilationist organization formed in *Galicia in 1880. They
were one of two opposite trends of orientation among Jews
advocating assimilation in Galicia, then under Austrian ad-
ministration and torn by national conflicts. One group, repre-
sented by the Shomer Israel, established in 1869, favored Jew-
ish adoption of German culture; the members of the Aguddat
Ahim were motivated by feelings of Polish patriotism and de-
508
sired to assimilate into Polish social and cultural life. In 1880 a
group of Jewish intelligentsia and students established Agud-
dat Ahim to promote Polish assimilation, and expressed its
views in a new Polish-language newspaper, Ojczyzna (“Home-
land”), edited by Nathan *Loewenstein with Alfred *Nossig
among its first contributors. Aguddat Ahim was active in the
political and journalistic spheres and also among the Jew-
ish youth in schools and universities. By 1884, however, the
hopes that Jews would be accepted in Polish national life were
shaken by an increase in antisemitism among the Poles and
reports of pogroms in Warsaw. The counsel of despair now
voiced in Ojczyzna stated that for Jews the only alternatives
were conversion to Christianity or migration to Erez Israel.
A number of active members of Aguddat Ahim abandoned
all thoughts of assimilation, rallied to *Zionism, and the or-
ganization was dissolved.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N.M. Gelber, Toledot ha-Tenuah ha-Ziyyonit
be-Galizyah (1958), 83-157; I. Schiper, in: A. Tartakower and A. Haff-
tka (eds.), Zydzi w Polsce Odrodzonej, 1 (1932), 393-4; J. Tennenbaum,
Galitsye, Mayn Alte Heym (1952), 72-74.
[Moshe Landau]
AGUILAR, DIEGO D’ (Moses Lopez Pereira; c. 1699-1759),
Marrano financier. D’Aguilar, born in Portugal, where his fa-
ther held the tobacco monopoly, went in 1722 via London to
Vienna, where he reverted to Judaism. In Austria he reorga-
nized the state tobacco monopoly, which he held from 1723 un-
til1739 for an annual payment of seven million florins. In 1726
d’Aguilar was made a baron and subsequently privy council-
lor. He helped to raise large loans for the Imperial treasury -
the amount for 1732 was ten million florins — and advanced the
empress 300,000 florins for rebuilding Schoenbrunn Castle.
D’Aguilar used his influence at court to assist the Jews. In 1742,
in conjunction with Issachar Berush *Eskeles, he succeeded in
preventing the expulsion of the Jews from *Moravia. He was
also at the center of the negotiations to prevent their expul-
sion from *Prague in 1744. He helped the Mantua community
in 1752, organized relief for the Belgrade community after a
destructive fire, and collected funds for Erez Israel. He is said
to have prevented the expulsion of the Jews from Vienna by
contacting the sultan. D’Aguilar founded the “Turkish (i-e.,
Sephardi) congregations in Vienna and *Timisoara.
When the Spanish government asked for his extradition
for trial by the Inquisition as a Judaizer, Aguilar moved in 1757
with his 14 children to London. There he took an active part in
the life of the Sephardi community. His eldest son, EPHRAIM
LOPEZ PEREIRA (1739-1802), second Baron D’Aguilar, was
also active for a time in London Jewish communal life. Later
he became notorious as an eccentric and miser, and propri-
etor of what became known as “Starvation Farm? Another
son, JOSEPH (d. 1774), severed his connection with Judaism,
entered the army, and was progenitor of an important Eng-
lish military family, including General Sir GEORGE CHARLES
(1784-1855), who commanded in the Chinese War (1841-42),
and General Sir CHARLES LAWRENCE (1821-1912).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N.M. Gelber, in: Jsos, 10 (1948), 360-2
(includes bibliography); J. Fraenkel, Jews of Austria (1967), 327-9;
Roth, England, 288-9; J. Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History
(19567), 91-93, 457-8; Ben-Zvi, in: Sefunot, 2 (1958), 192-3; Mevorah,
in: Zion, 28 (1963), 128ff.; S. Simonsohn, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-
Dukkasut Mantovah, 1 (1962), 357-9; idem, in: Sefer Yovel... N.M.
Gelber (1963), 145-9; H. Schnee, Hoffinanz und der moderne Staat, 3
(1955), 247; 4 (1963), 316-7; Hyamson, Sephardim of England (1951°),
index; Roth, Marranos, 308-10; Roth, England, index; N.M. Gelber,
in: REJ, 97 (1934), 115 ff.
[Meir Lamed]
AGUILAR, EMANUEL ABRAHAM (1824-1904), British
pianist and composer. Born in London, he was the brother
of the novelist, Grace *Aguilar. Aguilar received his musical
education at Frankfurt, and his early compositions were per-
formed there with success. In 1848 he gave a concert with the
Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, and then returned to Lon-
don, where he devoted himself to teaching. He gave annual
piano recitals of classical works, especially those of Beethoven.
His own compositions include two operas, three symphonies,
three cantatas, chamber and piano music, and a set of prepara-
tory pieces for Bach’s “Well Tempered Clavier” Aguilar noted
down the melodies of the Amsterdam Sephardi tradition as
sung by David Aaron De *Sola, and arranged the harmoniza-
tions for De Sola’s Ancient Melodies of the Liturgy of the Span-
ish and Portuguese Jews (London, 1857, 1931”).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.-J. Fétis, Biographie universelle des mu-
siciens, 1 (18737), 37-38; Baker, Biog Dict, s.v.; Riemann-Gurlitt, s.v.
[Bathja Bayer]
AGUILAR, GRACE (1816-1847), English author of Portu-
guese Marrano extraction, who wrote a number of novels on
Jewish themes and some religious works addressed primar-
ily to Jewish women. Her first book was a volume of poems,
The Magic Wreath, which she published anonymously when
she was only 19. Her truly creative period, however, began in
1842, and in the five years until her death at the age of 31 her
literary output was remarkable, particularly because at the
same time, although very ill, she was helping her mother run
a private school at Hackney (outside London). Most of Grace
Aguilar’s books were not published until after her death. Her
novel Home Influence (1847), “a tale for mothers and daugh-
ters,” and its sequel, Mother’s Recompense (1851), had consid-
erable success, but it was The Days of Bruce (1852), a romance
set in 14'-century Scotland, that made her famous. The best
known of her Jewish novels was The Vale of Cedars (1850), a
romantic, highly idealized picture of the Marranos in Spain.
Twice translated into German and twice into Hebrew, it long
retained popularity. She also wrote stories and sketches based
on Jewish life and family traditions. In a more serious vein,
she translated from French the apologetic work of the ex-Mar-
rano, *Orobio de Castro, Israel Defended (1838). She herself
wrote The Spirit of Judaism: In Defense of Her Faith and Its
Professors (1842), and The Jewish Faith (1846). The latter took
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUILAR DE CAMPOO
the form of letters addressed to a friend wavering in her reli-
gious conviction. Her Women of Israel (1845) was a series of
biographical sketches of biblical characters, intended to arouse
the pride of young Jews in their heritage. Grace Aguilar was
one of the first English Jews to attempt to write a history of the
Jews in England; it appeared in Chambers’ Miscellany (1847).
She died while on a visit to Germany. Her collected works, in
eight volumes, appeared in 1861. In recent years there has been
a considerable revival of interest in Aguilar, who wrote from
the unusual, marginal position of a female Jewish intellectual
in Victorian Britain. A collection of her selected writings was
published in 2003, edited by Michael Galchinsky.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.S. Isaacs, Young Champion, One Year in
Grace Aguilar’s Girlhood (1933); Abrahams, in: JHSET, 16 (1945-51),
137-48; Jc Supplement (July 27, 1930); E Modder, Jew in the Literature
of England (1939), 182-7; DN B, s.v. S.Aguilar, “Memoir,” prefixed to
Home Influence (1849). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Galchinsky, The
Origins of the Modern Jewish Woman Writer: Romance and Reform
in Victorian England (1996); idem. (ed.), Grace Aguilar: Selected Writ-
ings (2003); ODNB.
[Cecil Roth]
AGUILAR, MOSES RAPHAEL D?’ (d. 1679), Dutch rabbi
and scholar. He went to Brazil from Amsterdam in 1641 with
other members of his family (including his nephew, the mar-
tyr Isaac de *Castro Tartas) and became rabbi-hazzan, prob-
ably in the Magen Avraham congregation of Mauricia (adjoin-
ing Recife). On his return to Amsterdam he opened a private
school, and was subsequently (1659) engaged to fill Manasseh
ben Israel's place in the Etz Hayyim seminary. He wrote some
20 books, but only two were published in his lifetime - a He-
brew grammar for school use (Epitome da Grammatica he-
brayca, Leiden, 1660; Amsterdam, 16617), and Dinim de Sechita
y Bedicd (Amsterdam, 1681). His work on the immortality of
the soul, Tratado da Immortalidade da Alma, was published
by M. de Jong (Coimbra, 1935). The auction catalogue of his
rich library (Amsterdam, 1680) is one of the earliest known
in Jewish bibliography.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Imanuel, in: aja, 14 (1962), 59-61; A. Wiz-
nitzer, Jews in Colonial Brazil (1960), 171; ESN, 22-23; C. Gebhardt,
Uriel da Costa (1922), 250-3.
[Cecil Roth]
AGUILAR DE CAMPOO, fortress-town in Castile, district
of Palencia, northern Spain. The earliest evidence of a Jew-
ish settlement is furnished in the lease of a flour mill in 1187
witnessed by 17 Jews, including two blacksmiths. In the 13th
century it was a medium-sized community, with 15 families
or about 70 Jews. The farming and other revenues in the dis-
tricts were in the hands of Don Caq de la Maleha (*Ibn Zadok)
and his associates. The taxes paid by the Jewish community in
1290 amounted to 10,718 maravedis. In 1311 the Infant Pedro
confirmed the rights of the convent of Santa Maria to tithes
and the dues of porteria paid by the Jews; these were recon-
firmed in 1370, although the Jewish community had been
509
AGUINIS, MARCOS
decimated by English soldiery during the civil war in 1367.
The community in Aguilar apparently continued to exist un-
til the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Over one of
the gates of the city, Puerta de Reinosa, there is a long inscrip-
tion in Judeo-Castilian (i-e., Spanish in Hebrew characters,
almost unique among the Spanish Jewish inscriptions) testi-
fying that the tower was constructed by Don Cag (Isaac) son
of Solomon ibn Malak(e) and his wife Bellida in 1380. The in-
scription is unique from the historical and linguistic points of
view. Fourteenth-century documents speak of the location of
the Jewish quarter. It seems very likely that the juderia was in
what is now known as Tobalina Street. A new Jewish quarter
was established towards the end of the 15th century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, 2 (1936), index; I. Huidobro
and Cantera, in: Sefarad, 14 (1954), 335-52; L. Huidobro Serna, Breve
historia y descripcion de la muy leal villa de Aguilar (1954); Cantera-
Millas, Inscripciones, 329-31; P. Leén Tello, Los judios de Palencia
(1966); L. Suarez Fernandez, Documents acerca de la expulsion de los
judios (1964), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Ruiz, La Cascajera,
no. 6 (Oct. 1982), 24, 29.
AGUINIS, MARCOS (1935-_), Argentinean writer. Born in
Cordoba, Argentina, Aguinis received a Ph.D. in neurosur-
gery, studied psychoanalysis, and worked as a therapist while
devoting himself to literature. Following the democratization
process in Argentina (1983), Aguinis became a highly regarded
intellectual engaged in public affairs as well as in the local Jew-
ish community. During the first government after the military
regime, he was elected undersecretary of culture; two years
later he was appointed personal counselor to President Al-
fonsin, with a rank equivalent to undersecretary of state. For
many years Aguinis was also a councilor in the *DaIA.
Aguinis’ books deal with Jewish themes: Crypto Jews,
the Holocaust, antisemitism, Christianity, and the struggle
for democracy and cultural pluralism in Argentina. His most
famous historical novel, La Gesta del Marrano (1992), deals
with Francisco Maldonado de Silva, a Converso physician who
lived in Concepcién (Chile) and was burned at the stake in
Lima in 1639. The book was conceived as a paean on freedom,
reaching a broad audience because it dealt with the common
fate of Jews, converts, blacks, and indigenous people in the
Spanish Catholic Colonial America.
Drawing on historical events of the Nazi era, the novel
La matriz del infierno (1997) ranges from the rise of National
Socialism in Germany to the nationalist and authoritarian
political culture of Argentina during the 1930s. It emphasizes
the cultural and spiritual contradiction between Nazism and
the Jewish outlook as well as the attitude of the Christian
Church to the Holocaust. While in his early novel La Cruz In-
vertida (1970) Aguinis contrasted sharply the position of the
progressive priests affiliated to the Latin American liberation
theology movement and the conservatism of the Church hi-
erarchy, in La matriz del infierno almost all the Argentinean
priests are silent about Hitler’s crimes. This novel contributed
to the critical debate among Christians and members of other
510
creeds on the hypocrisy and contradictory attitude of the ec-
clesiastic hierarchy.
Aguinis’ later novel Los Iluminados (2000) deals with
globalization and U.S. fundamentalist groups and their con-
nection to international drug trafficking.
Other literary works of Aguinis deal with central con-
temporary issues in Latin America, such as the problem of
violence and Argentine authoritarianism. La conspiracion de
los idiotas (1979) is an incisive criticism of the Argentinean
military mind and its obsession with conspiracy theories.
Written towards the end of the last military dictatorship, it
tells the story of an allegedly subversive colony of handi-
capped and Downs Syndrome patients, alluding to the para-
noid prejudices of the authoritarian figure who believes in
imaginary enemies.
Aguinis wrote two courageous letters addressed to an
unnamed general in essay form: Carta esperanzada a un
General (1983) after the Falkland War and Nueva carta es-
peranzada a un General (1996). Both books analyze the cir-
cumstances in which Argentineans made their transition to
democracy. Among other books that focused on Argentina’s
plight are Cantata de los diablos (1972), Un pais de novela.
Viaje hacia la mentalidad de los argentinos (1988), and Elogio
de la culpa (1993).
Aguinis’ fiction and essays attempt to demythologize
history and memory; surprisingly his first novel, Refugiados
(1969), conceived before the Six-Day War, gave early and keen
insight into the Israel-Palestine conflict; on the other hand,
the characters of his short stories collected in Operativo Siesta
(1978) and Importancia por contacto (1983) move through bib-
lical tales and Jewish history in search of identity.
Aguinis fiction and essays, based primarily on ideas, ad-
dress a broad audience by exploring the emotions, sensibilities,
and behavior of Jews and non-Jews alike. In many cases, the
most compelling characters in his literary oeuvre symbolize
the plight of Argentina and of the Jews in its midst.
[Leonardo Senkman (2"¢ ed.)]
AGUNAH (Heb. 1313Y; lit. “tied,” cf. Ruth 1:13), married
woman who for whatsoever reason is separated from her
husband and cannot remarry, either because she cannot obtain
a divorce from him (see *Divorce), or because it is unknown
whether he is still alive. The term is also applied to a yevamah
(“a levirate widow”; see *Levirate Marriage), if she cannot ob-
tain halizah from the levir or if it is unknown whether he is
still alive (Git. 26b, 33a; Yev. 94a; and Posekim). The problem
of the agunah is one of the most complex in halakhic discus-
sions and is treated in great detail in halakhic literature (no
less than six volumes of Ozar ha-Posekim are devoted to it -
see bibliography).
Essence of the Problem
The halakhah prescribes that a marriage can only be dissolved
by divorce or the death of either spouse. According to Jewish
law, divorce is effected not by decree of the court, but by the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
parties themselves, i-e., by the husband's delivery of a get (“bill
of divorce”) to his wife (see *Divorce). Hence the absence of
the husband or his willful refusal to deliver the get precludes
any possibility of a divorce. Similarly the mere disappearance
of the husband, where there is no proof of his death, is not suf-
ficient for a declaration by the court to the effect that a wife
is a widow and her marriage thus dissolved. The husband, on
the other hand, is unaffected by aginut, i.e., by his wife's refusal
to accept the get or her disappearance without trace, since in
such a case under certain conditions the law affords him the
possibility of receiving hetter nissu’in (“permission to contract
an additional marriage”; see *Bigamy). In most cases of agunot
the question is whether or not the husband is still alive. Such
cases result, for instance, from uncertainty about the husband's
fate caused by conditions of war or persecution - particularly
in recent times as a result of the Nazi Holocaust, but the prob-
lem can also arise, for example, if the husband suffers from
chronic mental illness making him legally incapable of giving
a get or simply if he willfully refuses to do so.
Rabbinical scholars have permitted many relaxations in
the general laws of evidence in order to relieve the hardships
suffered by the agunah. On the other hand great care was al-
ways taken to avoid the risk that permission may inadvertently
be given for a married woman to contract a second marriage
that would be adulterous and result in any children from such
a second marriage being mamzerim (see *Mamzer). Achieving
both these ends, i.e., to enable the agunah to remarry while
ensuring that an adulterous union does not result, is the object
of intensive discussion in the laws of the agunah.
Mode of Proof (of the Husband’s Death)
It is a basic rule of halakhah that facts are to be determined
on the testimony of two witnesses (see *Evidence). However,
the Mishnah already attributes to R. Gamaliel the Elder the
takkanah that when a husband is missing because of war, and
his fate is unknown, the wife may be permitted to remarry on
the testimony of only one witness to his death (Yev. 16:7). Al-
though somewhat later R. Eliezer and R. Joshua disagreed with
this ruling, at the time of R. Gamaliel of Jabneh it was again
determined (ibid.) not only that one witness was sufficient but
also that hearsay evidence might be admitted, as well as the ev-
idence of a woman, a slave, a handmaiden, or a relative (which
classes were otherwise legally incompetent as witnesses). The
legal explanation given for these far-reaching rules is that it is
to be presumed that a person will not give false testimony on
a matter which is likely to come to light, since the husband, if
still alive, will undoubtedly reappear sooner or later (Yev. 93b;
Maim., Yad, Gerushin 12:15). Moreover, it may be assumed that
the wife herself will endeavor to make sure of her husband’s
death before remarrying, since she will become prohibited
to both men if it later transpires that her first husband is still
alive, and her other rights, especially pecuniary ones, will be
affected too (v. infra; Yev. 87b; Sh. Ar., EH 17:3, 56). Another
reason given is that a relaxation of the law is appropriate in
times of danger, the possibility that a woman may remain an
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUNAH
agunah being deemed to be such a time of danger (Yev. 88a,
122a and Rashi ibid.; see also * Takkanot).
An agunah may also be permitted to remarry on the
strength of her testimony alone as to her husband's death,
when she is known to have lived in harmony with her first
husband and his absence is not due to war conditions, for the
reason, already mentioned, that certainly she has made care-
ful inquiries herself before seeking to contract another mar-
riage (Yev. 93b, 114b-116, and Posekim). On the other hand,
five categories of women are incompetent to testify as to the
husband’s death, including his mother and his daughter by
another marriage, since it is feared, in view of their custom-
ary hatred of the wife, that they are likely to deliver false evi-
dence, so that she should remarry and thus become prohib-
ited to her first husband if it should later transpire that he is
still alive (Yev. 117a and Posekim).
Similarly, an agunah may be relieved of her disability on
the unsolicited statement of an apostate Jew (see *Apostasy) or
a non-Jew, as to her husband’s death; for instance, if during a
casual conversation they happened to say, “it is a pity that so
and so is dead, he was a fine man,” or, “as we were walking to-
gether, he suddenly dropped dead,” or the like (Yev. 121b-122a;
Maim.; ibid. 13:11; Sh. Ar., EH 17:14). For the purpose of permit-
ting an agunah to remarry it is sufficient if written documents
exist that testify to the husband’s death (Sh. Ar., EH 17:11). The
halakhah originally considered documents emanating from
non-Jewish authorities as insufficient to permit an agunah to
remarry (Maim., Yad, Gerushin 13:28; Sh. Ar, EH 17:14), but
according to the opinion of most posekim, this halakhah does
not apply to present-day non-Jewish authorities, whose docu-
ments, such as death certificates, etc., may be relied on (see,
e.g., Hatam Sofer, responsa EH 1:43).
Subject-Matter of the Proof
The halakhah, while striving to be lenient as possible in the
method of proving the husband’s death, imposes strict require-
ments concerning the nature of the evidence with regard to
the husband’s death, lest a woman still married may thus be
permitted to marry another man (Maim. ibid. 15: Sh. Ar., EH
17:29). The identity must be established of the person whose
death it is sought to determine and there exist most detailed
rules in order to establish it with the maximum amount of cer-
tainty under the circumstances. Thus evidence as to circum-
stances from which death would be likely to result in a major-
ity of cases is not considered as sufficient proof of death itself
since it may be merely the opinion of the witness that the hus-
band is dead, but not testimony as to the fact of death. Hence,
the wife will not be permitted to remarry on the strength of
evidence to the effect that her husband was seen to fall into the
sea and drown in “water having no end” (i-e., where one can
see only the sea but not its surroundings) when his death was
not actually seen to have taken place, since he may have been
rescued. If, however, the witness testifies that he was later pres-
ent at the funeral of the husband or some other clear evidence
of death, for example, that an identifiable limb was found at
511
AGUNAH
the place of drowning, it is accepted as evidence of death. On
the other hand the death of the husband will be accepted as
having been sufficiently proved and the agunah will be per-
mitted to remarry on the strength thereof if there is evidence
that he drowned in water “having an end” (i.e., that one can
see its surroundings); and the witness stayed long enough at
the scene “for the victim's life to depart,’ without seeing him
rise to the surface (Yev. 120-121; Maim. ibid. 15-27; Sh. Ar.
EH 17-42, esp. 32).
Agunah in the Case of a Civil Marriage
A deserted wife who, practically speaking, has no prospects
of obtaining a get from her husband, but was married in a
civil ceremony only (see Civil *Marriage), may in certain cir-
cumstances be declared by the court to have never entered a
marriage and thus be permitted to marry another man with-
out need of a get from her first husband. The court will reach
this conclusion particularly if the wife is able to prove that her
first husband expressly refused to marry her in a religious cer-
emony, declaring thus by implication that he did not wish to
create the status of a marriage according to Jewish law (Resp.
Melammed Leho’il, EH 20).
Mitzvah to Permit Agunot to Remarry
Finding a way for permitting an agunah to remarry is deemed
a great mitzvah (Responsa Asheri, 51:2). Indeed, an oner-
ous application of the law, without justification, and in cases
where there is no suspicion of deception, is regarded not only
as a failure to perform a mitzvah, but even as a transgression
(Responsa Maimonides, ed. Freiman, 159; Sh. Ar., EH 17:21,
Isserles). However, in view of the danger of legalizing a pos-
sibly adulterous union, it is customary for an agunah to be
permitted to remarry only after consultation with, and con-
sent having been obtained from, other leading scholars (Sh.
Ar. ibid. 34; Isserles and other commentators).
Consequences of Remarriage
An agunah who remarries, after permission is granted by the
court, is generally entitled to the payment of her *ketubbah
(Yev. 116b; 117a; Maim., Yad, Ishut 16:31; Sh. Ar., ibid. 43, 44).
If an agunah remarries after permission has been given, and
then her first husband reappears, her legal position is that
of an eshet ish “a married woman” who has married another
man, thus becoming prohibited to both men (see *Adultery).
Accordingly, she requires a get from both, and any children
born to her of her second husband will be mamzerim accord-
ing to biblical law. Any children born to her from a union
with her first husband, after he takes her back but prior to her
having received a get from her second husband, will also be
mamzeerim, but only according to rabbinical law. In such event
she is not entitled to her ketubbah from either husband (Yev.
87b; Maim., Yad, Gerushin 10:5, 7; Sh. Ar., EH 17:56).
Proposals for Precautions to Avoid a Woman's Becoming
an Agunah
In view of the unhappy straits in which an agunah is likely to
find herself, ways were sought already in early times of taking
512
precautions against such an eventuality. Thus it was custom-
ary for anyone “going to wars of the House of David, to write
a bill of divorce for his wife” (Ket. 9b and Rashi and Tos. ibid.).
This get was a conditional one, i.e., becoming effective only
should the husband not return from war until a specified date,
whereupon the wife would become a divorcee and be entitled
to marry another man without having to undergo a levirate
marriage or Halizah (Sh. Ar., EH 143). In certain countries
this practice is adopted even in present times by those going
to war, but complications may ensue; since the rules and the
consequences of a get of this nature are beset with halakhic
problems (Sh. Ar., ibid.), particularly when the husband is a
kohen, since his wife will be a divorcee if he fails to return by
the specified date, and by law he must not thereafter remarry
her (See *Marriages, Prohibited). One of the solutions sug-
gested was for the husband to grant his wife an unconditional
divorce, save that each promises to remarry the other upon
the husband’s return from war. This, however, would not avail
a kohen for the reasons mentioned. Furthermore, in the event
of the wife’s refusal to keep her promise upon her husband’s
return, the question may arise whether on the strength of
the get she is free to marry another man, because of the rea-
sonable possibility that the husband intended that the get be
conditional, i-e., to be of effect only in the event of his failure
to return from the war (see above). On this question there is
a wide difference of opinion on the part of the authorities
without any unanimity being reached (see S.J. Zevin, in bib-
liography). Another solution proposed, has been the stipula-
tion of a condition at the time of the marriage to the effect that
in certain circumstances the marriage should be considered
retroactively void, for instance if the husband should fail,
without his wife's permission, to return to her after a long
absence of specified duration and should refuse, despite her
demand, to grant her a get; or if he should die childless, leav-
ing a brother who refuses to fulfill the obligations of a levir,
etc. (see, for instance, Hatam Sofer, EH 1:11). This approach
also presents formidable halakhic difficulties and was not
generally accepted by the majority of the posekim (see Frei-
mann, Kahana, and Berkovits, in bibliography). A wife who
is on bad terms with her husband and can prove the likeli-
hood of her becoming an agunah, may possibly obtain an in-
junction from the court restraining her husband from trav-
eling abroad without granting her a conditional get, as men-
tioned above.
It was also sought to avoid the disability of an agunah by
the enactment of a takkanah by halakhic scholars to the effect
that the kiddushin should be deemed annulled retroactively
upon the happening or non-fulfillment of certain specified
conditions, such as the husband being missing or his willful
refusal to grant a get. But this takkanah, based on the rule that
“a man takes a woman under the conditions laid down by the
rabbis... and the rabbis may annul his marriage” (Git. 33a), has
rarely been employed since the 14 century. In recent times it
has been suggested that halakhic scholars should adopt one or
other of these procedures in order to solve certain problems
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
relating to agunah (see Freimann, Silberg (in the court deci-
sion cited in bibliography), and Elon, in bibliography).
In the State of Israel
The question of permitting an agunah to remarry, being a
matter of marriage and divorce, falls under the exclusive ju-
risdiction of the rabbinical courts with regard to Jews who are
nationals or residents of the State, in terms of the Rabbinical
Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law, 5713/1953
(sec. 1), which courts deal with the matter in accordance with
the halakhah. The provisions of the Declaration of Death Law,
5712/1952 (enacted to meet consequences of the Nazi Holo-
caust), empowering the Jerusalem District Court under cer-
tain conditions to make a declaration as to a person’s death,
has no bearing on the problem of an agunah, since “a decla-
ration of death constituting evidence by virtue of this Law,
shall not affect the provisions of law as to the dissolution of
marriage” (see ibid., 17).
[Ben-Zion (Benno) Schereschewsky]
A New Approach
Numerous approaches have been suggested in an effort to find
a suitable solution to the problem of the agunah, based on the
enormous range of materials and sources in which even the
experienced scholar may find it difficult to orient himself.
Discussion of the issue of agunot first appears during the
tannaitic period, but has continued until today. This issue is
a classic example of how the world of halakhah operates: an
interplay of innovation and tradition in legal decisions, the
existence of truths that in one sense are absolute, and in an-
other sense contingent upon exigencies of time and place, and
the fine balance between the law and the judge. Hence, it is
highly instructive as an indicator of the way in which social
and historical realities integrate in the formulation of hala-
khah, underscoring the reflections, doubts, and debates, the
application of far-reaching and far-sighted solutions on the
one hand and the search for direction toward such solutions
on the other.
According to Jewish law, just as the marital bond is cre-
ated by the actions of the two individuals involved, so too
divorce can only be effected by their complementary and re-
ciprocal actions, namely by the husband giving, and the wife
accepting, the get (bill of divorce). And just as kiddushin is a
voluntary act performed by the two spouses, so too the act of
divorce (at least since the herem issued by Rabbenu Gershom
at the end of the tenth century) must be performed voluntarily
by both spouses. Thus, according to halakhah, a couple is not
actually divorced by virtue of the decision of a court that de-
cides on their divorce. When the court (bet din), in response
to irrevocable discord between the couple, rules that they must
divorce, it merely declares that the couple must carry out the
act of divorce, by giving and receiving a get; the decision of
the court itself does not effect the divorce. In other words, the
decision is not constitutive, as it is in most contemporary legal
systems, but rather declarative, informing the couple of their
obligation to divorce.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUNAH
This fundamental difference between divorce in Jewish
law and in other legal systems has certain advantages. For ex-
ample, in Jewish law the divorce can be the product of a mu-
tual agreement, with neither of the spouses being required to
show any grounds for divorce, as was the case in most legal
systems, and as is still the case in some until today. However,
this difference also creates difficulties, as when one of the
couple is not able, in the sense of legal capacity, or not will-
ing, to take part in the giving and receiving of the get: not
able - when one of the spouses suffers from a mental illness
that renders him legally incompetent, or when the husband is
absent (whether voluntarily or not); not willing - when he (or
she) is capable of giving or receiving the get, yet refuses to do
so, whether in order to extort money from the spouse, or to
otherwise abuse her or to take revenge upon her. In all these
instances it is the wife who is worse off, since she becomes an
agunah (a chained woman), unable to remarry so long as the
death of her husband has not been proven (should he have
disappeared), or until he gives her a get (where he is alive,
but is either mentally incapacitated or has refused to give the
get). Should she marry or have sexual relations, any children
born to her will be mamzerim (misbegotten), who are unable
to marry other Jews. These severe consequences do not ensue
in the case of a husband whose wife is unable or unwilling to
accept the get, neither in terms of the status of his children
(born to him from another woman while he is still married)
nor in terms of his potential marriage to another woman. In-
deed, permission may be granted for him to remarry, should
his wife unlawfully refuse to accept the get.
In terms of solutions to the problem of agunot, a dis-
tinction must be drawn between the various circumstances
that can lead to the woman’s becoming an agunah. The cases
in which the husband is missing as a result of war, natural di-
saster, or other similar circumstances, are usually solved by
halakhic authorities and scholars within a reasonable amount
of time. Their solutions are based on the principle that “in
the case of agunot [i.e., in order to prevent a woman from
becoming or remaining an agunah] the Sages were lenient.”
In accordance with this principle, for example, the Sages sig-
nificantly relaxed the level of proof required to ascertain the
husband's death. Testimony that would otherwise be unaccept-
able - whether emanating from a heavenly voice, hearsay, or
the like - could be utilized by the court to free a woman from
the shackles of being an agunah. Relying upon this principle,
all the agunot from Israel’s wars in recent decades were per-
mitted to remarry, as were the wives of the sailors who dis-
appeared when the Israeli submarine Dakar sank without a
trace in 1967, in accordance with a halakhic decision of late
Chief Rabbi Shelomo *Goren. In this latter case, there was
almost no evidence available to indicate the fate of the crew;
nonetheless, within a very short time none of these women
was left an agunah.
ISSUES THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO RESOLVE. Difficulties arise
in regard to those cases where there is no doubt that the hus-
513
AGUNAH
band is alive, but in which he is incapable or refuses to give
the get. Cases in which the husband refuses to give the get, in
order to extort money or take revenge, etc., are both the most
difficult and the most numerous. These problems are par-
ticularly widespread and serious in countries outside Israel,
where there is a legal option for civil marriage and divorce.
A civil court may rule that the couple is divorced, but from
the halakhic perspective, the woman may not remarry unless
her husband gives her a get, and husbands often exploit this
situation in order to extort money or other concessions from
their wives. Again, from the halakhic perspective, there is no
parallel limitation on the husband who wishes to remarry. In
an attempt to solve this problem, a number of solutions have
been proposed. In the United States, for example, proposals
were made for the addition of an appropriate clause in the
standard ketubbah (marriage settlement document), or the
introduction of state legislation which prevents the husband
from marrying another woman so long as he has not removed
any obstacle to the remarriage of his wife, from who he is al-
ready civilly divorced.
The principal method proposed by halakhic authorities
to relieve the problem of agunot was that of annulment of the
marriage. This approach was first discussed at the time of the
tannaim, on the basis of the principle that “anyone who be-
troths [a woman] does so subject to the conditions laid down
by the rabbis, and the rabbis have the power to annul the be-
trothal,” if it “was effected improperly” or “in deviation from
the conditions laid down by the rabbis.” This approach was
initially widely used, but later its use decreased significantly,
particularly as a result of historical changes in Jewish life -
the dispersion of Jews throughout the Diaspora and, in cer-
tain countries, among various Jewish centers, as well as the
ideological and cultural schisms that arose with the onset of
the Emancipation.
Before discussing the particulars of this subject, men-
tion should be made of an additional approach, which has not
been given sufficient consideration: namely, kiddushei taut
(“erroneous betrothal”). There is a difference between solving
the problem of agunot by annulling the marriage — that is, in
which the marriage is itself binding, but the bet din annuls it
and permits the couple to marry - and solving the problem of
agunot by utilizing the principle of “kiddushei taut; meaning
that the marriage itself was never in effect, thereby obviating
the need for its annulment. This distinction may be of value in
the search for a speedier solution for the distress of contempo-
rary agunot. Examples of use of the principle of kiddushei ta’ut
to permit agunot to remarry can be found in the responsa of
R. Simhah of Speyer, one of the outstanding sages of Ashke-
nazi Jewry at the end of 12" century; of R. Simeon b. Zemah
*Duran (Algiers, 14 century); in the reasoning of R. Joseph
Dov *Soloveichik, one of the leading scholars of 19" century
Lithuanian Jewry; and in the responsa of R. Moses *Feinstein,
a leading halakhic authority of our own generation. (For re-
search regarding this approach see Hacohen, The Tears of the
514
Oppressed, in the bibliography. This approach may provide a
partial solution to the problem of agunot.)
As stated above, the main overall solution to the problem
of agunot, particularly in view of contemporary needs, is that
of annulment of marriage. Of particular importance in this
context are the reasons that led to the almost total rejection of
this solution; on the basis of a close analysis of these reasons,
and in light of the establishment of the State of Israel, it may
now be possible to return to this solution.
ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE — PROBLEMS AND ANALYSIS.
From the 12" century we have the report of R. Eliezer b. Na-
than of Mainz concerning an incident involving a fraudulent
marriage. No explicit enactment regulating the manner of
effecting a marriage was applicable to the case and the hal-
akhic authorities disagreed as to whether it was possible to
invalidate the marriage (Rabban, EH 3, fol. 47b). The authori-
ties of Worms and Speyer sought to annul the marriage of
the first husband in reliance on the talmudic statement “that
it was effected improperly.” However, this was not the view of
the halakhic authorities of Mainz, who argued that since the
completion of the Talmud, the post-talmudic authorities do
not have a power to annul such a marriage. This was also the
view of one of their contemporaries - Rabbenu Tam - who
argued that even the geonim lacked the authority to annul
such marriages (Sefer ha-Yashar, R. Tam, Responsa Section,
Rosenthal ed., §24).
In the 13 century, Asheri and Rashba made an impor-
tant distinction in regard to annulment of marriages (Rosh,
35.1; 35.2; Rashba, 1 $$1026, 1162, 1185). Under this distinction,
the post-talmudic halakhic authorities do not have the gen-
eral power to annul a marriage on the grounds that “it was ef-
fected improperly” or that it was entered into “subject to the
conditions laid down by the rabbis”; but if an enactment ex-
plicitly states that a marriage in violation of its provisions will
be annulled, then the marriage is invalid.
If the communities, or each individual community, should wish
to erect a legislative safeguard against these unfortunate occur-
rences, let them all jointly adopt an enactment fully confiscating,
whether permanently or for a fixed period, any money given
[to effect a marriage] to any woman of their community(ies),
unless the woman willingly accepts it with the consent of her
father or in the presence of whomever they wish.
Every enactment - whether by a particular community
or a group of communities — that expropriates the money given
to effect a marriage is thus fully valid; and consequently a mar-
riage that does not fulfill the conditions set forth in the enact-
ment is void.
Rabbenu Jeroham (14" century, France) also held this view:
Every community has the power to adopt an enactment and to
agree that any marriage effected in the presence of fewer than
ten persons is invalid; and it may also establish other similar
conditions that all who marry do so subject to the conditions
established by the residents of the community” (Toledot Adam
ve-Havvah, Sec. Havvah, XXII, 4).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
In the 14" century, a substantial change occurred in the atti-
tude adopted by the halakhic authorities regarding the actual
exercise of legislative power to annul a marriage. We have al-
ready noted a certain reluctance on the part of Rashba, who
initially ruled that the matter required further consideration
but subsequently gave a definitive ruling permitting an enact-
ment for the annulment of marriages. Some time later, even
graver doubts were raised by R. *Isaac b. Sheshet Perfet (Ri-
bash), who made his consent to validate such an enactment
conditional upon “the approbation of all the halakhic authori-
ties of the region,’ as a means of dividing the responsibility
for the decision among as many halakhic authorities as pos-
sible (Ribash $399).
Furthermore, according to Ribash the principle that “all
who marry do so subject to the conditions laid down by the
rabbis” can be broadened and applied to conditions laid down
by the community:
In addition, even if we had to resort to the rationale that “all
who marry do so subject to the conditions laid down by the
rabbis” to justify every annulment of marriage, we may also
state that all who marry do so subject to the conditions laid
down by the community in its enactments, given that we have
already accepted that all those who marry without any express
stipulations as to the terms of marriage do so in accordance
with the customs of the town.... Thus, we reach the conclusion
that the community may adopt such an enactment, and a mar-
riage that contravenes a communal enactment is invalid, and
no divorce is necessary.”
This was Ribash’s rendition of the law in theory. “However, as
to its practical application, I tend to view the matter strictly;
and I would not rely on my own opinion (i.e., in view of the
gravity of the matter) to declare that she needs no divorce to
be free [to remarry], unless all the halakhic authorities of the
region concurred, so that only a ‘chip of the beam’ should
reach me [i.e., that I do not take upon myself the full respon-
sibility, but only part of it]?
Ribash did not yet make an absolute distinction between
the theoretical authority to adopt an enactment annulling a
marriage, and the practical exercise of that authority. The
qualification introduced by Ribash was only that such legis-
lation requires the approval of all the halakhic authorities of
the region. However, the position expressed by his younger
contemporary, Rashbaz (Simeon b. Zemah Duran), was far
more adamant - namely, that an enactment nullifying a mar-
riage should never be applied in practice. His ultimate justi-
fication for the strict ruling was “the gravity of sexual mat-
ters” (Tashbez, 2 $5).
Rashbaz states unequivocally that in terms of the “es-
sence” of the halakhah, the existing authority to annul a mar-
riage derives from the principle of hefker bet din hefker [the
bet din’s authority to expropriate money] and he emphasizes
that the authority to annul a marriage rests in every competent
court and in every generation. But this is only on a theoretical
level. On a practical level a strict approach should be adopted
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUNAH
regarding marriage because of the gravity of improper sexual
unions, and hence this authority should not be exercised (see
also Tashbez, 1, $133).
This same view and rationale are echoed in a responsum
by Rashbaz’s grandson, the second Rashbash (R. Simeon b.
Solomon *Duran), at the end of the 15‘" and the beginning of
the 16" centuries (Yakhin u-Boaz 2, $20).
During the same period (towards the turn of the 16
century) we also hear of the first detailed explanation for
the phenomenon of the growing inclination to abstain from
exercising regulative power to annul marriages that are hal-
akhically valid. This trend was explained by R. Moses *Alash-
kar, who was active at that time in Spain, in Egypt, and later
on in the Land of Israel. First, he made it quite clear that the
halakhic authorities and the community have the power to
adopt an enactment by which a marriage entered into in vio-
lation of their regulations is void. However, he further ruled
that, as opposed to enactments in other areas of Jewish Law,
where there is nothing to prevent each community from fully
exercising the legislative authority vested in them, the adop-
tion of far-reaching enactments with regard to the annul-
ment of marriage are not permitted - mainly for reasons of
general legal policy - unless the enactments are adopted by
all or at least most of the communities in a particular coun-
try. Maharam Alashkar pointed out that in this ruling he was
following in the footsteps of Ribash, who also required that
the enactment be adopted by all of the communities in the
region. However, Maharam Alashkar explained this require-
ment within the particular context of marriage and divorce
law (Maharam Alashkar, $48).
The fact that an enactment was only adopted by a partic-
ular community and not by all the communities — or at least
a majority of them - prevented Maharam Alashkar from ap-
proving the enactment and declaring it valid. While Jewish
Law confers legislative authority to a local community, and
even to a tradesmen’s association, it is not proper to “take a
lenient approach” to marriages “valid according to the Torah”
purely on the basis of one community’s enactment. This is
so, because local legislation in matters of marriage and di-
vorce creates a serious danger of degeneracy and of making
a mockery of the entire institution of marriage. An enact-
ment of one community clearly does not bind a member of
any other community. Consequently, if member of another
community marries a woman in violation of the enactment,
the marriage will be valid (since we apply the law of the hus-
band’s community), while if a member of the community that
adopted the enactment marries a woman in violation of the
enactment, the woman will not be married, and is permitted
to marry someone else without a divorce. This kind of situa-
tion is intolerable in terms of the integrity and stability of the
institutions of marriage and family!
An interesting example of this significant change in the
legislative trend regarding enactments dealing with annul-
ment of marriages is the difference between two enactments,
515
AGUNAH
adopted approximately 100 years apart in the very same loca-
tion - the community of the Castilian exiles in *Fez. The first
enactment, adopted in 1494, reads as follows (Kerem Hemer,
2, Takkanah $1; for the Fez enactments, see Ha-Mishpat ha-
Ivri, p. 652):
No Jewish man shall betroth any Jewish woman other than
in the presence of ten persons among whom there is either a
scholar of the community (who receives his wages from the
community treasury) or a local judge; the same applies to their
entering under the huppah. If it is done in any other manner,
the marriage is void ab initio.
One hundred years later, a new enactment was adopted in Fez,
similarly requiring that a betrothal take place in the presence
of ten persons. However, this enactment contained a substan-
tial change in the sanction imposed on the violator of the en-
actment; while he is subject to punishment and fines, the mar-
riage itself is considered valid and is not annulled. Instead, the
husband is compelled to give a divorce (Kerememer, Takkanah
§34; the latter enactment was adopted in 1592).
In reality, in the 16" and even in the 17" century enact-
ments were still being adopted in various communities in Italy
and elsewhere prohibiting the celebration of marriages in the
presence of fewer than ten persons and explicitly stating that a
marriage in violation of the enactment is void ab initio (see for
example the Casalli enactment of 1571; a similar enactment was
adopted in Corfu in 1652). However, the overwhelming ma-
jority of halakhic authorities refused to endorse the practice
of annulment of marriages and it appears that these particu-
lar enactments were never actually applied (Nahalat Yaakov
§57; the responsum was written in 1615).
It is highly noteworthy that as late as the 18" and 19
centuries, legislation was enacted in the Jewish centers of the
Eastern countries, requiring marriages to be celebrated in the
presence of ten persons and a rabbi, and providing for annul-
ment as a sanction for violation.
In the middle of the 18» century in Damascus, Syria, an
enactment of this kind was adopted by the halakhic authori-
ties together with the communal leaders, led by R. Mordecai
Galante. The full text of the takkanah was preserved (Berekh
Moshe by Moses Galante, the son of Mordecai Galante, $33).
It states that “in order to remove the stumbling blocks placed
by deceivers” they enacted that:
No Jewish man marry any woman, except in the presence of
ten Jewish persons, including the rabbi who is the teacher of
Torah and who the community recognize as judges ... and two
individuals from among the communal leaders and officials are
also to be included among these ten persons. This, our enact-
ment and decree, shall be in effect from this day forward until
the day of the coming of the Righteous Teacher, the Messiah of
the God of Jacob ... and if any man shall intentionally marry in
secret in the presence of two witnesses and not in the presence
of ten Jewish persons, as mentioned above ... his marriage will
have no effect and we annul his marriage by way of absolute
expropriation like the court of Ravina and R. Ashi, which had
the power to expropriate a person's property.
516
In the middle of the 19" century this enactment was reaf-
firmed and fortified by the scholars and leaders of the Da-
mascus community, led by Isaac *Abulafia (in his Penei Yizhak,
EH, $16; p. 94d).
In our community there is an earlier enactment ... that no man
marry in the presence of two witnesses, unless the rabbi or his
representative consents and ten persons are present, two of
whom must be communal leaders ... and that if any man shall
intentionally marry in secret in the presence of two witnesses ...
not only shall he be labeled a transgressor, but his marriage is
annulled by the rabbis and the money given to effect the Kid-
dushin is completely expropriated under principle of hefker bet
din hefker like the court of Ravina and R. Ashi, which had the
power to expropriate property ... In as much as an incident
occurred within the past three years, we have reenacted this
legislation and proclaimed it publicly with full force and effect,
with all transgressors being made subject to excommunication
and ban as is known.
There were disputes among the halakhic authorities regard-
ing the interpretation, validity, and applicability of this enact-
ment (see Freimann, Seder Kiddushin ve-Nissu’in, 286 ff.). Asa
fundamental ruling regarding the manner of establishing the
halakhah and adopting enactments, it was sharply criticized
by R. Shalom Moses Hai Gagin, of Jerusalem:
This is an astounding opinion in which the author states that
he saw in the code books that it is permissible to adopt an en-
actment at variance with the rulings of R. Joseph Caro, even to
the point of leniency concerning a prohibition contained in the
Torah; to date he has not revealed the identity of this author-
ity to us. This is nothing more than his own view, and his own
unsupported opinion. It cannot possibly be contended that the
world’s great scholars ever gathered together and agreed to rule
contrary to R. Joseph Caro, the author of the Shulhan Arukh,
even in a single particular (Yismah Lev, EH, $15).
According to R. Gagin, the enactment was only intended to
annul a marriage in rare and exceptional cases (e.g., in which
there were additional defects, or in special cases in which there
was a problem of iggun).
In his responsum relating this matter, R. Isaac Abulafia
strongly defended his position regarding the power to adopt
such an enactment:
What should I say in response to that author who is wise in his
own eyes... who compares those who have studied and gained
wisdom to ignorant reed cutters? [i.e., who compare people who
have studied extensively to ignorant reed cutters; see Sanh. 33a]
For the fundamental question, namely, whether a court and a
community may enact legislation to annul a marriage that is
valid according to the Torah, has been extensively discussed
by the rishonim, i.e., Ribash and Rashbez, and by other leading
authorities, who proved directly on the basis of several talmu-
dic passages that enactments annulling a marriage regarded by
the Torah as valid can be adopted on the basis of two sound and
fully articulated reasons: (1) that all who marry do so subject
to the conditions laid down by the rabbis, and the rabbis annul
this marriage; and (2) that pursuant to the principle of hefker
bet din hefker, the court has sufficient authority to exercise the
power of expropriation....
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
This being so, there is here an a fortiori inference: since
they have the power to annul a marriage that is completely and
clearly valid under the law of the Torah, as stated above, then
a fortiori, in order to erect a safeguard, they may also adopt an
enactment that is contrary to R. Joseph Caro on this particular
point, and may instead follow the authorities who disagree with
him. If they possess the power to annul and dissolve a marriage
that is valid according to the Torah, they must certainly have
the authority to adopt an enactment that contravenes the strict
view of R. Joseph Caro, for otherwise, what have the halakhic
authorities accomplished with their enactment? The matter is
simple and clear and beyond all doubt (Lev Nishbar §3, 15a).
It should be emphasized that many of the leading halakhic
scholars in the Eastern countries shared this view and ruled
accordingly, that the halakhic authorities have the power to
annul marriages by way of an enactment (in another con-
text, see Elon, “The Uniqueness of Halakhah,” in the bibli-
ography):
The question arose again in its full gravity, during the second
half of the 19‘ century, when it was determined in Algerian
law that it was obligatory to conduct a civil marriage ceremony
prior to conducting huppah and kiddushin, and that in the ab-
sence of the civil ceremony the couple would not be considered
married in accordance with the laws of the State. This change
carried tremendous potential for abuse by which the husband
could cause his wife to become an agunah; for if they had been
married under religious law without the marriage having been
preceded by a civil ceremony, then he could then legally marry
another woman. Alternatively, if the woman who had the sta-
tus of a married woman, went and married another person,
she would thereby blemish the status of her children from the
second husband. In order to prevent mishaps of this nature
and the like, the Algerian rabbis turned to one of the great hal-
akhic authorities of Turkey, R. Chaim Palagi, from Ismir, who
proposed, in view of the increasing numbers of cases in which
woman were chained to the marital bond and the attendant
danger of mamzerut, that they adopt a enactment for the an-
nulment of marriages effected without there having been a prior
civil marriage ceremony. Some time later, a similar enactment
for the annulment of marriages was adopted in Algeria by R.
Elijah Hazan, and he was supported by the halakhic authorities
of Tunis and Constantine and others too. There were other au-
thorities who did not approve of the annulment of marriages,
and refused to adopt this kind of enactment in their own loca-
tions. Among these was R. David Moeati, one of the Algerian
rabbis. The dispute continued between other halakhic authori-
ties as well. R. Hayyim Bleich, an eminent rabbi from Tlem-
ecen, Algeria, wrote a special treatise supporting the idea of
annulment of marriages under these circumstances, even after
the consummation of marriage (see Freimann, Seder Kiddushin
ve-Nissu’in, 334-37). It would appear that the majority of the
halakhic authorities supported the adoption of this enactment
and ruled accordingly, and it served as the basis for annulment
of marriages in the Egyptian communities (Freimann, 337-44;
see further in Elon, ibid., 34-35, infra).
Our discussion shows that in Ashkenazi Jewry, following the
period of R. Moses *Isserles, one of the leading halakhic au-
thorities of the 16" century, enactments were no longer made
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUNAH
for the annulment of marriages as a solution for the problem
of agunot. The position accepted by the Ashkenazi authori-
ties was that they did not have the power to adopt enactments
for the annulment of marriages, in view of the considerations
dealt with above. Among Oriental Jewry, on the other hand,
this practice continued, alongside intensified discussion of the
need and the possibility of annulling marriages by appropri-
ate enactments. In a number of locations in the Oriental Dias-
pora these enactments were actually put into practice, surviv-
ing until this very day. The phenomenon has invariably been
the subject of incisive and often stormy discussions, and has
remained on the public agenda, and some of the halakhic au-
thorities did not recoil from adopting the enactments which
in their view were both necessary and appropriate.
THE CENTRALITY OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND THE STATE
OF ISRAEL — THE KEY TO THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM
OF AGUNOT. It would appear that the great historic transfor-
mation of the condition of the Jewish people wrought by the
restoration of Jewish sovereignty (a transformation unparal-
leled in its magnitude in the entire course of Jewish history)
could and should lead to a change in the trend of refraining
from the exercise of halakhic legislative authority. The reasons
for this were the fragmentation and dispersal of local com-
munal legislation, and the absence of a central authority for
the Jewish people in its entirety. Accordingly, the new reality
of ingathering and unification should serve as an impetus for
the renewed resumption and exercise of legislative authority
and for the emergence of a central authority, which can adopt
legislation applicable to the Jewish people in its entirety. The
halakhic center in the State of Israel should be the main Jewish
center, exercising halakhic hegemony over the entire Jewish
dispersion. In that capacity, it is authorized to reassume the
authority to adopt enactments which, from the time of their
adoption or over time, would become the legacy of the Jewish
people wherever it be. The new historical reality ought to give
rise to a new halakhic reality, the central innovation of which
will lie in the restoration of the “crown” to its ancient glory.
This new situation both warrants and demands the renewal of
the full scope of creative legislative activity in all branches of
Jewish law, including marital law, in order to strive to perfect
the world of halakhah and the world of the Jewish people. (A
proposal in this spirit for a solution of the problem of agunot
was made by Prof. Abraham Chaim Freimann, Seder Kiddu-
shin ve-Nisswin, 397).
In the State of Israel, as the center of the Jewish world,
marriages and divorces of all Jewish men and women are ef-
fected, pursuant to the State Law, in accordance with the con-
ditions stipulated by its halakhic authorities and scholars.
Our discussion until now indicates that the dearth of
practical application of enactments for agunot and for an-
nulments of marriage in the larger portion of Jewish com-
munities in the Jewish dispersion is rooted in the historical
phenomenon of the fragmentation into numerous centers
and different communities, a phenomenon that gave rise to
517
AGUNAH
a multiplicity of halakhic practices. We find more and more
cases in which the enactment was accepted and practiced in
one particular center, or even in one particular community.
As the fragmentation increased, it increasingly precluded any
possibility of annulment of marriages. The situation was one
in which there could be two couples, one belonging to a com-
munity that had adopted an enactment for the annulment of
marriage and the other to a community which had not ad-
opted that enactment. As a result, one could no longer claim
that marriage was effected in accordance with the conditions
stipulated by the rabbis, because there was no single set of con-
ditions of the rabbis: rather there were two different systems,
which alternated from center to center and from community
to community. This point was made and reiterated in the re-
sponsa of the halakhic authorities just examined.
Needless to say, these enactments ought to be made by
the rabbis and scholars of the State of Israel, the center of the
Jewish world. However, such enactments need to be adopted
in consultation and coordination with Jewish scholars and hal-
akhic authorities from the entire Jewish world. Consequently,
anyone who marries would be doing so in accordance with
the enactments made by the authorities of the Land of Israel,
in the State of Israel. There would thus be one enactment for
the entire Jewish people. The factor of centrality thus both ac-
commodates and compels the renewed adoption of an enact-
ment for agunot that would unshackle Jewish women both in
the State of Israel and in all the centers the world over.
PEACE AS A CONSIDERATION IN JEWISH LAw. In our dis-
cussion of an enactment for the annulment of marriages as a
solution for the plight of agunot, the consideration of peace
was one of the considerations that periodically arose, either
as a compelling reason for finding a solution or as the means
for finding such a solution. Indeed, it plays a unique function
in the discussions of the halakhic authorities in the context of
enactments for agunot.
Halakhic authorities derived this principle from the verse
in Proverbs 3:17: “Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all
her paths are peace.” This verse describes the virtues of wis-
dom, and in the Jewish tradition it serves to extol the Torah
and those who study it. It was further established as a general
guideline for the manner of interpretation of the rules of Jew-
ish Law in all its various fields, and as the purpose and goal of
the entire world of Jewish Law. In the world of the halakhic
authorities, “the ways of pleasantness” and the “paths of peace”
were integrated into a single principle, each aspect comple-
menting the other, with the emphasis alternately placed on
either “pleasantness” or “peace.” This integrated principle was
the source of a variety of rulings in all areas of halakhah, chief
among them being family law. (See Maharsha, end of Yeb.
122b; Maim., Yad, Megillah ve-Hannukah 4:12-14.)
A SIGNIFICANT THOUGH PARTIAL SOLUTION: A MODERN
APPLICATION OF RABBENU TAM’S HARHAKOT. We con-
cluded our above discussion of the subject of agunot with the
518
expectation that the resolution of this difficult and painful
problem would be found by resorting to the creative utiliza-
tion of the tool of annulment of marriage, which would be
examined, discussed, and applied from the center of the Jew-
ish people in the Land of Israel in the State of Israel. It is in-
teresting to note that the first steps towards a solution to the
problem of agunot have already been taken. We refer here to
the efficient, variegated, and specific use of a special law, in
a manner that induces the husband to immediately comply
with the decisions and judgments that obligate him to release
his wife from the chains of her agginut.
As we observed, the predominant view in the vast major-
ity of Jewish centers was the proscription of physical coercion
as a means of forcing the husband to give his wife a get, except
for certain exceptional cases: “We should be strict in not us-
ing coercion by way of physical coercion, so that the get does
not become a ‘coerced get’ [one given under physical compul-
sion, against the husband’s will and thus invalid]” (Rama Sh.
Ar., EH 154.21). On the topic of physical coercion as a means of
forcing the husband to give a get, see the entry *Divorce and
its conclusion: “Enforcement of Divorce in the State of Israel.”
This strict ruling frequently gave rise to problems of agginut
and the halakhic authorities searched for halakhic and social
remedies to this serious problem.
The method proposed by Rabbenu Tam (one of the lead-
ing 12» century Tosafists) was based on ostracizing the recal-
citrant husband who refused to give the get to his wife, cut-
ting him off from communal life and severing all contact with
him. In other words: “they are not permitted to talk to him,
do business with him, host him, feed him, provide him with
drink, accompany him and visit him when he is ill ... we will
separate from him” (Sefer ha-Yashar $24). Physical coercion
or other kinds of harm (such as imprisonment, etc.) are for-
bidden, because in those cases the husband’s consent to give a
get may stem from his inability to withstand the physical pres-
sure and not because he has consented to give a get. The social
sanctions, by prohibiting any contact with him, are insufficient
as a means of forcing him to grant a get, for from a physical
perspective he is capable of bearing the pressures of denial of
contact with him. Accordingly, if he deigns to give his wife the
get, it may be presumed that he does so willingly.
Notably, resort to this kind of sanction in the judgments
of rabbinical courts in the State of Israel has been extremely
rare. Two factors may explain this. Firstly, the “fear of instruc-
tion” of the halakhic authorities echoes the view of a number
of posekim who ruled that these sanctions constitute coercion
and are therefore only permitted in the rare cases in which
coercion is permitted. The second factor is that the sanctions
referred to in the aforementioned sources were utilized pri-
marily in order to ostracize and exclude the husband from
communal religious life, limiting its effectiveness to those
cases in which the husband belonged to that particular com-
munity.
Moreover, the economic aspect of abstaining from any
financial and commercial dealings with the husband would
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
be unlikely to be particularly effective in the contemporary
reality. It would therefore seem that the idea and the princi-
ple of the sanctions, as they should be applied in the current
reality, require application and execution by the authorities
of the State, exercising its legally conferred power over its en-
tire citizenry.
Sanctions (Exclusionary Measures) in Legislation of the
Knesset
This method has in fact been proposed by researchers and
various judicial and governmental circles. A halakhic dia-
logue has begun regarding the possibility of utilizing tools
wielded by the State authorities, and whether the use of such
tools does not constitute “coercion,” if only because the exclu-
sion from participation in communal life and the possibility
of coercion is only permitted in certain exceptional cases, as
stated above. The proposals became memorandums, discus-
sions, draft laws, and culminated in the formulation of a list
of “exclusionary (shunning) measures” which received expres-
sion in the Knesset legislation under the Rabbinical Courts
Law (Upholding Divorce Rulings), 5755-1995. Since its adop-
tion a number of amendments have been introduced on an
almost annual basis.
Under this law ($1) if a certain period of time has passed
since the decision of the Rabbinical Court ruling that the hus-
band must give a get to his wife, and the husband has not up-
held the judgment:
The Rabbinical Court may, in a restrictive order, impinge
on the rights enumerated below, in full or in part, for such pe-
riod and under such conditions as it may prescribe:
(1) To leave the country;
(2) To receive an Israeli passport or laissez passer pursu-
ant to the Passports Law, 5712-1952, to hold them or extend
their validity, provided that they retain their validity for pur-
poses of returning to Israel;
(3) To receive, hold or renew a driver’s license;
(4) To be appointed, elected or to serve in a statutory
position or a position in an inspected body within the mean-
ing of the State Comptroller Law 5718-1958 [Consolidated
Version];
(5) To deal in a profession the occupation in which is
regulated by Law, or to operate an enterprise which requires
a legal license or permit;
(6) To open, or hold a bank account or to draw checks
on a bank account, by determining that he is a restricted cus-
tomer within the meaning of the Checks Without Cover Law,
5741-1981.
While the historical source of these provisions lies in the
“Sanctions (harhakot) of Rabbeinu Tam,’ their ramifications
extend far further afield. The order issued is a “restrictive or-
der” affecting the possibility of leaving the country, receiving
a passport, driver's license, appointment to official positions,
occupation in a profession, opening and maintaining a bank
account, and being imprisoned in solitary confinement for a
prescribed number of days. Restrictions of this nature may
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUNAH
for the most part be regarded as violations of the basic rights
in accordance with the Basic Laws: Human Dignity and Free-
dom, and Freedom of Occupation (e.g., freedom of movement,
freedom of occupation, right to property). At the same time,
they are of tremendous importance in the promotion of a so-
lution to the problem of agunot in the world of halakhah and
as part of the world of halakhah. The restrictions imposed here
by the legislator, whose values are those of a Jewish and demo-
cratic state, are a continuation of the exclusionary measures,
established in the halakhah of the 12" century, and named af-
ter one of its most eminent leaders and authorities, the noted
Tosafist, Rabbenu Tam. Mention should be made here of an
interesting correspondence relating to the application of this
Law, cited in the Report of the State Comptroller, Justice
Eliezer Goldberg (Annual Report 548, 2003, and accounts for
fiscal year of 2002, pp. 515-23), under the heading “Rabbinical
Courts.” In the response submitted by the director of the Rab-
binical Courts to the State Comptroller’s Office, it states that “a
mesurevet get (wife whose husband has refused to give a get)
is defined by the Rabbinical Court as a wife whose husband
was obligated to give her a get, and has still not given it to her
after 30 days.” In accordance with this definition, there are only
200 mesuravot get. This led to a proposal of the State Comp-
troller that the Rabbinical Court should initiate the issue of a
restrictive order even if the judgment itself did not stipulate
that the husband was obligated to give his wife a get, but only
stipulated that the Rabbinical Court recommends or suggests
that the husband give his wife a get. This is in accordance with
the Law itself which states (section 1 (b)): “For purposes of this
section, it is immaterial if the judgment used the wording of
coercion, obligation, mitzvah (positive precept), suggestion, or
any other wording”; and this would result in a decrease in the
numbers of agunot. The president of the Rabbinical Court re-
plied that “should it be necessary,” the Rabbinical Court would
adopt this kind of initiative (ibid., 521-23).
We are once again confronted by the social role filled
by the State of Israel, as an esteemed, venerable, and sover-
eign legislative authority, in both the development of hala-
khah and the resolution of halakhic problems that arise in
its framework.
This law contributed significantly to a solution of the
agunot problem. For further details regarding its provisions,
see the entry on Divorce, especially the concluding section,
“Enforcement of Divorce in the State of Israel.” Admittedly,
the problem remains to be completely and satisfactorily re-
solved - for the Jews in the State of Israel, and certainly for
Jews living in the countries of the Diaspora, to whom the pro-
visions of the law dealing with compliance with judgments do
not apply. Nonetheless, the partial promotion of a solution, as
embodied in the provisions of the law, is still of great signifi-
cance in the anchoring of the values of the State of Israel as
a Jewish and democratic state, in accordance with the provi-
sions of the purpose section of the Basic Laws.
As stated, the Law of the Knesset is just a beginning, al-
beit an important one, for the solution of the problem of agu-
519
AGURSKY, MIKHAIL
not. The need exists, and it is incumbent upon us to aspire to
a complete resolution of the agunot problem. Such a solution
exists in the form of annulment of marriages, which could be
effected by the adoption of an enactment in the center of the
Jewish world in the Land of Israel, with the cooperation and
assistance of halakhic authorities from Jewish communities
all over the world. To be sure, the halakhic world is divided
regarding the issue of the authority of the rabbis to annul
marriages in this manner, but this has always been the case.
Moreover, this was the situation in the period immediately
preceding our period, in a location quite close to ours. I refer
here to the dispute between the two great halakhic authori-
ties, R.I. Abulafia and R.C. Ganin, during the 19" century in
the Jewish center of Damascus, in Syria, the neighbor of Israel
(see supra). Accordingly, if there was a dispute regarding the
enactment that originated in Damascus in Syria, then an en-
actment issuing from Jerusalem, in the Land of Israel in the
State of Israel, which constitute the center of the Jewish world,
should certainly be proposed, accepted, and applied in prac-
tice in order to free Jewish women from the chains and suf-
fering of being agunot.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the issue of a
wife's agginut occasionally arises in judicial deliberations,
not in relation to the agginut per se, but rather in the context
of adjudication of other legal matters, such as the amount
of damages owing to a widow whose husband died through
his employer's negligence, the issue of an extradition order
against a husband for a crime committed in another country,
and the like. (See Elon, c.a. 110/80 Gabbai v. Willis, 36 (1) P.D.
449; C.A. Aloni v. Minister of Justice, 41 (2) P.D. 1; H.C. 644/79
Guttman v. Tel-Aviv Jaffa Regional Rabbinical Court, 34 (1)
P.D. p. 443-50; H.C. 822/88 Rozensweig v. Attorney General,
42 (4) P.D. p. 761-59.)
[Menachem Elon (24 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bernstein, in: Festschrift... Schwarz (1917),
557-70; Blau, ibid., 193-209; Gulak, Yesodei, 3 (1922), 24; Zevin, in:
Sinai, 10 (1942), 21-35; A. Ch. Freimann, Seder Kiddushin ve-Nissw’in
(1945), 385-97; Uziel, in: Talpioth, 4 (1950), 692-71); ET, 3 (1951), 161;
6 (1954), 706ff.; 9 (1959), 101-2; I.Z. Kahana, Sefer ha-Agunot (1954);
Weinberg, in: Noam, 1 (1958), 1-51; Roth, in: Sefer Zikkaron Gold-
ziher, 2 (1958), 59-82; Benedict, in: Noam, 3 (1960), 241-58; Goren,
in: Mazkeret... Herzog (1962), 162-94; Unterman, ibid., 68-73; E.
Berkovits, Tenai be-Nissu’in u-ve-Get (1967); B. Scheresehewsky, Di-
nei Mishpahah (19677), 64-65, 89, 93; PD, 22, pt. 1 (1968), 29-52 (Civil
Appeals nos. 164-7 and 220-67); M. Elon, Hakikah Datit... (1968),
182-4; G. Horowitz, Spirit of Jewish Law... (1953), 95-96, 292-4; L.M.
Epstein, Marriage Laws in the Bible and the Talmud (1942), index;
Mishpetei Ouziel, Sheelot u-Teshuvot be-Dinei Even ha-Ezer (1964),
33-49; Ozar ha-Posekim, 3-8 (1954-63); S. Greenberg, in: Conserva-
tive Judaism, 24:3 (Spring, 1970), 73-141. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.
Elon, Jewish Law: History, Sources, Principles (1994) 402-3, 522-30,
803, 830-31, 834-35, 846-79, 1754-56; idem, “The Uniqueness of
Halakhah and Society in North African Jewry, from the Expulsion
of Spain to the Present,” in: Halakhah u-Petihut: Hakhmei Maroko
ke-Posekim le-Dorenu (1985), 15-38, Heb.; idem, Maamad ha-Ishah:
Mishpat ve-Shipput, Masoret, u-Temurah; Arakheha shel Medinah Ye-
520
hudit ve-Demokratit (2005), 297-372; 384-451; J.D. Bleich, “A Proposal
for Solution to the Problem of the Husband who Refuses to Grant
Get? in: Torah she-be-al Peh, 31 (1990), 124-39, Heb.; Z. Falk, “The
Power of Permissiveness” (Heb.), in: Z. Falk, Halakhah u-Maaseh
be-Medinat Yisrael (1962), 48-49; idem, Dinei Nissu’in (1983); idem,
Takkanot be-Nissu’in ve-Gerushin (1993); A.H. Freimann, Seder Kid-
dushin ve-Nissw’in Aharei Hatimat ha-Talmud; Mehkar Histori-Dog-
mati be-Dinei Yisrael (1945); T. Gretner, “The Law of Mezonot for
the Divorcée and the non- Divorcée - for the Benefit of Agunot; in:
Moriah, 16:183-84 (1988), 66-81, Heb.; A. Hacohen, The Tears of the
Oppressed (2004), foreword by M. Elon; Y.I. Herzog, Kitvei ha-Rav
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le-Hol (1990-91), 255-60; D. Novak, Halakhah in a Theological Di-
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ha-Ishi be-Yisrael, (1992°); P. Shifman, Safek Kiddushin be-Mishpat
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287-312, Heb.
AGURSKY, MIKHAIL (1933-1991), Russian historian and
activist. Agursky was born in Moscow, the son of Shmuel
Agursky, a noted Soviet party activist and historian of the
revolutionary movement who was arrested in 1938 and ex-
iled to Kazakhstan for five years. Mikhail received his Ph.D.
in the field of cybernetics in 1969. He took part in the civil
rights movements in the U.S.S.R. and in Samizdat (self-pub-
lishing), contributing to the anthology Iz pod glyb (“From the
Underground”). In 1975 he emigrated to Israel and worked
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1979 he received
a doctorate from the University of Paris for his thesis “The
National-Bolshevist Ideology,” which was published in Paris
in Russian in 1980. He also wrote “The Soviet Golem” (Russ.,
1983), Third Rome: National Bolshevism in the U.S.S.R. (1987),
“Trade Relations between the Soviet Union and the Countries
of the Middle East” (Heb., 1990), and with Margaret Shklovski
the anthology “Literary Heritage; Gorky and the Jewish Ques-
tion” (Russ., 1986).
[Shmuel Spector (274 ed.)]
AGURSKY, SAMUEL (1884-c. 1948), Communist author.
Agursky, who was born in Grodno, joined the Bund and fled
Russia in 1905 because of his involvement in revolutionary
activities. He eventually went to the United States and con-
tributed to the Jewish anarchist press. He returned to Rus-
sia in 1917 and helped found the Jewish section of the Com-
munist Party *Yevsektsiya. In 1919, when deputizing for S.
*Dimanstein, the commissar for Jewish affairs, Agursky is-
sued an order closing the Jewish communal institutions. He
wrote on the history of the Jewish labor movement and edited
collections of historical and literary works. He disappeared
at the time of the 1948 anti-Jewish purges. Agursky’s writings
include Der Yidisher Arbeter in der Komunistisher Bavegung,
1917-1925 (“The Jewish Worker in the Communist Movement,
1917-25, 1926); Di Yidishe Komisaryaten un di Yidishe Komu-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
nistishe Sektsies, 1918-1921 (“The Jewish Commissariats and
the Jewish Communist Sections, 1918-21,’ 1928).
[Yehuda Slutsky]
AGUR SON OF JAKEH (Heb. 47?7]2 1138), an otherwise
unknown figure mentioned in the enigmatic title to Prov-
erbs 30:1-33. Possibly the title refers only to the first 14 verses
since the Septuagint separates these two sections, placing the
first between Proverbs 24:22 and 23 and the second following
Proverbs 24:33. It was already pointed out by Rabbenu *Tam
(Jacob b. Meir) that the aluqah (nP19Y(*); “leech”) in Proverbs
30:15 may refer to a different sage with the name Alukah (in the
category of names such as Nahash (“serpent”), Parosh (“flea”),
etc.); hence the second section is to be attributed to another
sage, Alukah. This assumption is borne out by the marked dif-
ference in content between the two sections, the first being in
the nature of an ethical admonitory disquisition (in the spirit
of Job 42:2), while the second consists mainly of numerical
aphorisms. It has been suggested that ha-Massa (Xw77) in
Proverbs 30:1 should be amended to ha-Massai (NWN; “the
Massaite”), since Proverbs 31:1ff. is attributed to the mother
of a king of Massa (cf. Gen. 25:14; 1 Chron. 1:30), one of the
*Kenite peoples whose wisdom the Israelites admired.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Albright, in: Studi Orieetalistici in onore
di Giorgio Levi della Vida, 1 (1956), 1-14 (Eng.); Torrey, in: JBL, 73
(1954), 93-96; G. Sauer, Die Sprueche Agurs (1963); Grintz, in: Tarbiz,
28 (1 >» 135-7.
(1959), 135-7 [Michael V. Fox]
AGUS, IRVING ABRAHAM (1910-1984), U.S. educator
and scholar; brother of Jacob *Agus. Agus was born in Swis-
locz, Poland, and studied at the Hebrew University in Jeru-
salem (1926-27), and at Dropsie College (1937). He served
as educational director in Memphis, Tenn. (1939-45), dean
of the Harry Fischel Research School in Talmud (Jerusalem,
1947-49), and principal of the Akiba Academy in Philadel-
phia (1949-51). From 1951 he was professor of Jewish history
at Yeshiva University. Using responsa literature as a primary
historical source, Agus wrote extensively on Jewish life in the
Middle Ages. Among his works are Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg
(2 vols., 1947), describing Jewish life in 13""-century Germany,
and Teshuvot Baalei ha-Tosafot, an edition of previously un-
published responsa by the Tosafists (1954). His later writings
concentrated on Jewish communal life in pre-Crusade Europe,
showing that the Franco-German Jews, though a small group,
were able to preserve talmudic traditions by their great devo-
tion to study and observance of Judaism. In Urban Civiliza-
tion in Pre-Crusade Europe (2 vols., 1965) Agus credits these
Ashkenazi Jewish communities, which excelled in commer-
cial ventures, with providing the prototype of town life and
organization in Catholic Europe.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.A. Neuman and S. Zeitlin (eds.), Seventy-
Fifth Anniversary Volume of the Jewish Quarterly Review (1967),
69-79.
oni [Simcha Berkowitz]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AGUS, JACOB B.
AGUS, JACOB B. (1911-1986), U.S. rabbi and philosopher.
Agus (Agushewitz) was born into a distinguished rabbini-
cal family in the shtetl of Sislevitch (Swislocz), situated in the
Grodno Dubornik region of Poland. After receiving tutoring
at home and in the local heder, he joined his older brothers
as a student at the Mizrachi-linked Takhemoni yeshivah in
Bialystok.
In 1925 the Agushewitzes migrated to Palestine. Unfor-
tunately, the economic conditions and the religious life of the
yishuv were not favorable and in 1927 the Agushewitz family
moved again, this time to America, where Jacobs father, R.
Judah Leib, had relocated a year earlier to fill the position of
rabbi in an East Side New York synagogue.
The family settled in Boro Park (Brooklyn) and Jacob at-
tended the high school connected with Yeshiva University. Af-
ter completing high school, he continued both his rabbinical
and secular studies at the newly established Yeshiva University.
He received his rabbinical ordination (*semikhah) in 1933. Af-
ter two further years of intensive rabbinical study, he received
the traditional yoreh yoreh yaddin yaddin semikhah in 1935.
In 1935 Agus took his first full-time rabbinical position
in Norfolk, Virginia. One year later he left Norfolk for Har-
vard University, where he enrolled in the graduate program in
philosophy. At Harvard, his two main teachers were Professor
Harry A. Wolfson and Professor Ernest Hocking. Agus’ doc-
toral dissertation was published in 1940 under the title Mod-
ern Philosophies of Judaism. It critically examined the thought
of the influential German triumvirate of Hermann *Cohen,
Franz *Rosenzweig, and Martin *Buber, as well as the work
of Mordecai *Kaplan, who in 1934 had published the classic
Judaism as a Civilization.
While in the Boston area, Agus paid his way by taking
on a rabbinical position in Cambridge and he continued his
rabbinical learning with R. Joseph *Soloveitchik.
At Harvard, for the first time in his life, Agus encoun-
tered serious, even intense, criticism of traditional Judaism.
In response, he decided to devote much of his energy for the
rest of his life to explicating, disseminating, and defending the
ethical and humanistic values embodied in the Jewish tradi-
tion, and in particular, how these values were interpreted by
its intellectual and philosophical elites.
After receiving his doctorate from Harvard, Agus ac-
cepted the post of rabbi at the Agudas Achim Congregation
in Chicago. Though the congregation permitted mixed seat-
ing, it was still considered an Orthodox synagogue. In this
freer midwestern environment, removed from the yeshivah
world of his student days, the orthodoxy of Yeshiva Univer-
sity, and the intensity of Jewish Boston, Agus began to have
doubts about the intellectual claims and dogmatic premises
of Orthodox Judaism. In particular, he began to redefine the
meaning of halakhah and its relationship to reason and inde-
pendent ethical norms.
In 1943, disenchanted with his Chicago pulpit, Agus ac-
cepted a call to Dayton, Ohio. During this period he also at-
521
AHA
tempted to gather support for an agenda of change and hal-
akhic reform at the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America
(RCA) convention in 1944 and 1945. When this failed he de-
cided to break decisively with the organized Orthodox com-
munity and its institutions. He officially broke with the Rca
in 1946-47 and joined instead the Conservative movement's
Rabbinical Assembly. In this new context he became a pow-
erful presence and an agent of change, serving on the Com-
mittee on Jewish Law and Standards for nearly 40 years, un-
til his death.
In 1950, R. Agus accepted the position of rabbi at the
newly formed Conservative congregation Beth El in Balti-
more. A small congregation of some 50 families when he ar-
rived, it grew over his three decades as its rabbi into a major
congregation. During this period Agus also continued his
scholarly work. He was a regular contributor to a variety of
Jewish periodicals, such as the Menorah Journal, Judaism,
Midstream, and The Reconstructionist, and he served on sev-
eral of their editorial boards. He also occasionally published
in Hebrew journals. At the same time, he began to teach at
Johns Hopkins University in an adjunct capacity, to lecture at
Bnai Brith institutes, and to speak at colleges and seminar-
ies around the country. In 1959 he published his well-known
study The Evolution of Jewish Thought, an outgrowth of his
lectures.
Beginning in 1968 Agus, while continuing his rabbinical
duties in Baltimore, accepted a joint appointment as professor
of rabbinic civilization at the new Reconstructionist Rabbini-
cal College in Philadelphia and at Temple University. In addi-
tion, he worked with the American Jewish Committee at both
the local and the national level on various communal issues,
with the Synagogue Council of America on Jewish-Christian
issues, with a host of Jewish communal agencies, and he was
active in Jewish-Christian dialogue in the hope of reducing
antisemitism and helping to restructure the Christian under-
standing of Jews and Judaism.
Among Agus’ writings are Modern Philosophies of Juda-
ism (1941); Banner of Jerusalem (1946), a study of the life and
thought of R. Abraham Isaac *Kook; Guideposts in Modern
Judaism (1954); The Meaning of Jewish History (2 vols., 1963);
‘The Vision and the Way (1966); Dialogue and Tradition (1969);
and The Jewish Quest (1983). Agus also published a volume on
Judaism as part of the Catholic Theological Encyclopedia and
served as a consultant to Arnold Toynbee on Jewish matters.
Some of his letters to Toynbee are printed in Toynbee'’s “Recon-
siderations; the 12" volume of his Study of History.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.T. Katz (ed.), American Rabbi: The Life and
Thought of Jacob B. Agus (1996).
[Steven T. Katz (24 ed.)]
AHA (Ahai; fourth century), Palestinian amora. Born in
Lydda, Aha studied halakhah under R. *Yose b. Hanina and
aggadah under R. *Tanhum b. Hiyya, and transmitted the
teachings of most of the contemporary Palestinian authori-
522
ties. He is extensively quoted in the Jerusalem Talmud, but
seldom in the Babylonian. His younger colleagues called him
“the Light of Israel” (TJ, Shab. 6:9, 8c). His statement that “the
Temple will be rebuilt before the reestablishment of the Da-
vidic dynasty” possibly refers to his hopes for the rebuilding of
the Temple by the Emperor *Julian the Apostate. Aha declared
that “The Divine Presence (Shekhinah) never departed from
the Western Wall of the Temple.” An anti-Christian polemi-
cal note can be detected in some of his discourses, of which a
typical example is: ““There is one that is alone; there is none
other... (Eccles. 4:8)... this refers to God, as it is written, ‘The
Lord is our God, the Lord is One, ‘there is none other’ - i.e.,
He has no partner in His world; nor does He have a son or a
brother.” After the Musaf sermon on the Day of Atonement
he would announce that whoever had children should go and
give them food and drink (Tj, Yoma 6:4, 43d). He furthermore
declared that anyone who inflicted excessive corporal punish-
ment on a pupil should be excommunicated (TJ, MK 3:1, 81d).
It is related that on the day of his death stars were visible at
noontime (TJ, Av. Zar. 3:1, 42C).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bacher, Pal Amor; Hyman, Toledot, s.v.
[Mordecai Margaliot]
AHAB (Heb. 2Nny; “paternal uncle”), son of *Omri and king
of Israel (1 Kings 16:29-22:40). Ahab reigned over the Israelite
kingdom in Samaria for 22 years (c. 874-852 B.C.E.).
Foreign Affairs
Ahab continued his father’s policy in the cultivation of peace-
ful and friendly relations with the kingdom of Judah in the
south and with that of Phoenicia in the north. The pact with
Judah was sealed with the marriage of *Athaliah, who was ei-
ther Ahab’s sister or his daughter, and *Jehoram son of King
Jehoshaphat of Judah (11 Kings 8:18; 11 Chron. 18:1). The alli-
ance between the Israelite kingdom and Tyre was also a con-
tinuation of the policy initiated by his father Omri. From the
economic viewpoint the two states were complementary. The
economy of Tyre and Sidon was based on trade and manufac-
ture, whereas Israel owed her wealth to agricultural produce.
Thus, Tyre supplied Israel with the products of her indus-
tries and with technical skills, chiefly in the spheres of build-
ing and skilled craftsmanship (see *Samaria). In return Israel
supplied agricultural products (cf. 1 Kings 5:21-25; 9:10-11;
Ezek. 27:17).
The triangular alliance among Judah, Israel, and Tyre had
important economic implications, since these three states con-
stituted a geographic unit extending from the Mediterranean
in the northwest, to the desert and the Red Sea in the south-
east. Tyre marketed her produce on the main trade routes,
which passed through Israel and Judah, to the Arabian Pen-
insula and Egypt. Israel and Judah benefited from the levying
of customs tolls on the caravans that made their way from the
Arabian Peninsula northward to Philistia and Phoenicia, and
vice versa. This alliance did not have the power to alleviate
the political and military pressure exerted on Israel by Da-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
seeeeee Shalmaneser Ill's forces
B Dea
a se. —— Army of league of kings
Sy \ 5 © P Rabbath-bnei-Ammon seer tke
eee ARAB ws,
The Battle of Karkar, 853 B.c.£., to which Ahab contributed 2,000 chariots
and 10,000 infantry.
mascus, which had already been her most formidable enemy
in the time of *Asa. The threat from Damascus had increased
greatly in the period of the house of Omri. *Ben-Hadad, king
of Damascus, was neither satisfied with the conquest of ar-
eas in north Transjordan nor prepared to make do with the
bazaars of the Damascus merchants in Samaria, but aimed at
imposing his rule on the whole kingdom, intending to make
its king one of the several vassal rulers who owed him fealty
(1 Kings 20:1-6).
In the biblical account three wars are mentioned be-
tween Ahab and the Arameans, although it is not precisely
clear when the first two took place. In the first confronta-
tion (20:1-22), Ben-Hadad succeeded, together with 32 vassal
kings, in penetrating into the heart of the Israelite kingdom,
and even laid siege to Samaria. It is conceivable that the seri-
ous economic plight of the kingdom (17:1-16), which was the
result of a period of severe drought and scarcity, facilitated
Ben-Hadad’s speedy penetration into the very heart of Isra-
elite territory. However, he did not succeed in conquering Sa-
maria. Ben-Hadad’s insulting demand from the Israelite king
(20:3-6) and his arrogant attitude to the people and their king
(20:10) caused the unification of the people under Ahab’s rule
and a surge of national enthusiasm which was shared by the
prophets (20:13-14, 28). The defeat inflicted on Ben-Hadad in
this confrontation by Ahab warded off the immediate danger
but did not remove the long-term threat to Samaria’s security.
Thus, one year later (20:22, 26), Ben-Hadad once again pre-
pared his troops for battle, assembling them on this occasion
at *Aphek. Ahab’s second victory drastically altered the power
equilibrium between the two states. Ben-Hadad not only re-
stored the Israelite cities which had previously fallen into his
possession but even granted Israelite merchants monopolistic
trading rights in Damascus (20:34).
According to the biblical evidence, the third and final
war was preceded by a three-year period during which there
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHAB
was no friction between Aram and Israel (22:1). Certain schol-
ars connect this period of calm in the relations between the
two states with what is related in the inscription of Shalma-
neser 111, king of Assyria, concerning his battle at Karkar in
Syria in the sixth year of his reign (853 B.c.E.) against an alli-
ance of 12 kings of Syria and Israel. Hadadezer, king of Aram,
Irhuleni, king of Hamath, and Ahab, king of Israel (Akk. A-
ha-ab-bu mat Sir-’i-la-a-ia) stood at the head of the alliance.
The greater Assyrian threat forced the states of Syria and Israel
to lay aside their internal feuds and unite in a political and
military alliance capable of combating the danger of Assyr-
ian aggression. Ahab’s status among the allies and his part in
the war was prominent. He was given third place in the list
of allies, immediately after Hadadezer and Irhuleni, and he
himself is said to have provided 2,000 chariots, more than
half the total number. In addition, Ahab contributed 10,000
infantry to the battle array. Shalmaneser 111 claimed that he
defeated these allies, but the evidence indicates that if the As-
syrian king was not defeated, then, at the very least, the bat-
tle ended in a stalemate. With the removal of the Assyrian
threat from Israel there was a considerable increase in the in-
ternal conflicts among the local powers. The Aramean-lsra-
elite conflict caused the revolt of Mesha, king of Moab (see
*Mesha Stele), a vassal who paid an annual tribute to the king
of Israel. However, it is not certain whether Mesha had already
freed himself of Israelite rule in Ahab’s lifetime, or whether he
succeeded in doing so only after his death (Mesha Stele, 7-8;
11 Kings 1:1; 3:4-5).
Damascus and Samaria did not reach an agreement con-
cerning the disputed area in north Transjordan. Ahab, with the
support of King *Jehoshaphat of Judah, set out for Ramoth-
Gilead with the intention of restoring it to Israelite rule. Ahab,
for some unknown reason, on this occasion chose to disguise
himself as a soldier in the ranks. It is hard to believe that this
action was prompted merely by fear, since Ahab’s behavior,
from the moment he was lethally wounded by an arrow to
his death later in the evening of the same day, demonstrated
his courage and his hope that the battle would not end in de-
feat for Israel (1 Kings 22). The description of Ahab’s death in
battle in 1 Kings 22:34-38 is inconsistent with the notice in
v. 40 (ibid.) that he “slept with his ancestors,’ which is oth-
erwise used only of peaceful death, and points to originally
separate accounts.
Internal Affairs
Ahab’s foreign policy brought about vast changes in the econ-
omy of the Israelite kingdom, both in helping to strengthen the
administration and in increasing the state's military potential.
Ahab completed the building of the city Samaria, including
the acropolis and the royal palace within it, and surrounded
the city with a strong, high wall. In the same way, Ahab saw
to the fortification of additional cities, such as Jericho (1 Kings
16:34). Archaeological evidence shows that other cities, such as
Hazor, Shechem, and Megiddo, expanded in the reign of Ahab
and their outer, defensive walls were reinforced. It would seem
523
AHAB
that the “stables” excavated at Megiddo served Ahab’s chariot
troops. In the various regions (“provinces”) he appointed army
officers (20:14-15) who were responsible for the security of the
province and for the farming of taxes. The widespread forti-
fication of cities, beautiful palaces with ivory ornamentation
(22:39), the “Samarian” pottery, easily distinguishable for its
high quality craftsmanship and artistic level, and the imported
luxury goods, all indicate a period of economic prosperity.
Ahab’s chariots, mentioned in the inscription of Shalmane-
ser 111, and also the stables which were excavated at Megiddo,
suggest that the kingdom of Israel benefited not only from the
Arabian trade conducted along the main arteries of the trade
routes which crossed the territories of Judah and Israel but
also from the chariot and horse trading between Egypt and
Anatolia (cf. 10:28-29). However, the judgment of the author
of the Books of Kings on Ahab is very harsh, because of the
affair of *Naboth the Jezreelite (1 Kings 21) and because of the
establishment of the cult of the Tyrian Baal in Samaria. Ahab
coveted the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite and offered to
buy it or to exchange it for another (21:1-2), but Naboth was
unwilling to give up his family inheritance (cf. Lev. 25:14-28).
According to the biblical account Ahab accepted Naboth’s re-
fusal, but his wife *Jezebel arranged to have Naboth accused
falsely of insulting God and Naboth was tried and executed
and his property was confiscated by the king’s treasury. The
Naboth episode was symptomatic of the internal frictions un-
der the rule of the house of Omri. It illustrates the ruthless
conduct of the ruling class and the frequently cruel eviction
of the small farmer from his land.
‘The wars with Aram and the years of drought which be-
set the country obviously caused great hardship to the small
farmers, who were reduced to debt and were later compelled
to give up their land or even to sell their children into slav-
ery for want of funds to clear their obligations (cf. 11 Kings
4:1). On the other hand, economic prosperity brought great
wealth to the nobility and to the rich merchants who engaged
in barter with the traders from Tyre. The introduction of a
chariot force created a new military aristocracy, structurally
opposed to the framework of a patriarchal tribal society. By
entrusting authority to the army commanders in the “prov-
inces,’ Ahab dealt a hard blow to the clan leaders (“the elders
of Israel”). Sooner or later an effective opposition was bound
to rise against the ruling class, an opposition which would be
composed naturally of all those elements which had suffered
from and had been embittered by Ahab’s rule. This opposi-
tion movement was championed by the prophets, led by the
prophet *Elijah from Gilead.
Just as the deception in the Naboth incident was con-
trived by Jezebel, who represents the Phoenician element in
the house of Omri, so the cult of Baal from Tyre penetrated
into Samaria as a result of Jezebel’s efforts to implant Phoeni-
cian culture in Israel. From reading the biblical account one
has the impression that the worship of Baal and Asherah con-
stituted a grave danger to the Israelite cult (1 Kings 16:31-33). A
524
sanctuary was built to Baal in the center of Samaria. Some 450
priests of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah enjoyed royal pro-
tection and ate at Jezebel’s table (1 Kings 18:19; 11 Kings 10:21).
Mt. Carmel, lying on the border between Israel and Phoeni-
cia, was the site of the impressive altar of Baal, whereas the al-
tar of the Lord was destroyed (1 Kings 18:30). The cult of Baal
involved the persecution of the faithful followers of God and
his prophets (18:4, 13), among whom was Elijah, who symbol-
ized the uncompromising fighter against tyrannical rule and
its crimes on the one hand, and the cult of Baal on the other
(18:17—41; 19:10-14; 21:17-24). Ahab himself was not a zealous
follower of Baal (his children bore Yahwistic names) and did
not deny all the ancient Israelite traditions. On the one hand,
he believed in what the Israelite prophets said, consulted with
them before military campaigns, and even showed submission
and repented after the prophet’s rebuke concerning the mur-
der of Naboth (18:46; 20:13-14, 28; 21:27—29; 22:16-18). But, on
the other hand, Ahab granted freedom of action and unlimited
authority to Jezebel in all administrative spheres. The bibli-
cal historiographer, who culled most of his information con-
cerning Ahab’ reign from the biographical literature on the
prophets and the miracles they performed (cf. 11 Kings 8:4),
condemned Ahab for not showing any resistance to Jezebel’s
incitement (1 Kings 21:25), and because, in his opinion, Ahab
bore the responsibility for his wife’s deeds. It also must be ob-
served that then, as now, political opposition may be couched
in religious terms, and vice versa.
[Bustanay Oded]
In the Aggadah
Ahab was one of the three or four kings who have no portion
in the world to come (Sanh. 10:2). Over the gates of Samaria,
he placed the inscription, “Ahab denies the God of Israel” In-
fluenced by Jezebel, he became such an enthusiastic idolater
that he left no hilltop in Israel without an idol before which
he bowed, and he substituted the names of idols for the Di-
vine Name in the Torah. Nevertheless, Ahab possessed some
redeeming features. He was generous in support of scholars
and revered the Torah (Sanh. 102b). As a reward for the honor
he gave to the Torah, written in the 22 letters of the alphabet,
Ahab was permitted to reign for 22 years (ibid.). According to
R. Levi (Tj Taan. 4:2, 68a; Gen. R. 98:8), a genealogical table
of Jerusalem mentioned that Ben Kovesin (or Bet Koveshin)
was one of the descendants of Ahab. Although it is difficult to
determine the trustworthiness of this tradition, it does indi-
cate that the attitude of the rabbis toward Ahab was not com-
pletely unfavorable.
Ahab was so wealthy that each of his 70 (or 140) chil-
dren had both summer and winter palaces (Esth. R. 1:12). He
is said to have ruled over the whole world and his dominion
extended over 252 (or 232; SER 9) kingdoms (Esth. R. 1:5). His
merits might have outweighed his sins, had it not been for the
killing of Naboth. On his death, 36,000 mourning warriors
marched before his bier (BK 174).
[Harold Louis Ginsberg]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.F. Unger, Israel and the Aramaeans of
Damascus (1957), 62-69; A. Parrot, Samaria, Capital of Israel (1956);
Morgenstern, in: HUCA, 15 (1940), 134-6; Anderson, in: JBL, 85 (1966),
46-57; Miller, ibid., 441-54; idem, in: vT, 17 (1967), 307-24; Whit-
ley, ibid., 2 (1952), 137-52; Napier, ibid., 9 (1959), 366-78. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: M.A. Cohen, in: Erlsr, 12 (1975), 87-94; M. Cogan,
1 Kings (2000), 496.
AHAB (Heb. 2xm8), son of Kolaiah, a false prophet in Baby-
lon. He was among the persons exiled from Judah to Baby-
lonia by Nebuchadnezzar together with King Joiachin. He
and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah purported to be prophets and
stirred up unrest among the exiles (Jer. 29:21ff.). Jeremiah as-
serts that they were also guilty of adultery, a phenomenon not
unknown among fanatics in his (23:14) and other ages. Jere-
miah predicted that their death by burning at Nebuchadne-
zzar’s command would become a standard by which people
would curse (29:22).
[Harold Louis Ginsberg]
AHA BAR HANINA (c. 300 c.E£.), Palestinian teacher. He
came from the “south,” i.e., Lydda, and when he moved to Gal-
ilee, he took with him much of the halakhic tradition which
he had acquired there from R. *Joshua b. Levi (Suk. 54a). In
Tiberias he studied under R. Assi from whom he received the
tradition of R. Johanan (Sanh. 42a) and also received instruc-
tion from Abbahu. The Aha mentioned in the Talmud with-
out patronymic is often Aha b. Hanina. R. Nahman, one of the
great Babylonian teachers, relies on Aha b. Hanina, and often
takes his opinion into account (Er. 64a). Despite his Palestin-
ian origin, his teachings are found mostly in the Babylonian
Talmud. Some scholars maintain that he visited Babylonia
and studied under R. Huna. An aggadist, he particularly in-
veighed against slander (Ar. 15b). Aha attached great impor-
tance to the study of the Torah even under difficult economic
circumstances such as he himself experienced (Sot. 49a). He
emphasized the importance of congregational prayer and of
performing good deeds, especially visiting the sick (Ber. 8a),
and he said “he who visits the sick removes one-sixtieth of
their suffering” (Ber. 8a; Ned. 39b).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.; Bacher, Pal Amor.
[Zvi Kaplan]
AHA BAR RAV (end fourth century and beginning fifth
century C.E.), Babylonian amora. He was a pupil of Ravina I.
Many of his opinions were reported by his grandson R. Me-
shariyya, who belonged to the school of the *savoraim. The
quotations in the Talmud reveal the wide gamut of halakhic
problems in which Aha was interested. He disputed with
Ravina with regard to ritual slaughter (Hul. 33a), about li-
ability for damages (Sanh. 76b), and concerning the right of
a firstborn to a double portion of the inheritance, including
loans due to the deceased (BB 124b).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHAD HA-AM
AHA BEN JACOB (c. 300 c.£.), Babylonian amora. He was a
disciple of Huna and older contemporary of Abbaye and Rava.
He taught in the city of Paphunia (Epiphania), near Pumbed-
ita (Kid. 35a). Aha held discussions with R. *Nahman, and al-
though the latter was unable to answer his questions (cf. BK
40a), he often cites Nahman as his authority (BB 52a). He also
held discussions with Abbaye and Rava (Hor. 6b; Hul. 10b)
and took issue with Hisda (cf. Bezah 33b). His differences of
opinion with Rava extended also to the aggadah (Shab. 87b).
Nevertheless, Rava had great respect for him and praised him
as “a great man” (BK 40a). On one occasion Aha asserted that
“Satan and Peninnah had as their true intent the service of
God.” At this point, the talmudic story continues, Satan ap-
peared and in gratitude kissed Aha’s feet (BB 16a). Several
other talmudic stories concerning Aha also involve Satan
(cf. TJ, Shab. 2:3, 5b; Suk. 38a; Men. 62a). A tendency toward
mysticism can be detected in several of his statements (Hag.
13a; 13b, etc.).
In addition to his reputation as a scholar he was famous
for his piety. Miracles are attributed to him and a story is told
of his exorcising a demon (Kid. 29b). Miraculous events are
also related regarding his death (BB 14a). His son (Kid. 29b)
and grandson (Sot. 49a), both named Jacob, were also schol-
ars.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.; Bacher, Bab Amor.
[Zvi Kaplan]
AHAD HA-AM (Asher Hirsch Ginsberg; 1856-1927), He-
brew essayist, thinker, and leader of *Hibbat Zion movement.
Ahad Ha-Am was born in Skvira, Kiev Province in Russia. He
received a traditional Jewish education in the home of his fa-
ther, a Hasid who was a wealthy village merchant. He studied
Talmud and medieval philosophy with a private teacher, and
was deeply influenced by Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed.
He read the literature of the Haskalah, and studied Russian,
German, French, English, and Latin - independently. After his
marriage in 1873, he continued his studies, particularly phi-
losophy and science, at home. He tried several times to en-
ter a university, but family obligations and his unwillingness
to meet certain formal requirements disrupted his academic
plans and he remained self-taught. As a result of powerful ra-
tionalist tendencies he first gave up Hasidism and then aban-
doned all religious faith.
In 1884 he settled in Odessa, an important center of He-
brew literature and Hibbat Zion. He remained there, with brief
intervals, until 1907, coming into contact with its foremost
authors and communal figures. In Odessa he was drawn into
public affairs as a member of the Hovevei Zion Committee
under Leon *Pinsker’s leadership. His first important article,
Lo Zeh ha-Derekh (1889, The Wrong Way, 1962), vigorously
criticized the Hovevei Zion’s policy of immediate settlement
in Erez Israel and advocated instead educational work as the
groundwork for more dedicated and purposeful settlement.
Written under the pseudonym Ahad Ha-Am (“One of the
525
AHAD HA-AM
People”), the controversial essay made its author famous and
unintentionally propelled him into intensive literary activity.
His articles, most of which were published in *Ha-Meliz, all
dealt with subjects connected with Judaism, the settlement of
Erez Israel, and Hibbat Zion. At this time, the secret order of
*Benei Moshe, which sought to realize the ideas expressed in
his first article, was founded with Ahad Ha-Am as its spiritual
leader. The order existed for eight years, during which his liter-
ary activity was directly or indirectly connected with its work
(Nissayon she-Lo Hizliah; “An Unsuccessful Attempt”).
In 1891 Ahad Ha-Am visited Erez Israel and summed
up his impressions in Emet me-Erez Yisrael (“Truth from
Erez Israel”), a strongly critical survey of the economic, so-
cial, and spiritual aspects of the Jewish settlements. In 1893 he
paid a second visit, and published similar criticisms. To fos-
ter the educational work which he considered a prior condi-
tion for settlement, he planned an encyclopedia on Jews and
Judaism (Ozar ha-Yahadut) which he hoped would encour-
age Jewish studies and revitalize Jewish thought. Although
this effort failed, he acquired great influence as manager of
the Ahi’asaf publishing house and editor of the monthly *Ha-
Shiloah - posts which he assumed in 1896. Ha-Shiloah, the
most important organ of Zionism and Hebrew literature in
Eastern Europe, served a broad Jewish readership, contrib-
uted to the development of modern Hebrew literature, and
provided Ahad Ha-Am with a platform for a series of historic
controversies. Immediately after the magazine was founded, a
debate broke out between himself and “the young men” (M.]J.
*Berdyczewski, O. *Thon, and M. *Ehrenpreis), who sought
to encourage the writing of Hebrew literature in all phases
of life, and bring about a transformation of values in Jew-
ish culture. Ahad Ha-Am, however, feared that writing that
was not specifically Jewish was premature and might lead to
the severance of Jewish cultural continuity. He instead advo-
cated concentration on Jewish problems and Jewish scholar-
ship (Li-Sheelat ha-Sifrut ha-Ivrit; “On the Question of He-
brew Literature”).
This controversy — characteristic then of the clashing
tendencies in Hebrew literature - was followed by the great
debate on the political Zionism of *Herzl and *Nordau, in
the wake of the First Zionist Congress at Basel. The realistic
and pessimistic Ahad Ha-Am was wary lest an extensive and
premature campaign would end in failure and disappoint-
ment. He had no faith in the efficacy of Herzlian diplomacy
and was troubled by the estrangement of Herzl and Nordau
from Jewish values and culture. He accused them of neglecting
cultural work which he regarded as paramount, and through
which he hoped to prepare the people for Zionism and protect
them against cultural sterility and assimilation (Ha-Ziyyonut
ha-Medinit; “Political Zionism’). In 1900, after visiting Erez
Israel again, he took part in the Hovevei Zion delegation to
Baron Edmond de *Rothschild in Paris. His articles severely
criticized the Baron’s officials in Palestine, their dictatorial
attitude, the ensuing degeneration among the settlers, and
the neglect of national values in the education system of the
526
*Alliance Israélite Universelle (Battei ha-Sefer be-Yafo (“The
Schools in Jaffa”) and Ha-Yishuv ve-Epitropsav (“The Yishuv
and its Patrons”)). The question of Hebrew national educa-
tion and assimilation in the West also occupied much of his
attention at the time.
In 1903 Ahad Ha-Am retired from the time-consuming
editorship of Ha-Shiloah and took up a post with the Wis-
sotzky tea firm, intending to devote himself to his neglected
literary pursuits. However, he continued his public activities.
Following the Kishinev pogroms, he encouraged Jewish self-
defense and after the Sixth Zionist Congress, intervened vigor-
ously in the debate on the Uganda Plan, which he regarded as
a natural consequence of the detachment of political Zionism
from Jewish values. At the conclusion of this debate he devoted
himself to writing on subjects not directly connected with cur-
rent events. He apparently hoped to expound his theories in a
comprehensive and systematic form, and wrote a number of
essays on these lines (Moshe, Basar va-Ruah, Shilton ha-Sekhel;
Eng. ed. 1962), but failing health and perhaps inner obstacles
prevented him from achieving his aim.
In 1907, after a private visit to Erez Israel, he moved to
London where he continued his public activity. He played a
role in obtaining the *Balfour Declaration, yet was not over-
whelmed by the Zionist movement's enthusiasm following the
Declaration. Ahad Ha-Am perceived its limitations, especially
in connection with the Arab question (see, on the Arabs, the
Introduction to the 1905 edition of Al Parashat Derakhim),
and evidently had a better appreciation of its true significance
than his colleagues. During this period, his literary work was
much diminished.
In 1922 he settled in Erez Israel, where he remained un-
til his death. He completed his four-volume collected essays
started in 1895, Al Parashat Derakhim, dictated several chap-
ters of memoirs, and edited his letters (6 vols. (1923-25), and
in a more comprehensive edition, edited by L. Simon and Y.
Pogravinsky (1957-60)).
A self-confessed stranger to literature, Ahad Ha-Am en-
tered it by chance; in time, however, he developed a carefully
chiseled, lucid, and precise style, a desire for consistency, and
a profound sense of responsibility. His failure to systemize his
teachings in a comprehensive work may have been the result
of lack of time, or of his reluctance to undertake a great task.
His natural skepticism and his lack of confidence, governed to
a considerable extent by the limitations of education and char-
acter, also led him to recoil in the face of the audacity of the
“young authors” and the daring of political Zionism. His esti-
mation of himself, then, as an occasional writer, was correct.
His articles, including even those based on an all-embracing
world outlook, are basically the responsible reactions to con-
temporary problems of a pragmatic thinker, deeply devoted
to his aims, but considerably influenced in his arguments by
varying conditions and circumstances. This was largely the
consequence of the fact that Ahad Ha-Am owed his ideas to
incompatible sources: positivism and idealism, but never suc-
ceeded in working out systematically the relation between the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
two. Nevertheless, they are historically significant and express
the self-questioning of the generation that brought about a
momentous change of direction in Jewish history. Ahad Ha-
Amis reservations concerning political Zionism, the immedi-
ate settlement of Erez Israel, and the Zionist movement's ela-
tion regarding the Balfour Declaration were primarily based
upon his misgivings about the tendency to haste which is
characteristic of every mass messianic awakening. Ahad Ha-
Am feared that Zionism might have the same end as other
such movements in Jewish history that led to despair and di-
sastrous disintegration (Ha-Bokhim; “They Who Weep”). He
may never have believed wholeheartedly in the reality of the
Zionist solution, even on the limited scale of his own defini-
tion. He clearly saw the political and economic problems and
felt that they could not be overcome.
In his very first article Lo Zeh ha-Derekh he ascribed the
difficulties of Jewish settlement in Erez Israel to the weakness
of the national consciousness among the Jews. A great enter-
prise demands a readiness on the part of the masses to sacri-
fice their private advantage for the sake of the community, but
as a result of dispersion and the distress of exile, the Jews had
not grown accustomed to such altruism. When they came to
the homeland, they expected rapid economic success and im-
mediately gave way to despair when this was not forthcoming.
Hence, he believed, the pace of settlement should be slowed
down, and be preceded by intensive education to prepare the
people for self-sacrifice and to strengthen its national con-
sciousness. In other words, the decisive test should be post-
poned indefinitely, on the implied assumption that the work
of preparation for the realization of the aim would in itself
constitute a partial solution. It would not, indeed, solve what
Ahad Ha-Am defined as “the question of the Jews,” namely, the
economic, social, and political problems of the Jewish masses.
In any case, he felt that Zionism would not solve these prob-
lems. On the other hand, it could solve what he defined as “the
question of Judaism”; that is, it could create a new type of Jew,
proud of his Jewishness and deeply rooted in it, thus ensuring
the continuation of the spiritual creativity of Judaism and the
Jews’ devotion to their people.
These pragmatic considerations are the starting-point
for a first theoretical analysis of the question: What is the na-
ture and the source of the national consciousness? How is it
weakened and how can it be strengthened? It is characteris-
tic, again, of Ahad Ha-Am’s pragmatic method that, despite
his sensitivity to the weak national consciousness among the
Jews, he did not study the cultural and historical bases for
such national consciousness, but assumed its existence as a
natural fact. When the Jews of Germany, France, and Britain
asked “Why do we have to remain Jews?” Ahad Ha-Am re-
plied that the question was not legitimate. Just as a man does
not ask why he has to be a particular individual, so the Jew
cannot ask why he must remain a Jew; this is a given fact that
cannot be changed by volition. On the assumption that na-
tionality is naturally acquired, he builds a characteristic anal-
ogy between the “individual ego” and the “national ego,’ which
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHAD HA-AM
represents the nation’s collective identity and embraces all in-
dividuals throughout the generations. He did not systemati-
cally explain this concept, but his intention is suggested in his
distinction between a person’s attitude toward his people and
toward humanity. The latter is “abstract;” a person rationally
understands the unity of all men, recognizes his bonds with
them, and his moral duty toward them. But this abstraction
is not sufficient to arouse his love for the individual as such.
The attitude to the nation is “tangible,” that is, emotional. It is
not derived from thought, but from a natural, biological im-
pulse. Every individual carries from birth a sense of belonging
to the group into which he was born; the family, tribe, or na-
tionality, which is the foundation of his existence (Ha-Adam
ba-Ohel; “Man in his Tent”). The “national ego” is, therefore,
anchored in the “individual ego”
This leads to a second analogy, found in many of Ahad
Ha-Am’s essays (Heshbon ha-Nefesh (Summa Summartum,
1962)). The individual acts, as Darwin taught, in obedience to
the “will to live” This is an elemental impulse that needs no
justification; it is a given fact. The nation also acts through its
own “will to live.” However, this means that each individual
aspires to exist with his nation and to maintain its existence;
in this sense the “national will to live” is an outcome of the in-
dividual will to live.” Moreover, under natural conditions the
individual regards the survival of the nation as taking prece-
dence over his own survival, because the nation is his biologi-
cal base and will continue to exist even after the death of the
individual. Hence, the individual naturally regards himself as
an ephemeral cell in an organism that existed before him and
will continue to exist after he is gone. In his desire to survive,
he wishes to perpetuate his people, and through the same im-
pulse he will be prepared, in time of need, to sacrifice his per-
sonal survival for that of the nation.
Ahad Ha-Am asked how this natural feeling has been
weakened among the Jews. How have they arrived at a situ-
ation in which they prefer their personal survival to the sur-
vival of their people? And he responded that this is a result
of the unnatural conditions of exile. On the one hand, it is
apparently caused by social, political, and economic distress,
factors not deeply probed by Ahad Ha-Am, no doubt because
he did not regard Zionism as a solution for such problems.
On the other hand, he analyzed the spiritual situation of Ju-
daism in modern times, which he presented without enquiry
or proof, as an independent cause of the weakening of the
Jews’ national consciousness. This weakening he ascribed to
two causes: first, the paralysis of the spiritual creative pow-
ers of traditional Judaism in the Diaspora, which had become
enslaved to the written word (Ha-Torah she-ba-Lev; “Torah
of the Heart”) and, second, the tremendous force of Europe's
vibrant and creative culture. While the educated young Jew
admired and identified with European culture, he despised
the heritage of his fathers and could not identify with it. If
Jews wished to halt this process, they must revive the creative
power of traditional Judaism and combat the Jewish intellec-
tual’s self-deprecation in the face of European culture, in or-
527
AHAD HA-AM
der to revive his identification with his pride in his heritage
(Ha-Musar ha-Le'ummi; “National Morality”).
Ahad Ha-Am did not probe why such an effort should
be made. He assumed the existence of the national feeling, if
only in a weak and distorted form, both in the souls of the
zealots of a petrified tradition and also in those of the assimi-
lationists. In denying this national feeling, or its obligations,
he felt that assimilationists denied themselves and were living
in “slavery in the midst of freedom,” as well as in moral and
spiritual distress. Only when they returned to a complete life
in the midst of their people would they return to themselves
(Avdut be-Tokh Herut; “Slavery in Freedom,’ 1962). But what
was it that really bound the Jewish intellectual to his heritage?
Ahad Ha-Am tried to discover this bond in the primary im-
pulse of “the national will to existence.” This will not only de-
mands loyalty to the heritage of Judaism but directly molds its
specific content. Thus, Ahad Ha-Am thought he could arouse
the devotees of tradition to adapt it to the new conditions, as a
duty derived from these values themselves, and persuade those
Jews who had assimilationist tendencies to recognize the vital
bond between themselves and their people's heritage. In gen-
eral he argued (as in Avar ve-Atid; “Past and Future,” 1962) that
since the “ego” is a combination of past and future, and the
suppression of one of these dimensions suppresses the “ego,”
therefore every Jew, if he is loyal to himself, must keep faith
with the past but adapt its values to the needs of survival in
the future. He tried to show in detail (in Mukdam u-Me'uhar
ba-Hayyim; “Precession and Succession in Life”) that even the
specific values of the Jewish faith, such as monotheism or the
messianic vision, are only functions of the national will to ex-
istence, for they can be cherished in an existential attachment
to the past and concurrently adapted to the thoughtways of an
adherent of modern European culture, in an attempt to per-
petuate the national existence.
In this way, Ahad Ha-Am expressed his ambivalent atti-
tude to tradition, an attitude characteristic of the generation
that received a traditional education in childhood but dis-
carded tradition upon reaching maturity. He identified him-
self with the tradition as an inseparable part of his cultural
personality; that is, his memories. But he could no longer
define his world outlook and his way of life in its terms. He
therefore exchanged the belief that certain values were abso-
lute imperatives for an emotional attachment to such values,
and sought in them a reflection of his attitude to them. At the
same time, Ahad Ha-Am did not ignore the difficulties caused
by this ambivalence. Asserting that certain values are part of
the ancient heritage which maintained the nation in the past,
he realized, was insufficient to ensure a positive attitude to
them in the present. If we seek to guarantee the nation’s sur-
vival in the future, we must identify ourselves with the values
of its heritage for their own sake. Thus, Ahad Ha-Am sought
those values with which the Jewish intellectual could directly
identify himself. While in some essays he based the national
bond on the “will to live” of the “national ego” in terms drawn
from positivism, in others (such as Moshe and Ha-Musar ha-
528
Le'ummi), he based the national bond with Judaism on a spe-
cific ideal in terms drawn from idealist philosophy. The ideal
of Judaism is the ideal of absolute justice, which is “the quest
for truth in action,’ and which was revealed in prophecy. The
inner content of the Jewish faith is pure morality, which Juda-
ism bequeathed to European culture and to which it remained
faithful in all its historical metamorphoses.
The contradiction between this concept and the previ-
ous one is obvious, and they have only one common denom-
inator, the pragmatic considerations which underlie both.
Ahad Ha-Am’s purpose in these essays was not to define the
essence of Judaism in general, but to seek those values with
which the Jewish intellectual could identify and of which he
could be proud. He was therefore able, as it were, to go back
on his own statements and in several essays (such as Al Shetei
ha-Se’ipim; “Two Domains”) declare that the essence of Juda-
ism is absolute monotheism, and not undiluted morality. He
adopted this attitude during his dispute with Liberal Judaism,
which displayed tendencies to assimilation on the assumption
of an identity between the ethical ideal of Judaism and that of
modern European humanism. To the extent that this identity
did not lead to the preservation of the national uniqueness but
blurred its identity, he repudiated it and made a new start in
his search for the characteristic values of Judaism.
The same degree of ambivalence is revealed in Ahad Ha-
Am’ attitude to the halakhah. For pragmatic reasons he found
it convenient not to deal with this question, but his general
statements about the petrified tradition aroused strong reac-
tions even from rabbis who were favorable to Hibbat Zion. He
therefore had to consider the question of halakhah in the hope
of maintaining a modus vivendi between the religious and sec-
ular wings of Judaism (Divrei Shalom; “Words of Peace”). This
modus vivendi was based, of course, on the assumption that
both sides were concerned for the continued existence of the
Jewish people as a people with a distinct spiritual identity, and
regarded the return to Zion as the solution. On this basis the
debate on the content of Judaism could be postponed to the
distant future. But it was clear that the secular and religious
wings had certain expectations of each other. Ahad Ha-Am’s
problem was to formulate these expectations without imme-
diately destroying the basis common to both wings. Hence,
he rejected Reform by an unqualified acceptance of the Or-
thodox view, without examining the arguments of the reform-
ers on their merits, arguing that the words of the Torah could
not be taken as divine commands and then corrected accord-
ing to human understanding; the correction undermined the
fundamental assumption of religion and thus made itself su-
perfluous. On the other hand, however, Ahad Ha-Am could
not abandon his demand for changes in the halakhah in or-
der to adapt it to the way of life of the modern Jew; nor could
he conceal the fact that changes in the halakhah had indeed
taken place in the past. He found the solution in a historical
formula: religion is subject not to reform but to development.
In other words those who introduce changes in it do not do so
deliberately, as reformers. Instead, after their world view has
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
changed and under the influence of contemporary conditions,
they interpret tradition as if they had planned to uphold those
things they consider true and obligatory. Ahad Ha-Am there-
fore believed that the influence of life in Erez Israel would lead
to the development of religion, and there would no longer be
any need to directly demand changes in the halakhah.
In their new framework Jewish social and cultural life
would be enriched and broadened and the very existence of the
Jews as members of one nation would not be endangered.
There were several foundations for Ahad Ha-Am’s ver-
sion of practical Zionism: his distrust of an impetuous and
premature attempt to carry out a great enterprise; his disbelief
in the reality of the Zionist program as a solution to the Jewish
problem; and the aspiration to solve the problem of Judaism
by reviving its unfettered spiritual creativity and strengthen-
ing the Jews’ identification with their reinvigorated heritage
(Dr. Pinsker u-Mahbarto; “Pinsker and his Brochure” in: Fed-
eration of American Zionists, 1911, and Tehiyyat ha-Ruah; “The
Spiritual Revival,” 1962). He did not present the vision of the
ingathering of the exiles in Erez Israel even as an ultimate
long-term goal. Most of the Jewish people would continue to
exist in exile, on the assumption that its social and economic
situation would ultimately improve and it would achieve
equality of civic rights. In any case, the solution to the “ques-
tion of the Jews” should be sought, in his view, in the lands of
the Diaspora. Those who were troubled by “the question of
Judaism” would settle in Erez Israel, where they would main-
tain a Jewish State which would serve as a “spiritual center”
for the Diaspora. Its independent society, which would be
entirely Jewish, would constitute a focus of emotional identi-
fication with Judaism, and the spiritual values that would be
created in Erez Israel would nourish all parts of the people
and ensure its continued existence and unity. After the Bal-
four Declaration, Ahad Ha-Am presented another argument
for his limited program; consideration for the national rights
of the Palestine Arabs.
Ahad Ha-Am’s works not only influenced his disciples
and admirers, but also prompted debates and criticism which
fertilized modern Jewish thought to the extent that every
stream in Zionism has been influenced by the challenge of
his writings. After the establishment of the State of Israel, his
doctrines, both political and theoretical, were submitted to
renewed criticism, but his essays are still studied and are an
influential factor in Jewish thought both in the Diaspora and
Israel. One of the most influential authors and thinkers of his
generation, his articles and essays constitute one of the major
achievements of modern Hebrew literature.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Simon (tr. and ed.), Ahad Ha-Am, Essays,
Letters, Memoirs (1946); idem, Ahad Ha-Am Asher Ginzberg; a Biogra-
phy (1960), idem, Ahad Ha-Am, the Lover of Zion (1961); idem (tr. and
ed.), Selected Essays by Ahad Ha-Am (1962), N. Bentwich, Ahad Ha-
Am and his Philosophy (1927); A. (Leon) Simon and J.A. Heller, Ahad
Ha-Am, ha-Ish. Poolo ve-Torato (1955); Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1956),
60-71; J. Fraenkel, Dubnow, Herzl, and Ahad Ha-Am (1963).
[Eliezer Schweid]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHA OF SHABHA
AHAT (Aha; late fifth and early sixth century), Babylonian
scholar of the period of transition between the amoraim and
the savoraim, at the time of the final redaction of the Talmud.
Since most of his statements aim at resolving problems or clar-
ifying matters in their more or less final form, they are gener-
ally prefaced by such distinctive formulae as 71D (“he raised
an objection”) and nw» (“he explained”). He is mentioned
together with other savoraim (Hul. 59b; Ta/an. 18b). Sages of
Erez Israel wrote to their colleagues in Babylonia, “Give heed
to the opinion of R. Ahai, for he enlightens the eyes of the
Diaspora” (Hul., loc. cit.). The Epistle of *Sherira Gaon (ed.
Lewin, 38) refers to three savoraim named Ahai or Aha: Aha
of Bei Hattim (a place near Nehardea), Ahai b. Huna who died
in 505 c.£., and Aha the son of Rabbah b. Abbuha who died
on the Day of Atonement in 510 c.£. Ahai without a cogno-
men is probably Ahai b. Huna.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Halevy, Dorot (1923), 56-60; Z.W. Rabinow-
itz, Shaarei Torat Bavel (1961), 344, 528; Hyman, Toledot. s.v.
[Alter Hilewitz]
AHAI BEN JOSIAH (end of second century), Babylonian
halakhist at the close of the tannaitic period. His father Josiah
was a pupil of R. Ishmael. Ahai’s statements are quoted sev-
eral times in the halakhic Midrashim of the school of Ishmael,
the Mekhilta on Exodus and the Sifre on Numbers. Toward
the end of Judah ha-Nasi’s life Ahai placed the inhabitants of
a certain town in Babylonia under the ban because they had
desecrated the Sabbath (Kid. 72a). Among Ahai’s adages are
“He who gazes at a woman is bound to come to sin, and he
who looks even at a woman’s heel will have unworthy chil-
dren” (Ned. 20a); “He who buys grain in the market is like an
infant whose mother has died and who is taken from one wet
nurse to another, but is never satisfied... But he who eats of
his own produce is like an infant raised at his mother’s breast”
(ARN’, 31). He applied the verse “Thou shalt not deliver unto
his master a bondman” (Deut. 23:16) to a slave who escaped
from another land to Erez Israel (Git. 45a). It is assumed that
he established the yeshivah in Huzal in Babylonia, known af-
ter his death as “the school of Ahai,” which was famous in the
early third century and became the nucleus of Rav’s yeshivah
(TJ, Av. Zar. 4:1, 43d; Ma’as. 4:6, 51¢)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 136; Bacher, Tann; Epstein,
Tanna’im, 571-2; Halevy, Dorot, 2 (1923), 182-4.
[Eliezer Margaliot]
AHA (Ahai) OF SHABHA (680-752), scholar of the Pumbe-
dita yeshivah in the geonic period and author of She’iltot
(“Questions”). He came from Shabha, which is adjacent to
Basra. When a vacancy occurred in the geonate of Pumbedita
a few years before the death of Aha, the exilarch Solomon b.
Hasdai appointed Natronai Kahana b. Emunah of Baghdad,
a pupil of Aha, as gaon (748). Incensed at this slight, Aha left
Babylonia (c. 750) and settled in Palestine. His departure
deeply affected his contemporaries and many followed him.
529
AHA OF SHABHA
By the next generation a considerable number of Babylonian
Jews were settled in Palestine. In many places they even built
separate synagogues following the Babylonian ritual. The
She’iltot (always so called, and not by the more correct name
Sheelata), was the first book written after the close of the Tal-
mud to be attributed to its author. Much of its subject matter
is very old, even antedating the final redaction of the Talmud.
There are statements in the She’iltot that do not appear in the
Talmud or which are there in a different version. It also con-
tains “reversed discussions” (i.e., where the statements of the
disputants are reversed, contradictory, or different from those
in the standard texts). Other portions belong to the period of
the savoraim and of the first geonim. A number of decisions
cited by the geonim as the tradition of “many generations” or
which refer to “earliest authorities” are verbally reproduced in
the She’iltot. Even the legal terminology is identical with that
of the legal decisions of the savoraim as transmitted by the
geonim. Nevertheless, apart from his quotation of the deci-
sions of other authorities, it can be assumed that some of the
halakhic decisions are his own.
Both in content and in form, She’iltot is unique in Jewish
literature. It is unlike midrashic literature since its halakhic
elements exceed its aggadic. However, it has some similarity
to Midrash Yelammedenu in that both deal with halakhah de-
rived from Scripture. It is also without parallel in the litera-
ture of the Codes, being arranged neither according to subject
matter nor according to the sequence of the sections in which
the Pentateuch is divided. Aha’s method is to connect deci-
sions of the Oral Law with the Written Law. The connections
are often original and even surprising, though sometimes un-
convincing. Often he bases a legal decision not upon its hal-
akhic source in the Torah but on its narrative portion. The
laws of theft and robbery, for example, are based on Genesis
6:13: “And the earth is filled of violence because of them.” For
the laws of the study of the Torah he finds a passage in the
section of Lekh Lekha. In the section Va-Yiggash, which tells
of the famine in Egypt, the author launches a remarkable at-
tack on hoarders and profiteers: “And he who acts thus shall
obtain no forgiveness.” She’iltot thus concerns itself not only
with the ritual commandments but also with the “duties of
the heart,” the ethical obligations required of man. Time and
again he denounces unethical conduct and praises high moral
standards; some of the she’iltot are elevating ethical discourses.
The book is written in Aramaic; had it been translated into
good Hebrew, it would doubtless have enjoyed wide popular-
ity. Various scholars agree that the She’iltot consists of sermons
delivered during ordinary Sabbaths as well as on the Shabbta
de-Rigla (the first Sabbath of the academic term, a month be-
fore Sukkot) and during the Sabbaths of the *kallah months. It
was almost certainly the custom during the geonic era to give
the she’ilta form of sermon in the synagogue of the yeshivah.
Some assert that both types of lecture (the metivta and the
perek) delivered at the Babylonian academies remained in the
archives of the academy and only during the geonic period
were they copied and edited. (See *Academies in Babylonia
530
and Palestine.) The chapters included in She’iltot are those on
which discourses were delivered by the amoraim before the
close of the Talmud and during the early geonic period. Ac-
cording to this opinion the She’iltot contain such discourses
which were assembled and edited by Aha (Mirsky).
Each she’ilta is divided into four parts. The first serves as
a general introduction to the subject, speaks of the value and
significance of the particular commandments, and serves as a
preparation for the question that is to be discussed. The second
part is always introduced with the words: “but it is necessary
that you learn,” or in an abridged form: “but it is necessary,’
followed by the question. Then comes the third part, the homi-
letical part, which begins: “Praised be the Lord, who has given
us the Torah and the commandments through our teacher
Moses to instruct the people of Israel,” after which the preacher
proceeds from subject to subject. The fourth part is introduced
by the formula: “With respect to the question I have set before
you...; and then answers the question propounded in the sec-
ond part. Some assume that the lecture was called “she’ilta”
because its most important part is the question and its solu-
tion. However, not all the she’iltot have come down in their
complete form: in most of them the third part is missing. One
she’ilta is to be found in the Talmud itself (Shab. 30a) and it
appears that this pattern of public sermon is ancient.
Many scholars have dealt with the question of whether
Aha wrote the book of She’iltot while he was still in Babylonia
or after his immigration to Palestine. Some are of the opinion
that Aha began it in Babylonia and completed it in Palestine.
There are indications which point to its having been written
in both countries. According to Weiss, Graetz, and Poznanski,
the She’iltot was compiled in Babylonia. L. Ginzberg, basing
himself upon linguistic evidence, thought that the book was
compiled in Palestine. On the other hand, J.N. Epstein con-
cluded that its language is the Aramaic of the Talmud with
the special nuances of the Aramaic of the geonim, and that
therefore it was probably compiled in Babylonia. One prob-
lem still inadequately investigated is the extent to which the
She’iltot makes use of the Jerusalem Talmud. Some scholars
(Ratner and Reifmann) maintain that this is a major source.
Poznanski, on the other hand, points to only seven passages
definitely taken from the Jerusalem Talmud. Ginzberg and Ka-
minka refute much of the evidence supporting the view that
the She’iltot made use of the Jerusalem Talmud.
The She‘iltot has come down in a fragmentary and de-
fective form. In its extant state it contains 171 sheiltot, some
repeated twice or even three times, some fragmentary. Tcher-
nowitz has endeavored to explain the unusual repetitions
on the assumption that the She’iltot was directed against the
Karaites who were making considerable progress at that time.
Aha's sermons deal particularly with those commandments
which the Karaites disregarded, particularly those of rabbinic
provenance. In various manuscripts, especially in the Cairo
Genizah, there are she’iltot and parts of she’iltot not to be found
in the extant editions. Excerpts of she’iltot are to be found also
in the Halakhot Gedolot and in several other sources. Some
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
scholars think that Halakhot Gedolot was composed before the
She’iltot, whereas others maintain the opposite view, holding
that Halakhot Gedolot drew upon the She’iltot. Halakhot Pesu-
kot is also considered to be later than the She’iltot. It seems
probable that after the publication of She’iltot, the geonim con-
tinued to preach she’iltot orally and that these formed the ba-
sis of the Halakhot Pesukot which were later compiled by the
disciples of Yehudai Gaon. Special mention should be made of
the book Ve-Hizhir, apparently written in Palestine in the tenth
century, which contains a large number of she’iltot. A whole
literature of she’iltot then grew up which used Aha’s book as a
prototype. The rishonim also made great use of the She’iltot.
She’iltot was first published in Venice in 1566. Other edi-
tions worthy of mention are (1) She’iltot with the commentar-
ies Sheilat Shalom and Rishon le-Ziyyon, by Isaiah Berlin Pick
(1786); (2) with the commentary Toafot Reem of Isaac Pardo
(1811); (3) with Haamek Sheelah of Naphtali Zevi Judah *Ber-
lin, considered the most complete commentary (1861-67; 274
edition, with additions and supplements, 1947-52); (4) with
the commentary Rekah Mordekhai of Eliezer Mordecai Keneg
(1940); (5) a new edition with a voluminous introduction,
commentary, and variae lectiones, published by S.K. Mirsky
(Genesis and Exodus, in 3 vols., 1959-63). Mirsky mentions
11 manuscripts of She’iltot and 4 commentaries which have
never been published.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Reifmann, in: Beit Talmud, 3 (1882), 26-29,
52-59, 71-79, 108-17, 144-8; L. Ginzberg, Geonica, 1 (1909), 75-79; A.
Kaminka, in: Sinai, 6 (1940), 179-92; J.N. Epstein, in: JQR, 12 (1921/22),
299-390; idem, in: Tarbiz, 6 (1934/35), 460-973 7 (1935/36), 1-30; 8
(1936/37), 5-543 10 (1938/39), 283-308; 13 (1941/42), 25-36; V. Aptow-
itzer, in: HUCA, 8-9 (1931-32), 373-95; S.K. Mirsky, She’iltot, 1 (1959),
1-41; Baron, Social’, 6 (19587), 37-40, 336-9. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
R. Brody, The Textual History of the She’iltot (1991); E. Itzchaky, in:
Moreshet Yaakov, 5 (1991), 128-32.
[Simha Assaf / Yehoshua Horowitz]
AHARON, EZRA (1903-1995), composer, “ud player, and
singer. Aharon was born in Baghdad, where he acquired a
sound reputation as a versatile musician and a leading vir-
tuoso and composer. The His Master’s Voice and Baidaphon
companies recorded many of his compositions. He was se-
lected by the Iraqi authorities to head a group of musicians
to represent his country at the First International Congress of
Arab Music held in Cairo in 1932. The delegation comprised
six Jewish instrumentalists plus a vocalist who was a Muslim.
The participants in the Congress, including the composers
Bartok and Hindemith and the musicologists Robert *Lach-
mann, Curt *Sachs, and H.G. Farmer, chose Aharon as the best
musician present. He came to Palestine in 1934 and settled in
Jerusalem, where a year later a group of notables, including
Professor David *Yellin, future second president of Israel Izhak
*Ben-Zvi, the renowned educator David Avisar, his great sup-
porter Robert Lachmann, and others, established in his honor
a special society for the promotion of Israeli Oriental song.
When the first radio station was established in Jerusalem in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHARONI, YOHANAN
1936 by the British Mandatory government, he was selected by
composer Karl *Salomon to head a special section of Jewish
Oriental music. After the establishment of the state, Aharon
founded and directed an Oriental ensemble at Kol Israel. He
composed 270 Hebrew songs including synagogal piyyutim,
melodies set to poems of famous medieval and contemporary
Hebrew poets, such as *Bialik, *Ichernichowsky, *Shimoni,
and Sh. *Shalom, as well as about 200 instrumental and vo-
cal Arabic pieces, which represent a landmark in the history
of Palestinian and Judeo-Arabic music. In the performance of
his Hebrew compositions he appeared together with Western
and Oriental musicians; Arabs and Jewish Oriental musicians
played and sang his Arabic compositions. Written scores exist
for a great portion of his works.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Shiloah, in: Y. Ben-Arieh (ed.), Yerusha-
layim bi-tekufat ha-mandat (2003), 449-72.
[Amnon Shiloah (274 ed.)]
AHARONI, ISRAEL (1882-1946), Erez Israel naturalist and
zoologist. Aharoni was born in Vidzy, near Vilna, and studied
at the University of Prague. In 1904 he settled in Jerusalem,
where he taught French and German in a Sephardi talmud
torah, and later, Hebrew in the newly founded *Bezalel School
of Art. Aharoni’s interest in zoology led him to begin a natural
history museum and he was among the first settlers in Erez
Israel to study the local fauna. His zoological explorations ex-
tended over all of Palestine, parts of Syria, and the Arabian
Peninsula. In 1924 Aharoni became a staff member of the new
Institute of Natural History of Palestine. In the following years
he wrote extensively on local birds and made a survey of the
mammals of Palestine. Over 30 new species of mammals,
birds, and insects were named in his honor. In 1930 he made
an expedition to Syria, from which he returned with a preg-
nant female golden hamster. From the progeny of this single
animal a colony was established at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. The golden hamster proved to be a useful subject
for biological and medical research and thousands of ham-
sters, all offspring of Aharoni’s original animal, were provided
to laboratories all over the world. Aharoni was custodian of the
Zoological Museum and taught at the Hebrew University. He
influenced the development of biology in Palestine through
his pioneering fieldwork, his university teaching, and his text-
book, Torat ha-Hai (“Animal Life? 1930).
[Mordecai L. Gabriel]
AHARONI, YOHANAN (1919-1976), Israeli archaeologist.
Aharoni, born in Germany, settled in Palestine in 1933 and
was a member of kibbutz Allonim from 1938 to 1947. From
1948 to 1950 he served in the Israeli Army. He was inspector
in Galilee for the Department of Antiquities from 1950 to 1955.
An archaeological survey conducted by him in Upper Gali-
lee shed new light on the early Israelite settlement during the
Early Iron Age. Among his activities during that period were
the first explorations in the caves of the Judean Desert, a pre-
531
AHARONIM
liminary archaeological survey of *Masada, and excavations
at Kedesh in Galilee and Tel Harashim near Peki’in in Upper
Galilee. Aharoni served for four seasons as a staff archaeologist
on the *Hazor expedition. He became a research fellow at the
Hebrew University and rose to the rank of associate professor
(1966). At *Ramat Rahel he uncovered the remains of an im-
pressive Judean citadel. Aharoni also participated in two sea-
sons of intensive exploration of the caves in the Judean Des-
ert (1960-61). From 1963 to 1967 he conducted five seasons of
excavation on the Iron Age fortress at Tel *Arad. Subsequently,
Aharoni investigated the small temple at *Lachish for com-
parisons with that at Arad and found there an older Israelite
shrine. In 1968 he became chairman of the department of an-
cient Near Eastern studies at Tel Aviv University and director
of the Institute for Archaeology. In 1969 he commenced the
excavation of Tel Beer Sheva (Tell el-Sabi), the site of the bib-
lical *Beer-Sheba. Besides his numerous articles in the field of
historical geography, he wrote Hitnahalut Shivtei Yisrael ba-
Galil ha-Elyon (1967) on the settlement of Israelite tribes in
Upper Galilee, and the comprehensive study Erez Yisrael bi-
Tekufat ha-Mikra (1962; The Land of the Bible, 1967). His He-
brew work, Atlas Karta bi-Tekufat ha-Mikra (Jerusalem, 1964),
was combined with a complementary work by M. Avi-Yonah
to form The Macmillan Bible Atlas (New York, 1968). Aharoni
was joint editor of the Encyclopaedia Judaica’s department on
the historical geography of Erez Israel.
[Anson Rainey]
AHARONIM (Heb. 073177; lit. “the later” [authorities]), a
term used to designate the later rabbinic authorities, in con-
trast to the *rishonim, the earlier authorities. Although schol-
ars differ as to the exact chronological dividing line between
the two, some antedating it to as early as the period of the
*tosafists (12-13'? century) and others to the appearance of
the Shaarei Dura of Isaac ben Meir *Dueren (beginning of
14" century), the general consensus of opinion is that the pe-
riod of the rishonim ends with the death of Israel *Isserlein
(1460) and that of the aharonim begins with the appearance
of the *Shulhan Arukh of Joseph *Caro with the additions of
Moses “*Isserles (1525-1572). Caro in his monumental work
Beit Yosef, of which the Shulhan Arukh is a codified digest,
had taken into consideration the works of all his predeces-
sors, but had tended to ignore the decisions of the Ashkenazi
posekim of Germany and Poland since the appearance of the
Arbaah Turim of *Jacob b. Asher, and this omission was filled
by Isserles. It is therefore a fitting point at which to commence
the later period.
As a result of the introduction of the method of *pilpul by
R. Jacob *Pollack (d. 1530) and the increasing study of Torah
in Poland, the desire to discover new interpretations and to
raise problems in the Talmud and resolve them by means of
pilpul became particularly vigorous in that country, and the
second half of the 16" century saw the appearance of some of
the greatest aharonim and commentators of the Talmud and
gave a powerful impetus to the study of Torah in Poland.
532
R. Solomon b. Jehiel *Luria (the Maharshal; 1510-1573)
opposed the Beit Yosef and the Shulhan Arukh on the same
grounds as Isserles. Relying on the Talmud itself as the only
source for halakhic ruling he established in each case the hala-
khah of the Talmud and after comparing the different views
of all the posekim decided the halakhah only as it reflected
the statement of the Talmud itself. In his Yam shel Shelomo,
he took care to determine the correct version of the talmudic
text; his Hokhmat Shelomo comprises annotations on the Tal-
mud, Rashi, and the tosafot. To the same era belong R. Abra-
ham b. Moses di *Boton (1545-1588), author of the Lehem
Mishneh, and R. Bezalel *Ashkenazi (d. 1592), author of the
Shitah Mekubbezet, covering most tractates of the Talmud
and giving the explanations of the rishonim to the topics of
the Talmud. He also compiled responsa. Others are R. Solo-
mon b. Abraham ha-Kohen (the Maharshakh; d. 1602), one
of the greatest rabbis of Turkey and author of four volumes
of responsa, to the first of which is appended explanations
of and novellae to Maimonides’ Yad; R. Jacob b. Abraham
*Castro (the Maharikas; 1525-1610), author of Erekh Lehem
on the four parts of the Shulhan Arukh, regarded as the basis
for halakhic decision by the rabbis of Erez Israel and Egypt;
and R. Elijah b. *Hayyim (Maharanah; 1530-1610), author of
Teshuvot ha-Ranah.
17 Century
The opposition to the Shulhan Arukh was continued by R.
Mordecai *Jaffe (1530-1612), author of the Levushim (issued
1590-1599), which summarizes the halakhah, explaining the
reasons, sources, and grounds for deciding between the di-
vergent views of different posekim, but taking a stand against
the prolixity of the Beit Yosef on the one hand and the excep-
tional brevity of the Shulhan Arukh on the other. He, too,
relies in the main upon the views of the Ashkenazi and Pol-
ish scholars, and in this respect also opposes Caro’s tendency
to decide in favor of the view of the Sephardim; R. Joseph b.
Moses * Trani (Maharit; 1568-1639), who compiled commen-
taries to most tractates of the Talmud, to Maimonides’ Yad,
and to the Turim; also R. Joshua * Falk b. Alexander ha-Kohen
(the Sema; d. 1614), author of the Derishah u-Perishah and the
Sefer Me’irat Einayim (Sema), endeavored to explain the Tur
and the Shulhan Arukh at length and to supplement those
laws whose sources and reasons are not given in the Shulhan
Arukh, attempting at the same time to compromise between
Caro and Isserles. The method of R. Meir b. Gedaliah *Lublin
(Maharam of Lublin; 1558-1616) was to penetrate deeply into
the meaning of the Talmud and the tosafot, the final decision
being based on examination of the talmudic sources and the
early posekim, which caused him to oppose basing halakhic
decisions upon the Shulhan Arukh. His best-known book,
Meir Einei Hakhamim, consists of novellae and interpretations
of the Talmud. R. Benjamin Aaron *Slonik (d. 1620), a distin-
guished pupil of Isserles and the colleague of the “Sema,” the
“Levush,’ and Meir of Lublin, compiled the responsa Masat
Binyamin (1633) and was regarded in his generation as an
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
outstanding posek. Another contemporary of the Maharam,
Samuel Eliezer b. Judah *Edels (the Maharsha; 1555-1631), pen-
etrated deeply into the plain meaning of the Talmud and the
tosafot. His opposition to the Shulhan Arukh is not so obvi-
ous, since he does not deal with halakhic rulings. Despite this
he complains about those “who give halakhic rulings from the
Shulhan Arukh without knowing the reason for each mat-
ter.” He compiled Hiddushei Halakhot (2 pts.; 1612-1621) and
Hiddushei Aggadot (2 pts.; 1627-1631). This latter work makes
the Maharsha’s commentaries different from most others.
Maharsha endeavors to understand the often cryptic aggadot
through allegorical and symbolic interpretations. The Shenei
Luhot ha-Berit of R. Isaiah b. Abraham ha-Levi *Horowitz
(the Shelah; 1560-1632) contains laws following the order of
the festivals, an enumeration of the 613 commandments (see
*Commandments, the 613), and their reasons. Halakhah is
only a small portion of the Shenei Luhot ha-Berit. This en-
cyclopedic work includes philosophy, Kabbalah, biblical and
talmudic interpretations as well as ethics (musar) and discus-
sions of talmudic methodology. His son, R. Shabbetai Sheftel
(1590-1660), was the author of the Sefer Vavei ha-Ammudim,
appended to his father’s work. R. Nathan Nata b. Solomon
*Spira (1585-1633) published novellae to the Hilkhot ha-Rif
entitled Hiddushei Anshei Shem (1720). R. Meir b. Jacob ha-
Kohen *Schiff (Maharam Schiff; 1608-1644) compiled novellae
to the whole Talmud and the Turim, of which only those to five
tractates were published under the title Hiddushei Halakhot
(1741; 1747). R. Joel b. Samuel *Sirkes (the Bah; d. 1640) was
aware, as was the Sema, that the Beit Yosef could not explain
the Tur in a sufficiently satisfactory manner because its main
purpose was to arrive at halakhic decisions and, in conse-
quence, in his Bayit Hadash wrote “an extensive commentary
on the Tur having at the same time the aim of restoring it to
its former authority and glory in halakhah in order thereby to
diminish” the value of the Shulhan Arukh. One of the greatest
scholars of Salonika, a great posek and one of the greatest re-
sponders, was R. *Hayyim Shabbetai (Maharhash; 1557-1647).
R. *Joshua Hoeschel b. Joseph of Cracow (d. 1648) endeavored
in his Meginnei Shelomo (1715) to defend the views of Rashi
against the criticism of the tosafists. A colleague of the Bah, R.
Eliezer b. Samuel Hasid Ashkenazi, who was one of the rab-
bis of the Council of Four Lands, wrote halakhic pilpulim into
his Dammesek Eliezer (1646), which were utilized by Hayyim
*Benveniste in his Keneset ha-Gedolah. R. Yom Tov Lipmann
*Heller (1579-1654), author of the Tosafot Yom Tov, also op-
posed the Shulhan Arukh, his aim being to make the Mishnah
the basis for authoritative halakhah, taking into consider-
ation the early and later commentators and posekim. He com-
piled an extensive commentary in two parts on the Rosh: (1)
Maadanei Melekh and (2) Lehem Hamudot. R. Moses b. Isaac
Judah *Lima (d. 1658) made a summary in his commentary
Helkat Mehokek on the Shulhan Arukh, Even ha-Ezer, which
is based upon a comparison of talmudic sources and the views
of the rishonim with the Shulhan Arukh, while emphasizing
the method of pilpul. There are extant from R. *Joshua Hoe-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHARONIM
schel b. Jacob, known popularly as the “Rebbi Reb Hoeschel”
(d. 1663), halakhic novellae to tractate Bava Kamma and no-
vellae on the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol. Two commentators on the
Shulhan Arukh, known from their works as the Taz and the
Shakh, through whom the Shulhan Arukh attained its most
developed state and widespread acceptance, were active dur-
ing the period of the *Chmielnicki pogroms of 1648: R. *David
b. Samuel ha-Levi (the Taz; 1586-1667) intended through his
commentary Turei Zahav to restore authoritative decision to
its proper place, arriving at the definitive halakhah through
comparing the different views in order to arrive at a final de-
cision, yet in his eyes the Shulhan Arukh was the decisive hal-
akhic ruling. In 1978, C. Chavel published a definitive edition
of the Taz’s novellae on Rashi’s commentary on the Pentateuch.
R. *Shabetai b. Meir ha-Kohen (Shakh; 1621-1663) in his Siftei
Kohen explains the Shulhan Arukh and decides between its au-
thor and Isserles, striving at the same time to harmonize their
views. In the Siftei Kohen on the Hoshen Mishpat he summa-
rizes the views of all the rishonim and aharonim, trenchantly
criticizing and negating the existing views and laying down
new legal principles. R. Menahem Mendel b. Abraham *Kro-
chmal (1600-1661), a disciple of both the Bah and the Taz, is
the author of the noted responsa Zemah Zedek (1675) on the
four parts of the Shulhan Arukh.
In the generation of the Shakh there was in Poland-Lith-
uania, particularly in Vilna, a concentration of outstanding
Torah scholars. R. *Hillel b. Naphtali Zevi (1615-1690) com-
piled the novellae Beit Hillel (1691) on the Shulhan Arukh,
Yoreh Deah and Even ha-Ezer. R. Moses b. Naphtali Hirsch
*Rivkes of Vilna (second half of the 17"* century) compiled the
Beer ha-Golah (1662), giving the talmudic sources of the laws
of the Shulhan Arukh, in Maimonides’ Yad, and in the works
of the rishonim. R. *Ephraim b. Jacob ha-Kohen (1616-1678)
wrote the well-known responsa Shaar Efrayim. R. Aaron
Samuel b. Israel *Koidonover (Maharshak; 1624-1676) wrote
the novellae Birkat ha-Zevah (1669). R. *Samuel b. Uri Shraga
Phoebus (mid 17* cen.) was the author of the commentary
Beit Shemuel (1689) to the Even ha-Ezer. R. Hayyim b. Israel
Benveniste (1603-1673) in his Keneset ha-Gedolah gave a digest
of the particulars of all new decisions cited in the responsa
of outstanding aharonim from the time of Joseph Caro to his
own time. This work, the first after the Shulhan Arukh to as-
semble an anthology of responsa, was accepted in Sephardi
and Ashkenazi rabbinical circles as an authoritative work that
could be relied upon for practical rulings. Of other responsa
anthologies mention must be made of the Panim Hadashot
(1651) of Isaac b. Abraham Hayyim *Jesurun (d. 1655) and the
Leket ha-Kemah of R. Moses *Hagiz (1672-1751). R. Aaron
*Alfandari (16902-1774) in his Yad Aharon supplements the
Keneset ha-Gedolah from works not in the possession of Ben-
veniste. He also wrote Mirkevet ha-Mishneh, novellae to Mai-
monides’ Yad.
The following authoritative commentaries to the Orah
Hayyim should be noted: the Olat ha-Tamid (1681) of Samuel
b. Joseph of Cracow, and especially the Magen Abraham (1692)
533
AHARONIM
of Abraham Abele b. Hayyim ha-Levi *Gombiner (1637-1683),
who endeavored to arrive at a compromise between Caro’s
rulings and the amendments of Isserles, and in whose eyes
the Shulhan Arukh was the final authority; Gershon b. Isaac
*Ashkenazi (Ulif; d. 1693), compiler of the responsa Avodat ha-
Gershuni (1699) and Hiddushei ha-Gershuni (1710), notes and
novellae to the Shulhan Arukh, is known for his strictness in
laws of marriage; Jair Hayyim Bacharach (1638-1701), whose
reputation rests on his responsa Havvat Ya’ir (1699) and was
opposed to pilpul; Aryeh Leib *Gunzberg (1640-1718), author
of the responsa Shaagat Aryeh, Shaagat Aryeh ha-Hadashot,
and novellae to tractates of the Talmud. Among the rab-
bis of Jerusalem in that generation were: Moses b. Jonathan
*Galante (1620-1689), author of Zevah ha-Shelamim (1698)
and Korban Hagigah (1709); Moses b. Solomon ibn *Habib
(1654-1696), author of novellae to tractates of the Talmud
and of Get Pashut (1719). Peri Hadash (1692), a commentary
compiled by *Hezekiah b. David Da Silva (1659-1698), added
to the Shulhan Arukh and contains pungent criticism of the
posekim, including Caro himself. Abraham b. Saul *Broda
(1650-1717) wrote novellae on talmudic tractates entitled
Eshel Avraham and Toledot Avraham. Elijah b. Benjamin Wolf
*Shapira (1660-1712) was the author of Eliyahu Rabbah, no-
vellae on the Sefer ha-Levush. Zevi Hirsch b. Jacob *Ashkenazi
(Hakham Zevi; 1600-1718) published in 1712 his responsa, no-
vellae, and comments. His son, Jacob *Emden (1698-1776),
compiled Mor u-Keziah, comments and novellae to the Orah
Hayyim. Jacob Emden also wrote an extensive commentary on
the prayer book as well as various philosophical works. Sam-
uel b. Joseph Shattin ha-Kohen (Maharshashakh; d. 1719), an
outstanding German scholar, published Kos ha-Yeshuot (1711),
novellae to the tractates of the order Nezikin. Judah *Rosanes
(d. 1727), one of the greatest Turkish scholars, achieved fame
with his Mishneh la-Melekh (1731), novellae on the Yad, and Al
Parashat Derakhim (1728). Jacob b. Joseph *Reischer (d. 1733)
compiled the commentaries Minhat Yaakov, Shevut Yaakov,
and Hok le-Yaakov on the Shulhan Arukh. Most of the hal-
akhic works, novellae, and responsa of David *Oppenheim
(1664-1736), famed for his large library, remain in manuscript.
Alexander Sender b. Ephraim Zalman *Schor (d. 1737) was
the author of Simlah Hadashah (1733), rulings in the laws of
shehitah and terefot together with a pilpulistic commentary
Tevuot Shor that became an authoritative source on matters
pertaining to shehitah. Elazar Rokeah of Brody (d. 1741) com-
piled Arba Turei Even (1789), novellae to the Yad and the Tur.
A contemporary of the Peri Hadash, Hayyim b. Moses *Attar
(1696-1743), author of the Or ha-Hayyim on the Pentateuch,
wrote Peri Toar, a commentary on the Yoreh Deah, in which
he defends the Tur, Beit Yosef, and all rishonim from the criti-
cisms of the Peri Hadash.
186 Century
Among outstanding aharonim in the 18 century are Meir b.
Isaac *Eisenstadt (Maharam Esh; 1670-1744), author of Panim
Meirot (3 pts.; 1710-1738); and Isaac Hezekiah b. Samuel
534
*Lampronti (1679-1756), author of the halakhic encyclopae-
dia Pahad Yizhak. The Yad Malakhi (1767) of his contempo-
rary *Malachi b. Jacob ha-Kohen is a methodology of the Tal-
mud and posekim in three parts. Jacob Joshua b. Zevi Hirsch
*Falk (1680-1756) achieved fame with his extensive talmu-
dic work Penei Yehoshuah (4 pts.). Nethanel b. Naphtali Zevi
*Weil (1687-1769) was the author of Korban Netanel (1755), a
commentary of the Rosh of Asher b. Jehiel to the orders Moed
and Nashim, and of Netiv Hayyim, notes to the Orah Hayyim.
Aryeh Loeb b. Saul *Loewenstamm (1690-1755) of Amster-
dam republished the responsa of Moses Isserles (1711), add-
ing to it Kunteres Aharon, parallels from the responsa of the
Maharshal. Jonathan *Eybeschuetz (1690-1764) wrote the pil-
pulistic and acute commentaries Kereti u-Peleti (1763) to the
Yoreh Deah and Urim ve-Tummin (1775) to the Hoshen Mish-
pat. Zedakah b.Saadiah *Hozin of Baghdad (1699-1773) pub-
lished novellae to all four parts of the Shulhan Arukh. Among
the works of Judah b. Isaac *Ayash (1700-1760), an Algerian
scholar who settled in Erez Israel during his last years, known
also to German and Polish scholars, are Lehem Yehudah on
Maimonides’ Yad and the responsa Beit Yehudah. Eliezer b.
Samuel De *Avila (1714-1761), a great Moroccan scholar, com-
piled Magen Gibborim, novellae to talmudic tractates, and
Milhemet Mitzvah (1805) on the sources of halakhot in the
Talmud and posekim.
Exceptional prominence was achieved by Ezekiel b.
Judah ha-Levi *Landau (1713-1793), the author of the Noda
bi- Yehudah, who in his novellae established new halakhic rul-
ings. Solomon b. Moses *Chelm (1717-1781) became known
through his Mirkevet ha-Mishneh in which he defends Maimo-
nides from the strictures of *Abraham b. David of Posquieres
(the Rabad), at the same time explaining the views of Mai-
monides and the commentators on the Yad. David Samuel b.
Jacob *Pardo (1718-1790) is known through his Shoshannim
le-David on the Mishnah and Hasdei David on the Tosefta.
Meir *Margoliouth’s (d. 1790) responsa Me’ir Netivim reflect
the precarious basis of Jewish life in Poland and Lithuania.
Samuel b. Nathan ha-Levi of Kalin’s (1720-1806) Mahazit
ha-Shekel (1807) is a commentary on the Magen Avraham to
the Orah Hayyim and on the Shakh to Yoreh Deah Hilkhot
Melihah. One of the most prominent personalities among
aharonim in the 18 century is *Elijah b. Solomon Zalman,
the Gaon of Vilna (ha-Gera; 1720-1797). In his commentary
on the Shulhan Arukh he stresses the connection between its
decisions and the primary sources in the two Talmuds; when
explaining the talmudic view the Gaon indicates his sources
at the same time as he examines the different versions and de-
termines the talmudic text. Noted for its terse style, the Gaon’s
commentary on the Shulhan Arukh reflects his outstanding
scholarship and genius. Hayyim Joseph David *Azulai (the
Hida; 1724-1806) wrote halakhic laws and responsa, as well
as the Shem ha-Gedolim, a comprehensive compilation of
Jewish authors and their works up to that time. In 1771, about
a century after the publication of the Shakh and the Taz, Jo-
seph *Teomim (1727-1792) published his commentary Peri
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Megadim, whose main purpose was to comment on them,
adding new laws he had collected and laying down halakhic
principles. Another well-known commentary is the Levushei
Serad to Orah Hayyim and Yoreh Deah of David Solomon
Eibeschutz of Soroki (Safed, 1809). Pinhas ha-Levi *Horow-
itz of Frankfurt on Main (1730-1805) became known from his
Sefer Haflaah and Sefer ha-Makneh. In his well-known com-
mentary Kezot ha-Hoshen on Hoshen ha-Mishpat, Aryeh Leib
b. Joseph ha-Kohen *Heller (1745-1813) used the method of
pilpul, at the same time stressing the need for rational under-
standing. Particular note should be taken of *Shneur Zalman
of Lyady (1747-1812), the founder of Habad Hasidism and
author of the Tanya, who prepared for his hasidic followers
a new Shulhan Arukh which was issued in five parts in 1864.
Abraham b. Samuel *Alkalai (1749-1811) wrote Zekhor le-Avra-
ham on the Turim, which was relied on by halakhic authori-
ties in Erez Israel. Hayyim b. Isaac *Volozhiner (1749-1821),
the distinguished disciple of the Gaon of Vilna and founder
of the Volozhin Yeshivah, continued the latter's method of
shunning pilpul and stressing the literal and straightforward
meaning in halakhah. The vast majority of his writings were
destroyed by fire at the end of his life, leaving us with only a
small number of responsa and his philosophical work, Ne-
fesh ha-Hayyim. Meshullam *Igra (1752-1802), an outstand-
ing Galician and Hungarian scholar, compiled Igra Ramah on
the orders of Moed and Nashim, and responsa. Mordecai b.
Abraham *Banet (1753-1829) wrote Be‘ur Mordekhai, novellae
on the Sefer ha-Mitzvot of the Mordekhai, as well as other no-
vellae. Jacob *Lorbeerbaum of Lissa (1760-1832), in his com-
mentary Netivot ha-Mishpat on the Hoshen ha-Mishpat, sum-
marized the sources of the halakhah, while his Havvat Daat to
the Yoreh Deah is of decisive importance for halakhic ruling.
The following Yemenite rabbis living in the second half of the
186 century should be noted: Yahya b. Joseph *Salih, av bet
din in Sara and author of the responsa Peullat Zaddik dealing
with the practical problem of Yemenite Jews; David b. Shalom
*Mizrahi (1696-1771) and his son Yihya (1734-1809) in Sarva
wrote the responsa Revid ha-Zahav (1955) on Orah Hayyim
and Yoreh Deah on the customs of Yemenite Jews.
19 Century
Of the most notable 19" century scholars, the following de-
serve mention: Joshua Heschel b. Isaac *Babad (1754-1838),
author of the responsa Sefer Yehoshua (1829); Baruch b. Joshua
Ezekiel Feiwel *Fraenkel-Teomim (1760-1828), known from
his Barukh Taam; one of the greatest aharonim in this pe-
riod was Akiva b. Moses *Eger (1761-1837), famous for his
novellae, his Gilyon ha-Shas, and responsa; Moses b. Samuel
*Sofer (Hatam Sofer; 1762-1839), known by his responsa, no-
vellae on the Talmud, and Pentateuch commentary; Abraham
Samuel Benjamin *Sofer, author of Ketav Sofer, son of the
Hatam Sofer, and his son Simhah Bunem, author of Shevet
Sofer; *Israel b. Samuel Ashkenazi of Shklov (d. 1839), author
of Peat ha-Shulhan on laws connected with Erez Israel that
were not dealt with by Caro in his Shulhan Arukh; Ephraim
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHARONIM
Zalman *Margolioth (1760-1828), author of Beit Efrayim on
all four parts of the Shulhan Arukh, Shaarei Teshuvah, and
Pithei Teshuvah; Abraham b. Gedaliah *Tiktin (1764-1821),
author of Petah ha-Bayit on the Talmud and Shulhan Arukh;
Jacob Meshullam *Ornstein (1775-1839), author of Yeshuot
Yaakov; Israel b. Gedaliah *Lipschutz (1782-1861), famous for
his Tiferet Yisrael commentary on the Mishnah; Solomon b.
Judah Aaron *Kluger (Maharshak; 1783-1869) wrote novel-
lae on the Shulhan Arukh and compiled works on halakhah
and aggadah; Menahem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch
(1789-1866), author of the responsa Zemah Zedek; Hayyim b.
Leibush *Halberstam, the hasidic rabbi of Zanz (1793-1876),
author of the responsa Divrei Hayyim, characterized by its
blending of scholarship and Hasidism; Judah b. Israel *Aszod
(1794-1866), outstanding Hungarian rabbi, became widely
known through his Sheelot u-Teshuvot Maharia and Hiddushei
Maharia; Jacob b. Aaron *Ettlinger (1798-1871), known from
responsa Binyan Ziyyon (1868), his Arukh la-Ner, novellae to
tractates of the Talmud, and his Bikkurei Yaakov; Isaac Meir
Alter of Gur (1799-1866), known for his Hiddushei ha-Rim
and Sheelot u-Teshuvot ha-Rim; Samuel b. Joseph *Stras-
hun (1794-1872) wrote haggahot (notes) to the Talmud; Jo-
seph *Babad (1800-1875) became famous through his Minhat
Hinnukh (1869), extensively used especially among yeshivah
students, its main aim being not to determine the halakhah
but to stimulate further study by raising new problems. The
Minhat Hinnukh is an extensive commentary of the medieval
work, Sefer ha-Hinnukh. Mention must be made of the abridg-
ments of the Shulhan Arukh by Abraham * Danzig (1748-1820)
in his Hayyei Adam and Hokhmat Adam and by Solomon
*Ganzfried (1804-1886) in his Kitzur Shulhan Arukh; Zevi
Hirsch b. Meir *Chajes (1805-1855) wrote the Darkhei Horaah
and Mevo ha-Talmud (1845) on talmudic methodology, the
responsa Maharaz (1849), and notes and novellae on most
tractates of the Talmud; Moses b. Joseph *Schick (Maharam
Schick; 1807-1879), a Hungarian posek, author of about 1,000
responsa; Joseph Saul *Nathanson of Lemberg (1810-1875),
the posek of his generation, who opposed pilpul; David Dov
*Meisels (1814-1876), known from his responsa Ha-Radad on
Orah Hayyim and Even ha-Ezer (1903); Naphtali Zevi Judah
*Berlin (the Neziv; 1817-1893) of Volozhin, author of Haamek
Davar on the Pentateuch and Haamek Sheelah on the She’iltot
of R. Ahai; Moses Joshua Judah Leib *Diskin (Maharil Diskin;
1817-1898), the rabbi of Brest-Litovsk, who served as rabbi of
Jerusalem from 1877, compiled Torat Ohel Moshe and responsa;
Jacob Saul b. Eliezer Jeroham *Elyashar (1817-1906), Sephardi
chief rabbi of Erez Israel wrote thousands of responsa in an-
swer to inquiries; Isaac Elhanan b. Israel *Spektor of Kovno
(1817-1896), author of the responsa Beer Yizhak, Nahal Yizhak
on the Hoshen ha-Mishpat, and the responsa Ein Yizhak; Jo-
seph Baer *Soloveichik of Volozhin (1820-1892) wrote the
novellae Beit ha-Levi and responsa with the same title; Sha-
lom b. Yahya *Habshush (1825-1905), dayyan and head of a
yeshivah in San’a, published novellae and comments on the
laws of shehitah and terefot; Isaac Judah b. Hayyim Samuel
535
AHARONIM
*Schmelkes (1828-1906) of Lemberg is known for his re-
sponsa Beit Yizhak in six volumes; Jehiel Michael *Epstein’s
(1829-1908) Arukh ha-Shulhan aims at bringing some of the
rulings of the Shulhan Arukh up to date; he also wrote Arukh
ha-Shulhan le-Atid; Shalom Mordecai b. Moses *Shvadron
(1835-1911), known as Maharsham, whose genius is reflected
in the seven volumes of his responsa; Abraham Bornstein of
*Sochaczew (1839-1910), author of the responsa Avnei Nezer
on the Shulhan Arukh; Isaac Jacob *Reines (1839-1915), who
in his Hotam Tokhnit and Urim Gedolim eschewed pilpul and
introduced a purely logical approach to halakhah. Of noted
commentators on the Jerusalem Talmud in the 18t—19*» cen-
turies, mention must be made of *Elijah b. Loeb of Fulda (Raf;
d. 1725); David b. Naphtali Hirsch *Fraenkel (1707-1762), au-
thor of the Korban ha-Edah; Moses b. Simeon *Margoliot
(1710-1781), author of the commentary Penei Moshe; Jacob
David b. Ze'ev *Willowski (Ridbaz; 1845-1913), who settled
in Safed in his last years and whose commentary on the Jeru-
salem Talmud and his responsa are regarded as classics.
Among Oriental aharonim the following are worthy of
note: Hayyim *Palache (1788-1869) of Smyrna, author of 26
books, including the responsa Lev Hayyim and comments
on the Shulhan Arukh; *Joseph Hayyim b. Elijah Al-Hakam
(1833-1909) of Baghdad, a great posek known from his Ben Ye-
hoyaddah and Ben Ish Hai, which embrace halakhah, aggadah,
and homiletics.
20' Century
Until 1933 the study of Torah was centered in the great and
famous yeshivot of Eastern Europe - Poland, Lithuania, Hun-
gary, and Czechoslovakia. During that period centers of Torah
also began to be established in the United States. From 1933
on, and following World War 11, as a consequence of the liq-
uidation of these centers, the center of spiritual life passed to
the United States and Israel, and some scholars immigrated
to these new centers during the latter part of their lives: *Meir
Simhah ha-Kohen of Dvinsk (1843-1926), author of the Or
Sameah on Maimonides’ Yad and Meshekh Hokhmah on the
Pentateuch; Zevi Hirsch *Shapira of Munkacz (1850-1913), au-
thor of Darkhei Teshuvah on the Shulhan Arukh, and his son
Hayyim Eleazar (1872-1937), author of the responsa Minhat
Elazar; Elijah b. Naphtali Herz *Klatzkin (1852-1932); Hayyim
b. Joseph Dov *Soloveichik (Hayyim Brisker; 1853-1918),
who wrote novellae on tractates of the Talmud and the Yad
and devised a new system of talmudic dialectics, and his son
Isaac Ze'ev (1886-1960); Joseph *Rozin (“the Rogachover”;
1858-1936), known from his responsa Zafenat Paneah and
commentary on the Pentateuch with the same title; *Israel
Meir ha-Kohen (Hafez Hayyim; 1853-1933), author of the
Hafez Hayyim, dealing with the laws of slander and gossip, and
Mishnah Berurah on the first section of the Shulhan Arukh.
The Mishnah Berurah rapidly became the most widely ac-
cepted work of halakhah among Ashkenazi Jewry since the
publication of the Shulhan Arukh. Moses Samuel *Glasner
(1856-1924), who compiled Dor Revii and Shevivei Esh on
536
the Pentateuch; Joseph b. Judah *Engel (1859-1920), whose
works on halakhah, aggadah, and Kabbalah are arranged in
an encyclopedic manner, in most cases alphabetically; Judah
Leib *Zirelson (1860-1941) of Kishinev, author of the responsa
Azei Levanon, Gevul Yehudah, Lev Yehudah; Hayyim Ozer
*Grodzinski (1863-1940), author of the responsa Aviezer (3
pts.); Abraham Isaac ha-Kohen *Kook (1865-1935), author
of the novellae and responsa Mishpat Kohen and Iggerot ha-
Reayah; the Galician rabbi Menahem Munish b. Joshua Hes-
chel *Babad (1865-1938), author of the responsa Havazzelet ha-
Sharon; Zalman b. Ben-Zion *Sorotzkin (1881-1966), author of
the responsa Moznayim le-Mishpat and Oznayim la-Torah on
the Pentateuch; Ben Zion Meir Hai *Ouziel (1880-1953), Se-
phardi chief rabbi (rishon le-Zion) and author of the responsa
Mishpetei Ouziel, Shaarei Ouziel, Mikhmannei Ouziel; Isaac
ha-Levi b. Joel *Herzog (1888-1959), Ashkenazi chief rabbi
of Israel, wrote Divrei Yizhak (1921), Torat ha-Ohel (1948) on
Maimonides’ Hilkhot Sanhedrin, and the responsa Heikhal
Yizhak (1960; 1967) on Even ha-Ezer, in which he also dis-
cusses problems arising from the Holocaust and the establish-
ment of the State of Israel; Dov Berish b. Jacob *Wiedenfeld
(1881-1965) of Trzebinia, Galicia, author of the responsa Dover
Meisharim (2 pts.; 1958); Moshe Avigdor *Amiel (1883-1946),
chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, published Darkhei Moshe, Ha-Middot
le- Heker ha-Halakhah; Menahem Zemba (1883-1943), out-
standing Polish talmudist of the last generation whose works
reflect a blending of acumen and erudition combined with
logic and profundity, was the author of the responsa Zera
Avraham (1920), Ozar ha-Sifrei (1929), Ozar ha-Sifra (1960);
Jehiel Jacob *Weinberg (1885-1966), author of the responsa
Seridei Esh (4 vols.; 1961-1969) on practical problems arising
in recent generations; Moses Mordecai *Epstein (1866-1934),
author of Levushei Mordekhai, novellae and expositions on
topics in tractates Zevahim and Menahot; Baruch Ber *Lei-
bowitz (1866-1939), author of Birkat Shemuel on tractates
of the Talmud; Isser Zalman *Meltzer (1870-1954), author of
Even ha-Ezel in eight parts; Zevi Pesah *Frank (1873-1960),
chief rabbi of Jerusalem, who followed the methods of Isaac
Elhanan Spektor and Samuel Salant; Elhanan Bunim *Was-
serman (1875-1941), who followed a middle path between
pilpul and erudition, stressing the decisions of the rishonim;
Meshullam *Rath (1875-1963), a member of the Israel chief
rabbinate council, author of the responsa Kol Mevasser; Avra-
ham Yeshayahu *Karelitz (Hazon Ish; 1879-1954) published 23
volumes entitled Hazon Ish (the first in 1911); his novellae and
halakhot embrace the whole Talmud and all four parts of the
Shulhan Arukh. Karelitz had an enormous impact on the hala-
khah of the latter half of the 20 century, especially in Israel.
Reuven *Katz (1880-1963), rabbi of Petah Tikvah, author of
the responsa Degel Reuven and Dudaei Reuven; Isser Yehuda
*Unterman (1886-1976), who, with the object of consolidating
practical halakhah, established a methodological theory of tal-
mudic research, wrote Shevet Yehudah on halakhic problems;
Ovadiah Hadayah (1893-1969) wrote Yaskil Avdi in six parts;
Moses *Feinstein (d. 1986) of the U.S., author of the responsa
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Iggerot Moshe and the accepted posek of Orthodox American
Jewry during the second half of the 20' century; Isaac *Nis-
sim (d. 1981), chief rabbi of Israel and rishon le-Zion, published
his responsa in his Yein ha-Tov; Eliezer Judah b. Jacob Geda-
liah Waldenberg (b. 1917), dayyan in Jerusalem, is the author
of Ziz Eliezer; Shlomo Goren (d. 1994), chief rabbi of Israel,
published, among others, Yerushalmi ha-Meforash (1961), and
Torat ha-Moadim (1964); Ovadiah *Yosef (b. 1920), Sephardi
chief rabbi of Israel, is the author of the volumes Yabbia Omer
published in Jerusalem between 1954 and 1969.
The aharonim laid down many rules for halakhah. The
fundamental principle is to take care to act in accordance with
the decisions of the Shulhan Arukh. Some have insisted that
those giving authoritative rulings from the Shulhan Arukh
must know their sources in the Talmud (Maharsha to Sot. 22a,
s.v. ary). On the other hand the author of the Pithei Teshuvah
holds that after the addition of the well-known commentaries
such as the Taz, Shakh, and Magen Avraham it is permitted to
rule from the Shulhan Arukh itself (Yoreh Deah 2.42:8). In the
view of many aharonim the authoritative works are to be re-
garded as “our teachers” and anyone failing to take them into
consideration in deciding the halakhah is regarded as guilty
of “giving a (different) halakhic decision in the presence of his
teacher” (Peri Megadim, beginning oH, section 3).
There is a well-known rule that halakhah may not be
learned from the aggadah and the Midrashim (Tosefot Yom
Tov, Ber. 5:4; Noda bi- Yhudah, 2™ ed., Yoreh Deah, no. 161), but
one may derive from them a custom being practiced by Jews
(Noda bi-Yhuda, ibid.). On the other hand, several aharonim
hold that where the aggadot and Midrashim do not contra-
dict the Talmud but merely add to it they may be relied upon
(Mayim Hayyim of the Peri Hadash, no. 128; Shevut Yaakov,
pt. 2, no. 178).
The novellae of the aharonim reflect a tendency to pilpul
and to expand the subjects under discussion with the object of
arriving at new halakhic rulings. The conclusions arrived at by
outstanding aharonim are accepted as new halakhic rulings.
The responsa of aharonim discuss a variety of different
problems occasioned by the times. These topics reflect local
and temporal conditions: World War 1, the condition of Jews
in the world after it, World War 11, the Holocaust, the estab-
lishment of the State of Israel - all these raised problems which
are dealt with by the great aharonim with the object of find-
ing solutions in conformity with the halakhah. Indeed, their
contribution to our understanding of the Babylonian and
Jerusalem Talmuds cannot be underestimated. Throughout
the last five centuries the aharonim advanced our knowledge
and comprehension of Jewish law, while constantly and rig-
orously applying it to everyday life. The decision process in
Jewish law in the 21% century is not complete without care-
ful consultation with all previous sources, including those of
the aharonim.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.M. Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (19217);
C. Tchernowitz, Toledot ha-Posekim, 1 (1946), 14-17; 3 (1947); S.J.
Zevin, Ishim ve-Shitot (1952); idem, Soferim u-Sefarim (1959); B. Katz,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHARONOVITCH, YOSEF
Rabbanut, Hasidut, Haskalah, 1 (1956), 3-200; 2 (1958), 9-116, 178-80;
Waxman, Literature, 2 (19607), 144-96; 3 (1962), 51-58, 705-34; I.
Zinberg, Toledot Sifrut Yisrael, 3 (1957), 167-225, 226-41, 275-98; 5
(1959), 199-215. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Elon, Mishpat Ivri, 3
(1981).
[Yehoshua Horowitz / David Derovan (24 ed.)]
AHARONOV, YAKIR (1932-_), Israeli physicist. Aharonov
was born in the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Hayyim and received
his B.Sc. from the Haifa Technion (1956). While working un-
der Professor Boehm on his doctorate at Bristol University in
England in 1959, Aharonov discovered the Aharonov-Boehm
Effect, essential to quantum theory and of far-reaching impact
on modern physics. After receiving his Ph.D. from Bristol Uni-
versity (1960), he taught at Brandeis University (1960-61) and
Yeshiva University (1964-67) in the U.S. From 1973 he held a
joint position as professor of theoretical physics at Tel Aviv
University and at the University of South Carolina. Aharonov
is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the
Israel National Academy of Science, and a member of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences. Prizes and awards include the
Rothschild Prize in physics (1984), the Elliot Cresson Medal
(1991), and the Wolf Prize in physics (1998). In 1989 he was
awarded the Israel Prize in physics.
[Fern Lee Seckbach and Ruth Rossing (2"¢ ed.)]
AHARONOVITCH, YOSEE (1877-1937), writer, editor,
and Palestinian labor leader. Aharonovitch, who was born
in Kirovka, in the Ukraine, acquired his general education in
Odessa. On his way to Erez Israel, he was a Hebrew teacher
in Brody, Galicia, where he also established a youth move-
ment, Halutzei Zion. He arrived in Erez Israel in 1906, and
worked as a laborer and watchman in the Nes Ziyyonah and
Rehovot orange groves. A year later he became editor of Ha-
Poel ha-Za’ir, the first journal of the Palestinian labor move-
ment. During World War 1 Aharonovitch was exiled to Egypt,
where he edited the anthology Ba-Nekhar (“On Foreign Soil”)
in Alexandria in 1918. After the war he returned to his edito-
rial work in Palestine and to public life. Aharonovitch retired
from Ha-Poel ha-Za’ir in 1922 to become director of Bank ha-
Poalim (“The Workers’ Bank”) in Tel Aviv. A leader of the Jew-
ish community in Palestine, the Zionist movement, the Ha-
Poel ha-Za’ir Party, and later Mapai, he helped to formulate
the ideology and practical character of the Palestinian labor
movement through his articles, speeches, and personal ex-
ample. Aharonovitch believed in adapting to a dynamic new
reality without being chained to dogmas and beliefs. He pro-
posed that practical agricultural and industrial work should
be carried out by Jews, and that the concerted efforts of pio-
neers were needed to prepare the ground for mass immigra-
tion. He crusaded for integrity in public life and efficiency in
the country’s social and economic institutions. His articles
appeared in numerous newspapers and journals, including
Ma’barot, Davar, Moznayim, Ha-Olam, Ha-Yom, Ha-Hinnukh,
and Haaretz.
537
AHASUERUS
His pseudonyms included Temidi, Y.A., and Ben Sarah.
In the last two years of his life he was chairman of the Hebrew
Writers’ Association. Two volumes of his selected articles, Kit-
vei Yosef Aharonovitch, were published in 1941 by his wife, the
novelist Devorah *Baron, and Eliezer Shohat.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kressel, Leksikon, s.v.; H. Shurer, Yosef Aha-
ronovitch (1962), S. Jawnieli, Ketavim (1962), 503-13; I. Cohen, Ge-
sharim (1955), 36-44; D. Sadan, Avnei Zikkaron (1954), 43-67; J.
Fichmann, Be-Terem Aviv (1959), 377-90; M. Smilansky, Mishpahat
ha-Adamah, 4 (1953), 65-84.
[Israel Cohen]
AHASUERUS (Heb. Wi71Wny), king of Persia, who according
to the Book of Esther ruled from India to Ethiopia (see Book
of *Esther; *Artaxerxes).
In the Aggadah
Ahasuerus generally is portrayed as vacillating, lacking in
character, and easily swayed. But the positive aspects of his
personality are also emphasized. He is depicted as one of the
few kings in history who ruled over the entire earth (Meg. 11a;
Targ. Sheni to Esth. 1:2). Before his death Nebuchadnezzar had
placed all the treasures of the world he had looted in a ship,
and sunk it in the Euphrates to prevent anyone finding them.
God, however, had revealed their location to Cyrus when He
gave orders that the Temple was to be rebuilt. Ahasuerus’ great
wealth derived from this treasure. But he neither succeeded in
sitting on Solomon's throne nor in erecting a similar one (Mi-
drash Abba Guryon). It was through Esther’s influence that he
appointed *Mordecai as his counselor, for she told Ahasuerus
that whereas his predecessors, Nebuchadnezzar and Belshaz-
zar, had consulted prophets, he invariably turned for advice
to ordinary mortals. Ahasuerus is said to have desecrated the
Temple vessels and priestly robes at the feast he made for all
the provinces of his kingdom even though he knew what had
happened to Belshazzar for such conduct (Meg. 11b). Other
aggadot declare that his hatred of Israel exceeded Haman's but
he feared he might suffer a fate similar to that of the other en-
emies of the Jews.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Guttmann, Mafte’ah; Ginzberg, Legends,
index.
index. [Joshua Gutmann]
AHASUERUS-XERXES (Heb. wiiwnx; Aram. Papyri
wi(x)wn; Dura Synagogue wn; Old Persian XSaydrsa; Gr.
Zepénc). If one ignores the vowels, the biblical consonantal
text is a close approximation of the king’s name. The Persian
king known to the Greeks as Xerxes 1 (reigned 486-465 B.C.E.)
was the son of *Darius 1. As soon as he ascended the throne,
Xerxes was confronted by a revolt in Egypt. At the same time,
the enemies of Judah apparently tried to incite him against
its inhabitants (Ezra 4:6). After reducing Egypt “to a worse
state of servitude than it was in under Darius” and crushing
another revolt in Babylon, he attempted a more ambitious
undertaking, the subjugation of Greece. After the disastrous
outcome of this adventure, which took place between the third
538
and seventh years of his reign, Xerxes settled down to a life
of self-indulgence, reflected in the account of Ahasuerus in
the *Scroll of Esther, which agrees with the Greek authors in
its conception, or even caricature, of life at the Persian court.
Ahasuerus is represented in the Book of Daniel as the father
of *Darius the Mede (Dan. 9:1) and, in one recension of the
Book of Tobit, as allied with Nebuchadnezzar at the capture
of Nineveh (Tob. 14:15). Since Nineveh was actually captured
(in 612 B.c.E.) by kings Cyaxares of Media and Nabopolassar
of Babylon, it is natural to surmise that later generations con-
fused Cyaxares with Ahasuerus-Xerxes just as they confused
Nabopolassar with Nebuchadnezzar. The Book of Esther does
not mention the death of Xerxes in a bloody court coup.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire
(1948), 214ff.; R.N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (1962), index; R.G.
Kent, Old Persian (19537), 147-53. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Briant,
From Cyrus to Alexander (2002), 515-68.
[Isaiah Gafni / Harold Louis Ginsberg]
AHAVAH RABBAH (Heb. 731 7238; “With great love”);
AHAVAT OLAM (Heb. 0%4y n23N; “Everlasting love”), two
versions of the second of the two benedictions preceding the
recitation of the Shema in the morning and evening services.
In the Talmud there is a difference of opinion as to which is
the correct version (Ber. 11b) and a baraita is quoted which
definitely favors Ahavah Rabbah. This controversy continued
even into medieval times (see Levin, Ozar, vol. 1, p. 29; ET,
vol. 4, p. 391). Asa compromise decision Ahavah Rabbah was
adopted for the morning service and the other for the eve-
ning (Tos., MG Ber.). The Sephardi and Italian rites, however,
only have Ahavat Olam. It is not clear whether the difference
between the two versions was limited to the opening for-
mula or whether it extended to the content. From the prayer
book of *Saadiah Gaon it would appear that the former is the
case. In their present form the two prayers have the same ba-
sic theme, but they differ considerably in presentation, and
Ahavah Rabbah is much the longer and the more complex
of the two. Both benedictions tell of God’s love as the expla-
nation for Israel’s receiving the Torah. The prayers introduce
the Shema which is basically a Torah reading - and promise,
in consequence, continual preoccupation with its study and
observance. In both, God is besought to continue bestowing
His love on His people, but in Ahavah Rabbah the idea of the
election of Israel is stressed. Ahavat Olam ends, “Blessed art
Thou, O Lord, Who lovest His people Israel,” whereas Aha-
vah Rabbah closes with “Who has chosen His people Israel in
love.” The Mishnah (Tam. 5:1), as interpreted in the Gemara
(Ber. 11b-12a), records that Ahavah Rabbah was the benedic-
tion with which the priestly prayer service in the Temple com-
menced. According to the halakhah (Sh. Ar., OH 47:7) either
of the two can serve as a substitute for the *Birkat ha-Torah,
the blessing to be recited before study.
In the Middle Ages various piyyutim were composed for
insertion into Ahavah Rabbah and Ahavat Olam on festivals.
Those for the latter are still recited in some synagogues. Both
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
benedictions appear with minor textual variations in the dif-
ferent rites; Ahavat Olam much less, however, than Ahavah
Rabbah. The Reform ritual has retained the traditional text of
the former but has abbreviated the latter considerably, omit-
ting the messianic passages. Ahavat Olam has been set to mu-
sic by Mombach and others, and forms part of the repertoire
of most synagogue choirs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 20-21, 25, 100-1;
Abrahams, Companion, xlviiiff., cx; J. Heinemann, Ha-Te’7fillah bi-
Tekufat ha-Tanna’im ve ha-Amora’im (1964), 43, n. 34; 106; E. Munk,
World of Prayer (1954), 107.
[Raphael Posner]
AHAZ (Heb. 7X, a diminutive of 17817”, as shown by the
reference to him as Ya-u-ha-zi in cuneiform (the inscription
of Tiglath-Pileser 111), meaning “yHwu holds fast”), king of
Judah (743-727 B.c.E.), son of *Jotham and father of *Heze-
kiah. Ahaz succeeded to the throne at the age of 20 and ruled
for 16 years. It seems, however, that he ruled alone for seven
years only, sharing the first nine years with his father as regent
for his grandfather *Uzziah (785-733 B.c.E.), who was inca-
pacitated by a terrible skin disease. Ahaz apparently refused
to join the anti- Assyrian alliance of Aram, northern Israel, the
Philistines, and others, no doubt believing Assyrian power to
be irresistible. This refusal led to the “Syro-Ephraimite war”
of 733, when Israel and Aram invaded Judah (11 Kings 15:37;
1 Chron. 28:5 ff.), carried off many captives, and planned to
conquer Judah and to set up, under a certain Ben Tabeel, a
regime favorable to an anti-Assyrian alliance (for a different
motivation, see H.L. Ginsberg in Bibliography). In the course
of the war Ahaz lost control over the Negev and the western
slopes of the Judean hills to the Philistines (11 Chron. 28:18),
and of Elath to the Edomites (11 Kings 16:6).
Ahaz turned for help to the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser 111
whose suzerainty he, or Uzziah, had probably recognized one
or more years previously. Tiglath-Pileser thereupon advanced
against Aram and Israel. Ahaz went to Damascus to pay
homage to the victor; from there he sent instructions to the
high priest Uriah to introduce Aramean (Assyrian?) cults into
the Temple in Jerusalem and, in particular, to build an altar
modeled on an (Assyrian type?) altar he had seen in Damas-
cus. Later, he himself made sacrifices on this altar (11 Kings
16:7ff.). Ahaz made other far-reaching changes in the Tem-
ple and, besides despoiling the Temple treasury and his own,
melted down some of the Temple vessels for his tribute to
the Assyrian king. He also installed a sundial in the Tem-
ple (11 Kings 20:11). Of his ministers, the names of Shebna,
the steward (?; Isa. 22:15), and Eshna, “servant of Ahaz,’ are
known, the latter from a recently discovered seal (see: EM, 1
(1950), 207). More recently, a seal impression reading “be-
longing to Ahaz (son of) Yehotam, King of Judah” was pub-
lished.
Ahaz, accused of practicing ancient Canaanite cults,
such as the Moloch fire rite, is one of the kings who did
evil in the eyes of the Lord (11 Kings 16:3-4). According to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHAZIAH
11 Kings, Ahaz was buried in the royal vault in the City of
David, but according to 11 Chronicles, merely in Jerusalem.
In the Talmud (Pes. 56a) his son Hezekiah is commended
for giving Ahaz a pauper’s funeral as an atonement for Ahaz’
sins and in order to disassociate himself from his father’s re-
ligious policies. Although Ahaz’ own record was tarnished,
the rabbis credited him with having been the son and father
of righteous kings as well as having accepted Uzziah’s re-
proof, which secured him a share in the world to come (Sanh.
104a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.L. Ginsberg, in: Fourth World Congress
of Jewish Studies. Papers, 1 (1967), 9 1ff.; W. Rudolph, Chronikbiicher
(1955), 289-90; Y. Liver (ed.), Historyah Zevait shel Erez Yisrael...
(1964), index, incl. bibl.; EM, 1 (1965), 206-9, incl. bibl.; A. Reifen-
berg, Ancient Hebrew Arts (1950), 34; Ginzberg, Legends, index. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Naaman, in: vT, 48 (1998), 333-49; R. Deutsch,
Messages from the Past (1999), 205.
AHAZIAH (Heb. 17°18 ,7°708; “yHwu holds firm”), the
name of two biblical kings.
(1) Son of *Ahab, king of Israel (c. 853-852 B.c.E.). The
biblical account of his two-year reign (1 Kings 22:52-11 Kings
1:18) faults Ahaziah for following his father and mother in
sponsoring the cult of the Tyrian Baal, inquiring of Baal-
Zebub of Philistine Ekron in addition to his maintenance of
the calf-cult initiated by Jeroboam 1. The defeat of the army
of Israel and the death of Ahab in the war with the Arameans
(853 B.C.E.) encouraged *Mesha, king of Moab, to free himself
from Israelite suzerainty and to engage in war with Ahaziah.
Apparently the Ammonites also gained their freedom at that
time (11 Chron. 20:1). The traditional alliance between the
house of Omri and Judah suffered when *Jehoshaphat, king of
Judah, refused partnership in the maritime commercial ven-
ture organized at the port of Ezion-Geber which was proposed
by the king of Israel (1 Kings 22:49-50; see, however, 11 Chron.
20:35-37). In the second year of his reign Ahaziah was se-
verely injured in a fall from the window of an upper story of
his palace and sent to ask for an oracle of Baal-Zebub, god of
Ekron. *Elijah reproved him for this act and prophesied that
he would die (11 Kings 1:2 ff.). Given the fantastic elements in
the chapter, i.e., repeated fire from heaven called down by the
prophet, we might do well to explain the account of Ahaziah’s
deeds as a theological justification for his brief reign and pre-
mature death. Ahaziah left no sons and was succeeded on the
throne by his brother Jehoram.
(2) The son of *Jehoram, king of Judah, and *Athaliah,
daughter (or sister) of Ahab, king of Israel. Ahaziah ascended
the throne at the age of 22 and reigned for one year over
Judah (c. 842-841 B.c.E.; 11 Kings 8:25ff.). His name is mis-
spelled “Johoahaz” in 11 Chronicles 21:16-17 and “Azariah”
in 1 Chronicles 22:6. He followed his mother Athaliah in all
matters relating to the cult. The political alliance with the dy-
nasty of Omri was revived and he and his uncle or cousin King
Jehoram of Israel went to war against Hazael, king of Aram
(11 Kings 8:28-29; 11 Chron. 22:5-6). Jehoram was wounded in
539
AHDUT HA-AVODAH
the battle, and Ahaziah visited him in Jezreel. Because of this
kinship and friendship, *Jehu killed him as well as Jehoram
(11 Kings 9:27-28; 11 Chron. 22:9).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bright, Hist, 223ff., 232-4; Yeivin, in: JQR,
50 (1959/60), 219 ff.; EM, 1 (1965), 210-1. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.
Cogan and H. Tadmor, 11 Kings (AB; 1988), 21-28, 98-100; W. Thiel,
in: ABD, 1, 107-9.
AHDUT HA-AVODAH, Zionist Socialist Labor Party in Pal-
estine founded in 1919. First steps toward its formation were
taken in 1918 by soldiers of the *Jewish Legion at Tell el Kabir,
Egypt, where many Palestinian Jewish workers and members
of *Poalei Zion from America were serving as volunteers in
the Jewish battalions of the British Army. The majority of the
volunteers belonged to an influential non-party group, led by
Berl *Katznelson and Shemuel *Yavneeli, and to Poalei Zion,
led by Izhak *Ben-Zvi and David *Ben-Gurion. There were
also a few volunteers who were leading members of the other
Labor Party, *Ha-Poel ha-Zair, among them Levi Shkolnik
(*Eshkol) and Abraham Haft, although their party objected to
participation in the Legion. In February 1919, a conference of
Poalei Zion unanimously called for unity, but a Ha-Poel ha-
Zair conference rejected the proposal. Immediately afterward,
at Petah Tikvah, a conference of the Agricultural Workers’
Union, which included members of both parties, voted 48 to
12 for the establishment of a workers’ federation to be respon-
sible for all political, economic, and cultural activities, and for
settlement on the land. Most Ha-Poel ha-Zair members did
not join, but established separate labor exchanges and a sepa-
rate agricultural settlement center. A founding conference re-
sulting from the agricultural workers’ decision was elected by
1,871 workers, with 47 rural delegates, 15 urban, and 19 repre-
senting the legionnaires from abroad. It met shortly afterward
and decided to establish the Zionist Socialist Federation of the
Workers of Erez Israel, Ahdut ha-Avodah, as an autonomous
body, comprising all workers and members of the professions
living solely from their labor without exploiting others. It was
to participate in the World Zionist Organization and the So-
cialist International; to organize the provision of work, coop-
erative supplies, vocational training, and general education;
to protect the workers’ dignity and interests; and to enhance
the creative capacity of the working class. Ahdut ha-Avodah
aspired, through organized mass immigration, to mold the
life of the Jewish people in Erez Israel as a commonwealth
of free and equal workers living on its labor, controlling its
property, and arranging its distribution of work, its economy,
and its culture. Only a minority of Ha-Poel ha-Zair members
joined, and, in order to avoid competition in labor matters,
both groups agreed to establish the General Federation of Jew-
ish Workers in Erez Israel (*Histadrut), which was founded in
December 1920. Ahdut ha-Avodah became dominant in the
Histadrut, of which Ben-Gurion was elected secretary-gen-
eral. It also became dominant in the Elected Assembly of the
yishuv, but continued to aim at complete workers’ unity. Af-
ter prolonged negotiations, Ahdut ha-Avodah and Ha-Poel
540
ha-Zair merged in 1930 to form Mifleget Po’alei Erez Israel
(*Mapai). [David Ben-Gurion]
A study of Ahdut ha-Avodah, Ahdut ha-Avodah ha-His-
torit, by Jonathan Shapiro (1975) traces the consolidation of
the party out of various factions and how the veteran leader-
ship from the Second Aliyah period kept the reins of power
in their hands. Shapiro attributes the party’s organizational
strength to its social and ideological roots going back to the
Jewish experience in Russia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Kressel, Mafteah la-Kunteres, 1919-1945
(1945).
AHDUT HA-AVODAH, the name of several publications is-
sued by the different labor movements in Erez Israel at vari-
ous times. (1) The first such periodical was published in 1919,
a few months prior to the formation of the Ahdut ha-Avodah
Party, under the editorship of B. *Katznelson. It dealt with the
ideology of the new party, labor questions, and contemporary
problems of the yishuv. (2) After the Ahdut ha-Avodah Party
merged with *Ha-Poel ha-Zair in 1930 to form *Mapai, an
anthology was published under the title Ahdut ha-Avodah (2
vols., 1929-32). It contained articles on all aspects of Jewish
life in Erez Israel and in the Diaspora - political, economic,
and social - by different leaders of the Ahdut ha-Avodah Party.
The editors were B. Katznelson, Shaul *Avigur, and Mordecai
Senir. (3) A new social literary monthly, Ahdut ha-Avodah,
was established in 1930 and edited by C. *Arlosoroff. It contin-
ued until 1932. (4) A number of works, collections of articles,
published by Mapai appeared under the same name between
1943 and 1946. (5) When Ahdut ha-Avodah left Mapai to form
a separate party in 1944, it published the weekly Ha-Tenuah
le-Ahdut ha-Avodah (abbreviated to Le-Ahdut ha-Avodah).
It ceased to exist on Jan. 22, 1946, when Ahdut ha-Avodah
merged with *Ha-Shomer ha-Zair to form Mifleget ha-Poalim
ha-Me’uhedet (*Mapam). (Getz icteskel]
AHDUT HA-AVODAH-PO“ALEI ZION (“Unity of Labor-
Workers of Zion”), Zionist Socialist Party established in 1946.
*Ahdut ha-Avodah emerged as an independent party in 1944
after a faction in Mapai calling itself Siah Bet (B Faction) se-
ceded from it because of its objections to the policies of the
*Histadrut leadership. In 1946 it united with the left-wing
Poalei Zion, assuming the name Ahdut ha-Avodah-Poalei
Zion. In 1948 the new party joined with Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir
to form *Mapam and ran within its framework in the elections
to the First and Second Knessets. In August 1954, due to ideo-
logical differences set against the background of antisemitic
“show trials” in Moscow and Prague, it resumed its indepen-
dence. Ahdut ha-Avodah-Po’alei Zion ran independently in
the elections to the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Knessets, winning
ten, seven, and eight seats, respectively. In the elections to the
Sixth Knesset it ran on a single list - the Alignment - with
*Mapai, and in 1968 it united with Mapai and *Rafi to form
the *Israel Labor Party.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
The core group of the party membership was made up
of members of Ha-Kibbutz ha-Meuhad (see *Kibbutz), and
among its best-known leaders were Yitzhak *Tabenkin, Yigal
*Allon, Yisrael *Galili, and Yitzhak *Ben-Aharon. Throughout
its independent existence the party was radical in its Zionist
and social outlook, advocating a Jewish state with full rights
for the Arab minority within what later came to be known as
“Greater Israel.” It opposed the various partition plans and,
during the *War of Independence, demanded that the IDF
occupy the whole territory of Eretz Israel within the bound-
aries of the British Mandate. Both in 1949 and again in 1957,
following the *Sinai Campaign, it opposed the withdrawal of
the 1pF from the Sinai Peninsula, unless the Arab states ac-
cepted a peace settlement.
During World War 11 Ahdut ha-Avodah-Po’alei Zion
favored not only participation of Jewish youth in the British
Army, but also the establishment of an underground military
force under the sole authority of the *Haganah. Its members
played an important role in the foundation and leadership of
the *Palmah. It advocated a comprehensive struggle against
the British Mandatory regime, the organization of large-scale
clandestine immigration, settlement in areas forbidden to
Jewish settlement, and, after the war, sabotage operations
against British installations in Palestine. However, it objected
to acts of personal terror, such as those practiced by the two
dissident underground organizations 1.z.L. (*Irgun Zevai
Le’ummi) and Lehi (*Lohamei Herut Israel), though it ob-
jected to cooperation between the Haganah and the Man-
datory police in the apprehension of members of these or-
ganizations, advocating instead their detention in Haganah
undercover prisons.
The party adopted the philosophy of “scientific so-
cialism,” containing distinctly Marxist elements, but advo-
cated “Zionist socialism” unfettered by any international, ide-
ological, or organizational authority. Although sympathetic
to the social experiment in the Soviet Union, it rejected the
dictatorial regime in that country, and criticized manifesta-
tions of violence and persecution in it as well as its policy
toward the Jews and Zionism. At the same time it main-
tained ties with other left-wing socialist movements and
groups around the world. Ahdut ha-Avodah opposed David
*Ben-Gurion’s policy of rapprochement with West Ger-
many.
From 1959 until 1965 Ahdut ha-Avodah-Poalei Zion
was a member of governments led by Ben-Gurion and Levi
*Eshkol. It was also an active member of the Histadrut lead-
ership, advocating the preservation of the Histadrut’s inde-
pendence, and the maintenance of full ideological and orga-
nizational democracy within it. After the establishment of the
Labor Party, one of its leaders, Yitzhak Ben-Aharon, served
as secretary general of the Histadrut in the years 1969-73. In
1954 it started publishing a Hebrew daily, Lamerhav, that sur-
vived until 1971, and for a while after 1967 it published a Yid-
dish weekly, Folksblat.
[Susan Hattis Rolef (24 ed.)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHIJAH
AHERIM (Heb. 0°77}; lit. “others”), a pseudonym for sages
whose teachings are quoted anonymously in the tannaitic
literature. According to the Talmud (Hor. 13b, 14a), aherim
was used as a pseudonym for R. *Meir so that his teachings
would not be propounded under his name in the bet ha-mi-
drash - this, in punishment for his attempt, together with
R. *Nathan, to assail the dignity and authority of the nasi,
*Simeon b. Gamaliel 11, and to remove him from office. The
punishment, however, did not remain in force very long, the
Talmud continuing that on one occasion Judah ha-Nasi, son of
Simeon b. Gamaliel 11, was teaching a certain Mishnah to his
son Simeon with the words, “aherim say,’ whereupon Simeon
said to his father, “Who are they whose waters we drink but
whose names we do not mention?” at which Judah deferred
to his son’s opinion and in place of “aherim say” stated explic-
itly, “On Rabbi Meir’s behalf it is said” (ibid.). In point of fact,
in the Mishnah, which Judah edited, the expression “aherim
say” does not occur. The tosafists, however, have pointed out
the difficulty in the identification of “aherim” with Meir, for
in many passages the words “aherim say” occur in opposition
to Meir’s view. One tosafist suggested that only those teach-
ings which Meir received from his teacher, *Elisha b. Avuyah,
later called Aher, were introduced under this pseudonym. The
tosafists themselves, however, found this explanation unsat-
isfactory, and suggested instead that those opinions which he
changed after he was punished and referred to as aherim are
cited under this pseudonym, while his earlier views appear
under his own name (Tos., Sot. 12a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, 138.
[Zvi Kaplan]
AHIJAH (Heb. 7°n; “my [or the] brother is YowH”), son of
*Ahitub, priest of the house of Eli (1 Sam. 14:3). Ahijah was
apparently the chief priest in Shiloh during the reign of Saul
(cf. Jos., Ant., 4:107), although his name does not appear in
the list of chief priests in 1 Chronicles 6:50-55 and in Ezra
7:2-5. Several scholars identify Ahijah with *Ahimelech, son
of Ahitub, who served as priest of Nob in Saul’s days, assum-
ing that the name Ahijah is the short form of Ahimelech or
that the element melekh (“King”) in his name was replaced
by the divine name.
When Saul fought against the Philistines at Michmas,
Ahijah wore an ephod (1 Sam. 14:3). According to 1 Samuel
14:18, Ahijah served before the Ark of God; however, accord-
ing to the same chapter, verse 3 (and also according to the
Lx x; Baraita di-Melekhet ha-Mishkan, 6 [and cf. Ish Shalom’s
ed., p. 44]; Ibn Ezra’s commentary to Ex. 28:6 — all referring
to 1 Sam. 14:18), “ephod” is to be read (instead of “ark”). Fur-
thermore, only the ephod (and not the ark) is mentioned in
the Bible as having been used for consulting the divine will
(cf. the consultation by means of the ephod in 1 Sam. 23:9;
30:7). Ahijah may also have been the priest who inquired of
God first whether to advance against the Philistines and then,
upon failing to obtain a response, provoked God's displeasure
(1 Sam. 14:36 ff.).
541
AHIJAH THE SHILONITE
AHIJAH THE SHILONITE (Heb. *>w 7nN), Israelite
prophet during the latter part of Solomon's reign and dur-
ing the concurrent reigns of *Rehoboam and *Jeroboam. Je-
roboam son of Nebat of Zeredah (which, according to the Sep-
tuagint, 1 Kings 12:24, was near Shiloh), enjoyed the support
of Ahijah, whose main antagonism against Solomon was due
to the tolerance shown by the king to foreign cults. At a secret
meeting with Jeroboam outside Jerusalem he tore Jeroboam’s
new garment (or his own - the text is ambiguous) into 12
pieces as a symbol of the 12 tribes and gave him ten. The king-
dom of Israel would be divided; only one other tribe (Benja-
min), beside Judah, would remain loyal to the House of David
(ibid. 11:29-39). Not improbably, Ahijah expected Jeroboam
to restore the ancient central sanctuary of his native Shiloh.
When Jeroboam, instead, set up golden calves in sanctuaries
at Beth-El and Dan, the estrangement between him and Ahi-
jah became inevitable. When Jeroboam’s son Abijah fell ill, the
king who no longer dared to face the old seer, by now almost
blind, sent his wife in disguise to inquire about the child’s fate.
He not only foretold her son’s death but predicted a dire end
for the House of Jeroboam (ibid. 14:1-18).
In 11 Chronicles 9:29 Ahijah, in accordance with the
Chronicler’s practice, is cited, along with the other two proph-
ets who were active in the reign of Solomon, as an author of
the books of Kings’ account of Solomon’ reign.
In rabbinic tradition, Ahijah was a Levite at Shiloh. He
was the sixth of seven men whose lifetimes following one an-
other encompass all time (BB 121b) and is given a life span of
more than 500 years. (On this basis Maimonides, in the in-
troduction to his Code, makes him an important link in the
early tradition of the Oral Law.) Ahijah was reputed to be a
great master of the secret lore (Kabbalah), and hasidic legend
makes him a teacher of *Israel Ba’al Shem Tov. He is said to
have died a martyr’s death at the hands of Abijah, son of Re-
hoboam and king of Judah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bright, Hist, 208 ff; Kaufmann, Religion,
270ff.; J. Morgenstern, Amos Studies, 1 (1941), 202ff.; E. Auerbach,
Wueste und gelobtes Land, 2 (1936), index; Yeivin, in: Sefer Dinaburg
(1949), 30ff.; Caquot, in: Semitica, 11 (1961), 17-27 (Fr.); Ginzberg,
Legends, 4 (1913), 180.
AHIKAM (Heb. 07°7X; “the divine kinsman has risen [for
battle]”), son of *Shaphan and father of *Gedaliah, a high royal
official. Ahikam was one of the men sent by King Josiah to the
prophetess *Huldah (11 Kings 22:12, 14; 11 Chron. 34:20). Later,
during the reign of Jehoiakim, when Jeremiah prophesied the
destruction of Jerusalem, Ahikam used his influence to pro-
tect Jeremiah from death (Jer. 26:24).
Ahikam was a member of one of the most influential
pro-Babylonian families in the last days of the Judean King-
dom. Shaphan, his father, was the scribe of Josiah (11 Kings
22:3ff. et al.); his brother Elasah was one of the men sent to
Babylon by Zedekiah who brought the letter written by Jere-
miah to the elders in exile (Jer. 29:1-3); his brother *Jaazaniah
is mentioned in Ezekiel 8:11 among the elders of Jerusalem;
542
and his son Gedaliah was appointed governor of Judah after
the destruction of Jerusalem (Jer. 40:5-6). A seal impression
published recently appears to bear his name.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: K.L. Tallqvist, Assyrian Personal Names
(1914), 16; C.H. Gordon, Ugaritic Grammar (1940), 41; Virolleaud,
in: Revue d assyrologie, 15-16 (1940), 30, 34; Cassuto, in: Orientalia, 16
(1941), 473 (It.); Yeivin, in: Tarbiz, 12 (1940/41), 255. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: R. Deutsch, Messages from the Past (1999), no. 25.
AHIKAR, BOOK OF, a folk work, apparently already wide-
spread in Aramaic-speaking lands during the period of Assyr-
ian rule. It was evidently well-known among the Jewish colo-
nists in southern Egypt during the fifth century B.c.£. and at
the beginning of the twentieth century the major part of an
Aramaic text of the work was discovered among the docu-
ments of the Jewish community of *Elephantine. Greek writ-
ers were likewise acquainted with its contents. The book has
survived in several versions: Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Arme-
nian, Turkish, and Slavonic. These texts bear a fundamental
similarity to the ancient Elephantine version. It may be sub-
divided into two parts: (1) the life of *Ahikar; (2) the sayings
uttered for the benefit of Nadan, his adopted son.
Ahikar the Wise, the hero of the work, is mentioned in
the apocryphal book of Tobit as one of the exiles of the Ten
Tribes. He purportedly attained high rank, being appointed
chief cupbearer, keeper of the royal signet, and chief admin-
istrator during the reigns of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. In
his later years, realizing that he would leave no offspring, he
adopted his sister's son Nadan and groomed him for a high
office at court. Ahikar’s instructions to Nadan in preparation
for this position are couched in the form of epigrams. Ahikar,
however, ultimately convinced that his protegé was not equal
to the task, disowned him. Nadan thereupon slandered Ahi-
kar before the king. When this accusation was proved false,
Nadan was handed over to Ahikar who imprisoned him near
the gateway to his home. Thereafter, whenever Ahikar passed
by this place, he uttered words of reproof to his former ad-
opted son. These remarks, presented as aphorisms, comprise
the last section of the Book of Ahikar. Both the contents and
aim of the work indicate its Aramean-Assyrian milieu. In
Tribe of Naphtali AHIKAR FAMILY
i
I
TOBIEL
TOBIT ANAEL
@®
ANNA -4
I 1
TOBIAS AHIKAR Ahikar’s
oo) sister
SARAH A
NADAB
(NADAN)
= = = = = Relations only implied in Tobit
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
textual format, it resembles Job, which also contains not only
wisdom sayings, but also events associated with the hero of
the tale. Also similar to Ahikar is Proverbs 31:1: “The words
of King Lemuel”; which, though presently comprising only
the apothegmatic section, may well originally have contained
biographical data concerning Lemuel. Works along these
lines were not unknown among the peoples of antiquity and
in Israel too, the Wisdom literature did not fail to take ideas
from non-Israelite sources. However, the Book of Ahikar, de-
spite its dissemination and popularity among the Jews, left no
imprint upon Hebrew literature. The reason may be that its
many pagan features remain unblurred, even in late editions
belonging to the Christian era. A profounder cause, however,
is the fact that a spirit of total submissiveness to and awe of
human rulers pervades the work to such an extent that their
edicts and promulgations are regarded as inviolable law. This
note of self-negation before a king of flesh and blood, which
is of the very essence of the work, was entirely alien to the
Jeysispiie [Joshua Gutmann]
Ahikar
Although the Book of Ahikar did not exert any direct influ-
ence on Jewish literature, Ahikar himself was assimilated in
Jewish sources. Chapter 14:10 states that Ahikar raised Nadab
(i.e, Nadan) and refers to the slander story described in the
Book. According to 1:21-22, Ahikar is Tobias’ cousin, son of
Tobit’s brother Anael. Chapter 11:18 raises textual problems,
but the reading of the Codex Sinaiticus (Nadab), which makes
both Ahikar and Nadab cousins of Tobias, is not impossible.
Strictly speaking Nadab would be his second cousin.
The Jews made this hero of the pagan Wisdom tale into a
pious Jew of the tribe of Naphtali, an instance of how they ad-
opted and reused international Wisdom traditions. The trans-
formation of Ahikar into an exiled Israelite was accompanied,
in Tobit 14:10, by emphasis on the vindication of righteous-
ness in the relationship between Ahikar and Nadab. Ahikar
was also mentioned in Hellenistic literature and in a variety of
later sources. Ahikar is now known from Babylonian sources
as the court sage in the time of King Sennacherib.
[Michael E. Stone]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Yellin, Sefer Ahikar he-Hakham (1938);
R.Harris, et al., Story of Ahikar from Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, etc.
(1898); Cowley, Aramaic, 204-48; Charles, Apocrypha, 2 (1913),
715-84; J.B. Pritchard (ed.), The Ancient Near East (1958), 245-49.
AHIMAAZ (Heb. yy2°nx; “the [or my] brother is coun-
selor[?]”), name of three biblical personalities.
(1) Father-in-law of King Saul (1 Sam. 14:50).
(2) Son of the priest *Zadok. When David fled Jerusalem
because of the revolt of ‘Absalom, Ahimaaz, together with Jon-
athan, the son of David’s other priest Abiathar, remained just
outside the city. A messenger of their fathers delivered infor-
mation about the rebels’ plans to them, which they conveyed
to David (11 Sam. 15:27-36; 17:15-22). Later, being a swift run-
ner, he overtook and passed the messenger who was to report
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHIMAAZ BEN PALTIEL
the outcome of the battle with Absalom to David. He thus re-
ported the defeat of the rebels, but left to the messenger the
unenviable task of informing the king that Absalom had been
killed (ibid. 18:19-32).
(3) A son-in-law of Solomon, his prefect over the district
of Naphtali (1 Kings 4:15). Some identify him with Ahimaaz
the son of Zadok (above). If that conjecture is correct, it is
likely that his prefectship was bestowed on him because he was
debarred from the priesthood, possibly because of a defect ac-
quired in combat. According to 1 Chronicles 5:34-36, Azariah
the great-grandson of Ahimaaz succeeded Zadok as a priest
in Solomon's Temple, but it seems that the verses are corrupt
and this Azariah is Ahimaaz’ son. The name Ahimaaz prob-
ably also appears on a signet ring discovered at Tell Zakariyeh
(ancient Azekah). It has not been satisfactorily explained. The
name Maaz occurs in 1 Chronicles 2:27.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.Z. Segal, Sifrei Shemuel (1956), index, s.v.;
Katzenstein, in: JBL, 31 (1962), 311ff.; Diringer, Iscrizioni, 120-1. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Tawil, in: Beit Mikra, 44 (1999), 372-84.
AHIMAAZ BEN PALTIEL (b. 1017), chronicler and poet
of Capua, south Italy. In 1054 when he removed to Oria, the
place of origin of his family, he compiled Megillat Yuhasin
(“The Scroll of Genealogies”), also known as Megillat Ahimaaz
(“The Ahimaaz Scroll” or the “Chronicle of Ahimaaz”). It de-
scribes in rhymed prose the genealogy of his family from the
ninth century to his own time. The Ahimaaz family counted
among its members prominent personalities, who had been
AHIMAAZ GENEALOGY
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b. 1017 Capua
d. c. 1060 Oria
PALTIELIV SAMUEL III
b. 1038 b. 1044
543
AHIMAN, SHESHAI, TALMAI
leaders of their generations in the different communities of
Italy, as well as in North Africa, e.g., Shephatiah, Amittai b.
Shephatiah, Paltiel. They actively participated in some of the
most important events in these countries. Megillat Ahimaaz
is consequently a significant Jewish historical source cover-
ing several periods and countries. Apart from historical data,
it includes legends and fantastic tales and, despite some inac-
curacies, it is a reliable historical document. The one known
manuscript is in the library of Toledo Cathedral, where it was
discovered by A. Neubauer in 1895. It has since been edited
several times; the edition by B. Klar appeared in 1944 (second
edition, M. Spitzer, 1974). Ahimaaz also composed a poem
in honor of the nagid *Paltiel (included in the Scroll) and a
number of piyyutim. A photograph of the manuscript was
published in 1964 in Jerusalem. In 1965, the text of the manu-
script was published with a concordance: Megillat Ahimaaz
Me'ubbedet u-Muggeshet ke-Homer le-Millon, edited by R. Mir-
kin with the assistance of I. Yeivin and G.B. Tsarfati. There is
an English translation by M. Salzman (1924, 1966) and an Ital-
ian one by C. Colafemmina (2001).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Klar (ed.), Megillat Ahimaaz (1944),
139-56, postscript; Klar, in: Sinai, 22 (1947/48), 243-8; Kaufmann,
Schriften, 3 (1915), 1-55 (appeared in MGwJ, 40 (1896), 462ff.); Wax-
man, Literature, 1 (1960), 425-7; Roth, Dark Ages, 104, 251; Neubauer,
Chronicles, index. s.v. Ahimaaz. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bonfil, Tra
due Mondi (1996), 67-133.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann]
AHIMAN, SHESHAI, TALMATI, the sons of *Anak, who
were said to have inhabited *Hebron when the spies sent by
Moses reconnoitered Canaan (Num. 13:22). Their names have
not been identified with certainty. Ahiman may be Semitic,
while Kempinsky and Hess regard Sheshai and Talmai as Hur-
rian. The sons of Anak are described as *Nephilim (ibid. 13:33),
a term probably indicating extraordinary stature and power
(cf. Gen. 6:4). In Deuteronomy 2:21 (cf. Deut. 1:28) the Ana-
kim are described as “great, numerous, and tall” Traditions
about an ancient giant race were apparently current in Israel,
Amon, and Moab (see *Og, *Rephaim).
According to Joshua 15:13-14, *Caleb attacked Ahiman,
Sheshai, and Talmai and dispossessed them (cf. Judg. 1:20).
Another passage credits the tribe of Judah with the victory
over the three brothers (Judg. 1:10). Finally, according to
Joshua 11:21-22, Joshua annihilated the Anakites. The name
Ahiman occurs as well in 1 Chronicles 9:17 and in three epi-
graphs: a jug from *Elephantine, one seal from Megiddo, and
another of unknown provenance. Talmai is also the name of
a king of Geshur in northern Transjordan who was a contem-
porary of David.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C.F Burney, The Book of Judges (1920), 9-103
Mazar, in: Sefer Dinaburg (1949), 321; EM, 1 (1965), 218-9 (incl. bibl.).
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Kempinsky, in: EM, 8, 575-76; R. Hess, in:
CBQ, 58 (1996), 205-14; B. Levine, Numbers 1-20 (AB; 1993), 355.
[Hanna Weiner]
544
AHIMEIR, ABBA (pseud. of Abba Shaul Heisinovitch;
1898-1962), journalist and writer, Revisionist leader in Pales-
tine. Ahimeir was born in Dolgi near Bobruisk, Belorussia,
studied at the Herzlia High School in Tel Aviv (1912-14) and
returned to Russia where he became a member of *Zeirei
Zion. After World War 1 he studied history at the universities
of Liége and Vienna. On his return to Palestine in 1924, he
joined *Ha-Poel ha-Zaiir, but his views gradually underwent
a change to extreme opposition to both communism and so-
cialism. In 1928 he joined the *Revisionists and advocated ac-
tive opposition to the Mandatory government. He was the first
to organize illegal public action in Palestine, and as a result
was arrested several times from 1930 onward. When Chaim
*Arlosoroff was murdered in June 1933, Ahimeir was accused
of plotting the murder, an accusation which he vehemently
denied. After spending a year in prison, he was cleared by a
court of appeals before defense witnesses had been called. He
was nevertheless detained in prison, charged with organizing
Berit ha-Biryonim, an underground group formed for the
purpose of fighting British policy in Palestine, and sentenced
to a further 18 months’ imprisonment. Ahimeir’s views con-
tributed to the ideological basis of the *Irgun Zevai Le'ummi
and *Lohamei Herut Israel underground movements. He
wrote numerous articles, many of them violently polemical.
His impressions of prison life appeared as a book, with the
punning title Reportazhah shel Bahur “Yeshivah” (“Report by
an Inmate,” 1946). His views on the problems of Judaism and
Zionism are set down in Im Keriat ha-Gever (“When the Cock
Crows, 1958) and Judaica (Heb., 1961). After Ahimeir’s death
a committee was formed to publish his works under the title
Ketavim Nivharim (“Selected Works”).
AHIMELECH (Heb. 72”°n%; “[the divine] brother is king”
or “the Melech [deity] is my brother”), name of three bibli-
cal figures.
(1) Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, was a member of the
priestly family of *Eli, who served in the Temple of *Nob
(1 Sam. 21-22). Ahimelech has been identified with *Ahijah,
son of Ahitub, who is also mentioned in the time of Saul and
who acted as a priest in Saul’s war with the Philistines (14:3,
18). Ahimelech probably founded the Temple of Nob after the
destruction of *Shiloh by the Philistines in the time of Samuel.
He served as the high priest in Nob, and “85 persons that wear
linen ephods” were under his charge (22:16-18).
When David escaped from Saul, he first came to Nob
where Ahimelech provided him with bread and with the sword
of Goliath, which was kept in the Temple (21:1-10, 22:10-15).
*Doeg the Edomite informed Saul about it and stated that
Ahimelech “inquired of the Lord” for David (22:10), for which
Ahimelech (22:15) excused himself by pointing out that it was
not the first time, for he had always understood that David
was Saul’s trusted revenger. Saul, however, put to death Ahim-
elech and the rest of the priests of Nob. One son of Ahimelech,
*Abiathar, escaped and joined David.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
(2) Ahimelech, son of Abiathar, was probably the grand-
son of the former. He is mentioned as a priest, together with
Zadok, son of Ahitub, in one of the lists of David’s officials
(11 Sam. 8:17). Ina parallel list he is called Abimelech (1 Chron.
18:16; possibly a scribal error, as testified by some Mss. of
the MT, as well as by the Vulg.). In the lists of David’s offi-
cials in 11 Samuel 20:25, and 1 Chronicles 26:24, as well as in
the historical narratives, only Abiathar and Zadok are men-
tioned as high priests. Therefore, scholars doubted the his-
toricity of Ahimelech and emended the text in 11 Samuel 8:17
to read “Zadok and Abiathar son of Ahimelech son of Ahi-
tub,”
(3) Ahimelech the Hittite was one of the men who joined
David when David fled from Saul (1 Sam. 26:6). He was prob-
ably one of David’s warriors, as he is mentioned with *Abishai
b. Zeruiah. Ahimelech was only one of many foreigners who
attached themselves to David, although most of the others
joined David after he was made king.
[Yuval Kamrat]
In the Aggadah
Ahimelech would not allow David to partake of the sancti-
fied shewbread, until David pleaded that he was in danger of
starvation (Men. 95b). The dispute between Ahimelech and
Saul (1 Sam. 22:12-19) was based on Ahimelech’s action in
consulting the Urim and Thummim on David's behalf. Saul
maintained that it was a capital offense, since it was a privi-
lege reserved for the king, while Ahimelech maintained that,
when affairs of state were involved, the privilege was a uni-
versal one, and certainly applied to David, in his position as a
general of the army. Abner and Amasa supported Ahimelech’s
argument, but Doeg did not, and Saul therefore placed upon
him the task of killing Ahimelech (Yal. 131).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: (1) Yeivin, in: Sefer Dinaburg (1949), 30ff.;
W.WS. von Baudissin, Kyrios als ottesname, 3 (1929), 97ff.; Albright,
Arch Rel, 202; (2) Moehlenbrink, in: zaw, 52 (1934), 204-5; Rowley,
in: JBL, 58 (1939), 113ff.; (3) Maisler, Untersuchungen, 78.
AHITHOPHEL (Heb. 25n’nX) THE GILONITE (ie, of the
Judean town of Giloh), adviser of King *David (11 Sam. 15:12;
1 Chron. 27:33-34): “Now, in those days, advice from Ahitho-
phel was like an oracle from God” (11 Sam. 16:23). Ahithophel
was the only one of David’s inner council who joined *Absalom
in his revolt against his father (15:12). His defection was a
source of great anxiety to David (15:31), and prompted him to
charge *Hushai the Archite with counteracting Ahithophel’s
counsel (15:34; 16:15 ff.). On Ahithophel’s advice Absalom took
possession of David’s concubines, thus demonstrating that the
breach between him and his father was final (16:21). Ahitho-
phel further proposed that he himself should pick 12,000 men
and pursue David so as to overwhelm him at the nadir of his
strength (17:1-3). Hushai, however, persuaded Absalom to
muster a vast army before attempting to battle with such for-
midable adversaries as David and his professional warriors.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHITUB
Ahithophel, realizing that the respite afforded to David would
be fatal to Absalom and his supporters, returned home and
committed suicide (17:23).
A juxtaposition of 11 Samuel 11:3 and 23:34 suggests that
Bath-Sheba, the wife of Uriah, whom David debauched, was a
granddaughter of Ahithophel. This act of David could thus be
the motive for Ahithophel’s defection (cf. Sanh. 101b).
The meaning of the name is doubtful. It may be a theo-
phoric combination, the ophel (“folly”) being a pejorative sub-
stitute for the name of a Canaanite god (see *Euphemism); but
in Deuteronomy 1:1, it is the name of a place (Tophel).
[Jacob Elbaum]
In the Aggadah
The rabbis rank Ahithophel and Balaam as the two greatest
sages, the former of Israel and the latter of the Gentiles. Both,
however, died in dishonor because of their lack of humility
and of gratitude to God for the divine gift of wisdom (Num.
R. 22:7). Ahithophel’s inciting of Absalom to rebel against
his father, King David, was in order to gain the throne him-
self, since he mistakenly regarded prophecies of royal destiny
concerning his granddaughter, Bath-Sheba, to apply to him-
self (Sanh. 101b). The name of “Ahithophel” is interpreted as
“brother of prayer” (Heb. ahi tefillah), referring to the fact that
he composed three new prayers daily (Ty Ber. 4:3, 8a). Socrates
was said to have been his disciple (Moses Isserles, Torat ha-
Olah 1:11, quoting an old source). He was 33 years old when
he took his life, and he was one of those who have no share in
the world to come (Sanh. 10:2).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Yeivin, Mehkarim be-Toledot Yisrael ve-
Arzo (1950), 201-2; Noth, Personennamen, index; Bright, Hist, 188;
Ginzberg, Legends, 4 (1913), 94-97. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.
Daube, in: vT, 48 (1998), 315-25.
AHITUB (Heb. 210n8 ,210°n; “the [my] (divine) brother
is good”), priest, son of Phinehas, the son of *Eli; brother of
Ichabod and father of Ahimelech and Ahijah, who lived dur-
ing Saul’s reign (1 Sam. 14:3; 22:9, 11-12, 20). The Bible gives no
details about Ahitub, and it is not clear whether he survived
the destruction of Shiloh and continued to officiate as priest
or died together with his family in the war against the Phi-
listines (cf. Ps. 78:64). Some scholars assume that Ahitub set-
tled in Nob, made it a priestly town, and officiated there over
85 priests (I Sam. 22:18) until his son *Ahimelech succeeded
him. In 1 Samuel 8:17 and 1 Chronicles 18:16 he is named as
father of *Zadok, but this may be an attempt to link the priestly
Zadokite line with the legitimate Aaronide line of Shiloh (cf.
1 Chron. 5:33-34; 6:37-38). It is doubtful, however, whether
the Ahitub mentioned in the line of priests (ibid. 5:37-38; 9:11)
refers to the same man. In the last cited verse he is called “the
ruler [nagid] of the House of God”
The name Ahtb is found in an ancient Egyptian inscrip-
tion (12-18 dynasties); Ahttab and Ahatabt appear in Akka-
dian; and Ahatab on an Elephantine ostracon.
545
AHITUB BEN ISAAC
BIBLIOGRAPHY: de Vaux, Anc Isr, 127-8, 372-5; Yeivin, in:
Sefer Dinaburg (1949), 45ff.; EM, 1 (1965), 215-6 (incl. bibl.). app.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Japhet, 1 & 11 Chronicles (1993), 351-52.
AHITUB BEN ISAAC (late 13" century), rabbi and physi-
cian in Palermo. Ahitub’s father was a rabbi and physician;
his brother David was a physician. He became known while
still a young man for his philosophic and scientific learning.
When the kabbalist Abraham *Abulafia went to Sicily to win
adherents for his teaching, Solomon b. Abraham *Adret of
Barcelona communicated with Ahitub in order to enlist his
support in his controversy against Abulafia.
Ahitub was the author of Mahberet ha-Tene, a poem re-
sembling the Mahberet ha-Tofet ve ha-Eden of *Immanuel of
Rome. In this allegorical work he describes his journey to Par-
adise where he went to discover the right way of life. There he
enjoyed the food of the blessed, and when he returned to earth
he brought with him some of the waters of Paradise. These he
used to water his garden which then yielded delicious fruits.
The first of these he placed in a basket (tene), consecrated them
to God, and then offered the fruits to anyone who wished to
taste them. The number of these fruits was 13, representing
the 13 *Articles of Faith. Ahitub’s work was incorporated in
the Sefer ha-Tadir of Moses b. Jekuthiel de Rossi who added a
piyyut on the articles of faith. This piyyut was published twice
(A. Freimann, in ZHB, 10 (1906), 172; Hirschfeld, in JQr, 5
(1914/15), 540).
Ahitub also translated Maimonides’ Treatise on Logic
from the Arabic into Hebrew. This translation was still known
in the 16" century, and its variant readings were recorded in
the margins of some copies of the first edition of another He-
brew translation of the work, this one by Moses ibn *Tibbon.
Ahitub’s translation was forgotten until a manuscript of it was
found and published by Chamizer. An edition of the transla-
tion appears in Maimonides’ Treatise on Logic (ed. by I. Efros
(1938), 67-100; cf. Eng. section, 8-9 ff.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Gesch, 515-6; Guedemann, Gesch Erz,
2 (1888), 202-3; Kaufmann, Schriften, 2 (1915), 236; ZHB, 10 (1906),
95, 171-5; 11 (1907), 159; Margoliouth, Cat, 3 (1965), 394; Chamizer,
in: Judaica, Festschrift zu Hermann Cohens 7o Geburtstag (1912),
423-565 JQR, 5 (1914/15), 532-3, 540; 7 (1916/17), 128; 11 (1920/21),
309-11; Schirmann, in: YMHSI, 1 (1933), 123-473 J. Klatzkin, Ozar ha-
Munahim..., 1 (1926), 107-8.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]
AHLAB (Heb. any), Canaanite city allotted to the tribe of
Asher, which, however, was unable to conquer it at the begin-
ning of the Israelite settlement (Judg. 1:31). This is apparently
the same city of Asher which appears in the form me-Hevel
(Pann; “from Hebel”; Josh. 19:29). According to the Septua-
gint, this form is an error for Meheleb and it is mentioned
as Mahalliba in Sennacherib’s account of his campaign in
701B.C.E. between Zarephath (Zaribtu) and Ushu (mainland
Tyre). Ahlab is identified with Khirbet el-Mahalib, on the Leb-
anese coast, 3% mi. (6 km.) north of Tyre and approximately
1 mi. (2 km.) south of the mouth of the Litani River.
546
BIBLIOGRAPHY: EM, S.v.; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 67, 384;
Pritchard, Texts, 287; Aharoni, Land, index.
[Yohanan Aharoni]
AHL AL-KITAB (Ar. “The People of the Book”), name of
the Jews, Christians, and Sabeans (al Sabd’a) in the Koran
(Sura 3:110; 4:152; et al.) because they possess a kitab, ie., a
holy book containing a revelation of God’s word. Pre-Islamic
Arabic poetry refers to Jewish and Christian Scripture. It es-
pecially dwells on the Zabir, a holy book - whose origin is
from the word mizmor (“psalm”) - which Muhammad knew
as given to David (Sura 17:15), i.e., the Book of Psalms. Mu-
hammad frequently mentions the tawra (the Torah, possibly
the entire Bible) revealed to the Israelites (e.g., Sura 3:58, 87;
48:29) which contains clear allusions to Muhammad’s appear-
ance (Sura 7:156; 33:44; 48:4). He also is acquainted with the
Injil (Evangelium, the Gospels), a term which covers the entire
New Testament. Muhammad emphasizes that the Injil con-
firms the statements of the Torah (Sura 5:50; cf. 48:29; 57:27).
He does not specify the holy book of the Sabeans although he
mentions them three times in the Koran (Sura 2:59; 5:72; 22:17),
along with the Jews and the Christians, and promises them
their part in salvation. According to the Arabs, Muhammad
meant the Mandeans, a Judeo-Christian sect whose believers
lived in Babylonia. In the early period of his mission, Muham-
mad related positively to the Ahl al-Kitab and their teachings.
But his attitude changed as a result of the disappointment in
his hope of persuading them to accept his faith. Then Muham-
mad accused them of intentionally falsifying the Torah or at
least distorting its interpretation (Sura 2:70; 3:64, 72, 733 cf.
5:16; 6:91). Despite this, Muhammad determined that the Ahl
al-Kitab, as the authors of holy books, deserve special treat-
ment, and because they had agreed to pay the jizya (“poll tax”),
the command to fight against them was not enforced (Sura
9:29). Since the Ahl al-Kitab fulfilled this condition, they be-
came the Ahl al-Dhimma (“protected people”; see *Dhimmi).
In a later period this position caused the Harran (“star wor-
shipers”) who called themselves Sabeans and the Persians, who
believed in Zoroastrianism and relied on their holy book, to
merit inclusion in the term Ah al-Kitab.
As a result of their belief in the books of divine revelation,
the Ahl al-Kitab enjoyed a favored status in Islam. A Muslim
is permitted to intermarry with their women and to eat what
they have slaughtered. On the other hand, the accusations of
Muhammad as to falsifications of Scripture and distorted in-
terpretations caused the creation of an extensive polemical lit-
erature and disputations which at times actually poisoned the
relations between the adherents of the different religions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Steinschneider, Polemische und apolo-
getische Literatur in Arabischer Sprache (1877), 320-9; M. Perlmann,
in: JQR, 37 (1940/41), 171-91; H. Lammens, L’Islam, croyances et insti-
tutions (1941), 28-31; H.Z. Hirschberg, Yisrael ba-Arav (1946), 114-5;
E. Strauss, in: Sefer ha-Zikaron le-Veit ha-Midrash le-Rabbanim be-
Vina (1946), 182-97; P.K. Hitti, History of the Arabs (1960), 143-4, 233.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Vajda, in: EIS”, 1, 264-66 (incl. bibl.).
[Haim Zew Hirschberg]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHLEM, village near Hanover, known for its Jewish horticul-
tural school, the first of its type in Germany. The school was
founded in 1893 by the Jewish philanthropist Moritz Alexan-
der Simon and was open to all suitable Jewish applicants, re-
gardless of ideological affiliation. It trained hundreds of Jewish
youths as agriculturalists and skilled workers. The three-year
curriculum included agricultural subjects, especially horti-
culture, in addition to general subjects taught in secondary
schools. On its foundation boys from the age of 14 were ad-
mitted; from 1903 to the 1920s girls over 16 were accepted for
vocational training and home economics, and subsequently
horticulture. A boarding school and elementary school for
children between the ages of eight and 13 were added. In 1933
the number of pupils totaled approximately 50, but increased
to 120 between 1936 and 1938. The school was authorized by
the Nazis as a center for vocational training for Jewish youth
intending to emigrate and was permitted to issue graduation
certificates. Between 1933 and 1939 about 300 pupils graduated
from Ahlem, and some of them emigrated to Erez Israel. Even
before the closure of the school in July 1942, Ahlem was made
an assembly point for the deportation of Jews by the Gestapo.
Between December 1941 and February 1945, more than 2,400
Jews of the Hanover and Halberstadt region were deported
from Ahlem to Riga, Theresienstadt, Warsaw, and Auschwitz.
For a short time, the tradition of the Gartenbauschule was re-
vived and a kibbutz was established by Holocaust survivors
in Ahlem in 1945.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Homeyer, Beitrag zur Geschichte der
Gartenbauschule Ahlem 1893-1979 (1980).
[Mordechai Eliav / Stefan Rohrbacher (274 ed.)]
°AHLWARDT, HERMANN (1846-1914), German publicist
and antisemitic politician. In 1893, when headmaster of a pri-
mary school in Berlin, Ahlwardt was dismissed for embez-
zling money collected from the pupils. He made antisemitism
his profession and used it as a political springboard. His first
work, Der Verzweiflungskampf der arischen Voelker mit dem
Judentum (“The Last Stand of the Aryan Peoples against Juda-
ism,’ 1890-92), described an alleged Jewish world conspiracy.
Its second part, “The Oath of a Jew” (Der Eid eines Judens),
included slander against G. von *Bleichroeder, a leading Jew-
ish banker. Prosecution followed and Ahlwardt was sentenced
to four months’ imprisonment. He was hardly out of prison
when he published another defamatory leaflet Judenflinten
(“Jewish Rifles”), claiming that the guns supplied to the Ger-
man Army by a Jewish manufacturer were defective. How-
ever, Ahlwardt was saved from serving a second sentence by
parliamentary immunity, as he had been elected in 1892 to
the Reichstag as member for Arnswalde-Friedeberg (Bran-
denburg) on the platform propounded to the peasants there
that their misery was due to “the Jews and the Junkers.” His
pamphlets (no less than ten of which appeared in 1892) were
assisted by the press and Roman Catholic clergy, with the re-
sult that antisemitic rioting, the burning of the synagogue at
Neustettin, and the revival of ritual murder accusations en-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AHOT KETANNAH
sued. To the embarrassment of his own party, the Conserva-
tives, Ahlwardt occupied the time of the Reichstag with his
slanderous “revelations” about the Jews. He continued to hold
his seat there until the Reichstag was dissolved in 1893 when
he was immediately imprisoned for libel. In spite of this and
the opposition of the Conservatives he was reelected by the
same constituencies and held his seat until 1902. He was sen-
tenced for blackmail in 1909 and died unnoticed.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Pulzer, The Rise of Political Anti-
Semitism in Germany and Austria (19887); C. Jahr, in: LBIYB, 48
(2003), 67-85.
AHMADNAGAR, capital of the former kingdom of the
Nizam Shah dynasty on the west coast of India. Under Burhan
Nizam Shah 1 (1510-53), a Shi'a Muslim, it became a center of
Hindu-Muslim culture and learning. Among the scholars at-
tracted to his court and enjoying its atmosphere of complete
religious tolerance were some Marranos from Portugal, in-
cluding Sancho Pirez, who became a favorite of the king and
was a friend of Garcia *d’Orta. Garcia refers in his Colloquia
(no. 26) to “Jews in the territory of Nizamuluco [Nizam Shah]?
A Jewish settlement also existed in the port of the kingdom,
Chaul (now Revanda).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Shyam, Kingdom of Ahmadnagar (1966).
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
AHOT KETANNAH (Heb. 70? ninx; “Little Sister”), name
of ahymn for Rosh Ha-Shanah. It was composed by Abraham
Hazzan Gerondi, a writer of devotional hymns, who flourished
about the middle of the 13 century in southern France. The
poem consists of eight metrical stanzas of four to five lines,
each ending with the refrain Tikhleh shanah ve-kileloteha
(“May this year with its curses end”). The last stanza ends Tahel
shanah u-virekhoteha (“May the year and its blessings begin”).
The acrostic gives the name of the author “Abram Hazzan.” The
opening words of the hymn are taken from Song of Songs 8:8
“We have a little sister” and refer to the traditional allegorical
interpretation of the Song of Songs. The poem evokes Israel's
sufferings in exile and implores God’s mercy “to fortify the
song of the daughter and to strengthen her longing to be close
to her lover.” At first adopted into the Sephardi ritual, where
it is recited before the evening prayer of Rosh Ha-Shanah,
the poem was subsequently adopted in the Ashkenazi and
Yemenite rites, especially in kabbalistic circles.
[Meir Ydit]
Music
Ahot Ketannah is sung either by the entire congregation, or by
the cantor alone with the congregation joining in the refrain.
The melody is uniform throughout the Sephardi Diaspora,
with only slight local variations, and may therefore belong to
the common pre-expulsion stock. Notated examples may be
found in Idelsohn, Melodien, 1, no. 93; 2, no. 48 (mus. ex. 1);
3, NOS. 43, 46, 175; 4, NOS. 185, 186 (mus. ex. 2), 187, 192; 5, no.
159; Levy, Antologia, 2, nos. 93-101; E Consolo, Sefer Shirei Yis-
547
AHRWEILER
rael (1890), 125; E. Aguilar and D.A. de Sola, Sephardi Melodies
(1857, 1931), no. 26; O. Camhy, Liturgie Sepharadie (1959), nos.
63, 64; Cremieu, J.S. and M., Chants hébraiques... de lancien
Comtat Venaissin (1885), no. 1.
[Avigdor Herzog]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Lit Poesie, 140.
AHRWEILER (Heb. 812°), small German town near Bonn.
There was a considerable Jewish community in Ahrweiler in
the 13" century, some of its members owning houses in Co-
logne. In the 14» century the Jews of Ahrweiler dealt in salt
and wine. The community suffered during the *Black Death
massacres of 1348. The physician and exegete Baruch b. Sam-
son (“Meister Bendel”) lived in Ahrweiler in the 15‘ century.
Among the rabbis of Ahrweiler were Hayyim b. Johanan
Treves (d. 1598), who also officiated as *Landrabbiner for
the territory of the Electorate of Cologne, and his son-in-
law Isaac b. Hayyim. A notable family which adopted the
name “Ahrweiler” included among its members the Frankfurt
dayyan Hirz Ahrweiler (d. 1679) and his son Mattathias, rabbi
of Heidelberg (d. 1729). The small Ahrweiler community of
modern times numbered only 4 Jews in 1808; 28 in 1849; 65 in
1900 (1% of the total population); and 31 in 1933. It maintained
a cemetery and synagogue built in 1894. The synagogue was
burned and desecrated on *Kristallnacht (Nov. 9-10, 1938); the
last Jews were deported from Ahrweiler in July 1942.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Salfeld, Martyrol, 273, 287; Germ Jud, 2
(1968), 3-4. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Warnecke, Die Ahrwei-
ler Synagoge. Ein Beispiel jtidisch-deutscher Geschichte im 19. und
20. Jahrhundert (1983); B. Klein, in: EG. Zehnder (ed.), Hirt und
Herde. Religiositat und Frémmigkeit im Rheinland des 18. Jahrhun-
derts (2000), 251-78.
AHWAZ, capital of the Persian province of Khuzistan. Ahwaz
was called Be-Hozai in the Talmud (Taan. 23; Pes. 50; Gitt. 89;
Hull 95). Several amoraim originated from the city, including
R. Aha, R. Hanina, and R. Avram Hoza’ah. As a junction be-
tween Babylonia and Persia, Ahwaz was an important medi-
eval center for the eastern trade, with a flourishing Jewish pop-
ulation. Two Jews in the service of Caliph al-Muqtadir, Joseph
b. Phinehas and Aaron b. Amram, were tax farmers for the
province, owning real estate and a bazaar there which yielded a
considerable income. They rose to the position of court bank-
ers. The revenue from Ahwaz province is mentioned as secu-
rity for a large loan they advanced to the government. Ahwaz
remained a center of Jewish commercial activities throughout
the Middle Ages, as attested by correspondence between Jew-
ish merchants in Ahwaz with associates in *Fez and *Cairo.
One of the earliest indications that Jewish merchants in Khuz-
istan used the Persian language is a Judeo-Persian law report,
dated around 1021, found near Ahwaz.
As in *Abadan, Ahwaz became one of the first centers of
Zionist activitiy in Iran beginning with the occupation of the
southern region by the British Army (Sept. 1941). During this
period there were 300 Jews in Ahwaz, constituting 70 families,
548
many of them immigrants from Iraq and from other cities like
*Isfahan, *Shiraz, *Kashan, Arak, and *Kermanshah. The ma-
jority were merchants, mainly in the textile trade. There were
five wealthy families in Ahwaz; the rest belonged to the mid-
dle class. There were two synagogues, one belonging to Jews
of Iraqi origin and the other to Persian-speaking Jews. After
1948, many Jews immigrated to Israel and to *Teheran. The
majority of the Jews of Ahwaz left the city after the Islamic
Revolution (1979). At the beginning of the 21 century, there
were fewer than five families living there.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fischel, Islam, index; $.D. Goitein, A Medi-
terranean Society, 1 (1967), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Alam-e
Yahud, 16 (Nov. 20, 1945), 285; ibid., 22 (Jan. 15, 1946), 379; B.-Z. Eshel,
Yishuvei ha-Yehudim be-Babel be-Tekufat ha-Talmud (1979), 58-593
A. Netzer, “Yahudiydnei Iran dar avaset-e qarn-e bistom, in: Shofar,
244 (June 2001), 23.
[Walter Joseph Fischel / Amnon Netzer (274 ed.)]
AI or HA-AI (?¥33 ,?Y; in the Samaritan version of Gen. 12:15
called Ayna; in Jos., Ant. 5:35 - Naian), place in Erez Israel.
It is mentioned together with Beth-El as near the site where
Abraham pitched his tent (Gen. 12:8; 13:3). In Joshua 7:2, it is
located beside Beth-Aven, east of Beth-El. Ai was the second
Canaanite city which Joshua attacked (Josh. 7-8). After the
first attempt to capture the city had miscarried because of the
sin of *Achan, the king of Ai and his army were defeated in
an ambush and the city was left in ruins (see also Josh. 12:9).
Although the old site of Ai remained abandoned, an Israelite
city with a similar name arose nearby. Isaiah mentioned Aiath
(my — Isa. 10:28) as the first of the cities occupied by the Assyr-
ians in their march on Jerusalem, before Michmas and Geba.
In the post-Exilic period, returnees from Ai are mentioned
together with people from Beth-El (Ezra 2:28; Neh. 7:32) and
Aijah (7?¥) appears as a city of Benjamin (Neh. 11:31). Most
scholars identify the ancient city with et-Tell near Deir Dib-
wan, c. 1 mi. (2 km.) southwest of Beth-El. Excavations at the
site carried out in 1933-35 by Judith Marquet-Krause were re-
newed in 1964 by J.A. Callaway. The city was found to have
been inhabited in the Early Bronze Age from c. 3000 B.C.E.
Several massive stone walls were discovered as well as a sanc-
tuary containing sacrificial objects and a palace with a large
hall, the roof of which was supported by wooden pillars on
stone bases. The city was destroyed not later than in the 24
century B.c.E. and remained in ruins until the 13” or 12'
century B.c.E. when a small short-lived Israelite village was
established there. This discovery indicates that in the time of
Joshua, the site was a waste (also implied by the name Ai, liter-
ally, “ruin”). Scholars explain the discrepancy in various ways.
Some consider the narrative of the conquest of Ai contained in
the book of Joshua an etiological story that developed in order
to explain the ancient ruins of the city and its fortifications.
Others assume that the story of Ai was confused with that of
nearby Beth-El which evidently was captured during the 13"
century. Others dispute the identification without, however,
being able to propose another suitable site. Khirbet Haiyan,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
c. 1 mi. (2 km.) south of et-Tell, has been suggested as the site
of the later city; the only pottery found there, however, dates
from the Roman and later periods.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Marquet-Krause, Les fouilles de‘Ay (et-Tell)
(1949); Vincent, in: RB, 46 (1937), 231ff.; Albright, in: AASoR, 4 (1924),
141-9; idem, in: BASOR, 74 (1939), 15ff.; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 239-40;
Aharoni, Land index; U. Cassuto, Commentary on the Book of Genesis,
2 (1964), 331-2; M. Noth, in: PyB, 31 (1935), 7-29; J.M. Grintz, in: Sinai,
21 (1947), 219 ff; J.A. Callaway, in: BASOR, 178 (1965), 13-40; J.A. Cal-
laway and H.B. Nicol, ibid., 183 (1966), 12-19. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A. Ben-Tor (ed.), The Archaeology of Ancient Israel (1992), index.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
AIBU
(1) Babylonian sage who flourished in the transitional
period from the tannaim to the amoraim (late second - early
third century c.z.). The father of *Rav and the brother of
Hiyya (Pes. 4a; Sanh. 5a), he studied in Erez Israel, where he
frequently visited Eleazar b. Zadok, whose customs and hal-
akhic decisions he quotes (Suk. 44b).
(2) The son of Rav, who told him “I have labored with
you in halakhah, but without success. Come and I will teach
you worldly wisdom” (Pes. 113a).
(3) The grandson of Rav (Suk. 44b), and a frequent visi-
tor to his home.
(4) Amora and prominent aggadist (late third - early
fourth century c.z.). While he transmitted some halakhic
statements in the name of Yannai (Ket. 54b; Kid. 19a; et al.),
he was mainly interested in aggadah, quoting the aggadic in-
terpretations of tannaim and amoraim such as R. Meir (Mid.
Ps. 101, end), R. Eliezer b. R. Yose ha-Gelili (Tanh. B., No’ah,
24, 53), and R. Johanan (Gen. R. 82, 5). His aggadic com-
ments, popular among homilists, were frequently quoted by
them, especially by R. Yudan b. Simeon (ibid., 73:3; Mid. Ps.
24:11; et al.), R. Huna, R. Phinehas, and R. Berechiah. One of
his aggadic maxims is “No man departs from this world with
half his desires realized. If he has a hundred, he wants two
hundred, and if he has two hundred, he wants four hundred”
(Eccl. R. 1:13).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bacher, Pal Amor; Hyman, Toledot, 138.
[Zvi Kaplan]
AICHINGER, ILSE (1921- ), Austrian writer and lyricist,
and author of radio plays. One of twin daughters born to a
Jewish physician and a teacher, Aichinger spent her childhood
in Linz and after the early divorce of her parents moved to
Vienna. There she and her maternal relatives were confronted
with the persecution of the Nazi regime. In her first publica-
tion, Aufruf zum Miftrauen (1946), she cautioned against what
she perceived to be a new and dangerous self-confidence in
Austria after the collapse of Nazi rule. At an early age, she had
expressed an interest in studying medicine, but she was un-
able to do so because of the Nuremberg Laws. At the end of
World War 11, she was able to pursue her interest in medicine,
but dropped out of university in 1948 to complete her first
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AIJALON
novel, Die groessere Hoffnung (1948). The novel explores the
angst and suffering of both the Jews and their pursuers during
the Third Reich. The text reflects Aichinger’s commitment to
the weak and skepticism about the German language. After
1950, she was employed as a reader at the S. Fischer publish-
ing house. In 1953 she married Guenter Eich, whom she had
met at a conference of the “Gruppe 47,” where she received
an award for her Spiegelgeschichte. This is a piece of literary
prose that narrates a reversed life with the attempt to unlearn
everything including language and thus postulating silence.
Aichinger’s collection of narratives Rede unter dem Galgen
was also published in 1953. In these narratives she examines
a range of human emotions, including angst, alienation, par-
adox, and ambivalence. Aichingers lyric and narrative texts
increasingly show the reduction of linguistic means focusing
on subjectivity, thereby blending reality and dream, inner
and outer world. Examples of these themes can be found in
Eliza Eliza (1965), Schlechte Woerter (1976), Verschenkter Rat
(1978) or Kleist, Moos, Fasane (1984). Aichinger also published
a number of radio plays, including Knoepfe (1953), Besuch im
Pfarrhaus (1962), Auckland (1970), and the radio dialog Bel-
vedere (1995). These radio plays illustrate existential border-
line experiences between assimilation and resistance. A later
publication is Film und Verhaengnis: Blitzlichter auf ein Leben
(2001), notes on films and photography which turn a spotlight
on the cultural life of Vienna between 1921 and 1945.
Aichinger’s awards over the years include the Nelly
Sachs-Preis, the Georg Trakl-Preis, the Franz Kafka-Preis,
and the Joseph-Breitbach-Preis. She was a member of the
Deutsche Akademie fuerr Sprache und Dichtung, the Akad-
emie der Kuenste Berlin, and the Bayerische Akademie der
Schoenen Kiinste.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Thums, “Den Ankuenften nicht glauben
wahr sind die Abschiede”: Mythos, Gedaechtnis und Mystik in der Prosa
Ilse Aichingers (2000); K. Bartsch, Ilse Aichinger (1993); S. Moser,
Ilse Aichinger. Leben und Werk (1990); G. Lindemann, Ilse Aichinger
(1988); D. Lorenz, Ilse Aichinger (1981).
[Ann-Kristin Koch (2™ ed.)]
AIJALON (Ayyalon) (Heb. WOR; “place of deer”). (1) City sit-
uated in a broad valley (valley of Aijalon) which is one of the
approaches to the Judean Hills. Volcanic activity occurring in
the area in the latest geological period left some basalt traces
and the hot springs found at *Emmaus in ancient times. Pot-
sherds found on a large tell, about 3 mi. (5 km.) north of Bab-
al-Wad, show continuous occupation from the Late Bronze
Age onward. The village of Yalu is built on the tell.
The El-Amarna letters indicate that the region was in-
cluded within the kingdom of Gezer in the 15» and 14" cen-
turies, B.c.£. This kingdom was on hostile terms with Jeru-
salem, whose ruler Puti-Hepa complained that his caravans
were being robbed in the valley of Aijalon (“Yaluna,’ Ea, 287).
In a letter to Amenhotep Iv (EA, 273), the queen of the city
of Zaphon (?) reports that the Habiru attacked the two sons
of Milkilu, king of Gezer, in Ayaluna (Aijalon) and in Sarha
549
AIKEN, HENRY DAVID
(Zorah). Joshua referred to the valley of Aijalon in connec-
tion with his defeat of the Amorites. Joshua asked for a mira-
cle to prevent the sun from setting so that the Israelites could
avenge themselves on the Amorites. Joshua said: “Sun, stand
thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ai-
jalon” (Josh. 10:12). The city is included in the tribal area of
Dan (Josh. 19:42) and in the list of levitical cities (Josh. 21:24;
1 Chron. 6:54), but the Danites were unable to subject the
Amorites, and later the region came under the influence of the
“house of Joseph” (Ephraim; Judg. 1:34-35). The valley became
a field of battle between the tribes of Dan, Ephraim, Judah,
and Benjamin on the one side and the Amorites and Philis-
tines on the other (1 Chron. 7:21; 8:6). The region was finally
conquered by the Israelites under David. Aijalon is included
in Solomon's second administrative district under “the son of
Deker’” (1 Kings 4:9). With the division of the kingdom, the
valley remained within the kingdom of Judah, in the territory
of Benjamin, and Rehoboam fortified it as part of his defense
system of Jerusalem (11 Chron. 11:10). It is mentioned in the
list of cities (no. 26) captured by Shishak, king of Egypt, in
about 924 B.c.E. and the Philistines also captured it during the
reign of Ahaz but held it only briefly (11 Chron. 28:18). There
is no reference to Aijalon during the Second Temple period.
The valley was located on the route taken by Cestius Gallus,
the governor of Syria, in his campaign against Jerusalem in
66 C.E. (Jos., Wars, 2:513—-6). In Byzantine times, Aijalon is
mentioned as Ialo, a name which is preserved in the present-
day Arab village of Yalu.
In 637 c.£., Aijalon was the headquarters of the Arab
armies which suffered heavily at Emmaus. The region was
badly damaged in an 11'®-century earthquake. During the
Crusades it was once again a battlefield and a fort was built
there by the Crusaders (today *Latrun). It was also a scene of
fighting during Allenby’s campaign in 1917 and in the War of
Independence (1948) a prolonged battle was fought in the re-
gion over the roads leading to Jerusalem. After the War of In-
dependence, a few Israeli settlements were established in the
region. These were considered border settlements, and during
the 1950s they were under terrorist attack. In 1967 the whole
area was occupied by the Israel Defense Forces, and the Arab
inhabitants fled to Ramallah. In 1976 a large park was estab-
lished on the deserted land of the Arab villages.
(2) Town in the territory of Zebulun where the judge,
Elon, was buried (Judg. 12:12). Its location is unknown.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G.A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy
Land (19317°), 210-14, 250 ff.; Abel, Geog, 1 (1933), 3995 2 (1938), 240ff.;
Aharoni, Land, index; EM, s.v.
AIKEN, HENRY DAVID (1912-1982), U.S. philosopher.
Aiken was born in Portland, Oregon, and taught at the uni-
versities of Columbia, Washington, Harvard (1946-65), and
Brandeis (1965-80), specializing in ethics, esthetics, and the
history of philosophy. He was influenced by the British ana-
lytic movement, by the American naturalists - especially San-
tayana, and by David Hume's moral and political writings,
550
some of which he edited. Among the works he wrote are The
Age of Ideology (1957), selections including a commentary on
19*-century thought; Reason and Conduct (1962), a collec-
tion of essays in moral philosophy; and Predicament of the
University (1971).
[Richard H. Popkin]
AIKHENVALD YULI ISAYEVICH (1872-1928), Russian lit-
erary critic and essayist. An opponent of the dominant school
of social criticism, he made his name as a major exponent of
the subjective, impressionist approach. His works include
Pushkin (1908), Etyudy O zapadnykh pisatelyakh (“Studies of
Western Writers,” 1910), Siluety russkikh pisateley (“Outlines
of Russian Writers,” 3 vols. (1906-1910)), and Spor o Belinskom
(“The Belinski Controversy,’ 1914), an appraisal of Vissarion
Belinski, the first Russian to view literary criticism as a molder
of public opinion. In 1922 Aikhenvald and a number of other
non-communist intellectuals were expelled from the U.S.S.R.
He was killed in a streetcar accident in Berlin.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Istoriya russkoy kritiki, 2 (1958), 424-5; G.
Struve, Russkaya literatura v izgnanii (1956).
[Maurice Friedberg]
AIMEE, ANOUK (Francoise Dreyfus; 1932- ), French ac-
tress. Starting her film career as a teenager and the daughter
of actress Genevieve Sorya, the Paris-born Aimée gained the
attention of the French public in 1957 in the film Les Mauvaises
Rencontres. In Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), and 8%
(1963), she was cast in roles reflecting modern boredom and
world-weariness. She was nominated for an Academy Award
as best actress for her part in Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman
(1966). Among her more than 80 films are Justine (1969), The
Appointment (1970), Salto nel Vuoto (Cannes Award for Best
Actress, 1980), Un Homme et une Femme: 20 Ans deja (1986),
Il y a des jours...et des lunes (1990), and Robert Altman’s Ready
to Wear (1994). She was married to the actor Albert Finney
from 1970 to 1978.
[Jonathan Licht]
“AINSWORTH, HENRY (1569-1622), English Bible scholar.
Ainsworth was educated at Cambridge and already knew He-
brew when, as an adherent of the Brownist sect (later called
Congregationalists), he went into exile in Amsterdam. He
served there as a teacher (1596-1610) in the independent Eng-
lish Church, and subsequently as its minister. Through Jewish
contacts in Amsterdam he improved his Hebrew knowledge,
the considerable extent of which is reflected in his writings.
These include Silk or Wool in the High Priest's Ephod... (Lon-
don, 1605); an English version, with annotations, of Psalms
(Amsterdam, 1612), which was adopted by the Puritans of
New England until they produced their own in 1640; and An-
notations to the Pentateuch, with Psalms and Song of Songs
(1616-27). This work, which includes rabbinic material, was
translated into Dutch in 1690 and into German in 1692; Song
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of Songs in English meter in 1623. Ainsworth’s Annotations
were used two and a half centuries later by the revisers of the
English Bible. He was considered one of the finest English
Hebraists of his time.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online.
[Raphael Loewe]
AISH HATORAH, outreach organization based in Jerusalem,
Israel, and housed in a building facing the Western Wall,
directly above the plaza. It was founded by American-born
rabbi Noah Weinberger in 1974. Weinberger had grown up
on Manhattan's Lower East Side, where he was raised in an
Orthodox home and was proud of his mother’s involvement
in the establishment of the Esther Schoenfeld Beth Jacob
School for Girls. He saw his mission as fighting assimila-
tion and answering the question, “Why be Jewish?” His stra-
tegy involved the use of high technology and powerful and
media-savvy business executives and celebrities to help send
out his institution’s message. It operates 26 full-time branches
and offers programs in 80 cities, representing 17 countries
on five continents and attended by 100,000 people annually
in addition to the 4,500 students who study at Aish Jerusalem
every year. Over 175 people have graduated from the rab-
binic program and have gone to North America to do out-
reach work.
Aish Programs
DISCOVERY. A one-day program that explores the rational
basis for Jewish belief and practice. More than 100,000 peo-
ple worldwide have attended the Discovery program. Guest
hosts for these seminars have included American entertain-
ers Ed *Asner, Kirk *Douglas, Elliot *Gould, Joel *Grey, and
Jason *Alexander. Aish instructors conduct hundreds of re-
lated seminars in cities around the world, including Johannes-
burg, London, Sydney, Melbourne, Santiago, and Jerusalem,
as well as in 45 USS. cities for university campuses, Jewish
community centers, and Reform, Conservative, and Ortho-
dox synagogues.
THE EXECUTIVE LEARNING PROGRAM. Successful men
and women of all ages participate in individually designed
personal study programs in their homes and offices. With
limited free time, and often with limited background in Juda-
ism, hundreds of busy executives find a way to fit Torah study
into their active lives. Among those who participate are Rob-
ert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman-Sachs International,
and Michael Goldstein, cEo of Toys R Us.
THE ISRAEL EXPERIENCE. ‘The 4,500 people participating in
Aish Jerusalem programs in Israel attend the Discovery Semi-
nar; the one-month Essentials for men or JEWEL for women;
introductory programs; and the Jerusalem Fellowships. The
latter was founded in 1985 by senators Daniel Patrick Moyni-
han and Arlen Spector. The program combines touring Israel,
studying Judaism, and meeting Israel’s top leadership from
across the political spectrum.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AI TIEN
EYAHT COLLEGE OF JEWISH STUDIES FOR WOMEN. Reb-
betzin Denah Weinberg founded the school in 1990 to em-
power Jewish women.
THE RUSSIAN PROGRAM. ‘This reaches over 50,000 people in
the Former Soviet Union (Fsv), plus another 3.5 million view-
ers through its popular television series. In Moscow, Aish runs
the Intellectual Cafe, a bimonthly seminar teaching Talmud to
beginners through a logic game. Aish-Fsu has four permanent
branches, including one accredited college.
In Israel, Aish created a social action organization, AVIV,
which provides legal, medical, and social services to aid Rus-
sian Jews after they make aliyah. Aish has also created a series
for Radio Reka, the immigrant radio station that has 200,000
listeners in Israel and one million in Russia.
HIGH TECH AND JERUSALEM FUND MISSIONS TO ISRAEL.
The Albert Einstein High Tech Mission brings leaders of hi-
tech industry to Israel to meet their peers and explore po-
tential investments, strategic partnerships, and spirituality
in the Holy Land. Companies who have participated include
the founders, CEOs, or presidents of AOL, Infospace, Ness,
National Semiconductor, Computer Associates, 1pT, Drug-
store.com, ZDNet, StarTek, Net2Phone, The Red Herring,
Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Scient, Disney Internet, Akamai,
and ATT.com.
THE THEODOR HERZL MISSION. Co-sponsored with the
mayor of Jerusalem, it brings world leaders from across the
world to Israel for one week. Participants have included Lady
Margaret Thatcher, U.S. senators John Kerry, Harry Reid, and
Joseph Biden, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, former
U.S. Ambassador to the uN Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Congress-
man Peter Deutsch, Governors Tom Ridge (Pa) and Christine
Whitman (Nj), philanthropist Carroll Petrie, Elie Wiesel, Alan
Dershowitz, Barry Sternlicht, chairman of Starwood Hotels,
the world’s largest hotel company, Starbuck’s Howard Schultz,
and Accuweather president Joel Meyer.
THE CAPITAL CAMPAIGN. Aish HaTorah is building a hi-
tech Jewish education center incorporating state of the art
Internet, video, computer, and satellite hook-ups. The Kirk
Douglas Theater, dedicated by the Hollywood legend, will
present a film about the Jewish contribution to humanity. Aish
also acquired several sites in the Old City, projected for use as
classrooms, dormitories, and offices.
AISH.COM. With its 1,000,000 hits a year, the site is user-
friendly, hi-speed, and full of information and contact num-
bers about all of its programs.
[Jeanette Friedman (24 ed.)]
AI T’IEN (b. c. 1545), Chinese Jew through whom detailed
knowledge of Chinese Jewry first reached the Western world
at the beginning of the 17" century. Ai T’ien was born in *Kai-
feng, Honan province, and obtained his licentiate in Chinese
classics as a minor school official (chii-jén) in 1573. In 1605 he
551
AIX-EN-PROVENCE
went to Peking to seek employment, which led to his eventual
appointment at Yangchow. While in Peking, in June 1605, he
visited the Italian Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci. Ai gave Ricci
a detailed account of his own family and the status of the Jew-
ish community in Kaifeng, as well as the relationship of the
Jews with the local Muslims and Nestorian Christians. Ricci
came to the conclusion that the community in Kaifeng were
of Jewish descent and sent this information in a letter dated
July 26, 1605, to the general of the Jesuit order in Rome. This
was the first report to reach Europe concerning the existence
of Jews in China, and a document of primary importance for
Chinese Jewish history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W.C. White, Chinese Jews (19667), pt. 1, 11,
31-37; pt. 2, 144; pt. 3, 110-2.
[Rudolf Loewenthal]
AIX-EN-PROVENCE (Heb. W738 or 2X), town in the
Bouches-du-Rhéne department, southern France. The first
reference to the presence of Jews in Aix-en-Provence dates
from about 1283. They then owned a synagogue and a cemetery
situated at Bourg St.-Saveur, which was under the jurisdiction
of the archbishop. In 1299 they contributed to the annual tax
paid to the count by the Jews of Provence. The Jewish popu-
lation in 1341 numbered 1,205 (about “1 of the total), occu-
pying 203 houses, mainly on the Rue Verrerie (called Rue de
la Juiverie until 1811); not far from there the du Puits-Juif still
exists (probably the public well in this street gave rise to the
legend that the Jews owned a medicinal spring). A synagogue
was situated on the corner of the Rue Vivaut and Rue Verrerie,
and another (1354) in the lower town. In 1341 King Robert of
Anjou attempted to set up a compulsory Jewish quarter, but
notwithstanding repeated injunctions it had evidently failed
to materialize by 1403. The community in Aix was adminis-
tered by at least two syndics. The Jews did not have to pay
taxes to the municipality since they contributed to the annual
tax paid by the Jews of Provence to the crown. The contribu-
tions of Aix Jewry amounted to 16% of the total in 1420, and
to over 25% in 1446.
By letters patent of Sept. 25, 1435, Jews were prohibited
from practicing brokerage, and were obliged to wear the Jew-
ish *badge. These restrictions followed the anti-Jewish riots,
which had taken place in 1430, when nine Jews were killed,
many were injured and 74 were forcefully baptized. A general
amnesty was subsequently granted to the inhabitants of Aix.
The position of the Jews in Aix was ameliorated when, in 1454
King René of Anjou allowed them to employ Christian ser-
vants, reduced the size of the badge, and exempted Jews from
wearing it while traveling.
When in 1481 Provence passed to France, Louis x1 con-
firmed the privileges formerly enjoyed by the Jews of Aix and
Marseilles. Aix Jewry again suffered disaster, however, when
on May 10, 1484, they were attacked by bands of maraud-
ers from the Dauphiné and Auvergne and the highlands of
Provence. The raids were repeated intermittently until 1486. In
that year, the Aix municipality asked Charles vit to expel the
552
Jews. The general decree of expulsion, issued in 1498, became
effective in 1501. The Parliament of Provence reissued the pro-
hibition on Jews settling in Aix in 1760, 1768, and 1787.
In cultural matters, the Aix community took a promi-
nent part in the *Maimonidean controversy that divided Jew-
ish scholars. The Jews of Aix were mentioned by the Proven-
cal poet Isaac b. Abraham ha-Gorni who criticized them for
their inhospitable attitude toward strangers.
Shortly after 1789 nine Jewish families from Avignon set-
tled in Aix-en-Provence. The Jewish population numbered 169
in 1809 and 258 in 1872 (out of a total population of 29,000),
dwindling to 214 in 1900. In the mid-19‘» century Aix was the
center in which the former traditions of the *Comtat Venaissin
communities were most faithfully preserved, largely through
the activities of members of the *Milhaud and *Crémieux
families. In 1829, the Hebrew book by Moses Crémieux Ho’il
Moshe Beer was printed in Aix by Francois Gigia.
The census conducted by the Vichy government in May
1941 recorded 33 Jewish families living in Aix. When the Ger-
mans entered the unoccupied zone in November 1942, 2,000
Jewish refugees from Germany and Eastern Europe were sent
to Aix. Most of them were quartered in the nearby camp of
Milles. In May 1943, following the roundup of Jews by the
Germans in southern France, almost all the Jews in Aix were
arrested and interned at *Drancy. They were subsequently de-
ported to Germany and most perished in the Holocaust.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
Modern Times
The community practically disappeared during the years imme-
diately following World War 1. All the archives of the commu-
nity disappeared during World War 11. As the synagogue that
was inaugurated in 1840 was no longer used for worship, it was
sold in 1952 and became a Protestant church. The prayer books
were distributed among several neighboring communities. The
synagogue’s centenary could not be celebrated in 1940, but Dar-
ius *Milhaud, a native of Aix and great-grandson of the com-
munity’s president when the synagogue was built, composed
a cantata for the occasion, Crown of Glory, based on three po-
ems by Ibn *Gabirol and on prayers from the *Comtat Venais-
sin. The arrival of North African Jews after 1956 created a new
community. In 1967 there were about 1,000 Jews living in Aix-
en-Provence. As of 1987, the population was said to be 3,000.
The rabbi and the rite of the synagogue are North African. The
community is administered by a council called the Association
Culturelle Israélite, which is affiliated with the Consistoire Cen-
trale de France. An attempt was made to torch the synagogue
on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, October 9, 2000.
[Gilbert Lazard]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z. Szajkowski (Frydman), Franco-Judaica
(1963), index; idem, in: Jss, 6 (1944), 31-54; idem, Analytical Franco-
Jewish Gazetteer (1966), 166, 168; E.Baratier, Demographie provencale
(1961), 59-60, 216-211; Gross, Gal Jud, 46-48; J. Lubetzki, La condi-
tion des Juifs en France sous loccupation allemande (1945), index; Shir-
mann, in: Lettres Romanes, 3 (1949), 175-200; Guide des Communau-
tés Juives de France. 7 (1966), index.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AIZENBERG, NINA (1902-1974), Russian painter, graphic
artist, and stage designer. Aizenberg was born in Moscow. In
1918-24, she studied in Moscow at the High Arts and Tech-
nical Workshops (VHUTEMAS). From 1924, she worked as a
stage designer for several Moscow theaters. In 1926, Aizenberg
became the principal stage-designer for the Blue Robe (Sinyaa
Bluza), a propaganda-variety theater, where she developed a
novel approach to designing sets and costumes. This approach,
based on constructivist theater techniques, made possible
quick in set and costume changes through the artful use of
basic components in various combinations. In 1928-30, Aizen-
berg was a member of the Association of Decorative Artists, in
1930-32 she joined October group, which united artists work-
ing in the constructivist manner and adherents of “industrial
art.’ In the early 1930s, she was active in the festive design of
Moscow’s streets on holidays marking the events of the Rev-
olution. From the mid-1920s through the 1930s, she regularly
showed her work at set design and decorative art exhibits in
Moscow and Leningrad. In 1938-41, she executed designs for
sports parades and rallies. In 1940-50, Aizenberg worked as
a set designer for various theaters in Russia and other Soviet
republics. She executed a series of landscape paintings in the
1950s. The first and only solo exhibition in her lifetime took
place in 1964 in Moscow.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nina Aizenberg: 40 Years in Theatre. Exh.
Cat. Moscow (1964) (Rus.); Nina Aizenberg: Transformations. Rus-
sian Avant-Garde Costume and Stage Design (Jerusalem, 1991); N.
Van Norman Baer (ed.), Theatre in Revolution. Russian Avant-Garde
Stage Design 1913-193, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1992),
74, 191; J.E. Bowlt, The Artists of Russian Theatre: 1880-1930 (Moscow,
1994), 13-16 (Rus.).
[Hillel Kazovsky (24 ed.)]
AIZMAN, DAVID YAKOLEVICH (1869-1922), Russian
writer. He studied painting in Odessa and Paris, but in his
early thirties turned to literature. Aizman wrote a great deal
about the Jewish poor, in a style reminiscent of Maxim *Gorki.
In such short stories as “Ob odnom zlodeyanii” (“About a
Crime,” 1902), “Zemlyaki” (“Fellow-countrymen,” 1903), and
“Savan” (“The Shroud,” 1903) as well as in the play Ternovy
kust (“The Blackthorn Bush,” 1907), Aizman portrayed revo-
lutionary-minded Jewish intellectuals and their persecution by
the Czarist police. His later work bears the imprint of Russian
Symbolist prose, e.g., the short story “Utro Anchla” (1906), the
novella “Krovavy razliv” (“Bloody Deluge,” 1908), and the fan-
tastic dream “Svetly bog” (“The Radiant God,’ 1914). Although
he was very popular in his day - an eight-volume edition of his
works was published in Russia in 1911-1919 — Aizman’s stories
last appeared in the U.S.S.R. in 1926, and by the second half of
the century his name was almost totally forgotten.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kratkaya literaturnaya entsiklopediya, 1
(1962), 108-9.
[Maurice Friedberg]
AKABA, Jordanian port on the northeastern corner of the
Gulf of Eilat. Due to freshwater wells in the vicinity, it has
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKABA
constituted, since antiquity, an oasis in an otherwise hot des-
ert devoid of life. Under Roman rule it was called Aelana, and
an army post was stationed there. In the early Arab period,
the town had an important Jewish community. In the tenth
century, Akaba was a large port, and the Crusaders made it
a key position in their outer defense line. In the 12" century,
however, the town began to decline and remained little more
than a wayfarers’ station on the pilgrims’ road to Mecca. A
change came in 1906 when the border between Egypt and
the Ottoman Empire was demarked along the Rafah-Taba
line (following a British-Ottoman encounter known as the
“Akaba Incident”). Once again Akaba became the focus of
international interest in World War 1 when the Hashemite
Arab Army under Amir Feisal and T.E. *Lawrence conquered
it from the Turks on July 7, 1917. They made it their headquar-
ters from which raids into Transjordan and Syria were orga-
nized. Akaba was also the meeting place of Amir Feisal with
Chaim *Weizmann in June 1918. Administratively Akaba be-
longed to the Ottoman province of Hijaz and, after ww1, to
the Hashemite Kingdom of Hijaz. When the Saudis ousted
the Hashemites in 1925, the British annexed Akaba (and its
neighboring district of Ma‘an) to the Emirate of Transjordan.
Under the Mandate the British built a harbor there, but the
place remained of minor importance until the end of Israel's
*War of Independence (1948) when it became Jordan’s only
outlet to the sea. In the 1950s, the port was enlarged and the
highway to Ma‘an and ‘Amman improved. In 1961 a deep-
water port was inaugurated, and installations for the storing
and loading of phosphates and for the discharge of oil were
built. The port’s annual capacity was increased to 600,000
tons, the number of ships calling rose from 173 in 1954 to 667
in 1966, and the tonnage of goods handled rose from 92,000
to 1,200,000. In 1965 following a Jordanian-Saudi territorial-
exchange agreement, Jordan was given a 25-km.-long coastline
south of Akaba which contributed to the development of the
town and of its harbor. In 1972 an international airport was
opened and a railroad later connected Akaba with the north.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) and the Iranian blockade
of Iraq’s seaports, Akaba became the main lifeline of the Iraqi
economy and war machine and most of the country’s imports
and exports went through its harbor (18,000 out of the 30,000
containers passed through Akaba in 1982 originating in or des-
tined for Iraq). During the 1980s the harbor was greatly ex-
panded with Iraqi financial aid, reaching an annual capacity
of over six million tons. In 2002 the town numbered 70,000
inhabitants (as opposed to 11,000 in 1967). Its economy was
based on port services, foreign and internal tourism, fishing,
and some farming. Following the Jordanian-Israeli peace ac-
cord of 1994, the Akaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ) was
founded to offer economic incentives and business opportu-
nities to encourage job-creating foreign investments.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
(1935), index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Wilson (ed.), Politics and
Economy in Jordan (1991).
[Shlomo Hasson / Joseph Nevo (2"¢ ed.)]
553
AKADEMIE FUER DIE WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDENTUMS
AKADEMIE FUER DIE WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDEN-
TUMS, academy founded in Berlin in 1919 for the furtherance
of Jewish scholarship and the encouragement of young schol-
ars and the publication of their work. The idea of such an acad-
emy had been mooted by Franz *Rosenzweig in his seminal
open letter (“Zeit ist’s,” 1917; “It is time” in On Jewish Learning
(1965)) to his teacher Hermann *Cohen, who took it up en-
thusiastically. The academy was to be in two parts: an acad-
emy in the accepted sense, with members and corresponding
members, and a research institute which, by giving grants to
younger scholars, would enable them to pursue their work in
the various divisions of study, such as Talmud, history, Hebrew
literature and language, philosophy, Kabbalah, economics, etc.
From the original plan, only the research institute material-
ized; its first director was E. *Taeubler, who was succeeded by
Julius *Guttmann. The academy made itself responsible for a
number of publications, such as the continuation of Theodor
and Albeck’s edition of Genesis Rabbah (1912-32, repr. 1965),
Hermann Cohen's Juedische Schriften (3 vols., 1924) and his
philosophical writings (2 vols., 1928), and a bicentenary edi-
tion of the works of Moses *Mendelssohn, which was planned
for 16 volumes, but only seven appeared (1929-38). The acad-
emy’s Korrespondenzblatt with annual reports appeared from
1919 to 1930. For some time the academy also shared respon-
sibility for the Zeitschrift fuer Demographie und Statistik der
Juden. A Festschrift was published in 1929 to celebrate its tenth
anniversary. Its work came to an end in 1934.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Guttmann, in: Festgabe zum zehnjaehrigen
Bestehen der Akademie... (1929), 3ff. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. My-
ers, in: HUCA, 63 (1992), 107-44; M. Brenner, The Renaissance of Jew-
ish Culture in Weimar Germany (1996).
[Alexander Carlebach]
AKAVYA (Yakobovits), AVRAHAM ARYEH LEIB (1882-
1964), Polish-born Hebrew and Yiddish writer and editor. Af-
ter the publication of his first story in David Frischmann’s Ha-
Dor (1901), Akavya became a steady contributor to the Hebrew
press and literary periodicals. He also wrote stories and novels
in Yiddish, and translated from Yiddish to Hebrew. Akavya
edited several Yiddish weeklies, the Hebrew daily Ha-Boker
(with D. Frischmann (1909)), the biweekly for youth Shibbo-
lim, and (after World War 1) Ha-Zefirah and Ha-Yom. He went
to Palestine in 1935 and was an editor of the short Massadah
encyclopedia and later the chief editor of the Yizreel encyclo-
pedia. He devoted many years of research to the Hebrew cal-
endar and published various books on the subject.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kressel, Leksikon, 2 (1967), 562-5.
[Getzel Kressel]
AKAVYAH BEN MAHALALEL (first century c.£.), mem-
ber of the Sanhedrin. He engaged in a dispute with *Hanina
Segan ha-Kohanim and *Dosa b. Harkinas (Neg. 1:4) and the
three are mentioned consecutively in Avot de-Rabbi Nathan
(Version A, 19-21). Akavyah was offered the position of av
bet din on condition that he renounce four of his decisions in
554
which he disagreed with the majority but he declined, declar-
ing: “It is better for me to be called a fool all my days than that I
should become even for one hour a wicked man in the sight of
God; and that men should say, ‘He withdrew his opinions for
the sake of getting power’” (Eduy. 5:6). Three of these dissent-
ing opinions appear in the Mishnah (Neg. 5:3; Nid. 2:6; Bek.
3:4). A fourth, concerning the administration of the water of
bitterness to a proselyte or emancipated slave suspected of in-
fidelity to her spouse, indirectly resulted in Akavyah’s excom-
munication. After testimony had been adduced in the name
of Shemaiah and Avtalyon, he scornfully remarked, ‘Degma
hishkuha, i.e., “they made her drink in simulation only,’ or, as
explained by others, “men who were like her (i.e., proselytes
or descendants of proselytes) made her drink” Eduy., ibid.).
Although he did not retract his statements before his death,
Akavyah admonished his son to accept the opinion of the ma-
jority. His son's entreaty, “Commend me to your colleagues,”
elicited the reply: “Your own deeds will bring your commenda-
tion or your rejection” (Eduy. 5:7). According to the Mishnah
Akavyah died while still under the ban of excommunication,
and the bet din stoned his coffin (ibid., 6). R. Kahana con-
sidered him a “rebellious elder,’ but he was not executed be-
cause he based his opinions on tradition (Sanh. 88a). Judah b.
Ilai (Eduy., ibid.) and Judah b. Bathyra (Sif. Num. 105), how-
ever, denied that Akavyah was put under a ban. The former
declared, “God forbid that (we would think that) Akavyah
was excommunicated, for the Temple court was never closed
in the face of any man in Israel so great in wisdom and in
fear of sin as Akavyah b. Mahalalel” Akvayah’s maxim, “Reflect
upon three things and you will not come within the power
of sin: know whence you came, whither you are going,
and before whom you are destined to give account” (Avot
3:1; cf. ARN’, 29), illustrates his own stress on ethical con-
duct.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mendelsohn, in: REJ, 41 (1900), 31-44; Mar-
morstein, ibid., 81 (1925), 181-7; Hoenig, in: Studies and Essays in
Honor of A.Neuman (1962), 291-8; Alon, Mehkarim. 1 (1957), 115-20;
J. Brand, in: Minhah li-Yhudah (Zlotnick) (1950), 5-9, 19.
[Bialik Myron Lerner]
°AKBAR THE GREAT (Akbar Abi al-Fath Jalal al-Din
Muhammad; 1542-1605), Moghul emperor in India. Akbar’s
subjects were permitted a remarkable degree of religious tol-
erance and freedom. The emperor tried to build a bridge of
understanding between Hindus and Muslims and to cre-
ate a new eclectic religion of pure theism (“tauhid [laht” or
“Din Ilahi”). He collected translations of the holy books of all
faiths, and held regular religious disputations in his palace at
Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra. The participants also included Jews,
probably from Persia, Afghanistan, or Khurasan, as well as
Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians, and Jesuits. The presence of Jews
is reliably reported by Moghul court historians, by the Jesuit
traveler A. Monserrate, and by the author of the Dabistan. A
synagogue (kenisa) also existed in the Moghul realm according
to the English traveler, Sir Thomas Roe (1616). Akbar’s inter-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
est in the translation of holy books brought the famous Flo-
rentine traveler and scholar Giambattista Vecchietti to Agra.
Vecchietti had collected many ancient *Judeo-Persian biblical
translations during his journeys in Persia, and while a guest of
Akbar, he transliterated the Judeo-Persian manuscript of the
Psalms into Persian script.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fischel, in: PAAJR, 17 (1949), 137-77; idem,
in: HTR, 45 (1952), 3-45. ADD. BIBLIOGRA PHY: I. Alam Khan, “The
Nobility under Akbar and the Development of his Religious Policy,
1560-1580,’ in: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1968), 29-36: J.E.
Richards, “The Formation of Imperial Authority under Akbar and
Jahangir,’ in: M. Alam and S. Subrahnayan (eds.), The Mughal State
1526-1750 (1988), 126-167.
[Walter Joseph Fischel / David Shulman (2"4 ed.)]
AKDAMUT MILLIN (Heb. p77 nin TPR; “Introduction’),
opening words of an Aramaic poem by R. Meir b. Isaac Neho-
rai. The poem was recited in the synagogue on Shavuot as an
introduction to the Aramaic translation (targum) of Exodus
19-20 (the theophany at Mount Sinai). Exodus 19:1 was read
aloud in Hebrew, “Akdamut Millin” was then read, followed
by the next few verses in the Hebrew, and after that the same
verses in Aramaic. The remainder of the reading was finished
in the same sequence: two to three verses of the Hebrew text
followed by the Aramaic translation of the preceding verses.
The recitation of “Akdamut Millin” now generally precedes the
Reading of the Torah, in deference to the objections of later
halakhic authorities against interrupting the Reading of the
Torah (cf. Magen David to Sh. Ar., OH 494), particularly since
it is no longer customary to read the Aramaic translation. The
poem consists of 90 acrostic lines forming a double alphabet
followed by the author’s name. It praises God as creator and
lawgiver, expatiates on Israel's fidelity to God despite all suf-
ferings and temptations, and ends with a description of the
apocalyptic events at the end of days and the future glory of
Israel. The poem is recited in the Ashkenazi rite only. A simi-
lar work by the same author, introducing the reading of the
Aramaic version of the Song of Moses (Ex. 15:1-10) on the
seventh day of Passover, is found in some medieval manu-
scripts. “Akdamut Millin” has been translated into English in
various prayer books, notably by Joseph Marcus (Silverman,
Prayer, 185-8) and Raphael Loewe (Service of the Synagogue,
London, 1954, 210). There are also several versions of the “Ak-
damut” in Hebrew (see Sefer ha-Moadim, 3 (1950), 141-4). A
similar poem, “Yeziv Pitgam,” is recited on the second day
of Shavuot before the reading of the haftarah. In East Euro-
pean folk tradition the origin of the poem is connected with
the widespread legend that R. Meir b. Isaac saved the Jewish
community of Worms by invoking the help of a miraculous
emissary of the Ten Lost Tribes from across the *Sambatyon.
In many versions of the legend, extant in manuscripts and
still alive in oral tradition, the hero is identified with R. *Meir
Baal ha-Nes, and the “Akdamut” piyyut celebrates a victory
over the Jew-baiters.
{Ernst Daniel Goldschmidt]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKEDAH
Music
The poem has been given two musical settings which have be-
come well-known in Ashkenazi synagogues. One of these can
claim great antiquity by its psalmodic style of recitation; the
simple but expressive declamation suits the narrative character
of the poem. Its identity in the Western and Eastern branches
of the Ashkenazi rite, and its use for the *Kiddush and other
prayers, indicates its age. Another melody is found only in
the West, and apparently is of a later date, although its mo-
tives were already incorporated in cantorial works of 1744 and
1796. Moreover, this second tune serves as a motto theme of
the Feast of Weeks and is applied in the *Hallel, the *Priestly
Blessing, and other prayer texts.
[Hanoch Avenary]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Davidson, Ozar, 1 (1924), no. 7314; Elbogen,
Gottesdienst, 191; Idelsohn, Music, 156; Fishman, in: Ha-Tor, 3, no.
25-26 (1923), 11; Zunz-Albeck, Derashot; Zunz, Lit Poesie, 151; J.-T.
Lewinski, Sefer ha-Moadim, 3 (1950), 135-60; ZDMG, 54 (1900), 118;
Rivkind, in: Yivo Filologische Schriftn, 3 (1929), 1-42, 599-605; M.
Kosover and A.G. Duker, Minhah le-Yizhak (New York, 1949), no. 59.
Music: A. Friedmann, Der synagogale Gesang (1908), 80; Idelsohn,
Melodien, 6, pt. 1 (1932), nos. 236, 247, 250, 255-7; EJ.
AKEDAH (‘Agedah; Heb. 77/9, lit. “binding (of Isaac)”), the
Pentateuchal narrative (Gen. 22:1-19) describing God’s com-
mand to *Abraham to offer *Isaac, the son of his old age, as a
sacrifice. Obedient to the command, Abraham takes Isaac to
the place of sacrifice and binds him (va-yaakod, Gen. 22:9, a
word found nowhere else in the Bible in the active, conjugative
form) on the altar. The angel of the Lord then bids Abraham
to stay his hand and a ram is offered in Isaac’s stead. The Ake-
dah became in Jewish thought the supreme example of self-
sacrifice in obedience to God's will and the symbol of Jewish
martyrdom throughout the ages.
Critical View
The Akedah narrative is generally attributed to source E (which
uses “Elohim as the Divine Name) with glosses by the Redactor
(r, hence also the use of the Tetragrammaton); or to source
J (in which the Divine Name is the Tetragrammaton) which
may have made use of E material (Peake’s Commentary on
the Bible (1962), 193). The original intent of the narrative has
been understood by the critics either as an etiological legend
explaining why the custom of child sacrifice was modified in
a certain sanctuary by the substitution of a ram (Gunkel), or
as a protest against human sacrifice (Skinner, Genesis (1910),
331-2). The name Moriah (“land of Moriah, Gen. 22:2) oc-
curs elsewhere (11 Chron. 3:1) as the name of the Temple site;
hence the Jewish tradition that the Temple was built on the
spot at which the Akedah took place. There is no further ref-
erence to the Akedah in the Bible.
The Akedah influenced both Christian and Islamic
thought. In early Christian doctrine, the sacrifice of Isaac is
used as a type for the sacrifice of Jesus (see Tertullian, Adver-
sus Marcionem, 3:18; Clement of Alexandria, Paedogogica, 1:5,
555
AKEDAH
1; Schoeps, in: JBL, 65 (1946), 385-92). In Islam, the Akedah
is held up for admiration (Koran 37:97-111), but the more ac-
cepted opinion is that it was Ishmael, Abraham’s other son and
the progenitor of the Arabs, who was bound on the altar and
that the whole episode took place before Isaac's birth. The Ake-
dah has been a favorite theme in religious art for centuries.
In Jewish Life and Literature
In the early rabbinic period, reference was made to Abraham's
sacrifice in prayers of intercession. The Mishnah (Taan. 2:4)
records that on public fast days the reader recited: “May He
that answered Abraham our father on Mount Moriah answer
you and hearken to the voice of your crying this day.” The
Mishnah also states (Ta’an. 2:1) that on fast days, ashes were
placed on the Ark and on the heads of the nasi and the av
bet din; a later teacher explained (Taan. 16a) that this was a
reminder of the “ashes of Isaac.” In the Zikhronot (“Remem-
brance”) prayers of Rosh Ha-Shanah, there is an appeal to
God to remember the Akedah: “Remember unto us, O Lord
our God, the covenant and the lovingkindness and the oath
which Thou swore unto Abraham our father on Mount Mo-
riah: and consider the binding with which Abraham our father
bound his son Isaac on the altar, how he suppressed his com-
passion in order to perform Thy will with a perfect heart. So
may Thy compassion overbear Thine anger against us; in Thy
great goodness may Thy great wrath turn aside from Thy peo-
ple, Thy city, and Thine inheritance.” One of the explanations
given for the sounding of the shofar (“ram’s horn”) on Rosh
Ha-Shanah is as a reminder of the ram substituted for Isaac
(RH 16a). The story of the Akedah is the Pentateuchal reading
on the second day of Rosh Ha-Shanah (Meg. 31a). During the
Middle Ages, a number of penitential hymns took the Akedah
for their theme and indeed a whole style of piyyut is known by
this name. Pious Jews recited the Akedah passage daily (Tur.,
OH. 1) and, following this custom, the passage is printed in
many prayer books as part of the early morning service.
In Rabbinic Literature
The Akedah was spoken of as the last of the ten trials to which
Abraham was subjected (Avot 5:3; Ginzberg, Legends, 5 (1925),
218, note 52) and was considered as the prototype of the readi-
ness for martyrdom. “Support me with fires” (homiletical in-
terpretation of Song 2:5) is said to refer to the fire of Abraham
and that of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Dan. 3:12-23;
PdRK 101b); this particular association is probably due to the
fact that both cases illustrate not actual martyrdom but the
readiness for it. On the other hand, numerous instances of real
martyrdom were also compared to the Akedah, sometimes to
the disadvantage of the latter. Thus in the story of the “Woman
and her Seven Sons,” every one of whom suffered death by tor-
ture rather than bow to the idol, the widow enjoins her sons:
“Go and tell Father Abraham: Let not your heart swell with
pride! You built one altar, but I have built seven altars and on
them have offered up my seven sons. What is more: Yours was
a trial; mine was an accomplished fact!” (Yal. Deut. 26). In
556
the parallel passage in the Babylonian Talmud (Git. 57b), the
widow’s admonition is softened through the omission of the
second half of the first sentence and the last sentence.
In legal literature, the Akedah served as a paradigm for
the right of a prophet to demand the temporal suspension of
a law. Isaac obeyed his father and made ready to become the
victim of what would normally have been considered a mur-
der, but Abraham, as an established prophet, could be relied
upon that this was really God’s will (Sanh. 89b). The opinion is
found in the Midrash (Gen. R. 56:8) that Isaac was 37 years old
at the time of the Akedah. Abraham *Ibn Ezra (commentary
on Gen. 22:4) rejects this as contrary to the plain meaning of
the narrative in which Isaac is old enough to carry the wood
but young enough to be docile. Ibn Ezra (commentary on
Gen. 22:19) also quotes an opinion that Abraham actually did
kill Isaac (hence there is no reference to Isaac returning home
with his father), and he was later resurrected from the dead.
Ibn Ezra rejects this as completely contrary to the biblical text.
Shalom *Spiegel has demonstrated, however, that such views
enjoyed a wide circulation and occasionally found expression
in medieval writings, possibly in order to deny that the sacri-
fice of Isaac was in any way less than that of Jesus; or as a re-
flection of actual conditions in the Middle Ages when the real
martyrdom of Jewish communities demanded a more tragic
model than that of a mere intended sacrifice. It was known in
those days for parents to kill their children, and then them-
selves, when threatened by the Crusaders. Geiger (JZ WL, 10
(1872), 166 ff.) suggests that interpretations of Isaac’s sacrifice
as a means of atonement for his descendants were influenced
by Christian doctrine. In rabbinic literature, tensions can be
generally observed between the need to emphasize the signifi-
cance of the Akedah and, at the same time, to preserve the pro-
phetic protest against human sacrifice. Thus, on Jeremiah 19:5
the comment is made: “which I commanded not” - this refers
to the sacrifice of the son of Mesha, the king of Moab (11 Kings
3:27); “nor spake it” - this refers to the daughter of Jephthah
(Judg. 11:31); “neither came it to my mind” - this refers to the
sacrifice of Isaac, the son of Abraham (Ta’an. 4a).
In Religious Thought
A theme of such dramatic power as the Akedah has attracted
a rich variety of comment. Philo (De Abrahamo, 177-99) de-
fends the greatness of Abraham against hostile criticism that
would belittle his achievement. These critics point out that
many others in the history of mankind have offered them-
selves and their children for a cause in which they believed -—
the barbarians, for instance, whose Moloch worship was ex-
plicitly forbidden by Moses, and Indian women who gladly
practice Suttee. Philo argues, however, that Abraham's sacrifice
was unprecedented in that he was not governed by motives
of custom, honor, or fear, but solely by the love of God. Philo
(ibid., 200-7) also gives an allegorical interpretation of the
incident: Isaac means “laughter”; and the devout soul feels a
duty to offer up its joy which belongs to God. God, however,
in His mercy, refuses to allow the surrender to be complete
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
and allows the soul to retain its joy. Worship is the most per-
fect expression of that joy.
Medieval thinkers were disturbed at the idea of God’s
testing Abraham, as if the purpose of the Akedah were to
provide God with information He did not previously pos-
sess. According to Maimonides (Guide 3:24), the words “God
tested Abraham” do not mean that God put him through a
test but that He made the example of Abraham serve as a test
case of the extreme limits of the love and fear of God. “For
now I know that you fear God” (Gen. 22:12) means that God
has made known to all men how far man is obliged to go in
fearing Him. According to Nahmanides (ed. by C.B. Chavel,
1 (1959), 125-6), the Akedah focuses on the problem of recon-
ciling God’s foreknowledge with human free will. God knew
how Abraham would behave, but from Abraham's point of
view, the test was real since he had to be rewarded not only
for his potential willingness to obey, but for actually comply-
ing. *Sforno’s elaboration of this thought (commentary to
Gen. 22:1) is that Abraham had to transcend his own love of
God by converting it from the potential to the actual, in order
to resemble God whose goodness is always actual, the aim of
creation being that man imitates his Creator.
The mystics add their own ideas to the Akedah theme. In
the Zohar (Gen. 119b), the patriarchs on earth represent the
various potencies (sefirot) in the divine realm: Abraham the
Divine Lovingkindness, Isaac the Divine Power, and Jacob
the Harmonizing Principle. Abraham is obliged to display
severity in being willing to sacrifice his son, contrary to his
own special nature as the “pillar of lovingkindness,” and thus
set in motion the process by which fire is united with water,
mercy with judgment, so that the way can be paved for the
emergence of complete harmony between the two in Jacob.
This mirrors the processes in the divine realm by which God’s
mercy is united with His judgment so that the world can en-
dure. The Hasidim read various subtleties of their own into
the ancient story. One version states that Abraham and Isaac
knew, in their heart of hearts, that the actual sacrifice would
not be demanded but they went through the motions to dem-
onstrate that they would have obeyed had it been God's will
(*Elimelech of Lyzhansk, Noam Elimelech on Gen. 22:7). The
true lover of God carries out even those religious obligations
which are personally pleasant to him solely out of the love of
God. Abraham obeyed the second command not to kill Isaac
solely for this and for no other reason (Levi Isaac b. Meir, Ke-
dushat Levi on Gen. 22:6). Another version is that when God
wishes to test a man, He must first remove from him the light
of full comprehension of the Divine, otherwise the trial will
be incomplete. Abraham was ready to obey even in this state
of “dryness of soul” (Israel b. Shabbetai of Kozienice, Avo-
dat Yisrael on Gen. 22:14). The lesser Divine Name Elohim
is, therefore, used at the beginning of the narrative, and not
the Tetragrammaton, to denote that the vision in which the
command was given was lacking in clarity. Abraham’ great-
ness consisted in his refusal to allow his natural love for his
son to permit him to interpret the ambiguous command as
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKEDAH
other than a command to sacrifice (Mordecai Joseph b. Jacob
Leiner of Izbica, Mei ha-Shiloah on Gen. 22:7).
To the moralists (baalei ha-musar) the Akedah was a fer-
tile text for the inculcation of religious and ethical values. For
Isaiah *Horowitz (Shenei Luhot ha-Berit, Va-Yera, end), the
Akedah teaches that everything must be sacrificed to God, if
needs be; how much more, then, must man be willing to give
up his lusts for God. Moreover, whenever man has an oppor-
tunity of doing good, or refraining from evil, he should re-
flect that perhaps God is testing him at that moment as He
tested Abraham.
The best-known treatment of the Akedah theme in gen-
eral literature is that of Soren Kierkegaard (Fear and Trem-
bling). Kierkegaard sees Abraham as the “knight of faith” who
differs from the “ethical man’; for the latter the moral law
is universal and it has a categorical claim to obedience; the
“knight of faith,” however, knows also of the higher obligation
laid upon him as a free individual in his relationship to his
God and this may involve him in a “teleological suspension of
the ethical.” Abraham is called upon to renounce for God all
that he holds precious, including the ethical ideal to which he
subscribes and which he has constantly taught. Consequently,
Abraham did not know what duty had been imposed on him:
to obey God’s command or his ethical obligation? According
to Kierkegaard, this tension between these two conflicting ob-
ligations is what characterized Abraham as a “knight of faith”
Kierkegaard was the first thinker to posit the believer's doubts
as the characteristic of religious life itself. Kierkegaard’s posi-
tion has been criticized by various Jewish thinkers.
Milton *Steinberg (Anatomy of Faith (1960), 147), re-
jected Kierkegaard’s view as “unmitigated sacrilege. Which
indeed is the true point of the Akedah, missed so perversely by
Kierkegaard. While it was a merit in Abraham to be willing to
sacrifice his only son to his God, it was God’s nature and merit
that He would not accept an immoral tribute. And it was His
purpose, among other things, to establish that truth.” Other
thinkers such as J.B. Soloveitchik have found the Kierkegaard-
ian insights fully compatible with Judaism. Ernst Simon (in
Conservative Judaism, 12 (spring 1958), 15-19) believes that a
middle position between the two is possible. Judaism is an
ethical religion and would never in fact demand a teleologi-
cal suspension of the ethical. Abraham is, therefore, ordered
to stay his hand. The original command to sacrifice Isaac is
a warning against too complete an identification of religion
with naturalistic ethics.
Y. *Leibowitz went further than Kierkegaard by suggest-
ing that the believer has the obligation to overcome his ethical
duty and unconditionally obey the divine command. Leibow-
itz thus regarded the Akedah as a paradigm of religious life, a
position unusual in Jewish thought, which generally maintains
that the divine command is not opposed to ethical duty.
Kalonymus Shapira, the rabbi of Piaseczno, maintained
that the meaning of the Akedah is that the divine command
itself determines morality, thus adopting the “divine command
morality” prevalent in Christian literature. He wrote:
557
AKEDAH
The nations of the world, even the best of them, think that the
truth is a thing in itself, and that God commanded truth be-
cause the truth is intrinsically True.... Not so Israel, who say
“You God are truth”... and we have no truth beside Him, and all
the truth found in the world is there only because God wished
it and commanded it...Stealing is forbidden because the God
of truth has commanded it... When God ordered Abraham
to sacrifice his son Isaac, it was true to sacrifice him and, had
God not said later “neither do anything to him” it would have
been true to slaughter him. (K. Shapira, Esh Kodesh, Jeru-
salem, 1960, 68)
Shapira’s unusual position is an attempt to deal with the prob-
lem of theodicy in light of the horrors of the *Shoah. His
exceptional treatment of the Akedah thus demonstrates that
Jewish thought generally did not incorporate the theory of
“divine command morality.” The Akedah thus became a ba-
sis for justifying sacrifice and devotion, but because of the
centrality of morality to Jewish tradition in general, and spe-
cifically to halakhah, it was only with Soloveitchik and Lei-
bowitz that the Akedah became a paradigm of religious life
itself.
[Louis Jacobs / Avi Sagi (2"¢ ed.)]
In Israeli Culture
The akedah myth is used by Israeli society to understand it-
self. Moshe Shamir, a leading writer from the founders’ gen-
eration called the akedah “the story of our generation” (Be-
Kulmus Mahir (“Quick Notes”), 1960, p. 332). Changes in the
attitudes to this myth point to shifts in the ways Israeli society
approaches the meaning of its existence.
Two basic attitudes can be discerned in relation to the
akedah. Whereas the first views the akedah as the deepest
symbol of modern Israeli existence, epitomizing the Zionist
revolution and the sacrifices it exacted, the second rejects both
the myth and its implications.
The akedah myth has been sanctified by many Israeli
writers. Uri Zevi Greenberg writes: “Let that day come.../
when my father will rise from his grave with the resurrec-
tion of the dead/ and God will command him as the people
commanded Abraham./ To bind his only son: to be an offer-
ing - /... let that day come in my life! I believe it will?( Uri
Zevi Greenberg, “Korban Shaharit” (“Morning Offering”), in:
Sulam 1972 (13), pp. 145-147).
When speaking of the Zionist experience, Abraham
Shlonsky writes, “Father/ take off your tallit and tefillin to-
day/... and take your son on a distant lane/ to mount Moriah”
(“Hulin” (“Worldliness”), in: A. Shlonsky, Ketavim [Writings],
vol. 2, (1954), p. 136). Hayyim Gouri writes of Isaac’s descen-
dants being “born with a knife in their hearts” (H. Gouri,
“Yerushah” (“Heritage”), in: Shoshanat Ha-Ruhot (“Compass-
Rose”), 1966). The relationship between Abraham and Isaac
is also transformed in modern Hebrew literature. Contrary
to the passive figure of the biblical story, the Isaac of Israeli
literature is an active hero who initiates the akedah. Modern
literature also lays greater emphasis than the biblical text on
intergenerational cooperation, as if no rift divided the fathers
558
offering the sacrifice from their sons. Isaac becomes the para-
digmatic Zionist pioneer, representing an entire generation:
rather than being passive victims, the modern Isaacs assume
responsibility for their destiny and sacrifice themselves on the
altar of national renaissance.
In the 1967 Six-Day War, when for the first time the gen-
eration of founders were too old to fight, and the post-inde-
pendence generation of their children fought in their place,
the akedah remained a powerful symbol, at least for some. The
post-war collection of interviews, The Seventh Day: Soldiers
Talk About the Six-Day War (Hebrew: Siah Lohamim, 1967;
English, 1970) records a father who said: “We do knowingly
bring our boys up to volunteer for combat units.... These are
moments when a man is given a greater insight into Isaac’s sac-
rifice. Kierkegaard asked what Abraham did that night. What
did he think about? ... He had a whole night to think.... It’s
a question that touches on the very meaning of human ex-
istence. The Bible says nothing about it... For us, that night
lasted six days” (p. 202).
Conversely, doubts about the akedah myth already began
to surface soon after independence. In the central work about
the War of Independence, by S. Yizhar, we read: “There is no
evading the akedah... I hate our father Abraham, who binds
Isaac. What right does he have over Isaac? Let him bind him-
self. I hate the God who sent him and closed all paths, leaving
only that of the akedah. I hate the fact that Isaac serves merely
as a test between Abraham and his God... ( S. Yizhar, Yemei
Ziklag (“The Days of Ziklag”), 1958, vol. 2, p. 804).
After the Six-Day War, a gradual change in attitude to-
wards the akedah evolved. In 1968, about 10 years after the
publication of Yizhar’s novel, Habimah Theater staged a play
by Yigal Mossinsohn where Shimshon, a blinded officer, thinks
of his life in terms of an akedah ( Yigal Mossinsohn, Shim-
shon Katsin be-Zahal, O Requiem le-Erez Pelishtim (“Samson
the 1pF officer, or Requiem to the Land of the Philistines)).
Mossinsohn states his wish to be released from this “grand”
myth. In his view, fathers and sons are jointly responsible for
the akedah, which must end. In its place, Mossinsohn-Shim-
shon expects to lead a normal life when “my children... will
no longer know war”
In May 1970, Habimah Theater staged a play by Ha-
noch Levin. (“Malkat Ha-Ambatyah” (“Queen of the Bath”),
in: H. Levin, Mah Ikhpat la-Zippor (“What Does it Matter
to the Bird?”), 1987). The play deals with the sons’ profound
contempt for their parents and, in a passage called “Akedah,’
Abraham and Isaac engage in a rather mundane and sarcastic
dialogue, conveying deep disdain for the parents who believe
that they, rather than their sons, are the victims of the sacri-
fice. In the poem “Dear father, when you stand on my grave,”
which follows the “Akedah” dialogue, Levin writes, “And do
not say that you've brought a sacrifice,/ because I was the one
who brought the sacrifice,/... dear father, when you stand on
my grave/ old and weary and very lonesome,/ and when you
see how they lay my body to rest - / ask for my forgiveness,
father” (p. 92).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
The weariness and pain of the akedah come to the fore
after the Yom Kippur war. Thus, for instance, Menahem Heyd
writes: “And there was no ram - / and Isaac in the thicket.//
And the angel did not say lay not/ and we - / our son, our only
son, Isaac.” (“Yizhak Halakh le-Har Moriah” (“Isaac Went to
Mount Moriah”), Yedioth Aharonot, December 28, 1973.) The
pain is particularly intense because no ram came to replace
Isaac. Many poets report this feeling - the miracle failed.
In Yariv Ben Aharon’s roman a clef — Peleg (1993) about
the sons’ generation, the akedah becomes the litmus test of the
relations between fathers and sons: the fathers will not be sat-
isfied with less than the sons’ sacrifice (p. 116). The covenant
of secular Zionists with their land forced the actual sacrifice
of their children, and the akedah no longer symbolized an
act of faith but an expression of the deep bond with the land.
Ben Aharon blames the parents for the secular distortion of
the religious symbol and desires to restore its religious con-
notations. He thereby seeks to bring about a quasi-religious
renaissance, in the tradition of A.D. Gordon, and rejects the
prevalent secular overtones of Zionist culture, where the ake-
dah served to justify the death of the sons.
Protests against the akedah myth gained strength after
the Lebanon War. Yehudah Amihai speaks of a plot to sacrifice
the sons: “The true hero of the akedah was the ram” (Y. Ami-
hai, “Ha-Gibor ha-Amiti shel Ha-Akedah” (“The True Hero of
the Sacrifice”), in: Sheat Hesed [(“The Hour of Grace”) 1983).
Replacing the two heroic figures, Abraham and Isaac, with an
antihero - the ram - is part of a trend seeking to moderate
the dramatic overtones characteristic of Israeli life. The hero is
not the one involved in purposeful action, but rather the one
confronted with a tragic situation and unable to understand
the forces that have led to it.
A poem by Yitzhak Laor offers the most poignant expres-
sion of this protest: “To pity the offering?... To trust a father
like that? Let him kill him first. Let him slam his father/ his
only father Abraham/ in jail in the poorhouse in the cellar of
the house just so/ he will not slay./ Remember what your fa-
ther did to your brother Ishmael (Y. Laor, “Ha-Metumtam ha-
Zeh Yizhak” (“This Fool, Isaac”), in: Rak ha-Guf Zokher (“Only
the Body Remembers”; 1985), p. 70).
Yizhar had adopted the akedah story but had pointed
an accusing finger at the fathers, while Mossinsohn longed
for release from its oppressive weight. Laor now blames the
sons’ compliance, their willingness to die rather than refuse.
He rejects the narrative: the sons should have remembered
the cruelty of the founding fathers, father Abraham, and their
immoral behavior toward Ishmael, the Arabs. This poem ex-
poses a deep breach between fathers and sons, between found-
ers and followers. To a large extent, it also entails a rejection
of the entire Zionist ethos.
[Avi Sagi (2"4 ed.)]
In the Arts
Among Christian writers and artists the biblical account of
Abrahams readiness to sacrifice Isaac was interpreted as a
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKEDAH
foretelling of the crucifixion of Jesus. A parallel was drawn
between the two stories: Abraham was God the Father sac-
rificing his “only begotten son”; Isaac himself carrying the
wood to the altar was Jesus bearing his cross; while the ram
actually sacrificed represented the crucified savior. In West-
ern literature the episode occurs from the Middle Ages on-
ward in various dramatic forms and in different countries. It
figures in all the important English miracle play cycles and in
an early work of the Eastern Church, the Cretan Sacrifice of
Abraham (1159), where God's design is revealed, but the ram
escapes slaughter. An example of the Italian sacre rappresen-
tazioni is Feo Belcari’s Abramo e Isacco (1449), while there is
a more austere treatment in the 16"-century Spanish Auto del
sacrificio de Abraham. The theme enjoyed special popularity
among Protestants. Théodore de Béza (Beza), the French hu-
manist and reformer who was a close associate of Calvin in
Geneva, gave his drama Abraham sacrifiant (1550) the conven-
tional form of a mystery. It was notable for some revolution-
ary undertones, however, Abraham appearing as a stern Hu-
guenot, humanized by love for his son. This play was widely
translated and often reprinted. In the 17 century, the German
dramatist Christian Weise wrote the play Die Opferung Isaacs
(1680). Among the strict Protestants of the 18 century there
were two Swiss German authors who dealt with the episode.
Johann Jacob Bodmer wrote Abraham (1778), and Johann Kas-
par Lavater the religious drama Abraham und Isaak (1776).
Adele Wiseman’s The Sacrifice (1956) transposes the story to
a modern Canadian setting.
Jewish artists portrayed the Akedah in some synagogues
of the early centuries of the current era, notably at *Dura-Eu-
ropos (third century) and *Bet Alfa (sixth century). In both
cases the hand of God was depicted as stretching forth to re-
strain Abraham from sacrificing his son. This is in direct con-
flict with the biblical text (Gen. 22:11), which states that he
was restrained by the voice of an angel. Later Jewish sources
are French and German Hebrew Bibles of the late 13t* cen-
tury, the 14'-century Spanish Sarajevo Haggadah, and a 15*-
century Italian mahzor, which contains pictures illustrating
the Aramaic piyyutim on the Ten Commandments recited
on the festival of Shavuot. The illustration of the sacrifice of
Isaac accompanies the fifth Commandment, and Isaac’s will-
ingness to follow his father is seen as an example of filial pi-
ety. There are early Christian representations of the story in
the third-century Roman catacomb of Priscilla, in the Vatican
grottos, and in glass, ivory, and jewels. Later examples have
been found in the cathedrals of Chartres and Verona, and in
churches elsewhere. During the early Renaissance, Donatello
and Ghiberti produced work on the theme, as did Andrea del
Sarto, Sodoma, Titian, Beccafumi, and Cranach later in the
16 century. Caravaggio gave it emotionally realistic treat-
ment, and *Rembrandt depicted the angel's intervention in
a painting of 1635 and in an etching in which the angel grips
Abraham's arm with one hand and protects Isaac's face with
the other. Guardi and Tiepolo treated the subject with the
18'b-century lightness.
559
AKERLOF, GEORGE A.
The melody of the Judeo-German Akedah poem, which
was used for liturgical, religious, and historical songs in both
Hebrew and German, is shown by the indication be-niggun
Akedah (i.e., to be sung “to the Akedah tune”). The melody is
first mentioned by Jacob *Moellin (Sefer Maharil, 49b). An-
other similar indication - be-niggun “Juedischer Stamm” - re-
fers to the same tune. No notation of this time has been found
so far, but A.Z. Idelsohn suggested that it was identical with
the liturgical Akedot of the old west-Ashkenazi tradition. In
European music there are at least 50 works on the sacrifice of
Isaac, mostly oratorios. As in literature and art, the Akedah
is often linked with the Crucifixion, Metastasio have stated
this explicitly in the textbook title of his libretto Isacco, figura
del Redentore (1740). The Viennese court oratorio owes its
inception and style to the Emperor Leopold 1’s “sepolcro” II
sacrificio d’'Abramo (1660), which was performed in the court
church during Passion Week. Many eminent 18"-century
musicians composed settings for Metastasios libretto which
was originally written for the Viennese court. Popular Ger-
man oratorios include J.H. Rolle’s Abraham auf Moria (1776)
and M. Blumner’s Abraham (1859-60). In Poland the bibli-
cal story inspired an opera by Chopin’s teacher, Ks. J. Elsner
(1827), and an oratorio by W. Sownski (1805-1880). In Abra-
ham *Goldfaden’s Yiddish “biblical operetta’ Akeydas Yitsk-
hok (1897), the Akedah itself figures only near the end of the
work. Hugo Adler wrote an Akedah (1938), based on the Bu-
ber-Rosenzweig German translation of the Bible and on se-
lections from the Midrash and Akedot piyyutim, which was
modeled on the classical oratorio. Igor Stravinsky's Akedat Yi-
zhak (Abraham and Isaac), a “sacred ballad” for baritone and
chamber orchestra set to a Hebrew text, was first performed
in Jerusalem in 1964.
See also: *Abraham in the Arts and, *Isaac in the Arts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.J. Zewin, Le-Or ha-Halakhah (19643),
165-75; S. Spiegel, The Last Trial (1969). 1N THE ARTS: T. Ehrenstein,
Das Alte Testament im Bilde (1923), 181-202; Idelsohn, Music, table
XXvV no. 7 and pp. 170, 380-1, 383; Idelsohn, Melodien, 7 (1932), XLIV
nos. 256, 312a; N.H. Katz and L. Waldbott, Die traditionellen Syna-
gogen-Gesaenge, pt. 2 (1868), 73-74; A. Baer, Baal Te’fillah (1883), no.
1320; S. Scheuermann, Gottesdienstliche Gesaenge der Israeliten...
(1912), 49; A. de Béze, in: N.J.E. Rothschild, Le Mistére du Viel Testa-
ment, 2 (1879), xlix-lxii (bibliography). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.
Sagi, “The Meaning of the Akedah in Israeli Culture and Jewish Tra-
dition,” in: Israel Studies 3:1 (1998), 45-60. A. Sagi and D. Statman,
Religon and Morality (1995); A. Sagi, Kierkegaard, Religion and Ex-
istence (2000); A. Sagi and D. Statman, “Divine Command Moral-
ity and Jewish Tradition,” in: Journal of Religious Ethics, 23:1 (1995),
39-68.
AKERLOF, GEORGE A. (1940- ), U.S. economist, Nobel
Prize laureate. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, where his
father was a member of the Yale faculty, Akerlof earned his
bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1962 and his doctor-
ate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966.
Akerlof’s father, who was born in Sweden, was a chemist; his
mother’s family was of German-Jewish descent. His mater-
560
nal grandfather established the first clinic in cardiology in
the United States at Johns Hopkins, though he was later de-
nied tenure there, according to Akerlof, because of his Jew-
ish identity.
After receiving his doctorate, Akerlof joined the Eco-
nomics Department of the University of California, Berkeley,
where he began work on his landmark study “The Market for
‘Lemons;” for which he would later win the Nobel Prize for
economics (in 2001), though it was initially rejected for publi-
cation by academic journals. In 1967 and 1968 he was a visiting
professor at the Indian Statistical Institute in New Delhi, and
then returned to Berkeley. From 1978 to 1980 he was Cassel
Professor of Economics with Respect to Money and Banking
at the London School of Economics. He subsequently served
as Koshland Professor of Economics at Berkeley.
“The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the
Market Mechanism” was published in the Quarterly Journal
of Economics in 1970. In this study of the role of asymmetric
information in the market, Akerlof demonstrates how markets
malfunction when buyers and sellers operate under different
information, as in the example of used cars commonly called
“lemons.” The work had applications in other areas, such as
health insurance, employment contracts, and financial mar-
kets. In Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market (1986), co-
authored with his wife, Janet Yellen, Akerlof and Yellen pro-
pose rationales for the efficiency wage hypothesis, in which
employers pay more than the market-clearing wage, contra-
dicting neoclassical economic theory. Yellen later served as
chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors under Presi-
dent Bill Clinton.
Akerlof served as senior staff economist with the Coun-
cil of Economic Advisors in 1973 and 1974 and was visiting
research economist for the Federal Reserve System Board of
Governors from 1977 to 1978. A member of the board of edi-
tors of the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1983 and of the
American Economic Review from 1983 to 1990, he was named
a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution in 1994 and served
on the board of directors of the National Bureau of Economic
Research in 1997. In 2001 Akerlof shared the Nobel Prize for
economics with A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz for
their contributions to analyses of markets with asymmetric
information.
[Dorothy Bauhoff (2"¢ ed.)]
AKHBAREI/ACCHABARON (Heb. 1339; modern Ak-
bara), village in Upper Galilee possibly mentioned in the
inscriptions relating to the campaigns of Tiglath-pilesar 111
(eighth century B.c.£.) near the line of fortifications erected
by Josephus in 66 c.£. (Jos., Wars, 2:573; idem, Life, 37, 188).
Eleazar, son of Simeon b. Yohai, died there, and when the peo-
ple of Biri proposed removing his body to Meron, the inhabit-
ants of Akhbarei objected (BM 84b). The amoraim Hananiah
b. Akbari and Yose b. Avin lived there and Rabbi Yannai es-
tablished a bet midrash with his pupils supporting themselves
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
from agriculture. According to tradition the burial places of
Yannai, Nehorai, and Dostai were pointed out at the site (Kaf-
tor va-Ferah, 11, 47a). According to one source (Eccles. R. 2:8)
pheasants were raised there. A Jewish community still existed
in Akhbarei in the 11" century, but in 1522 the Jewish traveler
Moses Bassola found its synagogue — referred to in Arabic by
the locals as “el-kenisah” - in ruins. The remains of the syna-
gogue were identified by Z. Ilan and subsequently partly ex-
cavated by E. Damati in 1988. Walls of houses, tombs, cisterns,
and oil presses are also known from the site. It is identified
with the Arab village of Akbara (now deserted), situated on a
high cliff 3 mi. (5 km.) south of Safed, which used to cultivate
olives, fruit, and tobacco.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Klein (ed.), Sefer ha-Yishuv, 1 (1939), 1173
Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 235; Press, Erez, 4 (1955), 724f. G. Dalman, Sa-
cred Sites and Ways (1935), index; B. Maisler (Mazar), in: BJPES, 1
(1933), 1-6; Neubauer, Géogr, 226f. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z. Ilan,
Ancient Synagogues in Israel (1991), 51; Y. Tsafrir, L. Di Segni, and J.
Green, Tabula Imperii Romani. Iudaea - Palaestina. Maps and Gaz-
etteer. (1994), 56.
[Michael Avi- Yonah / Shimon Gibson (2"¢ ed.)]
AKHENATON or AKHENATEN (Amenophis Iv; c. 1367-
1350 B.C.E. Or 1350-1334), Egyptian pharaoh. Son of *Ameno-
phis 111 and one of the most controversial figures in Egyptian
history, Akhenaton has been credited, with justification, as
the earliest monotheist in history. When Akhenaton came
to the throne, after the wars of the 18'-dynasty kings in Asia
had ceased, the most important and most powerful deity in
Egypt was Amun-Re, and his was the most powerful priest-
hood. Second to Amun was the cult of the sun god Re in his
various manifestations. Amun-Re had given victory to Egypt's
pharaohs. They, in turn, showed their gratitude with wealth
and endowments to the Amun-Re priesthood. Fostering the
cult of a minor manifestation of the sun god Aton, Akhenaton
made a complete break with the Amun cult, eventually going
so far as to ban it and persecute its adherents. He abandoned
his given name Amenophis, “Amun-is-satisfied,” for Akhena-
ton, “He-who-is-useful to the sun-disc,” or “Glorified-spirit-
of-the-sun-disk.” Although the king’s actions had social and
economic ramifications, and clearly weakened the Amun-Re
priestshood as well as the priesthoods and cults of the other
gods, it would be inaccurate to see his religious revolution as
a pretext. Akhenaton broke sharply with the past, suppressed
the cults of all the ancient gods, and championed a dehisto-
ricized god of light and time. His solar deity was the creator
of what would later be called “the universe,’ its sustainer and
the mirror image of pharaonic monarchy. Akhenaton’s icono-
clasm extended beyond the elimination of images of deity and
ridding the cult of myth. He even had the hieroglyphic script
purged of its anthropomorphisms and theriomorphisms (im-
ages of gods in animal form) and did away with the world of
The Beyond. Akhenaton’s iconography reduced the sun to a
solar disk, the Aton/Aten. Some scholars point to the fact that
only Akhenaton and his wife worshipped the Aton, while the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKIROV, ALFRED
king himself was worshipped by the people, as proof that that
the teachings of the king did not amount to true monothe-
ism. But it might be more productive to compare Akhenaton’s
role to that of Jesus as the door to the Father in Christianity
(Ephesians 3:4) and to a lesser extent, to that of the *Zaddik
as the mediator between God and humanity in Hasidism. As
the army sided with the king, Akhenaton’s revolution tempo-
rarily succeeded. The capital was transferred from Thebes to
Akhetaton (modern El-Amarna), Amun-Re was suppressed,
and the Aton became the paramount deity of Egypt. After
Akhenaton’s death, the old religious order triumphed and
Atonism was vigorously stamped out.
Akhenaton’s capital at Amarna was not only the center
of a vigorous naturalistic art that broke with tradition in sub-
ject matter, though not in form or canon, but was also the site
where the Amarna tablets, some 380 cuneiform texts, mostly
letters, representing a portion of the foreign archives of the
Egyptian court, were found. When first studied, these texts,
the most important contemporary sources for Egypt's foreign
policy toward Palestine and Syria, presented a picture of the
empire’s decline due to Akhenaton’s indolence and pacificism.
The threat of a Hittite invasion, the raids of *Habiru nomads,
and treason on the part of the Egyptian vassals all seemed
to be ignored by the Egyptian court. This was not the case,
however. Egypt's main interest was to keep the trade routes
to Mesopotamia open, and only incidentally to keep the ten-
uous peace. When Egyptian interests were really threatened,
action was taken. There is even evidence in the Amarna Let-
ters that Akhenaton was planning a campaign in Asia at the
time of his death (see also *Tell el-Amarna). Forty years later
the only mention of him in an Egyptian text is as “that crimi-
nal of Akhenaton.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.A. Wilson, Culture of Ancient Egypt (1958),
208-9, 215-28, 230-3; A.R. Schulman, in: Journal of the American Re-
search Center in Egypt, 3 (1964), 51-69; C. Aldred, Akhenaten (1968);
A. Weigall, The Life of Akhnaton (19227); D.B. Redford, History and
Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (1967), 88-182. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Idem, Akhenaten, the Heretic King (1984); idem,
ABD, 1, 135-37; idem, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times
(1992), 377-82; J. Assmann, in: Bibel und Kirche, 49 (1994), 78-82.
[Alan Richard Schulman / S. David Sperling (2"4 ed.)]
AKIROV, ALFRED (1941- ), Israeli entrpreneur. Akirov
built a business empire ranging from real estate and hotels to
high-tech, securing his position as one of the country’s leading
businessman, known for his determination and sound busi-
ness instincts. He was born in Iraq in 1941 and immigrated in
his childhood to Israel with his parents. He started working in
construction in the family business and then struck out on his
own. After a couple of business ventures, including participa-
tion in the acquisition of the Arkia Airline and a textile com-
pany, he set up his own holding company, Elrov, in 1978.
The company, which was listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Ex-
change in 1983, was active in two core businesses: real estate
and technology and communication. Akirov demonstrated
561
AKIVA
his expertise in the property business by building some of
Israel’s best-known development projects, including the Eu-
rope Building and the Opera Tower in Tel Aviv. The company
also built and owns several large shopping malls in Israel's
central area.
As the Israeli economy entered its worst economic reces-
sion in 2000, Elrov shifted part of its focus to overseas activity
and the company acquired commercial centers in Switzerland,
England, France, and the United States.
Akirov won fame with the building of the David Citadel,
Jerusalem's most luxurious hotel, overlooking the walls of the
capital’s Old City. Plans to develop a nearby $150 million proj-
ect, known as the Mamilla project, which included an upscale
residential and business area, ran into difficulties after a long
dispute with the municipality of Jerusalem.
Elrov also invested, through its Technorov subsidiary,
in some of Israel’s most promising high-tech start-ups and
venture capital funds. However, the burst of the high-tech
bubble in 2000 forced the company to write off much of its
investment.
[Dan Gerstenfeld (24 ed.)]
AKIVA (c. 50-135 C.E.), one of the most outstanding tan-
naim, probably the foremost scholar of his age. A teacher and
martyr, he exercised a decisive influence in the development
of the halakhah. A history of Akiva’s scholarly activities — his
relations to his teachers, R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus, R. Joshua b.
Hananiah, Rabban Gamaliel 11, and to his disciples, R. *Meir,
R. *Simeon b. Yohai, R. *Yose b. Halafta, R. *Eleazar b. Sham-
mua, and R. *Nehemiah - would be virtually identical to a
history of tannaitic literature itself. The content of Akiva’s
teaching is preserved for us in the many traditions transmit-
ted and interpreted by his students, which make up the vast
majority of the material included in the Mishnah, the Tosefta,
and the Midreshei Halakhah. Later tradition regarded Akiva
as “one of the fathers of the world” (Tj, Shek. 3:1, 47b), and
credited him with systematizing the halakhot and the aggadot
(TJ, Shek. 5:1, 48c).
In the eyes of later storytellers, the period of the tan-
naim was a heroic age, and even the slightest scrap of infor-
mation about the least of the tannaim can develop in the later
aggadah into a tale of epic proportions. In the case of truly
significant and heroic figures, like R. Akiva, this process of lit-
erary expansion and elaboration is inevitable. The resulting
legends relating to Akiva’s life and death are well known (see
bibliography below), and we will summarize a few of them
in outline here:
The Bavli tells that in his early years Akiva was not only
unlearned, an am ha-arez, but also a bitter enemy of schol-
ars: “When I was an am ha-arez I said, ‘Had I a scholar in
my power, I would maul him like an ass’” (Pes. 49b). Of rela-
tively humble parentage (Ber. 27b), Akiva was employed as a
shepherd in his early years by (Bar) Kalba Savu’a, one of the
wealthiest men in Jerusalem (Ned. 50a; Ket. 62b). The latter’s
opposition to his daughter Rachel’s marriage to Akiva led him
562
to cut them both off. Abandoned to extreme poverty, Rachel
once even sold her hair for food. Rachel made her marriage to
Akiva conditional upon his devoting himself to Torah study.
Leaving his wife behind, Akiva was away from home for 12
years (according to Avot de-Rabbi Nathan - 13 years). The Tal-
mud relates that when Akiva, accompanied by 12,000 students,
returned home after an absence of 12 years he overheard his
wife telling a neighbor that she would willingly wait another
12 years if within that time he could increase his learning two-
fold. Hearing this, he left without revealing himself to her, and
returned 12 years later with 24,000 students. Later in his ca-
reer, Akiva was imprisoned by the Romans for openly teaching
the Torah in defiance of their edict (Sanh. 12a). When Pappos
b. Judah urged him to desist from studying and teaching in
view of the Roman decree making it a capital offense, he an-
swered with the parable of the fox which urged a fish to come
up on dry land to escape the fisherman’s net. The fish answered
“Tf we are afraid in the element in which we live, how much
more should we be afraid when we are out of that element. We
should then surely die’ So it is with us with regard to the study
of the Torah, which is ‘thy life and the length of thy days’” (Ber.
61b). He was not immediately executed and was reportedly al-
lowed visitors (Pes. 112a; but cf. Ty, Yev. 12:5, 12d). Akiva was
subsequently tortured to death by the Romans by having his
flesh torn from his body with “iron combs. He bore his suf-
ferings with fortitude, welcoming his martyrdom as a unique
opportunity of fulfilling the precept, “Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul ... even if you
must pay for it with your life” (Ber. 61b).
Akiva also played a significant role in narratives which
centered on the other great figures of his time. When R.
Eliezer b. Hyrcanus was excommunicated, it was Akiva who
was chosen to break the news to him (BM 59b). In the contro-
versy between Rabban Gamaliel 11 and R. Joshua, Akiva at-
tempted to effect a reconciliation between them (Ber. 27b-28c;
cf. RH 2:9).
Granting the literary and religious power of these leg-
ends, the modern critical reader must approach them with
care. Take, for example, the tradition, brought above, which
ascribes to Akiva in his early years a bitter hatred and antag-
onism toward rabbinic scholars. This tradition appears in the
Bavli as part of an extended collection of similar traditions
(Pes. 49a-b), ascribed to various rabbinic scholars from the
Land of Israel in the 2™4 and 3"4 centuries. S. Wald has shown
(Pesahim 111, 211-239) that this entire talmudic passage is a
product of late tendentious revision of earlier sources, reflect-
ing the antagonism between later Babylonian sages and their
real or imagined interlocutors - ame ha-arez in their termi-
nology. With regard to R. Akiva himself, this source must be
viewed as pseudoepigraphic at best, and can neither be as-
cribed to him in any historical sense, nor can it be reconciled
with other traditional accounts of his early life. For example,
in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Naz. 7:1, 66a) we hear a very dif-
ferent story: “R. Akiva said: This is how I became a disci-
ple of the sages. Once I was walking by the way and I came
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
across a dead body [met mitzvah]. I carried it for four miles
until I came to a cemetery and buried it. When I came to R.
Yehoshua and R. Eliezer I told them what I had done. They
told me: ‘For every step you took, it is as if you spilled blood?
I said: ‘If in a case where I intended to do good, I was found
guilty, in a case where I did not intend to do good, I most cer-
tainly will be found guilty! From that moment on, I became
a disciple of the sages.” The fact that Akiva in this story, while
still an am ha-arez, both sought and expected the approval of
the two sages who would in the future be his closest teachers,
clearly contradicts the notion that at this stage in his life he
both hated and held the sages in contempt.
Admittedly, we have no clear and compelling reason to
accept the Yerushalmi’s version of events as historically accu-
rate. Nevertheless the very fact that it gives us an alternative
version of how Akiva “became a disciple of the sages” raises
questions — at the very least - about the historical reliability of
the Bavli’s story about Kalba Savu'a and his daughter. These tra-
ditions have themselves been the subject of intense study, most
recently by S. Friedman, who traced the evolution of these sto-
ries within the Babylonian rabbinic tradition. Given the num-
ber and complexity of the traditions surrounding the figure of
R. Akiva, it will in all likelihood be some time before it will be
possible to evaluate their relative historical value and the reli-
gious, social, and literary tendencies imbedded in them.
Among the early traditions ascribed to Akiva in the
Mishnah, we find him affirming the ideas of free will and
God’s omniscience, “Everything is foreseen, and free will is
given’ (Avot 3:15). He taught that a sinner achieves atonement
by immersion in God’s mercy, just as impurity is removed by
the immersion in the waters of a mikveh (Yoma 8:9). Akiva is
reported to have said: “Beloved is a man in that he was cre-
ated in the image [of God]” (Avot 3:18), and held that “Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” is the most fundamental
principle of the Torah (Sifra, Kedoshim, Ch. 4:13). Akiva’s in-
sistence that the Song of Songs be regarded as an integral part
of the canon - “All the Writings are holy; but the Song of Songs
is Holy of Holies” (Yad, 3:5) - may be related to his mystical
interests (Lieberman, Mishnat Shir ha-Shirim). According to
Tosefta Hagigah (2:2), Akiva received instruction in the mysti-
cal traditions concerning the divine merkavah from R. Joshua,
who himself received these traditions from R. Johanan b. Za-
kkai. In addition, R. Akiva is counted as one of the four sages
who “entered the pardes, and was the only one of the four
who “ascended in peace and descended in peace,’ ie., partici-
pated in this mystical experience and emerged unharmed. As
a result of these traditions, R. Akiva became the protagonist
of Heikhalot Zutarti, one of the earlier works of the heikhalot
literature, imparting instructions to the initiate concerning the
dangers involved in ascending to heaven and concerning the
techniques necessary for evading these dangers.
For Akiva’s method of midrashic interpretation of scrip-
ture, and the school of Midrash Halakhah which bears his
name, *Midrashei Halkhah.
See also *Bar Kochba.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKIVA BEN MENAHEM HA-KOHEN OF OFEN
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Finkelstein, Akiva, Scholar, Saint and Mar-
tyr (1936, 19627); Bacher, Tann, 1 (1903); Weiss, Dor, 2 (1904), 97-106;
Frankel, Mishnah (19237), 118-30; Halevi, Dorot, 7 (1923), 455-67,
620-9, 659-64; Derenbourg, Hist, 329ff., 395ff., 418ff.; Hyman, To-
ledot, 988-1008; J.S. Zuri, Rabbi Akiva (Heb., 1924); Alon, Toledot,
1 (1958), index; I. Konovitz, Rabbi Akiva (Heb., 19657). ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHY: S. Lieberman, in: Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysti-
cism, and Talmudic Tradition (1960), 118-126; S. Friedman, in: Saul
Lieberman Memorial Volume (Heb., 1988), 119-164; S. Friedman, in:
JSIJ, 3 (2004), 1-39; D. Boyarin, Carnal Israel (1993); T. Ilan, in: Jewish
Women in Greco-Roman Palestine (1995); idem, in: ays Review, 22:1
(1997), 1-17; S. Wald, Pesahim 111 (Heb., 2000), 211-239.
[Harry Freedman / Stephen G. Wald (2"4 ed.)]
AKIVA BAER BEN JOSEPH (Simeon Akiva Baer; 17‘
century), talmudist and kabbalist. Akiva was among the Jews
who were expelled from Vienna in 1670. He thereafter wan-
dered through the whole of Bohemia and parts of Germany,
earning his living by teaching Talmud and delivering lectures
in the synagogue on the Sabbath. He interrupted his travels
when he was elected rabbi of Burgpreppach, in Bavaria. There
Akiva wrote a kabbalistic commentary on daily prayers en-
titled Avodat ha-Bore (“The Worship of the Creator,’ 1688),
comprised of five parts, each beginning with one of the letters
of his name (A.K.1.B.A.). This work met with success and was
published three times. A new commentary for the Sabbath
and holidays was added to the third edition. Akiva interrupted
his travels a second time to become rabbi of Zeckendorf, near
Bamberg. There he met the leader of the community, Selig-
man Levi Meir, with whom he composed a short encyclope-
dia to Midrash Rabbah, which was published under the title
Pi Shenayim (“A Double Share,” 1702). He remained in Zeck-
endorf six years. From there Akiva was called to Schnaitach,
which at that time had a large Jewish community. There he
was imprisoned during a riot. After his release, Akiva became
rabbi of Gunzenhausen and, finally, second rabbi of Ans-
bach. He was the author of two works in Yiddish, which had
even a wider circulation than his Hebrew works, namely: Ab-
bir Yaakov (“The Mighty [God] of Jacob,” 1700), a collection
of legends from the Zohar and from the Midrash ha-Neelam
about the patriarchs, based on the first 47 chapters of Gen-
esis; “Maasei Adonai” (“The Deeds of the Lord”), a collection
of wondrous stories from the Zohar, from the works of Isaac
Luria, and from other kabbalistic books.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 2612, no. 7210; Ben-
jacob, Ozar, 2, no. 22; 427, no. 12; 457, no. 69.
[Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany)]
AKIVA BEN MENAHEM HA-KOHEN OF OFEN (Buda;
second half of 15‘ century), Hungarian financial expert and
scholar in Buda. After Jacob *Mendel, Akiva was the most
influential Jew at the court of King Matthias 1 of Hungary
(1458-90). Epitaphs of members of the family (in Prague) re-
fer to him as nasi and “head of the entire Diaspora” In 1496
Akiva was still living in Buda. Later forced to leave Hungary
563
AKKAD
as a result of the slanderous allegations of jealous Hungar-
ian magnates, he settled in Prague where he established a
yeshivah. Akiva had 12 sons and 13 daughters, 12 of whom
married kohanim (priests). When on holidays 25 members of
his family pronounced the priestly blessing, they were con-
sidered to fulfill an interpretation of Numbers 6:23: “Thus
(Heb. koh the numerical equivalent of the letters being 25)
shall ye bless...”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Kohn, A zsidok térténete Magyarorszdgon
(1884), 227-8; S. Blichler, A zsidok torténete Budapesten (1901), 57-58;
idem, in: Magyar-Zsidé Szemle, 27 (1910), 82-83; B. Mandl, in: Mult
és J6v6, 25 (1935), 316; MHJ, 2 (1937), 537-8; A. Schreiber, Hebraeische
Kodexueberreste in ungarlaendischen Einbandstafeln (1969), 122.
[Alexander Scheiber]
AKKAD (Heb. 758), one of the capital cities of *Nimrod in
Shinar (Sumer), according to the “table of nations” (Gen.
10:9-10). In the cuneiform sources, Akkad (Sumerian Agade
or Aggide) refers to both a city and a country in northern Bab-
ylonia which first flourished as the seat of the “(Old) Akka-
dian” kings in the Sargonic period (c. 3380-3200 B.C.E.). The
city’s exact location is still unknown, but it must have been sit-
uated on the (ancient) Euphrates, upstream from Nippur and
not far from Babylon. According to tradition, it was founded
by Sargon, a Semite who began his career at the court of the
city of Kish. He assumed a name characteristic of a usurper
(Sargon literally: “the king is legitimate”) and the title “king of
Kish.” In this he was followed by his sons Rimush and Man-
ishtusu. His grandson Naram-Sin assumed new titles and
dignities and seems to have brought the Akkadian Empire to
new heights, but in so doing he overreached himself. By the
end of his reign, the rapid decline of the empire had begun.
Later Sumerian tradition attributed this to Naram-Sin’s sins
against the Temple of Enlil at Nippur, but modern scholarship
tends to attribute it to the increasing inroads of the barbarian
Gutians from the eastern highlands. Under Naram-Sin’s son,
Shar-kali-sharri, Akkadian rule was progressively restricted, as
the more modest title of “King of Akkad” attests. The decline
and fall of the dynasty left a deep impression on the country:
Naram-Sin was turned into a stereotype of the unfortunate
ruler in later literature, and the “end of Agade” became not
only a fixed point for subsequent chronology but also a type-
case for omens and prophecies.
While the destruction of the city of Akkad was complete,
the name of the country survived into later periods. The geo-
graphical expression “[land of] Sumer and [land of] Akkad”
came to designate the central axis of Sumero-Akkadian po-
litical hegemony; i-e., the areas lying respectively northwest
and southeast of Nippur. The kings who held that religious
and cultural capital therefore assumed the title “king of Sumer
and Akkad.” They tended to replace it, or from Hammurapi
on even to supplement it, with the loftier title of “king of the
four quarters [of the world]” when to these two central lands
they added the rule of the western and eastern lands, Amurru
and Elam (see *Sumerians). From Middle Babylonian times
564
AKKAD
LEBANON SYRIA IRAN
rt IRAQ
ISRAEL
JORDAN
SAUDI ARABIA
4 Akkad
Me e
Ka. D
Tan
Babylon <> n
Kish® @Nippur ans
ae .
A ME\p
aN
“Vor
on (1500-1000), the noun Akkad was used in the cuneiform
sources as a virtual synonym for Babylonia.
The adjective “Akkadian” was used in various senses by
the ancients: originally it designated the Semitic speakers and
speech of Mesopotamia as distinguished from the Sumerian,
then the older Semitic stratum as distinguished from the more
recent Semitic arrivals of *Amorite speech, and finally Babylo-
nian as distinguished from Assyrian. In modern terminology,
*Akkadian is used as a collective term for all the East Semitic
dialects of Mesopotamia.
Which of these meanings best applies to the “Akkad”
of Genesis 10:10 can only be answered in the context of the
entire Nimrod pericope (Gen. 10:8-12) and of the identifi-
cation of Nimrod. Probably the figure of Nimrod combines
features pertaining to several heroic kings of the Mesopota-
mian historic tradition, from Gilgamesh of Uruk to Tukulti-
Ninurta 1 of Assur (see E.A. Speiser). However, the reference
to Akkad as one of his first or capital cities points to the Old
Akkadian period, and to its two principal monarchs, Sargon
and Naram-Sin. Both were central figures of Mesopotamian
historiography, and Naram-Sin in particular introduced the
title of “mighty [man]” into the Mesopotamian titulary. Gen-
esis 10:8 may reflect this innovation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I,J. Gelb, Old Akkadian Writing and Gram-
mar (19617); W.W. Hallo, Early Mesopotamian Royal Titles (1957);
Speiser, in: Eretz Israel, 5 (1959), 34-36 (Eng. section); Finkelstein,
in: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 107 (1963),
461-72.
[William W. Hallo]
AKKADIAN LANGUAGE. Akkadian is the designation for a
group of closely related East Semitic dialects current in Meso-
potamia from the early third millennium until the Christian
era. Closely connected to it is Eblaite, the language found at
Tell Maradikh (ancient Ebla) in northern Syria.
The name is derived from akkadium, the relative adjective
of a.ga.dé = *Akkad (biblical 72), the capital of the Sargonic
Empire (c. 2400 B.c.£.). Itis not known what the speakers of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
East Semitic in Mesopotamia called themselves or their speech
prior to this period. The available textual evidence does not
show any marked dialectical discontinuity between the pre-
Sargonic and the Sargonic periods. The earliest textual oc-
currence is from the first dynasty of Ur (c. 2600 B.c.£.) and
the latest from the first century c.z. The dialectical history of
Akkadian can be schematically represented as follows:
(Proto-Old Akkadian)
3000 1
2
| 2
1 1
2400 Old Akkadian -------—- eae Poetic Dialect
2000 Old Assyrian Old Babylonian +————
| v
1500 Middle Assyrian Middle Babylonian Standard
x Babylonian
1000 Neo-Assyrian Neo-Babylonian
(to 612) clad
500 Late Babylonian
i
0 |
* Linear development uncertain
The Old Akkadian corpus consists of royal inscriptions,
economic documents, letters, and the occasional literary
text from the pre-Sargonic, Sargonic, and Ur 111 periods (to
c. 2000 B.C.E.). These texts, in particular the royal inscriptions,
are in large measure known from Old Babylonian copies, prod-
ucts of the Nippur scribal school in southern Babylonia. Most
of the other original material also comes from this region, but
texts have been found further afield: in *Elam, northern Syria,
and eastern Anatolia (Asia *Minor). It is not clear whether Old
Akkadian is the parent of the later Akkadian dialects. While
some obvious phonologic and morphologic isoglosses would
seem to indicate that Old Assyrian is the descendant of Old
Akkadian, the latter in other, more basic aspects, has much in
common with Old Babylonian. However, both Old Assyrian
and Old Babylonian may have evolved from other unknown
and undocumented dialects. (On this point see M. Hilgert,
“New Perspectives in the Study of Third Millennium Akka-
dian,” Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, 4 (2003), 1-14.)
Assyrian
Old Assyrian is mainly known from letters and economic
documents excavated in eastern Anatolia, chiefly in the lower
city at Kultepe (ancient Kani’) where an Assyrian mercantile
colony (karum) was located at the beginning of the second
millennium. The corpus includes a small number of royal in-
scriptions and about a dozen literary texts, including some
incantations; a few of the texts originated in *Assur and other
north Mesopotamian sites, such as Nuzi.
The best known Middle Assyrian document is the so-
called “Middle Assyrian laws” from Assur, dating from the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKKADIAN LANGUAGE
middle and second half of the second millennium B.c.£. Eco-
nomic and legal documents and letters are also attested.
Neo-Assyrian texts consist for the most part of letters
and economic documents with a few literary texts. Documents
written in this dialect come to an abrupt end with the destruc-
tion of Nineveh and other cities in 612 B.c.E. and the complete
collapse of the Assyrian Empire shortly thereafter. It should
be noted that the Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions are written
in Standard Babylonian, as are the inscriptions of the dynas-
ties ruling southern Babylonia in the first millennium B.c.£.
The relative absence of legal material from the private sector
seems to be due to an increasing use of Aramaic.
Babylonian
Old Babylonian is richly documented in large numbers of
letters, economic records, state and legal documents, includ-
ing the Code of Hammurapi, royal inscriptions, and a siz-
able corpus of literary texts consisting of hymns and various
types of lyric and epic poetry. Several dialects, some showing
substrate influence, can be discerned: a southern and north-
ern dialect in Babylonia, a northeast dialect centered in the
*Diyalah region, and provincial dialects such as those from
Susa and *Mari. Literary texts are generally written in a po-
etic register (formally called “dialect”) which exhibits archaic
forms and syntax. This poetic dialect, the so-called “hymnic-
epic dialect,” could be either a survival of an earlier stage of
the language or an older dialect with close affinities to Old
Akkadian in a restricted stereotyped use. Post-Old Babylo-
nian Akkadian literature from all centers is usually written
in a linguistic register which is an artificial literary offshoot
of Old Babylonian, and is influenced by archaic forms cur-
rent in the older poetic dialect, called Standard Babylonian.
Standard Babylonian was cultivated by the scribes for liter-
ary purposes from the middle of the second millennium and
through the first millennium B.c.£. until Akkadian ceased to
be used. Standard Babylonian suppressed literary creativity
in local dialects, e.g., Assyrian, but it tends to show a strong
influence of the locally spoken tongue.
Middle Babylonian is attested in letters, economic and
official documents, and a few literary documents. While the
size of the corpus of Middle Babylonian texts found in Meso-
potamia proper is moderate, geographically this dialect (and
variations of it) is the most widely spread and was used all over
western Asia during the second millennium B.c.£. The Akka-
dian material from the archives of Bogazk6y and Ras Shamra
(*Ugarit) are written in local forms of Middle Babylonian, as
are the letters of El *Amarna found in Egypt, which, however,
originated in Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. The
wide diffusion of Akkadian during the period was due to its
use as a diplomatic language.
Neo-Babylonian is likewise represented mainly by a large
corpus of non-literary sources, especially letters and economic
documents. The use of the last surviving “living” dialect, Late
Babylonian, petered out completely during the Seleucid pe-
riod. Standard Babylonian continued to be in use in the tem-
565
AKKADIAN LANGUAGE
ple scriptoria, in the transmission of canonical compositions,
and in the compilation of astronomical texts which are the last
remnant of the Mesopotamian tradition. The latest datable text
so far recognized is an astronomical almanac written in 385
Seleucid era (74/75 C.E.).
Phonology
Akkadian is written with signs which apparently were origi-
nally devised for Sumerian. The application of the Sumerian
system to Akkadian resulted in a mixed method of writing:
on the one hand with logograms and, on the other, with syl-
lables of the type vC, Cv, or CvC (C = consonant; v = vowel).
The phonemic system and structure of Sumerian is radically
different from that of Akkadian and the writing system con-
sequently presented inadequacies which were only partially
overcome during the long history of writing Akkadian. A pho-
nological interpretation is likewise hindered due to a tendency
toward historic writing.
VOWELS. The vocalic phonemes represented are the long and
short a, i, u, e. E does not seem to be original but is derived
from a or i; e.g., ilqa’ > ilge (“he took’), while i tends to be-
come e, especially in Assyrian, and the etymologically long 7
became é already in Old Babylonian times. Rare mixed writ-
ings, e.g., ma-ru-is (Old Babylonian; “is sick”), have been used
in attempts to demonstrate other vowel qualities, in this case
the u-i sequence being taken as representing u. Greek tran-
scriptions from the Seleucid period which reflect the pronun-
ciation of Late Babylonian represent u by 0, e.g., oGov = uzun
(“ear of”), and a by a, e.g., vwp = nur (“light of”). Diphthongs
are monophthongized, e.g., }ayn- > in- (“eye”), Emawt- > mut
(“death”). (The double dagger, +, indicates the reconstructed
form.) Pseudo-diphthongs, such as Old Babylonian nawrum
(“bright”), probably represent nawirum. A basic characteristic
of the Assyrian dialects is the vowel harmony operative with
short unaccented a in an open syllable which assimilates pro-
gressively, e.g., awutum (nominative singular), awitim (geni-
tive singular), awatam (accusative singular; “word”); in Baby-
lonian: awatum, awatim, awatam. Vowel length is phonemic,
e.g., Sarratum (“queen”), Sarratum (“queens”).
CONSONANTS. The considerable reduction in consonants
characteristic of Akkadian (and of later forms of other Se-
mitic languages, such as Hebrew and Aramaic), as compared
to the theoretically reconstructed consonant phonemes of
Proto-Semitic, or those of other Semitic languages such as
Ugaritic or Arabic, is already evident in Old Akkadian. By
the time of the earliest written Akkadian, the dentals d, tf and
d had shifted to z, s, and s respectively, while t was on its way
to § but in Old Akkadian is distinguished graphically from
etymological s and s.
The laryngeals for the most part merged with ’ or disap-
peared (Sumerian substrate influence?), compensating with
the lengthening of the vowel and apophony, e.g., baum >
bélum (“lord”), although in Assyrian and some Babylonian
dialects this process is not complete. In Old Akkadian ’ and
566
h are at least partially distinct as shown by such writings as
ra-si-im = ra’sim, later résim (genitive singular of “head”) and
the special use of the sign E as in il-qa- E = tilqah (“he took,”
cf. Sumerian E.GAL > Akkadian ekallum > Hebrew 927).
The influence of intrusive West Semitic dialects is reflected
in doublets, e.g., Old Babylonian hadannum for adannum
(“fixed time,’ ‘dn), Neo-Assyrian hannii for annii (“this, hn-).
(On laryngals see L. Kogan, “*g in Akkadian,’ UR, 33 (2001),
263-98.)
Of the various phonological changes affecting conso-
nants as a result of environmental conditioning two should be
mentioned. In the nominal patterns mapras and mupras (ex-
cept in certain nominal forms, e.g., the participle of the verb
of the derived themes; see below) of roots containing a labial
phoneme, m dissimilates to n (Barth’s Law), e.g., #markabtum
> narkabtum (“chariot”). Likewise, in any given root one of
two emphatics dissimilate, viz, s > s (very rare),q>k,t>t-in
this order of stability (Geers’ Law), e.g., tsabatum >sabdtum
(“to seize”), tqasabu > kasabu (“to cut away”).
Initial w disappeared already in Old Babylonian,
e.g., warhu (Old Babylonian), arhu (post-Old Babylonian;
“month’). In Assyrian, wa- > (wu >) u, e.g., warhum > urhum.
Babylonian intervocalic -w- > -m-, e.g., awilum > amilum
(“man”). In Assyrian, wa- > wu > u, e.g., warhum > urhum.
Babylonian déq (“is good”). On the other hand, intervocalic
-m- in Late Babylonian > w or’, e.g., Samas > 8(a)w(a)s (“the
sun god” (from Aramaic transcriptions); cf. cayH for samé
(“of heaven”) in Seleucid Greek transcriptions; cf. Hebrew 0
(< Simanu). Survival of the y is limited.
Morphology
PRONOUNS. Akkadian shows a rich range of bound and un-
bound pronominal forms, especially personal pronouns. In
the third person, the distinctive element is 5, where West Se-
mitic, for example, has h, e.g., su (“he”), si (“she”). Unbound
pronominal forms distinguish three case forms: nominative,
genitive/accusative, dative, e.g., anaku, yati, yasi (“T’), respec-
tively, and in bound forms genitive, dative, and accusative,
e.g., beli (“my lord”), ispur-suniisim (“he sent to them”), ispur-
sunuti (“he sent them”), respectively where it can be seen that
in the plural at least -s- is characteristic of the dative and -t- of
the accusative. The dative pronouns are a strong isogloss be-
tween Old Akkadian and Old Babylonian. They are restricted
in Old Assyrian where the genitive-accusative forms function
as datives; dative forms appear regularly from Middle Assyr-
ian on. There is also a possessive pronominal adjective, e.g.,
yaum (“mine”). Of the various deixis forms, anniim (“this”)
and ullum (“that”) can be cited, but many dialect words and
forms for the near and far deixis also occur. In addition, the
third person unbound pronoun can be used anaphorically,
e.g., awilum su (“that man”). Interrogatives include mannum
(“who”) and minum (“what”), ayyum (“which [one]”) and ma
(“what”) in older dialects. The indefinite pronoun is mam-
man (< ¢man-man). A true relative pronoun is found only
in Old Akkadian: Su, $i, Sa, fem. Sat, plural sat, sat. Old As-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
syrian has some of these forms in personal names but in later
dialects they occur residually in stereotyped phrases, mostly
literary. The particle sa serves as an all-purpose relative, in
both nominal and verbal phrases, e.g., bitum sa rédim (“the
soldiers house”) and sa ipusu (“which he made”). (On this see
G. Deutscher, “The Akkadian Relative Clauses in Cross-Lin-
guistic Perspective,” ZA, 92 (2002), 86-105.)
NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES. Nouns and adjectives show struc-
tural patterning as in other Semitic languages, e.g., parrasum
as an “occupational” pattern, e.g., dayyanum (“judge”)
or garradum (“warrior”); and maprasum indicating instru-
ment or place, e.g., maskanum (“depot”; cf. Barth’s Law
above).
Formally, there are two genders, masculine (zero marker)
and feminine (at marker). There are three numbers: singular,
plural, and dual. Mimation in the singular of both genders and
in the plural feminine, and nunation in the dual are regular
until the end of the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian peri-
ods. The singular is triptotically declined forming a nomina-
tive, accusative, and genitive in the earlier periods, yielding
later to a binary opposition of nominative/accusative and geni-
tive. The plural and dual are diptotic. Traces of a productive
dual, nominal, and verbal, are evident in Old Akkadian but
by post-Old Akkadian times it has become virtually vestigial,
surviving mostly in set words and phrases.
The vocative is expressed by a stressed form with zero
ending in the singular, e.g., etel (< tetel, “O, youth”), kalab
(< tkalb, “O, dog”). Plural vocatives seem to coincide with
the nominative forms. The morphology of the adjective dif-
fers from that of the noun uniquely in that the masculine
plural exhibits the morphemes -atu(m) for the nominative
and -ati(m) for the oblique cases, e.g., Sarr rabittum (“the
great kings”). The construct case of the noun is a short form
with the case markers removed or reduced, e.g., bél bitim (“the
householder”), ilsu (“his god”), mdrat awilim (“man’s daugh-
ter”), ili matim (“the gods of the land”). The noun or adjec-
tive, used as a predicate, can be declined with the bound sufhix
personal forms, those of the first and second person showing
affinity to the personal pronouns, e.g., Sarraku (“I am king”),
la awilat (“be a man!”), while the third person shows gender
and plural affixes only, e.g., libbasu tab (“he is satisfied”), Istar
rigmam tabat (“Tstar, sweet of voice”). Feminine nouns are de-
clined in the stative without the feminine marker, e.g., gasrate
malkati (< malkatum) Sumaki sir (“You [Istar] are powerful,
you are a princess, your names are majestic”).
PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS. Prepositions govern
the genitive ease of nouns, e.g, alpam kima alpim (“[he will
replace] ox for ox”), and most prepositions can also function
as conjunctions in which case the verb appears in the subjunc-
tive, e.g., kima érubu (“when/as soon as he entered”). It should
be noted that ina (“in”), ana (“to”) and istu (“from”) suppleted
the common Semitic prepositions b,(’)l, and mn respectively
at a preliterate stage of Akkadian.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKKADIAN LANGUAGE
OTHER PARTICLES. Common negations are /d and ul, e.g.,
la iddinisum (“they did not give him”), ul assat (“she is not a
wife”), la kittum (“untruth”). Conjunctives are u, “and, “or,
e.g., bél Samé u ersetim (“Lord of heaven and earth”), and the
enclitic -ma used post-verbally as a sentence conjunctive, e.g.,
ul itarma... ul ussab (“he shall not return and take his seat
[as judge]”). After nominal or pronominal forms, it forms a
stressed predicate (cleft sentence), e.g., adi mati (“until when”),
adi matima (“until when is it that - ?”), umma Hammurapima
(“thus Hammurapi,” introductory formula in letters), sima
iliksu illak (“it is he who will perform the [feudal] service”).
Umma, with or without the enclitic -mi, or in the As-
syrian dialects md, introduces direct speech. A strong inter-
rogative tone can be indicated by vowel lengthening, e.g., ina
bitika mannum biri anaki bariaka (“who in your household
goes hungry? Should I go hungry?”). Unreal statements are
indicated by the enclitic -man. Conditional sentences are in-
troduced by summa (or summa-man for unreal conditions)
with the verb in the indicative.
ADVERBIAL CONSTRUCTIONS. In adverbial constructions
the accusative is often used, e.g., imittam (“to the right”).
Among the adverbial formatives are the locative-adverbial in
-um/u which with nouns functions sequentially as a case,
libbu/libbum = ina libbim, libbusSu < -umSu (“in it”), and
is used as an adverbial formative, e.g., balum (“without”).
The locative terminative affixes -is in the meaning “to,” e.g.,
asris (“to the place”) and adverbially as in elis (“above,’ “up-
ward”).
VERBS. BASIC PATTERNS. All tenses of the verb are prefixed
forms: iprus (“he cut”) preterite, iparras (“he cuts”) present-
future with characteristic doubling of the middle root radical,
and, unique to Akkadian, iptaras (“he has cut / will have cut”)
perfect, a syntactically conditioned stressed or consequen-
tial form, e.g., dayyanum dinam idin... warkanumma dinsu
iteni (“the judge passed judgment but afterward changed his
verdict”) or as a future perfect, e.g., inuma issanqunikkum
(“When they will have reached you...”). The imperative can be
derived from the preterite base, e.g., pursus ( < tprus), impera-
tive singular (cf. below). The precative is formed by the pro-
clitic particle Ju + preterite for the third person singular and
plural and i+ preterite for the first person plural, e.g., lipus <
lu + ipus (“let him do”), lublut v’; thus, +ipus preter-
ite (pattern iprus) > ipus (“he made”), and similarly through-
out the paradigm. Mediae Aleph also have “a” and “e” classes.
They further differentiate in a strong aleph group, e.g., ixal
(“he asked”) and a d/é group which decline like vocalic roots
(see below), but crossovers are not uncommon. Primae Nun
is characterized by the assimilation of the N root element toa
following consonant, e.g., iddin < tindin (“he gave”). In Primae
Waw initial or intervocalic w goes to’ or m in post-Old Baby-
lonian times, e.g., waladum > aladum (“to give birth’). In fien-
tive verbs vw > uw > i, e.g., $iwsib > uwsib > isib (“he sat”).
Statives behave like Primae Yod, e.g., iger (not tiger < tiwger;
note that the occurrence of the initial or final y is very re-
stricted in historic Akkadian and these verbs generally behave
like Primae Aleph with the apophony of a >e). Both fientive
and stative verbs have Primae Yod type S forms, e.g., usésib
(“he seated” as if < tusaysib), usisib type forms (< usawsib)
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
occurring only rarely in poetic dialect (but note Neo-Assyr-
ian ittusib, Babylonian ittasab (“he sat”)).
Vocalic roots (“hollow verbs” Mediae Waw/Yod) are of
the pattern CVC, where the middle radical has to be consid-
ered as a long vowel: a, i, a, or é (secondary). In the G pres-
ent-future and in the present-future and preterite of the D,
the suffixing of vocalic morphemes induces reduction of the
theme vowel - middle root radical and gemination of the third
root radical, e.g., ikan (“he is upright”), ikunna (“they are up-
right”). In Assyrian uncontracted forms are usual, thus ikian.
The last major division of weak verbs is the Tertiae Infirmae.
These are final -u, e.g., udu (“he was happy”); final -i, iqbi (“he
spoke”); final -a, ikla (“he withheld”); and final -e, iSme (“he
heard”). These vowels are anceps and are long when followed
by bound morphemes, e.g., iqbi, but iqbisum (“he told him”).
Two main groups of quadrilateral verbs occur of the type C’
C? C* C* in the S and N themes, e.g., nabalkutum (“to jump
over”), subalkutum (“to cause to jump over, overturn”), includ-
ing a weak class, e.g, naparki (“to be idle, unemployed”). A
third type is of the pattern $ C' C? C? where C’ is / or r, e.g.,
Suharrurum (“to be deathly still”).
It should be noted that the normal position of the Akka-
dian verb in the sentence is at the end (unlike its nearest Se-
mitic relatives) and this is most likely due to the influence of
Sumerian, where the verb is similarly placed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Ungnad, Grammatik des Akkadischen,
ed. by L. Matoué (1969°); K.K. Riemschneider, Lehrbuch des Akka-
dischen (1969); E. Reiner, A Linguistic Analysis of Akkadian (1966),
includes bibliography; W. von Soden, Grundriss der Akkadischen
Grammatik (1952); E.A. Speiser (ed.), World History of the Jewish Peo-
ple, 1 (1964), 112-20; G. Bergstraesser, Einfuehrung in die semitischen
Sprachen (19637), 20-36; B. Meissner, Die Keilschrift, ed. by K. Ober-
huber (1967). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Huehnergard, A Grammar
of Akkadian (= Harvard Semitic Museum Studies, 45), 1997; idem,
“Semitic Languages,’ in: J.M. Sasson (ed.), Civilization of the Ancient
Near East (1995), 2117-134.
[Aaron Shaffer]
AKKUM (Heb. 0”1Dy), abbreviation consisting of the initial
letters of n¥27791 072919 N7i2y (“worship of stars and planets”)
or ni7791 0919 *Jaiy (“worshipers of stars and planets”). It
was originally applied to the Chaldean star worshipers but it
was later extended to apply to all idolaters and forms of idol-
atry. This word is not found at all in the oldest editions of the
Mishnah, Talmud, the Yad of Maimonides, or the Shulhan
Arukh. Most editions of these works have a note to the effect
that the laws against Akkum refer only to ancient idolaters
and not to Christians.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.S. Bloch, Israel and the Nations (1927),
65-75, 85-86, 100; D. Hoffmann, Der Schulchan Aruch (1894), 129-50,
160-78; H.L. Strack, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash (1931),
262, n.66.
AKLAR MORDECAI BEN RAPHAEL (1856-1936), rabbi
and author; member of the Persian *anusim community who
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKNIN, JOSEPH BEN JUDAH BEN JACOB IBN
professed Judaism in secret. Aklar, who was born in *Meshed,
Persia, was known as a Muslim by the name of “Mulla Mu-
rad.” Aklar succeeded his father as the secret rabbi of the
anusim community in Meshed. He immigrated to Jerusalem
in 1927 and there continued to serve as the spiritual leader of
the Meshed and Bukharian communities. His Judeo-Persian
renderings of liturgical works, translated in Jerusalem, are a
major contribution to this literature. They include Avodat ha-
Tamid (1908), Olat Shabbat (1910), Selihot (1927), Piyyutim for
the Holidays (1928), and the Passover Haggadah (1930). In his
Judeo-Persian prayer book he incorporated a Hebrew poem
by Solomon b. Mashi’ah, describing the tragic events which
led to the forced conversion of the community in Meshed in
1839. His unfinished manuscripts include translations from the
writings of Maimonides, and Saadiah Gaon, of the azharot of
Solomon ibn Gabirol, parts of the Koran, and memoirs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fischel, in: MGwJ, 77 (1933), 119; M.D. Gaon,
Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez Yisrael, 2 (1938), 116; 706.
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
AKNIN, JOSEPH BEN JUDAH BEN JACOB IBN (c. 1150-
1220), philosopher and poet. Aknin was born in Barcelona,
Spain. Probably as a result of the Almohad persecutions, he,
or perhaps his father, moved to North Africa, presumably Fez,
Morocco. He remained there until his death, not withstanding
his ardent wish to go elsewhere so that he could practice Ju-
daism openly. That he felt guilty about living as a Crypto-Jew
is evident from a discussion in which he passed harsh judg-
ment on forced converts. He and Maimonides met each other
during the latter’s sojourn in Fez and Aknin wrote a sad cou-
plet on the sage’s departure for Egypt. However, he must not
be identified or confused with Joseph b. Judah ibn *Shim‘on,
a disciple of Maimonides, who eventually was wrongly called
“ibn Aknin.” Little else is known of Aknin’s life. He may have
been a physician by profession — he certainly was adept in the
subject. Nothing is known of his family life or descendants.
Aknin is the author of a number of works:
(1) Sefer Hukkim u-Mishpatim, no longer extant, was a
book of laws divided into treatises, the first of which dealt with
doctrines and beliefs. It may have been modeled on Maimo-
nides’ Mishneh Torah, although, unlike this work, it limited
itself to laws still practiced by the Jews of the time. He spoke
of it as “my major work”
(2) Risalat al-ibanah fi usil al-diyanah (“Clarification of
the Fundamentals of Faith”) is also no longer extant. Never-
theless, it is known from a passage cited in another work that
this work engaged in a discussion of man’s freedom.
(3) Ma’amar al ha-Middot ve-ha-Mishkalot is an anon-
ymous medieval Hebrew translation of an Arabic work by
Aknin, entitled maqdla le-Rabbenu Yehosef ben Aknin Zal
fima’ri fat Kammiyyab al-maqadir al-madhkurafi Torah she-
bi-khetav ve-Torah she-beal peh. The Arabic original is ex-
tant in manuscript in the Bodleian Library (Ms. Poc. 186; cf.
Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 230-1); the Hebrew translation of
569
AKRA
the work was published in Ginzei Nistarot (ed. by J. Kobak,
3 (1872), 185-200). The introduction states: “It is my purpose
to gather all that is scattered in [the] Mishnah and Talmud
on coins, weights, measurements, boundaries, and time, and
compare it with present-day standards.”
(4) Mevo ha-Talmud, written in Hebrew and divided
into 12 chapters, concerns “principles which a person must
know if he desires to become skilled in talmudic lore.” It was
published under the title Einleitung in den Talmud with an
introduction by H. Graetz in Festschrift... Zacharias *Frankel
(Breslau, 1871; repr. 1967).
(5) Tibb al-Nufis al-Salima wa-Mu‘dlajat al-Nufis al-
Alima (“The Hygiene of Healthy Souls and the Therapy of
Ailing Souls”) is an ethical compilation written in Arabic.
After a lengthy introductory chapter, in which Aknin offers
his views on the composition of the soul and the functions of
its three parts, and in which he explains his beliefs regarding
the afterlife of both the righteous and the wicked, he turns to
an examination of such themes as speech and silence, keep-
ing a secret, filial piety, food and drink, the true goods in
life, and so forth. He urges moderation in all areas with a
clear suggestion of the futility of material self-indulgence and
the gain of spiritual and religious pursuit. Every section opens
with a statement of the right course, supported by rabbinic
references and followed in many instances by epigrams and
sayings culled from classical and Arabic studies. Chapter 26,
which deals with “the trials and tribulations which afflict us,”
reviews the oppressive laws of Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub al-Mansur,
one of the Almohad rulers (cf. Halkin in bibl.). Chapter 27,
on “the disciplines of teacher and student; lists the [necessary
qualification of the instructor, the conditions required
of a good student, and the curriculum of study. Until the
age of 30, the student should be concerned with traditional
Jewish lore, which he should master to such a degree that
he will be able to hold his ground when apparent difficul-
ties and challenges seem to impugn the validity of tradition.
The rest of his life should be devoted to the cultivation of
logic, music, mathematics, mechanics, and metaphysics.
This chapter was published in its Arabic original and a Ger-
man translation by M. Guedemann, in his Das judische Un-
terrichtswesen waehrend der spanisch arabischen Periode
(1873, pp. 43-138, and appendix pp. 1-57); and in Hebrew
by S. Epstein, in: Sefer ha-Yovel... N. Sokolow (1904, pp.
371-88).
(6) Sefer ha-Musar, written in Hebrew, is a commentary
on the mishnaic tractate Pirkei Avot. In it Aknin follows Mai-
monides’ commentary on this tract, and although he does not
follow it slavishly, the latter’s influence is obvious. Interested
in psychology and ethics, he dwells particularly on statements
that deal with conduct, beliefs, and dispositions. He often
develops as part of his exposition lengthy discussions on the
constitution of the soul, man’s responsibility for his actions,
miracles in a world governed by natural laws, creation, and
other metaphysical issues. The work was edited by W. Bacher
as Sefer Musar (1910).
570
(7) Inkishaf al-asraér wa-tuhar al-anwar (“The Divul-
gence of Mysteries and the Appearance of Lights”) is a com-
mentary in Arabic on the Song of Songs. The work starts from
the premise that it would be preposterous to believe that the
wise King Solomon would compose a love story or indulge in
erotic banter: the book bears such an external character sim-
ply as a pedagogic expedient to attract the young. According
to his interpretation, the Song of Songs is a description of the
mutual craving of the rational soul and the active intellect and
the obstacles in the path of their union. Aknin boasts that no
one preceded him in this approach to an interpretation of the
Song of Songs. In fact, although Maimonides plainly offered a
general explanation of the book along these lines, Aknin was
the first to work out the theme in detail in a complete com-
mentary. In his commentary he offers a tripartite explanation
of each verse: first, what he calls the exoteric sense, that is, an
explanation of the grammatical forms and of the plain mean-
ing, but he avoids the introduction of the erotic aspect; second,
what he calls the rabbinic interpretation, an explanation con-
cerned with the fate of Israel, its tragedy, and its hopes (this is
the most widely accepted allegorical interpretation, which is
drawn from various literary compilations, mainly Midrashim
on the Song of Songs); and third, the endowment of each word
in the verse under discussion with implications of physiology,
psychology, logic, and philosophy, which Aknin consistently
opens with the phrase “and according to my conception.” This
work was edited and translated into Hebrew by A.S. Halkin as
Hitgallut ha-Sodot ve-Hofaat ha-Meorot (1964).
Aknin is typical of a group of intellectuals in the Jewish
community under Islam that was impressed with the learning
and doctrines of Greek and Hindu origin cultivated by Mus-
lim intellectuals. However, he saw no conflict between his
religious and secular learning. He was certain of the validity
of his Jewish beliefs and way of life, and he was convinced
that the ultimate goals of his Jewish and secular learning were
identical. Aknin did not leave a mark on his peers in his or
later generations, and his influence, evidently, was very lim-
ited.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.S. Halkin, in: PAAJR, 14 (1944), 25-147;
idem, in: Alexander Marx Jubilee Volume (1950), 389-424; idem,
in: Joshua Starr Memorial Volume (1953), 101-10; idem, in: Sefer
ha-Yovel... Zevi Wolfson (1965), 93-111; Guttmann, Philosophies,
188-90.
[Abraham Solomon Halkin]
AKRA, town in Iraqi Kurdistan, known as Ekron among Jews.
There was an ancient Jewish community in Akra. In the 19‘
century between 300 and 500 Jews seem to have been living
there. According to the official census of 1930, about 1,000
persons of a total population of approximately 19,000 were
Jews. They spoke Aramaic-Jebelic and were engaged in agri-
culture, whitewashing, goldsmithery, the perfume trade, and
in commerce generally. Many of the orchards of the district
belonged to Jews. The community was centered around its
synagogue. In 1950 the Jews were attacked by their Kurdish
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
neighbors and many of them were injured; after this incident
they immigrated to Israel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Ben-Jacob, Kehillot Yehudei Kurdistan
(1961), 81-84; A. Brawer, Avak Derakhim, 1 (1944), 269.
[Abraham Haim]
AKRISH, ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM (pb. 1530), talmudic
scholar, traveler, and publisher. Son of a Spanish exile, who
went to Salonika after having lived in Naples, Akrish, de-
spite his lameness, traveled extensively throughout his life.
His special interest was in manuscripts which he attempted
to save from destruction. Arriving in Egypt about 1548, he
was engaged by *David b. Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, the head
of Egyptian Jewry, to teach his grandchildren. Whatever he
earned he spent in purchasing manuscripts, and devoted his
time to copying those in Ibn Zimra’s library. In 1554, on his
way to Candia, his books were confiscated by the Venetian au-
thorities in the wake of the recent edict against the Talmud.
Succeeding in rescuing his books, he apparently traveled to
Constantinople and then in 1562 back to Egypt. Later he re-
turned to Constantinople where patrons such as Don Joseph
*Nasi and Esther *Kiera helped him to engage scribes to copy
manuscripts. In 1569 a fire destroyed most of his books. He
left Constantinople for Kastoria where he lived for four years
in poverty.
Akrish then began publishing books and documents
he had collected during his travels. Three such collections,
which are of great importance, were published in Constan-
tinople between 1575 and 1578 without title pages or specific
titles. The first (republ. as Kovez Vikkuhim, 1844) contained
Iggeret Ogeret, a collection of polemical writings, including
Profiat *Duran’s famous letter, Al Tehi ka-Avotekha, the po-
lemical letter of Shem Tov ibn *Falaquera, and Kunteres Hibbut
ha-Kever by Akrish himself. The second collection (1607’)
contains several important items about the Ten Lost Tribes,
the letter of *Hisdai ibn Shaprut to the king of the *Kha-
zars, and Maaseh Beit David bi-Ymei Malkhut Paras, which is
the story of *Bustanai. The Khazar correspondence was pub-
lished by Akrish to “strengthen the people in order that they
should believe firmly that the Jews have a kingdom and do-
minion.”
The third collection of three commentaries on the Song
of Songs by *Saadiah, Joseph ibn Caspi, and an unknown au-
thor, possibly Jacob Provengal, were annotated and corrected
by Akrish himself. He also wrote Heshbon ha-Adam im Kono
(published with Kunteres Hibbut ha-Kever in Sar Shalom by
Shalom b. Shemariah ha-Sephardi, Mantua, 15602).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1084, 1521; Graetz,
Gesch, 9 (1891°), index; Bruell, in: Jahrbuecher fuer Juedische Ge-
schichte und Literatur, 8 (1887), 53ff.; I. Davidson, Sefer Shaashw’im
(1914), 88; (1925), 67ff.; Rosanes, Togarmah, 2 (1951), 461; C. Roth,
House of Nasi: Duke of Naxos (1948), 173ff.; A. Yaari, Mehkerei
Sefer (1958), 212-13, 235ff., 279; idem, Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Kushta
(1967), 118 ff.; Dunlop, Khazars, 128 ff.; Benayahu, in: Sefunot, 6 (1962),
134.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AKZIN, BENJAMIN
AKRON, industrial city in northeast Ohio. Akron is Ohio's
fifth largest city, with a population of 217,074 (2000 census).
German Jewish merchants settled in Akron prior to the Civil
War, but the first congregation, the American Hebrew Associ-
ation - known today as Temple Israel (Reform) - was founded
in 1865. The community grew slowly until it received an in-
flux of settlers from Eastern Europe in the 1880s. Engaging
in the clothing business, cigar making, and other small busi-
nesses, the Jewish population reached a peak of 7,500 in the
19308. In 2005, there were approximately 3,500 Jews in Ak-
ron and its suburbs with five congregations: Anshe Sfard/Re-
vere Road (Orthodox, founded 1915), Chabad of Akron (Or-
thodox, 1986), Beth El Congregation (Conservative, 1946),
Temple Beth Shalom (Reform, 1977), and Temple Israel (Re-
form, 1965). The Jewish Community Board of Akron, founded
in 1935 as the Federation of Jewish Charities, announced in
2004 that its director would also lead the Jewish Federation
of Canton, Ohio, a neighboring city with a Jewish population
of approximately 1,200. The Jewish Community Board offers
support to the Shaw Jewish Community Center, the Jew-
ish Family Service, the Jerome Lippman Day School, and
the Akron Jewish News. It also provides funding for cam-
pus services to Kent State University, the University of Ak-
ron, and Hiram College. Noted Akron residents were Judith
A. *Resnik (1949-1986), a NASA astronaut who perished in
the explosion of the orbiter Challenger, and Jerome Lippman
(1913-2005) who invented a heavy-duty waterless hand soap
during World War 11.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.A. Avner, “Judaism,” in: T.S. Butalia and
p.P. Small (eds.), Religion in Ohio (2004); H. Kaplan, “Century of
Adjustment: A History of the Akron Jewish Community, 1865-1975,”
unpublished dissertation, Kent State University (1978). WEBSITE:
www.jewishakron.org.
[Jane Avner (24 ed.)]
AKZIN, BENJAMIN (1904-1985), constitutional lawyer
and political scientist. Akzin was born in Riga, Latvia, re-
ceived doctorates from the universities of Vienna and Paris,
lectured in various American universities, and was a Library
of Congress expert on matters of law and international rela-
tions. He went to Israel in 1949 and joined the faculty of the
Hebrew University as professor of constitutional law and po-
litical science and served as dean of the law faculty in 1951-54,
1956-58, and 1961-63. Akzin was an early supporter of the Re-
visionist Party and from 1936-41 was head of the political di-
vision of the New Zionist Organization. From 1945 to 1947 he
served as political advisor and then as secretary of the Zionist
Emergency Committee in the United States. Akzin wrote nu-
merous political and scholarly articles as well as the follow-
ing books: Problémes fondamentaux du droit international
publique (1929); New States and International Organizations
(1955); Torat ha-Mishtarim (1963); State and Nation (1964);
Sugyot be-Mishpat u-ve-Medinaut (1966). Akzin was founder
and first editor of the Israel Law Review. He was awarded the
Israel Prize in law for 1967.
571
ALABAMA
Akzin served as rector and acting president of the Haifa
University from 1969 to 1972. He was elected honorary presi-
dent of the World Federation of uN Associations, and of the
Political Science Association of Israel, and was president of
the Council of Friendship Associations between Israel and
foreign countries.
In 1975 his Be-Ayin Bohenet (“Looking at the Passing
Scene”) was published.
ALABAMA, state in the southeastern region of the United
States. In 2005 its population was estimated at 4,447,100, with
a Jewish population of about 9,000. The largest Jewish com-
munities were *Birmingham, with approximately 5,300 Jews;
Montgomery, the state capital, with approximately 1,300; and
Mobile, with 1,100. There were four Jewish federations in the
state, and one periodical, the twice-monthly Deep South Jew-
ish Voice.
While Jewish traders are known to have been active
in Alabama as early as 1757, and a number of Jews lived in
Mobile in the 1760s under British rule, it was not until the
1820s that the first permanent Alabama Jewish community
was established in Mobile. Abram (Abraham) Mordecai, a
Pennsylvania-born Jew who had settled in central Alabama
by 1785 and established the state’s first cotton gin near Mont-
gomery, was made a key character in Albert James Pickett’s
History of Alabama (1851), and became a legend in Southern
folklore.
The largest antebellum Jewish settlement was in Mo-
bile, where sufficient Jews established themselves to pur-
chase a cemetery in 1841. Previous Jewish graves dating back
to 1829 are suitably marked in the oldest, non-sectarian Prot-
estant graveyard in town. Congregation Shaarai Shomayim
u-Maskil el Dol was chartered on Jan. 25, 1844. Israel I. Jones
(1810-1877), a London Jew who arrived early in the 1830s, was
president of the congregation for most of his life; one of his
daughters married the well-known New Orleans rabbi, James
Koppel Gutheim (1817-1886). An auctioneer and tobacco mer-
chant, Jones was active in politics, served as an alderman, was
president of the Mobile Musical Association, and introduced
streetcars to Mobile.
A welfare society, the Chevra Mevaker Cholim, was or-
ganized in Montgomery on Nov. 17, 1846, by 12 German Jew-
ish immigrants including Emanuel *Lehman, uncle of Her-
bert H. *Lehman. The society conducted services, purchased a
cemetery, and on June 3, 1849, with 30 members transformed
itself into Congregation Kahl Montgomery. The mobility of
immigrant Jews and the tentativeness of their settlement is in-
dicated by the constitutional provision of Kahl Montgomery
that “four members shall be sufficient to continue the Soci-
ety, but should there be only three members, the Society shall
be dissolved.” The congregation is now called Temple Beth
Or, and its first building, built in 1862 with seed money from
Judah Touro, is the oldest synagogue building in the state. It
now houses a church.
Other communities were established where trails met
572
rivers, such as at Claiborne. That community was defunct by
the 1870s, after it was bypassed by the railroad.
During the Civil War more than 130 Alabama Jews served
in the Confederate Army, and in 1861, when 13 of them en-
listed as a group in the Twelfth Alabama Regiment, Mobile
Jews held a special service. James K. Gutheim, however, went
to Montgomery as an exile rather than take the oath of al-
legiance to the United States after New Orleans’ occupation
by federal forces. He served in Montgomery and in nearby
towns until the end of the Civil War. Judah P. *Benjamin
lived in Montgomery during his tenure as attorney general of
the Confederacy, and the last soldier killed in the defense of
Mobile was a Jew from South Carolina. The congregations in
Mobile and Montgomery, like virtually all of the older South-
ern congregations, turned to Reform following the Civil War,
joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations after
its creation in 1873, and were served by graduates of the He-
brew Union College.
Eastern European immigrants began to arrive in Al-
abama towns early in the 1870s. They were treated with a
combination of philanthropic generosity and social aloof-
ness, which persisted longer in tradition-conscious southern
communities than in the northern communities. These im-
migrants created their own Orthodox congregations in Mo-
bile, Montgomery, and Birmingham, most of which joined the
Conservative movement following World War 11.
Jewish merchants were found in most Alabama towns of
any size, with synagogues springing up in small mining towns
like West Blocton and Bessemer, and larger cities like Selma.
Immigrants often began selling house to house, saving enough
money to buy a cart, then rent a storefront.
The town of Sheffield was founded in 1884 by a land
company that included the Moses brothers of Montgomery.
Falkville was named for Louis Faulk, who was the first mer-
chant and postmaster, and Saks was established for area ten-
ant farmers by Joseph Saks, founder of a clothing store in
Anniston.
Before World War 11, many Alabama communities faced
shrinking populations, intermarriage on the part of the chil-
dren and grandchildren of the older settlers, gradual accul-
turation by the children of the new immigrants, and slow
disintegration of traditional Jewish loyalties. But European
antisemitism in the 1930s and the sudden influx of Jewish
soldiers to many southern towns during World War 11, when
great camps and air bases were established in the area, brought
a return of Jewish consciousness to many disappearing com-
munities. Many northern Jews also came to places like the
University of Alabama after finding themselves shut out of
northern universities by Jewish quotas. Many Jewish scholars
who fled Nazi Germany were similarly shunned by prestigious
northern universities and found employment in southern
historically black colleges in places like Tuskegee. Scorned in
Nazi Germany because they were Jews, they found themselves
comparatively well treated in the South because they were
white and yet they worked with disadvantaged and persecuted
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Huntsville
Total Jewish
° "1860 S
population of Alabama
9,000
a Birmingham
1882
% of Jews in general
population of Alabama
0.20
ALABAMA
Montgomery
1849
% of Alabama Jews
in Jewish population
Mobile of U.S.
4/1844 e@— 500-1 ,000
A-— 1,000-6,000
0.15
Jewish communities in Alabama and dates of establishment. Population
figures 2001.
black students for whom their race rather than religion was
the defining identity. In the post-World War 11 period, new
synagogues were built in the suburbs in Mobile, Montgom-
ery, and elsewhere, and Jewish community life revived with
the younger generation of Jews.
In 1943, the Alabama Legislature became the first Ameri-
can governmental body to pass a resolution supporting the
establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
During the 1950s and 1960s, while there was a significant
revival of interest in Judaism, there was also a recurrence of
antisemitic attacks on Jews, including the firebombing of Beth
Israel in Gadsden and the attempted 1958 bombing of Birming-
hams Beth-El. Segregationist politicians called integration a
“Communist-Jewish conspiracy, leading many in the Jewish
community who were sympathetic to the civil rights movement
to work behind the scenes so the movement would not lose le-
gitimacy in the eyes of whites. An overwhelming percentage of
northern whites who came to the region to work for civil rights
were Jews, causing resentment by southern Jews who were try-
ing to balance a delicate situation and who had to live with any
backlash provoked by their northern co-religionists.
Many northern Jews were among the Freedom Riders
who were attacked by white supremacists in Anniston and Bir-
mingham, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua *Heschel was among
the Jewish figures who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King
in Montgomery in 1965.
By the 1960s, smaller Jewish communities in the state be-
gan to die out as children and grandchildren of the original
Jewish immigrants went off to college, became professionals,
and chose not to return to their family businesses. Congrega-
tions in places like Demopolis and Jasper closed as the Jewish
population aged and shrank.
Larger communities, and those connected to university
towns, continued to have a stable population. The days of the
Jewish country club were gone, but the 1990s saw Mobile's
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALABARCH
Conservative Ahavas Chesed move to the suburbs, and a new
congregation in Auburn. Almost all of Birmingham’s Jewish
institutions also expanded greatly or were rebuilt in the 1990s.
The state's Gulf Coast is now also seen as a prime destination
for retirees who do not want to go to South Florida.
While for many outside the region, the 1960s painted a
picture of the South as being a hostile home for Jews, overt
antisemitic incidents were rare. The 1990s saw some bruis-
ing church-state battles, but in general Jews were respected
as “God's chosen people” by the largely evangelical popula-
tion of the state. In 1995, Governor Fob James paid tribute
to Israel in his inauguration, with the singing of “Hatikvah”
and the blowing of the shofar by a Jerusalem rabbi. In 1999,
Don Siegelman, a Catholic, was elected governor, making his
wife, Lori, the state's first Jewish First Lady. The University of
Alabama has a well-endowed and well respected Judaic Stud-
ies program and the University of Alabama Press has an im-
pressive list of Judaic publications, including the first English
translation of Franz Rosenzweig’s The Star of Redemption and
Arthur D. Green's Tormented Master.
[Bertram Wallace Korn / Lawrence Brook (2! ed.)]
ALABARCH (Gr. dAaBdpyxng), title designating office-hold-
ers appointed to the fiscal administration in Egypt and other
countries in the Roman and Byzantine periods. Since refer-
ence is made to the office being held by two wealthy Jewish
notables of Alexandria (*Alexander Lysimachus and *Deme-
trius, the second husband of Princess Mariamne, daughter of
Agrippa 1, cf. Jos., Ant., 20:147), some historians have identi-
fied it as that of the head of the Jewish community (*ethnarch).
The title is mentioned, however, in several sources without
any Jewish connection.
Many scholars regard this office as identical with the
arabarchs (cf. Cicero, Adversus Atticum 2:17; Juvenal, Saturae
1:130), the letters “i” and “r” (A, p) being interchanged through
dissimilation. These arabarchs were Roman officials who were
responsible for the collection of imposts from incoming and
outgoing vessels from the eastern (“Arabian”) bank of the Nile;
Wilcken (Griechische Ostraka, 1 (1899), 350-1) and Dittenberger
quote a document which includes a tariff of the contractors
who farmed the harbor dues paid to the arabarchs. Josephus
(Apion, 2:64) mentions that the Jews received from Ptolemy
(?) the “wardship of the river,’ and it is therefore possible that
Alexander Lysimachus and Demetrius held this office.
According to a less acceptable opinion, the word is a hy-
brid of the Greek arché and the Semitic root ‘arab (21) mean-
ing “to barter” (cf. Ezek. 27:9) and the title therefore desig-
nates an official of the mercantile tax administration (V. Burr,
Tiberius Julius Alexander, Ger., 1955, 16, n.4, 87 ff.).
The suggestion of Rostovtzeff that the alabarch was re-
sponsible for the collection of specific Jewish taxes is unten-
able, since such taxes were not imposed until the time of Ves-
pasian (69-70 c.z.) and until then, they paid ordinary taxa-
tion to the usual tax collectors.
573
ALAGON
It seems that the alabarch exercised different functions
in different localities and periods and there is no definite in-
formation as to their precise functions.
The title does not occur in the Talmud but it has been
suggested that the variant reading 0197DN found in some texts
to explain the “Avrekh” of Genesis 41:43 (Sifrei Deut. 1:1; Yal-
kut Shimoni 1:792) is a corruption of “Abarchus = Alabarchus”
(see Mid. Tan. to 1:1).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schuerer, Gesch, 3 (1907*), 132, no. 42; W.
Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, 2 (1905), 255f.,
258, no. 570, 413-9, no. 674; M. Rostovtzeff, in: Yale Classical Studies,
2 (1931), 49 ff.; Graetz, Gesch, 3 (1905°), 631-51; idem, in: MGwyJ, 25
(1876), 209-24, 308-20; Lesquier, in: Revue Archéologique, 6 (1917),
94ff.; idem, Larmée romaine d’Egypte (1918), 432ff.; Baron, Social, 1
(19527), 409-10, no. 16; Tcherikover, Corpus, 1 (1957), 49, n.4.
[Abraham Schalit]
ALAGON, town near Saragossa, northeastern Spain. There
is evidence that Jews were living in Alagon while the area was
still under Muslim rule. Shortly after the reconquest in 1119
Christians began to buy land from the Jewish residents. In
her testament of 1208 Queen Sancha of Aragon bequeathed a
number of Alagén Jews to the convent of Sigena. The expul-
sion of six butchers from the town by the community board
resulted in a cause célébre in the 1280s. In 1283 the infante Al-
fonso ordered that a representative gathering for the alloca-
tion of the annual tax in the collecta of *Saragossa should be
held each year in Alagon. Its proximity to Saragossa appar-
ently saved Alagon during the massacres throughout Spain in
1391. A list of accounts from 1403 to 1408 includes the names
of Jewish notables, and charitable societies (cofraias) as well
as *Conversos. The community ceased to exist with the expul-
sion of Spanish Jewry in 1492.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 140, 430; Baer, Urkun-
den, 1 (1929), index; Ashtor, Korot, 2 (1966), 165-6; Cacigas, in: Se-
farad, 6 (1946), 74-78; Piles, ibid., 10 (1950), 87-89, 367; J. Ma. La-
carra, Documentos para el estudio de la Reconquista del Valle del Ebro
(second series, 1949), index.
ALALAKH (Alalach, Alalah), ancient city situated south of
Lake Antiochia, near the bend of the Orontes River in Tur-
key; now Tell Atshana. The site was excavated by the English
archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley in 1937-39 and in 1946-49.
Mesopotamian documents mentioning Alalakh and its kings
and archaeological finds have added greatly to the understand-
ing of the history of this city and its importance in the area
west of the Euphrates during the first half of the second mil-
lennium B.c.£. Alalakh sheds indirect light on the Syro-Pales-
tinian context of biblical realia. The most important finds for
ancient Near Eastern studies are the 450 clay tablets written in
Akkadian. These tablets are from the royal archives of the city
and are with minor exceptions from two periods: an early ar-
chive from Stratum vii dating from the 18" century B.c.£. and
a later archive from Stratum Iv from the 15" century. The ar-
chives contain a few international treaties and many adminis-
574
trative, economic, and legal documents. They throw light upon
the history of Alalakh, its royal and administrative organiza-
tion, social strata, mode of life, and ethnic origins, and on the
economic activity of its inhabitants during these two periods.
Of special importance to scholarship is the possibility of trac-
ing the development of a city-state and of understanding the
political, ethnic, economic, and social development of Alalakh
from the 18* to the 15‘ centuries B.c.£. In addition to the doc-
uments, a statue of a king inscribed with the history of Idrimi
(who ruled in Alalakh approximately at the end of the first half
of the second millenium B.c.£.) was found. The inscription
consists of a narrative which differs in tone and content from
the ordinary run of res gestae in the ancient Near East, though
it closely resembles biblical narratives. Some of its details are
reminiscent of the history of David during his premonarchial
period, a fact that indicates the widespread prevalence of cer-
tain literary motifs in the biographical style of the books of
Samuel. These epigraphic finds are part of the ever-growing
corpus of documents from the Fertile Crescent that shed light
on linguistic, economic, social, and ethnic conditions in pre-
Israelite Palestine and on the ancient Near Eastern origins of
Israel’s institutions (law, customs, government) and spiritual
culture. Thus Alalakh furnishes fresh evidence added to that of
*Nuzi and *Ugarit for the right of a father to determine which
of his sons should be considered the eldest, disregarding the
custom of primogeniture. According to this right, Abraham
could prefer Isaac over Ishmael (Gen. 21:10 ff.), and Ephraim
could be elected in the place of Manasseh, Joseph’s elder son
(ibid. 48:13 ff.). Jacob’s seven additional years of work to earn
the right to marry Rachel (ibid. 29:18, 27) may also find its
parallel in marriage contracts from Alalakh. One of the con-
ditions of such contracts is the option given to a husband to
marry a second wife if the first fails to bear children for seven
years. In other spheres, mention should be made of the con-
tribution of the international treaties from Alalakh regulating,
inter alia, the extradition of escapees from one country to an-
other. This may contribute to the understanding of the extra-
dition of the two servants of *Shimei by Achish, king of Gath
(1 Kings 2:39ff.), suggesting the possibility of a similar treaty
between Solomon and Achish (but cf. Deut. 23:16-17). There
is also an illustration from another document of the manner
in which Jezebel acquired for Ahab the property of Naboth
the Jezereelite (1 Kings 21:8ff.). It is clear from the document
in question, that the king had the right to confiscate the prop-
erty of a rebel or a person guilty of a crime against the king
and executed for this reason.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D.J. Wiseman, The Alalakh Tablets (1953);
idem, in: D. Winton Thomas (ed.), Archaeology and Old Testament
Study (1967), 119-35; S. Smith, The Statue of Idri-mi (1949); C. Fen-
sham, in: JBL, 79 (1960), 59-60; G. Buccellati, in: BO, 4 (1962), 95-96;
WE Albright, in: Basor, 118 (1950), 14-15; I. Mendelsohn, ibid., 156
(1959), 38ff.; S. Loewenstamm, in: 1FJ, 6 (1956), 225; M. Tsevat, in:
HUCA, 29 (1959), 125 ff. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Astour, in: ABD,
2, 42-45.
[Hanoch Reviv]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALAMAH (Helam), city in Gilead in which Jews were be-
sieged at the beginning of the Hasmonean revolt (1 Macc.
5:26). It is generally identified with ‘Alama, on the banks of
Wadi al-Ghar, 40 mi. (60 km.) east of the Sea of Galilee, but
archaeological investigations have not yet been undertaken
there.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 241. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: M. Avi-Yonah, Gazetteer of Roman Palestine (1976), 64;
R. Dussaud, Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale
(1927), 334, 384.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ALAMANI, AARON HE-HAVER BEN YESHU’AH (com-
monly known as “Ben Zion” and also “Alluf-Zion’; 12‘ cen-
tury), rabbinical judge, physician, and poet. He was born
probably in Jerusalem, at the end of the 11" century, and lived
for many years in Alexandria, Egypt. When *Judah Halevi
went to Alexandria in 1140, he stayed at Alamani’s house and
became friendly with him. Judah Halevi respected him greatly,
composed songs of friendship to him and his children, and
continued his relations with the family after leaving Alexan-
dria. Apparently Aaron’s name as a poet had been known to
Judah Halevi even before he left Spain. More than 30 of his
liturgical hymns and poems are now known, all influenced by
Hebrew poetry in Spain. It is also possible that certain piyyu-
tim where only the name Aaron appears were composed by
him. His sons, Yeshuah and Zadok, were also poets.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zunz, Lit Poesie, 328f., 537; Fuenn, Keneset,
83; Brody, in: ZHB, 6 (1902), 18-24; Schirmann, in: YMHSI, 6 (1945),
265-88; Abramson, in: YMHSI, 7 (1958), 165, 168, 179-80; Davidson,
Ozar, 4 (1933), 359f.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
ALAMI, SOLOMON (c. 1370-1420), Spanish moralist. Al-
ami’s family name was apparently Ibn Lahmish (or Nahish);
possibly he was called Alami because he was blind (the mean-
ing of the word in Arabic). He fled from Spain to Portugal
during the persecutions of 1391. There he composed in 1415
his Iggeret ha-Musar, also published under the title Iggeret
ha-Tokhahah ve-ha-Emunah (“Epistle of Reproof and Faith”),
which has gone through 18 editions (the last ed. by A.M.
Habermann, 1946). It is written in rhyming prose and is di-
vided into five sections, corresponding to the five senses.
Alami was inspired to write it by the “perplexity which has
plagued me these 24 years: Why does God seek to destroy us
each generation?” and by his final conviction that “we our-
selves have dug the pit into which we have fallen.” He criticizes
acidly the various classes of Spanish Jewry, exposing the moral
shortcomings of the court Jews, tax farmers, philosophers,
and rabbis as well as the common people. Alami believed that
the upper classes were mainly responsible for the catastrophe
that had befallen Spanish Jewry. The court Jews had betrayed
the office which they had attained by the will of Providence;
“their eyes and their hearts were turned only to selfish gain,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALARIC II
to inherit dwellings that were not theirs in the lands of their
enemies... to shift the burden of taxation from themselves to
the poor... By their evil ways they became obnoxious to their
enemies... and they were driven from the courts of kings and
princes... and later not a single Jew remained who had access
to the king to seek the good of his people and speak on their
behalf” The rabbis “showed favoritism in the law and did not
reprimand the people for base conduct.” They prided them-
selves on their empty interpretations and boasted of their sec-
ular knowledge. The common people were dishonest in their
dealings with the Gentiles: “We dealt with them falsely and
dishonestly, and we robbed them through unjust practices,
until they despised us and held us to be thieves and liars, for-
nicators and a gang of traitors, so that every vile and shameful
occupation is identified with the Jews.’ Alami contrasted the
lack of decorum in synagogues with the behavior of Christians
at prayer. He advocated physical labor, personal cleanliness,
and modesty. Concerning forced conversions, he urged the
Jews to abandon their homes rather than abjure their faith:
“When pagans rise up against you to force you to desert God,
to drive you from His inheritance, leave the land of your birth
and your father’s house for any land you may find where you
may observe His law.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 239-42, 484, n. 55; Stein-
schneider, in: JQR, 11 (1898/99), 456; Zunz, Schr, 2 (1876), 177-82.
[Azriel Shochat]
°ALARIC II (485-507), Visigothic king. Alaric 11 was a strong
and prudent ruler of the Visigoths, who had established them-
selves in Spain and southern France on the breakdown of the
western Roman Empire. The Visigoths had adopted Arian
Christianity, a form which their orthodox Roman subjects
hated as heretical. Probably because of this the rulers were in-
clined to favor their Jewish subjects, though the only known
details are what can be culled from the Visigothic laws. In 506
Alaric issued a shortened compendium of the Roman Codex
Theodosianus of the middle of the fifth century, known as the
Breviarium Alariciense. In this the laws affecting Jews were
reduced from over 50 to 10, omitting many which were con-
tradictory. Those forbidding violence against Jews were also
omitted, not from anti-Jewish feeling, but as unnecessary.
Jews were still basically Roman citizens, but the exceptions
to their equality with other citizens remained though no new
restrictions were added. The only privilege allowed them was
freedom from court action on their holy days. They were ex-
cluded from honors, but had to bear all the burdens of public
life. They were refused any authority over Christians or the
purchase of Christian slaves, and those they inherited they
were not allowed to circumcise. They were punished if they
molested a Jew who sought baptism, and their clergy enjoyed
no immunities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Parkes, Conflict of the Church and the Syn-
agogue (1934), 317ff., 351ff.
[James W. Parkes]
575
AL-ASATIR
AL-ASATIR (Ar. :bt..9!), Samaritan work in Aramaic of un-
known authorship, date, and provenance ascribed by the Sa-
maritans themselves to Moses. Written in the form of a chron-
icle, the work is a legendary account of 26 generations from
Adam to Moses. The story is focused on the four patriarchs —
Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses - the “Fundamentals of
the World” The book is divided into 12 chapters. The first ten,
from Adam to Israel’s victory over the Midianites, span a pe-
riod of 2,800 years according to Samaritan chronology. The
first half of the 11 chapter contains a description of the bor-
ders of the Holy Land that has still not been satisfactorily ex-
plained. The last part consists of prophecies about the future
of the world until the advent of the taheb (“the restorer”; see
Religion of *Samaritans). The composition of the book gives
the impression that it was written by one hand without inter-
polations. In some places its genealogical lists and chrono-
logical data conflict with those found in the Pentateuch or in
other Samaritan chronicles, but these discrepancies may well
have been caused by the inaccuracy of copyists. The title of
the work, al-Asatir, is Arabic and means legends or tales, as
in the Koranic expression asatir al-Awwalin (“the Legends of
the Ancients”). This fact in itself is not proof of the late origin
of the book, as the title may have been a later addition. No
express mention of al-Asdtir is found in the list of source ma-
terial enumerated by *Abu al-Fath in the introduction to his
Anna, but it might be included in the summarizing expres-
sion “some histories.” The language of the book, influenced
by the Arabic language and Muslim terminology, is difficult
to understand. Although the narrative may contain many old
midrashic motifs, it could not have been composed before the
end of the tenth-the beginning of the 11" century c.E., when
Aramaic was still used in the Samaritan community but Ara-
bic had already begun to supersede it. The author seems fa-
miliar with the geography of northern Erez Israel and Syria
and probably lived in this region, where large Samaritan com-
munities then flourished in Acre, Tyre, and Damascus. Isma‘ll
al-Rumayhi was the first to attribute the composition of al-
Asatir to Moses in his Molad Moshe (beginning of the 16"
century). The work is often cited in the Bible commentary of
Muslim al-Danafi (who attributes it once to Adam) and Ibra-
him al-Ayya (178, 18 centuries, respectively). The book is not
highly esteemed by the modern Samaritan community. There
exist a translation into Arabic and one into Samaritan modern
Hebrew (see Language and Literature of *Samaritans) called
Pitron. M. Gaster edited the book together with the Pitron. He
translated it into English, and appended a commentary (The
Asatir, The Samaritan Book of the Secrets of Moses, 1927). An
edition with Hebrew translation and commentary was pub-
lished by Z. Ben-Hayyim (Tarbiz, 14 (1942/43), 104-25, 174-90;
15 (1943/44) 71-87).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Macdonald, Theology of the Samaritans
(1964), 44.
[Ayala Loewenstamm]
576
ALASHKAR, JOSEPH BEN MOSES (c. 1500), rabbinical
author and Hebrew poet. A victim of the expulsion from Spain
in 1492, Alashkar settled in Tlemcen (Algeria) where he be-
came the head of a yeshivah. He was a fertile writer, but none
of his works was published. They include (1) Avrekh, commen-
taries on Rashi; (2) Edut bi- Yhosef, commentary on the laws of
ritual slaughter in Maimonides’ Code; (3) Mirkevet ha-Mish-
neh, on Pirkei Avot; (4) Refuat ha-Nefesh, religious ethics.
In addition, he wrote poems and books in verse form,
among them a paraphrase of the tractate Avot, verses on the
70 kinds of terefah, two poems in honor of his contemporary
and fellow countryman, Solomon b. Simeon *Duran, as well
as several religious odes and hymns.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carmoly, in: Ozar Nehmad, 3 (1860), 105-10;
Fuenn, Keneset, 456; Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 400.
ALASHKAR, MOSES BEN ISAAC (1466-1542), talmudist
and liturgical poet. Alashkar, who was born in Spain, stud-
ied in his youth with R. Samuel Valensi in Zamora. In 1492,
when the Jews were expelled from Spain, Alashkar sailed to
North Africa. On board he was kept below deck with other
Jewish refugees, and nearly drowned when the ship foun-
dered. He wrote a poem, “Be-Mah Akaddem,’ inspired by this
experience. Alashkar settled in Tunisia, but when the Span-
iards landed in North Africa in 1510 and part of the Jewish
population made prisoner, Alashkar fled. He resettled in Pa-
tras, Greece, where he established a yeshivah. Alashkar later
immigrated to Egypt, and in 1522 became dayyan in Cairo,
where he distinguished himself as a talmudist. His halakhic
decisions were widely cited; he also corresponded with most
of the outstanding rabbis, e.g., Elijah *Capsali, *Levi b. Habib,
and Jacob *Berab. Alashkar was involved in halakhic disputes
with Samuel b. *Sid and Jacob Berab. In a poem and in a let-
ter to Levi b. Habib, Alashkar complained about the hostil-
ity toward him in Cairo. The dissensions eventually led to his
departure to Jerusalem, where he died.
Alashkar was well versed in Arabic, and studied the re-
sponsa written by earlier scholars, especially Maimonides.
He also studied Abraham b. Moses b. Maimon's al-Kifaya and
Samuel b. Hophni ha-Kohen Gaon’s al-Ahkam. That Alash-
kar knew Kabbalah is apparent from his kabbalistic explana-
tions cited by Samuel Uceda in his Midrash Shemuel, and in
several of Alashkar’s liturgical poems. Alashkar, however, was
opposed to the diffusion of secret lore and mysticism.
Though generally conciliatory and moderate in polem-
ics, occasionally Alashkar severely criticized halakhic state-
ments that seemed untenable to him. Once he even accused
his close friend, Levi b. Habib, of making a statement con-
trary to common sense (Responsa, no. 41). Similarly, he re-
jected opinions by Joseph *Colon, *Jacob b. Asher, and Jo-
seph *Albo. The editors of Alashkar’s responsa mitigated or
deleted several statements directed against Berab. Alashkar’s
responsa, 121 in number, were first published in Venice in 1554.
Appended to the responsa are five liturgical poems by Alash-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
kar, printed also with two others in Y. Zarki’s anthology Yefeh
Nof (Sabionetta, 1575).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Graetz, Hist, 4 (1949), 391; 5 (1949), 3923
Landshuth, Ammudei, 21ff.; S.A. Horodezky, Le-Korot ha-Rabba-
nut (1914), 57-70; Frumkin-Rivlin, 1 (1928), 57-59; Davidson, Ozar,
4 (1933), 443; Rosanes, Togarmah, 1 (1930), 196f.
[Samuel Abba Horodezky]
ALASHKAR, SOLOMON (16' century), leader (celebi) of
Egyptian Jewry, who was also known by his title mu‘allim
(“master”). Alashkar was a wealthy trader and philanthropist
who supported scholars and yeshivot in Erez Israel and Egypt.
In the 1560s a fierce feud broke out between him and R. Jacob
ibn Tibbon, one of the foremost Egyptian rabbis, who insulted
Alashkar. Rabbis Joseph *Caro, Moses di *Trani, and Israel de
*Curiel, all of Safed, were asked to make peace between them,
but failed. Alashkar was one of those who helped to subsidize
publication of the Shulhan Arukh (Venice, 1565). When his
fortunes changed and he was unable to meet his debts to the
governor of Egypt, Hussein Pasha, the latter ordered Alash-
kar’s execution (1583?); but he was saved because the governor
himself was killed and, according to Joseph *Sambari, Alash-
kar recovered financially.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Scheiber and M. Benayahu, in: Sefunot,
6 (1962), 127-134. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Sambari, Divrei Yosef
(ed. S. Shtober, 1994), 417-18; A. David, To Come To the Land (1999),
46-47, 83, 195.
[Abraham David]
ALASKA, state of the U.S. located in far northwest North
America. Jews first came to Alaska in sizable numbers dur-
ing the Gold Rush of the late 1890s, when they set up general
merchandise stores, law offices and mining operations. After
the Gold Rush subsided, some Jews remained in the cities.
From the 1940s to the 1970s, most of the Jewish population
consisted of military personnel. Due to construction of the
Alaskan Pipeline in the mid-1970s and the resultant growth of
the oil industry, the population grew. Subsequently, Alaska at-
tracted Jews seeking a quieter lifestyle. From 1970 to 2001, the
population increased dramatically, going from 190 to 3,400.
Today, over three-quarters of the Jewish population resides
in the three largest cities. Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau
had populations of 1,600, 500 and 300, respectively, in 1994.
Smaller communities exist in Sitka, Homer, Ketchikan, Sol-
dotna, Kenai, Haines and Bethel.
The first Jews came to Alaska with the Russian explorer
Vitus Bering. In the period of Russian rule, the Jews of Alaska
were trappers and traders. In the 1850s and 1860s, San Fran-
cisco Jews developed extensive commercial ties with the Rus-
sian-American Company in Alaska, and many Jewish fur trad-
ers visited regularly. Shortly after the United States purchased
Alaska from Russia in 1867, Jewish traders, miners, fur deal-
ers, and merchants arrived from San Francisco to probe the
new territory.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALASKA
Total Jewish
population of Alaska
3,400
Fairbanks
e
% of Jews in general
ALASKA population of Alaska
0.50
Anchorage’
% of Alaska Jews
in Jewish population
of U.S.
0.005
Jewish population 2001.
Lewis Gerstle and Louis Sloss, San Francisco merchants,
founded the Alaska Commercial Company in 1868. The com-
pany developed steamboat transportation and financed some
of Alaska’s first mining ventures.
As many as 200 Jews lived in the Klondike at the height
of the gold rush. Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory, was
site of the region's first Jewish services (1898). The small Jew-
ish section of Klondike’s cemetery Bet Chaim was estab-
lished 1902 and later restored in 1998 through the efforts of
the Jewish Historical Society of the Yukon. During the Nome
gold boom of 1900, a Jewish congregation was initiated when
some sixty Jews attended Rosh Ha-Shanah services. In 1901,
the congregation established the state's first Jewish organiza-
tion, the Hebrew Benevolent Society. The isolated community
declined after ww1.
Polish immigrant Solomon Ripinsky arrived in 1884. His
various occupations echo those of other Jewish pioneers: law
clerk, teacher, trading post operator, postmaster, notary, law-
yer, elected convention delegate, and U.S. Commissioner. Mt.
Ripinsky in Haines is named for him.
The first Jewish settlers of Juneau were Robert Gottstein
and his wife (1885). Their son Jacob came to Anchorage at
its founding in 1915. He established a trading and warehouse
business, the J.B. Gottstein Company, that later combined with
Carr’s Grocery to form Carr-Gottstein, Inc., at one time the
largest private employer in Alaska.
In 1904, a group of fortune hunters and businessmen in
Fairbanks organized a congregation and a year later acquired
a cemetery that is still the only Jewish burial ground in Alaska.
The congregation became Congregation Bikkur Cholim in
1908, holding services at the home of Lithuanian Jew Robert
Bloom, a congregation founder who had arrived in the Klon-
dike in 1898 and served as the Yukon’s first lay rabbi for nearly
half a century. He was chairman of Alaska’s Jewish Welfare
Board, instrumental in the establishment of an Air Force base
in Alaska, a founder of the University of Alaska (1918) and a
577
ALATINO
charter member of its Board of Regents. Jessie Spiro Bloom
established the Fairbanks kindergarten and first Alaskan Girl
Scout chapter (1925). The First Jewish Congregation of Fair-
banks was established in 1980 at the Army post chapel. Re-
named Or HaTzafon (Light of the North), the congregation
is affiliated with the Reform movement.
Around Anchorage, Orthodox, Conservative, and Re-
form Jewish chaplains at Elmendorf Air Force Base rotated
tours of duty from the early 1940s to mid 1980s. Reform Con-
gregation Beth Sholom was established in 1958 and its cur-
rent synagogue built in 1982. From 1984 to 2000, Rabbi Harry
L. Rosenfeld was Beth Sholom’s rabbi. Alaska’s first Chabad
Center and only Orthodox congregation, Shomrei Ohr, was
established in 1991 by Chabad emissaries Rabbi Yossi and
Esty Greenberg.
In Juneau, the Reform Juneau Jewish Community (jjc)
operates in public locations and members’ homes. In 2004, the
congregation purchased a former community center to serve
as the home for a future synagogue and Jewish school.
From the time Jews first settled in Alaska, they have
been prominent in political life. The first mayor of Anchor-
age was Leopold David; several years later Zachary Loussac
served in the same capacity. In 1958, when Alaska was ap-
proved for statehood, Ernest *Gruening, a former territorial
governor, was elected as a United States senator. From 1965 to
1997, Jay A. Rabinowitz was a justice on the Alaska Supreme
Court, serving four terms as Chief Justice. Avrum M. Gross
served as Attorney General from 1974 to 1980. Jews currently
make up 5% of the State Legislature and the Anchorage Mu-
nicipal Assembly.
The television drama “Northern Exposure” (1990-1995)
featured a Jewish doctor, Joel Fleischman, among the inhab-
itants of a fictitious Alaskan town.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.S. Bloom, “The Jews of Alaska,’ in: Ameri-
can Jewish Archives, 15:2 (1963), 97-116. R. Glanz, The Jews in Amer-
ican Alaska, 1867-1880 (1953); R. Gruber Inside of Time: My Journey
From Alaska to Israel (2002); J. Katzen-Guthrie, “A Thriving Jew-
ish Life on the Northern Frontier” (2004), at: www.joyfulnoise.net/
JoyAlaskas.html; T.T. Kizzia, “Sanctuary: Alaska, the Nazis, and the
Jews,” in: Anchorage Daily News (May 16-19, 1999), at: www.adn.com/
adn/sanctuary/stories/; B. Reisman and J.I. Reisman, Life on the Fron-
tier: The Jews of Alaska (1995); S. Steinacher and K.J. Graham, “Jewish
History in Nome,’ in: The Nome Nugget (2000), at: www.yukonalaska.
com/Special/baylestorah.htm.
[Joy Katzen-Gutherie and Joel Reisman (2nd ed.)]
ALATINO (Alatini), Italian family of physicians and scholars
from Spoleto (Umbria). JEHIEL REHABIYAH (VITALE) ALA-
TINO was physician to Pope Julius 111 (1550-55) and to the car-
dinal of Urbino. His half-brother, MosEs AMRAM (d. 1605),
a celebrated physician, translated into Latin the paraphrase
by Themistius of Aristotle's lost work De Coelo (Venice, 1574)
from a Hebrew manuscript, and Galen’s commentary on
Hippocrates’ De aere, aquis et locis from Hebrew into Latin
(anonymously, Paris, 1679). When the Jews were expelled from
578
the minor centers of the papal states in 1569, Moses left Spo-
leto. He settled in Ferrara, and then in Venice, where he died.
Moses’ son AZRIEL PETHAHIAH (BONAIUTO), also a physi-
cian, assisted his father in his later translation. In 1617 Azriel,
who had remained in Ferrara after his father’s departure, was
compelled to conduct a public disputation there with the Je-
suit Alfonso Caracciolo, in the presence of 2,000 persons. He
defended the Jewish view concerning the eternity of the Jew-
ish Law, and argued that Jesus did not fulfill the essential pre-
requisites of the Messiah. Azriel’s account of the disputation,
Vikkuah al Nizhiyyut ha-Torah (“Debate on the Eternity of
the Law”), was first published by Jare (1875). In 1624 he was a
member of a delegation sent to the papal legate in a futile at-
tempt to prevent the establishment of a ghetto at Ferrara. He
wrote Torat ha-Mukzeh (unpublished). His views were liberal;
he supported Leone *Modena’s argument permitting Jews to
go bareheaded. Recently, it has been suggested by scholars
that Angelo Alatini, the author of the pastoral drama I Tri-
onfi, published in Venice in 1611, was probably a member of
this family, and should not be confused with the almost hom-
onymous Angelo Alatrini, whose Italian verse translation of
Hebrew liturgical texts was published in the book L’Angelica
Tromba (Venice, 1628).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance (1959),
82-85, 223; H. Friedenwald, Jews and Medicine (1944), index; Margu-
lies, in: Festschrift... A. Berliner (1903). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.S.
Shulvass, The Jews in the World of the Renaissance (1973), 208, 291n,
319n; R.C. Melzi, “Una Commedia Rinascimentale di Angelo Alatini:
I Trionfi. in: Italia, 13-15 (2001), 344-45.
[Cecil Roth]
ALATON, ISHAK (1927— ), industrialist. Born in Istanbul,
Alaton graduated from Lycée Saint-Michel in 1946. After his
military service he worked in Sweden in 1951-53 as an engi-
neering trainee. In 1954 he founded the Alarko Company to-
gether with his associate Uzeyir *Garih. Over a period span-
ning some 50 years Alarko Holdings has grown into a group of
22 independent companies working in the fields of contracting
in Turkey and abroad, building and operating hydroelectric
and thermal power plants and airconditioning equipment, as
well as operating in the fields of tourism and real estate de-
velopment. Alaton was honored by the King of Sweden in
1993 with the Nordstjaernan (North Star) first degree. He is
the vice chairman of the board of TEsEv (Turkish Economic
and Social Studies Foundation), a non-government organi-
zation, and honorary consul of the Republic of South Africa.
His Gériis ve Oneriler was published in 2000.
[Rifat Bali (2™4 ed.)]
ALATRI, SAMUEL (1805-1889), Italian politician and com-
munal leader. Born in Rome, he joined the council of the Jew-
ish community in 1828 and served on it throughout his life,
eventually becoming president. On his many missions abroad
he met leading Jews, especially in England and France, who
encouraged him to conduct a struggle for the rights of his
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
fellow Jews in Rome, in which he was to persevere for many
decades. He took a keen interest in education, studying for-
eign institutions and applying the experience he gained for
the benefit of Jewish institutions of learning in Rome. Alatri
was chosen as spokesman of the annual deputation of the
Rome community permitted to wait on Pope Gregory xv1. A
gifted orator, he impressed the reactionary pope and gained
enough influence with him to effect remedies in individual
cases of distress. With the accession of Pius 1x, who at first
showed liberal tendencies, Alatri also entered general public
life and was appointed a director of the papal bank. In 1849,
when Rome was declared a republic and was besieged by
French troops, Alatri was a member of the city’s defense com-
mittee. In 1870, when King Victor Emmanuel put an end to
the pope’s temporal power and a plebiscite was held in Rome
which advocated the incorporation of the city into the king-
dom of Italy, Alatri was a member of the commission which
handed the king the favorable results. The new status of the
city also brought about the long-hoped-for change in the situ-
ation of the Jews there. Alatri was later elected to parliament
and was appointed to regularize the state budget. Many of his
speeches appeared in print, among them the outstanding ad-
dress he delivered to mark the opening of the rabbinical semi-
nary in Rome (1887).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Berliner, Geschichte der Juden in Rom, 2
(1893), 209-12; Vogelstein-Rieger, index; Vessillo Israelitico, 37 (1889),
180-5, 212-3, 260-1, 295-7, 367-70. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Alatri,
Cenni biografici di Samuele Alatri scritti da suo figlio Marco: 8 Gen-
naio 1890 (1929); A. Tagliacozzo, “Samuele Alatri; figura dominante
nell Ebraismo romano del secolo scorso,” in: Rassegna Mensile di
Israel 39 (1973), 278-96.
ALATRINI (or Alatrino), Italian family originating in Alatri
in central Italy and later dispersed throughout the country. Its
members were known from the 14" century as copyists of He-
brew manuscripts, and from the 15"* century as authors.
MATTATHIAS BEN ABRAHAM ALATRINI (16 century),
of Citta di Castello, was author of a commentary (unpub-
lished) on the Behinat Olam of *Jedaiah ha-Penini, com-
pleted in 1562-63. ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM (16‘"-17' century),
grandson of Mattathias, was active in Cingoli and Modena,
where in 1621 he was authorized by the duke to teach Hebrew
to Christians. He wrote Kenaf Renanim, a commentary on
the Song of Songs in five parts (unpublished), in which he
quotes passages from the Dialoghi di Amore of Leone Ebreo
(Judah *Abrabanel). There also exists a Hebrew dictionary
of philosophical terms with Italian translations, either com-
posed by him or compiled from his works. JOHANAN JUDAH
BEN SALOMON (fl. 274 half of 16" century) was an early Jew-
ish author in Italian and a poet in Hebrew. He wrote L’angelica
tromba (Ferrara, 1589), an Italian version in “terza rima” (the
poetic meter of Dante’s Divina Commedia) of three selihot, to
which he added some “Sonetti spirituali” (spiritual sonnets).
The book was translated into Hebrew by Alatrini’s grandson
Natan Jedidiah of Orvieto, with the title Barekhi nafshi (1628).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALAWIDS
His Hebrew poems belong to the genre of tokhehah and praise
of friends (Abraham Yagel, Barukh ha-Cohen). One tokhehah
is translated by the author into Italian. He is perhaps identi-
cal with Angelo Alatrini (c. 1534—-before 1611), of Citta di Cas-
tello, early Jewish author in Italian. He wrote I Trionfi (Venice,
1611), a pastoral fable, completed in Ferrara in 1575 and seen
through the press by Leon *Modena, who added a sonnet in
Petrarchian style. I Trionfi follows an arcadian model, with
moral purposes and characters drawn from Latin mythology;
but it also contains sections written in a more popular style,
with obscene allusions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance (1959), 135,
269-70; Schirmann, Italyah, 256-60; Mortara, Indice. ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHY: U. Cassuto, Encycl. Judaica, vol. 2 (1971), 101; D. Pagis,
Hidush u-Masoret (1976), 284-85; M.R. Cohen, The Autobiography of
a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi. Leone Modena’ Life of Judah
(1988), 235; D. Bregman, Zeror Zehubim (1998), 111; H.E. Adelman
and B.C.I. Ravid, “Historical Notes” to M.R. Cohen, The Autobiog-
raphy of a Seventeenth-Century Rabbi (1988), 235; R.C. Melzi, “Una
commedia rinascimentale di Angelo Alatini: I Trionfi; in: Italia 13
(2001), 343-56.
[Cecil Roth / Alessandro Guetta (2"4 ed.)
AL-AVANI, ISAAC (early 13" century), poet who lived in
Baghdad. ‘The satirist Al-Harizi called Al-Avani a rich man
whose poetry was poor, and who paid heavily to be made
head of the academy. He wrote that Al-Avani (literally “ves-
sel”) had no value: “his song is bare, crude earthenware,” and
the answer to any inquiry about Al-Avani’s poetry should be,
“Behold it is hidden among the vessels” (1 Sam. 10:22). Al-
Harizi’s harsh judgment was unjust. Al-Avani’s only extant
poem, a muwashshah (“girdle poem”) on friendship, Ahar
ha-Zevi Zanu Ra’yonai, compares favorably with the best of
its genre. In view of Al-Harizi’s unfair appraisal of Al-Avani’s
poetry, the statement concerning the purchase of his position
must also be questioned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Al-Harizi, Tahkemoni, ed. by A. Kaminka
(1899), 190; Brody, in: HB, 2 (1897), 157-9; Kaufmann, ibid., 188 ff;
S. Poznanski, Babylonische Geonim im nachgeonaeischen Zeitalter
(1914). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Segal, The Book of Tahkemoni
(2001), 188.
[Heinrich Haim Brody]
ALAWIDS (Ar. ‘Alawiyyiin), dynasty of sharifs, i.e., noble
descendants of the prophet Muhammad, by his daughter
Fatima and her husband, Ali ibn Abu Talib, his cousin. It rose
to power in *Morocco in the middle of the 17‘ century and
continues to reign there. The dynasty claims to be descended
from Hasan, the elder son of Muhammad, and it is therefore
called Alawids of the Hasan branch. These sharifs came from
Arab countries and settled in the Tafilalt region, in south-
eastern Morocco, as early as the 13'* century; thus, they are
also called Filali (or Hilali). The rise of the Alawids to power
in the 17 century was connected with riots and uprisings
which broke out in the country at the end of the reign of the
579
ALAWIDS
Saydis, about whom much is also related in Jewish chronicles.
These chronicles, Divrei ha-Yamim, based on the family of Ibn
Danan, Kisse ha-Melakhim by Raphael Moses Elbaz, and Yahas
Fas by Abner Zarfaty, devote ample space to the events of the
time and to a description of the sharifs. Historians consider
al-Rashid (1660-72) as the true founder of the dynasty; one
of the famous Alawids was the sharif Ismail (1672-1727), a
controversial figure. Arabic sources view him as the one who
established the dynasty, an energetic ruler who succeeded in
uniting and consolidating the state and introducing order and
security. In contrast, the contemporary European sources em-
phasize Ismail’s cruelty to his subjects and to Christian cap-
tives. According to them, no one in the history of the Maghreb
spilled innocent blood as he did. Jewish courtiers and officials
such as Daniel Toledano, Joseph Maymeran, Moses Abenatar,
Abraham b. Quiqui, and others (see *Morocco) surrounded
Ismail. European diplomatic reports and contemporary trav-
elogues supply rich material which stresses the great part of
these Jews in the relations with European countries. After
Ismail’s death there were 30 years of riots and uprisings in
the country (1727-57) when the sons of Ismail fought each
other over the distribution of the inheritance and rule over
Meknes, the capital. The entire population suffered and only
with the accession of Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah (1757-90) was
the country pacified. However, immediately after his death,
the reign of terror of his son Yazid (1790-92) began. The lat-
ter vented his anger on Jews and Christians, particularly on
Spaniards, and maintained friendly relations only with the
British, as his mother (or her mother) was English. Disunity
prevailed and his brothers proclaimed themselves kings, one
in the southwest, and the other in the southeast. The situation
of the Jews during that time is described by S. *Romanelli in
Massa be-Arav.
In the 19 century a certain relaxation in the relations
between the rulers and the population took place, while in
contrast, tension mounted with the neighbors across the bor-
der, the French ruling in Algeria and the Spaniards who for
hundreds of years held a series of cities on the Mediterranean
coast of Morocco (Ceuta, Mellila) and hoped to expand their
authority in the north. As is usual during times of troubles
and wars, the Jews were the major victims, both during the
Franco-Moroccan war (1844-45) and the Spanish-Moroccan
war (1859-60). Indeed, in 1864 the sharif Moulay Muham-
mad (1859-73) gave Sir Moses *Montefiore an audience and
promised him that his government would be concerned with
the civil rights and protection of the Jews. He even issued a
royal edict, Zahir, in that spirit whose proclamations and in-
structions were in effect only on paper. In 1863 the *capitu-
lations treaty was signed between France and Morocco. Bel-
gium, Sardinia, the United States, England, and Sweden were
also party to this agreement which influenced the improve-
ment of the situation of the Jews in Morocco who had suc-
ceeded in various ways to be included in its framework. The
Madrid Convention in 1880 expanded the application of the
580
capitulations to additional countries and decided on lengthy
and comprehensive commentaries to its items (chapters). This
clearly contained the reduction of Moroccan independence
and sovereignty.
From 1873 to 1912 the Alawid sharifs made desperate at-
tempts to preserve the integrity of their kingdom and protect
it from imperialist aspirations of the European countries, par-
ticularly France who sought to annex Morocco to its over-
seas empire after it had extended its protection over Tunisia
in 1881. The reign of Hasan (1873-94) and ‘Abd al-‘Aziz con-
stituted an unceasing decline of sharif rule. The sharif ‘Abd
al-Hafiz (1909-13) was compelled to sign a treaty with France
on March 30, 1912, according to which France received most
of Morocco as its protectorate. A similar treaty was signed at
the end of the same year with Spain, whose share of the loot
included the northern region of Morocco extending along the
Mediterranean coast. ‘Abd al-Hafiz relinquished the throne
and his brother Moulay Yusuf (1913-26), who was prepared
to cooperate with the authorities of the protectorate powers,
ruled in his stead. His son Muhammad v (1926-61) became
king at the age of 18. He possessed a great deal of diplomatic
talent and helped France during the difficult period of World
War 11. In addition, he opposed the racist policy of the Vi-
chy government and announced his personal protection of
the Jews in his country. He was removed in 1953, apparently
by political opponents in his country who enthroned one of
his relatives, Sidi Muhammad ibn ‘Arafa. Muhammad spent
two years in exile and was returned to his country with great
honor in 1955 and continued to rule. After his death his son
Hasan (1961-1999) became king.
King Hasan’s regime was characterized by the tighten-
ing of internal control and a military buildup. He oppressed
his political opponents and tried to unify the country. He
also fought against the Polisario resistance in southern Mo-
rocco. King Hasan’s attitude toward Moroccan Jews was favor-
able. Under his regime most Jews left the country during the
“Yachin Operation” (1961-64). Jews who remained in Morocco
lived safely and could practice their religion and continue
their economic activity. The Israeli secret services helped King
Hasan to build his own secret services. In addition, Hasan
headed the Jerusalem committee of the Arab League. His con-
tribution to the peace process in the Middle East was of great
importance. Moroccan Jews in Israel, France, and Morocco
also helped Israeli leaders make contact with the palace.
King Mohamed v1, Hasan’s son, took over at a very young
age. He quickly began to introduce some reforms with regard
to democratic processes and women's rights. Thus, he released
political prisoners and authorized expatriates, such as Abra-
ham Zarfaty, a Moroccan Jewish communist and syndicalist,
to return to Morocco. The country was open to Israeli tourists
but diplomatic relations were broken off because of the Inti-
fada. Mohamed vi found in Morocco a small Jewish commu-
nity of not over 7,000 people, most of them in Casablanca and
enjoying Jewish communal life.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: EI’; H. Terrasse, Histoire du Maroc, 2 (1950),
239-408; N. Babour, A Survey of North West Africa (1962), 75-188,
329-86; Budgett Meakin, The Moorish Empire (1899), 136-216; G.
Vajda, Un recueil de textes historiques judéo-marocains (1951); Hirsch-
berg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 245-54, 260-305. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R.
Assaraf, Mohammed v et les Juifs du Maroc a lépoque de Vichy (1997);
idem, Une certaine histoire des Juifs du Maroc, 1860-1999, (2005);
M. Kenbib, Juifs et Musulmans au Maroc 1859-1948: Contribution a
Vhistoire des relations inter-communautaires en terre d’Islam (1994);
M.M. Laskier & Eliezer Bashan, “Morocco, in: R. Simon et al., The
Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times (2003),
471-504; M.M. Laskier, Israel and the Maghreb, from statehood to
Oslo, (2004); E. Bashan, Yahadut Maroco, Avara ve-tarbuta, (2000),
298-87; H. Saadoun, Ha-Yehudim be-Maroco ha-Azma’it, in: H. Saa-
doun (ed.), Yehudei ha-Mizrah ba-Meot ha-Tesha-Esre ve-ha-Esrim,
Marocco, (1994), pp.97-92; Yaron Zur, Kehillah Keruah, Yehudei Ma-
rocco ve-ha-Le’ummiyyut 1943-1954 (2002).
[Haim Z’ew Hirschberg / Haim Saadoun (2™ ed.)]
ALBA, JACOB DI (late 16*'—-early 17" century), preacher and
rabbi in Florence. Toledot Yaakov (Venice, 1609) is a collection
of his sermons. In the introduction, he gives details of his life,
mentioning that he had traveled for many years and lived for a
long time in Constantinople, before being appointed preacher
of the Jewish community of Florence. The structural basis of
his homilies is to begin with a biblical verse, then to quote a
passage from the Talmud or the Midrash which often is only
slightly connected to the verse, the exordium to the body of
the homily in which he raises a number of rhetorical ques-
tions regarding the talmudic passage, and the main part of the
sermon in which the questions are answered. His method is
in the tradition of R. Moses *Alshekh, the famous preacher
of Safed. The book is arranged according to the weekly pen-
tateuchal readings and includes references to the various fes-
tivals in relation to the nearest Sabbath; there are no special
sermons for the holy days. Some of the readings are discussed
in two different sermons. Though Jacob availed himself of
certain philosophical terms in his sermons, he was not ori-
ented toward philosophical preaching; nor was he influenced
by the Kabbalah. His sermons usually are in the regular rab-
binic tradition.
ALBA DE TORMES, city in the province of Salamanca,
Spain. A charter, granted by Alfonso vii of Castile in 1140,
takes into detailed consideration the relation of Jews to Chris-
tians. Both population groups were made equal in civil juridi-
cal matters; litigation between Christians and Jews was to take
place in the synagogue; less indemnity was to be paid for the
murder of a Jew, while a Jewish murderer of a Christian was
to be put to death and his goods confiscated. The charter of
Alba is one of the oldest Spanish fueros to fix the rate of in-
terest on Jewish loans. A Hebrew chronicle records persecu-
tions in the kingdom of Leon in 1230 in which Alba Jewry also
suffered. The testament of Don Judah, a wealthy Jew of Alba
(1410), indicates the existence of local usages governing the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBA IULIA
laws of inheritance, in addition to the Jewish laws. A satirical
play in verse was written in the 15"* century by the bachilmer
Juan de Trasmiera about the members of the Jewish commu-
nity in Alba, who brought a suit against a dog which bit them.
It mentions the names of various Jews and their occupations,
as well as of Conversos who were called as witnesses to the
dog’s attacks, and employs vivacious expressions which were
in current use. The dog was sentenced to be hanged, but freed
itself from the gallows and bit the onlookers, while the Jews
stayed away from Alba until the dog had died. The satire re-
flects the popular prejudices of the period. The community
existed until 1492.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, 2 (1936), index; A. Castro
and F. de Onis (eds.), Fueros Leoneses (1916), 297, 308 ff.; M. Gaibrois
de Ballesteros, Historia del reinado de Sancho Iv (1922), 115, 151, 168,
177; Revista de archivos, bibliotecas y museos, Madrid, 30 (1926),
409-16; J. Amador de los Rios, Historia... de los Judios de Espana
(19607), 549, 963-5.
ALBAHARI, DAVID (1948-_), Yugoslav author and transla-
tor. Born in Pec, Albahari graduated from Teachers College in
Belgrade and settled in Zemun as a freelance writer of short
stories and novels. His prose interweaves abstraction and re-
ality, the lyric and the fantastic. He has edited literary maga-
zines and translated literature from English, and is a member
of the PEN club, the writers’ union of Serbia, and the president
of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Yugoslavia. His
books include the collected short stories Family Time (1973),
Ordinary Tales (1978), Description of Death (1982), and Sim-
plicity (1988); the novels The Judge Dimitrievich (1982), Shock
in the Shed (1984), and Zinc; and the anthology Contempo-
rary World Short Stories (1982), in two volumes. Some of his
stories and novels have been translated into Hebrew, English,
Hungarian, and other languages. In 1993 he was elected pres-
ident of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Belgrade,
but in 1994 he resigned and immigrated to Canada. He settled
in Calgary, continuing to produce new books in the Serbo-
Croat language, among them Enticement (1996), The Snow-
man (1997), and Goetz and Meyer (1999).
[Eugen Werber / Zvi Loker (2"4 ed.)]
ALBA IULIA (in the Roman period Apulum; Hung. Gyulafe-
hérvar; medieval Latin Alba Carolina; Ger. Karlsburg, also
Weyssenburg; referred to in Yiddish and Hebrew sources by
the German name Karlsburg; in Ladino sources Carlosburg),
city in Transylvania. Alba Iulia was the seat of residence of the
princes of Transylvania in the 16” and 17 centuries; for sev-
eral centuries it was administered by Hungary but was incor-
porated into Romania after World War 1. The Jews there, origi-
nally Sephardim, benefited from the patronage of the princes
of Transylvania. A Hebrew document of 1591 mentions a bet
din there. In 1623 Prince Bethlen Gabor granted the Jews of
Alba Iulia a liberal charter of residential and commercial priv-
ileges, framed at the insistence of Abraham Szasza, a Jewish
581
ALBALA, DAVID
physician from Constantinople, who had been invited to settle
there. The privileges were endorsed by the National Assembly
in 1627. However in the code Approbatae Constitutiones passed
by the National Assembly in 1653, Jewish residence in Transyl-
vania remained restricted to Alba Iulia. Prince Apafh Mihiily 1
reaffirmed Jewish privileges in 1673 after anti-Jewish outbreaks
had occurred. The charter was renewed a number of times.
The Christian Hebraist, Janos Apaczai Csere (1625-1659), was
active in Alba Iulia and recommended the inclusion of Hebrew
in the senior school curriculum. Data ina census of 1735 show
that the Jews then living in Alba Iulia originated from Poland,
Turkey, Moldavia, Wallachia, Hungary, Moravia, and Belgrade.
But during the 18" century the number of Jews living there
decreased very sharply as a result of Rakoczi’s rebellion; only
after the return of the region to peaceful conditions did the
number of Jews begin to increase again. From that period the
Ashkenazi element became increasingly predominant. Alba
Iulia was regarded as the Jewish “capital” of Transylvania.
The shofet (judge) of the community was styled the “head of
the Jewish people of the region.” Between 1754 and 1868 the
rabbi of the congregation held the title “rabbi of Karlsburg and
chief rabbi of the state.” The first known chief rabbi was the
Sephardi hakham Abraham Isaac Russo (d. 1738). Best known
was Ezekiel *Panet, who officiated in Alba Iulia between 1823
and 1845. The last chief rabbi to officiate was Abraham Fried-
man (1879). Until the emancipation of the Jews in Austria-
Hungary in 1867 their entire religious life developed under the
strict control and censorship of the Roman-Catholic bishop of
the region. After the religious schism in Hungarian Jewry in
1867 the Alba Iulia congregation remained within the *status
quo ante faction. An Orthodox congregation was formed in
1908, and in 1932 it was joined by the original congregation
of Alba Iulia, which had until then adhered to its status quo
position. The pinkas (minute book) of the community for the
period 1736-1835, written in a mixture of Hebrew, Yiddish, Ju-
deo-Spanish, German, Hungarian, and Romanian, has been
preserved. The *Neolog rite of the Hungarian Jews was almost
entirely absent in this city. A Jewish newspaper, the Sieben-
buerger Israelit, was published in 1883 for a short time. In the
17 century there were about 100 Jews living in Alba Iulia; in
1754, 54 taxpayers; in 1891, 1,357 persons; in 1910, 1,586 (out of
a total population of 11,616); in 1920, 1,770 (out of 9,645); and
in 1930, 1,558 (out of 12,282). As the area became a hotbed of
the antisemitic *Iron Guard, conditions for Jews became dif-
ficult. In 1938 a bomb exploded in one of the synagogues. All
the property of the community was confiscated in 1941, and
the men were seized for forced labor. The Jewish population
of Alba Iulia increased during World War 11, however, as Jews
were sent there from the surrounding areas by the authori-
ties. Heavy fighting in 1944 caused an additional influx. The
maximum figure was 2,070 in 1947. This was considerably di-
minished by emigration in the 1960s. At the outset of the 21°
century the number of Jews living in Alba Iulia was very small,
as it was in all of Transylvania and Romania.
582
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Kohn, Héber kutforrdsok és adatok Mag-
yarorszdg térténetéhez (1881), 104; Eisler, in: 1m1T (1900), 316-32;
(1901), 221-44; idem, Az erdélyi zsiddk multjdbol (1901); idem, in:
Sinai (Bucharest), 1 (1928); 2 (1929); 3 (1931); Krausz, in: Erdélyi Zsidé
Evkényv, 6 (1940-41), 78-84; MHJ, 2 (1937) 5, pt. 1 (1959); 5, pt. 2
(1960); 8 (1965); 10 (1967), index; M. Carp, Cartea Neagrd, 1 (1946);
PK Romanyah, 277-9.
[Yehouda Marton / Paul Schveiger (2"4 ed.)]
ALBALA, DAVID (1886-1942), Jewish and Zionist leader in
Serbia and Yugoslavia. Albala was born in Belgrade, studied
medicine at the University of Vienna, and practiced in Bel-
grade. In 1903 he founded Gideon, the first Zionist youth as-
sociation in Belgrade. In 1917 he served on the Serbian delega-
tion to the U.S. that attempted to gain support for the country,
which had been conquered by the armies of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire. While in the U.S. he advocated enlistment
of Jews into the *Jewish Legion, and obtained an official let-
ter of sympathy and support for the political aims of Zionism
from the Serbian foreign minister in the U.S. (Dec. 27, 1917).
After World War 1 he was a leading figure of Yugoslav Jewry
and its Zionist movement. In 1935 he visited Palestine and es-
tablished a forest in memory of King Alexander of Yugoslavia.
At the outbreak of World War 11 he was sent to Washington
on behalf of the Yugoslav government.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: AJYB, 44 (1942/43), 348; Davar (Aug. 7, 1941);
N.M. Gelber, Hazharat Balfour ve-Toledoteha (1939), 302; N. Agmon
(Bistritski; ed.), Megillat ha-Adamah, 2 (1951), 231-2.
[Getzel Kressel]
ALBALAG, ISAAC (13' century), translator and philoso-
pher. Albalag probably lived in Catalonia. In 1292, Albalag
composed the only work of his which has come down, a He-
brew version of al-*Ghazal?'s Magdsidal-Falasifa (Hebrew,
Kavvanot or Deot ha-Filosofim), with a prologue and 75 more
or less elaborate notes to which he gave the special title Tik-
kun ha-Deot. In this independent addition to his translation,
Albalag sought not so much to elucidate the basic text as to
subject it to a critical evaluation, for the real purpose of his
annotated translation was to determine the respective roles
of revelation and philosophy in the speculations of the intel-
lectual Jew.
According to Albalag, philosophy is identical with Aris-
totle’s teachings as interpreted by *Averroes. This affirmation
necessarily placed him in direct opposition to *Avicenna and
to *Maimonides, an opposition to which he often gives expres-
sion. Yet, although he is closely dependent upon Averroes, he
does not follow him blindly, or in all matters. According to
Albalag, four fundamental beliefs are common to revelation
(Torah) and to philosophy: the existence of God, reward and
punishment, the soul’s survival of physical death, and Provi-
dence. (It should be noted that rejection of the eternity of the
universe is not listed among these beliefs.) Revelation ad-
dresses itself to the mass of believers in terms which are within
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
their power of comprehension. An appropriate allegorical ex-
egesis can always extract philosophical truths from the Torah;
thus, Albalag interprets the first two chapters of Genesis
(Maaseh Bereshit) in the sense of eternal *creation, though he
does say that such exegesis does not yield absolute certitude.
Albalag does not deny that the Torah, which is above all a “po-
litical” book, a guide for life designed to ensure good order in
human society, contains truths inaccessible to human reason.
However, those truths, described as “prophetic,” are of as little
interest to the common man, whose welfare is assured by obe-
dience to the letter of the Law, as to the intellectual who is ca-
pable of attaining through philosophy the truths necessary for
the beatitude of his immortal soul. Albalag seems to acknowl-
edge some sort of individual immortality (see Immortality of
*Soul); at any rate, he does not follow Averroes in the latter’s
radical doctrine of the total fusion of the disembodied rational
souls with the Active *Intellect. As for the vaunted “tradition”
of the esoterics, it has, according to Albalag, no serious claims
to authenticity. Even though he speaks in respectful terms of
three contemporary kabbalists (*Isaac b. Jacob ha-Kohen, To-
dros b. Joseph *Abulafia, and *Moses b. Solomon b. Simeon of
Burgos), it is precisely the demonology which was so dear to
them that he discards. In those cases where allegorical exege-
sis fails to resolve the contradiction between the indisputable
facts of scriptural faith and the results of philosophic specula-
tion, there is no alternative but to acknowledge each in its own
sphere, namely, the truth laid down by the revealed text and
the contrary truth irrefutably established by rational demon-
stration. Albalag’s line of thought and his vocabulary (truth
imposed by way of nature, truth believed by way of miracle)
indicate with great plausibility the influence of contemporary
Latin Averroists who were accused of professing the theory of
the “double truth.” In the final analysis it is, however, doubtful
whether Albalag would have granted full validity to a truth
which was not exclusively rational, at least in the case of any
man who was not a prophet. One of Albalag’s notes on the
part of al-Ghazali Magasid devoted to logic, which is in some
of the manuscripts, was borrowed from a certain Abner, who
could only have been *Abner of Burgos.
Although later Jewish philosophers and theologians
made frequent use of Albalag’s translation of al-Ghazali,
Tikkun ha-Deot brought him, except for the praises of his
younger contemporary Isaac b. Joseph ibn Pollegar, noth-
ing but censure and abuse on the part of the kabbalists, such
as Shem Tov *Ibn Shem Tov, and the fideist opponents of
Aristotelian philosophy in the 15 century, such as Abraham
*Shalom and Isaac *Abrabanel. Nevertheless, his work was
eagerly copied and undoubtedly read with interest in the
Jewish intellectual circles of southern Italy and Greece dur-
ing the same century. Beginning with the 16"* century, how-
ever, his name and work were almost forgotten. They owe
their emergence in the history of Jewish thought to the re-
searches of J.H. *Schorr who published extracts of the Tik-
kun ha-Deot.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBALIA, ISAAC BEN BARUCH
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Vajda, Isaac Albalag (1960; contains an
almost complete French translation of Albalag’s notes and a bibli-
ography of works on Albalag); J.A. Schorr, in: He-Halutz, 4 (1859),
83 ff; 6 (1861), 85ff.; 7 (1865), 157ff.; Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen,
299-306; Guttmann, Philosophies, 200-3, 205, 245, 259; Touati, in:
REJ; 2 (1962), 35-47.
[Georges Vajda]
ALBALIA, BARUCH BEN ISAAC (1077-1126), Spanish
judge and head of a yeshivah in Cérdoba; son of Isaac *Albalia.
Born in Seville, he went to Lucena after his father’s death
(when he was 17 years old) in fulfillment of his father’s ex-
press wish, in order to get R. Isaac *Alfasi to drop the hostil-
ity he had long harbored toward his father, and to be accepted
as a student in Alfasi’s academy. He studied there nine years,
together with Joseph *Ibn Migash. After the death of Alfasi,
Albalia became judge and head of the yeshivah in Cordoba.
Among his many disciples was his nephew Abraham *Ibn
Daud. Albalia was well versed in Greco-Arabic philosophy.
Among his friends, he counted *Judah Halevi, and Moses
Ibn Ezra. There is a play on words in one of Halevi’s poems
(Divan, ed. by H. Brody, 1 (1935), 120): “His name is ‘Baruch’
[blessed], and he, like his name, is blessed, and all who bless
themselves with his name, are, in turn, blessed,” apparently
alluding to Albalia and testifying to his influence on Spanish
Jewish intellectuals. On his death Moses Ibn Ezra eulogized
him in a poem beginning with the verse: “Einot Tehom Hem-
mah ve-lo-Einayim” (Shirei ha-Hol., ed. by H. Brody (1935),
92) and Judah Halevi did the same in a poem beginning “Mar
la-Am Yikre’'u Azarah” (Selected Poems, ed. Brody (1946), with
English translation, 82).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schirmann, in: Tarbiz, 9 (1937/38), 49f.;
Daud, Tradition, 86.
[Zvi Avneri]
ALBALIA, ISAAC BEN BARUCH (1035-1094), Spanish as-
tronomer and talmudist. Isaac was born in Cordoba. Accord-
ing to *Ibn Daud, in his youth he had a great Jewish scholar,
R. Perigors from France, as a teacher. He was also close to
R. Samuel ben Joseph ha-Nagid, and later to the latter’s son
*Jehoseph ben Samuel ha-Nagid, to whom in 1065 he dedi-
cated his calendrical work Mahberet Sod ha-Ibbur (“The Se-
cret of Intercalation”). After the disastrous death of Jehoseph
ha-Nagid (1066), R. Isaac spent great sums of money in reas-
sembling the family library which had been scattered. In 1069
al-Mu'tamid, king of Seville, appointed him to his retinue as
court astrologer, and also as rabbi and *nasi over the Jews in
his realm. R. Isaac used his influence at court to improve the
status of the Jews of the kingdom. Isaac was renowned for
his great erudition, both in general and in Jewish studies.
At the age of 30, he began to write his Kuppat ha-Rokhelim
(“Spice-Peddlers’ Basket”), a commentary on difficult pas-
sages in the Talmud, but did not complete it. R. Moses *Ibn
Ezra refers to him as a “poet and grand stylist” (Shirat Yis-
583
ALBANIA
rael, ed. by B.Z. Halper (1924), 72). Two of Albalia’s responsa
have been preserved: one on the laws of zizit in Abraham b.
David of Posquiéres Temim De’im, no. 224, and one in Arabic
in Toratam shel Rishonim (ed. by Ch. M. Horowitz, 2 (1881),
36-38). He died in Granada.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ibn Daud, Tradition, 78-81; Ashtor, Korot,
2 (1966), 290 ff.
[Zvi Avneri]
ALBANIA, Balkan state (bordering Serbia and Montenegro
(formerly Republic of Yugoslavia), Macedonia, and Greece)
on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea; from 1478 to 1913
under the sovereignty of Turkey.
*Benjamin of Tudela heard of people living in the region,
evidently Wallachians, toward the end of the 12» century:
“They are not strong in the faith of the Nazarenes and call
each other by Jewish names, and some say that they are Jews.”
Jewish settlements were founded at the beginning of the 16
century in the Albanian seaports by exiles from Spain, who
were joined by refugees from other areas. There were sizeable
trading communities at Berat, Durazzo, Elbassan, and Valona:
here there were Castilian, Catalonian, Sicilian, Portuguese,
and Apulian synagogues.
In 1673 Shabbetai Zevi was exiled by the sultan to Alba-
nia, dying in Dulcigno. In 1685, during the Turkish-Venetian
War, members of the Valona community fled to Berat. Those
who remained were taken prisoner, including Nehemiah
*Hayon. Between 1788 and 1822 Jews suffered from the ex-
tortions of Ali Pasha. The Jewish minorities were accused of
collaborating to suppress the rebels during the Albanian re-
volt in 1911.
After World War t only a small number of Jews were liv-
ing in Albania, in Koritsa (1927). According to a 1930 census,
there were 204 Jewish inhabitants in Albania. The Albanian
community was granted official recognition on April 2, 1937.
In 1939, some families from Austria and Germany took refuge
in Tirana and Durazzo.
[Simon Marcus]
The Holocaust Period
In July 1940 all Jews were ordered to transfer to Berat, Lushnje,
and Fier. Nine months later, during the battle between Greece
and Italy in April 1941, when part of Yugoslavia was annexed
to Albania, an additional 120 Jewish refugees from Serbia,
Croatia, and Macedonia arrived there. In addition, 350 Jew-
ish prisoners of war were brought in from Montenegro. Jew-
ish refugees were well treated by the native population. The
local community in Kavaje assisted 200 Jewish refugees. In
1942 refugees from Pristina were transferred to Berat and
protected there.
In September 1943 after the change in the Italian govern-
ment and the German domination of Italy, Albania came un-
der German control and the situation of the Jews deteriorated
dramatically. Some Jews fled to the partisans. Others obtained
false papers. Albanian bureaucrats gave identity papers to
584
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Cities in Albania known to have had Jewish inhabitants.
many Jews of Kavaje so they could go to Tirana and hide there
and in 1944 the governors of Albania refused to cooperate in
submitting a list to the Germans of all the Jews.
In all, 600 Jews were saved from the Holocaust. Only
six Jews from Shkoder were arrested and sent to a camp in
Pristina. No Jews were turned over to the Germans.
Modern Period
After World War 11 until the collapse of Communism in 1990,
the community, numbering 200-300, was completely cut off
from the Jewish world. All religion was strictly outlawed and
there was no communal life, no rabbi, and no Jewish edu-
cational facilities. In 1991 almost the entire community was
airlifted to Israel. Relations between Albania and Israel were
subsequently normalized, with an agricultural cooperation
agreement signed in 1999 and Israeli aid accepted for the Ko-
savar refugees there. Efforts were made by the Joint to revive
community life among the few dozen remaining Jews, nearly
all in the capital, Tirana. A synagogue still existed in Valona
(Vlore) but was no longer in use.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Scholem, in: Zion, 17 (1952), 79-83; Scho-
lem, Shabbetai Zevi, 2 (1957), 787-90; Bernstein, in: Jewish Daily
Bulletin (April 17-18, 1934); A. Milano, Storia degli Ebrei italiani nel
Levante (1949), 63-66; J. Starr, Romania... (Eng., 1949), 65, 81-83.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pk; M. Arbell, “The Jewish Community of
Vlor-Valona-—Avilona and Its Role in the Adriatic,’ in: Los Muestros,
50 (2003), 16-20.
ALBANY, capital of the state of New York, 150 miles north
of New York City; population, 95,000 (2004); estimated Jew-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ish population, 12,000-13,000 with half living in suburbs but
members of Albany congregations. Public records indicate
the presence of Jews as early as 1658. Asser Levy owned prop-
erty, obtained burgher’s rights, and lived in Albany in the
1650s. Other early Jewish merchants and traders who resided
in Albany included Jacob Lucena, Hayman Levy, Jonas Phil-
lips, Asher Levy, Levi Solomons and Levi Solomons (11). The
second Solomons, who lived with his family in Albany in the
early 19" century, started a chocolate and snuff business and
belonged to New York’s Shearith Israel.
A Jewish community emerged in the 1830s as immi-
grants from Bavaria and Posen arrived in Albany. German-
speaking Jews organized Congregation Beth El in 1838. By
1841, the congregation had bought a burial ground and pur-
chased its first synagogue building. Divisions over language
and ritual led to the founding of Beth El Jacob in 1841 by Jews
of Polish origin. After acquiring property for a synagogue and
separate burial grounds, the congregation built a new syna-
gogue in 1847. Prominent Gentiles including Mayor William
Parmalee attended the dedication of Beth El Jacob on April
28, 1848. Isaac Mayer *Wise arrived in the United States from
Bohemia and became Albany’s first rabbi when he took over
leadership of Beth El in 1846. He was the teacher at the con-
gregation’s Hebrew school, then one of only four in the United
States. Wise’s advocacy of changes in ritual split the congrega-
tion with the famous confrontation at the Rosh Ha-Shanah
service on September 7, 1850. Synagogue officers prevented
him from taking out the Torah scrolls, a fight ensued, and
Wise and members of the congregation were arrested. By Oc-
tober 11, 1850, Wise and 77 supporters had organized Anshe
Emeth, the fourth Reform congregation in the United States.
Members of all three congregations were poor and worked as
peddlers, tinsmiths, tailors, or middlemen. About 800 Jews
lived in Albany in 1860.
By the 1880s, the arrival of Jews from the Russian Empire
expanded the Jewish population to 3,000. Further immigra-
tion of Russian- and Polish-speaking Jews increased the com-
munity to 4,000 in 1900 and 10,000 in the 1920s. Assimilation
and Americanization led to the merger of Beth El and Anshe
Emeth in 1885 to form Beth Emeth, the only Reform congre-
gation in Albany. Rabbi Wise returned to Albany in 1889 to
dedicate the synagogue for the combined congregation. Re-
cent immigrants, while Orthodox, did not feel comfortable
in Beth El Jacob and formed a separate congregation, Sons of
Abraham, in 1882. In 1902 another group of Russian Jews split
off and established the United Brethren Society, as a separate
congregation that followed a hasidic prayer book, and the con-
gregation incorporated in 1905.
From the 1830s to about 1950, the South End, especially
the area around South Pearl Street, remained a Jewish neigh-
borhood with kosher meat markets, restaurants, Jewish-owned
businesses, synagogues, and communal institutions. As Al-
bany expanded in the early 1900s Jewish residents moved “up
the hill” and started new congregations in the Pine Hills and
Delaware neighborhoods. Ohav Shalom, the first Conserva-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBANY
tive congregation, began in 1911, and purchased property for a
synagogue in 1922. Another group of Jews in Pine Hills began
to meet at Schwartz's Mansion and became Tifereth Israel in
1936. Sons of Israel, a third Conservative congregation, began
in the 1930s, and constructed a synagogue in 1935.
The passing of the immigrant generation, Americaniza-
tion, and suburbanization led to a relocation and reorgani-
zation of the synagogues. The Orthodox synagogues merged
with the United Brethren Society, joining Beth El Jacob in
1959, and Beth El Jacob merged with Sons of Abraham in 1974
to form Beth Abraham-Jacob. The combined congregation
dedicated a new synagogue in 1991. A small group of Orthodox
Jews sought to create an informal religious community, and
established a shtibl, a small house of prayer, Shomray Torah,
in 1965. Reform Congregation Beth Emeth built a new syna-
gogue in 1957. A split within the congregation created a new
Reform congregation, Bnai Sholom, in 1971, and the new
congregation dedicated its own synagogue in 1979. Two Con-
servative congregations merged in 1949 as Tifereth Israel,
and Sons of Israel joined to build a new synagogue, dedicated
as Temple Israel in 1956, which was led for a generation by
Rabbi Herman Kieval and produced rabbis and scholars. A
Hebrew-speaking day camp, Camp Givah, was perhaps the
only one in the United States at the time. Ohav Shalom re-
mained separate and dedicated a new building in 1964. Start-
ing in November 1991 Jews seeking an informal and egalitar-
ian community created the Havurah Minyan of the Capital
District, following Conservative ritual. In 1995, Ohav Sha-
lom voted to become equalitarian in worship and ritual life.
While the Jewish community increasingly resides in the sub-
urbs, synagogues and the Albany Jewish Community Center
remain in the city. This led hasidic Jews to establish Chabad
houses in Albany, Delmar, Guilderland, and, in December
2004, in Colonie.
Jewish residents organized social, fraternal, mutual aid,
and self-defense institutions. In 1843 the Society for Brotherly
Love became the first mutual aid and burial society. Congrega-
tions started burial societies and in 1855 merged their mutual
aid groups into the Hebrew Benevolent Society. Merger with
the Jewish Home Society led to the Albany Jewish Social Ser-
vice in 1931, now Jewish Family Services. It aided Jewish refu-
gees in the 1930s, Holocaust survivors in the 1940s and 1950s,
and from 1988 it resettled 1,300 Soviet Jews, the latest Jewish
immigrants to the Albany area. State government workers and
scholars working at the local universities including State Uni-
versity of New York at Albany are a distinct component of the
current Jewish community.
Bnai Brith opened a German-speaking chapter in 1853,
but an English-language chapter, the Gideon Lodge, began
in 1870 and replaced the German language branch by 1910. A
women's organization, United Order of True Sisters, started
a chapter in 1857, and is still active. Concern for the elderly
poor led to the Jewish Home Society in 1875, which merged
with Daughters of Sarah in 1941, and in the 1970s they built a
new facility in Albany. Gideon Lodge joined with the Albany
585
ALBARADANI, JOSEPH
Jewish Community Council to build senior citizen housing,
Bnai Brith Parkview Apartments, which opened in 1973, and
Congregation Ohav Shalom built senior citizen housing next
to their synagogue in 1974.
In the early 2000s Jewish educational institutions in-
cluded the Orthodox Maimonides Hebrew Day School. Com-
bining Jewish and secular education is Bet Shraga Hebrew
Academy, which is named after a Jewish educator and not a
prominent donor - the brilliant and dynamic Jewish educator
Philip “Shraga” Arian, who served as the educational direc-
tor at Temple Israel, opened in 1963. Responding to the anti-
semitism of the 1930s and activities of the German-American
Bund, local veterans formed the Jewish War Veterans in 1935,
and it remains a local veterans organization concerned with
patriotism, education, and antisemitism. Starting in 1938 local
Jewish groups created the Albany Jewish Community Coun-
cil, now the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, to
combat antisemitism, coordinate among Jewish organizations,
and represent the community. The Holocaust Survivors and
Friends Education Center raises public awareness of the Ho-
locaust, especially in public schools. Starting out in the He-
brew Institute in 1915, the ymHA and ywHA merged into the
Jewish Community Center in 1925. Formally incorporated
in 1926, the Jcc gradually replaced the Hebrew Institute as
a meeting place for Jewish groups and as a center for recre-
ational activities. The jcc built its current headquarters and
recreational center in 1960. The variety of Jewish institutions
peaked in about 1915, when there were anarchist, socialist,
Zionist, and Yiddish-language benevolent societies in Albany.
Today’s synagogues and organizations reflect the ongoing ten-
sions between assimilation and retention of Jewish identity
and religious practice. While probably half of Albany’s Jewish
community actually resides in suburbs, synagogues have not
followed the pattern in other Jewish communities and relo-
cated to the suburbs. All the congregations have relocated but
remain within the city of Albany. Finally, the resettlement of
1,300 Soviet Jews in the Capital District since 1988 represents
the most significant Jewish immigration into the Albany area
since the early 1920s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.W. Rosendale, in: AJHSP, 3 (1895), 61-71;
I.M. Wise, Reminiscences (1945); L. Silver, in: YIVOA, 9 (1954), 212-46;
N. Rubinger, “Albany Jewry in the Nineteenth Century” (Ph.D. diss.,
Yeshiva University, 1971); M. Gerber, Pictorial History of Albany’s
Jewish Community (1986); H. Strum, in: Jewish History and Com-
munity in Albany, ny (Exhibition Catalogue, Opalka Gallery of the
Sage Colleges, 2003), 1-37; D. Ornstein, ibid., 37-41; D. Cashman, in:
A. Roberts and M. Cockrell, Historic Albany: Its Churches and Syna-
gogues (1986), 120-40.
[Harvey Strum (2"¢ ed.)]
ALBARADANI, JOSEPH (tenth century), liturgical poet
and chief hazzan in the Great Synagogue of Baghdad. The
surname is derived from a suburb of Baghdad called Baradan.
The fact that his liturgical poems were composed to corre-
spond with the annual Torah reading cycle (and not with the
586
triennial one current at the time in Erez Israel) supports the
view that he was of Babylonian origin. Many of Joseph's po-
ems are preserved in all the large genizah collections but only
a few specimens have appeared in print. Beside the kerovot
for the Torah readings, Joseph composed several short mas-
dar poems (introductions, at a later period called reshuyyot).
Strangely enough, some of these were included in the Sicilian
liturgical collection, Hizzunim. He was succeeded as hazzan
by his son Nahum ha-Hazzan, who was a friend of the geonim
*Sherira, *Hai b. Sherira, and *Samuel b. Hophni. In 999 he
went on an official mission to Kairouan from where he was
to continue on his way to Spain. However, Hai Gaon ordered
him back in 1006 in order to take over the post of his late fa-
ther. He, too, was the author of liturgical poems. Nahum was
in turn succeeded by his son Solomon al-Baradani as hazzan
and paytan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. Davidson, in: Livre d’hommage... S. Po-
znanski (1927), 62, passim (Heb. part); idem (ed.), Genizah Studies,
3 (1930), 92, 95-105, 116, 128-37; Marcus, in: JQR, 21 (1930/31), 85-88;
Mann, ibid., 9 (1918/19), 150-2, 154ff; idem, in: AJSLL, 46 (1929-30),
277 ff.; Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), 113, 122, 151-3; Goldziher, in: REJ, 50
(1905), 182-8; Zulay, in: YMHSI, 2 (1936), 388; 5 (1939), 158, 160, 162,
172; Spiegel, ibid., 272; A.M. Habermann, Be-Ron Yahad (1945), 33-343
idem, in: Haaretz (April 11, 1960); idem, Ateret Renanim (1967), 105,
137-9; Bernstein, in: Tarbiz, 13 (1941/42), 150-64.
[Jefim (Hayyim) Schirmann]
AL-BARGELONI (i.e. “of Barcelona”), ISAAC BEN REU-
BEN (b. 1043), Spanish talmudist and liturgical poet. In a
genizah fragment Al-Bargeloni is described as a pupil of
*Hanokh b. Moses and must, therefore, have studied for some
time in Cordoba. His permanent residence was the coastal city
of Denia, where he was presumably active as a dayyan until
his death. *Nahmanides was one of his descendants. Abraham
*Ibn Daud extols his learning, including him among the four
distinguished contemporaries of Isaac Alfasi, also called Isaac.
Moses *Ibn Ezra and *Al-Harizi praise his poetical talent, es-
pecially his ingenuity in interpolating biblical verses into his
poems. This skill is particularly manifest in Isaac’s azharot,
in which all 145 strophes end with a biblical quotation. The
azharot have been included in most North African rites pub-
lished since 1655 and have been frequently published, both
alone and together with those of Solomon ibn *Gabirol. Of
Isaac’s other poems there are extant two introductions to the
azharot, two tokhehot (one unpublished), two mi-khamokha,
and an ahavah. His halakhic works consist of commentaries
to single tractates of the Talmud (not preserved), and a trans-
lation from Arabic to Hebrew of *Hai Gaon’s Sefer ha-Mikkah
ve-ha-Mimkar made in 1078. According to Simeon b. Zemah
*Duran (Responsa 1:15), *Judah b. Barzillai al-Bargeloni was
Isaac’s pupil.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rapoport, in: Bikkurei ha-Ittim, 10 (1829),
191; Mann, in: REJ, 74 (1922), 157-9; Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 418;
J.H. Schirmann, Shirim Hadashim min ha-Genizah (1966), 196-200;
Ibn Daud, Tradition, index.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBARRACIN, Spanish city near Teruel in Aragon. Jews
were living there in the 12" century. The fuero (charter),
granted to Albarracin by the local overlord about 1220, in-
cludes regulations governing the legal status and economic
activities of the Jews. In 1391 the municipal council attempted
to compel the Jews to submit to its legislation, but the king op-
posed this move. The Jews of Albarracin suffered in the anti-
Jewish riots in *Spain that year; in 1392 the gate of the Jew-
ish quarter was broken down and several of the inhabitants
were massacred. There is evidence that the Jews in Albarracin
maintained their communal organization, social identity, and
economic activities until the expulsion. Albarracin was among
the communities which requested of Juan 11 in 1458 to ratify
new communal regulations. The community was permitted
to levy a cisa tax on foodstuffs and was released from a series
of other taxes; the procedure regarding oaths was changed.
Between 1484 and 1486 an Inquisitional tribunal operated in
Albarracin, but for the most part the trials of the local Con-
versos took place in Teruel. The expulsion of the Jews from
Albarracin, among other communities, was ordered in May
1486. The Jews were granted three months in which to comply;
in July the king advised *Torquemada to grant them an addi-
tional six months. At the time of the general expulsion from
Spain in 1492, however, some Jews were still apparently living
in Albarracin and the aged rabbi Solomon urged his congrega-
tion to accept exile rather than conversion to Christianity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), index; Baer, Urkun-
den, 1 (1929), index; Gonzalez Palencia, Anuario de la historia del
derecho espariol, 8 (1931), 479ff; Piles Ros, in: Sefarad, 7 (1947), 355ff
10 (1950), 89.
[Haim Beinart]
ALBAZ, MOSES BEN MAIMON (16 century), Moroc-
can kabbalist. Albaz, who lived in Tarrodant, was the author
of Heikhal Kodesh, which he began writing in 1575. It is an
interpretation of the prayers in the kabbalistic idiom, based
mainly on the Zohar and Menahem *Recanati’s works. The
manuscript was owned by R. Jacob *Sasportas, who published
it with the annotations of R. Aaron ha-Sab uni of Salé (1653).
His work Sod Kaf-Bet Otiyyot is preserved in the copy by R.
Joseph b. Solomon ibn Mussa (London, Jews’ College, Mon-
tefiore Ms. 335).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 2 (1852), no. 55, s.v. Heikhal Kodesh;
G. Scholem, in: Ks, 6 (1929/30), 276, 4573 J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rab-
banan (1931), 95b.
AL-BAZAK, MAZLI’AH BEN ELIJAH IBN (11'* century),
dayyan in Sicily. Mazli’ah was a pupil of *Hai Gaon in Pum-
bedita and later he apparently migrated to Sicily where he was
appointed dayyan. *Nathan b. Jehiel, author of the Arukh, was
his pupil and it is quite likely that the explanations of Arabic
and Persian terms appearing in Nathan's work were derived
from his teacher. Mazli’ah wrote a letter in Arabic to Samuel
ha-Nagid, concerning Hai Gaon, of which fragments only
are extant. One fragment has a commentary by Hai Gaon to
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBECK
Psalms 103:5, and in another it is stated that Hai Gaon, with a
view to seeking a correct interpretation of Psalms 141:5, sent
Mazli’ah to the Nestorian patriarch, who showed him the
Syriac version. On a journey to Europe - or on some other
occasion —- Mazli’ah stopped over in Erez Israel, when he acted
as a judge in a civil dispute in Ramleh.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 132; idem, Gesam-
melte Schriften, 1 (1925), 67, n. 87; Mann, in: Jar, 9 (1918/19), 151; Vo-
gelstein-Rieger, 1 (1896), 358; Neubauer, in: Israelitische Letterbode, 2
(1876-77), 177; Lewin, in: Ginzei Kedem, 3 (1925), 67-68; Assaf, in:
KS, 2 (1925/26), 184; Krauss, in: HHY, 11 (1927), 204-5.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto]
ALBECK, family of talmudic scholars.
SHALOM (1858-1920), talmudic and rabbinic scholar,
born and educated in Warsaw. Though he earned his living in
business, Albeck gained distinction as an astute scholar. His
Mishpehot Soferim (pt. 1, 1903), a biographical encyclopedia
of the tannaim and amoraim, only covered a small part of the
letter alef. Albeck also began to publish the Even ha-Ezer of
*Eliezer b. Nathan, together with an introduction and com-
mentary (pt. 1, 1904); and the Sefer ha-Eshkol of *Abraham
b. Isaac of Narbonne, with an introduction and notes (pt. 1,
1910), completed by his son Hanokh (1935-8). Albeck’s ques-
tioning of the authenticity of the earlier edition of this work
by Z.B. *Auerbach gave rise to a keen literary polemic. Albeck
also planned to publish the Babylonian Talmud with variant
readings on the basis of manuscripts and with a modern com-
mentary, but only a specimen was published, Modaah Talmud
Bavli (1913). A critical study of the writings of *Judah b. Barzil-
lai al-Bargeloni appeared in Festschrift... Israel Lewy (1911).
His son HANOKH (Chanokh; 1890-1972), talmudic
scholar, studied at the Theological Seminary and the Uni-
versity of Vienna, became research scholar at the “Akademie
fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin (1920) and lec-
turer in Talmud at the *Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft des
Judentums (1926). In 1936 he immigrated to Erez Israel and
was professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University, until 1956.
Albeck’s work covers almost all areas of talmudic research.
In his studies on tannaitic literature, he came to the conclu-
sion that the editors (not only of tannaitic literature, but also
of the Talmud) compiled their materials without adapting,
abridging, or reworking them, as their only objective was to
collect scattered materials. This first attempt to offer a com-
prehensive solution to the various problems arising out of the
study of talmudic literature provoked a keen controversy, not
yet settled. In Albeck’s opinion, as opposed to that of David
*Hoffmann, the principal differences between the two types
of halakhic Midrashim stem from divergent redactions. Al-
beck even set out to prove that both the *Tosefta and the hal-
akhic Midrashim, as they are known, were unknown to the
two Talmuds. In his work on the halakhah in the Book of Ju-
bilees Albeck argued that it does not stem from any of the
three known sects (Pharisees, Sadducees, or Essenes), but
that it originated in the circles of another sect, the “Circle of
587
ALBELDA, MOSES BEN JACOB
*Enoch,’ and shows affinity to the halakhah of the *Damas-
cus Covenant. These conclusions have assumed special im-
portance since the discovery of the *Dead Sea Scrolls. After
the death of J. *Theodor, Albeck completed the publication
of the latter’s monumental critical edition of Genesis Rabbah
and he wrote the comprehensive introduction as well. This
work is a striking example of an extremely accurate critical
edition. Albeck also edited the Hebrew translation of Zunz’s
Gottesdienstliche Vortraege, adding a great amount of new
material. His major works are an edition of *Meiri’s Beit ha-
Behirah on Yevamot (1922); Untersuchungen ueber die Redak-
tion der Mischna (1923); Genesis Rabbah (1926-36); Untersu-
chungen ueber die halakischen Midrashim (1927); Das Buch
der Jubilaeen und die Halacha (1930); Ha-Eshkol by Abraham
b. Isaac, 1-2 (1935-38); Bereshit Rabbati (1940); Mehkarim bi-
Veraita ve-Tosefta (1944); Ha-Derashot be- Yisrael, Zunz’s work
(1947); The Mishnah (with introductions, commentary, and
notes; 1952-59); Mavo la-Mishnah (1959); Mavo la-Talmudim,
1 (1969). Beside his major works, he also wrote many scholarly
essays in Hebrew and German.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ch. Tchernowitz (Rav Zair), in: Ha-Tekufah,
8 (1920), 491-4; A.M. Habermann, in: S.K. Mirsky (ed.), Ishim u-De-
muyyot be-Hokhmat Yisrael be-Eiropah ha-Mizrahit (1959), 319-23;
Sefer ha-Yovel le-... Hanokh Albeck (1963).
[Moshe David Herr]
ALBELDA, MOSES BEN JACOB (1500-before 1583), rabbi
and philosopher. It is likely that Moses Albelda was born in
Spain, and that he was the grandson of a Moses Albelda who
settled in Salonika. He lived a life of hardship and wander-
ing. He states that he acted as both dayyan and rosh yeshivah.
He was rabbi of Arta (Greece) in 1534, and later of Valona
(Albania). His sons, Judah and Abraham, went to consider-
able trouble to publish their father’s works. These are charac-
terized by a distinctive style and are eminently readable. His
commentary and biblical expositions are mainly philosophi-
cal. His sermonic works are Reshit Daat (Venice, 1583), dis-
courses on philosophical themes and rabbinical dicta; Shaarei
Dimah (ibid., 1586), on such varied themes as Providence, the
vicissitudes of the times, the death of the righteous, and the
destruction of the Temple. His biblical works are in two parts,
the first, Olat Tamid (ibid., 1601), exegetical, and the second,
Darash Moshe (ibid., 1603) homiletical. These works mention
a number of others that he wrote, including commentaries on
Joshua, Esther, and Samuel, and on Maimonides’ Guide and
Sefer ha-Mitzvot.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1768, no. 6427; JE,
1 (1901), 332.
ALBERSTEIN, HAVA (1946- ), Israeli singer and composer.
Born in Stettin (Poland), Alberstein came to Israel with her
parents in 1951. She started singing and accompanying her-
self on the guitar while still at school. During her military
service she performed as soloist in army bases throughout
588
the country. Upon completion of her military service she be-
gan performing in concerts and for several years played the
guitar while singing, but in 1971 she started appearing with a
small ensemble and without her guitar, thus demonstrating
her dramatic ability on stage. She then began writing her own
lyrics. The songs in her 1986 album The Immigrants incorpo-
rated autobiographic elements and a measure of criticism of
Israeli society. She expressed her political views in such songs
as “The Magician,” “Had Gadya,” and others. In “Had Gadya”
she changed the words of the traditional song to liken Israeli
soldiers to devouring animals during the Intifada, which led
to a storm of protest and a radio ban on the song. In 1988 she
began composing her own music as well and produced the
album The Need for a Word, the Need for Silence. In 1992 she
recorded her first album in English, The Man I Love, follow-
ing it by a number of others, notably one with the Klezmatics
Band in 1998. With over 50 albums to her credit, Alberstein
frequently performed abroad and is considered a major Israeli
singer. She is notable in the field of children’s songs and is con-
sidered one of the greatest singers of Yiddish songs, with some
ten albums. She received the Kinnor David Prize several times
as well as the Manger Prize.
[Nathan Shahar (24 ed.)]
ALBERT, MARV (Marv Philip Aufrichtig; 1941-_ ), U.S. tele-
vision and radio sportscaster, member of the Basketball Hall
of Fame. Albert was born in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New
York, the son ofa grocer, and grew up there with his brothers,
Aland Steve, both of whom also became professional broad-
casters. The three brothers started practicing in their youth,
staging a “contest” between the two family hamsters and do-
ing the play-by-play of the Hamster Olympics. Albert worked
on Howard *Cosell’s national radio show as a teenager and
then with Marty *Glickman at wcBs Radio when he was
in college. Albert attended Syracuse University from 1960 to
1962 and graduated from New York University in 1965. Glick-
man gave Albert his start in broadcasting, allowing him to
broadcast his first New York Knicks basketball game on ra-
dio on January 27, 1963, at age 22. He broadcast the Knicks full
time on radio from the 1967-68 season through the 1985-86
season. He also broadcast the Knicks on television, but was
dismissed after he criticized the team’s poor play on-air in
2004.
Albert was the radio voice of the New York Rangers
hockey team, beginning with his first game on March 13, 1963,
and full time from 1965-66 to 1996-97. He later broadcast NBA
basketball, NFL football, college basketball, boxing, NHL all-
star games, and baseball studio and pre-game shows for the
NBC network from 1979 to 1998. He also broadcast basket-
ball for the rnT network and was the voice of Monday Night
Football on Westwood One Radio/cBs Radio Sports. Prior to
joining nBc, Albert was the radio voice of the New York Gi-
ants football team from 1973 to 1976, and for 13 years was the
sports anchor for Ch. 4/wNBC-TV.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Albert became the focus of a media frenzy in 1997 when
he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge amid em-
barrassing allegations about his sex life. As a consequence
he was forced to leave broadcasting, but was rehired by the
MsG and Turner networks in 1998 and NBC in 1999. He was
hired in 2005 to handle play-by-play duties for the New Jer-
sey Nets beginning in the 2005-6 season. Albert, whose iconic
catchphrase is an emphatic “Yes!” punctuating a jump shot
in basketball, has won six Cable Ace Awards for Outstanding
Play-By-Play Announcer, three New York Emmy awards as
Outstanding On-Camera Personality, and was named New
York State Sportscaster of the Year an unprecedented 20 times.
In 1997 he was awarded the Curt Gowdy Media Award by the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Albert played himself in a number of films and is the
author of Krazy about the Knicks (1971), Ranger Fever (1973),
Marv Albert’s Sports Quiz Book (1976), Yesss!: Marv Albert
On Sportscasting (1979), and Id Love To But I Have a Game
(1993).
[Elli Wohlgelernter (274 ed.)]
ALBERT, MILDRED ELIZABETH LEVINE (1905-1991),
international fashion consultant, educator, lecturer, columnist,
and radio and television personality. Albert was the youngest
of four children of Thomas Levine and Elizabeth Sugarman.
Born in Russia, she emigrated with her family, who settled in
Roxbury, Massachusetts. While a student at the Sargent School
of Physical Education (now part of Boston University), Mil-
dred Levine met her future husband, James Albert. The cou-
ple married in 1928 and had three children. A teacher of art,
dance, and literature at Florence Street Settlement House in
the South End of Boston, Albert also taught posture at Mas-
sachusetts General Hospital and was sought out to give private
lessons in good posture and proper etiquette to daughters of
prominent Boston families. In the 1930s she established the
Academie Moderne, a finishing school for young women that
combined lessons on poise, grace, and good speaking skills
with exposure to museums and cultural events. In 1944, Al-
bert co-founded the Hart Model Agency and Promotions, Inc.
with Muriel Williams Hart and her husband, Francis Hart;
during those years she began covering major designer fash-
ion shows as Boston's “First Lady of Fashion.’ Albert sold the
school and the agency in 1981, but remained dean emeritus
to the school and consultant to the agency. From the 1930s
through the 1970s, Albert hosted weekly radio programs on
fashion and beauty. She continued fashion show coverage
on the cBs Good Day Show into the 1980s, and late in life as
a reporter for the Tab newspapers. Although not religiously
observant, Albert identified strongly with Jewish history and
culture. She shared her name and money as a generous phi-
lanthropist, co-coordinating fashion shows for various chari-
ties; she served on the board of the Hebrew Teachers College
in Boston in the 1920s and 1930s. Albert was the recipient of
numerous awards, including the State of Israel Bonds 35»
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBERTA
Anniversary Award in 1983; in 1990 Boston’s Mayor Flynn
declared “Mildred Albert Day” to honor the city’s “official
Grande Dame.’ Albert’s papers are located at the Schlesinger
Library of Radcliffe College.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Alpern, “Mildred (Levine) Albert,” in:
Jewish Women in America (P.E. Hyman and D.D. Moore, eds.), vol.
1 (1997); 32-33.
[Sara Alpern (2"4 ed.)]
ALBERTA, province in Western Canada. Alberta boasts
Canada’s fourth largest provincial population, with over 3.2
million people (July 2004). Its two major cities are Edmon-
ton, the provincial capital, with approximately 5,500 Jews, and
Calgary, home of the Canadian oil industry, with 8,200
Jews.
Although the province's nearly 15,400 Jews live primar-
ily in the main cities of Edmonton and Calgary, the Jewish
presence in Alberta was not always so overwhelmingly ur-
ban. Prior to the creation of Alberta in 1905, Jews were found
in villages, towns, and on farms around the region. The ear-
liest record of a Jew in Alberta was that of a gold prospec-
tor in Fort Edmund. The Hudson Bay factor’s journal reads:
“September 15, 1869 - Mr. Silverman (a Jew) and a party of
four Americans and a Negro started for Fort Benton today.’
Other Jewish traders and merchants also visited the region
from Montana Territory.
Permanent settlement in the region did not take place
until the 1880s when two significant historical developments
coincided: the extension of the Canadian Pacific Railway into
Western Canada (it reached Calgary in 1883) and the terrible
pogroms against East European Jews following *Alexander 111’s
ascension to the throne in 1881. In 1882, around 150 Russian
Jews worked on the cpr’s railway gang, laying 100 miles of
track to Medicine Hat. It was reported that they kept the Sab-
bath, ate kosher food, had a Torah scroll for services, and were
directed by a Yiddish-speaking foreman.
The first permanent Jewish residents, in what became Al-
berta, were brothers, Jacob Lyon Diamond and William Dia-
mond. In 1888, Jacob Diamond moved to Calgary and worked
as a pawnbroker and traded liquor and hides. Although his-
torical sources differ slightly over the timetable of William's
arrival in Calgary and Edmonton, it seems that he opened
a tailor shop in Calgary in 1892. The brothers initiated the
first formal Jewish service for the High Holidays in 1894 and
founded many of the Calgary community’s institutions, such
as its cemetery in 1904. Jacob Diamond established Calgary's
first synagogue, Beth Jacob, in 1911. In Edmonton, Abe Cris-
tall opened a liquor store soon after his arrival to the city in
1893. William Diamond was instrumental in establishing the
first Jewish religious council in Alberta in 1906, a year after
his move to Edmonton. Hyman Goldstick, the province's first
full-time Jewish religious leader, moved to Edmonton from
Toronto in 1906 and served Calgary, Edmonton, and smaller
surrounding Jewish communities.
589
ALBERTA
Recognizing the need to populate the West, Canada’s
high commissioner in London, Sir Alexander Galt, convinced
the prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, that the Russian
Jewish refugees could serve a useful purpose, colonizing the
West as farmers. Alberta's first Jewish farming settlements de-
veloped in 1893 at Pine Lake and near Fort Macleod. The Jew-
ish community at Pine Lake, numbering 70, was the largest in
the region at the time. By 1895, the difficult conditions, inexpe-
rience, and lack of Jewish communal institutions contributed
to the decline of this settlement and a smaller settlement near
Fort Macleod. In 1901, there were 242 Jews in the region.
A decade passed before there was another serious at-
tempt made at Jewish agricultural settlement. Settlements
were established at Trochu, Rumsey, and Sibbald in 1905, 1906,
and 1911, respectively. Living conditions improved after the ar-
rival of the Canadian Northern Railway in 1910 and families
joined the male settlers and opened businesses in the railway
villages. In Rumsey, Jews occupied important positions within
the wider community as justices of the peace and school trust-
ees. The *Jewish Colonization Association, an international
organization supported by Jewish philanthropists like Moses
*Montefiore, provided settlers with loans for reuniting farm
families and financial support for communal essentials like
kosher food, religious services, and education. The Canadian
government provided little, if any, support to the Jewish set-
tlers. During the heyday of Jewish farming in Alberta, up to
70 Jewish families were operating farms around Rumsey and
Sibbald. In 1914, the 100-person Jewish community of the
Montefiore colony near Sibbald built a synagogue and hired
a rabbi. As was the case everywhere, the Depression in the
1930s had a devastating effect on the Jewish colonists and by
World War 11 few Jewish farmers remained at Rumsey or Sib-
bald. By the war's end, the Jewish presence in rural Alberta
was virtually non-existent.
But for all the efforts at agricultural settlement, Jews
tended to concentrate in urban areas where there were eco-
nomic opportunities as merchants, traders, and peddlers. By
1911, there were 1,207 Jews in the province, with more than
half of them in the two major cities (604 in Calgary and 171 in
Edmonton). Aside from Edmonton and Calgary, larger Jew-
ish communities were also established in Lethbridge (home
to the third largest Jewish community in Alberta) and Medi-
cine Hat. As it took many years for these communities to ac-
quire a synagogue building, services were conducted for years
in people’s homes. In the small town of Vegreville, Jews lived
harmoniously with the town’s Ukrainian and French Canadian
residents and were active in municipal life. The Jewish pres-
ence in small towns and cities in Alberta, however, gradually
disappeared due to the richer Jewish communal life and better
economic opportunities available in Edmonton and Calgary.
After World War 1, Canada briefly opened its doors to
immigration. In 1921, the Canadian census found 3,186 Jews
in Alberta. By 1930, however, the number of Jews admitted to
the country was in decline as a result of growing immigration
restriction. Nevertheless, the number of Jews in the province
590
grew by almost 15 percent between 1921 and 1931, largely due to
migration of Jews from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 1931,
92 percent of Alberta's 3,700 Jews lived in urban settings.
Alberta's Jewish population grew slowly through the war
years and into the postwar era but prosperity in the 1970s led
to a significant increase in the number of Jews in the province,
primarily in Edmonton and Calgary. With that growth came
the development of large Jewish community centers and Re-
form temples in both cities. Serving Calgary and Edmonton,
the Jewish Star was published between 1980 and 1990. Since
then, the Jewish Free Press serves the Calgary Jewish commu-
nity and Edmonton Jewish Life and Edmonton Jewish News
serve Edmonton. Jews in both cities also established com-
munity day schools.
Although the early Jewish community in Alberta faced
antisemitism, and antisemitism was a fact of life in the Ca-
nadian government's immigration policy until after World
War 11, it has not been very pronounced in the major cities
of Alberta. Jews in Alberta did not face enrollment quotas in
professional schools as did Jews in Manitoba, Ontario, and
Quebec. Discrimination was not blatant and organized in Al-
berta but existed at an informal level, for instance with social
clubs. There was the exception of the Social Credit Party which
took power in 1935. The victory gave antisemitic politicians a
platform from which to spout their views and appeal to their
largely rural support base. Major Douglas, the party’s founder,
blamed the Jews for Alberta's hard times during the 1930s and
while Premier William Aberhardt publicly spoke against an-
tisemitism, his personal writings and social circle, including
Henry Ford, belied an ambivalent, if not, negative attitude.
A case that received wide attention was that of James
Keegstra, a high school teacher in the town of Eckville, Al-
berta. In 1984, Keegstra was charged with unlawfully promot-
ing hatred against an identifiable group, in violation of the
Canadian Criminal Code, through his anti-Jewish statements,
e.g., calling Jews “barbaric,” “manipulative,” and “sadistic,”
and claiming that Jews “created the Holocaust to gain sympa-
thy.’ His defense lawyer, known for defending neo-Nazis and
Holocaust deniers like Ernst Zundel, argued that the Crimi-
nal Code violated Keegstra’s Charter right to freedom of ex-
pression. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court,
which in a 4-3 decision ruled against Keegstra and maintained
that Criminal Code Section 319(2) constituted a reason-
able limit on freedom of expression, noting “there is obviously
a rational connection between restricting hate propaganda
and fostering harmonious social relations between Canadi-
ans.”
Despite the infamy of the Keegstra case in Alberta, Al-
berta’s Jewish population has found the province to be a se-
cure and prosperous home. Jews in Alberta have risen to
prominence in important and prestigious leadership roles
in the larger community. Sheldon Chumir, a well-known
Calgary lawyer, Rhodes scholar, and Liberal politician, was
twice elected to the Alberta Legislature. Calgary was also
home to Canada’s first female chief of police, Christine Sil-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
verberg. In September 2001 a Jew was appointed president
and vice chancellor of the University of Calgary, and, in Oc-
tober 2004 Edmonton elected a Jewish mayor, Stephen Man-
del. The Edmonton Symphony was founded by Abe Fratkin
and the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos was
also founded by Jews. Jews have played a vital role in the arts
in Alberta - Shoctor founding the Citadel Theatre in Edmon-
ton and contributing significantly to Calgary's Centre for the
Performing Arts.
As with many other North American communities, in
the final decades of the 20 century, two newer Jewish groups
have joined the primarily Ashkenazi established Jewish com-
munity in Alberta, Israelis and Russians. Reform, Conserva-
tive, Orthodox, and Habad denominations of Judaism all have
a presence in Alberta, although the majority of Alberta’s Jews
are non-Orthodox.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Rubin, “Alberta's Jews: The Long Journey,”
in: H. and T. Palmer (eds.), Peoples of Alberta: Portraits of Cultural
Diversity (1985), 329-47; H.M. Sanders, “Jews of Alberta,’ in: Alberta
History, 47 (1999), 20-26.
[Aliza Craimer (24 ed.)]
ALBERTI-IRSA (also known as Albertirsa), twin cities in
the Monor district of Pest-Pilis-Solt Kiskun county, Hungary.
Jews first settled there in 1746. In 1770 there were 13 Jewish
residents in Alberti and 95 in Irsa, mainly occupied as mer-
chants, tailors, tavern owners, distillers, and bookbinders. The
communal regulations (takkanot) date from 1772. The chevra
kadisha was organized by Rabbi Abraham Pressburger in 1784.
A synagogue was built in 1809, and a talmud torah in 1804; a
Jewish elementary school was opened in 1851. The participa-
tion of the community in the Hungarian struggle for indepen-
dence in 1848-49 cost it an indemnity of 1,200 gulden, levied
by the Austrian authorities. Many of the Jewish residents left
Alberti-Irsa after 1850, when Hungarian Jews were permitted
freedom of movement. The community constituted itself as
a Status Quo community in February 1881, although a num-
ber of Jews organized themselves as an Orthodox congrega-
tion. The two were consolidated in 1889 by Rabbi Zsigmond
Biichler. In 1929 the congregation had 250 members, includ-
ing those of the other communities in the district. The rabbis
of Alberti-Irsa include Abraham Pressburger, author of Even
ha-Ot (Prague, 1793); Amram Rosenbaum (1814-26); Hayyim
Kittsee (1829-40), head of a large yeshivah and author of the
responsa, Ozar Hayyim (1913); Jonas Bernfeld (1853-72); and
Zsigmond Biichler (1886-1941).
According to the census of 1941, Irsa had a Jewish popu-
lation of 124 (1.7% of the total), and Alberti of 21 (0.5%). In ad-
dition the twin towns had one and six converts, respectively,
who were identified as Jews under the racial laws. The status
quo congregation of the twin cities, led by Rabbi Imre Blau,
had 92 members in 1941. After Blau was drafted into a forced
labor service company in 1942, the community came under
the leadership of Rabbi Istvan Székely. After the German oc-
cupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944, Rabbi Székely was
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBI
appointed head of the local Jewish Council. The 149 Jews of
the twin cities were first concentrated in a local ghetto that
was established in the so-called Fodor lumber yard and in the
“Singer building.” They were later transferred to the ghetto of
Monor from where they were deported to Auschwitz in early
July 1944. The community numbered 14 in 1968, but ceased
to exist a few years later.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Buechler, Az alberti-irsai izraelita hitkozség
torténete (1909); MHJ, 7 (1963), 744; Zsidé Lexikon (1929), 22. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: PK Hungaria, 153-155.
[Alexander Scheiber / Randolph Braham (24 ed.)]
°ALBERTUS MAGNUS (about 1200-1280), German scho-
lastic philosopher and theologian. He was a key figure at the
rising University of Paris and in the schools of the Dominican
Order, especially in Cologne. Among his students was Thomas
* Aquinas. Although he belonged to the group of scholars that
witnessed the condemnation of the Talmud in 1248, he was
interested in Jewish literature and never attempted to hide
his reliance on *Maimonides as a mediator between philoso-
phy and Bible. Occasionally, he referred to Maimonides and
Isaac *Israeli, the compiler of neo-Platonic doctrines, as men
who frivolously adapted philosophy to Jewish law. However,
“Rabbi Moyses’” (“Maimonides”) discussions on the limits
within which peripatetic cosmology may be accepted by a
believer in divine creation as described in Genesis had a very
positive meaning for a Dominican who was introducing the
whole of Aristotle's system into the orbit of ecclesiastical learn-
ing. For his own attempt at synthesis Albertus was inclined
to combine Aristotelianism with neo-Platonic ideas; therefore
Avencebrol’s (Ibn *Gabirol’s) Fons vitae was an important text
for him. He did not know, however, that this author was a Jew
of great renown.
During the latter half of the 13 century friars began us-
ing information from Maimonides’ Dux neutrorum (Guide
of the Perplexed) for their exegetical work. Albertus shared
this trend, following Maimonides in his interpretation of the
Book of Job as a philosophical treatise on the relation of di-
vine providence and human suffering. Parts of Albertus’ works
were known to late medieval Jewish philosophers through
Hebrew translations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 456-66,
494-5, 776-7. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Binding and P. Dilg, in:
Lexikon des Mittelalters, 1 (1980), 294-299; J. Mueller, Natuerliche
Moral und philosophische Ethik bei Albertus Magnus (2001); 1M.
Resnick, Albert the Great (2004), incl. ann. bibl.
[Hans Liebeschutz]
ALBI, town in France. The church council held at Albi in 1254
issued a number of canons (63-70) embodying anti-Jewish re-
strictive measures. One or two Jewish families resided in Albi
toward the end of the 13" century. A few settled there after 1315
without authorization from the local authorities. In 1320 sev-
eral were massacred by the *Pastoureaux. Subsequently Jews
were only permitted to enter Albi in transit on payment of a
591
ALBIGENSES
toll of 12 deniers. In 1967 there were approximately 70 Jews in
Albi, mainly of North African origin.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the
Thirteenth Century (1966), index; Nahon, in: REJ, 121 (1962), 63.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
ALBIGENSES, generic name, deriving from the city of Albi,
loosely applied to a number of Christian heretical sects which
developed in Provence and south France in the 12‘ century,
the term being used especially in connection with Cathari.
Knowledge of their precise doctrines is vague, being derived
mainly from the vilifications of their Roman Catholic oppo-
nents, now partly reinforced by the information embodied in
Inquisitional trials. The Roman Catholic Church suspected
that some of these heresies were deliberately stimulated by the
Jews. This is out of the question, especially as in most cases
the sectarian doctrines embodied dualistic elements which
were even further removed from Judaism than those of nor-
mative Christianity. On the other hand, some of the allied
bodies, such as the “Passagi” and “Circumcisi,’ had an Old
Testament basis and can be characterized as Judaizing sects
(see *Judaizers). Some of the other sectaries also apparently
studied Hebrew in order to have a better understanding of the
Old Testament, and personal relations between Albigenses
and Jews seem to have been relatively cordial, this fact itself
adding to the suspicions and animosities of the church. The
Cathari accused the Roman Catholic Church of corruption,
ritualistic pomp, and superficiality. Seeing them as a chal-
lenge to its power, the Church in return condemned them
as Manicheans and Church Judaizers. However, though the
Cathari rejected image worship, maintained certain prohibi-
tions on the consumption of meat, and denied that Jesus was
God, their theology and ritual contained a variety of contra-
dictory elements. In fact, their attitude toward Judaism and
the Old Testament was clearly hostile, as is borne out by the
records of the Inquisition and the contemporary chronicles
which cannot be suspected of a Catharistic bias. Jewish law
was rejected by the Cathari as evil, because the “devil in the
shape of a calf” (diabolus in forma vituli) had given it to them.
Judaism as a whole was held to be an emanation of the mate-
rial, visible, and consequently evil God.
Catharist hostility toward Judaism on the theological
level, however, was not reflected on the social and cultural
plane. Jews were held in high esteem in the French Midi,
where their status was probably the best in Europe. Cities
like Albi, Béziers, Carcassonne, Toulouse, Lunel, Montpellier,
Marseilles, Beaucaire, and Nimes, which were most affected by
the heresy, also had large Jewish populations. Concomitantly,
rulers of the Midi openly favored both Albigenses and Jews,
whom they appointed to important functions in the fiscal ad-
ministration. Roger 11, of Béziers, probably a Cathar himself,
intermittently appointed Jews to the office of bailiff (bailli), a
tradition apparently carried on by his son Raymond-Roger.
Count Raymond vi of Toulouse, patron of Provengal poetry
592
and tolerant of Catharism, generally favored Jews and em-
ployed Abba Mari b. Isaac of St. Gilles as one of his officials.
In granting privileges to the Jews, the princes were motivated
by reasons more powerful than mere sympathy. Owing to their
commercial activity Jews often were a considerable source of
revenue and some princes were in debt to them. More gen-
erally, the degree of independence of thought in Provence
and the good will displayed to one another by Christians and
Jews are probably explained by the fact that the whole region
was then exposed to a wide range of outside influences which
made it an island of civilization and tolerance, far removed
from medieval obscurantism.
The situation which thus obtained in Provence Jewish
prosperity expanding in the midst of heresy was doubly in-
tolerable to the established church. In 1195, at the Council of
Montpellier it was decreed that anyone who allowed Jews (or
Muslims) to exercise public office would be excommunicated.
In 1209, Pope *Innocent 111 (1198-1216) ordered the Cistercians
to preach a crusade against the Albigenses (January 1209). An
army of monks, fanatics, and nobles marched into southern
France. It was headed by Arnold of Citeaux, Cardinal Ber-
trand, and the rapacious Simon de Montfort, King Philip 11
of France having refused to lead the enterprise. The first stage
of the operation ended with the capitulation of Raymond v1
of Toulouse. In June 1209, at Montélimar, he and his nobles
pledged themselves by oath “to forever removing the Jews
from all administration and office, not ever to restore them,
nor to accept other Jews for any office... nor use their council
against Christians, nor... to permit them to employ Christians,
men or women, in their homes as servants.” Next the Crusad-
ers took Béziers and Carcassone (July/August 1209), defended
by young Raymond-Roger. Twenty thousand Christians and
200 Jews were massacred at Béziers. Many others were carried
away as captives. In September 1209 the Council of Avignon
decreed that “the Jews should be restrained from the exac-
tion of usury by excommunicating those Christians who en-
ter into commercial relations with them... and that the Jews
be compelled to remit what they had gained through usury.
We also prohibit them... to presume to work in public on the
Sundays or festivals. Nor shall they eat meat on days of absti-
nence.’ Seven years later the wife of Simon de Montfort emu-
lated her consort by having all the Jews of Toulouse arrested.
Children under age were promptly baptized, but the adults
resisted conversion and were eventually set free.
The Albigensian Crusade came to an end in 1229 with the
Treaty of Paris, which destroyed the power of the princes in
the south. The remaining adherents of Catharism were left to
the care of the Inquisition, which dealt them a final blow by
setting up a collective stake at Montségur (12.45).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the
Thirteenth Century (1959), index; L.I. Newman, Jewish Influence
on Christian Reform Movements (1925), index; G. Saige, Les Juifs
de Languedoc (1881); Graetz, Gesch, 7 (c. 1900*), 8ff., 53; A. Borst,
Die Katharer (1953); C. Schmidt, Histoire et doctrine de la secte des
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Cathares ou Albigeois (1849); H.C. Lea, History of Inquisition in the
Middle Ages (1958); J.M. O’Brien, in: Comparative Studies in Society
and History, 10 (1967/68), 215-20.
°ALBINUS, LUCCEIUS, Roman procurator of Judea, 62-
64 c.E. During the brief interval between the death of his
predecessor Festus and his arrival, the high priest ‘Anan son
of Anan summoned the Sanhedrin and sentenced James, the
brother of Jesus, to death. Thereupon delegations were sent
to Agrippa 11 and even to Albinus, then on his way from Alex-
andria, to protest against Anan’s illegal act, since he had no
authority to convene the Sanhedrin without the procurator’s
consent (Jos., Ant., 20:197-203). Josephus depicts Albinus as
unusually rapacious. He increased the burden of taxes and
released prisoners only on payment of a ransom (Jos., Wars,
2:272-3). Under Albinus the *Sicarii intensified their activi-
ties and when they were unable to ransom their followers
they would seize some of the leading citizens and make their
release dependent upon that of their members held prisoner
by Albinus. Thus Ananias, the high priest, was constrained to
persuade Albinus to release ten Sicarii in exchange for his son,
Eleazar’s secretary, kidnapped by them (Jos., Ant., 20:208-9).
Josephus relates that several years before the destruction of
the Second Temple, portents foretold its approaching doom.
Among them was a farmer, Jesus, the son of Ananias, who
day and night proclaimed the coming destruction by crying
out: “A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from
the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the sanctuary,
a voice against the bridegroom and the bride, a voice against
all the people.” Brought before Albinus, Jesus unceasingly re-
peated his dirge, even under torture. Albinus concluded that
he was mad and sent him away (Jos., Wars, 6:300-5). Signs of
the imminent outbreak of hostilities were probably evident in
the days of Albinus, who, in 64 C.E., was succeeded by Florus,
the last procurator of Judea.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pauly-Wissowa, 26 (1927), 1559-61, no. 11;
Schuerer, Gesch., 1 (1901*), 583-5; H.G. Pflaum, Les carriéres procu-
ratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire Romain, 1 (1960), 75-77,
no. 33.
[Lea Roth]
ALBO, JOSEPH (15' century), Jewish philosopher in Chris-
tian Spain. Albo participated in the famous Jewish-Christian
disputation at *Tortosa and San-Mateo (1413-14) as a represen-
tative of the Jewish community of Daroca and wrote a theo-
logical-philosophical treatise by the name of Book of Princi-
ples (Heb. Sefer ha-Ikkarim). Albo's Ikkarim has become one
of the most famous compositions of medieval Jewish thought
and was translated into Latin, English, German, Russian, and
Italian (part a only).
Little is known about Albo’s life. The general opinion re-
garding the dates of his birth and death (1380-1444) is based
on assumptions rather than on historical documents or facts.
Albo was born, presumably, in the Crown of Aragon, where
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBO, JOSEPH
he studied with Hasdai *Crescas of Saragossa, to whom he re-
fers in his book as his teacher (Ikkarim, 1, 26; 3, 16; cf. Book of
Principles, 1, ed. Husik, Philadelphia, 1929, vol. 1, p. 200, 1, 18;
vol. 3, p. 148, 1, 9). According to Albo’s own words, he moved
to Soria in the Crown of Castile, very possibly following the
destruction of his community at Daroca (1415), and there he
completed his major treatise (Ikkarim, intro.; cf. Principles, vol.
1, p. 3% 2, 1-2). Historical documents indicate that Albo was a
social as well as a religious leader in both Daroca and Soria.
His judgment was requested, for instance, in matters of family
quarrels as well as in halakhic questions. It also seems that he
was a physician and that he understood, apart from the He-
brew language in which he wrote his philosophical treatise,
both Spanish and Latin. Whether or not he could read Arabic
is an unresolved question.
A survey of Albo’s written work shows, quite interest-
ingly, that the Ikkarim was not his sole publication. Several
researchers claim that Albo also wrote a polemical treatise in
Spanish by the name of The One (Heb. Ha-Ehad). Others at-
tribute to Albo a composition called One Hundred Pages (Heb.
Meah Dapin) that deals with the dogmas of faith. Finally, two
other short compositions attributed to Albo are still available
only in manuscripts: (a) Commentary to Maimonides’ Treatise
on Logic; (b) notes on Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles.
Sefer ha-Ikkarim
CHRONOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. Nev-
ertheless, Albo’s major contribution to the history of Jewish
philosophy lies in his Sefer ha-Ikkarim. Another aspect of the
uncertainty surrounding Albo’s biography is the difference of
opinions regarding the exact year in which he completed the
writing of this book (e. g. 142.4, 1425, 1428, and a more cautious
opinion stating only that it could not have been before 1415).
The prevailing opinion among scholars seems to be, however,
that it was completed by the year 1425.
Important chronological information concerning the
composition process of the Ikkarim can be drawn from Albos
retrospective comment at the end of part a of his book. Albo
notes that his initial intention was to discuss exclusively the
doctrine of religious dogmas, an aim that was fulfilled in the
course of part A alone. However, later on, at the request of a
group of people who presumably had read his original work,
he decided to expand his discussion of these matters and, con-
sequently, to add three more parts to the first (Ikkarim, 1, 26;
cf. Principles, vol. 1, p. 203, 2, 1-9). In light of this remark sev-
eral scholars have concluded that part of the Ikkarim was,
and henceforth should be treated as, a work Albo had writ-
ten independently of the final version of the whole book. The
question as to the year in which part a of the Ikkarim was ac-
tually written in its first version remains open. Scholars ad-
dressing this issue are mainly divided with regard to the ques-
tion of whether it was written before Albo’s immigration from
Aragon to Castile and before the Tortosa disputation, namely,
many years before the completion of the entire composition,
593
ALBO, JOSEPH
or not, namely, a relatively short period of time before the
book’s completion. Differences between part a and parts B-D
of the book with regard to both style and content can be con-
sidered to favor the former point of view.
After considering the narrow chronological aspect of the
composition stages of the Ikkarim, the broader historical one
should also be taken into account. Two historical-cultural cir-
cumstances can be pointed to as sources of influence on Albo’s
theoretical activity: (1) Massive, rapidly growing, and multi-
dimensional pressure exerted by the Christian church upon
the Jews in northern Spain to encourage them to convert to
Christianity. (2) Internal dissension within the Jewish theo-
logical camp between rationalistic thinkers on the one hand
and conservative and kabbalistic thinkers on the other hand.
It should be noted that these motifs have been highlighted in
the research that has been conducted on Jewish thought in
15'"-century Spain in general.
CONTENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS. As indicated above, the
Ikkarim is divided into four parts. Part a presents Albo's dog-
matic system, namely the system of the main beliefs in what
he calls “Divine Law.’ That system is divided into three hier-
archic categories: (a) fundamental principles (Heb. Ikkarim),
(b) derivative principles (Heb. Shorashim), and (c) obligatory
dogmas (Heb. Anafim). Denying one of the fundamental or
the derivative principles, Albo claims, is equivalent to heresy,
but not the denial of one of the obligatory dogmas, which is
considered by him merely a religious sin.
According to Albo there are three fundamental prin-
ciples of “Divine Law”: (1) the existence of God, (2) divine
revelation, and (3) reward and punishment. The remaining
three parts of the Ikkarim (parts B-D) address these princi-
ples, respectively.
Part B discusses the first fundamental principle in Albos
list, namely the existence of God, and its four derivative prin-
ciples which are God's unity, incorporeality, independence of
time, and absence of defects. The main theme of part B is the
doctrine of the divine attributes, yet attention should also be
drawn to Albo’s interesting critical discussion of Maimonides’
philosophical proofs for the existence of God (Ikkarim, 2, 4-5;
cf. Principles, vol. 2, pp. 26-35).
Part c discusses the second fundamental principle,
namely divine revelation, and its two derivative principles,
which are prophecy and the authenticity of the messenger of
“Divine Law.’ Other important issues discussed in the frame-
work of part c are the question of ultimate human felicity, the
Law of Moses and its commandments, and finally the religious
duties of fear and love of God.
Part D discusses the third fundamental principle, namely
reward and punishment, and its two derivative principles,
which are God’s knowledge and providence. In the course
of this part Albo addresses the problem of evil and offers in-
teresting analyses of two major religious phenomena, prayer
and repentance. In the sequel Albo discusses extensively the
594
doctrines of reward and punishment in the hereafter, resur-
rection of the dead, and the messiah.
Thus, the Ikkarim offers a systematic, detailed, and broad
examination of the cornerstones of religious philosophy in
general, and of Jewish thought in particular. To be precise,
this book offers a summation of medieval Jewish thought as it
appears from the abundance and divergence of its philosophi-
cal and theological sources. The Jewish thinkers who seem to
have had the greatest influence on Albo’s thought are *Mai-
monides, *Nahmanides, *Nissim of Gerona, Hasdai Crescas,
and Simeon ben Zemah *Duran. Albo was also familiar with
kabbalistic sources and views on the one hand and with works
of non-Jewish philosophers, such as ‘Aristotle, *Avicenna,
*Averroés, and Thomas *Aquinas, on the other.
These qualities of the Ikkarim, in addition to its plain
language, have contributed to its popularity within diver-
gent Jewish and non-Jewish circles. The Ikkarim was one of
the first philosophical treatises to be printed (1485), and in
the following two centuries it was twice commented on, first
by Jacob Koppelmann (Ohel Yaakov, 1584), then by Gedaliah
Lipschuetz (Ez Shatul, 1618). Moreover, Albo’s name is men-
tioned in the works of later Jewish philosophers, medieval as
well as modern, and references to his book can be found in
their writings. Such thinkers are, for example, Isaac *Arama,
Isaac *Abrabanel, *Spinoza, and Moses *Mendelssohn. Lastly,
Christian theologians in the 16" and 17 centuries used the
Ikkarim in order to promote their polemical purposes.
A last remark should be made in regard to the research
conducted on Albo’s thought during the last 150 years. This
research has taken three main courses: (1) an exposure of the
philosophical sources of the Ikkarim, (2) a discussion of the
historical circumstances in which Albo’ss theoretical activ-
ity took place, and (3) an examination of Albo’s theological
opinions.
Until recently researchers shared the general agreement
that Albo was not an original thinker, but rather an eclectic
one. Correspondingly, the Ikkarim was mainly considered a
popular homiletic and encyclopedic treatise that lacked orig-
inality and philosophic profundity. This approach to Albos
work emphasized especially his polemical and apologetic in-
terests in the light of the massive Christian spiritual as well as
physical attacks on the Jews of his time and place.
An alternative approach to Albo’s work wishes to supple-
ment the analysis of his philosophy as such with an analysis of
his philosophical “art of writing” In other words, it views the
Ikkarim as not merely a compendium of views randomly put
together but as a composition that was written purposefully
and meticulously as an esoteric work, very much like Mai-
monides’ in his Guide for the Perplexed. Albo intentionally
expresses certain points of view on the exoteric, outer level,
of the book and conceals other, opposing ones on its esoteric,
inner level. It should be mentioned that this approach to Albos
thought is primarily supported by his opening remarks in part
b of the Ikkarim, where he indicated that the book contains de-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
liberate contradictions and therefore should be carefully read
(Ikkarim, 2, opening; cf. Principles, vol. 2, pp. 1-4).
Albos treatise indeed hardly displays any significant the-
oretical novelty. However, researchers of both camps point
to one discussion that reflects some originality, that is, the
discussion of the different kinds of “Law,” namely “Divine,”
“Human, and “Natural” (Ikkarim, 1, 5-8; cf. Principles, vol. 1,
pp. 70-92). They assert that Albo was probably the first Jew-
ish thinker to use the political concept of “Natural Law” in
his book, possibly under the influence of Thomas Aquinas.
Another discussion that points to an original approach to a
familiar subject is the one regarding the meaning of human
love of God (Ikkarim, 3, 35-37; cf. Principles, vol. 3, pp. 316-51).
This discussion has influenced several later Jewish thinkers
who addressed the issue.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Back, Joseph Albo’s Bedeutung in der Ge-
schichte der jiidischen Religionsphilosophie: Ein Beitrag zur genauern
Kenntniss der Tendenz des Buches “ikkarim” (1869); Y. Baer, Spain,
2, ch. 11 (1966); D. Ehrlich, “Filosofyah ve-Omanut ha-Ketiva be-Sefer
ha-Ikkarim le-Rabbi Yosef Albo,” dissertation, Bar-Ilan University
(2004); H. Graetz, History of the Jews, 4 (1894), 239-44; J. Guttmann,
“Le-Heker ha-Mekorot shel Sefer ha-Ikkarim, in: S.H. Bergman and
N. Rotenstreich (eds.), Dat u-Madda: Kovez Maamarim ve-Harzaot
(1955), 169-91; idem, Philosophies of Judaism: The History of Jewish
Philosophy from Biblical times to Franz Rosenzweig (1964), 247-51;
W.Z. Harvey, “Albo’s Discussion of Time,” in: JQR, 70 (1979-80), 210-
38; I. Husik, A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy (1916), 406-27;
M. Kellner, Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought From Maimonides to
Abravanel (1986),140-56; H. Kreisel, Prophecy: The History of an Idea
in Medieval Jewish Philosophy (2001), 486-543; D.J. Lasker, “Torat ha-
Immut be-Mishnato ha-Filosofit shel Yosef Albo,” in: Daat, 5 (1980),
5-12; R. Lerner, “Natural Law in Albo’s Book of Roots,’ in: J. Crop-
sey (ed.), Ancients and Moderns: Essays on the Tradition of Political
Philosophy in Honor of Leo Strauss (1964), 132-47; S. Rauschenbach,
Josef Albo: Juedische Philosophie und christliche Kontroverstheologie
in der Friihen Neuzeit (Studies in European Judaism, 3) (2002); D.
Schwartz, Setirah ve-Hastarah ba-Hagut ha-Yehudit Bi-Yemei ha-
Beinayim (2002), 182-96; E. Schweid, “Bein Mishnat ha-Ikkarim shel
R. Yosef Albo le-Mishnat ha-Ikkarim shel ha-Rambam,” in: Tarbiz, 33
(1963), 74-84; idem, “Ha-Nevua’h be-Mishnato shel R. Yosef Albo,”
in: Tarbiz, 35 (1965), 48-60; idem, “Ha-Pulmus neged ha-Nazrut ke-
Gorem Meazev be-Mishnat ha-R.Y. Albo,” in: PwcJs, 4 (1968), 309-12;
C. Sirat, A History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages (1985), 374-
81; A. Taenzer, Die Religionsphilosophie Josef Albo’s nach seinem werke
“Ikkarim”: Systematisch Dragestellt und Erldutert (1896); S.B. Urbach,
Amudei ha-Mahshavah ha-Yisraelit, v. 2 (1972), 519-656.
[Dror Ehrlich (24 ed.)]
ALBORAYCOS. One of the insulting names applied to con-
verted Jews in Spain in the 15‘ century. An anti-Converso
work, the Libro del Alborayque, apparently from the north of
Spain (c. 1488), derives the term from the name of the mar-
velous mount of Muhammad, al-Buraq. Just as the steed was
neither horse nor mule, male nor female, so the insincere con-
verts were not Jews, Muslims, or Christians. The work speci-
fies 20 characteristics of al-Buraq and applies each of them
to the Conversos.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBOTINI, JUDAH BEN MOSES
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Resnick, in: Hispania, 9:34 (Sp., 1949), 58;
N. Lopez Martinez, Los judaizantes castellanos y la Inquisicion (1954),
53-54, 391-404 (text of the Libro Ilamado el Alboraique); Loeb, in: RE),
18 (1889), 238-42; J. Caro Baroja, Los Judios en la Espatia moderna...,1
(1962), 174-5; J.E. Longhurst, The Age of Torquemada (19647), 91-95.
[Kenneth R. Scholberg]
ALBOTINI (Albutaini), JUDAH BEN MOSES (d. 1519),
kabbalist and commentator on *Maimonides’ writings. His
father was a scholar in Lisbon. Albotini was one of the “Mem-
bers of the Yeshivah of Jerusalem” and, in 1509, signed with
them an ordinance to exempt scholars from taxes. He suc-
ceeded Jacob of Triel as head of the Jerusalem yeshivah, and
as such was also head of the Jerusalem rabbis. Albotini was
the author of several halakhic and kabbalistic books, all of
which have remained in manuscript. His main work is the
Yesod Mishneh Torah on Maimonides. The book includes the
notation and explanation of the sources which preceded Mai-
monides. It discusses the foundation of every halakhah and
the manner in which it was substantiated by Maimonides. Al-
botini held that the critics of Maimonides made strange and
superfluous suppositions because Maimonides’ sources were
not accessible to them. He, however, had several sources and
manuscripts which were not available to them. Of special in-
terest in his work are the introductions (derushim) which en-
compass subjects treated by Maimonides. He discusses these
extensively in the place where they are first mentioned, ana-
lyzes the problems, explains the practical issues, and sums up
the subject matter. In addition to the manuscripts of homi-
letical commentaries on halakhah and aggadah and the an-
cient authors, he also possessed the correct manuscripts of
the Mishneh Torah and chose, according to them, the correct
version. In 1518-19, he completed his commentary on Mai-
monides’ Sefer ha-Madda, Sefer Ahavah, and Sefer Zemannim
(British Museum, Ms. Add. 19.783). However, from Sefer
Nashim, Albotini explained only the laws of marriage and a
number of chapters from the laws of divorce (Ms. Deinard
398, J.T.s., Schechter collection, New York). Three additional
books on Maimonides, now lost, are (1) Moreh ha-Mishnah,
which proposed to explain the veracity of his commentary
on the Mishnah; (2) Sefer Yeshuot, on Seder Nezikin; Albot-
ini intended to include rulings on money matters by R. Isaac
*Alfasi, Maimonides, Sefer Mitzvot Gadol, and Tur Hoshen
Mishpat; (3) a commentary on Maimonides’ commentary on
the Mishnah, or more precisely, on the division of the Tumot
(uncleannesses) in the introduction to Seder Tohorot (order
of cleannesses). Albotini wrote this book in Jerusalem in 1501.
Sullam ha-Aliyyah (“The Ladder of Ascent”), a manual for
contemplative mystics, is his only known kabbalistic work.
Albotini was attracted by Abraham *Abulafia’s prophetic kab-
balism and by his doctrine of combinations (zeruf).
Another work called Marot Elohim (“Visions of God”),
which probably dealt with Maaseh Bereshit (esoteric doc-
trine of the creation) and with Maaseh Merkavah (mystic
595
ALBRIGHT, WILLIAM FOXWELL
speculations on the celestial chariot) is mentioned in Yesod
Mishneh Torah. At the beginning of the latter there are also
some chapters dealing with kabbalistic subjects: Derush ha-
Havayah, Derush Hishtalshelut ha-Nimza’im, and Derush ha-
Nefesh, which constitute an introduction to Hilkhot Yesodei
ha-Torah.
Albotini’s book reflects the cumulative impact of the vari-
ous layers of ecstatic Kabbalah: Abulafia’s Or ha-Sekhel, R. Na-
than ben Saadiah’s Shaarei Zedek, and R. Isaac of Acre. Sullam
ha-Aliyyah was printed by E.Y. Porush in Jerusalem, 1989.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Scholem, in: Ks, 2 (1925/26), 107, 138-41;
idem, Kitvei Yad be-Kabbalah (1930), no. 6, 32, 225-30; M. Benayahu,
in: Sinai, 36 (1955), 240-74.
°ALBRIGHT, WILLIAM FOXWELL (1891-1971), U.S. bibli-
cal archaeologist and Semitics scholar. The son of Methodist
missionaries, Albright studied at Johns Hopkins University,
earning his doctorate under Paul Haupt. In 1929, he became
professor of Semitic languages at Hopkins. He directed the
American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, 1920-29
and 1933-36. Albright’s excavations in Erez Israel include Gi-
beath-Shaul (Tell al-Fal), 1922-23, 1933; Adar and Bab al-Dhra®
in Moab in 1924 and 1933; *Beth-El in 1927 and 1934; and Pe-
tra in 1935. His main achievement in field work was the ex-
cavation of Tell Beit Mirsim (the biblical Debir?), which he
directed in 1926, 1928, 1930, and 1932. He also participated in
the University of California expedition to Sinai (1947-48) and
was chief archaeologist of expeditions of the American Foun-
dation for the Study of Man at Wadi Bayhan (Beihan), Hajar
Bin Humayd, and Timna‘ in Arabia (1950-51). His main pub-
lications (apart from over 1,500 articles) are From the Stone
Age to Christianity (1940; 1946”); Archaeology and the Religion
of Israel (1942); The Archaeology of Palestine (1949); and The
Excavation of Tell Beit Mirsim (1932-43). In this last work,
Albright laid the foundations for the scientific ceramic chro-
nology of the Canaanite and Israelite periods in Erez Israel:
his philological and topographical studies solved some of the
most difficult problems in Egyptian and Semitic philology
and in the identification of places. In his approach to biblical
history (The Biblical Period from Abram to Ezra (1949), New
Horizons in Biblical Research (1966), and Archaeology, Histori-
cal Analogy, and Early Biblical Tradition (1966)), Albright was
a theologically conservative scholar, dating the Patriarchs to
the first half of the second millennium on the basis of his in-
tensive study of the Near Eastern background of the period;
similarly he assigned the composition of the historical books
of the Bible known as the “Former Prophets” to the 13"*-10%
centuries B.c.E. and most of the Psalms to the pre-Exilic pe-
riod. Albright was one of the first scholars to authenticate the
*Dead Sea Scrolls. His students include most of the promi-
nent archaeologists of the later 20" and early 21*t century in
the United States and Israel, among them G.E. Wright, N.
Glueck, and B. Maisler (Mazar). He also trained such emi-
nent biblicists and Semiticists as J. Bright, FM. Cross, D.N.
Freedman, and W. Moran. Albright was the foremost bibli-
596
cal archaeologist of modern times, combining a devotion to
evangelical Christianity with a scientific approach to the prob-
lems of archaeology and the Bible. While many of his broad
syntheses of the Bible with archaeology came under criticism
beginning in the 1970s, Albright must be credited for provid-
ing the very framework within which such criticism could
occur. Likewise, his work on many aspects of Semitic philol-
ogy remains invaluable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.M. Orlinsky, An Indexed Bibliography of
the Writings of William Foxwell Albright (1941); L. Finkelstein (ed.),
American Spiritual Autobiographies (1948), 156-81; G.E. Wright (ed.),
The Bible and the Ancient Near East (1961), includes bibliography up
to 1958; A. Malamat (ed.), in: Eretz Israel, 9 (1969). ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: L.G. Running, in: DBI 1, 22-23.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ALBU, SIR GEORGE (1857-1935), South African mining
magnate and financier. Born in Berlin, Albu in 1876 joined
his brother Leopold as a diamond broker in South Africa and
became prominent in Kimberley and later on in the Johan-
nesburg goldfields. He opposed Kruger’s restrictive policies
but denounced the Jameson Raid of 1895, aimed at the over-
throw of the administration. In 1887 he formed the company
of G. and L. Albu which, reorganized as the General Mining
and Finance Corporation in 1895, controlled some of the larg-
est gold-producing properties on the Rand. Albu introduced
innovations in goldmining techniques. He supported Jewish
institutions, including the Johannesburg Hebrew High School.
In 1912 he was made a baronet. His daughter, Margaret, mar-
ried Bishop Wilfrid Parker of Pretoria in 1933.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Macdonald, The Romance of the Golden
Rand (1933). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Wheatcroft, The Randlords
(1985), index.
ALBU, ISIDOR (1837-1903), German physician and public
health specialist. Albu was born in Berlin and graduated from
Berlin University in 1864. His work was devoted primarily to
problems of social hygiene, medical statistics, and epidemi-
ology, and his writings included Mortality in Berlin, Studies
on Cholera, Typhoid and Smallpox in Berlin, and Typhus und
Grundwassergang in Berlin (1877). His major work was the au-
thorized summary of the rules laid down by Riant in Lecons
d Hygiene (1874). This work became a widely used handbook
of general, personal, and public hygiene. Albu was responsible
for the establishment of eye clinics in Berlin and other cities of
Germany. In 1882 he went to Iran where he became professor
of medicine at the University of Teheran and personal physi-
cian to the shah, Nasir al-Din.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Wininger, Biog, 1 (1925), 94-95; Biogra-
phisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Aerzte, 1 (19297), 77.
[Nathan Koren]
ALBUM, SIMON HIRSCH (1849-1921), U.S. rabbi. Album
was born in Tazitz, Lithuania, and studied at the Volozhin
yeshivah where he received his ordination. After spending
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
much of his early career working as a rabbi in Russia, Al-
bum immigrated to America in 1891. He settled in Chicago
and assumed the pulpit of the new Mishna Ugemoro Syna-
gogue, which served the substantial immigrant community.
He held this pulpit until his death, overseeing the growth of
the congregation and the opening of a second satellite syna-
gogue. Despite his successes as a scholar, communal leader,
and congregational rabbi, Album’s tenure was not entirely
untroubled. His involvement in a number of intra-commu-
nal squabbles suggests a difficult personality and penchant for
feuding. The most serious of these confrontations occurred
in 1903 after Jacob David *Willowski was invited to Chicago
to serve as the chief rabbi of a collection of allied synagogues.
Willowski quickly set out to establish oversight and control of
the kashrut supervision of Chicago's vast abattoirs. This move
angered Album, who shortly before had secured an arrange-
ment to act as the sole supervisor for the shohatim working
at the major packing plants that supplied much of America’s
centrally slaughtered meat. Bridling at this perceived affront,
and probably resentful of his rival’s status, Album published
a polemic that vilified Willowsky. The ugly public dispute that
followed created friction and divisions within the immigrant
community, eventually degenerating into a violent confronta-
tion in a synagogue between supporters of the two men. The
bickering subsided when Jacob Willowski resigned his post
and left Chicago for Palestine. Among Album’s writings are
Divrei Emet (1904-12), Mehaah Geluyah (1910), and Teshuvah
al Hanutat ha-Metim (1916).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Jewish Year Book, 24 (1923); H.
Gastwirt, Fraud, Corruption and Holiness: The Controversy over the
Supervision of Jewish Dietary Practice in New York, 1881-1940 (1974);
H. Meites, History of the Jews of Chicago (1924); New York Times
(June 13, 1921).
[Adam Mendelsohn (2"¢ ed.)]
ALBUQUERQUE, city in New Mexico. Available documen-
tation dates a village of Alburquerque (the first “r” was later
dropped) from 1706. The comparatively lush land adjacent to
the Rio Grande River to the west of the Sandia Mountains in
central New Mexico and 60 miles south of Santa Fe proved
to be an attractive point for settlement for Spanish newcom-
ers from Mexico. A number of Indian pueblos already ex-
isted there. American military occupation after 1846 and the
territorial status accorded New Mexico in the United States
allowed Americans to join the existing Hispanic and Indian
population.
Jews were among the early American traders to the area.
As early as 1852 Simon Rosenstein was operating a store on
the plaza - now called Old Town - and possessed real estate
in 1850. He married a Hispanic woman and may have been
the first Jew divorced in New Mexico in 1866.
In 1880 the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad cre-
ated a railroad depot and yards over a mile from the old plaza,
which became a focal point for New Albuquerque and New
Mexico. By 1883, some 25 Jewish males formed the first Jew-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALBUQUERQUE
ish organization in Albuquerque and New Mexico, a chap-
ter of Bnai Brith. They were young, mostly single, and all
were merchants or clerks. By 1896 their number had nearly
tripled; and the group, although still young, showed matura-
tion through marriage and the creation of families. Asa result,
Albuquerque's Jews created a congregation in 1897, the second
in the Territory after Congregation Montefore in Las Vegas. It
was named Congregation Albert, the name acquired through
auction to the highest bidder by Alfred Grunsfeld in honor of
his father. It adhered to Reform practice. This Congregation is
now the oldest in the state. In 1921 a more traditional Conser-
vative congregation formed under the name B’nai Israel.
Although Albuquerque was the largest city in the state
before World War 11, the Cold War provided great impetus to
its further growth. As a result of the whole area's isolation and
open spaces Albuquerque became a center for atomic research
and attendant industries and the site for numerous military
bases. With a population of 35,000 in 1940 the city grew to
200,000 by 1960. By 2000 it had 448,000.
The increase of Jewish population in Albuquerque out-
matched the city’s general growth. In 1940 the estimate of
Jewish numbers was 450 - over one-third of the state’s total
Jewish persons. In 2000 the estimate was 7,500, perhaps 70
percent of the state’s Jews.
The social character of the Jewish population changed
dramatically after World War 11. Scientists, doctors, attorneys,
and faculty became quite common, gradually matching shop-
keepers. A survey carried out in 1977 counted more than 100
Jewish faculty members at the University of New Mexico in
the city. In the last decades of the 20'" century Jewish women
joined the ranks of professions in rapidly increasing numbers.
However, Jewish-owned businesses — new and old — contin-
ued to exist and prosper.
Jewish residents have long participated in the political
life of the community. The first mayor of an incorporated Al-
buquerque in 1885 was Henry N. Jaffa. Mike Mandell followed
him in 1890. Jews continued to serve on various local com-
missions after World War 11. In the late 1980s, Steve Schiff, a
former district attorney and a Republican, was elected to the
United States House of Representatives and served until his
death in 1998.
Their increasingly varied social character gave witness to
Jews assuming an ever-broadening range of important roles.
Home builder Sam Hoffman constructed large housing de-
velopments in the early postwar era until his death in 1959.
Architect Max Flatow, who arrived in 1947, contributed some
of the city’s tallest modern structures and the College of Edu-
cation complex at the University of New Mexico. From 1985
to 1992 Neil Stulberg conducted the New Mexico Symphony
Orchestra in the city.
In the latter decades of the 20 century all dimensions
of activity broadened. In religious organization Chavurat
Hamidbar was formed in 1973 and Nahalat Shalom (Renewal
Independent) came into existence under Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
in 1983. In the early 1990s Chabad made its presence known.
597
ALCALA DE HENARES
In addition, secular organizations grew up after World War 11
with an eye to aiding Jewish refugees and supporting Israel
as well as seeking to aid a growing number of elderly and to
educate Jewish children. By the end of the century a well-de-
veloped Jewish Community Council and a splendid campus
placed Albuquerque in the category of middle-sized Jewish
communities in the United States.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Simmons, Albuquerque: A Narrative His-
tory (1982); H.J. Tobias, A History of the Jews in New Mexico (1990).
[Henry J. Tobias (2"4 ed.)]
ALCALA DE HENARES (Heb. xv7}7?x), city in Castile,
central Spain. Under Muslim rule Jews lived in Alcala. After
Alcala was captured from the Moors in 1118, the Jews were
granted equal municipal rights with Christians regarding
residence, evidence, and criminal compensation. At the end
of the 13" century the community was rather small. It grew
immensely, as the Jews’ taxes indicate. The annual tax paid by
the Jews of Alcala to the Crown, amounting to 8,000 mara-
vedis, was granted by Henry 11 in 1366 to the archbishop. It
seems that during the 1391 massacres the Jews there did not
suffer persecution. In 1395, 19 Jews protested in the synagogue
against the nomination of the archbishop’s physician Maestre
Pedro, a convert from Judaism, as judge of appeals for the Jews
of the archdiocese. The Jews of Alcala were derided in a late
14*-century satire by the *Converso Pedro Ferrus, entitled
Cancionero de Baena, depicting a wanderer who entered the
synagogue seeking lodging for the night and was scared out
of his wits by the inhospitable congregation. The community
dwindled after the wave of massacres which swept Spain in
1391, but was later renewed. In the course of the 15 century
the community grew constantly to become one of the largest
in central Castile. In the 1474 distribution of taxes Alcalé was
the third highest paying community in the district of Toledo.
There were about 200 Jewish families then. For a short while,
Isaac Abravanel lived there. Conversos continued to visit the
city’s synagogues, as suggested by the Marrano poet Pedro
Ferrus; many were tried by the *Inquisition. Hebrew studies
at the University of Alcala were encouraged by Cardinal Fran-
cisco *Ximenes de Cisneros in the early 16" century, and the
“Complutensian Polyglot” edition of the Bible was compiled
under his patronage. Some important Hebraists, such as the
Converso Alfonso de Zamora, worked there.
The location of the Jewish quarter of Alcala de Henares
is well known. It was within the area defined by the streets
Mayor, Santiago, Imagen, and Cervantes. In Mayor Street it
extended in both directions. We know also about two syna-
gogues in Alcala: the Mayor was at the back of No 10 in Car-
men Calzado Street. The other synagogue was in Santiago
Street.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Sanchez, Fueros castellanos (1919), 3053
Rios, Historia... de los judios de Espafia (19607), index; R. Santa Ma-
ria, in: Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia, 17 (1890), 184-5; E.
Pérez Castro, El manuscrito apologético de Alfonso de Zamora (1950),
598
xix-xxviii; Sudrez Fernandez, Documentos, index; J.M. Azaceta (ed.),
Cancionero de Juan Alfonso de Baena, 2 (1966), 654-6; Y. Baer, His-
tory of the Jews in Christian Spain, index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.L.
Lacave, Juderias y sinagogas espanolas (1992), 276-9.
ALCALAY (Alkalaj), ISAAC (1882-1978), rabbi. Born in
Sofia, he studied at the Vienna Rabbinical Seminary and
in 1909 was appointed chief rabbi of Serbia. While occupy-
ing this post he served as emissary of the Serbian govern-
ment (1915-18), visiting the U.S. in 1918 on a mission on be-
half of Serbian Jewry (which he described in the American
Jewish Year Book, vol. 20, pp. 75-87; later published sepa-
rately). In 1923 he founded the Rabbinical Federation of Yu-
goslavia and became its first president, helping to edit its an-
nual Jevrejski Almanah (cf. volumes for 1920-30). In 1923
he was elected chief rabbi of Yugoslavia by King Alexan-
der, a position of political importance at the time (see *Yu-
goslavia). He continued his activities abroad, attending the
first Sephardi Congress (held at Vienna in 1925), where he
was elected vice president of the World Sephardi Federation.
When King Alexander made him a senator, Alcalay was the
only Jew to sit in the Yugoslavian Upper House (1930-38).
Until the Holocaust, Chief Rabbi Alcalay was a central figure
and a unifying force for Yugoslav Jewry. He fled the coun-
try when the Germans occupied Yugoslavia in 1941 and, af-
ter a short stay in Palestine, settled in the US. in 1942, where
he served as rabbi of the Sephardi community of New York.
He later unified and organized the Sephardi communities
there and became the chief rabbi of the Central Sephardic
Jewish Community of America in 1943. He published a study
on travels of Jews through the Balkans at the end of the 18"
and beginning of the 19» centuries (1928). In 1970, Alcalay
was awarded a medal by Yeshiva University of New York.
In 1971, on the occasion of his 90" birthday, the Association
of Yugoslav Jews in the U.S. issued a souvenir journal in his
honor.
ALCALAY, REUVEN (1907-1976), Hebrew lexicographer
and translator. Alcalay was born in Jerusalem and graduated
from the Hebrew Teachers’ College there. He entered govern-
ment service during the Mandatory period and was trans-
lator-in-chief and superintendent of the Government Press
Office from 1920 to 1948. On the establishment of the State,
he served as deputy-director of the Government Informa-
tion Office and from 1948 to 1951 was editor of the Israel
Government Year Book. Alcalay translated many books from
English into Hebrew, but his major achievement was in the
field of lexicography, where his publications include the Com-
plete Hebrew-English Dictionary, 4 vols. (1958); the Complete
English-Hebrew Dictionary, 4 vols. (1963); the Complete He-
brew Dictionary, 3 vols. (1968-71), which contains hundreds
of words coined by him for modern concepts; and Words of
the Wise (1968), an anthology of Hebrew (and Yiddish) prov-
erbs.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALCAN, ALKAN, name of several French families, possibly
deriving from Elkanah:
Alphonse *Alkan (1809-1889), Parisian printer, bibliogra-
pher, and author of works on printing and illustration.
MICHEL ALCAN (1811-1877), politician, engineer, and
author of works on textile technology. He was born in Don-
nelay and afterward lived in Paris. He took an active part in
the 1830 and 1848 revolutions in France, and was elected to
the National Assembly, where he sided with the left wing (the
Mountain).
MOY¥SE ALCAN (1817-1869), publisher and poet. He lived
in Metz, where he was a member of the Jewish consistory. FE-
LIX (1841-1925), Moyse’s son, was a publisher and scholar. He
lectured on mathematics before entering the publishing busi-
ness of his father in Metz. He later founded his own firm in
Paris, which from 1880 specialized in producing textbooks,
mainly on philosophy.
ALCANIZ, city in Aragon, Spain, subject to the Order of
*Calatrava. The jurisdiction of the order also extended to the
30 Jewish families living in Alcafiiz. Several families, formerly
scattered in the surrounding villages, joined the community
in 1380. In 1383 Pedro 1v exempted the Jews of Alcafiz from
having to attend missionary disputations with apostates. Dur-
ing the massacres of 1391, the infant Martin ordered that the
Jews in Alcafiiz should be protected. At the beginning of the
156 century the Jews of Alcafiiz achieved some prosperity
and a certain level of Jewish leaning. *Astruc ha-Levi of Alca-
fiz was a protagonist in the disputation of *Tortosa, 1413-14.
Alcafiiz was also the home of Joshua Halorki, a learned Jew
who became Jerénimo de Santa Fe and the instigator of the
disputation of Tortosa, which proved disastrous to the Jewish
community. Most of its members converted to Christianity.
After this only 15 families in Alcafiz and its environs adhered
to Judaism, and probably fewer at the time of the expulsion of
1492. In the 15» century the Jewish quarter was enclosed and
its gates locked at night.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Uhagon: Boletin de la Real Academia de la
historia, Madrid 35 (1899), 51ff.; J. Jacobs, Inquiry into the Sources of
the History of the Jews in Spain (1894), index; Baer, Studien, 146; Baer,
Spain, index; Baer, Urkunden, 1 pt. 1 (1929), index: Vendrell, in: Se-
farad, 3 (1943), 128, 149; 13 (1953), 87-104; Vidiella, in: La Zuda, 12
(1924), 114-19. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Laliena Corbera, in: Des-
tierros aragoneses (1988), 115-26.
ALCASTIEL, JOSEPH, Spanish kabbalist, who lived in Ja-
tiva, Aragon, at the time of the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.
While there is no evidence that Alcastiel was among the ex-
iles he is indeed mentioned by R. Isaac ha-Kohen of Jativa, an
expellee from Valencia. A recently published treatise contains
Alcastiel’s responsa to 18 questions purportedly asked by Judah
*Hayyat, although it is not known that Alcastiel ever lived in
Italy or knew Hayyat: Hayyat does not mention him in his
writings nor do his writings show the influence of Alcastiel’s
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALCHEMY
work. On the other hand, Alcastiel’s ideas, distinguished by
their originality and insight, influenced other important kab-
balists in the generation after the expulsion from Spain, such
as Meir ibn *Gabbai, Solomon ha-Levi *Alkabez, Moses *Cor-
dovero, and, almost certainly, Isaac *Luria. According to one
account, these responsa were written at Jativa in 1482. The
treatise entitled Maamar Mufla al ha-Tanninim (“Wondrous
Treatise on the Sea Monsters”; Ambrosian Library, Milan, Ms.
62/12) is ascribed to Ha-Hakham ha-Elohi Alcastilo (“the di-
vine scholar Alcastilo”). Judging by its content and style, the
author of this was Joseph Alcastiel and not Joseph b. Samuel
of Catalonia as suggested in the catalog.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Scholem, in: Tarbiz, 24 (1954/55), 167-206.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Idel, “Chronicle of an Exile: R. Isaac ben
Hayim Ha-Kohen of Jativa,” in: Y. Assis and Y. Kaplan (eds.), Jews and
Conversos at the Time of the Expulsion (1999), 259-71 (Heb.).
{Efraim Gottlieb]
ALCEH, MATILDE (1923-1967), Turkish poet. Born in Istan-
bul, she contributed poems to various periodicals, including
the daily Cumhuriyet, and also published some translations.
The collection Mart (“The Gull,” 1953) contained some of her
characteristic lyrical verse. The only Turkish woman poet of
Jewish birth, she married a Muslim and died in a car accident
in Yugoslavia.
[Shmuel Moreh]
ALCHEMY, ancient art that was the origin of chemistry. The
Jewish association with alchemy dates from ancient times.
Zosimos, a fifth-century Greek historian, states that the Jews
acquired the secrets of the “sacred craft” of the Egyptians and
the knowledge of the “power of gold” which derives from it
by dishonest means, and they imparted the knowledge of al-
chemy to the rest of the world. In ancient Greek manuscripts,
which contain lists of writings on alchemy, a number of al-
chemic and magic writings are attributed to Moses; one work
is ascribed to *Hoshea, king of Israel. *Bezalel was also con-
sidered a proficient alchemist on the basis of Exodus 31:1-5.
The author of the above-mentioned writings was, most prob-
ably, Moses of Alexandria, a famous alchemist, which would
explain why they were later ascribed to Moses the Lawgiver;
in any case it seems certain that the author was a Jew since
his writings show traces of Jewish monotheism and other
Jewish beliefs.
Toward the end of the Middle Ages, and later, the con-
nection between alchemy and the Bible and Prophets was
strengthened in the view of Christian alchemists who de-
spaired of finding the philosopher’s stone by natural means
and sought to attain it by the grace of God who reveals His
secret only to His faithful. The alchemists believed, therefore,
that the patriarchs, the prophets, and the kings of Israel pos-
sessed the secret of the “stone.” Gerhard Dorn (end of 16‘ cen-
tury) contended that the whole art of alchemy was contained
in the verse, “God made the firmament” (Gen. 1:7). Michael
599
ALCHEMY
Maier, the physician of Rudolf 11, and chief exponent of the
Rosicrucian order in Germany in the 17* century, found its
basis in the verse, “the spirit of God hovered over the face of
the waters” (Gen. 1:2), “the waters” being mercury. Aegidius
Guthmann of Augsburg wrote a lengthy “alchemical” inter-
pretation of the first verses of Genesis. Tubal-Cain, who lived
before the Flood, was considered the father of alchemy since
it was said of him that he was “the forger of every cutting in-
strument of brass and iron” (Gen. 4:22). These alchemists
particularly singled out the name Mehetabel, the daughter of
Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab (Gen. 36:39). The name
Me-Zahab (“waters of gold”) was interpreted to mean that he
knew how to produce drinkable gold (aurum potabile); and
Mehetabel possibly reminded them of the Greek metabole
(uetaBoAr), “transmutation.” Abraham *Ibn Ezra heard this
interpretation of Me-Zahab and remarked in his commentary:
“Others say it refers to those said to make gold out of brass,
but this is nonsense.”
The first men mentioned in Genesis would not have, ac-
cording to the alchemists, reached such old age, had they not
made use of the elixir vitae. They also contended that “Abram
was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold” (Gen. 13:2) be-
cause he learned the secret of alchemy from Hermes in Egypt.
All the patriarchs, as well as Judah, wore the philosopher's
stone on their bodies. Moses was, however, according to them,
the first and foremost among the biblical experts. As late as
the 18" century, an alchemist wrote a book: Urim und Tumim
von Moses, Handleitung vom grossen Propheten und Feldherrn
zum Weisenstein (“Oracles of Moses, a Guide to the Philoso-
pher’s Stone by the Great Prophet and General,” Nuremberg,
1737). King David was considered an expert alchemist, since
he could only have raised “a hundred thousand talents of gold,
and a thousand talents of silver” for the building of the “house
of the Lord” (1 Chron. 22:14) by alchemical means. Further
support for this assumption was adduced from the fact that
David bequeathed to his son, Solomon, millu’im avnei-pukh
(“stones to be set, glistening stones,” ibid. 29:2) which are the
philosopher's stones. Solomon learned the secret from his fa-
ther, and was, therefore, able to provide “silver and gold to
be in Jerusalem as stones” (11 Chron. 1:15). According to the
story quoted by Johanan Alemanno (in his Sefer ha-Likkutim
(“Collectanea”; from the Arab alchemist Abu Aflah of Syra-
cuse)), supposedly originally found in the esoteric Sefer ha-
Mazpun, ascribed to King Solomon, the “precious stone”
with which the Queen of Sheba presented Solomon (1 Kings
10:2) was none other than the philosopher’s stone which she
had inherited from her first husband, Sman (who was a great
Nabatean sage). The Queen of Sheba’s aim was to test King
Solomon's wisdom, but he already knew the secret and rec-
ognized the stone immediately (cf. LS. *Reggio, in Kerem
Hemed, 2 (1836), 48-50).
The prophet Elijah, also considered a great expert in al-
chemy, is frequently mentioned by the Christian alchemists,
and some of their writings bear his name. Jewish influence is
evident from the fact that they too contend that Elijah would,
600
on his return to earth, provide the answer to all the unsolved
problems. The prophet Isaiah was also considered to have been
an expert, on the basis of the verses: “I will set thy stones in
fair colors [pukh] and lay thy foundations with sapphires” (Isa.
54:11) and “For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring
silver” (Isa. 60:17). The adepts also include the prophets Elisha,
Ezekiel, Zechariah, Malachi (the first verses in chapter three
of the book of Malachi were interpreted in an alchemic and
Christological manner), Daniel, and Ezra. The names of Job’s
three daughters, Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-Happuch were
also interpreted in a religious and alchemic spirit.
Alchemy and Kabbalah
Alchemy and the *Kabbalah were closely linked in the Mid-
dle Ages. A kabbalistic outline is found in the early alche-
mist manuscript of Saint Mark (11 century) called Solomon's
Labyrinth. The wandering German alchemist, Salomon Tris-
mosin, boasted that he drew his knowledge from kabbalistic
writings which had been translated into Arabic. His great dis-
ciple, Paracelsus, maintained that expert knowledge of Kab-
balah was an essential prerequisite for studying alchemy. How-
ever, neither he nor his master had more than a superficial
knowledge of the Kabbalah, if any at all, although both talked
about it a great deal. Paracelsus even based his strange theo-
ries on it, i.e., that of the creation of a *golem, a homunculus,
through alchemy. The lesser Christian alchemists, especially
the religious ones, following his example, also tended to make
use of the Kabbalah for their purposes, though most had no
knowledge of it. When, at the beginning of the 17 century,
alchemy took a religious, mystical turn (in particular with the
rise of the Rosicrucians), the prestige and influence of the Kab-
balah became even more widespread; alchemy and Kabbalah
became synonymous among Christians. This identification
was generally speaking groundless. While many kabbalists un-
doubtedly accepted alchemy as a fact, the interests and sym-
bol systems of Kabbalah and alchemy respectively were utterly
different. Nevertheless occasional - albeit relatively insignifi-
can - mutual influences are evident, and traces of alchemical
lore are to be found in the *Zohar. The saying “through the
gaze of the sun and its power, dust evolves and grows gold”
(Zohar, 1:249-50) agrees with Artephius’ theory that the met-
als grow like plants, but whereas the plants are composed of
water and dust, the metals are composed of sulphur and mer-
cury; the heat of the sun’s rays penetrates the earth and com-
bines with these elements to form gold, the metal of the sun.
Simeon *Labi, the commentator on the Zohar, interprets this
saying in his Ketem Paz in a definitely alchemical manner and
states that the kabbalists call gold, “sun,” and silver, “moon”
The following saying (Zohar, 2:148a), bears an even stronger
alchemical influence: “The heavenly gold is bright and shines
in the eyes ... and whoever clings to it when it descends into
the lower world, conceals it within himself and for this rea-
son it is also closed gold (zahav sagur), for it is not seen by
the eye which does not possess it; but the gold of the earth is
‘lower gold’ and is easier to discover.” The alchemical theory
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
is even clearer in the passage following the one just quoted:
“.... when silver thus reaches its fulfillment it becomes gold; we
find, then, that silver transforms itself into gold and when this
happens, it attains the stage of perfection.” Hence, it is clear
that the author of the Zohar not only believed in the trans-
mutation of metals, but that he also adopted the alchemical
theory of perfect and imperfect metals, as well as the belief
that when silver is transformed into gold it reaches a higher
grade of perfection.
*Moses b. Shem Tov de Leon, in his Shekel ha-Kodesh
(London (1911), 118-22), also uses the language of the alche-
mists: “Copper is red and this generates the nature [feva, or
zeva, “color”] of both, for those who know the craft [melakhah]
make out of it the nature [color] of gold and silver” Accord-
ing to the alchemical teachings, copper too has the faculty of
direct transformation into gold (without having to go through
the intermediary stage of silver). It is true that the Zohar does
not include mercury in the list of metals for the *Merkabah
(merkavah; “divine chariot”; Zohar, 2:423-4), which has the
greatest importance in alchemy, but this is possibly because, in
common with Jabir (eighth century alchemist and physician),
the Zohar did not consider mercury to be a metal at all but a
spirit (pneuma). Hayyim *Vital, who at an earlier stage in his
career took a lively interest in alchemy, lists mercury among
the seven metals. Abraham b. Mordecai *Azulai (1570-1643)
quotes Vital in the last part of Hesed le-Avraham (1863) that
the seven metals correspond to the seven Sefirot (“degrees
of divine emanation”), from Hesed to Malkhut, “hence, mer-
cury corresponds to the seventh planet kokhav [‘Mercury’]...
and it is already known to you that Yesod [one of the Sefirot]
is also called El Hai [‘the Living God’] and it corresponds
to Kesef Hai [‘Quick-Silver’].” Mercury is allocated to Sefi-
rah Yesod, because it is the basic element in all metals and in
its ideal form is the basic element in the philosopher's stone,
just as El Hai is the foundation of the universe. Hayyim Vital
studied alchemy. This is shown in the following passage in
Shivhei Rabbi Hayyim Vital (1826): “He [Isaac *Luria] also told
me that he saw inscribed on my forehead the verse: ‘And to
devise skillful works, to work in gold and in silver and in brass’
[Ex. 35:32], an allusion to the two-and-a-half years during
which I forsook the study of the Torah and pursued alchemy.”
H.J.D. *Azulai speaks of the philosopher’s stone in his Midbar
Kedemot (Lemberg, 1869, fol. 19), and calls it esev (“weed”)
as it was also called by the alchemists (and as it is called in
other kabbalistic writings as well as in Hebrew manuscripts
dealing with alchemy). Numerous prescriptions for the mak-
ing of gold are found in books of practical Kabbalah (Nifla’im
Maasekha, Leghorn (1881), s.v. zahav); these were probably
taken from the writings of Jewish as well as gentile alche-
mists.
The influence of the Kabbalah on alchemy was greater
than that of alchemy on Kabbalah, especially after the latter
was diffused in Christian circles by *Pico della Mirandola,
*Reuchlin, *Galatinus, and others. Some of the Christian al-
chemists adopted the theory of the ten Sefirot as well as the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALCHEMY
doctrine of the secrets of letters obtained by zerufim (“combi-
nations”) and gematriot and made them a basis for the Work
of Holiness. Some used to inscribe on the melting-pot Hebrew
and Syriac words copied from kabbalistic writings or words
obtained by the above-mentioned methods. (The combina-
tion of letters was supposed to bring about the combination
of metals.) The use of kabbalistic methods is also found in
the book Ars Magna, attributed to Raymond Lull. Christian
*Knorr von Rosenroth was one of the alchemists who had a
real knowledge of Kabbalah. His Cabbala denudata (1677)
contains translations of passages from the Zohar as well as
lengthy quotations from Esh Mezaref, a book on alchemy writ-
ten in a kabbalistic spirit, which is probably a translation of a
Hebrew manuscript. The author of Esh Mezaref explains the
relation of the metals to the Sefirot and quotes extensively from
the Zohar; he too relates mercury to the Sefirah Yesod. He also
quotes from another Jewish alchemist, Mordecai, who found
a way to produce artificial silver by means of a four-month-
long process. It is probable that this alchemist was Mordecai
the son of Leone *Modena who transformed lead into silver
and died as a result of his experiments (Hayyei Yehudah (Kiev,
1912), 33). Under the influence of Knorr von Rosenroth’s work,
a whole literature of kabbalistic alchemy was created. The book
Or Nogah is particularly noteworthy. It was written in Hebrew
and German and printed in Vienna, 1747. Its author, Aloisius
Wiener, a nobleman of the Sonnenfels family, was a baptized
Jew and an expert in Kabbalah, called “Lipmann Berlin” be-
fore his conversion.
The number of Jews who practiced the art of alchemy was
apparently relatively small; however, the state of knowledge
on this point is incomplete. It seems that the Jews of Egypt,
particularly Alexandria, many of whom were gold- and sil-
versmiths, during the Greek and Roman periods, were devo-
tees of alchemy, magic, and *demonology (Suk. 51b). Zosimos
testified that the “true teachings about the Great Art” were to
be found only in “the writings and books of the Jews.” How-
ever, the conclusion at which De Pauw arrived 150 years ago,
namely that the Jews were the creators of alchemy, is incorrect.
Alchemy is neither a Jewish science nor a Jewish art. The Jews
were engaged in it in the same measure as they were engaged
in other secular trades and fields of knowledge. However, the
fact that in 1545 Martin *Luther warned Archduke Joachim 11
of Brandenburg against alchemy with which the Jews dealt in-
dicates that he shared the general belief concerning the close
connection between alchemy and Judaism.
In some alchemic writings the philosopher's stone is
symbolized as a circle enclosing a hexagonal star (“the star
of David”): the circle alludes to the kabbalistic *Ein-Sof (“In-
finite”); the triangle which points upward represents the ele-
ment fire; and the one which points downward the element
water. Fire and water together constitute heaven (shamayim =
esh + mayim). From the 17* century, this was used by alche-
mists to symbolize the primeval matter out of which the main
element of the philosopher's stone, philosophic mercury, the
“quintessence,” is extracted.
601
ALCHEMY
Jewish Personalities in Alchemy
In the Egyptian-Greek period one of the greatest alchemists
was a woman known as “Mary the Jewess” (Maria Hebraea).
According to Lippmann, she lived in the first century c.z. Her
name and works are often mentioned in alchemic literature.
According to Zosimos she was greatly skilled in alchemy and
invented numerous ovens and boiling and distilling devices
out of metal, clay, and glass. She even taught how to plaster
them with the “philosopher's clay.” The most important among
her ovens, the kerotakis (also called “Mary’s oven”), served
to liquefy solids and to separate, through sublimation, the
evaporable parts from the non-evaporable ones. Its main use,
however, was for the preparation of the so-called “divine wa-
ter” (a combination of sulfuric acid used to “bleach” metals).
Mary also discovered the water, sand, and oil baths, vessels
which even today are indispensable in any chemical labora-
tory. Mary is also the first to mention hydrochloric acid and
one may therefore assume that she discovered it. The following
esoteric saying, paralleled in kabbalistic writings, is ascribed
to her: “Two are one, three and four are one, one will become
two, two will become three.” Another strange saying which
excludes non-Jews from dealing with alchemy is also attrib-
uted to her: “Do not touch [the philosopher’s stone with your
hands]; you are not of our stock, you are not of Abraham's bo-
som.” There is no doubt that she really existed and was famous
in her time. Zosimos identified her with Miriam the prophet-
ess, the sister of Moses; the Christian alchemists, who were ea-
ger to add the luster of biblical sanctity to their art, called her
by this very name: “Maria Prophetissa, Moysis Soror.”
Khalid b. Jasikhi (Calid Hebraeus) was an Arabian Jew
and writer. He was revered by the Arab alchemists, who
considered him to be the first alchemist of the Arabic pe-
riod. Steinschneider, however, believes that he was an Arab.
Artephius, the great alchemist of the 12" century, “before
whom there lived no other expert equal to him” was a baptized
Jew according to the author of Keren ha-Pukh. Artephius is
said to have brought the creation of the philosopher's stone to
perfection. He wrote three books on alchemy “whose impor-
tance is invaluable.’ In one of them, he relates that he wrote
his work at the age of 1,025 years (thus supporting the belief
that the philosopher’s stone brings long life). Some scholars
believe that Artephius was an Arab. However, the fact that he
did not write anything in Arabic (all his works are written in
Latin), seems to belie this contention.
At the beginning of the Christian period in alchemy
(13 century), Jacobus Aranicus, a Jewish alchemist living in
France, taught alchemy to the Christian scholar Vincent de
Beauvais. Later (in the 15** century; according to Lippmann,
the 17 century), two Dutch Jews became famed as alche-
mists: Isaac and his son John Isaac, both called “Hollandus,”
since their family name was unknown. The father was a dia-
mond cutter and his son a physician. They led solitary lives
and became famous only posthumously, through the works
which they left behind; some authors consider them equal
to Basilius Valentinus. They knew how to prepare “royal wa-
602
ter” out of nitrate and sea-salt, as well as the “spirit of urine”
(ammonia), and produced artificial gems. In the first quarter
of the 18" century, a strange Jewish adept named Benjamin
Jesse lived in Hamburg. His name became known only after
his death, when a complete laboratory was discovered in a
locked room of his house.
It is most probable that there were other Jewish alche-
mists in the Middle Ages as well as in the later period, particu-
larly among the physicians and naturalists of the Spanish and
Renaissance periods. It is certain that more books on alchemy
have been written than have survived, partly because they were
lost and partly because their authors hid behind the names
of famous predecessors. It seems that among kabbalists, too,
there were quite a number of alchemists, beside those already
mentioned. The Jews of Morocco were particularly assiduous
in their study and practice of alchemy, even into recent times.
According to G. Scholem’s testimony, a Jewish kabbalist from
Morocco who was also an alchemist still lived in Jerusalem
early in the 20" century. Baruch *Spinoza, though not a prac-
titioner of alchemy, was nevertheless keenly interested in it.
While alchemic literature runs into thousands of vol-
umes, there is no original work in this field in Hebrew lit-
erature. It seems, therefore, that Jewish adepts did not write
their works in Hebrew. However, information on alchemy is
scattered in the Hebrew works of several medieval and later
authors. Hebrew authors referred to alchemy (alkimiyyah) as
melakhah (“craft”), or hokhmat ha-zerifah (“the art of refin-
ing”). Among the Jewish scholars who in one way or another
had some relation to alchemy, one should add the following:
*Bahya b. Joseph ibn Paquda, who in his Hovot ha-Levavot
(beginning of chapter Bittahon) describes the ways of life and
work of the alchemists, and apparently had no doubt about the
truth of alchemy. Abraham Ibn Ezra also believed in alchemy
as may be inferred from his commentary on the burning of
the golden calf (Ex. 32:20): “for there is a thing which, when
thrown into the fire together with the gold, it burns and be-
comes black and it will never become gold again; and this has
been tried and it is true” *Maimonides knew some of the writ-
ings of Hermes (Guide of the Perplexed, ed. by S. Pines (1963),
521) but considered them to be nonsense. He does not even
mention alchemy. Nevertheless, Iggeret ha-Sodot was later at-
tributed to him; in this he allegedly explains to his disciple Jo-
seph ibn *Aknin the secrets of alchemy in Shaar ha-Shamayim
(Venice, 1547, section 2). Johanan Alemanno, who introduced
Pico della Mirandola (who was interested in alchemy) to the
Kabbalah, believed in alchemy, and mentioned it in Sefer ha-
Likkutim and in Heshek Shelomo (Leghorn, 1790). Abraham
b. David Portaleone wrote a book in which alchemy is dis-
cussed, called De aurodialogi tres (Venice, 1584). Judah Loew
b. Bezalel of Prague, a devotee of alchemy, was summoned to
the alchemist King Rudolf 11. According to the stories which
circulated, they discussed the mysteries of alchemy.
Leone Modena recounts in his book Hayyei Yehudah that
he and his son Mordecai dealt in alchemy for a profit. Accord-
ing to Modena, they began to do so on the advice of the physi-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
cian, Abraham di Cammeo, who was rabbi in Rome, and him-
self an alchemist. Shemaiah, the uncle of Modena, was killed
as a result of his alchemic activities. Modena’s disciple, Joseph
Solomon *Delmedigo, considered alchemy a very superior art
(Mazref la-Hokhmah (Warsaw, 1890), 49; see below). In 1640
Benjamin Mussafia, the author of Musaf he-Arukh and physi-
cian at the Danish court, published a Latin letter on alchemy,
entitled Mei Zahav, in which he brings examples from the Tal-
mud and Midrash (Yoma 44); Ex. R. 35; and Song R. 3, etc.) to
prove both the truth of alchemy, and the fact that the sages of
the Talmud and Midrash practiced this craft. The majority of his
quotations do not really prove anything. However, the saying by
the disciples of Judah on “refined gold” (zahav mezukkak) that
“it is buried for seven years in dung and it comes out refined”
(Song R. 3:17) reminds one of the methods employed by the al-
chemists; similarly, the expression “gold that bears fruit” (zahav
she-oseh perot, ibid.) most likely is derived from alchemy.
Among the great scholars of modern times, Jonathan
*Eybeschuetz believed in alchemy (Yaarot Devash, 1 (1779),
passim); his opponent, Jacob *Emden, doubted it. “I wish
to know whether that science [i.e., alchemy] is still thriving
and whether those things have been proved beyond doubt”
(She’ilat Ya’vez (Altona, 1739), 1, note 41).
Among the Jewish scholars who deny the truth of al-
chemy, one should cite *Judah Halevi who mentions alchemy
disparagingly in Kuzari. Judah b. Solomon ha-Kohen ibn
Matka, in his encyclopedia, Midrash Hokhmah, says that al-
chemy is “empty talk” and refers to alchemists by quoting the
verse: “he that keepeth company with harlots wasteth his sub-
stance” (Prov. 29:3). Simeon b. Zemah *Duran states in Magen
Avot (pt. 2 (Leghorn, 1785), 10, 71) that “the craft of alchemy”
is an error; “many got involved in it and wasted their lives but
none ever succeeded in it” An important Hebrew manuscript
on alchemy is preserved in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek; judging
by its contents it cannot be earlier than the 17 century and
its author is possibly Joseph Solomon Delmedigo. A second
important Hebrew manuscript on alchemy, which includes
a catalogue of alchemic literature, is found in the Gaster Li-
brary, now in the British Museum; it probably dates from the
second half of the 15 century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rubin, in: Ha-Shahar, 6 (1875), 1-96 (third
pagination); Scholem, in: MGwy, 69 (1925), 13-30, 95-110; M. Berthe-
lot, Origines de lalchemie (1885); idem, Chimie au moyen-dge (1893);
E.O. von Lippmann, Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie (1919);
Steinschneider, in: MGwyJ, 38 (1894), 39-48; Eisler, ibid., 69 (1925),
364-71; E.J. Holmyard, Alchemy (1957), 45-47, index.
[Bernard Suler]
ALCIMUS (Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Jakim or
Eliakim), high priest 162-160 (or 159) B.c.E. Alcimus was a
member of a high-priestly family and was the nephew of *Yose
b. Joezer of Zeredah. When Demetrius 1 Soter ascended the
Seleucid throne, Alcimus came to him to complain of the per-
secution of the Hellenists by Judah Maccabee and his follow-
ers, and he suggested that the king appoint him high priest,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALCONIERE, THEODORE
promising to be faithful to the Seleucids and to oppose Judah
and his faction. Demetrius appointed him and sent him back
to Judea, accompanied by Syrian troops under the command
of Bacchides. At first, the *Hassideans supported him because
he was of high-priestly stock, while Judah’s faction opposed
him because he had arrived with foreign troops. Alcimus
had barely secured his position in Judea, when he arrested
60 Hassideans and put them to death. This act aroused pop-
ular indignation, and when Bacchides and his soldiers left
Judea, Alcimus was driven from Jerusalem by Judah and his
supporters. He returned to Demetrius, and once more asked
for military support. The king sent a new army against Judah
Maccabee, this time under the command of *Nicanor. Judah
defeated Nicanor in battle twice, Nicanor being killed in the
second battle. Demetrius again sent Bacchides against Judah,
and this time the Jewish leader was defeated and killed. Alci-
mus returned to Judea and ruled with Syrian help. He broke
into the soreg (one of the approaches to the Temple) in order
to remove the wall which non-Jews were forbidden to pass.
‘The soreg was breached in 13 places, and the Hassideans were
infuriated. Alcimus’ sudden death was interpreted by the peo-
ple as an act of divine retribution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I Macc. 7:5-25; 9:1-2, 54-57; Jos., Ant.,
12:385-6, 391-7, 413; 20:235; Middot, 2:3; Gen R. 55:22; Klausner, Bayit
Sheni, index, s.v. Yakim; Graetz, Hist, 1 (1949), 482-508; Schuerer,
Hist, 39 ff., 44 ff.
[Abraham Schalit]
ALCOLEA (Heb. 8°21?X) De Cinca, town in Aragon. In
1320 the infante Alfonso gave special privileges to Jews set-
tling there. They were exempt from taxation other than a sub-
stantial house tax. Problems regarding the communal taxes
are discussed (c. 1380) in the responsa of R. *Isaac b. Sheshet.
Isaac, son of R. Vidal de Tolosa, who lived in Alcolea, dis-
puted the assessment and was denounced to the countess.
The community broke up in 1414 in the aftermath of the dis-
putation of *Tortosa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 83; Baer, Studien, 146,
189 ff.; del Arco, in: Sefarad, 7 (1947), 281.
ALCONIERE, THEODORE (Herman Cohn; 1797-1865),
Hungarian painter. Alconiére received his training in Vienna
and then spent some years in Rome, where he acquired his
dramatic romantic style. While in Italy he was appointed court
portraitist to the duke of Parma. In 1848 he moved to Hun-
gary, where he painted many equestrian portraits of the nobil-
ity and scenes from everyday life. After 1850 he lived mainly
in Vienna. Impoverished, he began supporting himself by the
production of humorous lithographs and even took to coun-
terfeiting banknotes. However, his conscience troubled him
and instead of circulating the money, he handed himself over
to the police. He died two years later in a Vienna hospital. Al-
coniére was the most distinguished Jewish painter among the
first generation of Hungarian nationalists.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roth, Art, 555-6.
603
ALCONSTANTINI
ALCONSTANTINI, family of Jewish courtiers in 13""-century
Aragon probably originating from Constantine, North Africa.
Nahmanides refers to them disapprovingly as “the Ishmael-
ites of the court.” Many members of the family were hated by
the ordinary Jews for their arrogance and lack of sensitivity
to the social problems of their community. The first mem-
bers to attain importance were the brothers BAHYA (Bahiel,
Bafiel) and soLomon of Saragossa. By 1229 the two brothers
were already in receipt of crown grants from James 1 of Ara-
gon — the revenues from the local dyeing vats and two pounds
of mutton daily from the Jewish slaughterhouse. In the same
year Bahya, who was Arabic interpreter to the court, was sent
to Majorca with the count of Roussillon to conduct negotia-
tions for the surrender of the Muslims. Bahya also took part
in Jewish communal affairs and in 1232 signed the counterban
against the group who had banned the study of *Maimonides.
The overweening ambitions of the two brothers to attain the
position of supreme judicial authority (dayyan) in Aragonese
Jewry were frustrated by Judah de la Cavalleria, the royal baile.
*Nahmanides also opposed the claims of the family to have
one of its members appointed as rabbi and judge of Aragonese
Jewry. However, Bahya continued his diplomatic activities.
During the distribution of the lands of the conquered terri-
tories in the 1260s he received grants of large estates. In 1240
Solomon held a village and fortress near Tarragona and the
revenues from some Catalonian knights.
Of Bahya’s two sons, MOSES and SOLOMON, the former
was by far the more active and important. The two brothers
appear in the sources from 1264. Moses was appointed baile
of Saragossa from 1276 until the end of 1278; he succeeded
the late Judah de la Cavalleria, of a family that was Alcon-
stantini’s staunchest opponent. As baile of Saragossa he was
much involved in the collection of the salt tax in Aragon. In
the years 1280-81 Moses was the baile of the city of Valencia.
Even before his campaign for the conquest of Sicily had be-
gun, Pedro 111 gave in to the growing anti-Jewish pressure of
the clergy and the nobility. Moses was the last Jew in the royal
service to be dismissed from office. He was thrown into prison
and brought to trial, in which he almost lost his life. The trial
was the result of unpaid debts which he incurred during his
work for the king. He was greatly disliked by Jews and Chris-
tians for his unscrupulous conduct.
Moses was also deeply involved in the affairs of the Jew-
ish community. Members of the Alconstantini family were at
constant odds with the community and its leading members,
first and foremost Judah de la Cavalleria. Solomon Alconstan-
tini was appointed one of the three magistrates (berurim) of
the Saragossa community in 1271. Moses was implicated, with
Meir b. Eleazar, in beating up R. *Yom Tov Ishbili for having
delivered a legal opinion to the royal clerk on the feuds of the
local great families.
The Alconstantini family was still aspiring to the office
of chief justice and “crown rabbi” of the kingdom in 1294, and
the queen of Castile applied to James 11 of Aragon with the
request that Solomon Alconstantini be confirmed in this of-
604
fice. James, however, refused, on the ground that the privi-
leges granted to the family had lapsed during the reigns of
his predecessors: “for great damage and destruction has been
suffered by all the Jews in our kingdom, and it would be un-
reasonable that for the sake of one Jew we should thereby lose
all the others.”
In the 14* century the Alconstantini family declined
from its former eminence. Some physicians of this name are
mentioned as living in Aragon. SOLOMON (early 14‘ cen-
tury), probably a descendant of the family, was the author of
Megalleh Amukot. Enoch B. Solomon *Al-Constantini was
the author of philosophical works. An Alconstantini repre-
sented the *Huesca community in the disputation of *Tortosa
(1413-14). After the expulsion from Spain, members of the
Alconstantini family are found in Turkey. Later, they moved
to Ancona, where the name assumed the Italian form, Con-
stantini. Some of them were rabbis and community leaders in
Ancona during the 17‘ and 18 centuries. When the French
conquered Ancona (1797) SANSONE was one of the three Jews
elected to the city council.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index; Baer, Urkunden, 1 (1929),
index; idem, in: Dvir, 2 (1924), 316; Miret and Schwab, in: REJ, 68
(1914), 179; Ibn Verga, Shevet Yehudah, ed. by A. Shochat (1947), 95.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Romano, Judios al sevicio de Pedro el
Grande de Aragon (1983), 87-112
[Haim Beinart / Yom Tov Assis (2™4 ed.)]
AL-CONSTANTINI, ENOCH BEN SOLOMON (c. 1370),
physician and philosopher. His work Marot Elohim (“Divine
Visions”) is extant in almost 30 manuscripts (described in the
edition by C. Sirat in Eshel Beer-Sheva (1976), 120-99).
The book is divided into three chapters, preceded by an
introduction. The first chapter interprets Isaiah 1:1-6; the sec-
ond Ezekiel 1:1-20; the third, Zechariah 10. The exegesis is en-
tirely philosophical and deals with the separate intelligences,
the spheres, and the human intellect. Al-Constantini was
influenced by Maimonides, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes,
Samuel ibn Tibbon, Moses of Narbonne, Levi b. Abraham,
and Solomon ibn Gabirol (in the abridged version of Gabi-
rol’s Mekor Hayyim, the Likkutim by Shem Tov ibn Falquera).
A Bodleian manuscript (Opp. 585) of Al-Constantini’s work
contains glosses by Menahem Kara.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Gruenhut, in: Festschrift ... A. Harkavy
(1908), 403-430; C. Sirat, in: REJ, 121 (1962), 247-354.
[Colette Sirat (2™4 ed.)]
ALCORSONO (1380819 ,11N019 ,°1N0799XN), JUDAH BEN
JOSEPH (14 century), Moroccan theological scholar. For
unknown reasons he was put in prison where he wrote Aron
ha-Edut (“Ark of Testimony”) on such subjects as Maaseh
Bereshit and Maaseh Merkavah, the story of the Garden of
Eden, providence, prophecy, and Satan's dispute with God
(Job, chs. 1 and 2). The work is divided into 22 chapters cor-
responding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Manuscripts of the work are preserved in several libraries; one
has been annotated by Moses *Hagiz. In Saadiah b. Maimun
*TIbn Danan’s Maamar al Seder ha-Dorot, Alcorsono is men-
tioned as an astrologer (Z.H. Edelman (ed.), Hemdah Genu-
zah, (1855), 30).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ghirondi-Neppi, 196; Michael, Or, no. 1007;
Benjacob, Ozar, 49, no. 963.
ALCOTT, AMY (1956- _), professional golfer, member of the
LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame. Born in Kansas City, Mis-
souri, Alcott grew up in Los Angeles, where she began playing
golf as an eight year old putting toward sprinkler heads. She
won the United States Golf Association juniors champion-
ship in 1973, two years before joining the Ladies Professional
Golf Association (LPGaA) shortly after her 19 birthday. Al-
cott proceeded to win the third professional tournament she
entered, the 1975 Orange Blossom Classic, which set a record
for the fastest career win, and was subsequently named the
tour’s rookie of the year. She went on to win 29 professional
tournaments, including five majors: the Peter Jackson Clas-
sic in 1979, the U.S. Womer’s Open in 1980, and the Nabisco
Dinah Shore in 1983, 1988, and 1991. Alcott set a one-round
tournament record of 65 when she won the 1984 Lady Key-
stone Open and tied the tour record of winning at least one
tournament in 12 straight years. She shot her fifth career hole-
in-one in 2001. Alcott was named Golf Magazine's Player of
the Year in 1980 and was awarded the LpGa’s Founders Cup
in 1986, designed to recognize altruistic contributions to the
betterment of society by a member. She wrote Guide to Wom-
en’ Golf (1991) and produced the instruction video Winning
at Golf with Amy Alcott (1991).
[Elli Wohlgelernter (274 ed.)]
°ALCUIN (Albinus Flaccus; c. 735-804), educator and tutor
of Charlemagne from 781. Born in York, he was educated in a
school where one of his teachers had been a student of Bede.
Author of several books and educational manuals, Alcuin’s ex-
egetical works make frequent reference to commentaries on
scripture by Jewish scholars; his knowledge of them derives
from the works of *Jerome. He was present at a religious dis-
putation between a Christian scholar and a Jew in Pavia, Italy,
held between 750 and 760.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Blumenkranz, Auteurs chrutiens... sur
les juifs (1963), 144 ff; Roth, Dark Ages, 113. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
L.Wallach, Alcuin and Charlemagne (1959).
[Bernhard Blumenkranz / Shimon Gibson (2"¢ ed.)]
ALDABI, MEIR BEN ISAAC (c. 1310-c. 1360), religious phi-
losopher, with strong leanings toward the Kabbalah. Aldabi
was a grandson of *Asher b. Jehiel. As a young man he received
a comprehensive education in biblical and rabbinic literature,
and afterward he turned to philosophical and scientific stud-
ies. In 1348 he apparently left his native Toledo and settled in
Jerusalem, where, in 1360, he finished his long contemplated
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALDANOV, MARK
work, Shevilei Emunah (“Paths of Faith”). It was first published
in Riva di Trento, 1518.
Aldabi was moved to write his book by the belief, prev-
alent in the Middle Ages, that the Greek philosophers (es-
pecially Plato and Aristotle) derived the essentials of their
knowledge from Jewish sources. He determined to assemble
the fragments of ancient Jewish wisdom scattered throughout
the various works of the philosophers and natural scientists
and to trace them back to their original sources. Actually, as
stated in the introduction, the book is merely a compilation
of subjects and theories, some of them translated by him from
foreign languages, and culled from different works. The vari-
ous subjects are not arranged systematically but are presented
in random sequence. He borrowed mainly from Hebrew litera-
ture and to some extent, particularly in the fields of medicine
and astronomy, from Arabic literature. His philosophy is based
largely on that of *Maimonides, his ethics on that of *Bahya b.
Joseph ibn Paquda, and his theology on that of *Nahmanides
and his circle. The influence of the last is particularly evident
in Aldabi’s predilection for Kabbalah which he ties in with his
rationalist philosophy. He relies on the encyclopedic Sha’ar
ha-Shamayim of his predecessor Gershon b. Solomon of Ar-
les, and for his psychological theories he uses the views of Jo-
seph ibn *Zaddik and *Hillel b. Samuel of Verona. Aldabi’s
book is divided into ten “paths” (netivot) in which he treats
(1) the existence and unity of God, His names, and divine at-
tributes both from a philosophic and a kabbalistic point of
view; (2) the creation of the world, geography and astronomy,
and the elements; (3) the creation of man and family life (part
of this section is taken, without acknowledgment, from the
Iggeret ha-Kodesh of Nahmanides); (4) embryology, anatomy,
and human physiology (a digest of the accepted theories on
anatomy and physiology in medieval medicine, presented on
the basis of the comparison between the microcosm and mac-
rocosm); (5) rules for physical and “spiritual” hygiene (on the
nature of anger, joy, and the like); (6) the nature and the fac-
ulties of the soul; (7) religious observances as defined by the
Torah and rabbinic tradition; (8) the uninterrupted chain of
the Oral Law from Moses to the Talmud; (9) reward and pun-
ishment and metempsychosis; and finally (10) the redemption
of Israel, resurrection, and the world to come.
The last two chapters are based largely on the opinions
of Nahmanides and Solomon b. Abraham *Adret.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Weiss, Dor, 5 (1891), 117, 141, 214; Steinsch-
neider, Cat, 1690; Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 9-27; Bruell,
Jahrbuecher, 2 (1874), 166-8; Zinberg, Sifrut, 2 (1956), 136-40, 396;
G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, 3 (1948), index; D.
Kaufmann, Die Sinne (1884), index; Waxman, Literature, 2 (19607),
318-9.
[Meir Hillel Ben-Shammai]
ALDANOV, MARK (pseudonym of Mark Aleksandrovich
Landau; 1889-1957), Russian novelist. Aldanov was born in
Kiev and trained as a chemist and lawyer. He left Russia in
1919 and settled in France. During World War 11 he lived in
605
ALDEMA, GIL
the United States, but eventually returned to Europe and died
in Nice. A writer of exceptional erudition and sophistication,
Aldanov excelled in the historical novel - a genre in which
he had few peers in Russian literature. He also wrote other
prose works including several treatises on the philosophy of
history. He is best remembered for his tetralogy Myslitel (“The
Thinker”), a work set in Russia and Western Europe during
the Napoleonic era. Aldanov’s novel Desyataya simfoniya (1931;
The Tenth Symphony, 1948) is based on the life of Beethoven;
and Nachalo kontsa (1936-42; The Fifth Seal, 1943) depicts
Europe on the eve of World War 11. Aldanov was singularly
successful in blending historical and fictitious characters and
events, but unlike so many other Russian novelists - especially
Tolstoy in War and Peace - he erected his historical scaffold-
ing merely as a support for the fictional structure. This did
not, however, discourage his tendency to devote more time
to historical research than to pruning his own work. Aldanov
also differed from Tolstoy in believing that the fate of men
and nations was shaped not by laws but by historical accident.
His writing shows a partiality for paradox and a fondness for
a pose of ironic detachment. His novels were translated into
many languages but, unlike those of some of his émigré col-
leagues, were unobtainable in the U.S.S.R. A staunch anti-
Communist, Aldanov remained a liberal Russian intellectual,
retaining only tenuous links with his Jewish heritage.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Struve, Russkaya literatura v izgnanii,
(1956).
[Maurice Friedberg]
ALDEMA, GIL (1928- ), Israeli musician and composer.
Aldema’s father, Abraham Eisenstein (Aldema), was active
in the early Israeli satirical theater. Gil Aldema studied piano
and violin. Among his teachers were Menashe Rabina and
Paul *Ben-Haim. During his army service he was wounded.
Later he studied at the Jerusalem Music Academy and directed
folk singing activities. In 1952 he became a music teacher and
composed his early songs. In 1957 he went to the U.S. to study
music and worked as a music arranger for the Carmon Dance
Company. From the 1960s to the 1980s he worked at Kol Israel
(Israel Broadcasting Authority) as a musical director of light
music. Aldema is known for his work and arrangements for
choirs such as Rinat, Cameran, and others. He composed
many songs, such as “Ana Halakh Dodekh,” “Ashirah li-Yedi-
day; “Zemer Ikkarim,’ “Mahol Dayyagim, and more, which
were published in Ziyyunei ha-Derekh (1979), Mahberet Meza-
meret (1981), Shir le-Elef Arisot (1983), and Menifah Kolit
(2000). Among his awards are the AKUM Prize for his con-
tribution to Israeli folk music (1984) and the Israel Prize for
Israeli folk songs (2004).
[Gila Flam (24 ed.)]
ALDERMAN, GEOFFREY (1944- ), British historian. An
Oxford graduate, Geoffrey Alderman was professor of politics
and contemporary history at Middlesex University in London
and later vice president of American Intercontinental Univer-
606
sity in London. One of the best-known historians of the Jew-
ish community in Britain, Alderman is the author of Modern
British Jewry (1992), a sophisticated and deeply researched
history of the Anglo-Jewish community since 1858; The Jewish
Community in British Politics (1983); London Jewry and Lon-
don Politics, 1889-1986 (1989); a history of the right-wing Or-
thodox, Federation of Synagogues, 1887-1987 (1987); and other
works. In recent years he has written an often controversial
weekly column in the Jewish Chronicle newspaper, which gen-
erally reflects his Orthodox Zionist viewpoint.
[William D. Rubinstein (2™ ed.)]
°ALDO MANUZIO (1449-1515). Italian humanist, Hebraist,
and printer. In 1494 he set up a printing press in Venice which
soon became famous. Printing Greek and Latin grammatical
works, he appended to several of them the first printed Heb-
rew grammar for Christian students (Introductio perbrevis in
linguam hebraicam, date of foreword 1501). This was reprinted
separately eight times by Aldo himself under a slightly differ-
ent title (a facsimile reprint was published in 1927). Aldo also
printed Leone Ebreo’s (Judah *Abrabanel) Dialoghi di Amore
(1544, 1545) calling him a convert to Christianity. The type
is very similar to that used by Gershom *Soncino. This led
to a rather acrimonious competition between the two great
printers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dukes, in: REJ, 1 (1880), 150ff.; C. Roth, Jews
in the Renaissance (1959), 142, 181, 224; A. Marx, Studies in Jewish His-
tory and Booklore (1944), index, s.v. Aldus Manucius; M. Marx, in:
HUCA, 11 (1936), 445-6.
ALDRICH, ROBERT (1918-1983), U.S. director, producer.
Born in Cranston, Rhode Island, to a prominent East Coast
family, Aldrich departed from family tradition to become one
of Hollywood’s most provocative filmmakers. After attending
the University of Virginia, where he played football and stud-
ied economics, Aldrich began his film career as a production
clerk for RKO at the onset of ww1t. Aldrich quickly became
an assistant director and spent the rest of the decade learn-
ing from esteemed directors such as Lewis Milestone, Joseph
Losey, Abraham Polonsky, and Charlie Chaplin. Aldrich made
his directorial feature film debut in 1953 with The Big Leaguer.
The following year, he made his directorial breakthrough with
the western Apache featuring Burt Lancaster as a pacifist Na-
tive American warrior in a film that presaged Aldrich’s career-
long exploration of violence and morality. Aldrich solidified
his reputation as a director with Vera Cruz (1954), another
western starring Lancaster, this time opposite Gary Cooper,
as the two men vied for gold in Mexico. Aldrich’s distinctive
style continued to crystallize in two provocative film-noir
features, Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and The Big Knife (1955), both
of which earned him critical acclaim in Europe. After a series
of disappointing films in the late 1950s, Aldrich rejuvenated
his career with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), for
which Bette Davis won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Aldrich’s turbulent career was marked by two more high-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
lights, The Dirty Dozen, the highest grossing film of 1967, and
the popular prison film The Longest Yard (1974), starring Burt
Reynolds. Aldrich served as president of the Director’s Guild
of America from 1975 to 1979, during which he successfully
lobbied for increased creative authority for directors.
[Walter Driver (2™4 ed.)]
ALDROPHE, ALFRED-PHILIBERT (1834-1895), French
architect. Born in Paris, Aldrophe designed the French build-
ings at the international exhibitions (1855, 1867). He designed
the synagogues in the Rue de la Victoire and at Versailles. He
also built private homes in Paris including that of Baron Gus-
tave de *Rothschild. He erected several important monuments
in the Pére-Lachaise cemetery.
ALDUBI, ABRAHAM BEN MOSES BEN ISMAIL (14
century), Spanish talmudist. Aldubi studied under Solomon
b. Abraham *Adret and was the teacher of *Jeroham b. Me-
shullam. The whole of his Seder Avodah bi-Kezarah, dealing
with the Day of Atonement service in the Temple, was incor-
porated by Jeroham in his Toledot Adam ve-Havvah. Aldubi’s
book Hiddushim ve-Shitah to Bava Batra is mentioned in the
responsa of Moses b. Isaac Alashkar (1554), and one of his re-
sponsa is printed in the Zikhron Yehudah (1846) of Judah the
son of *Asher b. Jehiel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jeroham b. Meshullam, Issur ve-Hetter (1960),
introd.; D. Cassel, in: Zikhron Yehudah (b. Rosh) (1846); Michael, Or,
15, no. 54; A. Freimann, in: JJLG, 12 (1918), 278, 284.
[Zvi Avneri]
ALECHINSKY, PIERRE (1927- ), Belgian painter. Ale-
chinsky was leader of the CoBrA group of artists, formed in
Brussels, which fostered a spontaneous approach to painting
and opposed social realism on the one hand and a calculated
abstraction on the other. Alechinsky’s works have been de-
scribed as “explosive.” They are characterized by a sense of
perpetual movement and flux in which incomplete forms ap-
pear and dissolve. Alechinsky studied at the Ecole Nationale
dArchitecture et des Arts Décoratifs in Brussels. In 1951 he
moved to Paris, joining other members of the CoBrA group.
Later he visited Japan, where he made a film on Japanese cal-
ligraphy. Alechinsky exhibited at the Venice and Sao Paulo
Biennales.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: EC. Legrand, in: Quadrum, 11 (Fr., 1961),
123-32; J. Putman, in: LOeil, (Nov., 1966), 36-42.
°"ALEF (Heb. PN 3X), first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; its
numerical value is 1. It is a plosive laryngal consonant, pro-
nounced according to the vowel it carries. The earliest clear
representation of the alef is to be found in the Proto-Sinaitic
inscriptions of Cc. 1500 B.c.E. This acrophonic pictograph
of an ox-head (alp) & develops through the Proto-Arabic A
and South Arabic A into the Ethiopic A on the one hand, and
through the Proto-Canaanite & and & into the tenth—-ninth
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
°A LEF
centuries B.c.E. classical Phoenician ‘alef + on the other hand.
The Ugaritic consonantal cuneiform script of the 14 cen-
tury B.c.£. has three “alef signs: +» (’a), = (i), and mite (Cu).
About 800 B.c.E. the Greeks borrowed the Phoenician alef
and used it as a vowel (alpha). They altered its stance and
turned it into A, a shape which was adopted by Latin, among
other scripts. While the Phoenician alef underwent its own
evolution (¥ — fifth century B.c.£., x - Punic, X - Neo-Punic),
the Hebrew and the Aramaic scripts, which derived from
Phoenician, developed it as follows: in seventh century B.C.E.
Hebrew, along with the cursive forms € and * there existed a
formal one: ¥. The latter survived in the Paleo-Hebrew Dead
Sea Scrolls and its variations occur on Jewish coins as ®, “
and in late Samaritan as #. The development of the Aramaic
cursive alef in the seventh and sixth centuries B.c.E. was +
> ¥— ¥* > *; and in the fifth century B.c.£., it reached its
classical form %. The latter is the ancestor of the first letters of
many alphabets which developed from the third century B.c.£.
onward. They include: Nabatean: € > Y > © +f > |. The
last form, which occurs in the first century c.z. documents
found near the Dead Sea, indicates the date when the Arabic
alif was fixed. The Palmyrene & turned into the Syriac A”
(Estrangela), but in other Syriac systems it is a vertical stroke
resembling the Arabic. The Jewish (square Hebrew) @lef pre-
served the shape of its Aramaic ancestor. Although there is a
tendency to curve the left leg - as in Nabatean and Palmyrene,
e.g., the Nash Papyrus - the straight-legged ‘alef prevails. The
Jewish cursive forms of the time of the Herodian dynasty ¢, Fr
disappeared apparently after the period of Bar Kokhba. The
Jewish formal ‘“alef did not change its basic shape during the
following period. In the cursive styles of the various Jewish
local systems the left leg became the main stroke — k; so it is
in the Ashkenazic cursive from which stems the modern cur-
sive alef kt, te. See *Alphabet, Hebrew.
[Joseph Naveh]
Alef in Aggadah and Folklore
The alef is more personified than any of the other Hebrew
letters. Praised is its humility, which is reflected in the fact
that it did not ask God to be the means of creation nor that
the Bible be started with it (the Bible begins with the second
letter of the alphabet bet). The alef was rewarded by starting
the Decalogue (°938, Anokhi; “T’) and by denoting the highest
number, 2X (elef, “thousand”). The three letters (4],2 8) which
constitute the alefhave been interpreted according to different
homiletic means such as the *notarikon 79 Tw? NHDN (eftah
leshon peh; “I shall open the tongue (and) mouth”) which is
the opening phrase of God's proclamation: “I shall open the
tongue (and) mouth of all people to praise Me, or to study, and
teach” (Midrash Alfa Beta de-Rabbi Akiva in A. Jellinek, Beit
ha-Midrash, 3 (19387), 12-14; cf. the use of the root JX in Job
33:33). Since alef is the initial letter of God’s name at the time
of Creation (O°7x, Elohim in Gen. 1:1) and of the three words
alluding to His Ineffable Name (7708 WRX FIN in Ex. 3:14), it
is fundamental in Hebrew inscriptions in *amulets and letter
607
ALEGRE, ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON
magic. Similarly, the letter ‘A’ is to be found at the end of the
European magic-formulistic inscriptions belonging to the “ab-
racadabra” type. The expression “from alef to tav” (Shab. 55a
and Av. Zar 4a) corresponding to that of “Alpha and Omega”
(Rev. 1:8 and 22:13) denotes complete integration.
[Dov Noy]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Dornseiff, Das Alphabet in Mystik und
Magic (19257); Ginzberg, Legends, 7 (1938), 24; D. Neuman, Motif-in-
dex to the Talmudic-Midrashic Literature (1954), 311, no. D 1273. 4; S.
Thompson, Index of Folk-Literature, 2 (19567), 162, no. D 1273. 6.
ALEGRE, ABRAHAM BEN SOLOMON (1560-1652), rabbi
and scholar of Constantinople. Hayyim *Alfandari in his
Maggid me-Reshit records Alegre’s controversy on a halakhic
issue (responsa 4, 5). His own responsa were published to-
gether with those of Jacob Shalem Ashkenazi (Sephardi emis-
sary of Jerusalem), in Salonika in 1793. Alegre is more widely
known by the title of his extensive commentary on Maimo-
nides’ Sefer ha-Mitzvot, Lev Sameah, (Constantinople, 1652),
printed in the Israeli edition of the Mishneh Torah (vol. 1,
1962). In this work, which took 40 years to complete, Alegre
analyzes the 14 principles defined by Maimonides in the intro-
duction to his Sefer ha-Mitzvot and those on which he based
the enumeration and classification of the mitzvot. He par-
ticularly justifies Maimonides against the strictures of Nah-
manides on the Sefer ha-Mitzvot. His son-in-law, Levi Teglio,
in a foreword to the Lev Same‘ah. states that Alegre wrote a
homiletical work and a book of responsa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, s.v. Abraham Alegre; Michael, Or, no.
238; Rosanes, Togarmah, 3 (1938), 128; Fuenn, Keneset, 10.
[Abraham Hirsch Rabinowitz]
ALEINU LE-SHABBE’AH (Heb. naw? 1>y; “It is our duty
to praise [the Lord of all things]”), prayer now recited at the
conclusion of the statutory services. Originally it introduced
the *Malkhuyyot section of the Rosh Ha-Shanah additional
service in which the kingship of God is proclaimed and where
it is recited with great solemnity. Its theological importance
secured for it, from the 12" century at least, a special place
in the daily order of service (Mahzor Vitry, p. 75); first at the
conclusion of the morning service and later at the end of the
other two daily services as well (Kol Bo, no. 16). As with some
other prayers, it was taken over from the New Year liturgy into
the additional service of the Day of Atonement.
The style of Aleinu is that of the early piyyut, composed of
short lines, each comprising about four words, with a marked
rhythm and parallelism. It is one of the most sublime of Jew-
ish prayers, written in exalted language.
It is referred to as Tekiata de-Vei Rav (“The Shofar Ser-
vice of *Rav”) and it has therefore been ascribed to this third-
century Babylonian teacher (TJ RH 1:3, 57a; cf. Av. Zar. 1:2,
39c). But the Aleinu may be considerably older. According
to one popular tradition, it was composed by Joshua (Arugat
ha-Bosem, ed. by E.E. Urbach, 3 (1962), 468-71); according
608
‘ALENU
Ex, ] Three “Realizations” of the 19th Century.
A
West Ashken.
Abraham Baer
8B
East Ashken,
H. Weintraub
c
“Acculturated™ Pat
L, Lewandowski ©
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
to another, it was written by the Men of the Great Assem-
bly during the period of the Second Temple (Manasseh Ben
Israel, Vindiciae, vol. 4, p. 2). There are good reasons for plac-
ing it within that period, because there is no mention of the
Temple restoration in the prayer while there is reference in
it to the Temple practice of prostration. Prostration during
Aleinu is still customary in the Ashkenazi rite in most com-
munities on Rosh Ha-Shanah and on the Day of Atonement,
while in the other services the congregants bow when recit-
ing the words “we bend the knee....” The description of God
as the “King of the kings of kings” may be due to Persian in-
fluence, since the Persians described their king as “the king of
kings” (cf. Dan. 2:37). It has been suggested that the prayer has
its origin in early *Merkabah mysticism; a version of Aleinu
was recently found among hymns used by the early mystics
(see bibliography).
Contents
The main theme of the prayer is the kingdom of God. In the
first part, God is praised for having singled out the people of
Israel from other nations, for Israel worships the One God
while others worship idols. The second paragraph expresses
the fervent hope for the coming of the kingdom of God, and
the universal ideal of a united mankind which will recognize
the only true God, and of “a world perfected under the king-
ship of the Almighty.” The juxtaposition of the two paragraphs
provides a coherent theology connecting the idea of a chosen
people (Israel) with the challenge that such distinctiveness has
for its purpose, religious union and the perfection of mankind
under the kingdom of God.
Censorship
In the Middle Ages the prayer was censored by Christians as
containing an implied insult to Christianity. They claimed
that the verse “for they prostrate themselves before vanity
and emptiness and pray to a God that saveth not” was a ref-
erence to Jesus. Pesah Peter, a 14*-century Bohemian apos-
tate, spitefully alleged a connection between the numerical
value of the Hebrew word j?°7) (va-rik; “and emptiness”) and
1” (Yeshu; the name of Christ). The elder *Buxtorf (16 cen-
tury) and *Eisenmenger (17 century) and others repeated the
charge; and Jewish apologists from Lippmann Muelhausen
(15* century) to Manasseh Ben Israel and Moses Mendels-
sohn were at pains to refute it. However, the 13""-century Aru-
gat ha-Bosem by Abraham b. Azriel does mention a tradition
that the numerical value of j277) 219? (la-hevel va-rik; “vanity
and emptiness”) equals 3721791 1W? (Yeshu u-Muhammad; Jesus
and Muhammad). Some ecclesiastical censors also deleted the
previous passage: “Who did not make our portion like theirs,
nor our lot like that of all their multitude” Eisenmenger re-
fers to the custom of spitting at the offending word which he
interprets as an additional insult to Christianity. This was, no
doubt, a popular gesture suggested by the double meaning of
rik (“emptiness” and “spittle”). In view of this accusation, rab-
bis such as Isaiah Horowitz discouraged the indecorous prac-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEINU LE-SHABBE AH
tice. (The popular Yiddish phrase, er kummt tsum oysshpayen
(“he comes at the spitting”) came, therefore, to describe some-
one who arrived at a service as late as the concluding Aleinu.)
The censors remained adamant even when it was pointed out
that the offending phrase is found in Isaiah (30:7; 45:20), that
the Aleinu prayer is probably pre-Christian, and that if Rav
was the author, it was composed in a non-Christian country.
The line had to be removed from Ashkenazi prayer books. In
1703 its recital was prohibited in Prussia. The edict, which pro-
vided for police enforcement, was renewed in 1716 and 1750.
Even earlier, some communities omitted or changed the of-
fending lines as an act of self-censorship (e.g., by replacing
she-hem, “for they [prostrate themselves before vanity],’ with
she-hayu, “for they used to...”). The Sephardim - especially in
Oriental countries — retained the full text and it has now been
restored to some prayer books of the Ashkenazi rite as well.
The Blois Tragedy
*Ephraim of Bonn tells how the Jews of *Blois, martyred in
1171, went to their death chanting Aleinu to a soul-stirring
melody which “at the outset... was subdued, but at the close
was mighty.” The messianic theme of the second paragraph
would have made it especially significant for the Jew in the
tragic moments of his history, and it takes its place with the
Shema as a declaration of faith. Its introduction into the daily
service may have been an act of defiance when Christian pres-
sure was on the increase.
Reform Usage
In the Reform liturgy the prayer, with some modifications,
has retained its importance and is called the “Adoration.” The
Ark is opened and the congregation bows as the words “we
bow and prostrate ourselves” are recited.
Music
The Aleinu of the *Musaf prayer of the Penitential Feasts is
notable, in Ashkenazi tradition, for its music; the Sephardi
and eastern communities sing it to one of their regular prayer
modes. A musical peculiarity was claimed for the Ashkenazi
tune as early as 1171, when it was sung by the martyrs of Blois
(Neubauer-Stern, p. 68, 202). Its written tradition, however,
dates from the 18t* and 19‘ centuries. The Ashkenazi Aleinu
belongs to the class of unchangeable *Mi-Sinai tunes. Thus,
it cannot be traced back to a definite archetype, but only to a
basic concept or musical idea which is executed differently in
every performance.
The Aleinu tune consists of seven melodic sentences or
“themes” (see Music Example), always produced in the same
order. Four of them, nos. 1, Iv, v, and VI, are virtually invari-
able in outline; the others, especially the final themes 111 and
vil, are frequently changed. The Aleinu has several themes
in common with other Mi-Sinai tunes: Iv, v, v1, and vir?
recur, in the same order, in the Avot Benediction; 11, v, and
vi’ are known from the *Kol Nidrei. Apart from mere orna-
mental elaboration and minor variants, three main patterns
of melodic realization can be distinguished: (1) the predomi-
609
ALEKSANDER JAGIELLONCZYK
nant version (Examples 14 and 1B), known to both western
and eastern Ashkenazi communities. This is well on the way
to major tonality which gradually replaces the original mode
(featuring a diminished seventh). Cantors from Russia often
omitted some of the themes, except 1 and 5, replacing them by
repetitions. This points to a western-Ashkenazi origin for the
tune. (2) “Acculturated” versions (such as Example 1c) came
into being in the mid-19" century. They feature drastic reduc-
tion of coloraturas and decided major tonality. (3) A presently
obsolete, expanded version was current in the 18" and early
196 century. It is excessively ornate, and may be regarded as
a cantorial development of or a “fantasia” on the traditional
tune. Many of its extended vocalizations and trumpet flour-
ishes represent a musical illustration of certain mystical in-
tentions (kavvanot) connected with the prayer. An old theory
proposes a relationship between the tune of Aleinu and the
Sanctus of the Roman Mass 1x. Since the latter, however, is
not dated earlier than the 14"* century, no conclusions can be
drawn from the slight similarity between the two tunes.
[Hanoch Avenary]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, S., Seder, 131-2, 397-8; Siddur Ozar
ha-Tefillot (Ashkenazi rite, 1923), fol. 217ff.; H. Brody and S. Wiener,
Mivhar ha-Shirah ha-Ivrit (1922), 9-10; Davidson, Ozar, 3 (1930),
278, no. 676; Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 80; 143; Krauss, in: Festschrift...
A. Freimann (1935), 127; G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism (19657), 1053
Heinemann, in: JJs, 5 (1960), 246 ff; idem, Ha-Tefillah bi-Tekufat ha-
Tanna’im... (19667), 173f£.; Liebreich, in: HUCA, 34 (1963), 162, 168;
Abrahams, Companion, Lxxxviff; Baron, Social’, 4 (19577), 138,
307, n. 603 7 (19587), 76, 89; Neusner, Babylonia, 2 (1966), 163ff.; J.R.
Marcus, Jew in the Medieval World (1960°), 95, 116. MUSIC: Idelsohn,
in: Zeitschrift fuer Musikwissenschaft, 8 (1926), 456ff.; Avenary, in:
I. Adler (ed.), Yuval (1968), 65-85; W. Apel, Gregorian Chant (1958),
417-20; H. Anglés, in: Journal of the International Folk Music Coun-
cil, 16 (1964), 56.
"ALEKSANDER JAGIELLONCZYK (1461-1506), grand
duke of Lithuania 1492-1501, king of Poland 1501-06. In 1495
Aleksander expelled the Jews from Lithuania. The young
prince may also have been indoctrinated by his rabidly anti-
Jewish mentor Jan *Dlugosz. Aleksander would also have
found it convenient to confiscate the property of the exiles to
finance his wars against Russia. When elected king of Poland,
however, Aleksander’s attitude toward the Jews was more tol-
erant. In 1503 he allowed the exiled Lithuanian Jews to return.
The Polish code, compiled by his chancellor Jan Laski (1506),
includes the former grants of privileges accorded to Polish
Jewry, but with the preamble that their incorporation is “to
protect the citizenry from the Jews.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dubnow, Hist Russ, 1 (1916), 4-5; I. Halpern
(ed.), Beit Yisrael be-Folin, 1 (1948), 14-16. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
M. Balaban, Historia i literatura zydowska, 2 (1925), 350-53.
[Nathan Michael Gelber]
ALEKSANDRIYA, small town in Rovno district, Volhynia,
Ukraine. The Jews settled there before the *Chmielnicki upris-
610
ing (1648-50) and suffered at the hands of the Cossacks. Few
Jews lived there until 1700, when they were obliged to pay a
350-zloty head tax. The community grew rapidly in the 19"
century. In 1847 it numbered 728 and in 1897, 2,154 (out of a
total population of 3,189). Jews built a sugar refinery, textile
factories, and a sawmill, and rented flour mills from Count
Lubomirski. The community maintained a school, a club, and
a Hebrew library. The Zionist movement was very popular
there. The Hebrew Tarbut school founded in 1917 served as a
model for most of the towns of Volhynia. The Jewish popula-
tion numbered 1,700 in 1939. During Soviet rule in 1939-41
all Jewish political parties, organizations, and cultural insti-
tutions were closed and the economy was nationalized. The
Germans occupied Aleksandriya on June 29, 1941, and in the
following days pillaged Jewish property and burned down
the synagogues with the help of local peasants. On July 31, 85
Jews were executed. On September 22, 1942 about 1,000 Jews,
including women, children, and the aged, were taken to the
forest at Swiaty and murdered. Fifty Jews returned to the town
after the war but soon left for Palestine.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Yalkut Volin, 1 (1945), 15; 4 (1947), 24; Eisen-
stein-Keshev, in: Fun Noentn Over, 4 (1959), 191-231.
[Shmuel Spector (274 ed.)]
ALEKSANDRIYA (originally Becha), town in Kirovograd
district, Ukraine. The first Jews settled in Aleksandriya at the
end of the 18» century. In 1864 they numbered 2,474, and in
1897, 3735 (26% of the total population). In 1910 the commu-
nity had five synagogues, a talmud torah and a communal
school, and 11 hadarim with 230 pupils. The main occupation
of the Jews in Aleksandriya was garment manufacturing. Ina
pogrom on April 23, 1882, Jewish shops and homes were pil-
laged. On the Day of Atonement of 1904 (September 6), three
Jews were killed and several injured in a pogrom. During the
civil war of 1919-20, the Jews in Aleksandriya endured great
suffering, Aleksandriya being the headquarters of Ataman
Grigoryev, leader of the Ukrainian pogrom bands. They were
also attacked by Denikin’s “White” army. In 1926 the Jewish
population in Aleksandriya numbered 4,595 (23% of the total).
During the Soviet period most of the Jews worked as artisans
in cooperatives. The central Chabad synagogue was still op-
erating in the early 1930s. The Jewish population declined to
1,420 persons in 1939 (total population 19,755). Aleksandriya
was occupied by the Germans on August 6, 1941. They mur-
dered 463 males on September 19, and over 300 on August
29. In all, 2,572 were murdered, including Jews from the sur-
rounding area.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Tcherikower, Di Ukrainer Pogromen in
1919 (1965); B. West, Naftulei Dor, 1 (1947), 133-6. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: PK Ukrainah, s.v.
[Shmuel Spector (274 ed.)]
ALEKSANDROW (Danziger), influential dynasty of hasidic
rabbis in Poland active from the second half of the 19‘ cen-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
tury (see *Hasidism). Their “court” was at *Aleksandrow
Lodzki (Yid. Alexander), a small town near Lodz. In contrast
to the Hasidim of Géra-Kalwaria (Yid. Ger), the Aleksand-
row Hasidim generally did not take part in Jewish party poli-
tics in Poland.
The founder of the dynasty, SHRAGA FEIVEL DANZIGER
(d. 1849) of Grdjec (Yid. Gryce), was rabbi in the small towns
of Sierpc, Gabin, and Makéw; Shraga succeeded his rebbe, R.
Isaac of Warka. His son, JEHIEL, the disciple of Isaac of Warka,
settled in Aleksandrow and made it the seat of the “court.”
Jehiel’s son, JERAHMEEL ISRAEL ISAAC (1853-1910), was the
outstanding member of the dynasty. He was learned in a wide
variety of subjects and had a keen intellect, and was beloved by
the Hasidim. A natural leader, Jerahmeel would question his
followers about their circumstances and advise them accord-
ingly, consoling, encouraging, and reproving. He had a small
circle of learned disciples, but also provided moral guidance
to all his followers. He wrote Yismah Yisrael (1911). Jerahmeel’s
brother and his successor was SAMUEL ZEVI (d. 1925). The last
rabbi of the line, IsA AC MENAHEM (1880-1943), established a
network of Aleksandrow yeshivot in various places. He per-
ished in the concentration camp at *Treblinka. He wrote Ake-
dat Yizhak (1953). After the war, JUDAH MOSES TIEHBERG,
Jehiel’s grandson, head of a yeshivah in Bene-Berak, was de-
clared “Aleksandrow Rabbi.” He wrote Kedushat Yizhak (1952)
on the Aleksandrow dynasty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.H. Zamlung, Eser Zekhuyyot (1931), 58f.3
I.M. Bromberg, Admorei Alexander (1952); Aescoly, in: I. Halpern
(ed.), Beit Yisrael be-Polin, 2 (1954), 131f.
[Zvi Meir Rabinowitz]
ALEKSANDROW LODZKI, town in central Poland,
founded in 1818. The first Jewish residents were under the
jurisdiction of the Lutomiersk kahal, but an independent
community was established in 1830 by Jews who came from
Lutomiersk. In 1826 the governor of the Polish Congress King-
dom granted the community a privilege permitting them to
reside and acquire property in specified areas of the town. The
Jewish population of Aleksandrow Lodzki numbered around
1,000 in the 1850s; 1,673 (27.9% of the total population) in 1879;
3,061 (24.1%) in 1909; and 2,635 (31.9%) in 1921.
Holocaust Period
In 1939 there were 3,500 Jews in Aleksandrow, comprising one-
third of the total population. The German army occupied the
town on Sept. 7, 1939, and on the following day set the main
synagogue afire and forced the Jews to burn the Torah scrolls
which were found in private homes. There were several cases
of kiddush ha-Shem when Jews sacrificed their lives while try-
ing to save the sacred books. Kidnapping of Jews in the streets,
open robbery, and the imposition of ever higher ransoms con-
tinued until the end of 1939. In this period the famous “court”
of the Aleksandrow zaddik (Danziger) was liquidated. All Jews
of Aleksandrow were expelled to Glowno (in the Generalgou-
vernement) on Dec. 27, 1939. Some of them remained there
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEMANNO, JOHANAN BEN ISAAC
and the others were deported to other towns of the Gener-
algouvernement. The Jewish cemetery of Aleksandrow was
plowed up and turned into a park.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aleksander (al-yad Lodz) (1968), memorial
book in Heb. and Yid.
ALEMAN, MATEO (1547-c. 1615), Spanish novelist of “New
Christian” descent. He studied medicine at Salamanca and
Alcala. Always poverty-stricken, he was several times im-
prisoned for debt. *Conversos were forbidden to leave Spain,
but Aleman secured permission by means of a bribe and ar-
rived in the New World in 1608. Aleman’s fame rests on one
great work, the Guzman de Alfarache, the first part of which
was published in 1599, the second in 1604. This is a picaresque
novel marked by a skillful fusion of narrative and didactic el-
ements. The picaresque genre was introduced in 1554 with
an anonymous work called La vida de Lazarus de Tormes ....
The bitterness expressed in the novel has been ascribed to its
author’s position as a Converso, one of whose ancestors was
burned in an auto-da-fé, while some have suggested that it
may merely reflect Aleman’s personal disillusionment. In the
novel Aleman contrasts the nobility that has possessions and
power with the “ignobility” that lacks lineage and respectabil-
ity. He died in Mexico.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Valbuena Prat, La Novela Picaresca Espa-
fiola (19467), 46-59. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Bjornson, The Pica-
resque Hero in European Fiction (1977), 43-65; C.B. Johnson, Inside
Guzman de Alfarache (1978); B. Brancaforte, Guzman de Alfarache:
Conversion o proceso de degradacion? (1980); M. Cavillac, Gueux
et marchands dans le Guzman de Alfarache ... (1983); M. Molho,
in: REJ, 144 (1985), 71-80; C. Guillén, in: El primer siglo de oro ....
(1988), 177-96.
[Kenneth R. Scholberg / Yom Tov Assis (274 ed.)]
ALEMANNO, JOHANAN BEN ISAAC (1435/8 -after 1504),
philosopher, kabbalist and biblical exegete. A descendant of
an Ashkenazi family expelled from France, his father married
an Aragonese Jewess, and the family came to Italy because of
his grandfather’s (Elijah) mission to the Pope.
Alemanno himself was born in Mantua and was reared
in Florence in the house of Jehiel of *Pisa, where he acquired a
thorough education in several disciplines, especially philoso-
phy. Later he taught in various cities in Italy. At the age of 35 he
settled in Mantua where he was among the guests of Luigi III
Gonzaga, and studied with R. Yehudah Messer Leon. In 1488
he returned to Florence, where he again stayed with the family
of Jehiel of Pisa until they left Florence in 1497. In the house of
this patron Alemanno spent some quiet years and was able to
complete the works he had begun and to embark on new ones.
The most important of these works are the following:
(1) Heshek Shelomo, a philosophical commentary on the
Song of Songs, which Alemanno began at the age of 30. In 1488
he read portions of his manuscript to Giovanni *Pico della
Mirandola who urged him to complete it. The work, thus far
never printed in its entirety, is extant in manuscripts (Bodle-
611
ALEMANNO, JOHANAN BEN ISAAC
ian, 1535, British Museum 227, Ms. Moscow-Guensburg). A
substantial part of Alemanno’s introduction to it was pub-
lished by Jacob Baruch under the title Shaar ha-Heshek (Leg-
horn, 1790) in a very imperfect edition, which was reprinted
in Halberstadt (c. 1862) without change. In addition, some
fragments of the work were published in various places. The
introduction constitutes almost half of the book, and opens
with a lengthy section, Shir ha-Maalot li-Shelomo, glorifying
King Solomon, as a philosopher, Kabbalist and magician. Ale-
manno goes on to discuss the content, character, form, and
significance of the Song of Songs. In his opinion, the book in
its simple sense treats of earthly love, although allegorically
Solomon sought to depict divine love.
(2) Einei ha-‘Edah an unfinished philosophic-kabbalistic
commentary on the Pentateuch still in manuscripts. The gen-
eral line of thought resembles that of the Heshek Shelomo.
(3) Hei ha-Olamim is Alemanno’s chief work, on which
he labored from 1470 until 1503. One manuscript is found in
the library of the Jewish community of Mantua, and another in
the Jewish Theological Seminary (Rab. 1586). The work deals
with the problem of how man may attain eternal life and rise
to communion with God. The introduction prescribes a two-
fold method of instruction to be followed by every teacher:
for the masses, a simple method readily understandable to
all; and for the learned and informed, a logical one calculated
to remove doubt. In this work Alemanno makes use of both
methods. He introduces two characters, the Meliz Yosher al-
Leshono (“the felicitous interpreter”) who presents each sub-
ject in succinct and simple words; and the Dover Emet bi-Le-
vavo (“one who speaks the truth in his heart”) who engages in
elaborate proofs. The author charts the career of the ideal man;
he describes man’s physical life from conception to maturity
and indicates the preparations one should undertake at every
stage of his life to attain perfection. Then he discusses man’s
spiritual development through the perfection of his moral and
intellectual capacities. The final goal is the attainment of the
perfect love of God and union with Him. The work constitutes
an encyclopedia of the knowledge of Alemanno’s time.
(4) Likkutim are various notes and reflections, among
them, those of the years 1478 and 1504, which Alemanno had
intended to later incorporate into his other work. It is extant
in manuscript (Bodleian 2234). The material preserved in this
compilation reflects the wide scope of his reading and his ac-
quaintance with philosophical, Kabbalistic, magical and as-
trological traditions of Spanish extraction, and they serve as
the main source of inspiration for his later works.
Alemanno often mentions a work of his entitled Ha-
Meassef; perhaps the reference is to the Likkutim. (The name
Likkutim was originally used by Abraham Joseph Solomon
Graziano in the 17" century.) Alemanno presumably wrote an-
notations to the Hai ben Yoktan by Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl found
in manuscript (Munich 59). Another work by Alemanno,
Zeh Kol ha-Adam, is also occasionally mentioned; it is prob-
ably identical with Hai ha-Olamim. In addition, he probably
wrote Pekah Koah, which has been lost. The works Melekhet
612
Muskelet - a book of magic translated from Greek into Latin
and extant only in some Hebrew fragments from the circle
of Alemanno - and Peri Megadim have been erroneously as-
cribed to him. Alemanno was well-versed in Greek and Ara-
bic-Jewish philosophy and familiar with the Latin literature
of antiquity and the Middle Ages. His erudition and writings
were held in such high regard in his day that a scholar such
as Pico della Mirandola wished to become his student in He-
brew literature. The hypothesis that Alemanno was the same
person as Dattilo or Mithridates, both of whom moved in the
circle of Pico della Mirandola, is unfounded. Alemanno’s son
Isaac was the teacher of Giovanni Francesco, the nephew of
Pico della Mirandola. Alemanno influenced a series of Jew-
ish Italian thinkers, more notably R. Isaac de Lattes and R.
Abraham Yagel.
Alemanno was well-acquainted with Italian Jewish Kab-
balah: mostly Abraham Abulafia’s prophetic Kabbalah, and
Menahem Recanati’s writings, and he was part of a revival of
interest in this lore evident among Jews and Christian in the
Florentine Renaissance. He conceived magic as a high form
of activity, even higher than Kabbalah, and described it as
Hokhmah ruhanit, “the spiritual lore”. He studied a number of
Jewish and other type of magical books, like Sefer ha-Levanah
and a Sefer Raziel translated from Latin, and resorted to astro-
magic views, under the impact of the tradition of Abraham
ibn Ezra and his many commentators in 14**-early 15"* century
Spain, whose writings he often quotes. This synthesis between
Kabbalah and magic is evident also in Pico della Mirandola’s
thought. The affinities between Alemannos thought and that
of his Florentine Christian contemporaries still waits for de-
tailed investigations. It is possible that Alemanno arrived in
Jerusalem in 1522.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Altmann (ed.), Jewish Medieval and Re-
naissance Studies (1967), 190, 328; U. Cassuto, Gli Ebrei a Firenze...
(1918), 301-17, 403f., 427f., Heb. trans.: Ha-Yehudim be-Firenzi bi-
Tekufat ha-Renaissance (1967), index, s.v. Yohanan Alemann; Per-
les, in: REJ, 12 (1886), 244-57; H. Pflaum, Die Idee der Liebe (1926),
67-70; Reggio, in: Kerem Hemed, 2 (1836), 48-53; Vogelstein-Rieger,
2 (1896), 75-77. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Idel, “The Anthropol-
ogy of Yohanan Alemanno: Sources and Influences,” in: Topoi, 7
(1988), pp. 201-10; idem, “The Study Program of Rabbi Yohanan Ale-
manno, in: Tarbiz, 48 (1979), 303-30 (Heb.); idem, “The Concept of
Sefirot as Essence and as Instruments in Kabbalah in the Renaissance,
in: Italia, 3 (1982), 89-111 (Heb.); idem, “The Magical and Neoplatonic
Interpretations of Kabbalah in the Renaissance,” in: B.D. Cooper-
man (ed.), Jewish Thought in the Sixteenth Century (1983), 186-242;
idem, “Magical Temples and Cities in the Middle Ages and Renais-
sance: A Passage of Masudi as a Possible Source for Yohanan Ale-
manno, in: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 3 (1981/82), 185-89;
idem, “Astral Dreams in R. Yohanan Alemannoss Writings,” in: Acca-
demia, 1 (1999), 111-28; F. Lelli, Yohanan Alemanno, Hai ha-Olamim
(LImmortale) (1995); idem, “Leducazione ebraica nella seconda meta
del ’400, Poetica e scienze naturale nel ’400, Poetica e scienze natu-
rali nel Hay Ha-‘Olamim di Yohanan Alemanno,’ Rinascimento, 36
(1996), 75-136; A. Lesley, “The ‘Song of Solomon's Ascents, Love and
Human Perfection according to a Jewish Associate of Giovanni Pico
della Mirandola” (doctoral dissertation, Berkeley, 1976); A. Melamed,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
“The Hebrew Encyclopedias of the Renaissance,’ in: The Medieval He-
brew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy (2000) 441-64; idem,
“The Hebrew ‘Laudatio of Yohanan Alemanno in Praise of Lorenzo
il Magnifico and the Florentine Constitution,” in: Jews in Italy (1988)
1-34; idem, “Yohanan Alemanno and the Development of Human So-
ciety,’ in: World Congress of Jewish Studies, 8c (1982), 85-93 (Heb.); C.
Novak, “Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Jochanan Alemanno,’ in:
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 45 (1982), 125-47; E.
Rosenthal, “Yohanan Alemanno and Occult Science,” in: Y. Maeyama
and WG. Saltzer (eds.), Prismata, Naturwissenschaftsgeschichtliche
Studien, Festschrift fuer Willy Hartner (1977), 349-61.
[Umberto (Moses David) Cassuto / Moshe Idel (2"¢ ed.)]
ALEPPO (Ar. Halab; called by the Jews Aram-Zoba (Aram
Zova)), second-largest city in Syria and the center of northern
Syria. The Hebrew form of Aleppo (Haleb) is, according to a
legend quoted by the 12+-century traveler, *Pethahiah of Re-
gensburg, derived from the tradition that Abraham pastured
his sheep on the mountain of Aleppo and distributed their
milk (halav) to the poor on its slopes. According to Jewish
tradition, mentioned by Rabbi Abraham Dayyan, the begin-
ning of the community was in the era of Joab ben Zeruiah,
the conqueror of the city in the time of King David, who also
built the great synagogue. There are also other non-Jewish
traditions which confirm the existence of the community in
the Greek period. It would seem that the establishment of
the Jewish community was in this period. Jewish settlement
there has continued uninterruptedly since Roman times. The
ancient section of the great synagogue was built in the form
of a basilica with three stoae during the Byzantine period; an
inscription on it dates from 834. The Jews lived in a separate
quarter before the Muslim conquest in 636. They lived sepa-
rately during the Muslim period in the northeastern area of
the city. The most ancient synagogue, named Kanisat Mu-
takal, was built in the fourth century and was located in the
Parafara quarter in the northeastern region of the city. It is the
oldest Jewish building in the city. During the Muslim period
the Jewish quarter was named Mahal al-Yahud. In the Seljuk
period the Jewish quarter was spread over a large area of the
walled city. On the south it bordered on the market street, on
the west the castle, on the east the Dar Al-Bbatih food mer-
chandise area, and on the north the wall and the Jewish gate
(Bab al-Yahud). This latter gate was named from the end of the
12 century Bab al-Nasr (Victory Gate). In the anarchic period
(1023-79) it seems that there were also Jews who lived outside
the Jewish quarter. A document from the 12 century deals
with a Jewish building in the market street. There was also a
synagogue located in a new suburb outside the walls.
*Saadiah Gaon was in Aleppo in 921 and it is said that he
found Jewish scholars there. In the 1 century learned rab-
bis led a well-ordered community. R. Baruch b. Isaac was its
leader at the end of the 11" century: fragments of his commen-
tary on the Gemara as well as responsa have been found in the
genizah. Apparently the rosh kehillot (“head of communities”),
ie., a leader common to the various communities of Jews
(such as Babylonians, Palestinians, etc.), represented all Jews
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEPPO
before the Muslim authorities. The leader of the community
of Aleppo during the years 1015-29 was Jacob ben Joseph, who
came to Aleppo from Fustat and served there as dayyan. He
was also the dayyan responsible for the other communities in
the region and received the title rosh kala from the Babylonian
academy. He also had in Aleppo a bet midrash and had stu-
dents from various countries. His successor in the 1030s was
Jacob ben Isaac, who served as the dayyan of the Aleppo com-
munity. He died c. 1036. His successor as dayyan was Tamim
ben Toviah. His grandson Tamim ben Toviah is known from
another document dated 1189. A famous rabbi of the com-
munity, Barukh ben Isaac, served as dayyan in Aleppo from
the 1180s. In the 1190s he headed a bet midrash and students
gathered there around his son Joseph. Rabbi Barukh gave the
proselyte Obadiah, who came to his bet midrash, a recommen-
dation to the Jewish communities. Rabbi Barukh was known
also as a significant halakhic posek, and as a Talmud parshan,
too, and his commentaries were cited by scholars from Aleppo.
He was busy also in public affairs.
The community seems to have had close contacts with
Palestine, and heads of Palestinian yeshivot visited Aleppo.
In the second half of the 12" century the great yeshivah of
Baghdad was in contact with Aleppo. R. Zechariah b. Bara-
chel, a disciple of the gaon *Samuel b. Ali of Baghdad, was ap-
pointed to head Aleppo’s bet din. The scholars of Aleppo also
exchanged letters with *Maimonides; R. *Joseph b. Aknin,
Maimonides’ disciple, lived in Aleppo at that time. We iden-
tify this scholar with the leader of the community in the 12
century, Joseph b. Judah Ibn Simeon. This scholar was a mer-
chant who traveled to India and other lands and later returned
to Aleppo, bought a big estate outside the city, and founded
on it a bet midrash. He was also the court physician of Al-
Malik Al-Tahir. Maimonides wrote that the Jews of Aleppo
were very sociable, sat in taverns, and listened to music. In
the castle of the city, ancient Jewish tombstones from the years
1148 and 1217-31 survived. With the inclusion of the town in
Nar al-Din’s (Noureddin) kingdom in 1146, security improved.
*Benjamin of Tudela estimated in 1173 the number of Jews in
Aleppo as 5,000 (according to the best-preserved manuscript
versions, but according to another manuscript the number was
only 1,500). Community leaders such as R. Moses Alcostan-
dini, R. Israel, and R. Shet appear in the letters of the Gaon
*Samuel ben Ali. After *Saladin’s death, Aleppo became the
capital of an independent kingdom and until the middle of
the 13" century the city enjoyed security and prosperity which
the Jews shared. In 1217, Judah *Al-Harizi visited Aleppo and
reported that there were several Jewish scholars, physicians,
and government officials active there at the time. He noted the
names of R. Samuel, who was a scribe in the court, and the
physician Eleazar. Among other persons cited by him were R.
Azaryahu, a descendant of the exilarch; R Samuel b. Nissim
(hakham Nasnot), who was the head of the local academy;
R. Yeshuah; R. Yachun; Shemarya and his sons Muvkhar and
Obadiah; R. Joseph, the son of Hisdai; R. Samuel, who was
the king’s scribe; and the physician Hananiah b. Bezalel. Al-
613
ALEPPO
Harizi died in Aleppo in December 1225. A famous scholar
who lived in Aleppo during the 13 or 14" century was R.
Judah *Al-Madari, who wrote commentaries on the Gemara.
In 1014 Muslims plundered and destroyed Jewish and Chris-
tian houses. The great synagogue was under the authority of
the Erez Israel gaon, and the small synagogue was under the
authority of Babylonian geonim. In the *Seljuk period only
two synagogues survived in the city. In the *Ayyubid period
the Muslim authorities converted synagogues into mosques.
In the days of al-Malik al-Tahir the Jewish cemetery and the
Jewish gate were destroyed. Muslims used Jewish tombstones
to reconstruct the castle. Throughout the Muslim period the
Jewish community in Aleppo had considerable autonomy and
organized institutions.
The Mongol conquest (1260) led to the slaughter of Jews,
but the central synagogue, untouched by the invaders, of-
fered asylum to many. The same year, the Mamluks defeated
the Mongols and ruled over Syria until the beginning of the
16" century. Aleppo, their stronghold in northern Syria, con-
tained a large garrison which brought further prosperity to
the community. There were several wealthy merchants, offi-
cials, craftsmen, and outstanding scholars among the Aleppo
Jews. The rich community maintained educational institutions
and scholars. The growth of Muslim intolerance under rulers
from Cairo and Damascus and the periodical publication of
discriminatory laws against non-Muslims had their effect on
the life of the community. In 1327, the synagogue was turned
into a mosque with the approval of the sultan of Cairo and
its name became the Al-Hayyat (“Snake”) mosque. In the 13"
century a group of *Karaites lived in Aleppo, but they disap-
peared in the following centuries. The end of the 14" century
saw a power struggle between opposing factions of the lead-
ers of the Mamluks and heavy taxes were imposed on the ci-
vilian population. In 1400, Tamerlane captured Aleppo with
much bloodshed and destruction. Many Jews were killed and
enslaved. The community gradually overcame this disaster
and in the second half of the 15" century Aleppo Jews again
traded with India and scholars resumed their learned activi-
ties. In the Mamluk period (1260-1517) the Jews lived in the
old quarter and were active as merchants. Between 1375 and
1399 R. David, the son of Joshua, the nagid of Egypt, settled in
Aleppo. The nasi of the community c. 1471 was Joseph b. Zadka
b. Yishai b. Yoshiyahu. R. Obadiah of *Bertinoro pointed out
in 1488 that the Jews of Aleppo had a good income. Accord-
ing to a census, 233 Jewish families lived there during 1570-90,
but the real number was probably higher.
At the beginning of the 16" century exiles from Spain
started to arrive in Aleppo, among them outstanding rabbis.
They established a separate community although sharing the
general institutions with the mustaarbim (Orientals). The
Jewish population increased markedly; the great synagogue
(called, “the Yellow”) could no longer accommodate all the
congregation and in the second half of the 15'* century an
additional (eastern) wing was added where the Sephardim
prayed. The leaders of the Mustaarab congregation were
614
members of the Dayyan family until the 19"* century — in the
16 century: Moses and Saadiah Dayyan; in the 17**: Morde-
cai, Nathan, and Joseph Dayyan; in the 186: Nathan, Morde-
cai (d. 1733), Samuel (d. 1722), Joseph, and Mordecai (d. 1774)
Dayyan. The communal leader of the Mustaarab congregation
during the 16" century was the sheikh al-yahud. The spiritual
and intellectual leadership of the community gradually passed
to the Sephardim, and important rabbis include R. Solomon
Atartoros in the middle of the 16" century and after him R.
Abraham b. Asher of Safed, R. Moses Chalaz, R. Eliezer b.
Yohai, and R. Moses Halevi Ibn Alkabaz, R. Samuel b. Abra-
ham *Laniado, his son, R. Abraham (who officiated until 1623),
and his grandson, R. Solomon. In the 16" century disputes
broke out between the Mustaarab and the Sephardi congrega-
tions, but later the relations between them improved and they
lived peacefully. The leader of the community in the beginning
of the 18" century was Samuel Rigwan. Other famous rabbis
in the 18 century were Joseph Abadi, Samuel Deweik Haco-
hen (d. 1732), Samuel Pinto (d. 1714), Mordecai Asban, Judah
Kazin, Zadka Hutzin, Gabriel Hacohen, Yeshayah Dabah, Mi-
chael Harari, David Laniado, Hayyim Ataya, Elijah Laniado,
Isaac Antibi, Yeshayah Ataya, Ezrz Zaig, and Isaac Beracha.
Famous scholars in the city in the same time period were the
brothers Joseph (d. 1736) and Yom Tov Safsaya. From the end
of the 17 century an academy (yeshivah) operated in Aleppo.
In 1730 R. Eliya Silvera founded a Midrash Silvera and the first
head of this institution was R. Yeshayah Dabah (d. 1772). R.
Samuel Pinto was head of a bet midrash in the first half of the
18" century. Many of the above scholars wrote books on rab-
binic subjects, most of them printed in Italy. In the 17 century
significant Jewish manuscripts from Aleppo were bought in
France and Britain. After the Ottoman conquest in 1517, con-
stant contacts were established with the great communities in
Constantinople and the other towns in Turkey, as were trade
links with them and with Persia and India. Contacts with the
Jews of Palestine were also close, and the influence of the Safed
kabbalists was marked. Shabbateanism found many adher-
ents in Aleppo, especially R. Solomon Laniado and R. Nathan
Dayyan, R. Moses Galante and Daniel Pinto, and after *Shab-
betai’s apostasy, *Nathan of Gaza went to Aleppo and contin-
ued his activities there. In 1684 R. Solomon Laniado wrote a
letter as the rabbi of the two congregations.
The traveler Texieira estimated c. 1600 the Jewish popula-
tion of the city at about 1,000 families, many of them wealthy.
According to the census of 1672 there lived in the city 380 Jews
who paid the jizya, most of them mustaarabs and 73 of Span-
ish origin. In 1695 there were 875 Jewish families. The Jews
numbered about 5% of the city’s population in the Ottoman
period. In 1803 the traveler Taylor estimated that there were
only 3,000 Jews in the city.
In 1700, R. Moses b. Raphael Harari of Salonika was rabbi
of Aleppo. He died in 1729. At that time, European Jews from
France and Italy also settled in Aleppo; they participated in
the extensive trade between Persia and southern Europe in
which Aleppo served as an important station. These mer-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
chants, called *Francos, enjoyed the protection of the consuls
of the European powers and this created antagonism in the
community. The Francos liberally supported communal insti-
tutions, but refused to pay the regular taxes and did not rec-
ognize the authority of the community. R. Samuel Laniado 11,
rabbi of Aleppo in the first half of the 18" century, strongly
demanded that the Francos have the same obligations as all
other Jews in Aleppo and that all the rules should bind them.
In the second half of the 18 century the dispute flared up
again when the chief rabbi, Raphael Solomon (b. Samuel)
Laniado, tried to compel the Francos to accept the rules of
the community and was opposed by R. Judah Kazin, who de-
fended the Francos; the latter, in protest, ceased to take part
in public prayers. The dispute had a social background, since
the Francos were wealthy and learned and were attached to
the ideas and customs they brought from Europe. At the end
of the 18 century, with the decline of trade between Aleppo
and Persia, the number of Francos dwindled. The prominent
families among the Francos included Ergas, Altaretz, Almida,
Ancona, Belilius, Lubergon, Lopez, Lucena, Marini, Sithon,
Selviera, Sinioro, Faro, Piccotto, Caravaglli, Rodrigez, and
Rivero. There were also Jewish translators employed by the
European consuls. The Ottoman authorities attempted to ex-
tort money from the Jewish translators by putting pressure
on the Jewish community. The Jewish community, however,
refused to release these translators from paying their share of
the communal taxes.
From the 1520s until the mid-17" century, Jews as well
as Christians filled the post of emini giimriik, that is, the chief
officer of the local customs house charged with the collection
of receipts. Many Jews died in the plagues which occurred
during the Ottoman period. Many scholars in the community
created halakhic literature, especially responsa, codes, homi-
letics, exegesis of the Bible, and liturgy. There were also rab-
bis who created kabbalistic literature. Many of these scholars
settled in Erez Israel.
Between 1841 and 1860 three *blood libels occurred in
Aleppo. In June 1853 the Greek-Catholic patriarch accused
the Jews of Aleppo of kidnapping a Christian boy for ritual
purposes. Despite the tension between Jews and Christians
in the city, the Picciotto family helped the latter. Only a few
Jewish students studied in the Christian schools. In 1854 the
rabbis of Aleppo declared a herem (boycott) on any relations
with the Protestant missionaries who tried to proselytize Jews.
From 1798 until the end of the 19"* century several European
states appointed European Jews who had settled in Aleppo as
their consular representatives. The first was Raphael Picciotto,
who was appointed in 1798 consul of Austria and Toscana, and
other members of his family were later appointed consuls of
other states. Another Raphael Picciotto was consul of Russia
and Prussia between 1840 and 1880; the consul of Austria-
Toscana was Elijah Picciotto and after his death in 1848 his
son Moses inherited this office. The consul of Holland was
Daniel Picciotto and of Belgium Hillel Picciotto. The consul of
Persia was Joseph Picciotto and of Denmark Moses Picciotto,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEPPO
of Sweden and Norway Joseph Picciotto, and of the U.S. Hil-
lel Picciotto. In the 186 century many local Jews acquired
French or British citizenship. Until 1878 the French consul’s
attitude to Jews was negative, following the policy set by the
consul Bertrand during his years in Aleppo (1862-78), but
from 1878 the policy was changed by the consul Destree.
British consuls protected the Jews of Aleppo throughout the
century.
The hakham bashi in Aleppo was the supreme spiritual
authority and from the 1870s there were two chief rabbis.
The chief rabbi in 1858-69 was Hayyim Lebton, and after his
death Saul Duwek (d. 1874), Mennaseh Sithon (1874-76), and
Aaron Sheweika in the year 1880. The later rabbis were Moses
Hacohen and Moses Sewid. The Francos established in the 18"
century two schools for orphans and poor children. A great
yeshivah was active. In 1862 the vali imprisoned R. Raphael
Kazin, and freed him only under the order not to establish a
Reform community in Aleppo. In 1865 a book by R. Elijah b.
Amozeg of Leghorn, Am le-Mikra, was burned in Aleppo. In
1868 the first Jew was appointed to the meclis (city council) of
Aleppo. From 1858 on Jews officiated in the mercantile court
of law in Aleppo. In 1847, 3,500 Jews lived in the city, and in
1881, 10,200. During most of the Ottoman period Aleppo had
the largest Jewish community in Syria. The majority of its
Jews belonged to the middle class and were known as diligent
merchants and agents. The local government, the European
consuls who lived in the city, and the European agents of the
trading companies recognized the economic power of Aleppo’s
Jews. A few Jews also had roles in the administration of the
Vilayet of Aleppo, for the most part as tax collectors, custom
officers, and *sarrafs, some earning vast amounts from these
positions in addition to their own businesses.
In the first half of the 19» century, the status of the com-
munity declined both economically and culturally. At the
same time hostilities erupted between the various religious
communities in Syria. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
greatly affected the international trade of the Jewish merchants
of Aleppo. In 1875, a blood libel was spread about the Jews of
Aleppo; however, the missing Armenian boy, whose absence
had provided the charge, was found in a nearby village. In
1869 the *Alliance Israélite Universelle established a school for
boys with 68 students from the wealthy families and 15 chil-
dren from needy families, but most of the latter left the school.
In 1873 the school was closed and in 1874 it was reopened. In
1872 the Alliance established a school for girls, with 20-30
students, utilizing European teaching methods. It was closed
and reopened a few times and only in the 1890s did it operate
at full capacity. In 1865 Abraham Sasson and his sons set up a
printing house in Aleppo, one of the sons having learned the
craft in Leghorn. In 1887 Isaiah Dayyan established another
printing press with the help of H.P. Kohen from Jerusalem.
Two years later they had to cease operation, not being able to
obtain a government license. The license was obtained in 1896
and printing resumed and continued until World War 1. Hav-
ing learned the craft with Eliezer *Ben-Yehuda in Jerusalem,
615
ALEPPO
Ezra Hayyim Jouegati of Damascus set up and operated a press
from 1910 to 1933. Another printing press was founded by Ezra
Bijo in 1924 and continued until 1925. Altogether, approxi-
mately 70 books were printed in Aleppo, mostly works by local
scholars, ancient manuscripts found locally, and prayer books
of the local rite. From the 1850s immigrants from Aleppo set-
tled in Western cities like Manchester and opened firms there.
The immigration of Jews from Aleppo to other countries and
to Erez Israel was limited until the 1870s and the majority of
the immigrants settled in Egypt, but in the 1880s and 1890s it
grew and became a flood as thousands traveled to North and
South America. The immigrants wished to improve their so-
cio-economic circumstances. Many Jews from Aleppo emi-
grated to Beirut as well from the middle of the 19" century
until the 1940s. After World War I there were over 6,000 Jews
in Aleppo. The wealthy moved from the Jewish quarter, which
was surrounded by a wall, to new quarters. However, the link
with Jewish culture was not severed; traditional learning was
not neglected and a few hundred immigrated to Palestine. In
1931 there were 7,500 Jews in Aleppo, of whom 3,000-3,500
were poor laborers. In particular among the others were mer-
chants and brokers, and some 20 Jews were wealthy and had
big firms while five or six were bankers.
There are descriptions from the years 1931 and 1934 of the
impoverishment of Aleppo Jewry. Most of the immigrants to
Erez Israel were needy. In the 1940s many Jews immigrated
through *“illegal” immigration (Aliyah Bet). In the year 1944,
in the wake of the deteriorating political and economic situ-
ation of the community, 510 emigrated from Aleppo to Erez
Israel. In 1945 many children and young men immigrated to
Erez Israel. The police accused the leader of the community
of Aleppo, Rachmo Nechmad, of aiding the secret immigra-
tion to Erez Israel. Among the scholars of the first half of the
20" century were R. Ezra Abadi, R. Abraham Salem, R. David
Moses Sithon, R. Elijah Lopez, R. Judah Ataya, R. Abraham
Isaac Dewik, and R. Isaac Shehibar.
[Eliyahu Ashtor / Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky (24 ed.)]
In 1947, Aleppo had a Jewish community of about 10,000.
In an outbreak of violence against the Jews in December 1947,
all the synagogues were destroyed and about 6,000 Jews fled
the city. Many of them secretly crossed the frontier into Tur-
key or Lebanon, where they settled, or continued to Israel,
Europe, or America. On December 1, 1947, anti-Jewish riots
broke out in the Jewish quarter of Aleppo. About 150 build-
ings, 50 shops and offices, ten synagogues and five schools
were damaged; 160 old Torah scrolls from the Bahsita syna-
gogue were burned. The leaders of the community preserved
the famous Keter Aram Zova. Thanks to their efforts most of
the scroll arrived in Israel. In November 1947 the Jewish Tele-
graph Agency reported that 22 Jews from Aleppo had been
arrested when they tried to pass the frontier between Leba-
non and Israel. There are other reports about many Jews from
Aleppo who tried to escape to Israel. The Jews also suffered
under the reign of Colonel Adib Shishakli (1949-54). The
616
principal leaders of the community in 1953/1954 were Chief
Rabbi Moses Mizrachi, who was 90 years old, R. Za‘afrani,
and Selim Duek. The latter was a wealthy merchant who had
relations with the local authorities. According to a report by
the president of the Beirut community in 1959, around 2,000
Jews lived in Aleppo then. The 1,000 Jews living in Aleppo
in 1968 resided in two quarters: Bahsita, the old quarter; and
Jamiliyya, founded after World War 1. Muslims, who had
moved into these quarters after the departure of the Jewish
residents, occasionally assaulted their Jewish neighbors and
several cases of murder were recorded. The four schools of the
Alliance Israélite Universelle were closed by the government
in 1950, and thereafter most of the children studied at a reli-
gious elementary school (talmud torah). As the community
dwindled, this school was also closed, and some Jewish chil-
dren studied at Christian schools. A special prayer-custom,
the Aram-Zobah rite, existed in Aleppo (its prayer book was
printed in Venice, 1523-27). In July 1967 Jewish teachers were
dismissed and degrading regulations against the Jews were is-
sued by the government. In that year only 1,500 Jews were liv-
ing in Aleppo. The Jews of Aleppo in the last generation tried
to maintain their Jewish identity. They published lectures by
Edmond M. Cohen, which were distributed at great risk in
the 1970s and 1980s. This was the last book produced by the
remnants of the community.
Aleppo immigrants in Buenos Aires in the 1920s, under
the leadership of R. Saul Sithon Dabbah, lived traditionally,
as in Aleppo. During the 1930s, integration into the life of Ar-
gentina increased and with it came a decline in religious and
ethnic identity. This trend reversed itself after one more gen-
eration, under the guidance of R. Isaac Shehebar.
[Hayyim J. Cohen / Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky (2"¢ ed.)]
Musical Tradition
Syrian Jewry and, particularly, the community of Aleppo
long enjoyed a reputation as lovers of music and singing. In
the course of eight centuries, they developed a characteristic
style in their liturgical and related activities. As early as the
13 century, the Spanish Hebrew poet Judah *Al-Harizi, refer-
ring to Syrian personalities, mentioned the cantor R. Daniel
and said his performance conquered “the hearts of the holy
people by his delightful song” (Tahkemoni, 46). From about
the same time we have evidence concerning the adoption
and singing in Aleppo of the Arabic poetical strophic genre
called muwashshah (Hebrew shir ezor) invented in Andalu-
sia by the beginning of the 10" century. This new genre, soon
after its creation, gained great favor and knew wide circula-
tion. One can infer from the question concerning its singing
addressed by the Jews of Aleppo to Maimonides that it was
already then popular among them and that it probably pro-
voked the dissatisfaction of the rabbinical authorities. Their
question was whether the singing of Arabic muwashshahat
(plur. of muwashshah) with instrumental accompaniment
was permitted. The question probably implied secular and/or
paraliturgical singing.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Almost all the chants and hymns sung outside the formal
religious service were the work of distinguished Aleppo rab-
bis such as Moses Laniado, Raphael Antebi, Jacob and Morde-
cai Abbadi, and Mordecai Levaton, who were poets as well as
composers. Some of them may have modeled themselves on
the poet Israel *Najara of Damascus who was highly esteemed
by composers of the period. This encouragement of the art of
singing by the rabbis found strong support in R. Mordecai Ab-
badi’s introduction to a book of bakkashot (Sephardi hymns),
Mikra Kodesh, published in 1873. The melodic style of Aleppo
belongs to the Arabian-Turco-Persian musical family, but
also shows other influences, mainly those of Sephardi Jews.
Both in prayers and other songs, the *maqam style (melodic
pattern) and elaboration prevail. For each Sabbath or festival
prayer there is an appropriate maqam, and the various zemirot
(hymns) also conform to the maqam pattern.
The Aleppan musical tradition was instrumental in the
evolution of the Sephardi-Jerusalemite style, which currently
dominates the entire realm of the liturgical and paraliturgical
in many Oriental communities in Israel. It probably started
with the singing of bakkashot and its fascinating dissemina-
tion and wide adoption by many immigrant groups. The es-
tablishment of formal cantorial training seminaries in the last
decades certainly was determinant in consolidating the style
toward which most of the generation of the Israeli-born Ori-
ental cantors inclined.
See also *Bakkashah.
[Amnon Shiloah (2"¢ ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ashtor, Toledot, 1 (1944), 267ff.; 2 (1951),
16ff., 117ff., 425 ff.; Rosanes, Togarmah, 1 (1930), 182; 2 (1938), 146-7;
EN. Adler, Jews in Many Lands (1905), 159-68; Lutzki (Dotan), in:
Zion, 6 (1940/41), 46-79; idem, in: Sefunot, 1 (1957), 25-61; A. Yaari,
Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Arzot ha-Mizrah, 1 (1936), 31-52; idem, in: Ks, 24
(1947/48), 66-67; Ha-Rofe ha-Ivri, 10 (1937), 145-593 27 (1954), 145-56;
28 (1955), 102-4 (bibliography); Idelsohn, Melodien, 4 (1923), introd.;
Katz, in: Acta Musicologica, 40, no. 1 (1968), 65-85. ADD. BIBLIOG-
RAPHY: A. Ben-Yaacoy, in: Sefunot, 9 (1965), 363-82; L.A. Frankl,
Yerushalayma (1860), 106-21; Alharizi, Tahkemoni, ed. by A. Kaminka
(1899), index; N.A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and
Source Book (1979); A. Yaari, Iggerot, index; Lewis, in: Studia Islam-
ica, 50 (1979), 109-24; M.A. Epstein, The Ottoman Jewish Commu-
nities and their Role in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (1980);
D. Laniado, Li-Kedoshim Asher ba-Arez, le-Toledot Hakhmei ve-Rab-
banei Aram Zova (1980); J.M. Landau and M. Maoz, in: Pe‘amim, 9
(1981), 4-13; T. Philipp and N. Zenner, in: Pe‘amim, 3 (1979), 45-58;
A. Marcus, in: 1IJMES, 18 (1986), 165-83; A. Shamosh, Sippuro shel
Keter Aram Zova (1987); J. Hacker, in: Zion, 52 (1987), 25-44; J. Sut-
ton, Aleppo Chronicles: The Story of the Unique Sepharadeem of the
Ancient Near East in Their Own Words (1988); B. Masters, The Ori-
gins of Western Economic Dominance in the Middle East: Mercantil-
ism and the Islamic Economy in Aleppo, 1600-1750 (1988); J. Hacker,
in: Galut Ahar Golah (1988), 497-516; H. Abrahami, in: Shorasim
ba-Mizrah (1989), 133-72; A. Marcus, The Middle East on the Eve of
Modernity: Aleppo in the Eighteenth Century (1989); A. Rodrigue, De
Linstruction a lémancipation (1989), index; A. Rodrigue, Hinukh,
Hevrah ve-Historiya (1991); Z. Zohar, Massoret u-Temurah, Hit-
modedut Hakhmei Yisrael be-Mizrayim u-ve-Suriya im Etgarei ha-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALESSANDRIA
Modernizaziyah 1880-1920 (1993); Z. Zohar, in: Pe‘amim, 44 (1990),
80-109; Frenkel, in: Pe‘amim, 45-46 (1991), 284-70; M. Frenkel, in:
Pe‘amim, 61 (1995), 57-74; H. Talbi, in: Pe‘amim, 67 (1996), 111-19; W.P.
Zenner, in: W. P Zenner (ed.), Jews among Muslim Communities in the
Precolonial Middle East (1996), 61-172, 173-86; Z. Zohar, in: Pe‘amim,
66 (1996), 43-69; M. Frenkel, in: Pe‘amim, 66 (1996), 20-42; E.
Schlossberg, in: Pe‘amim, 66 (1996), 128-37; M. Laskier, in: Pe‘amim,
66 (1996), 70-127; Y. Harel, in: Michael, 14 (1997), 171-86; idem, Ha-
Sifrut ha-Toranit shel Hakhmei Aram Zova (1997); M. Gil, Be-Malkhut
Ishmael bi-Tekufat ha-Geonim, 1-3 (1997), index; J. Hacker, in: Zion,
62 (1997), 327-68; E. Picciotto, The Consular History of the Picciotto
Family (1998); Y. Harel, in: 1jMES, 30 (1998), 77-96; idem, in: Jewish
History, 13/1 (Spring 1999), 83-101; B. Masters, in: E. Eldem (ed.), The
Ottoman City between East and West (1999), 17-78; S. Brauner Rod-
gers, in: Pe‘amim, 80 (1999), 129-42; R. Lamdan, A Separate People,
Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria and Egypt in the 16"* Century (2000),
index; Y. Harel, in: Jewish Political Studies Review, 12/3-4 (2000),
13-30; W.P. Zenner, A Global Community, The Jews from Aleppo Syria
(2000); Y. Harel, Bi-Sefinot shel Esh la-Maarav, Temurot be-Yahadut
Surya bi-Tekufat ha-Reformot ha-Otmaniyot 1840-1880 (2003); L.
Bornstein-Makovetsky, in: Jewish Law Association Studies, 14 (Jeru-
salem 2002 Conference Volume) (2004), 17-32. Music: M. Kligman,
“Modes of Prayer: Arabic Maqamat in the Sabbath Morning Liturgical
Music” (Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1997); K. Shelemay,
Let Jasmin Rain Down: Song and Remembrance among Syrian Jews
(1998); K. Yayama, “The Singing of Bakkashot of the Aleppo Jewish
Tradition in Jerusalem” (Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, 2003).
ALES (or Alez; until 1926, Alais; y28 in Hebrew sources),
town in Provence, S.E. France. There was a Jewish commu-
nity there in the Middle Ages. Solomon b. Abraham *Adret
refers in a responsum to a custom followed in the communi-
ties “between Narbonne and Alais.” The text of the oath used
by Aleés Jewry is mentioned in the Coutumes d’Alais, the cos-
tumal of Ales, for 1216-92. In the mid-13'» century Jacob b.
Judah in the migdal Aloz, apparently the citadel of Ales, cop-
ied the Hebrew translation of Maimonides’ Arabic epistle on
astrology addressed to the sages of Montpellier. The physician
Jacob ha-Levi, who wrote a medical treatise Makkel Shaked in
1300 (Bod. Ms. 2142), also lived in Ales. After their expulsion
from the kingdom of France in 1306, the Jews of Alés took
refuge in Provence and the Comtat Venaissin.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, Gal Jud., 59-60; G. Saige, Juifs du
Languedoc (1881), 13, 33, 36, 41, 241.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
ALESSANDRIA, town in northern Italy. The first known Jew-
ish settler in Alessandria was Abraham, son of Joseph Vitale
de Sacerdoti (Cohen), who opened a loan bank in or about
1490. The subsequent history of the community, to modern
times, continued to center around, and to a great degree con-
sisted of, the record of his descendants, later known by the
name Vitale. In 1550, it was proposed to expel the Jews from
the Duchy of Milan, which since 1535 had been under Span-
ish rule. Simone (Samuel) Vitale thereupon went to Madrid
and secured authorization for two families to reside in the city.
617
ALEXANDER
When the Jews were finally expelled from the Duchy of Milan
in 1590, he again traveled to Spain and received permission to
remain in Alessandria in consideration of the large sum owed
him by the government. Thereafter, the community was con-
centrated around the Vitale family, whose approval had to be
obtained by all newcomers before they could settle there. Of
the 230 Jews living in Alessandria in 1684, 170 were members
of the Vitale family; in 1761, out of 60 households, 36 bore this
name. The wealthier members of the community were engaged
in the manufacture of textiles and silks; their mills gave em-
ployment to many Christians. General conditions remained
unchanged when Alessandria passed to the House of Savoy in
1708. The administration of the community remained distinct
from that of Piedmont Jewry. The ghetto was established in
1724. In 1761, the Jewish population amounted to 420 persons,
the Vitale family having lost the right to approve the newcom-
ers. From the 18" century, the rabbinate became an almost he-
reditary office held by the family of Levi (de) Veali. The Jews of
Alessandria, with the rest of Italian Jewry, enjoyed temporary
civic emancipation during the period of French influence in
Italy in 1796-1814. Subsequently, there was a sharp reaction.
In 1837, Alessandria Jewry was again restricted to the ghetto,
although its gates were not renewed. At a wedding celebra-
tion in 1835, an overcrowded house in the area collapsed, kill-
ing 42 persons, including 17 Christian guests and R. Matassia
b. Moses Zacut Levi de Veali. Although from 1848 the Jews of
Alessandria enjoyed complete emancipation, many of them
were attracted to the larger cities. Between 1900 and 1938, the
total of Jewish residents decreased from 868 to 101 according
to Mussolini’s census.
[Cecil Roth]
Holocaust Period
Starting in 1938, the Jews suffered under the regime’s anti-Jew-
ish laws, but the final phase of persecution began only at the
end of November 1943, after Minister of the Interior Buffa-
rini Guidi ordered all provincial chiefs to send all Jews to the
“appropriate concentration camps.” During the night of De-
cember 13, supporters of the German-imposed Italian Social
Republic attacked the synagogue in the via Milano, destroy-
ing or stealing the silver objects. Books and precious manu-
scripts were burned in a great bonfire in Piazza Rattazzi that
same evening. Also in December, 11 Jews from Alessandria
were arrested and sent to Fossoli, from where they left for
Auschwitz in February 1944; another six were seized by the
Germans in the spring of 1944. The roundups continued in
two other important old Jewish communities in the province
of Alessandria. Twelve people were deported from Acqui, in-
cluding the entire impoverished family of Arturo Bachi. Eigh-
teen people were deported from Casale. In all, 48 Jews were
deported from the entire province of Alessandria.
[Alberto Cavaglion (2"4 ed.)]
After the war 168 Jews lived within the community, but their
number decreased to 90 by 1969. At the turn of the 20" cen-
618
tury Alessandria no longer operated a Jewish community and
was under the jurisdiction of the community of Turin, as were
all other nonfunctioning communities of Piedmont (Asti, Car-
magnola, Cherasco, Cuneo, Mondovi, Saluzzo, and Ivrea).
[Manuela Consonni (2"4 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Foa, in: RMI, 23-25 (1957-59); Roth, Italy,
index; Milano, Italia, index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Pipino, “La
Questione ebraica e icommercianti di Alessandria nella seconda meta
del ‘600; in: La Provincia di Alessandria. Rivista dellamministrazione
provinciale (1991) 97-100; C. Manganelli and B. Mantelli, Antifascisti,
partigiani, ebrei: i deportati alessandrini nei campi di sterminio nazisti,
1943-1945 (1991); M. Dolermo, “Gli ebrei di Acqui tra emancipazi-
one e leggi razziali? in: Quaderno di storia contemporanea, 27 (2000),
61-102; A. Villa, Ebrei in fuga: Chiesa e leggi razziali el Basso Piemonte
(1938-1945) (2004); D. Sorani, “Ebrei in Piemonte, umassidua pre-
senza, in: Scritti sullebraismo in memoria di Emanuele Menachem
Artom (1996), 304-13; E. Lattes, “Le sinagoghe: frammenti di storie
ebraiche in Piemonte,’ in: Musei ebraici in Europa (1998), 103-11; M.D.
Anfossi, Gli Ebrei in Piemonte: loro condizioni giuridico-sociali dal 1430
allemancipazione (1914; reprinted 2001); A. Perosino, “La comunita
ebraica di Alessandria dal 1842 a oggi, indagine stastica,” in: Rassegna
Mensile di Israel 68 (2002), 43-82; A. Perosino, Gli ebrei di Alessandria:
una storia di 500 anni (2003); Y. Green, “Shaaruriat ha-Kiddushin be-
Alessandria (1579); in: Asufot, 5 (1991), 267-309.
ALEXANDER (c. 36-7 B.c.E.), son of *Herod and *Mari-
amne. As Herod's heir presumptive, Alexander was edu-
cated in Rome with his younger brother Aristobulus from
Cc. 23-17 B.C.E. On his return to Judea he married Glaphyra,
the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia. His arrival
aroused the fears of those members of Herod’s retinue who
had been responsible for the death of Mariamne, for they as-
sumed Alexander would avenge his mother’s death. *Salome -
who had been chiefly to blame - incited the king against Al-
exander, insinuating that he and his brother intended to take
revenge on him for their mother’s death. Influenced by these
slanders, Herod recalled *Antipater, his son by his first mar-
riage, to support him. In 12 B.c.£. the king took both princes
with him to Italy to arraign them before Augustus on charges
of conspiracy. At their meeting in Aquileia, the emperor man-
aged to effect a reconciliation between the father and the sons.
However, the intrigues against the princes continued, and re-
lations with their father deteriorated irrevocably. Alexander
was put in irons and his life threatened. As a result of the in-
tervention of Archelaus, Herod was pacified and Alexander
released. The machinations against him continued, however.
This time it was the Spartan Eurycles, a guest at Herod's court,
who incited the king against him after accepting a bribe from
Antipater. Herod then suspected two men of plotting with
Alexander to kill him. Alexander was again imprisoned, to-
31 B.C.E. Herod Archelaus
Acriun battle 1. Doris ® 2. Mariamne King of
Cappadocia
Augustus Antipater Aristobulus Alexander @) Giaphyra
Caesar
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
gether with his brother. After Alexander confessed that they
wanted to escape to Italy to take refuge from their accusers,
Herod again lodged a complaint about his sons’ conduct to
Augustus. The emperor granted Herod permission to judge
them as he saw fit, but advised him to try them in a court
composed of Roman well-wishers and officials. The trial took
place in Berytus (Beirut). Alexander and his brother were sen-
tenced to death and sent to Caesarea. There a commander of
the garrison, Tiro, a veteran in Herod’s service, attempted to
gain them a reprieve. His plea that if the executions took place
riots would erupt only served to incense Herod further. Tiro
was put to death together with other friends of Alexander. The
two brothers were brought to Sebaste (Samaria) where they
were executed by strangling.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Ant., 15:342; 16:78-129, 189ff., 230ff.,
244ff., 30 1ff., 356 ff; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 4 (19507), 153 ff; A. Schalit,
Hordos ha-Melekh (1964°), 286f£.; Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (1901°), 369 ff.,
407 ff.; Graetz, Hist, 2 (1893), 112-3.
[Abraham Schalit]
°ALEXANDER, name of seven popes. The following are the
most significant for Jewish history:
ALEXANDER II, reigned 1061-73, consistently followed
the policy set by Pope *Gregory the Great at the end of the
sixth century of applying suasion rather than force to convert
Jews. When the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula
began in earnest, he urged the bishops of Spain to continue
defending the Jews against attack by native and foreign sol-
diers, especially the unruly bands of French knights who had
joined the Christian armies against the Muslims. He wrote
in the same vein to Berengar, viscount of Narbonne, and to
Wifred, its bishop, in 1063. In 1065 Alexander issued a strong
warning to the prince of Benevento, in southern Italy, who
was using force to convert the Jews.
ALEXANDER III, reigned 1159-81, reissued the *bull Sicut
Judaeis protecting Jews against physical injury and interfer-
ence with their religious rites. He objected when the Jews in
Bourges, France, erected a synagogue which was not only new,
but also higher than a neighboring church. The Third Lateran
Council, which met in 1179, prohibited Christians from serv-
ing in Jewish homes; urged the secular authorities not to con-
fiscate the property of converts from Judaism lest, being im-
poverished, they reverted to their former faith; and requested
the civil courts to admit the testimony of Christians in lawsuits
involving Jews. The pope also objected to Jews having the right
to cite a cleric before a secular court. Because of prevailing
conditions in Europe, most of these restrictive measures were
not enforced for a long time, but they eventually found their
way into the Corpus Iuris Canonici of 1580, the official collec-
tion of church law. The possibility that the pope would urge
the council to force the Jews to wear a distinguishing *badge
was averted, perhaps through the influence of Jehiel, grand-
son of *Nathan b. Jehiel, the compiler of the Arukh, who held
a high post in the papal household.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDER
ALEXANDER IV, reigned 1254-61, reissued the bull Sicut
Judaeis in 1255. During the bitter struggle of the papacy against
the imperial Hohenstaufen family, he granted letters of protec-
tion to a number of Roman Jewish army suppliers, exempting
them from having to pay extra tolls on the roads. That this did
not represent a generally favorable attitude is evident from his
other pronouncements. Alexander rv insistently enforced the
wearing of the distinguishing Jewish badge and the confisca-
tion of the Talmud. The pope commended Louis 1x of France
and Count Thibaut of Champagne (who was also king of Na-
varre) for having taken away from the Jews sums which had
presumably been gained through usury. He granted them the
right to use such money for “pious purposes” (1258). In a let-
ter addressed to several churchmen, the pope expressed hor-
ror that certain clerics had left church articles with the Jews
as pledges for their debts.
ALEXANDER V, reigned 1409-10, was elected by the
Council of Pisa in a vain effort to end the schism within the
church. He shared the superstitions of his day, blaming the
division within the church on bad Christians and on Jewish
magicians. The Jews, he asserted, corrupted the world by con-
sulting the Talmud and practicing usury.
ALEXANDER VI (BORGIA), reigned 1492-1503, displayed
an ambivalent attitude toward the Jews. Where personal gain
or the exigencies of diplomacy made it desirable, he was harsh;
but where he was free to use his good sense, he showed un-
derstanding and humanity. After the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain and Portugal, he permitted *Marranos to continue
residing in the environs of Rome. When, however, King Fer-
dinand of *Spain protested, alleging that the pope’s leniency
encouraged their flight from Spain, Alexander compelled the
refugees publicly to reaffirm their Christian loyalty. Even so,
he appears to have profited financially from his refusal to take
more extreme measures. While the pope reduced the size, and
therefore the prominence, of the distinguishing Jewish badge,
he lengthened the distance of the disgraceful annual races in
Rome in which Jewish participants had to run naked, so as to
be able to watch them from his residence at Castle St. Angelo.
He imposed on the Jews an additional tribute of 5% for three
years, to help defray the expenses of the Turkish War. Alex-
ander treated favorably the Jews he employed as his personal
physicians; one of these Bonet *Lattes, dedicated to him his
book on astronomy.
ALEXANDER VII, reigned 1651-67. His policy toward the
Jews was primarily motivated by zeal for making converts.
Though he did not apply force, he frequently applied indirect
compulsion. Residence in the ghetto was strictly regulated,
and the entire Jewish community was held responsible for
the rental of an apartment vacated by a convert or through
the death of its occupant in the recent plague, for Jews were
not permitted to own property even within the ghetto (1658).
Christian contact with Jews was assiduously discouraged. In
1659 Jews were prohibited from teaching or learning under
Christians. To be the servant of a Jew was a punishable offense.
619
ALEXANDER
The one improvement in the Jewish situation under Alexan-
der vir was the abolition, in the last year of his papacy, of the
shameful annual races (cf. Alexander v1).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vogelstein-Rieger, index (incl. bibl.); E.
Rodocanachi, Le Saint-Siége et les Juifs (1891); S. Grayzel, Church
and the Jews (1966), index; E.A. Synan, Popes and Jews in the Middle
Ages (1965).
[Solomon Grayzel]
°ALEXANDER, name of three Russian czars.
ALEXANDER I, czar of Russia 1801-25. Alexander 1’s charac-
ter and actions were to a large extent shaped by the vicissi-
tudes he experienced in his struggle against *Napoleon. His
ties with Metternich and the Holy Alliance were a result of
his reaction against the spirit of the French Revolution; Alex-
ander activated and joined the Alliance as “the gendarme of
Europe” after Napoleon’s downfall. When Alexander ascended
the throne, Russian policy toward the large Jewish population
living in former Polish territory, constituting the so-called
Jewish question, had already been under active consideration
for some time in government circles. In November 1802 Al-
exander appointed a committee to consider all aspects of the
Jewish question in Russia. Some of its members were his per-
sonal friends and, like Alexander at that stage, harbored lib-
eral ideas. The committee’s report was approved by Alexander
and promulgated in 1804 as the Jewish Statute. It was the first
comprehensive piece of Russian legislation to deal with Jew-
ish affairs. The statute, as well as subsequent legislative and
administrative measures concerning the Jews taken during
Alexander’s reign, was based upon the assumption that the
Jews were a parasitic element, an undesired legacy bequeathed
by the defunct Polish state. The policy underlying the statute,
therefore, was that the Jews must be directed toward employ-
ment in productive occupations, such as agriculture and in-
dustry. On the other hand the native population, especially the
peasants in areas that had formerly belonged to Poland, had to
be protected from alleged Jewish exploitation and influence.
At the same time measures should be taken to raise the Jews
from what was considered their debased cultural condition
by encouraging secular education and “assimilation into the
Russian Christian social and cultural environment. A program
of repression and restrictions was therefore embodied in the
statute, which imposed limitations on Jewish residence, occu-
pations, and land tenure. The full brunt of the legislation was
partially averted during the Napoleonic Wars, when the Rus-
sian government was concerned that the Jewish population
might be driven to help the French, but the measures were re-
sumed with even greater force after the war. The efforts of the
English missionary Lewis *Way to induce Alexander to grant
the Jews emancipation had no practical results. Alexander, at
this time inclining to pietism and mysticism, initiated a policy
intended to promote the conversion of the Jews to Christian-
ity. In 1817 a “Society of Israelitic Christians” was founded and
placed under the czar’s personal patronage.
620
ALEXANDER II, czar of Russia 1855-81. Developments in Rus-
sia under Alexander 11 and the measures he adopted were a
result of the harsh legacy of the reign of his father *Nicholas 1,
the aftermath of the Crimean War, and his attitude toward the
rising revolutionary movement in Russia. Alexander's acces-
sion raised great expectations among the Jewish as well as
the Russian population. The Jews hoped for a change in the
oppressive policies pursued by Nicholas 1. The abolition in
1856 of the special system of recruiting Jews for the army (see
*Cantonists) appeared as a good omen. Alexander, however,
was firmly opposed to the abolition of the Pale of *Settlement
restricting Jewish residence. The basic Russian policy toward
the Jews, which aimed to “reeducate” them and make them
“useful members” of the state (see Alexander 1), underwent
no change during his reign. Alexander 11, however, attempted
to promote their “improvement,” and ultimate “fusion” with
the Russian people, by extending the rights of certain groups
within the Jewish population. These, by virtue of either their
economic situation or education, were considered free of
“Jewish fanaticism.” His policy was also dictated by the de-
mands of the Russian economy which could utilize Jewish
capital and skill for its development. Alexander accordingly
approved certain reforms to alleviate conditions for the Jews.
In particular, the restrictions applying to rights of residence
and entry into government service were eased for merchants
of “the first guild” (i.e., wealthy merchants), university grad-
uates, and artisans. All these partial and limited concessions
were kept within the bounds personally prescribed by Alex-
ander. In the last decade of his reign, when revolutionary ten-
sion mounted, the anti-Jewish oppressive policy again intensi-
fied. Nevertheless, Alexander was remembered by the Jews as
a friendly and enlightened ruler. His assassination on March
13, 1881, brought this relatively liberal interlude to an end and
initiated a period of violent reaction.
ALEXANDER III, czar of Russia 1881-94. The reign of Alexan-
der 111 was dominated by the rising tide of the revolutionary
movement in Russia, in which Jewish youth took an increasing
part. Ascending the throne after his father Alexander 11’s assas-
sination, Alexander 111 was determined to suppress all liberal
tendencies and maintain an autocracy. The czar’s teacher, Kon-
stantin *Pobedonostsev, procurator-general of the Holy Synod
(the supreme authority of the Russian Orthodox Church), a fa-
natic reactionary, became the most powerful figure in the state.
The first organized *pogrom against Jews was perpetrated in
Yelizavetgrad (today *Kirovograd), in southern Russia, in
April 1881. It was followed by a series of similar outbreaks
of anti-Jewish violence in the course of 1881-84. Alexander
and his government accepted the theory that the pogroms
stemmed from the inherent hatred of the indigenous popula-
tion for the Jews because of their “economic domination.” This
led to the conclusion that the indigenous population must be
shielded “against the harmful activity of the Jews.”
The “Temporary Regulations” of May 3, 1882 (see *May
Laws) followed. These prohibited Jews from resettling in the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
villages or from holding real estate outside the urban areas,
and authorized the village communities to oust the Jews al-
ready settled among them. These measures were succeeded
by partial expulsions of “illegal” Jewish settlers from the in-
terior of Russia, and in 1891 by the eviction of about one-half
of the Jewish population from Moscow. Admission of the
Jews to the bar was temporarily halted in 1889, and their
participation in local government was curbed in 1892. A *nu-
merus clausus, restricting the proportion of Jews allowed to
enter secondary schools and universities to between 3% and
10% of the admission total, was imposed in 1887. This policy
was adopted by Alexander in the face of the majority report
of the governmental commission under the chairmanship
of Count Pahlen, sitting between 1883 and 1888, which was op-
posed to a regressive policy and counseled “a graduated sys-
tem of emancipatory and equalizing laws.” Alexander was
ready to support the planned Jewish emigration from Rus-
sia suggested to the Russian government by Baron Maurice
de *Hirsch.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gessen, in: YE, 1 (c. 1910), 797-839; idem,
Istoriya Yevreyskogo Naroda v Rossii, 1 (1925/26), 138-239; Dubnow,
Hist Russ, 1 (1916), 335-413; 2 (1918), 154 ff; I. Levitats, Jewish Commu-
nity in Russia, 1772-1844 (1943); L. Greenberg, Jews in Russia, 2 vols.
(1944-51), index; Weinryb, in: L. Finkelstein (ed.), Jews, Their History,
Culture and Religion, 1 (1960°), 321-75 (incl. bibl.); Klausner, in: He-
Awar, 7 (1960), 91-122; B-Z. Dinur, ibid., 10 (1963), 5-82.
ALEXANDER, English family of printers.
ALEXANDER ALEXANDER (d. 18072), pioneer of the Hebrew
press in London with Benedict Meyers (Hebrew: Jost) of Hal-
berstadt. In 1770 Alexander and Meyers produced an edition
of the Ashkenazi prayer book with English translation; the list
of subscribers included many non-Jews. This was followed by
a Haggadah in two editions, Sephardi and Ashkenazi. Origi-
nally Alexander did not do the actual printing himself. He pro-
duced many liturgical works, including the complete liturgy
according to the Sephardi and Ashkenazi rites with slovenly
executed English translations (1773), as well as a Pentateuch
with translation (1785). In 1772 he began to issue a series of an-
nual pocket calendars. His son LEVY (JUDAH LEIB; 1754-1853)
also printed Hebrew and English works for many years, repro-
ducing several of his father’s editions. Failing to secure for one
of these the patronage of Chief Rabbi Solomon *Hirschel, he
published a number of scurrilous attacks on him (“The Axe
laid to the root, or, Ignorance and Superstition evident in the
character of the Rev. S. Hirschel,” 1808; “A Critique of the He-
brew Thanksgiving prayers ... on Thursday the 7" of July ...
With an anecdote of the humorous sermon delivered by the
High Priest the Rev. Solomon Hirschel... for the occasion,”
1814). He continued the attack on the wrappings of his edition
of the festival prayers issued in parts from 1808-15. His own
writings include a reply to the proposals of J. *Van Oven on
the problem of the Jewish poor (1802), and an English gram-
mar in rhyme (1833). His Memoirs of the Life and Commercial
Connections of the Late Benjamin Goldsmid of Roehampton
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDER, BEATRICE
(1808) contains piquant details of contemporary Jewish life
in London.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Roth, History of the Great Synagogue
(1950), 147, 186-7; Roth, Mag Bibl, index. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
D.S. Katz, The Jews in the History of England, 1485-1850 (1994), 280,
302; T.M. Endelman, The Jews of Georgian England, 1714-1830 (1999),
190-91, 234-35.
[Cecil Roth]
ALEXANDER, ABRAHAM (Senior; 1743-1816), Revolu-
tionary War officer, U.S. Custom House auditor, and hazzan of
Charleston's Beth Elohim Congregation (1764-84). Born and
educated in London, Alexander, the son of Joseph Raphael Al-
exander, immigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, before the
American Revolution. He served for many years as a volunteer
lay minister (known then as hazzan). A Hebrew scholar and
scribe, he wrote, in his own hand, a prayer book for the High
Holy Days “according to the custom of the Sephardim” (1805).
During the Revolution, when Charleston fell to the British in
1780, he surrendered at first, along with the rest of the popu-
lation, but soon afterward left the city to join patriot forces
in the backcountry. After he was commissioned a lieutenant
of the dragoons, his regiment's guerilla fighting helped drive
the British from the Carolinas. Alexander, a widower, in 1784
married Ann Sarah Huguenin Irby, a widow of French Hugue-
not affiliation. Intermarriage was unusual for the times, espe-
cially since he was a strict adherent to Orthodox Judaism. Yet
before their marriage she became a devout Jewess, one of the
earliest converts of American Jewish history; apparently, how-
ever, he resigned his position as hazzan of the congregation.
Alexander entered the service of the new federal government
at Charleston’s U.S. Custom House, as clerk in 1802 and then
as auditor until his retirement in 1813. An active Mason, he is
notable in Masonic history as one of 11 founders and the first
secretary-general of the Supreme Council, 334 Degree, Scot-
tish Rite Masonry (“mother council of the world”), which was
founded in Charleston in 1801.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.A. Alexander, Notes on the Alexander Fam-
ily of South Carolina (1954); C. Reznikoff and U.Z. Engelman, Jews of
Charleston (1950), index; R.B. Harris, History of the Supreme Council,
33° Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, South-
ern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. 1801-1861 (1964), 45-48.
[Thomas J. Tobias]
ALEXANDER, BEATRICE (1895-1990), founder of the Ma-
dame Alexander Doll Company and one of the best-known
US. female entrepreneurs. Alexander was born in Brooklyn,
N.Y., to Hannah Pepper, a widow. When Beatrice was a tod-
dler, her mother married another Russian immigrant, Mau-
rice Alexander; the couple went on to have three more daugh-
ters. Beatrice always considered Alexander, who established
the first doll hospital in the United States, as her real father.
She learned the craft of dollmaking in her father’s shop where
she observed both the fragility of the china dolls of that era
and their importance to children. The contrast between the
621
ALEXANDER, BERNARD
wealth of many of Maurice's customers and the poverty of the
neighborhood made a deep impression on her and she became
determined to achieve a better future. Alexander's early sur-
roundings also accustomed her to seeing women contributing
to the family economy; her mother worked with her husband
in his shop, as well as having full responsibility for the home.
In 1915, a few weeks after serving as high school valedicto-
rian, Alexander married Philip Behrman, who later joined
her in managing the Madame Alexander Doll Company. The
couple had one daughter, Mildred, who grew up in the busi-
ness, as did her son, William Alexander Birnbaum, company
president until 1994.
“Madame Alexander” began her career during World
War 1 when the decrease in imported dolls from Europe cre-
ated a shortage. Her first project was the “Red Cross Nurse”
rag doll. In the 1920s she formally created one of the largest
doll manufacturing companies in the United States. The Ma-
dame Alexander Doll Company has created more than 5,000
different dolls, often based on literary figures and Disney char-
acters, as well as real people. Madame Alexander dolls, known
for their high quality and artistry, are on permanent display at
a number of museums worldwide and have received numer-
ous awards. In 1986, Beatrice Alexander was honored with the
Doll of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
Alexander, who began to withdraw from the business in
the 1970s, was a well-known philanthropist, supporting Amer-
ican and Zionist causes. A trustee of the Women’s League for
Israel, Alexander gave particular support to projects benefit-
ing children.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Altman, “Alexander, Beatrice, in: RE. Hy-
man and D. Dash Moore (eds.), Jewish Women in America, 1 (1997),
34-35; Jewish Women’s Archive, “Jwa — Beatrice Alexander; at www.
jwa.org.
[Judith R. Baskin (2"4 ed.)]
ALEXANDER, BERNARD (1872-1935), South African law-
yer and communal worker. Born in the province of Poznan
(Poland), Alexander went to South Africa as a child. In 1903
he helped to establish the Jewish Board of Deputies of the
Transvaal and Natal; he was its president when, in 1912, the
South African Jewish Board of Deputies was founded, with
the Transvaal Board as one of its constituents. He became vice
president and from 1916 to 1927 was president of the South Af-
rican Board. Alexander took a leading part in congregational
activities and Jewish institutions in Johannesburg. During his
chairmanship of the Jewish War Victims’ Fund (1915-25), it
raised more than £500,000 for Jewish war relief. Alexander
was a member of the Johannesburg City Council and served
on civic and educational bodies. As solicitor to the Paramount
Chief of Swaziland, he headed (1929) a mission to the British
government on behalf of its people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Saron and L. Hotz, Jews in South Africa
(1955), index; The South African Jewish Year Book (1929), 295.
[Louis Hotz]
622
ALEXANDER, FRANZ (1891-1964), U.S. psychoanalyst,
criminologist, and author. Alexander was born in Budapest
and studied medicine there. During World War 1, he served in
the Austro-Hungarian Army at a bacteriological field labora-
tory. After the war he did postgraduate work at the psychiatric
hospital of the University of Berlin. With the establishment of
Berlin's Institute for Psychoanalysis in 1921, he became its first
student and stayed on there for ten years as clinical associate
and lecturer. During that period he formulated his ideas for
his first book: Die Psychoanalyse der Gesamtpersoenlichkeit
(1927). Early in his career as a psychiatrist Alexander became
convinced that the vital approach of psychoanalysis should be
the exploration of the human mind to lead men and women
to more constructive and satisfying fulfillment in their lives.
His research provided much understanding about “psycho-
somatic specificity” tracing such psychosomatic symptoms
as peptic ulcer to their origin in childhood neurotic conflict,
and “dream pairs” showing how dreams occur in complemen-
tary pairs to produce wish fulfillment. Alexander also made
many attempts to shorten therapy through use of the patient's
transference relationship with his or her therapist. His famous
work Der Verbrecher und seine Richter (1929; The Criminal, the
Judge and the Public, 1931), written with H. Staub, a lawyer, led
to an invitation to teach at the University of Chicago. Here he
established the world’s first university chair in psychoanalysis.
From 1931 to 1932, Alexander was research associate in crimi-
nology at the Judge Baker Foundation in Boston. He incor-
porated his findings in his book, The Roots of Crime (1935),
written with William Healy. In 1932 he established and became
director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. From 1938
to 1956 he was also professor of psychiatry at the University of
Illinois. In 1956 he was appointed head of the new psychiat-
ric department of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles and pro-
fessor of psychiatry at the University of Southern California.
Among the many high posts he occupied were president of
the American Psychoanalytical Association, president of the
American Society for Research in Psychosomatic Medicine,
and president of the Academy of Psychoanalysis. He was one
of the founding editors of the professional journal Psychoso-
matic Medicine (1939). His other books include The Western
Mind in Transition (1960); The Scope of Psychoanalysis (1961);
and Psychosomatic Specificity (1968).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Pollock, in: Archives of General Psychiatry,
11 (1964), 229-34.
[Zvi Hermon]
ALEXANDER, HAIM (Heinz; 1915- ), composer and pia-
nist. Alexander was born in Berlin. In 1936, following the as-
cent of the Nazis to power, he settled in Jerusalem and studied
with Stefan Wolpe and Joseph *Tal at the Palestine Conser-
vatory. He was one of the founders of the Academy of Music
in Jerusalem (later the Rubin Academy), where he was pro-
fessor until his retirement. He also lectured at the musicol-
ogy department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
University of Pennsylvania, at the Jacques Dalcroze Institute,
Geneva, and at Nyv. A versatile musician and superb impro-
viser, he taught piano, harpsichord, improvisation, theory, and
composition. Like all other Jewish composers who emigrated
from Central Europe in the 1930s, Alexander established his
own personal response to the dialectics of the ideological pres-
sure of the Zionist vision of the East and the internal pressure
to retain and absorb the great European heritage. He was al-
ways alert and open to new ideas and influences. In the 1950s
Alexander attended avant-garde seminars in Darmstadt and
added the serial technique to his rich vocabulary, such as in
Patterns (1965) for piano, while still retaining his penchant
for lyrical, tuneful writing in the Nature Songs (1988). In 1971
Alexander undertook a large-scale project of transcribing tra-
ditional songs kept at the Jerusalem Sound Archives, many of
which he later arranged for various ensembles. He published a
textbook Improvisation Am Clavier, with two cassettes (Schott,
1987). His large output includes many choral works, songs for
voice and chamber ensembles such as the cycle Ba-Olam (“In
the World}1976), orchestral works such as the Piano Concerto,
chamber works, and many compositions for piano.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online.
[Jehoash Hirshberg (2"4 ed.)]
ALEXANDER, JASON (1959— ), U.S. actor and entertainer.
Born in Newark, N.j., as Jay Scott Greenspan, Alexander
starred in 180 episodes, over nine years, of the wildly popular
situation comedy Seinfeld, starring Jerry *Seinfeld. Alexan-
der portrayed the hapless George Costanza, a “schlepp” partly
based on the show’s co-creator, Larry *David. Costanza, neu-
rotic, devious, and unscrupulous, was one of the more mem-
orable characters in television series history.
Although he was short, chubby and began to grow bald
at an early age, Alexander had such a commanding stage pres-
ence that he was invariably cast as the star in school plays, in
roles ranging from romantic leads to elderly character parts.
He won a scholarship to Boston University’s drama depart-
ment and at 20 was cast in the Stephen *Sondheim Broadway
musical Merrily We Roll Along, but the show closed shortly
after it opened. Alexander left college soon thereafter to pur-
sue his acting career. He got his first film role in The Burning,
produced by Harvey *Weinstein, in 1981 and three years later
he played four roles in the Broadway musical The Rink. He
created the role of Stanley Jerome in Neil *Simon’s semi-au-
tobiographical play Broadway Bound and then took on a star-
ring role in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, for which he won the
Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Circle Critics awards as best
actor in a musical.
Alexander's voice appeared in a number of animated fea-
tures, including Aladdin, The Return to Jafar, and The Hunch-
back of Notre Dame. In 1997 he played an a1ps-afflicted drag
queen who finds romance in the movie Love! Valour! Com-
passion! He also got a lead role in the Los Angeles stage ver-
sion of The Producers.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDER, MICHAEL SOLOMON
After Seinfeld, for which he won six Emmy nominations,
four Golden Globe nominations, and other honors, Alexander
starred as a self-help guru in a television series, Bob Patterson,
but it was quickly canceled. In 2004 he starred in another sit-
uation comedy, Listen-Up, based on the life of a sportswriter.
He also made a quick, highly publicized trip to Israel to air
his views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
[Stewart Kampel (2"¢ ed.)]
ALEXANDER, KOBI (1952- ), Israeli high-tech entrepre-
neur. Alexander was born in Tel Aviv. He served as an intelli-
gence officer in the army. In 1977 he graduated in economics
from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in 1980 he re-
ceived an M.B.A. degree from New York University. In 1980-81
he worked as an economic consultant for several international
corporations. In 1982 he and his two partners, Boaz Misholi
and Yehiam Yemini, established Efrat Future Technology Inc.
in 1984, after the development of the firm’s first product, Ta-
diran joined the partnership and later on a group of Ameri-
can investors joined as well. In 1986 Comverse USA was es-
tablished, the mother company of Efrat. In 1987 Efrat took big
losses, its stock failed, and Yemini retired. In 1988 Alexander
moved to New York and succeeded in stabilizing the firm and
bringing it back to profitability. Efrat employed 1,500 workers
with a turnover of $300 million dollars a year and is a leading
firm in the field of software and systems enabling network-
based multimedia enhanced communication services. Alex-
ander is the chairman, president, and cro of Efrat. In 1997
Comverse and Boston Technologies were merged, and Al-
exander became the head of a firm with revenues of over $1
billion a year He also served as a director of the venture fund
established by Comverse and George Soros.
[Dan Gerstenfeld (2™4 ed.)]
ALEXANDER, MICHAEL SOLOMON (1799-1845), the
first Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. After an Orthodox Jew-
ish upbringing, in 1820 Alexander left his native Germany
for England, where as Michael Solomon Pollack he served
as hazzan and shohet to the small communities in Norwich
(1820-21), Nottingham (1821-23), and Plymouth (1823-25).
Coming into contact with Christian missionaries, he was
converted to Christianity in 1825. Alexander then moved to
Dublin, where he taught Hebrew, was ordained, and where, in
1827, he was appointed to a curacy. Later he was sent as a mis-
sionary to Danzig by the London Society for the Promotion of
Christianity among the Jews. In 1830 he returned to London in
the service of the society. From 1832 to 1841 he was professor
of Hebrew and rabbinics at King’s College, London. He col-
laborated with Alexander McCaul in Hebrew translations of
the New Testament and the Anglican liturgy. In August 1840
he, with other converts, signed a protest against the *Damas-
cus blood libel. When, on the withdrawal of *Muhammad Ali
from Palestine, it was decided to establish an Anglican and
Lutheran bishopric in Jerusalem under the auspices of Great
623
ALEXANDER, MORRIS
Britain and Prussia, with missionary as well as political objec-
tives, Alexander was appointed the first incumbent (Novem-
ber 1841). Although the British consul, on the instructions of
the Foreign Office, did not support his missionary activities,
Alexander zealously carried out the duties of his office as he
conceived them, visiting Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Abyssinia,
which were included in his diocese. He died while on one of
his visits to Egypt; his body was brought back to Jerusalem
where he was buried in the Christian cemetery on Mt. Zion.
His tombstone bears a long inscription in Hebrew, English,
Greek, and German. His published works include The Hope
of Israel, a lecture (1831); The Glory of Mount Zion, a sermon
(1839); and The Flower Fadeth and Memoir of Sarah Jane Isa-
bella Wolff... eldest daughter of... M.S. Alexander (1841).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.W.M. Corey, From Rabbi to Bishop: The Bi-
ography of... M.S. Alexander... (1956); A. Finn, Reminiscences of Mrs.
Finn (1929), passim; H.J. Schonfield, History of Jewish Christianity...
(1936), 216-19; A.M. Hyamson, British Consulate in Jerusalem in Re-
lation to the Jews of Palestine 1838-1861, 1 (1939), 46-63; Handbook of
the Anglican Bishopric in Jerusalem and the East (1941), 3-7.
[Cecil Roth]
ALEXANDER, MORRIS (1877-1946), South African law-
yer and politician. Alexander went to South Africa from East
Prussia as a child. He practiced law in Cape Town and soon
became involved in politics and in Jewish communal affairs.
He played a leading part in the formation of the Cape Jew-
ish Board of Deputies (1904) and was its president and most
active figure until its merger with the South African Board
of Deputies (1912), thereafter serving as vice president of the
United South African Board and chairman of its Cape Com-
mittee until 1933. As a Jewish spokesman in matters of im-
migration and naturalization, Alexander was largely instru-
mental in having Yiddish recognized as a European language
in the immigrant’s literacy test (1906). He was elected to Par-
liament in 1908 and for 35 years was known as a champion of
the Indian and Colored communities against discriminatory
laws. He was an active Zionist and was a lay preacher to the
Cape Town New Congregation. His first wife, Ruth, was the
daughter of Solomon *Schechter. His second wife, Enid, wrote
his biography Morris Alexander (1957). The large collection of
Alexander’s papers - documents covering his entire life - are
housed in the University of Cape Town.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Saron and L. Hotz, Jews in South Africa
(1955), index; G. Saron, Morris Alexander (1966).
ALEXANDER, MOSES (1853-1932), first Jewish governor of
an American state. Alexander, who was born in Obrigheim,
Germany, immigrated to America in 1867. He became mayor
of Chillicothe, Missouri (1887), and moved to Idaho around
1891. A successful businessman, he was elected mayor of Boise
in 1897 and served two terms. As the Democratic governor of
Idaho, serving for two terms (1915-19), Alexander achieved
great popularity in his own state and elsewhere, earning a
624
reputation for wit, eloquence, and progressivism. He secured
legislation on behalf of workmen’s compensation, the state
highway system, irrigation, reclamation and waterway sys-
tems, and prohibition. He also rallied Idaho around Wood-
row Wilson's call to enter World War 1, and he supported the
women’s suffrage movement.
He helped organize and lead the first synagogue in Idaho.
The town of Alexander, Idaho, is named for him.
To commemorate his achievements, the Idaho State His-
torical Society in Boise installed the Moses Alexander Collec-
tion to highlight this American success story. The exhibition's
80 cubic feet of material, dating from 1876 to 1987, sheds light
on the role Alexander played in shaping Idaho’s business, po-
litical, and religious communities. The collection includes
original and carbon copy correspondence, telegrams, newspa-
per clippings, speeches, videos, photographs, scrapbooks, fis-
cal records, and court proceedings, as well as assorted printed
material such as blueprints, maps, and certificates that are
supplementary to the correspondence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Postal and L. Koppman, A Jewish Tourist’s
Guide to the US. (1954), 133-7; An Illustrated History of the State of
Idaho (1890), 594-5; AJA, 8 (Oct. 1956), 127-8.
[Robert E. Levinson / Ruth Beloff (274 ed.)]
ALEXANDER, MURIEL (1884-1975), South African ac-
tress and producer. Born in Exeter, England, Muriel Alex-
ander was a member in 1904 of the first class held at Tree's
Academy, London, which later became the Royal Academy of
Dramatic Art. She won a scholarship and acted in Sir Henry
Tree's company at His Majesty’s. Settling in South Africa after
World War 1, she founded the Johannesburg Repertory Play-
ers, which had a predominantly Jewish membership and di-
rected them for many years. In 1960 they renamed their the-
ater The Alexander.
ALEXANDER, SAMUEL (1859-1938), British philosopher.
His family originated in Alsace and he was born in Australia.
From 1882 to 1893 he taught at Oxford as a fellow of Lincoln
College, being the first Jew appointed to a college fellowship
in an English university. From 1894 to 1924 he was a professor
of philosophy in Manchester. In 1930 he was made a member
of the Order of Merit, the highest honor in British intellectual
life. Alexander also participated in Anglo-Jewish communal
life and was a member of the academic council of the Hebrew
University. Alexander was the principal exponent of meta-
physical realism in England. In his view, metaphysics is a de-
scriptive science, which elucidates the most universal levels of
reality. There are various levels in the unfolding of reality, each
of which is rooted in the one preceding it and emerges from
it. The most important of these emergent levels which have
thus far manifested themselves are those of matter, the physi-
cal-chemical life, and mind. However, the creative potential
of the cosmic order has not ceased — the next level to evolve
will be that of “deity.” The relationship of “deity” to mind will
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
be of the same order as that of mind to matter and of matter to
space-time. The impending advent of “deity” in the process of
emergent evolution is evidenced by the existence of religious
consciousness. Deity is the goal of the ever-advancing crav-
ing - perhaps asymptotic - for it. His doctrines have much
in common with those held by Alexander's friends and con-
temporaries, A.N. Whitehead and Lloyd Morgan. In his later
life, Alexander turned to the study of aesthetics in which he
found much substantiation for his views on the cosmic order.
The most original and characteristic portion of his work in
metaphysics is the recognition of the reality of time, change,
process, and the concept of “point-instants” as ultimate units
of reality. The “pragmatic deduction” of the categories (i.e., cat-
egories of reality, not of thought) is found in the second part of
his book Space, Time and Deity (2 vols., 1920). His most lasting
contribution to epistemology is his elaborate distinction be-
tween “contemplation” of an experience and the “enjoyment”
of it: the objective awareness of an “-ed” and the subjective
“non-accusative” enjoying self-awareness of an “-ing” Many
modern philosophers not otherwise in sympathy with Alexan-
der’s realistic metaphysics owe to him this celebrated distinc-
tion. His other major writings are Moral Order and Progress
(1889); Locke (1908); The Foundation of Realism (1914); Spi-
noza and Time (1921); Beauty and Other Forms of Value (1933);
Philosophical and Literary Pieces (edited 1939).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Bosanquet, The Meeting of Extremes
in Contemporary Philosophy (1924), index; P. Devaux, Le systéme
d’Alexander (1929); R. Metz, Hundred Years of British Philosophy
(1938), index; M.R. Konvits, On the Nature of Value: The Philosophy
of Samuel Alexander (1946). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Laird (ed.),
“Memoir, in: Philosophical and Literary Pieces (1939); J. Passmore,
A Hundred Years of Philosophy (1978), index; M.A. Weinstein, Unity
and Variety in the Philosophy of Samuel Alexander (1984); The Col-
lected Works of Samuel Alexander (2000), a 1,988 page collection of
his writings; ODNB online.
[Leon Roth]
"ALEXANDER BALAS, king of Syria, 150-146 B.c.E. Ac-
cording to Diodorus and Strabo, Balas was his original name
before he assumed the cognomen Alexander. Many of his con-
temporaries state that Alexander Balas was a native of Smyrna,
of lowly parentage, but he pretended to be the son of Antio-
chus rv Epiphanes and claimed the throne of his alleged father
in opposition to Demetrius 1 Soter. Alexander was supported
by Attalus 11 of Pergamum and was recognized by Ptolemy v1
Philometor of Egypt. The Romans, inclined to encourage the
disturbances in Syria, also allowed Alexander’s adherents free-
dom of action. In 153 B.c.£., Alexander led an army of merce-
naries against Demetrius. The pretender’s first act was to win
Jonathan the Hasmonean to his side by appointing him high
priest and leader of the Jews. Demetrius fell in battle, and Al-
exander assumed the throne in 150. To strengthen his posi-
tion in Syria he married Ptolemy’s daughter. However, when
he conspired against him, Ptolemy withdrew his support and
allied himself with Demetrius 11, son of the late king, who now
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
laid claim to his father’s throne. In the ensuing battle between
Alexander and Ptolemy on the River Oenoparas near Antioch,
Alexander was defeated and Ptolemy mortally wounded. Al-
exander took refuge with the Arab chieftain Zabeilus, who
slew him and sent his head to Ptolemy who had not yet died
from his wounds.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: | Macc. 10:1ff., 15 ff.; 11:1ff; Jos., Ant., 13:35 ff.,
58ff., 80ff., 103ff.; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 3 (19507), 54-59; A. Bouché-
Leclercq, Histoire des Séleucides, 1 (1913), 338ff.; Schuerer, Gesch, 1
(1901'), 227 ff.
[Abraham Schalit]
ALEXANDER THE FALSE, impostor who pretended to be
the son of Herod and Mariamne. According to Josephus, after
Herod's death in 4 B.c.z., there appeared “a young man, Jewish
by birth but brought up in the city of Sidon by a Roman freed-
man” who “on the strength of a certain physical resemblance
passed himself off as the Prince Alexander, whom Herod had
put to death.” He successfully deceived several Jewish com-
munities on his way to Rome, but when he arrived there, he
was unmasked by the emperor Augustus; Celadus, a freedman
who had known the real Alexander, informed the emperor of
the deception. The impostor’s life was spared, however, and
he became an oarsman in the imperial galleys.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Wars, 2:101-10; Jos., Ant., 17:324-38;
Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 4 (19507), 177-8.
[Isaiah Gafni]
°ALEXANDER THE GREAT (356-323 B.c.E.), king of Mace-
donia who conquered most of the Near East and Asia. A leg-
end preserved in Josephus (Ant., 11:329 ff.) tells that when
Alexander was besieging Tyre, Sanballat, the leader of the
Samaritans, came to him at the head of 8,000 men. Alex-
ander received him in a friendly manner and acceded to his
request that he be allowed to build a temple on Mount Ger-
izim, where Sanballat’s son-in-law Manasseh would serve as
high priest. According to this legend, Alexander demanded
of the high priest, Jaddus (Jaddua), the surrender of Jeru-
salem and of the Jewish people, and when the latter refused
on the grounds that he had sworn loyalty to Darius, Alexan-
der marched on Jerusalem at the head of his army to punish
the panic-stricken Jews. However, Jaddus succeeded in calm-
ing the Jews by making it known that he had a revelation in
a dream that no harm would befall the city and the Temple.
On the following day Jaddus set out with the chief priests,
the elders, and the leading citizens, and awaited Alexander's
arrival at Zofim, to the north of Jerusalem. When Alexander
saw the high priest he prostrated himself before him, telling
his men that Jaddus had appeared to him in a dream and in-
formed him that he would defeat the Persian king. Alexander
then went up to the Temple, offered a sacrifice, and granted
the Jews extensive privileges. When the Samaritans heard of
the success of the Jews they invited Alexander to visit their
temple on Mount Gerizim on his return from Egypt. Their ef-
forts, however, proved unsuccessful.
625
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
A similar story, but with different names for the high
priest and the meeting place, occurs in the Talmud: “The
twenty-fifth [of Tevet] is the day of Mount Gerizim, on which
no public mourning is permitted, it being the day on which
the Cutheans [i-e., the Samaritans] requested the House of our
God from Alexander of Macedonia in order to destroy it and
he granted it to them. People came and informed Simeon the
Just. What did he do? He put on his priestly garments, and he
and some of the nobles of Israel who carried burning torches
in their hands walked all night, some on one side, others on
the other, until dawn. When dawn rose he [Alexander] said
to them: “Who are these?’
They answered: “The Jews who rebelled against you:
When he reached Antipatris and the sun shone, they met. On
seeing Simeon the Just, Alexander descended from his chariot
and prostrated himself.
[They] said to him: ‘Should a great king like you prostrate
yourself before this Jew?’
He answered: “The image of this man wins my battles
for me?
He said to the Jews: “Why have you come?’
They replied: ‘Is it possible that star-worshipers should
mislead you into destroying the House in which prayers
are said for you and your kingdom that it may never be de-
stroyed!’
“To whom are you referring?’
“To the Cutheans who stand before you’
“They are delivered into your hands’
At once they pierced the heel of the Cutheans, tied them
to the tails of their horses and dragged them over thorns and
thistles, until they came to Mount Gerizim, which they plowed
and sowed with vetch, even as the Cutheans had planned to
do with the House of our God” (Yoma 69a).
The legend in Josephus ascribes to Alexander things
which are highly improbable. After the battle at Issus, Alex-
ander set out hurriedly for Egypt in order to dislodge the Per-
sians from the Mediterranean coast. The siege of Tyre was pro-
tracted and Alexander had no time to turn aside from his main
route in order to visit a city as unimportant as Jerusalem was
then, or the Jews, who were a small nation. It is obvious that
Alexander advanced with his army along the coast and did not
then visit the interior of the country, although undoubtedly
he did so in the spring of 331 B.c.£. The Roman writer Cur-
tius Rufus relates that when Alexander was in Egypt the news
reached him that the Samaritans had rebelled and had con-
signed Andromachus, the Macedonian governor of Samaria,
to the flames. Alexander hurried to Samaria, reestablished or-
der with an iron hand, and stationed Macedonians there. On
this occasion Alexander probably visited the Samaritan temple
on Mount Gerizim, a visit which would not have been friendly
(as is evidenced by the discoveries of the remains of Samari-
tan fugitives in the caves of Wadi Daliyeh (see ER. Cross in
bibl.). The Jews in Jerusalem presumably rejoiced at the rever-
sal of the Samaritans and tried to appear before Alexander as
a people loyal to him and to his rule, in which purpose they
626
doubtlessly succeeded. An intimation of this success may be
gleaned from the legendary account that Alexander granted
to the Jews special privileges not only in Jerusalem but in the
Diaspora as well. Nonetheless, there is no basis for assuming
that he visited the Temple in Jerusalem, for had he done so,
such an important event would assuredly have been referred to
in the Talmud, which contains many stories about Alexander
of Macedonia (Tam. 31b-32b). It may be reasonably assumed,
however, that the Jews approached Alexander before his jour-
ney to Samaria to correct any false impression he may have
had, fearing that he might confuse them with the Samaritans
and include them in their punishment. This is clearly reflected
in the above-mentioned aggadah, which gives the place of
the meeting as Antipatris. Although this name does not fit in
with the time of Alexander, the Talmud is most probably pre-
serving an authentic popular tradition (Antipatris was on the
main route along which an army had to pass when marching
from north to south). The aggadah, however, is not precise in
naming Simeon the Just as the officiating high priest at that
time. As for the Jews’ destroying Samaria on that occasion,
the allusion is probably to its destruction by the Jews in the
days of John Hyrcanus.
[Abraham Schalit]
In the Aggadah
The legends about Alexander of Macedonia do not so much
portray his historical image, as describe the Greeks as a whole,
as they were known to the peoples of the East, including the
Jews. According to Plato (Republic, 435-6), the love of knowl-
edge is characteristic of the Greeks and the love of money
and possessions, mainly of the Phoenicians and the Egyp-
tians. According to the aggadah, however, the heart of the
Greek is torn by two conflicting desires: a craving for money
and a hankering after knowledge; for while the Greek loves
gold, he also longs to observe people and their customs, to
become acquainted with new countries and new manners,
thus increasing his knowledge. He delights in proclaiming
the latter desire, and he attempts to conceal the former. He is
deeply humiliated when he finds that he has failed to do so,
as was the lot of Alexander upon his visit to King Kazya for
the assumed purpose of observing his administration of jus-
tice (TJ BM 2:5, 8c). The disdain of the people of the East for
the rapacious Greek conquerors is a conspicuous feature of
the aggadah, which describes Alexander's visit to the coun-
try of the Amazons (Tam. 32a). The aggadic account of Alex-
ander’s wish to enter the Holy of Holies and of the sage who
dissuaded him from doing so (Gen. R. 61:7) was intended to
demonstrate to the Jews that the sword is not always the most
effective weapon against enemies like Alexander; moderation
and discretion, guarded compromise and the exploitation of
an enemy's weakness, courage and strength of spirit, often ac-
complish what the sword cannot. One aggadah in which the
personality of the Macedonian king bears a close resemblance
to the historical Alexander, reports a discussion between him
and the elders of the south country (Tam. 31b-32a). Here he
is featured as a typical Greek philosopher, bent upon learning
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
from every man and from every nation, inquiring into every
purpose, seeking precise definitions of concepts.
[Elimelech Epstein Halevy]
In Medieval Hebrew Literature
Stories about Alexander were included in Hebrew literature
throughout the Middle Ages. They may be divided into two
categories: (1) Stories describing his wisdom and high moral
standards, reflecting the belief that as a pupil of Aristotle he
had to be a philosopher. As early as the 11'* century, Solo-
mon ibn *Gabirol included such a story in his ethical work,
Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh. This practice was imitated by most
medieval Hebrew moralists. Stories about him and epigrams
attributed to him are found in Arabic works translated into
Hebrew, e.g., Musrei ha-Filosofim by Hunain ibn Ishaq and
the pseudo-Aristotelian Sod ha-Sodot. (2) The medieval ro-
mance, the Gests of Alexander, was known in Hebrew, and
published in many versions. This work, which originated
in Hellenistic literature, is known in Greek as the Pseudo-
Callisthenes; it was written around 300 c.£. by an anony-
mous Alexandrian author. According to W. van Bekkum,
one of the recensions of the Greek text was believed to have
been done by a Jew who added new elements taken from
Josephus and the rabbinic literature, but Trumpf has proven
that it was written by a Christian author who used the Sep-
tuagint. Some of the Hebrew versions seem to draw upon
the Pseudo-Callisthenes, but most of them are based on the
Latin version, the Historia de proeliis Alexandri Magni, a
recension of the Latin translation by Archpresbyter Leo of
Naples (mid-1o0" century). It seems that at least one version
was translated into Hebrew from the Arabic, itself a trans-
lation of the Latin version. There are five printed versions
of the Hebrew text of the Gests of Alexander (and others
in manuscript):
(a) In the 12" century a version of this work was included
in the *Josippon (written 200 years earlier) and became in this
way part of Hebrew historical literature.
(b) Israel Lévi printed a version from an Arabic trans-
lation attributed to Samuel ibn Tibbon, based on the Latin
Historia de proeliis. It was a deficient edition of the Ms. Héb.
671.5 in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, of the Sefer Toledot
Alexander (Kovez al Jad, 2 (1886), 1-82). A critical edition of
the same manuscript was published, with English translation,
by Wout Jac. van Bekkum: A Hebrew Alexander Romance ac-
cording to Ms. Héb. 671,5 Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale (Gron-
ingen, Styx Publications, 1994). According to the editor, there
is a tendency to cleanse the Hebrew text of mention of pagan-
ism and idolatry in the Latin text, although some of the pagan
names still remain.
(c) Wout Jac. van Bekkum also published the first criti-
cal edition of the Alexander Romance according to another
London Ms.: A Hebrew Alexander Romance according to Ms.
London Jews’ College no. 145 (Leuven, Uitgeverij Peeters en
Departement Oriéntalistik, 1992). This manuscript is also
based on the Latin translation by Leo of Naples, but it rep-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDER LYSIMACHUS
resents a different version of the Hebrew translation, with its
own characteristics.
(d) LJ. Kazis printed a Hebrew version (1962) based on
the Paris manuscript Ms. Héb. 750.3, translated by Immanuel
b. Jacob *Bonfils (mid-14' century) from the same Latin text
of the Historia de proeliis, which was compiled from other
sources as well.
(e) Another version, printed also by I. Lévi (in: Fest-
schrift... Steinschneider (1896), 142-63), based on the Ms. 53 of
the Estense Library in Modena, seems to be unrelated to the
Latin text; Lévi conjectured that this version may be derived
directly from the Greek Pseudo-Callisthenes. Its story is more
imaginative and fanciful than that of the other versions, and
has sometimes parallels with texts in the Talmud and Midrash.
Two more manuscripts have, according to W. van Bekkum, a
similar nature: Ms. Héb. D.11 from the Bodleian Library, Ox-
ford, and another one from Damascus.
Besides being popular as a novel, the Gests of Alexander,
constructed from hundreds of stories which can exist inde-
pendently, was also used in Hebrew literature as a source for
short stories. The name of the hero, Alexander, is often omit-
ted and only the plot proves its origin in this romance (e.g.,
Sefer Hasidim, 379).
[Joseph Dan / Angel Saenz-Badillos (2"4 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Lévi, in: REJ, 2 (1881), 293-300; 3 (1881),
238-65; 7 (1883), 78-933 12 (1886), 117-8; 28 (1894), 147-8; J. Spak, Der
Bericht des Josephus ueber Alexander den Grossen (1911); Guttmann,
Mafte’ah, 3, pt. 1 (1924), 67-69; idem, in: Tarbiz, 11 (1939/40), 271-94; I.
Abrahams, Campaigns in Palestine from Alexander the Great... (1927);
Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 2 (19517), 85-107; V. Tcherikover, Hellenistic
Civilization and the Jews (1959), 1-5, 40-48; E.E. Halevy, Shaarei ha-
Aggadah (1963), 115-37; D. Flusser, in: Tarbiz, 26 (1956/57), 165-84;
IJ. Kazis (ed.), The Book of the Gests of Alexander of Macedon (1962),
223-7 (bibliography); ER. Cross, in: Freedman and Greenfield (eds.),
New Directions in Biblical Archaeology (1969), 41-62.
ALEXANDER LYSIMACHUS (Gr. ’AAgEavdpoc Avoipayos),
a leader of the Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, in
the first century c.E., and a member of one of the most il-
lustrious and wealthy Alexandrian Jewish families. Alexan-
der was the brother of *Philo of Alexandria and the father
of *Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexan-
der. He served as “alabarch during the reigns of Tiberius and
Claudius. He was imprisoned by Caligula, but Claudius re-
leased him and restored him to office. Alexander also served
the younger Antonia, Claudius’ mother, as procurator of
her large estates in Egypt. When Marcus Julius Agrippa was
on his way to Rome, he visited Alexandria and asked Alex-
ander for a loan; Alexander lent the sum to Agrippa’s wife
*Cypros. He made a gift to the Temple, plating its gates with
gold and silver.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Ant., 18:159-60; 19:276; 20:100; Jos.,
Wars, 5:205; A. Fuks, in: Zion, 13 (1948), 15-17; Schuerer, Gesch, 1
(1904*), 5673 2 (1907*), 64; 3 (1909*), 64, 132, 134; V. Burr, Tiberius Ju-
lius Alexander (Ger., 1955).
[Abraham Schalit]
627
ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS
"ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS (end of second cen-
tury—beginning of third century c.£.), Greek philosopher,
commentator on the writings of *Aristotle, and author of in-
dependent works. Alexander was important for his system-
atization of Aristotle’s thought and for the formulation of
a number of distinct doctrines, especially in psychology. A
number of his commentaries and independent works were
translated into Arabic, and the views contained in them be-
came an important part of medieval Islamic and Jewish Ar-
istotelianism. The first book of Alexander’s On the Soul was
translated into Hebrew by Samuel ben Judah of Marseilles
from the Arabic translation made by Hunain ibn Ishaq. This
translation, which contains brief annotations, was completed
in 1323 in Murca and a revised version of it was finished in
1339-40 in Monttlimar.
Alexander, it was commonly thought, wrote a second
book in psychology, called Treatise on the Intellect, and it cir-
culated in Arabic translation. Averroes wrote a commentary
to this work that was translated into Hebrew and is extant
in manuscript only with the supercommentaries of *Moses
b. Joshua of Narbonne (1344) and Joseph b. Shem Tov *Ibn
Shem Tov (1454). H.A. Davidson edited the Averroean por-
tions of the commentary themselves, without these supercom-
mentaries, in 1988.
*Maimonides’ estimation of Alexander may be gathered
from a famous letter which he wrote to Samuel ibn *Tibbon.
Evaluating the philosophical literature of the day, Maimonides
advises his translator that for a correct understanding of Ar-
istotle’s teachings he should read, beside the commentaries of
*Themistius and Averroes, also those of Alexander (A. Marx,
in JQR, 25 (1934/35), 378). Maimonides used works by Alex-
ander in the composition of his Guide, and Alexander's views
formed part of Maimonides’ own brand of Aristotelianism (for
details see S. Pines, “Translator’s Introduction,” Guide of the
Perplexed (1963), IXIV-IXxXv). Maimonides cites Alexander
as his source for his discussion of the factors which prevent
man from discovering the truth (Guide 1:31), for his account
of the celestial motions and intelligences (2:3), for his knowl-
edge of the views of certain Greek philosophers (2:13), and for
his discussion of God’s knowledge (3:16). Alexander may also
have influenced Maimonides’ views on religion and political
history, particularly the view that God used “wily gracious-
ness” in bringing man from inferior forms of worship to more
adequate ones (3:32).
Of special importance for Jewish philosophers was Alex-
ander’s doctrine of the intellect, discussed in detail particularly
by *Gersonides (Wars of the Lord, Book 1). Aristotle’s views
(especially De Anima 3:5) were rather enigmatic. Central to
Aristotle's discussion was the distinction between the agent
intellect (nous poietikos) and the passive intellect (nous pathe-
tikos). Interpreting Aristotle’s views, Alexander held that the
agent intellect did not form part of the individual human soul,
but was identical with the intellect of God; while the passive
intellect belonged to the soul as a mere predisposition or abil-
ity for thought. The passive intellect was also called material
628
or hylic intellect (nous hylikos), and when actualized by the
agent intellect became the acquired intellect (nous epiktetos)
or intellect in habit (nous kath’hexin). The passive intellect,
according to Alexander, being part of the individual human
soul, is, like it, mortal; only the acquired intellect is immortal,
insofar as the objects of its thought are the immaterial beings,
in particular, God. While Alexander’s doctrine of the intellect
was more precise than that of Aristotle, it contained enough
ambiguities to give rise to further refinements on the part of
Islamic and Jewish philosophers.
Jewish, as Islamic, philosophers accepted Alexander’s
notion of the agent intellect, but instead of identifying it with
God, they identified it with the lowest of the celestial intelli-
gences, which, on the one hand, governs the sublunar world,
and, on the other, is a causal agent in the production of hu-
man knowledge (see also *cosmology). The agent intellect
is also important to Jewish Aristotelians for its roles in the
production of prophecy. While there was general agreement
about the nature of the agent intellect, there was disagreement
about the nature of the passive one. Alexander's acquired in-
tellect became a commonplace in Jewish philosophy, though
the medievals refined this notion by distinguishing between
the intellect in actuality, and the acquired intellect. Medieval
philosophers disagreed about the exact nature of the acquired
intellect, but it became important for their doctrine of the im-
mortality of the *soul and the world to come (for details see
*Intellect, Doctrines of).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Moraux, Alexandre d’Aphrodises, exégéte
de la noétique d’Aristote (1942); R. Walzer, Greek into Arabic (1962),
index; Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, index; idem, Die arabischen
Uebersetzungen aus dem Griechischen (1893), 93-97; J. Finnegan, in:
Mélanges de Université St. Joseph, 33 (1956), 159-62; E.I. Freudenthal,
Die durch Averroes erhaltenen Fragmente Alexanders zur Metaphysik
des Aristoteles (1885); A. Guensz, Die Abhandlung Alexanders von
Aphrodisias ueber den Intellekt (1886). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.P.
Fotinis, The De Anima of Alexander of Aphrodisias (1979); A.H. Arm-
strong, The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval
Philosophy (1967), 117-23; H.A, Davidson, Alfarabi, Avicenna, and
Averroes, on Intellect (1992), 20-24; idem, “Averroes’ Commentary
on the De Intellectu Attributed to Alexander,’ in: Shlomo Pines Jubi-
lee Volume (1988), 205-17.
[Julius Guttmann / Alfred L. Ivry (2"¢ ed.)]
°ALEXANDER OF HALES (d. 1245), English scholastic
philosopher and theologian. Alexander joined the Francis-
can order after 1230, while teaching at the Faculty of Divin-
ity in Paris. Since he did not complete his comprehensive
work, Summa universae theologiae (4 vols., 1481-82; 1924-48),
which was first edited by his pupils, the extent of his respon-
sibility for the attitudes and opinions expressed in it, and
according to which his personal character has been traced,
remains controversial. The section on Jews in Christian so-
ciety confirms the ecclesiastical tradition of restricted tol-
eration. The existence of the Jewish people serves as last-
ing witness to the origins of Christianity; their conversion
at the end of days, according to the teaching of St. Paul, will
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
mean the conclusion of mankind’s salvation. Therefore, a def-
inite distinction is drawn between the believers in the Old
Testament and the Saracens, who then occupied the Holy
Land. Obviously, this remark had a topical relevance in the
period when Louis 1x was preparing another Crusade. Jew-
ish blasphemies against Christ must be severely punished, if
made in public, but not more severely than those commit-
ted by Christians. Books containing such utterances must
be burned.
Alexander’s Summa originated at a time when the Tal-
mud and post-biblical Jewish literature were under attack.
Thus, although the Summa uses *Maimonides’ Dux neutrorum
(Guide of the Perplexed) as a source of philosophical doctrine,
especially in the discussion of cosmological questions, the au-
thor was reticent in identifying the source of his doctrines.
Jacob Guttmann found Maimonides mentioned only twice,
although soon afterward his name became a household word
among the masters of the schools. Most striking is the use of
Maimonides’ reflections on the meaning of biblical command-
ments, intended to affirm the Old Testament’s character as di-
vine revelation, in opposition to the dualistic theories of con-
temporary heretics. In this context “Rabbi Moyses Judaeus”
is mentioned by name with his differentiation of judicia and
caerimonialia. This interest in the teachings of the third book
of the Dux (Guide) prepared the way for *Aquinas’ interpreta-
tion of Deuteronomy as the model of his social theory. Alexan-
der was also influenced by Ibn *Gabirol (Avicebron), although
he does not mention this philosopher by name.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Guttmann, Die Scholastik des x111. Jahr-
hunderts in ihren Beziehungen zum Judenthum und zur juedischen
Literatur (1902), 32-46; idem, in: REJ, 19 (1889), 224-34.
[Hans Liebeschutz]
°ALEXANDER POLYHISTOR (first century B.c.£.), Greek
scholar. Alexander was born in Miletus in Asia Minor. He
was taken prisoner by the Romans, but was later freed, and
continued to live in Italy as a Roman citizen until his death
(c. 35 B.C.E.). He was called Polyhistor (very learned) be-
cause of the wide variety of subjects on which he wrote. His
works included three volumes on Egypt, one on Rome, and
a work entitled “Concerning the Jews.” This last work re-
flects the growing Roman interest in the Jewish people at
the time of Pompey’s conquest of Judea. Lengthy fragments
from this work have been preserved by *Eusebius (Praepara-
tio evangelica, 9), and by Clement of Alexandria. From these
it seems apparent that he combined relevant excerpts from
Jewish, Samaritan, and gentile writers and reproduced them
in indirect speech. Thus, valuable fragments of the writings
of Hellenistic-Jewish authors have been preserved of which
nothing would otherwise be known. Alexander cites the his-
torians *Aristeas, *Demetrius, *Eupolemus, and *Artapanus,
the tragic poet *Ezekiel, the epic poets *Theodotus and *Philo
the Elder, as well as non-Jewish writers such as the historian
Timochares, author of “The History of Antiochus,’ and *Apol-
lonius Molon.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDER SON OF ARISTOBULUS II
It seems that Alexander made little original contribu-
tion to the subject. In his works he made indiscriminate use
of traditions both favorable and hostile to the Jews. He also
dealt with the Jews in other works. In his book on Rome he
states that a Jewish woman named Moso wrote the Law of
the Hebrews, i.e., the Torah (see Suidas, s.v. “AAgEavdpocg 6
MiArotoc). Although Alexander was fully aware of the Jewish
tradition concerning Moses, he appears to have seen nothing
wrong in quoting a conflicting tradition from a non-Jewish
source. His explanation that Judea was named after one of
Semirasis’ sons must have been taken from a similar source
(quoted in Stephanus Byzantinus’ exposition on Judea).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Freudenthal, Hellenistische Studien: Alex-
ander Polyhistor (1874); A.V. Gutschmid, Kleine Schriften, 2 (1890),
180 ff.; Schuerer, Gesch, 3 (1909°*), 469 ff; F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der
griechischen Historiker, 3A (Texts; 1940), 96-126; 3a (Commentary;
1943), 248-313; Reinach, Textes, 65-66.
[Menahem Stern]
ALEXANDER SON OF ARISTOBULUS II (d. 49 B.c.£.),
one of the last of the *Hasmoneans. Alexander, eldest son of
Aristobulus 11, was the son-in-law of *Hyrcanus 11. His wife,
*Alexandra, was the mother of *Mariamne, wife of *Herod
the Great. As a result of the struggle between Aristobulus 11
and Hyrcanus 11 for the throne of Judea, Alexander was sent
by Pompey in 63 B.c.£. as a captive to Rome - with his father
and the rest of his family. He escaped on the way and returned
to Judea, where he succeeded in mustering an army of 10,000
infantry and 1,500 cavalry, and in occupying the strongholds
of Alexandreion, Hyrcania, and Machaerus. *Gabinius, re-
cently arrived in Syria as proconsul, collected a force to op-
pose him and sent his adjutant Mark Anthony ahead. Anthony
equipped an additional Jewish contingent under the Jewish
commanders Peitholaus and Malichus. Gabinius defeated Al-
exander’s army in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and the remnant
fled to Alexandreion. Besieging the fortress, Gabinius prom-
ised Alexander his freedom and an amnesty for his troops
if he surrendered. His mother also pleaded with Alexander
to accept this condition and he left Alexandreion which was
then razed to the ground by Gabinius. Gabinius thereupon in-
troduced a much more stringent administrative system than
was in force earlier.
Alexander rebelled a second time in 55 B.c.E., when
Gabinius was in Egypt. He again mustered a large force and
began to drive the Romans from Judea. Gabinius returned
and immediately advanced to meet Alexander. He employed
*Antipater to persuade Alexander’s army to desert to Hyr-
canus. Alexander, however, still had thirty thousand men left
and he met in battle the armies of Gabinius and Hyrcanus at
Julius Caesar a Judah Aristobulus II John Hyrcanus II
murdered
Jonathan Oo) Salome
Second Alexander Alexandra
triumvirat 36
Acriun battle 31 fs
Augustus Caesar Mariamne @) Herod
629
ALEXANDER SUSLIN HA-KOHEN OF FRANKFURT
Mt. Tabor and was defeated. The defeat shattered Alexander's
resources. Antipater, however, succeeded in effecting a rec-
onciliation between Alexander and Hyrcanus, by arranging a
marriage between Alexander and Hyrcanus’ daughter Alex-
andra, which might eventually enable Alexander to become
high priest. When civil war broke out in Rome between Julius
Caesar and Pompey in 49 B.c.£., Pompey ordered his father-
in-law Q. Caecilius Metellus Scipio, then proconsul in Syria,
to put Alexander to death in Antiochia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Ant., 14:80-125; Jos., Wars, 1:160-85;
A.H.M. Jones, The Herods of Judaea (1938); Klausner, Bayit Sheni,
3 (19507), 236ff.; Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (1901*), 338ff.; Graetz, Gesch, 3
(1905°), 166-7, 17 1ff.; A.Schalit, Hordos ha-Melekh (1964?), 26 ff.
[Abraham Schalit]
ALEXANDER SUSLIN HA-KOHEN OF FRANKFURT
(d. 1349), German talmudic scholar. Alexander was born in
Erfurt and taught there as well as in Worms, Cologne, and
Frankfurt. Although he was apparently still in Frankfurt in
1345 he sometime toward the end of his life resettled in Er-
furt where he died a martyr’s death. He is the last of the early
German halakhic authorities. Alexander’s fame rests upon
his Aguddah (Cracow, 1571; photostatic copy 1958; critical an-
notated edition, Jerusalem, 1966- ), a collection of halakhic
decisions derived from talmudic discussions and arranged in
the order of the tractates of the Talmud. It includes novellae
(his own as well as those of some of his predecessors), and a
commentary and collection of halakhot to the minor tractates
and to the Mishnayot of the orders Zera’im and Tohorot. The
language is very concise and it can be seen that he wrote it in
great haste, under the stress of the expulsions and persecutions
of his time. Indeed the purpose of the book is to give halakhic
rulings in a concise form, ignoring differences of opinion, for
a generation which was harassed and persecuted. His sources
are *Mordecai b. Hillel ha-Kohen and *Aher b. Jehiel, and they
often have to be consulted in order to understand him. The
Aguddah was published in 1571 from a defective and faulty
manuscript by Joseph ha-Kohen, brother-in-law of Moses
*Isserles, who attempted to correct the text, but with only
partial success. A digest, called Hiddushei Aguddah, compiled
by Jacob Weil, was published as an appendix to his responsa
(Venice, 1523), and has been frequently reprinted. Aguddah
on the order of Nezikin, with notes by J.H. Sonnenfeld, came
out in Jerusalem, 1899. The later halakhic authorities attached
great value to his works; Jacob ha-Levi Moellin and Moses
Isserles (in his glosses to the Shulhan Arukh) in particular
regarded his decisions as authoritative, and quote from him,
although they were aware of his sources. He was eulogized in
a dirge Ziyyon Arayyavekh Bekhi (published in the addenda
to Landshut’s Ammudei ha-Avodah (p. 111-1v)).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Abramson, in: Sinai, 58 (1956), 188-91; M.
Horovitz, Frankfurter Rabbinen, 1 (1892), vii, 9.
ALEXANDER SUSSKIND BEN MOSES OF GRODNO
(d. 1793), Lithuanian kabbalist. Alexander lived a secluded
630
life in Grodno, never engaging in light conversation so as not
to be deterred from study and prayer. Many stories were told
about him. According to a well-substantiated one, several days
before Passover in 1790, a Jewish victim of a blood libel was
sentenced to death unless he agreed to convert. Alexander,
afraid the condemned man would be unable to withstand the
ordeal, obtained permission to visit him in prison, and per-
suaded him to choose martyrdom. The execution was sched-
uled for the second day of Shavuot; on that day Alexander left
the synagogue in the middle of the service for the place of ex-
ecution, heard the condemned man recite the prayer of mar-
tyrdom, said “Amen, and returned to the synagogue, reciting
the memorial prayer for the martyr’s soul. The second incident
relates that Alexander was imprisoned in a German town for
soliciting money for the Jews of Erez Israel, as it was illegal to
send money out of Germany. On being freed, he immediately
resumed collecting, ignoring the danger involved.
Alexander’s most important work, Yesod ve-Shoresh ha-
Avodah (Novy Dvor, 1782; corrected edition, Jerusalem, 1959),
a book of ethics, touches upon many aspects of Jewish life. It
is divided into 12 sections, the final section Shaar ha-Kolel,
concluding with an account of the coming of the Messiah.
According to the author, the basis of divine worship is love
of God and love of the Jewish people. Alexander emphasizes
that a Jew must be grieved at the contempt in which the God
of Israel and the people of Israel are held among the Gentiles,
who persecute the chosen people and then ask mockingly,
“Where is your God?” He speaks often and with great sorrow
of the desolation of the holy city of Jerusalem and of Erez Israel
and extols “the greatness of the virtue of living in the Land of
Israel.” In Alexander’s view, the essence of observance is in-
tent (kavvanah); the deed alone, without intention, is mean-
ingless. For this reason, he insisted on clear and meticulous
enunciation of each word in prayer, giving many examples of
how words are distorted in the course of praying. He also laid
down a specific order of study: Talmud, musar, literature, and
then Kabbalah. He emphasizes the need for study of the ge-
ography of the Bible.
Alexander was rigid in the matter of religious obser-
vance, threatening violators with severe retribution in the
hereafter. He asked every Jew to resign himself to “the four
forms of capital punishment of the bet din” and in his will he
ordered that upon his death his body be subjected to stoning.
Yet the central theme of his work is “worship the Lord in joy.”
His ideas make Alexander's writings closely akin to the ba-
sic tenets of Hasidism and *Nahman of Bratslav said of him,
“he was a Hasid even before there was Hasidism” In anno-
tated prayer books, especially in those of the Sephardi rite, his
Kavvanot ha-Pashtiyyut, the “intent” of the text of the prayers
as set forth in the Yesod ve-Shoresh ha-Avodah, is appended to
most of the prayers. He was deeply revered and as long as there
was a Jewish community in Grodno, men and women went
to pray at his grave. Descendants of his family who originally
went by the name of Braz (initials for Benei Rabbi Alexander
Zusskind) later assumed the name Braudes.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.A. Friedenstein, Ir Gibborim (1880), 62-63;
A. Susskind b. Moses, Zavvaah, ed. by A.L. Miller (1927), 5-8 (in-
trod.); J. Klausner, Darki Likrat ha-Ge'ullah ve-ha-Tehiyyah (1945),
9-10, 84; Klausner, Sifrut, 5 (19557), 347; idem, in: Sefer Assaf (1953),
427-32; Benjacob, Ozar, 226, no. 319, 506, no. 40.
[Joseph Gedaliah Klausner]
ALEXANDER THE ZEALOT, joint leader, with *Eleazar
b. Dinai, of an armed band of Jews during the administration
of the Roman procurator Ventidius *Cumanus (48-52 C.E.).
They led a punitive expedition after a group of Galilean Jewish
pilgrims had been murdered while passing through Samaria
on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the festivals.
Cumanus, bribed by the Samaritans, took no steps to punish
the guilty parties. The Jews thereupon abandoned the celebra-
tion of the festival and, under the leadership of Alexander and
Eleazar, attacked several Samaritan villages, “massacred the
inhabitants without distinction of age and burnt the villages.”
After a show of force by Cumanus and entreaties by the Jewish
leaders of Jerusalem the armed bands dispersed, the zealots
returning to their former strongholds in Judea.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Wars, 2:232ff.; Jos., Ant., 20:118-24,
Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (1901*), 560 ff.
[Isaiah Gafni]
ALEXANDRA, Hasmonean princess, daughter of *Aristo-
bulus 11, king of Judea. Captured by Pompey, Alexandra was
brought to Rome in 63 B.c.E. together with her father, her
two sisters, and her brother *Antigonus 11. The family was re-
leased in 56 B.c.E. and returned to Jerusalem. After the death
of her father in 49 B.c.£., Alexandra was sent with Antigonus
and her two sisters to Chalcis in Lebanon at the invitation of
its ruler, Ptolemy, the son of Mennaeus. Alexandra married
Ptolemy’s son, Philippion. But Ptolemy, jealous of his son,
executed him, and then married Alexandra himself. Nothing
more is known of her.
Yannai Salome
Alexander Alexandra
Aristobulus II eerie
Jonathan Antigonus Philippion
Alexander ORIGIN was executed wre
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Ant., 14:79, 126; A. Schalit, Hordos ha-
Melekh (1964°), 29; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 3 (19507), 226; Schuerer,
Gesch, 1 (1901°), 300.
[Abraham Schalit]
ALEXANDRA (d. 28 B.c.£.), daughter of *Hyrcanus 11; wife
of *Alexander, the son of Aristobulus 11; and mother of Aris-
tobulus 111 and of *Mariamne, Herod’s wife. Alexandra re-
garded Herod’s appointment of the Babylonian (or Egyptian)
Ananel (Hananel) to the high priesthood as a violation of the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDRI
Inter - 3 Yannai
dynastic a Alexander
wars 24
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alive = Judah John
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3 Jonathan Salome Antipater II
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Caesar
Hasmonean family’s right of succession to the office and at-
tempted to secure it for her son Aristobulus. Though Herod
acceded to her request, he was unable to forgive her, and did
not allow her to leave the palace. When Alexandra tried to es-
cape with her son, Herod foiled the attempt. He then affected
a reconciliation. When, however, her son was drowned in a
swimming pool, Alexandra accused Herod before Cleopatra
of engineering his death and asked her to have Mark Antony
charge Herod with the murder. Herod was summoned to
Laodicea, but cleared himself by bribery.
After the battle of Actium (31 B.c.E.), it seemed certain
that Herod could not escape punishment, since he had sided
with Antony against Octavian (Augustus). When Herod re-
turned from a meeting with Octavian with added honors,
Herod’s sister Salome, Queen Mariamne’s implacable enemy,
slandered her and Alexandra to her brother, and Mariamne
was condemned to death for treason. According to Josephus’
biased account, Alexandra escaped the same fate by dishon-
orably accusing her condemned daughter of disloyalty to her
husband. Her own fate was not long delayed. After Mariamne’s
death Herod fell ill and appeared likely to die. Alexandra,
thinking that her opportunity had now come, attempted to ob-
tain control of the two fortresses in Jerusalem. When this was
reported to Herod, he ordered her immediate execution. With
Alexandra's death, the last member of the Hasmonean dynasty
to play an active role in history disappeared. Alexandra can-
not be considered exceptionally sagacious or gifted with in-
sight into Herod’s character. In all, she seemed to resemble her
grandfather Alexander Yannai; she was courageous, but lacked
flexibility and guile, and hence was no match for Herod.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Ant., 15:23, 80, 232ff., 247ff.; Klaus-
ner, Bayit Sheni, 4 (19507), 12ff.; Graetz, Gesch, 3 (1905°), 186, 199ff.,
216 ff.; Schuerer, Gesch, 1 (1901), 378ff., 386; H. Willrich, Das Haus
des Herodes (1929), 48ff.; A.H.M. Jones, The Herods of Judaea (1938),
52ff., 58, 61; A. Schalit, Hordos ha-Melekh (1964°), index; Pauly-Wis-
sowa, suppl. 3 (1918), 79.
[Abraham Schalit]
ALEXANDRI (Alexandrah, Alexandrai, Alexandros; third
century), Palestinian amora. He was a leading aggadist of his
day. Many of the scholars who quote Alexandri belong to the
amoraim who centered around the academy at Lyddaa. It is
therefore probable that Alexandri came from Lydda. It is re-
631
ALEXANDRIA
lated that he used to go about the streets of the town urging
people to perform good deeds. He once entered the market-
place and called out: “Who wants life?” When the people an-
swered him affirmatively he responded by quoting the verse:
“Who is the man that desireth life ... Keep thy tongue from
evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and
do good; Seek peace and pursue it” (Ps. 34:13-15; Av. Zar. 19b).
Many of Alexandri’s homiletical dissertations are based on
the book of Psalms. “Break Thou the arm of the wicked” (Ps.
10:15) is quoted by him as an indictment of profiteering. From
Psalms 16:10 he derived that whoever hears himself reviled
and does not resent it deserves to be called pious (hasid). He
also said: “When man uses a broken vessel he is ashamed of
it, but not so God. All the instruments of His service are bro-
ken vessels, as it is said: “The Lord is nigh unto them that are
of a broken heart’ (Ps. 34:19); or ‘Who healeth the broken in
heart’” (Ps. 147:3, PR 25:158b).
He customarily concluded his daily prayers: “Sovereign
of the Universe, it is known full well to Thee that it is our de-
sire to perform Thy will, and what prevents us? The yeast in
the dough (i-e., the evil inclination which acts as a ferment-
ing and corrupting agent) and subjection to foreign rule. May
it be Thy will to deliver us from their hand, so that we may
be enabled to perform the statutes of Thy will with a perfect
heart” (Ber. 17a).
No details of his life are known, except that his statement
“The world is darkened for him whose wife has died in his
days” (Sanh. 22a) may have had a personal application. Schol-
ars by the name of Alexandri b. Haggai (b. Hagra, b. Hadrin),
Alexandri “Kerovah” (“the hymnologist”), and Alexandri de-
Zaddika (“the Just”), are mentioned in isolated talmudic pas-
sages and one of these may be identical with this Alexandri.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hyman, Toledot, s.v.; Bacher, Pal Amor,
index.
[Yitzhak Dov Gilat]
ALEXANDRIA, city in northern *Egypt.
Ancient Period
Jews settled in Alexandria at the beginning of the third cen-
tury B.c.E. (according to Josephus, already in the time of Alex-
ander the Great). At first they dwelt in the eastern sector of
the city, near the sea; but during the Roman era, two of its five
quarters (particularly the fourth (= “Delta”) quarter) were in-
habited by Jews, and synagogues existed in every part of the
city. The Jews of Alexandria engaged in various crafts and in
commerce. They included some who were extremely wealthy
(moneylenders, merchants, “alabarchs), but the majority were
artisans. From the legal aspect, the Jews formed an autono-
mous community at whose head stood at first its respected
leaders, afterward - the ethnarchs, and from the days of Au-
gustus, a council of 71 elders. According to Strabo, the ethn-
arch was responsible for the general conduct of Jewish affairs
in the city, particularly in legal matters and the drawing up
of documents. Among the communal institutions worthy of
632
mention were the bet din and the “archion” (i.e., the office for
drawing up documents). The central synagogue, famous for
its size and splendor, may have been the “double colonnade”
(diopelostion) of Alexandria mentioned in the Talmud (Suk.
51b; Tosef. 4:6), though some think it was merely a large meet-
ing place for artisans. During the Ptolemaic period relations
between the Jews and the government were, in general, good.
Only twice, in 145 and in 88 B.c.£., did insignificant clashes
occur, seemingly with a political background. Many of the
Jews even acquired citizenship in the city. The position of the
Jews deteriorated at the beginning of the Roman era. Rome
sought to distinguish between the Greeks, the citizens of the
city to whom all rights were granted, and the Egyptians, upon
whom a poll tax was imposed and who were considered a sub-
ject people. The Jews energetically began to seek citizenship
rights, for only thus could they attain the status of the privi-
leged Greeks. Meanwhile, however, ‘antisemitism had taken
deep root. The Alexandrians vehemently opposed the entry
of Jews into the ranks of the citizens. In 38 c.£., during the
reign of *Caligula, serious riots broke out against the Jews. Al-
though antisemitic propaganda had paved the way for them,
the riots themselves became possible as a result of the attitude
of the Roman governor, Flaccus. Many Jews were murdered,
their notables were publicly scourged, synagogues were defiled
and closed, and all the Jews were confined to one quarter of
the city. On Caligula’s death, the Jews armed themselves and
after receiving support from their fellow Jews in Egypt and
Erez Israel fell upon the Greeks. The revolt was suppressed
by the Romans. The emperor Claudius restored to the Jews
of Alexandria the religious and national rights of which they
had been deprived at the time of the riots, but forbade them
to claim any extension of their citizenship rights. In 66 c.z.,
influenced by the outbreak of the war in Erez Israel, the Jews
of Alexandria rebelled against Rome. The revolt was crushed
by *Tiberius Julius Alexander and 50,000 Jews were killed
(Jos., Wars, 2:497). During the widespread rebellion of Jews
in the Roman Empire in 115-117 c.£. the Jews of Alexandria
again suffered, the great synagogue going up in flames. As a
consequence of these revolts, the economic situation of the
community was undermined and its population diminished.
See also *Diaspora.
[Avigdor (Victor) Tcherikover]
Alexandrians in Jerusalem
During the period of the Second Temple the Jews of Alexan-
dria were represented in Jerusalem by a sizable community.
References to this community, while not numerous, can be di-
vided into two distinct categories: (1) The Alexandrian com-
munity as a separate congregation. According to Acts 6:9, the
apostles in Jerusalem were opposed by “certain of the syna-
gogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and
Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of
Asia.” The Alexandrian synagogue and congregation are men-
tioned in talmudic sources as well: “Eleazar b. Zadok bought a
synagogue of the Alexandrians in Jerusalem” (Tosef. Meg. 3:6;
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
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Alexandria in early Christian times.
cf. Ty Meg. 3:1, 73d). (2) References to particular Alexandrians.
During Herod’s reign several prominent Alexandrian Jewish
families lived in Jerusalem. One was that of the priest Boethus
whose son Simeon was appointed high priest by Herod. An-
other family of high priests, the “House of Phabi,’ was likewise
of Jewish-Egyptian origin, although it is not certain whether
they came from Alexandria. According to Parah 3:5, Hanamel
the high priest, who had been appointed by Herod in place of
Aristobulus the Hasmonean, was an Egyptian, also probably
from Alexandria. “*Nicanor’s Gate” in the Temple was named
after another famous Alexandrian Jew. Rabbinic sources de-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
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scribe at length the miracles surrounding him and the gates he
brought from Alexandria (Mid. 1:4; 2:3; Yoma 3:10; Yoma 38a).
In 1902 the family tomb of Nicanor was discovered in a cave
just north of Jerusalem. The inscription found there reads:
“The bones of the sons of Nicanor the Alexandrian who built
the gates. Nicanor Alexa: [Isaiah Gafni]
Jewish Culture
The Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria were familiar with the
works of the ancient Greek poets and philosophers and ac-
knowledged their universal appeal. They would not, however,
633
ALEXANDRIA
give up their own religion, nor could they accept the prevail-
ing Hellenistic culture with its polytheistic foundations and
pagan practice. Thus they came to create their own version
of Hellenistic culture. They contended that Greek philosophy
had derived its concepts from Jewish sources and that there
was no contradiction between the two systems of thought.
On the other hand, they also gave Judaism an interpretation
of their own, turning the Jewish concept of God into an ab-
straction and His relationship to the world into a subject of
metaphysical speculation. Alexandrine Jewish philosophers
stressed the universal aspects of Jewish law and the prophets,
de-emphasized the national Jewish aspects of Jewish religion,
and sought to provide rational motives for Jewish religious
practice. In this manner they sought not only to defend them-
selves against the onslaught of the prevailing pagan culture,
but also to spread monotheism and respect for the high moral
and ethical values of Judaism. The basis of Jewish-Hellenis-
tic literature was the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the
Bible, which was to become the cornerstone of a new world
culture (see *Bible: Greek translations). The apologetic ten-
dency of Jewish-Hellenistic culture is clearly discernible in the
Septuagint. Alexandrine Jewish literature sought to express
the concepts of the Jewish-Hellenistic culture and to propa-
gate these concepts among Jews and Gentiles. Among these
Jewish writers there were poets, playwrights, and historians;
but it was the philosophers who made a lasting contribution.
*Philo of Alexandria was the greatest among them, but also
the last of any significance. After him, Alexandrine Jewish
culture declined. See also *Hellenism.
Byzantine Period
By the beginning of the Byzantine era, the Jewish population
had again increased, but suffered from the persecutions of the
Christian Church. In 414, in the days of the patriarch Cyril, the
Jews were expelled from the city but appear to have returned
after some time since it contained an appreciable Jewish pop-
ulation when it was conquered by the Muslims.
Arab Period
According to Arabic sources, there were about 400,000 Jews
in Alexandria at the time of its conquest by the Arabs (642),
but 70,000 had left during the siege. These figures are greatly
exaggerated, but they indicate that in the seventh century
there was still a large Jewish community. Under the rule of
the caliphs the community declined, both demographically
and culturally. J. *Mann concluded from a genizah document
of the 115 century that there were 300 Jewish families in Al-
exandria, but this seems improbable. The same is true for the
statement of *Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the town in
about 1170 and speaks of 3,000 Jews living there. In any case,
throughout the Middle Ages there was a well-organized Jew-
ish community there with rabbis and scholars. Various doc-
uments of the Cairo Genizah mention the name of Mauhub
ha-Hazzan b. Aaron ha-Hazzan, a dayyan of the community
in about 1070-80. In the middle of the 12 century Aaron
634
He-Haver Ben Yeshu‘ah *Alamani, physician and composer
of piyyutim, was the spiritual head of the Alexandrian Jews.
Contemporary with *Maimonides (late 12» century) were
the dayyanim Phinehas b. Meshullam, originally from Byz-
antium, and *Anatoli b. Joseph from southern France, and
contemporary with Abraham the son of *Maimonides was
the dayyan Joseph b. Gershom, also a French Jew. In this pe-
riod the community of Alexandria maintained close relations
with the Jews of Cairo and other cities of Egypt, to whom they
applied frequently for help in ransoming Jews captured by pi-
rates. A letter of 1028 mentions this situation; it also praises
Nethanel b. Eleazar ha-Kohen, who had been helpful in the
building of a synagogue, apparently the synagogue of the con-
gregation of Palestinians that may have been destroyed dur-
ing the persecution of the non-Muslims by the Fatimid caliph
al-Hakim (c. 996-1021). In addition to this synagogue there
was a smaller one, attested to in various medieval sources that
mention two synagogues of Alexandria, one of them called
“small.” The Jews of Alexandria were engaged in the inter-
national trade centered in their city, and some of them held
government posts.
Mamluk and Ottoman Periods
Under the rule of the Mamluk sultans (1250-1517), the Jewish
population of Alexandria declined further, as did the general
population. *Meshullam of Volterra, who visited it in 1481,
found 60 Jewish families, but reported that the old men re-
membered the time when the community numbered 4,000.
Although this figure is doubtless an exaggeration, it neverthe-
less testifies to the numerical decrease of the community in
the later Middle Ages. In 1488 Obadiah of Bertinoro found 25
Jewish families in Alexandria. Many Spanish exiles, including
merchants, scholars, and rabbis settled there in the 14t-15t»
centuries. The historian *Sambari (17'* century) mentions
among the rabbis of Alexandria at the end of the 16 century
Moses b. Sason, Joseph Sagish, and Baruch b. Habib. With
the spread of the plague in 1602 most of the Jews left and did
not return. After the Cossack persecutions of 1648-49 (see
*Chmielnicki) some refugees from the Ukraine settled in Al-
exandria. During the 1660s the rabbi of the city was Joshua of
Mantua, who became an ardent follower of *Shabbetai Zevi.
In 1700 Jewish fishermen from *Rosetta (Rashid) moved to
Alexandria and formed a Jewish quarter near the seashore,
and in the second half of the 18 century more groups of fish-
ermen from Rosetta, *Damietta, and Cairo joined them; this
Jewish quarter was destroyed by an earthquake. At the end of
the 18" century the community was very small and it suffered
greatly during the French conquest. Napoleon imposed heavy
fines on the Jews and ordered the ancient synagogue, associ-
ated with the prophet Elijah, to be destroyed. In the first half
of the 19‘ century under the rule of Muhammad “Ali there
was a new period of prosperity. The development of commerce
brought great wealth to the Jews, as to the other merchants
in the town; the community was reorganized and established
schools, hospitals, and various associations. From 1871 to 1878
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
the Jewry of Alexandria was divided and existed as two sepa-
rate communities. Among the rabbis of Alexandria in modern
times were the descendants of the Israel family from Rhodes:
Elijah, Moses, and Jedidiah Israel (served 1802-30), and Sol-
omon Hazzan (1830-56), Moses Israel Hazzan (1856-63), and
Bekhor Elijah Hazzan (1888-1908). As a result of immigra-
tion from Italy, particularly from Leghorn, the upper class
of the community became to some extent Italianized. Rabbis
from Italy included Raphael della Pergola (1910-23), formerly
of Gorizia, and David *Prato (1926-37). Later rabbis were M.
*Ventura and Aharon Angel. During World War 1 many Jews
from Palestine who were not Ottoman citizens were exiled to
Alexandria. In 1915 their leaders decided, under the influence
of *Jabotinsky and *Trumpeldor, to form Jewish battalions to
fight on the side of the Allies; the Zion Mule Corps was also
organized in Alexandria.
[Eliyahu Ashtor]
Modern Times
In 1937, 24,690 Jews were living in Alexandria and in 1947,
21,128. The latter figure included 243 Karaites, who, unlike
those of Cairo, were members of the Jewish community coun-
cil. Ashkenazi Jews were also members of the council. Ac-
cording to the 1947 census, 59.1% of Alexandrian Jews were
merchants, and 18.5% were artisans. Upon the outbreak of the
Israeli War of Independence in 1948, several Jews were placed
in detention camps, such as that at Abukir. Most of the de-
tainees were released before 1950. There were several assaults
on the Jewish community by the local population, including
the throwing of a bomb into a synagogue in July 1951. With
*Nasser’s accession to power in February 1954, many Jews
were arrested on charges of *Zionism, communism, and cur-
rency smuggling. After the *Sinai Campaign (1956), thousands
of Jews were banished from the city, while others left volun-
tarily when the Alexandrian stock exchange ceased to func-
tion. The 1960 census showed that only 2,760 Jews remained.
After the *Six-Day War of June 1967, about 350 Jews, includ-
ing Chief Rabbi Nafusi, were interned in the Abu Za’bal de-
tention camp, known for its severe conditions. Some of them
were released before the end of 1967. The numbers dwindled
rapidly; by 1970 very few remained and in 2005 just a few
dozen, mostly elderly people.
[Haim J. Cohen]
Hebrew Press
The first Hebrew press of Alexandria was founded in 1862 by
Solomon Ottolenghi from Leghorn. In its first year, it printed
three books. A second attempt to found a Hebrew press in
Alexandria was made in 1865. Nathan *Amram, chief rabbi
of Alexandria, brought two printers from Jerusalem, Michael
Cohen and Joel Moses Salomon, to print his own works.
However, these printers only produced two books, return-
ing to Jerusalem when the second was only half finished.
A more successful Hebrew press was established in 1873 by
Faraj Hayyim Mizrahi, who came from Persia; his press con-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALEXANDRIAN MARTYRS, ACTS OF
tinued to operate until his death in 1913, and his sons main-
tained it until 1916. Altogether, over 40 books were printed.
In 1907 Jacob b. Attar from Meknés, Morocco, founded an-
other press, which produced several dozen books. Apart from
these main printing houses, from 1920 on the city had sev-
eral small presses, each producing one or two books. A total
of over 100 books for Jews were printed in Alexandria, most
of them in Hebrew, the others in Judeo-Arabic and Ladino.
Most of them were works by eminent Egyptian rabbis, prayer
books, and textbooks.
[Avraham Yaari]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: ANCIENT TIMES: V.A. Tcherikover, Helle-
nistic Civilization and the Jews (1959), index; idem, Corpus papyro-
rum... judaicarum, 1 (1957), index; Klausner, Bayit Sheni, 4 (19507),
267-86; A. Bludau, Juden und Judenverfolgungen im alten Alexandrien
(1906); H.I. Bell, Jews and Christians in Egypt (1924); idem, Juden
und Griechen im roemischen Alexandreia (1926). ALEXANDRIANS
IN JERUSALEM: PEFQS (1903), 125-31, 326-32; E.L. Sukenik, in: Sefer
Zikkaron... Gulak ve-Klein (1942), 134-7; Schuerer, Gesch, 2 (1907*),
87 n. 247, 502, 524 n. 77; S. Lieberman, Tosefta ki-Feshutah, 5 (1962),
1162; Stern, in: Tarbiz, 25 (1965/66), 246. ARAB PERIOD: Mann, Egypt,
1 (1920), 88; Ashtor, Toledot, 1 (1944), 247-8; 2 (1950), 111-2; 3 (1970);
idem, in: JJs, 19 (1968), 8ff.; B. Taragan, Les communautés israélites
d’Alexandrie (1932). OTTOMAN PERIOD: J.M. Landau (ed.), Toledot
ha-Yedudim be Mizrayim ha-Otmanit (1988), index; idem, Jews in
Nineteenth-Century Egypt (1969), index; Tcherikover, Corpus, index;
idem, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (1959), 541-9 (bibliogra-
phy), and index; Toledano, in: HUCA, 12-13 (1937-38), 701-14. HE-
BREW PRINTING: A. Yaari, Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Arzot ha-Mizrah, 1
(1937), 53-56, 67-85; idem, in: Ks, 24 (1947/48), 69-70.
ALEXANDRIAN MARTYRS, ACTS OF, genre of patriotic
Alexandrian literature containing heavy overtones of antisem-
itism. This is known also as the “Acts of the Pagan Martyrs”
(mistakenly, since the martyrdom has nothing to do with re-
ligion). Fragments of this literature were first published at the
end of the 19" century. At that time the fragments were under-
stood to be of a strictly official nature, in effect the protocols
of numerous trials of Alexandrian representatives before the
Roman Caesars. These missions would inevitably end in the
execution of the delegates, thus arousing further the Alexan-
drians’ hatred both of the emperor and his presumed allies,
the Jews, although a number of specimens make no mention
of their part in the proceedings. With the publication of ad-
ditional fragments, this view was modified, and it is now ac-
cepted that “this genre has nothing to do with official docu-
ments, and the protocol form... is merely a literary disguise”
(Tcherikover, Corpus, 2 (1960), 56).
The background for the various trials covers a period of
150 years. The earliest embassy is associated with *Caligula
(37-41), the latest (Acta Appiani) probably refers to the em-
peror Commodus (180-192). However, the most widely dis-
cussed fragments are those belonging to the Acta Isidori et
Lamponis (for literature see ibid., 66-67). Isidoros, the head
of the gymnasium of Alexandria, launched a vigorous attack
against the Jewish king *Agrippa 1, and summoned him be-
635
ALEXAS
fore the court of Claudius. The dialogue between the emperor
and Isidoros is heated. At one point Claudius refers to Isidoros
as “the son of a girl-musician” (i.e., a woman of loose mor-
als) whereupon the latter immediately rebuts: “I am neither
a slave nor a girl-musician’s son, but gymnasiarch of the glo-
rious city of Alexandria. But you are the cast-off son of the
Jewess Salome!” (ibid., 80f.). Isidoros and his colleague Lam-
pon were immediately sentenced to death. The trial probably
took place in 41 c.£. (although many scholars favor 53), for in
that year a series of debates on Jewish civic rights came before
Claudius. It would be mistaken, however, to conclude from
this document that all the Acts were aimed solely at arousing
anti-Jewish sentiment. Tcherikover has shown clearly that an-
tisemitism in the Acts “plays a secondary part only, the major
theme of the work being the clash between the Alexandrians
and Rome.” The author's main purpose was to ridicule the
Roman emperors, and for this purpose it was often sufficient
to allude to the alleged cordial understanding between the
emperors and the Jews.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.A. Musurillo, The Acts of the Pagan Mar-
tyrs (1954); Tcherikover, Corpus, 2 (1960), 55-107 nos. 154-9.
[Isaiah Gafni]
ALEXAS, friend of Herod the Great (37-4 B.c.E£.) and hus-
band of Herod's sister, Salome. Herod forced Salome to marry
Alexas, after threatening her with open enmity if she refused.
Apparently Alexas was among the dignitaries who became
powerful under the patronage of the new Judean dynasty. Ac-
cording to Josephus, Herod gave Alexas instructions about
the procedure to be followed after his death. Alexas seems to
have wielded sufficient authority to secure the release of the
prisoners whom Herod had ordered to be executed on the
news of his death to insure that the nation would mourn.
But the whole story is probably a malevolent legend with-
out foundation. Alexas had a son named after him, but with
the surname Helcias. This son, known as Helcias the “Elder”
or “Great” (6 uéyac), was apparently among the important
members of the house of Herod. He is also referred to as “Hel-
cias the Prefect” (Ant., 19:353). By the third generation, the
house of Alexas had already obtained Roman citizenship, for
Helcias’ son was named *Julius Archelaus. Josephus states
that he was “well versed in Greek learning,’ and Archelaus
was therefore among the first to receive the historian’s works
(Apion, 1:51).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos., Wars, 1:566, 660, 666; Jos., Ant., 17:10,
175, 193-4; 18:138; Stern, in: Tarbiz, 35 (1965/66), 243-5.
[Isaiah Gafni]
ALEXEYEV, ALEXANDER (1820-after 1886), apostate and
Christian propagandist. He was born Wolf Nachlas into a
hasidic family in Nezarinetz, Podolia, and became a Chris-
tian after his impressment into the Russian army. During his
army service Alexeyev was made a noncommissioned officer
for his zeal in persuading Jewish child conscripts to convert to
636
Christianity. Later he became paralyzed and was discharged.
Alexeyev was subsequently appointed to attend the *Saratov
blood libel case (1853) as an expert. He wrote a pamphlet en-
titled “Do Jews Use Christian Blood for Religious Purposes?”
(1886), which boldly defends the Jews against this particular
accusation. Other writings, however, aimed at winning Jewish
converts, attacked the Talmud and the rabbis in crude terms
which made an impact at the time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.A. Venegerov, Kritichesko-Biograficheskiy
Slovar, 1 (1889), 375-6; S.L. Zitron, Meshumodim (Yid., 1921), 91.
ALFALAS, MOSES (late 16'* century), preacher, lived in
Tetuan, Spanish Morocco. Alfalas, in common with R. *Judah
Loew of Prague, employed philosophical terms in his preach-
ing, without retaining their accepted meaning. Many of his
sermons were delivered in Salonika, and he probably lived
there some time. His printed works are Ho’il Moshe (1597),
13 chapters of homiletic treatment of the midrashic sayings
that refer to the meaning of the Torah and the relationship
between Israel and the Torah; Ba Gad (printed together with
the above), which contains seven chapters of homilies explain-
ing the significance of the milah (“circumcision”); Va-Yakhel
Moshe (1597), 25 homilies which he had preached in Venice,
Salonika, Tetuan and other towns, including some homilies
written by his students under his supervision. All three books
include an index of contents and sources, compiled by Sam-
uel ibn Dysoss.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1769 no. 6428.
ALFANDARI, family originating in Andalusia, Spain, and
claiming descent from the family of Bezalel of the tribe of
Judah. After the Expulsion (1492) the family spread through-
out the Turkish Empire and France. For many generations
they were among the major scholars and communal lead-
ers of Constantinople, Brusa (Bursa), Smyrna, Egypt, and
Erez Israel. The first member of the family of whom there is
knowledge is IsAAC B. JUDAH, who died in Toledo (1241).
JACOB B. SOLOMON of Valencia and Solomon Zarzah trans-
lated Sefer ha-Azamim, attributed to Abraham *Ibn Ezra,
from Arabic into Hebrew. The name “Alfandery” was known
in 1506 both in Paris and in Avignon, and, in 1558, in Lyons.
Variants are “Alfandaric” and “Alfandrec.” Members of the
family lived in Egypt immediately after the Expulsion from
Spain at the end of the 15 century; they were primarily mer-
chants. A 1515 document from Cairo mentions the merchant
DAVID ALFANDARI. ISAAC, who traveled to Yemen on busi-
ness, also lived there. Later, several members of this family
immigrated to Egypt from Portugal, while some Marrano
members of the family remained in Portugal. oBADIAH (mid-
17 century), apparently a member of the Egyptian branch of
the family, was the last marketer for the woolen industry in
Safed, where he was known as “chief of the artisans.” His busi-
ness failed as a result of the exorbitant demands made upon
him by the authorities in Safed, he left for Egypt, and it was
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
on a journey from Egypt that he was robbed and murdered
(c. 1661). JACOB (second half of 16‘ century), a noted scholar
of the Turkish branch, was the father of two well-known rab-
bis, Hayyim and Shabbetai. HAyyIM (the Elder; 1588-1640)
was a noted scholar, communal leader, and dayyan in Con-
stantinople, his birthplace. He wrote a great number of re-
sponsa, four of which were in the possession of his grandson,
Hayyim b. Isaac. Among his correspondents was Jacob di
Trani. He also wrote commentaries to most of the talmudic
tractates, as well as novellae on the Tur of Jacob b. Asher, but
these have not survived. SHABBETAI, born c. 1590, achieved
fame as a scholar in his youth, and corresponded with two of
Safed’s great scholars, *Hiyya Rofe and Yom Tov *Zahalon,
with whom he developed close ties upon their visit to Con-
stantinople. Hayyim the Elder’s son JACOB *ALFANDARI
was one of the leading scholars of Constantinople. Hayyim’s
other son, ISAAC RAPHAEL (c. 1622-c. 1687), studied un-
der Joseph Trani and about 1665 was appointed rabbi of one
of the congregations in Brusa, a position he held until his
death. Isaac Raphael, whom A.M. Cardoso met in Brusa in
1681, is purported by the latter to have expressed his belief in
Shabbetai Zevi to him, but this testimony is spurious. Isaac
Raphael wrote many responsa and corresponded with Hayyim
*Benveniste, who lauded him highly. His son Hayyim b.
Issac *Alfandari was a noted scholar. ELIJAH B. JACOB AL-
FANDARI (16702-1717), rabbi and halakhic authority, was
av bet din in Constantinople, where he was born and died.
He fought Shabbateanism. His works include Seder Eliyahu
Rabbah ve-Zuta (1719) on the laws of agunah and Mikhtav me-
Eliyahu (1723), on the laws of divorce. Approximately at the
same time there were in Salonika two scholars, both among
the most distinguished of Solomon b. Isaac ha-Levi’s pu-
pils: MOSES ALFANDARI, scholar and pietist, and his brother
ISAAC.
HAYYIM ALFANDARI, known as “Rabbenu” to distin-
guish him from the Elder, was a rabbi in Jerusalem. In 1758
he was included among the members of Judah Navon’s bet
midrash, “Damesek Eliezer.” He was also one of a delegation
of the seven rabbis including H.J.D. *Azulai sent on a spe-
cial mission to Constantinople (but getting no farther than
Egypt) to oust the official representative of Jerusalem's “Vaad
Pekidei Erez Israel” JOSEPH ALFANDARI (d. 1867), a dayyan
and preacher in Constantinople, studied under Isaac *Attia,
author of Rov Dagan. He wrote Porat Yosef (1868), responsa
to which he appended his teacher's responsa, and talmudic
novellae, and Va-Yikra Yosef (1877), homilies with some re-
sponsa.
SOLOMON B. HAYYIM ALFANDARY (d. 1773), rabbi
and dayyan in Constantinople, signed documents and hal-
akhic decisions along with the other rabbis of the community
from 1746 to 1764. He later became chief rabbi. His two sons,
who also served as rabbis in Constantinople, were RAPHAEL
HEZEKIAH HAYYIM and ABRAHAM.
FERNAND ALFANDARY (1837-1910), a judge, was ap-
pointed to the Court de Cassation in Paris (1894).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALFANDARI, HAYYIM BEN ISAAC RAPHAEL
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ashtor, Toledot, 2 (1951), 486-7; S. Avizur,
in: Sefunot, 6 (1962), 69; M. Benayahu, in: Aresheth, 2 (1960), 111-2;
idem, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (Heb., 1959), 380-1; Conforte, Kore, 46b;
A. Galanté, Histoire des Juifs d’Istanbul, 1 (1941), 127.
ALFANDARI, AARON BEN MOSES (1690?-1774), rabbi
and author. He taught at the yeshivah of Smyrna, where he
served as dayyan. About 1757 he settled in Hebron where he
was appointed chief rabbi. He wrote Yad Aharon, an attempt
to bring Hayyim *Benveniste’s Keneset ha-Gedolah up to date
by including later decisions as well as sources not available
to Benveniste. He also added his own decisions, as well as a
work on the methodology of the Talmud. The volume on Orah
Hayyim was published in Smyrna in 1735; on Even ha-Ezer in
two volumes in 1756-66. The one to Yoreh Deah and the un-
completed manuscript on Hoshen Mishpat were destroyed
in the great Smyrna fire of 1743. He also wrote Mirkevet ha-
Mishneh, a commentary on Maimonides’ Yad Hazakah; most
of it was destroyed in the same fire and only the first part was
published (1755).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 1 (1852), 16 no. 119, s.v. Aharon AI-
fandari; M. Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (Heb., 1959), 355; Mi-
chael, Or, no. 302.
ALFANDARI, HAYYIM BEN ISAAC RAPHAEL (c. 1660-
1733), kabbalist and rabbi. He lived at Brusa, Turkey, where in
1681 he met Abraham Miguel *Cardozo [Cardoso]. According
to the latter’s testimony, Alfandari later came to him in Con-
stantinople for esoteric study and believed in Cardoso’s con-
cept of the Divinity. For this reason Alfandari quarreled with
Samuel *Primo, the rabbi of the Adrianople community. He
was summoned before the scholars of Constantinople (c. 1683)
and warned to disassociate himself from Cardoso’ circle. On
this occasion he denied belonging to Cardoso’ circle and ac-
cused the latter of belief in the Trinity. Later Alfandari became
an extreme Shabbatean. He signed his name “Hayyim Zevi;
called himself “Messiah,” and gathered a group of followers
in Constantinople. Cardoso accused them of desecrating the
Sabbath and eating forbidden food. In 1696 Alfandari settled
in Jerusalem as head of the community (resh mata). He was
active in public affairs and presided over a yeshivah. At one
time he resided in Egypt, where he studied Isaac *Luria’s writ-
ings which were in the possession of Moses Vital, grandson of
Hayyim *Vital. He also lived in Safed, where he wrote a book-
let called Kedusha de-Vei Shimshei (printed in J. Kasabi’s Rav
Yosef). By 1710 he had returned to Constantinople where, in
1714, he was a signatory to the excommunication of Nehe-
miah *Hayon during the controversy on Oz le-Elohim (1713).
In 1717, however, Alfandari was Hayon’s envoy and delivered
letters of the scholars of Hebron and Salonika to the rabbis of
Constantinople, and in 1718 he tried to reconcile Hayon with
Naphtali *Katz. In 1722 his name appeared first on the list of
the Safed scholars confirming Daniel Kapsutos credentials as
emissary. He returned to Constantinople, and died there. He
wrote Esh Dat (1718), homilies on the Torah, and at the end of
637
ALFANDARI, JACOB
that work, Muzzal me-Esh by his uncle Jacob; and Maggid me-
Reshit, a collection of responsa by his grandfather Hayyim the
Elder, which closes with Derekh ha-Kodesh (1710). Alfandari’s
kabbalistic works have not survived.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N.H. Hayon, Ha-Kolot Yehdalun (Amster-
dam, 1725), 6a; Lehishat Saraf (letters against Hayon, 1726), 11b, 14b;
Rosanes, Togarmah, 4 (1935), 195-7; I. Ben-Zvi, in: Reshumot, 5 (1953);
56; I. Molcho and A. Amarilio, in: Sefunot, 3-4 (1959-60), 222-5, 227;
Y. Nadav, ibid., 325; R. Shatz, ibid., 429, 431.
ALFANDARI, JACOB (c. 1620-1695), halakhic writer and
preacher, the oldest son of Hayyim Alfandari the Elder, one of
the leading scholars of Constantinople. Alfandari, who stud-
ied under his father, taught at a yeshivah. His disciples in-
cluded Jacob Sasson. According to Abraham Miguel Cardoso,
he urged his devotees not to accept the teaching of Shabbetai
Zevi. He wrote many responsa, but most of his writings were
destroyed in a fire in Constantinople. Some were rescued and
published by his nephew Hayyim b. Isaac Alfandari, under
the title Muzzal me-Esh (“Saved from Fire”; appended to his
Esh Dat, Constantinople, 1718). Another portion, also pub-
lished under the same title, was incorporated in Joseph Kas-
abi’s responsa Rav Yosef (Constantinople, 1736), which was
edited by Kasabi’s pupil Jacob b. Judah Alfandari, grandson
of the author. The responsa that he sent in reply to his brother
Isaac Raphael’s inquiries were published in Maggid me-Reshit
(1660-74). A book of his sermons was in the possession
of his nephew, Hayyim b. Isaac Raphael, who, in his Esh
Dat, frequently cites homiletical expositions in his uncle's
name. His rhetorical style, which is replete with rabbini-
cal sayings, caused Hayyim Joseph David Azulai to call him
“the father of rhetoric.” His grandson Jacob was a promi-
nent disciple of Hayyim b. Isaac Alfandari, and wrote an
introduction to Mikhtav me-Eliyahu by Elijah Alfandari
(1723).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ghirondi-Neppi, 180 (but the mention of
a book on the Torah in manuscript may refer to a work by another
scholar of the same name).
ALFANDARI, SOLOMON ELIEZER BEN JACOB, known
as Mercado or Maharsha (Moreinu ha-Rav Shelomo Eliezer;
1826 or 1829-1930), rabbinic authority. Alfandari was born
in Constantinople. When he was about 25, he headed the
yeshivah founded by a certain Foa, a wealthy resident of
Constantinople, and among his pupils were many who sub-
sequently became important rabbis. At the age of 30, he was
elected a member of the general religious council (Majlis)
of Constantinople. During the sultanate of Abdul Hamid,
Alfandari opposed the conscription of Jews into the Turk-
ish army, on the grounds that such conscription constituted
interference with their religious practice, in violation of an
agreement made by the Spanish exiles with the Turkish au-
thorities as a condition for their settling in Turkey in the late
15" century. The order of conscription was finally rescinded.
Alfandari was later appointed chief rabbi of Damascus, and
638
from 1904 to 1918 served as chief rabbi of Safed. In 1926 he
settled in Jerusalem.
Regarded as one of the great scholars of his time, Alfan-
dari was accepted by both Sephardim and Ashkenazim and
despite his exceptional firmness, his responsa and rulings
were honored without demur. During the last years of his
life, he was visited by Hayyim Eleazar Shapira, rabbi of the
Munkacs Hasidim, who was deeply impressed by his person-
ality. After his death, the Hasidim of Munkacs dedicated to
his memory Masot Yerushalayim (1931), a hymn in his praise.
Some of Alfandari’s responsa were published in the periodi-
cal Torah mi-Ziyyon, in the Kanah Avraham of Abraham Hai
Amozag, and in the works of his contemporaries. A few of
his responsa were published by Isaac *Nissim, under the title
Sheelot u-Teshuvot Maharsha (1932). His remaining works are
still in manuscript.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez Yis-
rael, 2 (1937), 85f.; Ben-Jacob, in: Hed ha-Mizrah, 4 (1945), 7f. no. 6;
Ben-Zvi, in: Ozar Yehudei Sefarad, 6 (1963), 8-11, 14; idem, Ketavim,
3 (1966), o1f., 99.
[Abraham David]
ALFASI, family of Tunisian rabbis that originated in Fez, Mo-
rocco. MAS‘UD RAPHAEL ALFASI (17002-1774), halakhist and
kabbalist. Born in Fez or Tunis, he studied in the latter un-
der Zemah Zarefati, Abraham Tayyib, and Isaac Lumbroso.
He established a great yeshivah in Tunis that has continued
to bear his name to this day, and served as chief rabbi there
from 1741 until his death. His writings included a large work
on Maimonides’ Yad patterned on Judah *Rosanes’ Mishneh
la-Melekh (1731), and a commentary to the Talmud. Mishha
de-Ravevata (2 vols., Leghorn, 1805) is a commentary on the
Shulhan Arukh and includes responsa. His homilies on the
Pentateuch and for Sabbath and holy days are extant in man-
uscript (Ben-Zvi Institute, no. 713); his grandchildren came
into possession of a work on the Zohar, the Idrot, and Isaac
*Luria’s kabbalistic works (see edition of Zohar, Leghorn,
1872). SOLOMON BEN MAS UD RAPHAEL ALFASI (1721-1801),
his son, succeeded his father as rabbi of Tunis. His work on
the Shulhan Arukh as well as his responsa are included in
the second volume of his father’s Mishha de-Ravevata. Keruv
Mimeshah (Leghorn, 1858) includes novellae on the Talmud
and on Maimonides’ Yad as well as a talmudic methodology.
Alfasi was renowned as a pietist and a wonderworker; many
miraculous tales were told about him. His brother HAYYIM
BEN MASUD RAPHAEL (1756-1783) wrote novellae on the
Shulhan Arukh - entitled Hiddushei Maharha - which were
included in his father’s Mishha de-Ravevata (1805) and in his
brother’s Keruv Mimeshah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Cazés, Notes bibliographiques sur la litté-
rature juive-tunisienne (1893), 157-68; Arditti, in: Revue Tunisienne,
2 (1931), 115-6.
ALFASI, DAVID BEN ABRAHAM (Ar. Abu Suleiman
Daid ibn Ibrahim Al-Fasi; tenth century), Karaite grammar-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ian and commentator. Alfasi, who came from Fez, Morocco,
spent a number of years in Erez Israel where he composed a
Hebrew-Arabic lexicon of the Bible (Kitab Jami‘ al-Alfaz). The
dictionary is extant in both a long and a short version, which
was published in a critical edition by Skoss (see bibl.). The
exact relationship between the two is not clear yet and needs
further investigation. The dictionary consists of 22 chapters,
one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The entries are ar-
ranged according to the principle of bi-literal roots. He cites
the translations of Onkelos and Jonathan b. Uzziel by name
or refers to them as al-Targum, al-Surydani, or al-Mutarjim.
He also quotes the Mishnah and the Talmud, the masorah
and the Rabbanite siddur. Alfasi mentions *Saadiah twice as
“al-Fayyumi,” but he frequently uses and criticizes his com-
mentaries without mentioning his name. He often designates
the Bible al-Quran or al-Kitab (the Scriptures) and the Jew-
ish scholars, al-Rabbanin or al-Rabbiinin, as was customary
among Karaite authors. Alfasi’s dictionary is one of the earli-
est and most important for the investigation of the history of
Hebrew philology. The author reveals a fine sense for language
and a profound, and, for his time, comprehensive, knowledge
of ancient Hebrew linguistics. One of the important aspects
of the dictionary is the comparative one: He quotes numer-
ous parallels between biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, Arabic
(both literary and spoken), and mishnaic Hebrew, many of
which tally with those found in the Risdla of Judah b. Quraysh
(whom the author does not mention), and many which have
been accepted by present-day philologists. Alfasi explains
many roots by metathesis or permutation of letters. He follows
the Tiberian systems and the Palestinian grammarians as to
the masoretic text, vocalization, and accents. The dictionary
contains a wealth of information pertaining to early Karaite
Bible exegesis as well as historical and material conditions in
Erez Israel in Alfasi’s time. Compendia of the short version
were compiled successively by *Levi b. Japheth, Eli b. Israel,
and *Ali b. Suleiman (and were incorporated by Skoss in the
apparatus of his edition). Alfasi’s commentaries on the Psalms
and the Song of Songs have not been preserved.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Pinsker, Likkutei Kadmoniyyot, 1 (1860),
117ff., 223 ff.; S.L. Skoss, Hebrew-Arabic Dictionary of the Bible of
David Abraham al-Fasi, 1 (1936), introd.; 2 (1945); EJ, 3 (1929), 273-5
(includes detailed bibliography). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Maman,
Comparative Semitic Philology in the Middle Ages: From Saadiah Gaon
to Ibn Barun (10*-12"" c.) (2004), passim, esp. 182-275; G. Khan, in:
M. Polliack (ed.), Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Liter-
ary Sources (2003), 291-318.
[Solomon Leon Skoss]
ALFASI, ISAAC BEN JACOB (known as Rif; 1013-1103), au-
thor of the most important code prior to the Mishneh Torah
of Maimonides. In a sense, Alfasi brought the geonic period
to a close. The last of the Babylonian geonim, Hai Gaon, died
when Alfasi was 25 years old. Alfasi himself was called “gaon”
by several early halakhic authorities. *Judah b. Barzillai al-
Bargeloni sometimes refers to him simply as “the Gaon.” Alfasi
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALFASI, ISAAC BEN JACOB
was a native of Qal’at Hammad near Constantine, in Algeria,
and is therefore sometimes called “ha-Kalai.” According to
Abraham ibn David, Alfasi studied in Kairouan under both
*Nissim ben Jacob and *Hananel b. Hushiel, but nowhere does
Alfasi mention them as his teachers.
After a period of study in Kairouan, Alfasi settled in Fez
(hence his surname “Alfasi” or Rif, initials of R. Isaac Fasi). He
remained there until 1088, when, in his 75‘ year, he was de-
nounced to the government by enemies and was forced to flee
to Spain. After a few months in Cordova he moved to Lucena,
where he remained until his death. Shortly after his arrival
in Lucena, he became head of the yeshivah (1089), following
the death of Isaac b. Judah ibn Ghayyat. The most famous of
his many students were Joseph *Ibn Migash, *Judah Halevi,
Ephraim of Qal’at Hammad, and Baruch b. Isaac ibn *Alba-
lia. Before his death, Alfasi designated Ibn Migash as his suc-
cessor, even though his own son, Jacob, was a distinguished
scholar. His death was mourned in dirges by various poets,
among them Moses Ibn Ezra. Another, hitherto regarded as
by Judah Halevi, is now attributed by Abramson to Joseph ibn
Sahl. In his Shirat Yisrael, Moses Ibn Ezra praised Alfasi, de-
scribing him as a man unsurpassed in keenness of intellect,
whose wisdom was deep beyond compare, whose pen was
swift, outdistancing that of any rival, and whose equal in in-
tensity of religious feeling could scarcely be found. Alfasi
dedicated his life to the study of the Talmud and its dissemi-
nation among the masses. Long before he came to Spain, his
intellectual stand was decided and he was not influenced by
the cultural life of Spain.
Hundreds of Alfasi’s responsa have survived. Many of
them were written while he was still in Fez, the majority in
Arabic. In character and in style, Alfasi’s responsa are still close
to those of the Babylonian geonim. Alfasi’s fame however rests
on his great work Sefer ha-Halakhot (or Halakhot Rabbati). In
the composition of this work Alfasi had a two fold purpose:
(1) extracting all the halakhic material from the Talmud, as-
certaining the decision, and providing a comprehensive com-
pendium for ready reference; (2) preparing an essential sum-
mary of the Talmud, thereby facilitating its study. Concerning
the first purpose Alfasi confined himself to those portions of
the Talmud which were still operative and practiced, and ex-
cluded those of only academic importance. His code, there-
fore, covers the three orders, Moed, Nashim, and Nezikin and
the individual tractates Berakhot and Hullin. Even here Alfasi
omitted entire chapters, such as the laws of the Paschal sacri-
fice (in the tractate Pesahim) and all that portion of the trac-
tate Yoma which deals with the Temple Service on the Day of
Atonement. Alfasi arranged laws scattered throughout the or-
ders Kodashim and Tohorot which retain their relevance such
as the laws of the Torah scroll, mezuzah, and tefillin, under
the special title of Halakhot Ketannot. Sefer ha-Halakhot deals
with 24 tractates of the Talmud.
Alfasi’s quotations from the Talmud are often longer than
necessary for the mere determination of a decision; often he
explains the cited passage. For the most part, his explanations
639
ALFASI, ISAAC BEN JACOB
are brief, and in several instances discernible only when com-
pared with the talmudic text. He comments at some length on
instances where the geonim differed in their interpretations,
discussing the different views and giving his own interpreta-
tion. Such treatment at times mars the structure. Alfasi him-
self apologized for it in several places. On the other hand
these extended comments greatly enhanced the value of the
book.
To a certain extent Alfasi models himself on the Halakhot
Gedolot, but Alfasi’s book is much superior. The halakhic ma-
terial is three or four times that in the Halakhot Gedolot; the
aggadic material is even more. Alfasi exercises greater freedom
in the handling of his material, and in the placement of certain
discussions, often assembling into one place statements deal-
ing with a specific subject but scattered throughout the Tal-
mud. For example, he assembles all discussions on the scope
and definition of censure and reproof at the end of chapter two
of tractate Shabbat. Similarly he arranges the discussions of
the Gemara relevant to many Mishnayot. He first quotes the
discussions which bear directly on the Mishnah, then those
which have a loose bearing on it, and finally those which have
some association with it in terms of subject matter. Alfasi
cites all the material from the Talmud necessary to establish
the argument for each law and for every opinion, whereas the
Halakhot Gedolot, for the most part, quotes only the law itself.
Alfasi’s sources are varied, but usually he does not identify
them. In addition to the Babylonian Talmud and the geonic
literature, he uses especially the She’iltot of *Aha of Shabha,
Halakhot Pesukot, Halakhot Gedolot, Hai Gaon’s responsa and
commentary, and Hananel b. Hushiel, upon whom most of
his book is based and which he mostly copies. Other sources
are an anonymous Sefer Metivot, Nissim Gaon’s works, the
Hilkheta Gavrata of Samuel ha-Nagid, and *Hefez b. Yazliah.
Nevertheless, Alfasi only dealt with those laws which origi-
nated in the Talmud. Alfasi also dealt with the aggadah in the
Talmud which had been almost completely ignored by all the
codifiers before him. He included those aggadot which taught
good conduct and moral behavior, paving the way for all later
codifiers. Alfasi’s book is thus a source of considerable value
for the aggadah also, and justly deserves the name “Talmud
Katan” (“Little Talmud”) given to it.
The Sefer ha-Halakhot was first published in Constan-
tinople (1509), and this edition is now very rare (it was pub-
lished in Jerusalem in 1969). The second edition (which was
published in Venice, 1521) has many addenda from various
glosses, thus altering the form of the book. All the later edi-
tions up to the Vilna Romm edition (1880-86) were based
upon the Venice edition. The Vilna edition was compared with
the first edition but is an eclectic version and so only enhanced
the confusion. A complete and scientific edition — based on
ancient prints, manuscripts, and *genizah fragments - is still
lacking. The Pressburg edition (1836) includes pseudo-Alfasi
on Nedarim. An important aspect of the Halakhot is Alfasi’s
numerous revisions of what he had already written “and or-
dered to be corrected.” These corrections were partly due to
640
criticism, especially from his pupil Ephraim. This is attested to
by various rishonim (e.g., Baal ha-Maor by Zerahiah ha-Levi
to Sanh. 28b): “It seems that because of this Alfasi changed
his opinion and ordered the erasure of what he had written
on the subject... and the substitution of the corrected form...
as you can find in some of the copies,’ and as Alfasi himself
comments (A.A. Harkavy (ed.), Kovez Teshuvot ha-Geonim
(1887), p. 327). His corrections have not always been included
in the different manuscripts, and this accounts for the many
variants in the versions of his book.
Jewish scholars of later generations were unstinting in
their admiration of Alfasi and his book. Maimonides wrote
“The Halakhot of the great rabbi, our teacher Isaac, of blessed
memory, has superseded all these works (geonic codes)... for
it contains all the decisions and laws which we need in our
day... and, except for a few halakhot, not exceeding ten, his de-
cisions are unassailable.” Nevertheless, in one of his responsa
Maimonides wrote that he differed from Alfasi in about 30 in-
stances. In a letter to his disciple Joseph b. Judah, he advised
him to make Alfasi’s Halakhot his major study; and Maimo-
nides himself taught it to his students. *Isaac b. Samuel ha-
Zaken said of him: “A man will toil in vain to produce such a
work, unless the spirit of God rest upon him” (introduction
to *Menahem b. Aaron ibn Zerah’s Zeidah la-Derekh, Fer-
rara, 1554). ‘Abraham b. David of Posquiéres, who tended to
be severely critical of other authors, wrote of him: “I would
rely on the words of Alfasi even if he should say that right is
left” Even Alfasi’s critics, and those who commented upon
or supplemented his writings, never set out to find flaws in
his work, but merely to correct whenever they deemed nec-
essary; for they recognized the great usefulness of the book
and wanted to see it used more widely. It was recounted that
Jacob of Marvege, a tosafist, inquired in a dream whether the
law concerning a certain case was according to the geonim or
according to Alfasi; he received an answer from heaven: “And
I shall establish my covenant with Isaac” (Gen. 17:21). Mena-
hem ha-*Meiri always referred to Alfasi as “the greatest of
codifiers.” Joseph *Caro regarded Alfasi as the first among the
three pillars of learning upon whom the house of Israel rests
(Alfasi, Maimonides, and Asher b. Jehiel), and upon whose
authority he determined the laws in his Shulhan Arukh. Thus
Alfasi’s influence pervades Jewish code-literature up to mod-
ern times. At the close of the Middle Ages, when the Talmud
was banned in Italy, Alfasi’s work was expressly exempted, so
that between the 16 and 19" centuries it was a principal sub-
ject of study among Italian Jews.
There is an extensive literature of commentary on Alfasi,
some in amplification, others in condensation of his works.
Among his critics and commentators were some of the great-
est talmudic scholars, such as Ephraim his pupil, Zerahiah
ha-Levi, *Abraham b. David, *Jonathan b. David ha-Kohen
of Lunel, *Nahmanides, *Meshullam b. Moses of Beziers,
Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona (see *Ha-Hinnukh), *Samuel b.
Meir, Jacob *Tam, *Nissim b. Reuben Gerondi, and Joseph ibn
Haviva, author of Nimmukei Yosef. Almost all of them were
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
scholars of Spain and Southern France, for in these countries,
especially the former, the Halakhot was studied even more
than the Talmud itself. More often than not, these commen-
tators amplified, updated, and extended the discussion of Al-
fasi’s themes rather than actually commenting on his text. A
commentary on Alfasi to Hullin by an anonymous Yemenite
scholar of the 12" century (1960), attests to the wide popular-
ity of this work. The vast literature that was produced about
Alfasi further testifies to the high regard in which he was held
by subsequent generations.
In addition to the critics and commentators to Alfasi
there is a ramified literature including works not really de-
pendent upon Alfasi, but which follow his method of arrange-
ment rather than that of the Talmud. The most eminent are
those of Asher b. Jehiel and Mordecai b. Hillel, though the
latter does not mention Alfasi at all. There are other books
which include the whole of Alfasi and which expand his work
with parallels and references to his sources and responsa.
The most important of these is Sefer ha-Ittim of Judah al-
Bargeloni.
Over 300 of his responsa, translated into Hebrew, have
been collected and published (first edition Leghorn, 1781).
Over 150 were published in their original Arabic with a He-
brew translation by A.A. Harkavy in Kovez Teshuvot ha-
Geonim (1887), most of them having previously been included
in the Leghorn edition. Another edition (Ginzei Kedem, 4
vols. (1930), 38-49), based upon the Oxford manuscript, was
published by B.M. Lewin. Most of these responsa too are in-
cluded in the Leghorn edition with some changes (cf. also
Kohelet Moshe of S.A. Wertheimer, 1899). Another collection
of Alfasi’s responsa was edited by Z. Byednowitz (1934). Most
of these are included in the previous editions. All these re-
sponsa were republished by Z. Leiter (1954). Many of Alfasi’s
responsa are still extant in manuscript. Variae lectiones based
upon manuscripts were published by A. Sofer in his Teshu-
vot Hakhmei Provinzyah (1967). Many of Alfasi’s responsa are
scattered throughout the works of the early halakhic scholars,
such as Judah al-Bargeloni, in the books of those who used
his works, including *Isaac b. Abba Mari, Baruch b. Isaac, and
Judah *Almadari’s commentary on Alfasi’s Sefer ha-Halakhot.
Several of Alfasi’s responsa are to be found in the famous col-
lection of Maimonides’ responsa, Peer ha-Dor, Leipzig, 1859,
nos. 182-208.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Cohen, in: Jar, 19 (1928/29), 335-4103
Lewin, in: Alummah, 1 (1936), 105-13; H. Tchernowitz, Toledot ha-
Posekim, 2 (1947), passim; Benedikt, in: Ks, 25 (1948/49), 164-76; 26
(1949/50), 322-383 27 (1950/51), 119f.; 28 (1952/53), 210-32; N.N. Rabi-
nowitz, Maamar al Hadpasat ha-Talmud (1952), 256-7; A.N.Z. Roth,
in: Sura, 3 (1957/58), 143-50; Habermann, in: Tarbiz, 19 (1959/60),
190f.; Sh. Abramson, Rav Nissim Gaon (1965), 214-22 and index, s.v.
Yighak b. Yaakov Alfasi; idem, Bi-Leshon Kodemim (1965), 64-71;
Sh. Shefer, Ha-Rif u-Mishnato (1967). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.D.
Shevet, “Mehkerei Mavo be-Mefarshei ha-Rif} diss., Bar-Ilan Univ.
(1995).
[Simha Assaf / Israel Moses Ta-Shma]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALFES, BENZION
ALFEI MENASHEH (Heb. nwW19 °D?X), urban community
in western Samaria, close to central Israel. The settlement is
located on a hill, 1,082 ft. (330 m.) above sea level, and has an
area of 1.8 sq. mi (4.6 sq. km.). In 1981 Ezer *Weizman, then
secretary of defense, and Ariel *Sharon, secretary of agricul-
ture, initiated the “seven star” plan to establish seven settle-
ments at strategic points near the borders of Judea and Sa-
maria. In 1983 the first settlers arrived at Alfei Menasheh. At
the beginning, the community was part of the regional council
of Samaria. In 1985 it received municipal council status. In the
following years it came under terrorist attack. In 1987, in one
such attack, the Moses family was decimated: the mother and
one of the children were killed and the father and two other
children severely injured. Between 1987 and 1989, three addi-
tional terror incidents rocked the community. The precarious
security situation served to curtail the settlement’s develop-
ment, but in the 1990s it recovered and new neighborhoods
were built. In 2002 its population was 5,250. The name of the
settlement derives from Deuteronomy 33:17, which speaks of
“the thousands of Manasseh”
[Shaked Gilboa (24 ed.)]
ALFEROV, ZHORES I. (1930-_), Russian Nobel laureate
in physics. Alferov was born in Vitebsk, U.S.S.R. (now Vit-
syebsk, Belarus), and graduated with a degree in physics (1952)
from the Lenin Electrotechnical Institute in Leningrad (now
St. Petersburg). From 1953 he was a staff member of the Ioffe
Physico-Technical Institute in St. Petersburg, where he ob-
tained his D.Sc. in physics and mathematics (1970) and which
he directed from 1987. His academic appointments included
dean of the Faculty of Physics and Technology at St. Petersburg
Technical University. His main research interests concerned
the theory and practical applications of semiconductors. He
was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics (2000) jointly with
Herbert Kroemer and Jack S. Kilby for his contributions to the
double heterostructure concept. His research is of fundamen-
tal importance to the development of electronics, lasers, solar
power usage, and communication technology. His honors in-
clude membership in the Russian (formerly U.S.S.R.) Acad-
emy of Sciences (1972), of which he was vice president from
1989, and the Lenin Prize of the U.S.S.R. (1972).
[Michael Denman (2"4 ed.)]
ALFES (Alfas), BENZION (1850-1940), Yiddish and He-
brew writer. Born in Vilna, Alfes settled in Palestine in 1924;
his earlier attempt to do so in 1871 had failed for family rea-
sons. In Vilna he worked as a proofreader and for many years
managed his wife’s stocking factory. Alfes devoted his life to
religious education, and was one of the few writers of his time
who attempted to stem the secularizing drift of the Haskalah
and its successor ideologies by writing religious literary works
in Yiddish and Hebrew in a modern, popular style. He reacted
to the late-19'»-century proliferation of secular novels with his
Yiddish Maaseh Alfes (“Alfes’ Story”), published serially start-
641
ALFONSO
ing in 1900. The work consists of ethical and moralistic love
tales in which he cast traditional allegorical and didactic ele-
ments in epistolary form. The work went through 12 editions
and became a household name. Alfes also translated many
religious Hebrew works into Yiddish (e.g., Gerondi’s Shaarei
Teshuvah and Maimonides’ Zavvaat ha-Rambam), and edited
several works of other authors. Many of Alfes’ commentaries
were included in liturgical texts. At the age of 90, he wrote
his autobiography, Toledot ve-Zikhronot (published posthu-
mously in 1941).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rejzen, Leksikon, 1 (1928), 107-11; LNYL, 1
(1956), 118-20; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 117.
[Leonard Prager]
°ALFONSO, name of many Spanish sovereigns. Of special
significance in Jewish history were the following:
Kings of Aragon
ALFONSO I (1104-34; “the Battler”). After capturing Tudela
from the Moors in 1114, he permitted Jews who had fled dur-
ing the fighting to return to the city. ALFONSO II (1162-96).
He employed a number of Jews as stewards or physicians. AL-
FONSO V (1416-58). In 1414, as infante, he intervened on be-
half of the *Saragossa community, which had been ordered to
send a delegation of representatives to the papal court at the
time of the disputation of *Tortosa. Alfonso asked the pope
for a postponement until the Jewish leaders could complete
their seasonal duties in the community. As king, in 1424, Al-
fonso confirmed a ban prohibiting the establishment of a Jew-
ish community in Barcelona.
Kings of Castile and Leon
Alfonso vi (1072-1109). After the capture of *Toledo from the
Muslims in 1085, Alfonso permitted the Jews to remain in their
quarter (juderia), and granted residence rights to Jews seeking
refuge there. He also appointed Jews to important state posts.
Thus, Joseph b. *Ferrizuel (Cidellus), became royal physician.
ALFONSO VII (1126-57). Like his father, Alfonso v1, he also
appointed Jews to high positions; Judah ibn Ezra was his al-
moxarife (“collector of revenues”) and in 1147 was in charge of
*Calatrava, a stronghold on the Muslim border, where Jewish
refugees from the *Almohad persecutions were welcomed. AL-
FONSO VIII (1158-1214), had a number of Jewish courtiers. He
also settled Jews in frontier garrison towns, with complete au-
tonomy within their fortified quarters. ALFONSO xX (1252-84;
“the Wise”). He was a patron of scholarship, and several Jewish
translators and scientists, such as Isaac ibn Sid (Don Caf) and
Judah b. Moses ha-Kohen, worked under his auspices. Notable
among their productions were the Alfonsine Tables Libros del
saber de astronomia, one of the important scientific achieve-
ments of the reign. The code known as the Siete Partidas was
produced under Alfonso’s auspices, though not enforced until
the following century. While this guaranteed the Jews physical
security and rights of worship, it ordered the enforcement un-
der the severest penalties of the conventional restrictions on
the Jews, like the wearing of the Jewish *badge, and authorized
642
judicial prosecution of the Jews for ritual murder (see *Blood
Libel). Toward the end of his reign, Alfonso’s attitude to the
Jews changed for the worse. In 1279 he had all the Jewish tax-
farmers imprisoned. In January 1281, he ordered the wholesale
arrest of the Jews while they were attending synagogue on the
Sabbath and demanded a ransom of 4,380,000 gold maravedis
for their release. ALFONSO XI (1312-50). Although Jewish offi-
cials, such as Don Yugaf (Joseph) de *Ecija, attended his court,
his policy toward the Jews was often influenced or directed by
the church or by anti-Jewish courtiers, such as Gonzalo Mar-
tinez de Oviedo. In 1348 Alfonso prohibited moneylending by
Jews, but the Cortes revoked the decree in 1351.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index; Neuman, Spain, index; M.
Kayserling, Juden in Navarra (1961), index s.v. Alphons; REJ, index to
vols. 51-100 (1936); Sefarad, index to vols. 1-15 (1957), 381-2.
°ALFONSO DE ESPINA (or de Spina, D’espina; second half
of 15 century), principal originator of the Spanish Inquisi-
tion and its ideological and methodological program. Few
details are known about his life. A Franciscan friar, possibly
of Jewish birth or descent, he became rector of the University
of Salamanca, and was confessor of the powerful Alvaro de
Luna. Espina’s most important work is Fortalitium fidei con-
tra Judeos, Saracenos et alios Christianae fidei inimicos, written
in 1458-59 and circulated in 1460. It was frequently printed
(Nuremberg [1485-98], Lyons [1511]). The title, “Fortress of the
Faith to give comfort to believers and defend the holy faith,”
indicates his object. The Fortalitium fidei consists of five sec-
tions, divided into chapters (Considerationes) and subdivided
into Haereses (“heresies”); the second and third sections, De
bello hereticorum and De bello Judeorum, contain his origi-
nal views. The second section furnishes minute particulars
of the sins committed by Jewish converts to Christianity (see
*Conversos) and the means they adopted to continue obser-
vance of Mosaic Law. This seems for the most part to be based
on accurate observation and is supported by various historical
sources, including the Inquisitional records. Espina derived
his knowledge of Jewish matters from his predecessors, such
as Raymond *Martini and *Abner of Burgos, as well as from
first-hand information. He recommends the establishment
of an Inquisition in Spain and a detailed program. In the
third section, tales about the *blood libel are revived. Here
Espina explicitly suggests expelling the Jews from Spain, on
the lines of the expulsion from England in 1290, implying that
since England had managed to exist without the Jews, Spain
could do likewise. The only way in which Spain can be
converted into a truly Christian state, Espina states in this
hate-obsessed work, is by extirpating the “Jewish heresy,’ ex-
pelling the Jews, and conquering the Muslims remaining on
its soil.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. de Azcona, Isabel la Catolica (1964), 377 ff;
Baer, Spain, index; A.A. Sicroff, Les Controverses des statuts de “pureté
de sang”... (1960), 74-76; H. Beinart, Anusim be-Din Ha-Inkvizizyah
(1965), index; H. Kamen, Spanish Inquisition (1965), 30f., 42.
[Haim Beinart]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALFONSO DE OROPESA (d. 1468), head of the Geronimite
Order in Spain, said to have been of Jewish descent. In the
early 1460s clashes took place in the cities of Castile between
the ex-Jews who had adopted Catholicism (*Conversos) and
their opponents among the Old Christian population. Alfonso
now advised King Henry rv to take measures to supervise
the Conversos and punish backsliders to Judaism. The king
authorized him to execute his relatively moderate program,
and Alfonso then conducted the investigation in Toledo and
its environs for an entire year, imposing what he considered
were adequate penalties. In 1465 Alfonso completed his Lu-
men ad Revelationem Gentium (“to prove the unity of all the
faithful”), in which he explained his plan for the solution of
the problem of both the Conversos and the Jews.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 2 (1966), 289ff., 302; H.C. Lea,
History of the Inquisition of Spain, 1 (1906), 127, 153; A.A. Sicroff, Les
controverses des statuts de “Pureté de Sang” en Espagne du xv’ au xv1r*
siécle (1960), 67ff. M. Orfali, “Ha-Sheelah ha-Yehudit bi-Tfisato shel
Frey Alonso de Oropesa,” in: Zion, 51:4 (1986), 411-33.
[Zvi Avneri]
ALFONSO OF ZAMORA (c. 1474-1544), Spanish scholar.
He was the son of Juan de Zamora, apparently one of the exiles
of 1492 who subsequently returned to Spain, father and son
being baptized together in 1506. Alfonso, who had received
an adequate Jewish education before baptism, became profes-
sor of Hebrew at Salamanca, one of the European universities
where Hebrew studies had been established by a decree of the
Council of Vienna in 1311-12. He published in Latin an intro-
duction to Hebrew grammar, dictionaries, and contributions
to Bible study as well as a conversionist letter to the Jews of
Rome (Alcala de Henares, 1526). Alfonso is mainly rrmem-
bered for his participation in the pioneering Complutensian
Polyglot edition of the Bible, in the preparation of which he
worked for some 15 years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Perez Castro, El manuscrito apologetico
de Alfonso Zamora (1950); Sefarad, Index Volume (1957), s.v.
Zamora.
[Cecil Roth]
°ALFONSUS BONIHOMINIS (Buenhombre; d. 1353),
Spanish Dominican, born in Cuenca or Toledo. From a stay
in Morocco, where he had been imprisoned, Alfonsus claimed
to have brought back the Arabic original of the De adventu
Messiae, an anti-Jewish epistle allegedly written by one Sam-
uel of Fez. He said that he had translated this text in Paris in
1339. Known as the “Epistola Samuelis Maroccaniy,’ it was later
translated into several languages and widely circulated in Eu-
rope. In fact, it seems that he himself was the author, draw-
ing largely from another tract in Arabic written by a Jewish
convert to Islam, *Samaural b. Judah ibn Abbas, probably with
the intent of presenting it as a Christian rather than a Mus-
lim polemic. Alfonsus also translated another Arabic treatise
by Samuel (or possibly wrote it himself): Disputatio Abutalib
Saraceni et Samuelis Judaei quae fides praecellat: christiano-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALGAZI
rum, an iudeorum, an saracenorum (Ms. Madrid Nac. 4402,
fol. 103-10), a disputation between a Saracen and a Jew.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A.L. Williams, Adversus Judaeos (Eng., 1935),
228-32; Loeb, in: RHR, 17 (1888), 311; M. Steinschneider, Polemische
und apologetische Literatur in arabischer Sprache... (1877), 27, 187, 408;
Moersseman, in: Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 10 (1940), 771;
Blumenkranz, in: jys, 15 (1964), 125.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
ALGAZI, family which flourished between the 16‘ and 19
centuries in Turkey, Crete, Erez Israel, and Egypt, and pro-
duced a large number of rabbis, kabbalists, and authors. Its
members include (1) ABRAHAM BEN MOSES (1560?-before
1640), born in Constantinople, son-in-law of Joseph Ben-
veniste de *Segovia, a pupil of Isaac Luria. A renowned talmu-
dic scholar, he corresponded with the greatest of his contem-
poraries. After 1600, he resided on the island of *Chios and
in Brusa (now *Bursa), Turkey, where he headed the commu-
nity until his death. (NIssIM) SOLOMON *ALGAZI, Hayyim,
Moses, and Joseph were his sons. (2) HAYYIM BEN ABRAHAM
(2) (1614-before 1668), a Turkish scholar who studied under
Joseph di *Trani and Abraham *Shalom in Constantinople,
where he later headed his own yeshivah. He was the son-in-
law of Judah ibn Ya'ish. His uncompleted commentary, Netivot
Mishpat, to the Meisharim of Jehoram b. *Meshullam was pub-
lished in Constantinople in 1669. His manuscript responsa
and homilies were lost. (3) MOSES BEN ABRAHAM (Cd. before
1671) was one of the scholars of Bursa. Some of his novellae
were published in his grandfather Joseph de Segovia'’s work,
Dovev Siftei Yeshenim (Smyrna, 1671) to which was appended
his booklet, Sefat Emet. (4) YOM TOV BEN (NISSIM) SOLOMON
(d. 1727), a poet, lived in Constantinople. Letters and poems
from his correspondence with the rabbi-poet Aaron de To-
ledo are extant. ISRAEL JACOB B. YOM TOV *ALGAZI was his
son. (5) ABRAHAM BEN (NISSIM) SOLOMON (d. 1700), one
of the scholars of Smyrna, edited his father’s Shema Shelomo
(Smyrna, 1659). (6) HAYYIM BEN MENAHEM (1640/-17102),
grandson of R. Hayyim Alfandari the Elder, was born in
Smyrna. He studied under (Nissim) Solomon and Aaron *La-
papa. He served as rabbi of Rhodes and, after his son Abra-
hams death, returned to Smyrna. One of his students, Meir
Danon, edited and published his Baei Hayyei (Constantino-
ple, 1712), novellae on Jacob b. Asher’s Turim, on the Talmud,
and on problems in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah. His man-
uscript homilies were lost. (7) NISSIM JACOB BEN HAYYIM
SOLOMON, one of the scholars of Constantinople, settled in
Safed. He visited Salonika in 1731 as emissary for Safed, re-
turning by 1736. He is the author of responsa and novellae on
Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (Ms. in Benayahu Collection).
(8) SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM *ALGAZI (1673-1762) was rabbi
and codifier. (9) ISAAC BEN ABRAHAM (17'* century), rabbi
of Chios, studied under Hayyim *Benveniste, author of the
Keneset ha-Gedolah, and (Nissim) Solomon Algazi. At the
age of 17, he wrote Doresh Tov, a book of homilies. His manu-
script responsa are in the Guenzburg collection in Moscow
643
ALGAZI, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON
(no. 400). Some of his responsa were published with those
of Hayyim Benveniste, Baei Hayyei. (10) YOM TOV B. JACOB
*ALGAZI (1727-1802) was a kabbalist and master of halakhah.
(11) HAYYIM ISAAC (d. 1814) was chief rabbi of Smyrna in the
late 18 century. (12) JUDAH, a rabbi in Smyrna, visited Erez
Israel. His commentary to Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, expla-
nations of talmudic discussions, and homilies were published
together as Shaar Yehudah (Salonika, 1805). Some of his man-
uscript works were lost. (13) MOSES BEN JOSEPH (1764-1840),
a grandson of Solomon b. Abraham (8), was born and died
in Cairo; in 1830, he was appointed chief rabbi of Egypt. That
same year, with Adolphe *Crémieux’s aid, he founded a mod-
ern school to which he also admitted Karaites. In 1840, he
helped liberate the victims of the *Damascus blood libel. He
was succeeded by his son Joseph.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 1 (1852), 163, no. 23; M. Benayahu,
Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (Heb., 1959), 571, no. 39 (on Solomon 11 b. Abra-
ham).
ALGAZI, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON (1882-1964), Turkish Se-
phardi hazzan and composer. Algazi, who was born in Izmir,
at an early age joined the “Maftirim Choir” led by his father,
himself a noted hazzan and author of religious poetry. He
served as a teacher at the talmud torah and later as hazzan in
his native town. He also became proficient in Turkish art mu-
sic and for many years arranged special courses for the mem-
bers of his community; A. Hemsi and other musicians were
among his pupils. Algazi was a noted performer of classical
Turkish music and adapted some to Hebrew texts which he
himself translated. In 1923 he was appointed hazzan and mu-
sic instructor at the “Italian” synagogue at Galata (Istanbul),
which had a long tradition of musical activity. In 1930 Algazi
became associated with the Jewish newspaper La voz de Ori-
ente. In 1933 he went to Paris, but settled finally in Montevi-
deo (Uruguay) where he was prominent in Sephardi congre-
gation activities. Algazi’s abilities as a composer and adapter
were combined with a pleasant, flexible voice and a highly
distinguished performing style. He imparted a Turkish influ-
ence to Eastern synagogue song. The sole printed work (“ad-
aptation”) of Algazi connects five piyyutim to form a Turkish
“Fassil” (Suite), with each piece following a different rhyth-
mical pattern (“uzul”). This work was published as Extrait du
Fassil Husseini des chants juifs orientaux... adapté sous le con-
trole de M. Isaac Algazi (1924-25).
As is usual with Eastern music, most of Algazi’s compo-
sitions and arrangements were transmitted orally, but several
have been recorded (collection of Israel Broadcasting Author-
ity, Jerusalem). Some of his outstanding works which survive
in oral tradition are: The Song of Deborah; Ha-Ben Yakkir Li
Efrayim; Kiddush; Selihot; two “Peshrev” for choir, to Hebrew
texts; songs of the Ladino Folklore. A selection of Isaac Al-
gazi’s poetry has been published in: Shirei Yisrael be-Erez ha-
Kedem (1921).
In addition to his main interest in Sephardi music, Al-
gazi also devoted himself to the dissemination of Judaism
644
and wrote two works in Spanish, El judaismo, religion de
amor (Buenos Aires, 1945) and La Sabiduria Hebrea (Mon-
tevideo, 1949).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizrah be-Erez Yis-
rael, 2 (1938), 43; Morguez-Algranti, in: El Tiempo (Tel Aviv, Oct. 20,
1964), 3-4.
[Hanoch Avenary]
ALGAZI, ISRAEL JACOB BEN YOM TOV (1680-1756),
halakhic scholar and kabbalist, grandson of both (Nissim) Sol-
omon *Algazi and Joseph *Hazzan. Probably born in Smyrna,
Algazi lived in Safed, and for a few years, prior to 1730, in
Smyrna. He was a member of a closed circle of kabbalists
headed by Jacob Vilna. Algazi copied and published Hemdat
Yamim (Smyrna, 1731-32), with many of his own glosses. By
1737 he was in Jerusalem and, a year later, dedicated “Neveh
Shalom Berit Avraham,’ a yeshivah founded there for him.
Algazi became head of Bet El, a bet midrash for pietists, and
was consequently known as “the pietist rabbi.” His was the first
signature on the constitution of the kabbalistic group Ahavat
Shalom. Algazi was appointed chief rabbi upon the death of
his colleague, Isaac ha-Kohen (1755), but he died the follow-
ing year. One of the most productive scholars of his time, he
wrote many halakhic and homiletic works including Emet le-
Yaakov (Constantinople, 1764) on the laws of Torah scrolls;
Ara de-Rabbanan (ibid., 1745), reprinted with Judah Ayyash’s
commentary; Afra de-Ara (Leghorn, 1783), a methodology
for Talmud and codes; Hug ha-Arez (Jerusalem, 1910; with
addenda, 1927), on the laws of Purim; Neot Yaakov (Smyrna,
1767); Kehillat Yaakov (Salonika, 1786), a methodology; Shal-
mei Zibbur and Shalmei Hagigah (Salonika, 1790), on the
laws of prayer and blessings; sermons Part 1, Shema Yaakov
(Constantinople, 1745); and Part 2; Sheerit Yaakov (ibid., 1751).
Some of his works still survive in manuscript form. H.J.D.
*Azulai, an acquaintance, condensed and completed Algazi’s
work, Emet le- Yaakov, which he published under the title Le-
David Emet (1786).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (Heb.,
1959), 351ff.
ALGAZI, LEON (Yehudah; 1890-1971), conductor, com-
poser, and collector of Jewish music. Algazi, who was born in
Romania, studied music in Vienna and Paris, and graduated
from the Ecole Rabbinique de France. From his early studies
with Abraham *Idelsohn, he acquired an interest in Jewish
folklore and tradition. For many years, he taught at the Ecole
de Liturgie et de Pédagogie in Paris. From 1929 he presented
a weekly program of Jewish music on the French radio, and in
1937 became conductor at the Rue de la Victoire Synagogue.
He helped to establish the “Mizmor” section of the Salabert
publishing house, taught Jewish music at the Schola Canto-
rum (1936-40), and in 1961 was elected director of music for
the temples of the Paris Consistoire. Among Algazi’s many
compositions of liturgical and folkloristic character are Ser-
vice sacré pour le samedi matin et pour le vendredi soir (New
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
York, 1955), orchestral suites, psalms, harmonizations of tra-
ditional songs, and incidental music for the cinema and the
theater. He published one extemely valuable collection, Chants
séphardis (London, 1958). He also wrote essays on Jewish mu-
sic in many scholarly publications.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sendrey, Music, nos. 488, 2901, 6275, 9121.
[Hanoch Avenary]
ALGAZI, (Nissim) SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM (1610?-
c. 1683), rabbi. Algazi, the grandson of Joseph de Segovia
*Benveniste, was born in Borsa. He studied under his fa-
ther and the poet Joseph Ganso, as well as Joseph Sasson and
Meir de *Boton at their yeshivah in Gallipoli. Algazi settled
in Jerusalem in 1635, but was in Smyrna in 1646 - apparently
in order to publish some of his works. Here he remained and
was considered one of the city’s outstanding scholars. He
founded a bet midrash whose students included his son-in-
law, Aaron *Lapapa, and Hayyim b. Menahem Algazi, later
rabbi of Rhodes. Algazi opposed *Shabbetai Zevi and his fol-
lowers; together with his son-in-law and other scholars, he
excommunicated Shabbetai Zevi and stated that he deserved
the death penalty. Compelled to flee and hide outside the city,
when Shabbetai Zevi’s apostasy became known (1666) he re-
turned to Smyrna and resumed his position. Algazi assumed
the additional name Nissim on recovering from a serious ill-
ness contracted during his travels. He returned to Jerusalem
about 1670, and by 1673 was head of the local bet din. Algazi
achieved a reputation for his saintliness and was reputed as
a miracle worker.
Among his many works are Yavin Shemuah (Venice,
1639), a commentary to the Halikhot Olam of *Jeshua b. Jo-
seph and to Sefer Kelalei ha-Talmud of Joseph *Caro with ad-
ditions entitled Halikhot Eli (Smyrna, 1663); Gufei Halakhot
(ibid., 1675); Ahavat Olam (Constantinople, 1642), the first of
four volumes of homiletics; Razuf Ahavah and Appiryon She-
lomo (Verona, 1649), a commentary to the homiletical pas-
sages of the tosafists; Taavah la-Einayim (Salonika, 1655), an
elucidation of difficult talmudic passages in the Ein Yaakov
of Jacob *Ibn Habib, with the addition of passages omitted by
him; and Lehem Setarim, on the tractate Avodah Zarah (Ven-
ice, 1664); his Ziknat Shelomo, a commentary on the Ittur of
*Isaac b. Abba Mari, was never published.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Benayahu, in: Sinai, 17 (1945), 304-93
Scholem, Shabbetai Zevi, index; Mifal ha-Bibliografyah ha-Ivrit,
Hoveret le-Dugmah (1964), 28-31.
[Abraham David]
ALGAZI, SOLOMON BEN ABRAHAM (1673-1762), rabbi
and halakhist. Algazi, who was apparently born in Jerusalem,
was the half brother of Hayyim b. Moses *Abulafia, who re-
stored the Jewish settlement in Tiberias.
Algazi was a pupil of Hezekiah da Silva. He served in the
bet din of Abraham Yizhaki, and taught in his yeshivah. One
of his outstanding pupils was Judah Navon, author of Kiryat
Melekh Rav. In 1728 Algazi immigrated to Cairo, where he
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALGERIA
also served in the bet din and c. 1740 was elected chief rabbi
of Egypt. Algazi rescinded the resolution of the Egyptian rab-
bis not to study the Peri Hadash of da Silva which was made
on the ground that he differed in several instances from Mai-
monides and other leading halakhists; all Algazi’s decisions
were based on da Silva. He also wrote responsa and a book
on Maimonides, now lost but which was seen by Hayyim Jo-
seph David *Azulai in 1753.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Azulai, 1 (1852), no. 23; M. Benayahu, Rabbi
H.Y.D. Azulai (Heb., 1959), 571.
ALGAZI, YOM TOV BEN ISRAEL JACOB (1727-1802),
kabbalist and halakhist. He studied with his father and was
a close friend of H.J.D. *Azulai. Both studied under R. Jonah
*Navon and R. Shalom *Sharabi. Algazi was a member of the
Ahavat Shalom group of kabbalists and signed its articles of
association in 1754, 1758, and 1759. He was a member of bet
ha-midrash Neveh Shalom and of Bet El. R. Shalom Sharabi
succeeded Algazi’s father as head of the kabbalists’ yeshivah,
but Yom Tov Algazi administered it. Following R. Sharabi’s
death in 1782 he was elected rabbi and dayyan and in c. 1777
he became rishon le-Zion. The period of his office was a dif-
ficult one for the Jews of Jerusalem who were vexed by the
authorities. Algazi’s leadership, influence, and fame in the
Diaspora were of help to the community. In 1764 he accom-
panied R. Abraham b. Asher and H.J.D. Azulai on a mission,
on behalf of the Pekidei Erez Israel be-Kushta (“Agents for
Erez Israel in Constantinople”). From 1770 to 1775 he was
sent on other missions from Jerusalem to Constantinople,
Adrianople, and Belgrade. He traveled in Italy, France, Hol-
land, Germany, and Poland and returned to Jerusalem (1777)
via Italy and Smyrna. He appointed his son Jacob a parnas of
the Hebron community (1787). As the debts of the Hebron
community increased, Algazi and his son endured a most dif-
ficult period (1793-95). Both father and son were in danger
of imprisonment. Creditors became violent and Jacob Algazi
was badly beaten up. In the month of Elul 1795, Algazi went
to Constantinople and within three months collected a large
sum of money for Hebron; he also conducted a large collec-
tion in Smyrna and Salonika. However, before he returned to
Jerusalem, his son died (1796) from the blows which he had
received. His works are distinguished by their sharpness and
depth. They are Hilkhot Yom Tov, printed with the Vilna Tal-
mud, on Hilkhot Bekhorot ve-Hallah by *Nahmanides, which
he found in a manuscript in Italy (1795); Simhat Yom Tov,
responsa (1794); Kedushat Yom Tov, responsa and sermons
(1843); Get Mekushar, studies on the marriage contract, in
Neot Yaakov (1767), 24-79.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Rivlin, in: Zion, 5 (1933), 131-40, supple-
ment; Yaari, Sheluhei, 535-40; M. Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai
(Heb., 1959), 353-4.
ALGERIA (Central Maghreb; Ar. al-Jaza’ir), modern des-
ignation for the central part of North Africa, bordered by
*Morocco on the west and *Tunisia on the east. Resistance
645
ALGERIA
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,” rs bd Places of Jewish Settlement:
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S - m — Muslim period to modern times
a El Goléa Ancient name
Places of Jewish settlement in Algeria.
against the Arab invasion in the seventh century was orga-
nized first near Biskra and later in the Aurés mountains, where
the *kahina (an epithet meaning priestess), the “queen” of the
Judeo-Berber tribe Jarawa, won brilliant victories. With the
death of the kahina in 693 came the collapse of *Berber inde-
pendence. Most of the Jarawa adopted Islam, others escaped
to the west and south reinforcing the Jewish elements there.
Oriental Jews, who followed in the wake of the Arab armies
in large numbers, rebuilt the old destroyed communities of
Algeria. The Jews in the urban centers, such as Mejana or Me-
sila, were Rabbanites; so also were the Jews in the capitals of
the various Berber kingdoms - Ashir, Tahert (Tiaret), where
the philologist R. *Judah ibn Quraysh lived, *Tlemcen, and
*Qal‘at Hammad, where R. Isaac *Alfasi was probably born.
These communities were in contact with the communities of
*Fez in the west and *Kairouan in the east, and even with the
geonim of Babylonia and Palestine. It is partly through them
that the teachings of the academies of *Sura and *Pumbedita,
and later of Kairouan, spread to Morocco, and from there to
Spain. Thus, the influence of these communities on the intel-
lectual and religious development of the Jews of Spain can be
seen. The teachings of the sages were spread to the area north
of the Sahara Desert from Gabés, Tunisia, to Sijilmassa (in
the Ziz Valley), Morocco, by traveling merchants. The Jew-
ish tribes of the region of Wargha were *Karaites. They were
646
nomad warriors. Their descendants were called “Bahusim”
and remained in the eastern part of Algeria up to modern
times. In the tenth century, a Jew named Abu al-Faraj insti-
gated an important revolt against the Zirid sovereigns of the
Berber tribes in the Setif region. Defeated, he was tortured
to death in 989.
Apart from the fact that the community of *Tlemcen was
destroyed, almost nothing is known about Algerian Jews dur-
ing the rule of the Almohads in the 12" and 13" centuries. In
any case, after that period of disorder the Jewish population
of Algeria was considerably diminished. In the 13 and 14
centuries some Jewish merchants residing in Algeria had regu-
lar contacts with other countries, particularly with Catalonia,
and these ties served to keep open channels of communica-
tion with the more developed Jewish communities. Jews of
Languedoc and even Marseilles lived in Bougie, the Algerian
harbor town, from 1248. Tlemcen, gate to the Mediterranean
and a final station on the Sudanese gold route, known as the
“Jewish Road,’ had a small but lively community, which was
sustained by the rich Jewish merchants of Barcelona, Valencia,
Tortosa, and Majorca. Most of these merchants were actually
natives of the Maghreb and particularly favored by the kings
of Aragon, who relied on them as essential to their prosper-
ity. Their relatives had remained in the Maghreb, settling at
*Algiers, Cherchel, Tenes, Mostaganem, and Tlemcen. At that
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
time there was a continuous emigration of Muslims from the
Christian kingdoms of Spain to Africa and they were assisted
by the Jews in Spain. This was the very remunerative busi-
ness of the great Jewish African-Spanish family Alatzar (also
al-‘Azar), in particular. The Jewish merchants of the central
Maghreb had many trade activities, including the slave trade,
so important at the time. However, they traded chiefly in Su-
danese gold. Many traded with the Balearic Islands using
their own ships.
The Christian kings of Spain appointed many Jews as
their ambassadors to the Muslim courts. In that capacity Abra-
ham and Samuel *Bengalil, Judas “Abenhatens,” and the alfa-
quim (“physician”) *Bondavin made their first visit to Tlem-
cen in 1286. In 1305 Solomon b. Zequi of Majorca was chosen
to settle a dispute with the town of Breshk. These experts in
North African diplomacy, as well as the wealthy merchants
in the country, were exceptions among the mass of Algerian
Jewry, whose level of culture was very low. Largely because of
them and the possibility of communication with the impor-
tant economic centers which they represented, many Spanish
refugees of 1391 chose Algeria as their haven. They emigrated
in continuous groups from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
They were favorably received by the Muslim authorities, in
particular by the Ziyanid princes. In contrast, their relations
with the local Jews, who had at first received them fraternally,
later became tense. Their numbers gave rise to fear of com-
petition in their professions. Differences in ritual, language,
customs, and above all social conceptions, caused conflicts
between the two communities. The Sephardi Jews asserted
themselves by their intellectual superiority, financial means,
and skills. The older community resisted the attempt of the
newcomers to dominate communal life. However, there were
refugee leaders who were able to mitigate the conflicts between
the two groups. The learning and dedication of the new immi-
grants renewed the moral and religious life of Algerian Jewry.
Their talent in organizational activities strengthened the Jew-
ish institutions of Algeria.
R. Ephraim Ankawa reestablished the community of
Tlemcen; the eminent talmudic authorities R. *Isaac b. Sheshet
Perfet (Ribash), R. Simeon b. Zemah *Duran (Rashbaz), and
the latter’s descendants were mainly responsible for Algiers
becoming a religious and intellectual center. The communi-
ties of *Honein, *Oran, Mostaganem, Miliana, Médéa, Tenés,
Breshk, *Bougie, *Béne, and *Constantine, although depen-
dent on Algiers, also became centers of Jewish learning under
the leadership of the rabbis Amram Merovas Ephrati, Samuel
Halawa, the brothers Najjar, and others.
Very few of the Spanish exiles of 1492 came to Algeria.
The only city that attracted them was Tlemcen, which they
reached by way of Oran. It has been said, however, that the
loss of Granada, Spain, in 1492 by the Muslims had grave re-
percussions for the Jews in Algeria. In cases such as that of
the Muslim preacher al-Maghilli, resentment was expressed
in violent tirades against the Jews. The prosperous and power-
ful communities of Tlemcen and, in particular, Tuat were de-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALGERIA
stroyed some years later as a result of such agitation. Just after
these events, the Spanish occupation of Oran (1509-1708) and
Bougie (1509-55), resulted in Jewish property being pillaged
and the Jews themselves sold as slaves. Finally, however, some
influential families such as Jacob *Cansino, Jacob b. Aaron,
and *Sasportas convinced the Spaniards in Oran that their
Arab policy would best be served by accepting a Jewish com-
munity in Oran. In the 17‘ and 18** centuries, descendants
of Marranos and Jews from Leghorn, Italy, settled in Alge-
ria, especially Algiers. Among the first who arrived were the
Lousada, Alvarenga, Zacuto, Molco, and dela Rosa families;
among the later ones were the Soliman, *Busnach, *Bouchara,
*Bacri, Lealtad, and *Delmar families. They played an im-
portant role in ransoming Christian captives for European
governments, and their commercial activities enriched the
country.
The “refugees of 1391” had stimulated Algerian trade and
brought prosperity to remote communities. They exported
ostrich feathers from Mzab and African gold from Tuat, as
well as burnooses, rugs, cereals, wool, and pelts to Europe,
while European products were in turn sold in Africa by the
same merchants. At that time the Jews owned estates, slaves,
and flocks. In the regions subject to a central power, the Jews
paid the *jizya, the tax levied on all non-Muslims. Their rab-
bis were exempted from it, as were the merchants, mainly de-
scendants of megorashim, because they paid customs on their
imports. The native Jews were thus in an inferior position.
Moreover, the megorashim had a separate quarter, synagogue,
and even cemetery. Their dress was also different from that
of the native Jews; they continued this distinction by wear-
ing berets or hoods. Thus, they were called baalei ha-kappus
or kabbusiyyin, in contrast to the baalei ha-miznefet, native
Jews who wore turbans.
The organization of the communities that was established
in the 14» century was in effect until 1830. At the head of each
community was a Sheikh al-Yahiid, or Zaken ha-Yehudim,
called also *mugqaddam, who was appointed by the Muslim
authorities. His powers were discretionary, tempered only by
protests of the rabbis. A prison and the police were at his dis-
posal for punishing and carrying out the sentences of the bet
din. He also named the officers (gedolei ha-kahal, ziknei ha-
kahal) who were charged with the collection and administra-
tion of charity funds, and the management of the synagogue
and charitable institutions. The Judeo-Spanish groups chose
their officers (neemanim) themselves. The rabbinical courts
were composed of three judges chosen and paid by the com-
munity. Only civil disputes were brought to them; they had
no jurisdiction in criminal matters.
Although the rabbinical courts were available to Al-
gerian Jews, they tended more and more to turn to Muslim
civil courts. To discourage this practice the rabbis were able
to threaten, and indeed put into effect, decrees of excommu-
nication. On questions of minhag, however, the rabbis were
often compelled to approve the local custom followed by Af-
rican Jews. Some later practices originated in takkanot. The
647
ALGERIA
haskamot, agreements over administrative regulations, also
legalized local practices. The particular regulations of each
community gave it a certain individuality that it jealously pre-
served for future generations. This resulted in collections of
minhagim, prayers, and liturgy (piyyutim), the work of local
rabbis, written either in Hebrew or Judeo-Arabic. The commu-
nities of Tlemcen, Oran, and Algiers each had its own mahzor.
Sometimes the synagogues of the same town even had differ-
ent liturgies. Thus, in the 18" century the community of Al-
giers was convulsed by disputes over liturgy.
Jewish-Muslim relations were, on the whole, good. It
was only occasionally that outbursts of fanaticism gave rise
to local persecutions. In certain towns it was accepted that at
such times the mosques, although forbidden to infidels, should
serve as a refuge to the Jews. The religious Muslim leaders
sometimes helped them; for example, the marabout (Muslim
holy man) of Blida, southwest of Algiers, stopped a pogrom
and forced the plunderers to return their booty.
Generally, from the 16 century the situation of the
southern Jews was better than that of their coreligionists in the
centers under Turkish domination. The Turks were the ruling
class who had come to exploit the country, and they treated
the natives, both Muslims and Jews, roughly. Most Jews, liv-
ing in separate quarters, were at their mercy. They increased
the restrictions imposed on Jews in Islamic countries more
through greed than fanaticism. On the other hand, the “sov-
ereign’ days, chosen by the Janissaries, and the beys, gover-
nors of provinces, humored the upper-class Jews, from among
whom they chose their counselors, physicians, financiers, and
diplomats. The Muslim rulers charged these diplomats with
the difficult assignment of maintaining relations with Euro-
pean Powers, a task that was complicated by the pirate raids
on European ships, condoned by the Algerian rulers. It was
usually the wealthy and influential Jews originally from Leg-
horn, the Gorenim who received these assignments. Their
high positions could not, however, protect them against the
violence of the Janissaries who resented the favors the Jews
received from the bey. The assassination in 1805 of the bey’s
chief aide, the powerful Naphtali Busnach, was followed by
the only massacre of Jews to take place in Algiers.
The French government had accumulated enormous
debts to the Bacri and Busnach families, relatives and part-
ners, who had been delivering grain to France for them since
the end of the 18 century. These unpaid debts were the cause
of diplomatic incidents that resulted in the French conquest
of Algiers in 1830. The French conquest opened a new era
for the 30,000 Jews of Algeria. In the beginning the commu-
nities were allowed to continue their self-government, and
the rabbis continued to administer justice. But this autono-
mous structure was soon overturned. Rabbinical justice was
deprecated and jurisdiction of the Jews passed to the French
tribunals. The muqaddam, who had previously headed each
Jewish community, was replaced by a deputy mayor. These
reforms did not give rise to any protests on the part of the
Jewish population, as they retained their previous legal sta-
648
tus. However, the changes caused some to leave: many Euro-
pean Jews returned to Leghorn, and the middle class, small
tradesmen, and craftsmen emigrated to Morocco and Tunisia.
On the other hand, Moroccan and Tunisian Jews, attracted
by new conditions, immigrated into Algeria. There was also
a movement of Jews from the south toward the centers and
the port towns.
The Jews under French Rule
French colonialism lasted from 1830 to 1962. The duration of
colonialism, the presence of French settlers, the involvement
of French Jewry, and the impact of the changes in the coun-
try, its people, and its Jews shaped Jewish community history
during this period. The cornerstones of the period were the
establishment of the consistorial organization in 1845, the
naturalization of the Jews in 1870, World War 11 and its im-
pact (1939-45), and the decolonization processes from 1954 to
1962. The modernization process of Algerian Jewry was the
most complete in the Muslim world; Jews became French
citizens and dissociated themselves from Muslim society. It
is not surprising that at the end of the colonial area most Al-
gerian Jews continued their life in France, like all the French
settlers.
Under the French each municipal council and chamber
of commerce had one or two Jewish members. In 1858 a Jew-
ish general counselor was elected for each province. In 1845,
after a long mission of two French Jews, Jacques-Isaac Al-
ters and Josef Cohen, consistories, on the model of those of
France, were created in Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. Chief
rabbis, brought from France, were appointed and paid by the
government, and presided over all other religious function-
aries. One of the tasks of these chief rabbis was to promote
the emancipation of their followers, although they were not
yet French citizens. Cultural assimilation was so rapid that it
provoked a break with the old Jewish world. Some attempted
to fight the trend toward total assimilation in such undertak-
ings as the establishment of Hebrew printing houses in Algiers
in 1853 and Oran in 1856 and 1880. French education, despite
its advantages, led many Jews who were unprepared for it to
leave Judaism. To counteract this trend talmud torah schools
were opened in many cities. Several highly influential families
formed a Jewish intelligentsia, capable of assimilating French
civilization yet maintaining their own traditions. Members
of these families were the first to enter the liberal professions,
becoming magistrates, physicians, lawyers, engineers, high-
ranking officers in the army, and, later, university professors.
Both they and the French Jews favored the naturalization of
Algerian Jews as did also French liberals.
Algerian Jews were granted the right of individual natu-
ralization in 1865, and on October 24, 1870, by the *Crémieux
Decree all Algerian Jews were forced to become French citi-
zens, with the exception of those in the south, whose legal
situation remained uncertain. This was the first instance in
the Muslim world in which the Jew’s legal status changed so
radically. The naturalization of some 35,000 Jews resulted in
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
a wave of antisemitism. Jews were attacked and in Tlemcen
in 1881, in Algiers in 1882, 1897, and 1898, in Oran and Sétif in
1883, and in Mostaganem in 1897, where the violence reached
its peak. Up to 1900 there were in all towns and villages cases
of looting and killing, and numerous cases of synagogues be-
ing sacked and the Holy Scrolls desecrated and used as ban-
ners by the rioters. The *Dreyfus affair in France inflamed the
anti-Jewish campaign even more. An antisemitic party came
to power: Edouard *Drumont was elected the representative
of Algiers and Max Regis became its mayor. Extraordinary
measures were taken against the Jews. In Constantine, by de-
cision of the deputy mayor Emile Morinaud, Jewish patients
were not admitted to hospitals. The illegality of such steps,
together with the fact that the Muslims failed to support the
movement, brought about the defeat of the antisemitic party;
in 1902 it ceased to exist altogether.
It should be emphasized that the wave of antisemitism
came only from the French colonial settlers. It was a modern
form of antisemitism deriving from the fear of a breakdown
of the colonial hierarchy in which “inferior” elements might
become part of the ruling class.
The heroic participation of Jews in World War 1 caused
an improvement of relations, although in 1921 there was a
renewed outburst of hatred in Oran. Hitler's rise to power,
greeted with rejoicing by the antisemites, caused a new wave
of antisemitic campaigns, which resulted in a massacre in
Constantine in 1934.
The crisis was renewed in 1936, when Léon *Blum, a Jew,
became premier of France. The Jewish Algerian Committee
for Social Studies, directed by Henri Abulker, André Lévi-Va-
lensi, Elie *Gozlan, and others, undertook intensive activities
aimed at curbing the racial unrest. Subsequently, the Union
of Monotheistic Believers (Union des Croyants Monothéistes)
was formed; during World War 11 it was responsible for the
Muslims declining to identify themselves with the antisemi-
tism of the Vichy government.
Holocaust Period
Despite the bravery shown by the Jews on the front dur-
ing World War 11, one of the first measures taken after the
French defeat in 1940 was to abrogate the Crémieux Decree.
The 117,646 Jews of Algeria became the object of daily suf-
fering: they were cast outside the pale of society, impover-
ished, and humiliated. The Algerian administration applied
the racial laws of Vichy with excessive severity. After Jewish
children were banned from attending schools and restrictive
clauses were applied in institutions of higher learning, Robert
*Brunschwig organized private courses and schools. The ex-
penses of these private schools were met by the communities
jointly, although the financial burden was heavy. Some time
later, the government totally forbade Jewish higher education
and put the Jewish schools under strict, malevolent supervi-
sion without, however, contributing toward their upkeep. Only
the rabbis were granted the right to represent the community
before the authorities.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALGERIA
Algerian Jewry, in danger of total destruction, was saved
only by its own determination. The Algerian resistance move-
ment was the work of Jews, and consisted almost entirely of
Jews. Among its leaders were Raphael and Stéphane Abulker,
Roger and Pierre Carcassone, Jean Dreyfus, Jean Gozlan, and
Roger Jais. Their activity led to the insurrection of Algiers led
by Jose Abulker on November 8, 1942, which neutralized the
capital while the Americans landed in the country as part of
Operation Torch. Paradoxically, after this victory of the allies
in Algeria, General Giraud, Admiral Darlan, and Governor
Yves Catel, with the complicity of the local diplomatic repre-
sentative of the U.S.A., Robert Murphy, took new measures
against the Jews, including the establishment of detention
camps. The protests of Jewish international and Algerian or-
ganizations and the French Committee of National Liberation
in London, the intervention of highly placed Jews, Muslims,
and Christians against this injustice, and a world-wide cam-
paign were all of no avail against the will of the antisemites.
Finally after the personal intervention of President Roos-
evelt, the Crémieux Decree was again put into force on Oc-
tober 20, 1943. However, it was only in 1947 that equality for
all was proclaimed.
[David Corcos / Haim Saadoun (2™ ed.)]
Contemporary Period
During the postwar period a number of Jewish organizations
were formed in Algeria. The Fédération des Communautes Is-
raélites d'Algérie was established in April 1947 for the purpose
of defending Algerian Jewry and safeguarding its religious
institutions. *oRrT was founded in 1946 in Algiers and Con-
stantine; the Ecole Rabbinique d’Algérie, established in 1947,
began its activities in 1948; the Comité Juif Algérien d’Etudes
Sociales, formed after World War 1, resumed its activities in
1948 and published a monthly, Information Juive, from 1948 to
April 1962 in Algiers and from September 1963 in Paris.
Although the formal structure of the Algerian commu-
nity resembled the French pattern centering around legally
sanctioned “religious associations,” in practice each kehillah
functioned autonomously. Until 1961 the Fédération united 60
different communities. Thereafter the communal structure un-
derwent a gradual disintegration and communal life became
primarily a function of local customs and traditions.
The fate of the community was fundamentally deter-
mined by the Algerian nationalist struggle for independence.
Tragically caught between two violently opposed forces the
marginal position of the Jews in Algerian society exposed
them to constant danger.
The conflict had already become clear in August 1956
when the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale - the Alge-
rian National Liberation Front, an organization dedicated to
achieving Algerian independence) appealed to the “Algerians
of Jewish origin” who “have not yet overcome their troubled
consciences, or have not decided which side they will choose”
to opt for Algerian nationality. Jewish fears increased when, on
February 18, 1958, two emissaries of the Jewish Agency were
649
ALGERIA
kidnapped and assassinated by the FLN. In December 1960
the Great Synagogue of Algiers was desecrated and the Jew-
ish cemetery in Oran was defiled. The son of William Levy, a
Jewish socialist leader was killed by the FLN and subsequently
Levy also was assassinated by the oas (Organisation Armée
Secréte - a counter-terror organization opposed to an inde-
pendent Algeria). In May 1956 the Mossad, the Israeli secret
service, which had begun to work in North Africa and cre-
ated networks of Algerian Jews from Constantine, attacked
the Muslims of Constantine in response to continuous attacks
against Jews. About 20 Muslims were killed as a warning to
Algerian Muslims not to involve the Jews in their struggle
with the French.
Until 1961 the majority of Algerian Jews had hoped that
partition or a system of dual nationality would obviate the
conflict. As the struggle developed, however, they increasingly
feared that popular reaction would be directed against them
not only as Europeans but as Jews and Zionists. Consequently,
although the community never adopted an official anti-inde-
pendence position, in March 1961 a delegation from the Co-
mité Juif Algérien d'Etudes Sociales urged that the negotia-
tions then in prospect should obtain official recognition of the
French nature of the Algerian Jewish community. (Later it was
agreed in Evian to treat Jewish Algerians as “Europeans.”)
By the 1960s the “Gallicization” of the large mass of Al-
gerian Jews had developed to the point where both their emo-
tional allegiances and cultural predispositions were largely
French. The resulting diminution of Jewish observances did
not, however, reflect a positive integration into the Algerian
French community which was less a community than a settle-
ment of colons. Fundamentally, however, the separate identity
of the community was maintained by the system of status in-
herent in Islamic society where religion and family and not
formal nationality and cultural behavior were the determina-
tive factors. The term “Frenchman” in Algeria did not apply
to either Arab or Jew. The FLN and oAs reign of terror and
counter-terror in 1961 and 1962 had catastrophic consequences
for the Jewish community. As elsewhere in North Africa the
Jewish quarters often straddled the European and Arab sec-
tions. These quarters often sustained the first and sometimes
only Muslim reprisals after attacks by European terrorists on
the Muslim quarters. These often degenerated into pitched
battles between the two communities, especially their youth.
Throughout this period there was a steady flow of em-
igration of Jews from Algeria. The rate of emigration rose
steeply in mid-1962 when, as a result of oas violence, the com-
munity feared that the proclamation of independence would
precipitate a Muslim outburst. By the end of July 1962, 70,000
Jews had left for France and another 5,000 for Israel. France
treated the Algerian Jews on an equal footing with the non-
Jewish repatriates. The United Jewish Social Fund made ex-
traordinary efforts to help the refugees. In the course of a few
months, no fewer than 32,000 refugees arrived in Paris and
the nearby communities. Many Jewish refugees from south-
ern Algeria found a haven in Strasbourg and its vicinity and
were gradually integrated with the aid of the existing Jewish
community. It is estimated that some 80% of Algerian Jews
settled in France.
After Algeria had achieved its independence, all its Jews
who held French citizenship retained it, except for a few iso-
Algerian towns and corresponding Jewish population figures, 1838-1968.
Year 1838 1861 1881 1901 1921 1941 1955 1968
Algiers 6,065 5,372 10,822 17,053 25,591 30,000 400
Aumale 270 29 145 221
Biskra 38 112 28 500
Blida 113 395 1,077 962 1,269 2,500
Bone 283 607 625 1,387 1,733 3,147 4,000
Bougle 10 216 482 561 132 625
Bou-Saada 343 433 682
Constantine 4,093 5,213 7,196 9,889 13,037 16,000
Ghardaia 1,642 1,100
Laghoust 443
Mascara 696 384 81 1,958
Médés 1,460 1,398 1,005 529
Miliana 850 827 649 557 450
Mostaganem 698 1,230 766 152 1,828 2,300
Nedroma 267 386 529 560
Oran 5,637 3,549 10,651 15,943 26,671 30,000 400
Sétif 736 936 1,601 3,015 2,050
Souk-Ahras 198 416 516 624 750
Tiaret 342 416 92 1,586 2,000
Tlemcen 3,745 4,910 5,150 4,907 5,000
Total 21,048 47,500 50,000 73,967 120,000 140,000 3,000
650
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
lated cases. The regime of Ben-Bella maintained a correct rela-
tionship with the Jews. During the years 1963-65, the minister
of culture addressed the Jewish congregation at the synagogue
of Algiers on the Day of Atonement.
In February 1964 a General Assembly was held at Oran
by the Jewish communities of Algeria, which elected Charles
Hababou as its president. After Houari Boumédienne rose to
power in 1965 the situation rapidly deteriorated. Heavy taxes
were imposed on the Jews, and discrimination of various
kinds betrayed the anti-Jewish tendencies of the government.
The rabbis no longer received their salaries from the state.
This was explained by the fact that they had not become Al-
gerian nationals. The Supreme Court of Justice declared that
the Jews were no longer under the protection of the law, and
an intensive economic boycott was instituted against Jewish
merchants. The police engineered a libel suit against Hababou
on the grounds that he had had connections with Zionism. In
September 1966, as the result of a case brought before the Eco-
nomic Court, Désiré Drai was condemned to death together
with two non-Jews; but whereas he was executed on the day
of Rosh Ha-Shanah, the two others were pardoned. On June 5,
1967, the Algerian press launched a violent attack against Israel
and the Jews. The walls of the synagogues of Algiers and other
Jewish communities were defaced. With one exception, all
the synagogues in the country were taken over and converted
into mosques, and the Jewish cemeteries of the country fell
into decay. By 1969 fewer than one thousand Jews remained
in Algeria. Most of the young men and women left, and thus
there were hardly any marriages. The property of the Jewish
communities was abandoned. (See Table: Algerian towns and
corresponding Jewish population figures, 1838-1968.)
[Robert Attal]
‘The Jews who remained in the 1970s were mostly of ad-
vanced in age, unwilling to leave their assets behind and emi-
grate with the rest of the Jewish community to France. Only
50 Jews remained in Algeria in the 1990s, nearly all in Algiers,
but there were individual Jews in Oran and Blida. A synagogue
functioned in Algiers but had no rabbi. All the other syna-
gogues were taken over for use as mosques.
Relations with Israel
On gaining independence, Algeria joined the *Arab League
and fully participated in its conferences against Israel. On
June 5, 1967, Algeria along with other Arab states declared war
on Israel, sending military assistance to Egypt. Even the Egyp-
tian acceptance of ceasefire was denounced by Algerian mobs.
Consequently, President Boumedienne pressed the U.S.S.R. to
adopt a firmer anti-Israel policy, “a firm commitment to wipe
out traces of the aggression” as well as to give military aid,
some of which was subsequently channeled to Egypt. On July
23, 1968, the PFLP (“Popular Front for the Liberation of Pales-
tine”) hijacked an El Al plane to Algeria. The plane, the crew,
and its male Israel passengers were kept under detention for
several weeks and only released in return for terrorists being
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALGERIA
held by Israel. Algeria adopted an extreme attitude among the
anti-Israel Arab factions, and gave full support to the Palestin-
ian terrorists. It repeatedly expressed its official reservations
regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
[Robert Attal]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: General. A. Cahen, Les Juifs dans l'Afrique
septentrionale (1867), passim; I. Bloch, Inscriptions Tumulaires des An-
ciens Cimetiéres d‘Alger (1888); N. Slouschz, Travels in North Africa
(1927), 295-343; M. Ansky, Les Juifs d‘Algérie (1950); A. Chouraqui,
Between East and West (1968); R. Attal, Les Juifs d'Afrique du Nord -
Bibliographie (rev. 1993); H.Y. Cohen, Asian and African Jews in the
Middle East - 1860-1971; Annotated Bibliography (1976); R. Attal, in:
Bi-Tefuzot ha-Golah (1961), 14-20; idem, in: Sefunot, 5 (1961), 465-508;
Hirschberg, Afrikah; idem, in: Journal of African History (1963), 313-9.
BERBER-ARAB RULE (680-1516). I. Epstein (ed.), Responsa of Rabbi
Simon b. Zemah Duran (1930); R. Brunschvig, La Berbérie Orientale
sous les Hafsides, 1 (1940), 396-430; A.M. Hershman, Rabbi Isaac
ben Sheshet Perfet and his Times (1943); Hirschberg, in: Tarbiz, 26
(1956/57), 370-83; Corcos, in: JQR, 54 (1963/64), 275-95 55 (1964/65),
67-78; idem, in: Zion, 32 (1967), 135-60; C.E. Dufourcq, L’Espagne
Catalane et le Magrib aux x111° et x1v° siécles (1965), passim. TURK-
ISH RULE (1516-1830). J.M. Haddey, Le Livre dor des Israélites Algéri-
ens (1872); R.L. Playfair, The Scourge of Christendom (1884), passim;
M. Eisenbeth, in: Revue Africaine (1952), 112-87, 343-84; Mainz, in:
JA, 240 (1952), 197-217; Rosenstock, in: JsOs, 14 (1952), 343-64; HJ, 18
(1956), 3-26. FRENCH RULE UP TO 1948. C. Frégier, Les Israélites Al-
gériens (1865); Féraud, in: Revue Africaine (1874), 30 ff, J. Cohen, Les
Israélites de l'Algerie et le Décret Crémieux (1900); J. Hanoune, Apercu
sur les Israélites Algériens (1922); C. Martin, Les Israélites Algériens de
1830 a 1902 (1936); M. Abulker, Alger et ses Complots (1945); Mainz,
in: PAAJR, 21 (1952), 63-73; HJ, 18 (1956), 27-40. ANTISEMITISM: J.E.
Aumerot, L’Antisémitisme a Alger (1885); E. Drumont, La France Juive,
2 (1886), 4ff.; G. Meyné, LAlgérie Juive (1887); G.R. Rouanet, LAnti-
sémitisme Algérien (1900); L. Durieu, Les Juifs Algériens, 1870-1901
(1902); Brunschvig, in: Revue d’Alger, 1 no. 2 (1944), 57-79; M. Eisen-
beth, Pages Vécues, 1940-1943 (1945); Szajkowski, in: Jsos, 10 (1948),
257-80. CONTEMPORARY PERIOD. JC (Oct. 19, 1962, June 12, 1964,
Aug. 30, 1968); Congress bi- Weekly, vol. 35, no. 15 (1964), 9-11; LArche,
no. 40 (1960), 24; Information Juive, 139 (Sept. 1963), 3; 151 (Dec.—Jan.
1965), 6; 185 (Aug.—Sept. 1968), 7; Mandel, in: ayyB, 64 (1963), 403-11;
65 (1964) 326-30; 66 (1965) 478-83; 67 (1966) 441-4; idem. in: Com-
mentary, 35 (June 1963), 475-82; In the Dispersion, 5-6 (1966), 318-20
(list of articles). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Heoxter, “Ha-Edah ha-
Yehudit be-Algeria u-Mekomah be-Maarekhet ha-Shilton ha-Turki,
in: Sefunot, New Series, Book 2, 17 (1983), 133-63; A. Ben-Haim, “Mi-
vtzah Zebbu, Algeria 1947-1948,” in: Shorashim ba-Mizrah, Book 3,
(1991), 213-31; A. Attal, “Ha-Itton ha-Yehudi ha-Rishon ba-Magreb
Lisraélite Algérien (hadziri) 1870, in: Peamim, 17 (1984), 88-95; idem,
“Ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Woharran, in: Kiryat Sefer anthology, suppl. to
vol. 68 (1990), 85-92; D. Cohen, “Megoiasim Yehudim me-Algeria bi-
Shenot 1875-1878, Hebetim Kalkaliyyim ve Hevratiyyim, in: Peamim,
15 (1983), 96-111; E. Sivan, “Sinat Yehudim be-Algeria ke-Tolada shel
Matzav Koloniali? in: Peamim, 2 (1979), 92-108; G. Amipaz-Zilber,
Mahteret Yehudit be-Algeria 1940-1942 (1983); M. Abitbol, Mi-Kre-
mieux le-Peten; ha-Antishemiut be-Algeria ha-Kolonialit 1870-1940
(1984); M. Laskier, “‘Ha-Mossad’ ve-ha-Du-Kiyyum ha-Muslemi-ha-
Yehudi be-Algeria ha-Kolonialit, Parashat Constantin 12-13 1956, in:
Peamim, 75 (1984), 129-143; J. Allouche-Benayoun, D. Bensimon: Les
Juifs d'Algérie. Mémoires et identités plurielles (1998); R. Attal, Regards
sur les Juifs d‘Algérie (1996); A. Chouraqui, Chronique de Baba; lettres
651
AL-GHARID AL-YAHUDI
d’Abraham Meyer, mon grand-pére, a ses fils (1914-1918) (2000); D.
Cohen, “Le Comité juif algérien détudes sociales dans le débat idéo-
logique pendant la guerre d’Algérie (1954-1961), in: Archives Juives,
29:1 (le semestre 1996), 30-50; idem, “Les circonstances de la fonda-
tion du Comité Algérien d’Edudes sociales ou la prise de conscience
dune élite intellectuelle juive face au phénomene antisémite en Algé-
rie (1915-1921), in: Revue des Etudes Juives, 161 (2002), 179-225; idem,
“Algeria,” in: R. Simon, M. Laskier, S. Reguer (eds.), The Jews of the
Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times (2003), 458-470; G.
Dugas, “La guerre d’Algérie comme métaphore obsédante; ‘Les Ba-
gnoulis’ dAlbert Bensoussan,” in: Archives Juives, 29 (1996), 82-86;
E. Marciano, Les Sages d‘Algérie; dictionnaire encyclopédique des sa-
ges et rabbins d Algérie, du haut moyen dge a nos jours. Adaptation et
iconographie de Jacques Assouline (2002).
AL-GHARID AL-YAHUDI (early seventh century), poet,
singer, and composer from *Medina in Arabia. Al-Gharid al-
Yahiidi is not to be confused with al-Gharid (nickname mean-
ing the fresh voice), one of the four great singers in the early
Islamic era (d. 716). The biographical account of al-Gharid the
Jew is reported by the 1oth-century author al-Isfahani in his
monumental Kitab al-Aghani (“Book of Songs”), which con-
tains a collection of poems from the pre-Islamic period to the
ninth century, all of which had been set to music. Al-Gharid
the Jew is described in this book as a Kohen descended from
Aaron ben Amram and a member of the Jewish group living
in Yathrib (i.e., Medina, the city of the Prophet *Muhammad).
Al-Isfahani mentions in the same context other Jewish poets
belonging to the same group, but the very fact that he dedi-
cated a special entry to al-Gharid points to his artistic ability
and reputation. Al-Isfahani even reports that Muhammad was
pleased with one of al-Gharid’s songs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Al-Isfahani, Kitab al-Aghani al Kabir, 3
(Cairo, c. 1929), 116-117; al-Salawi, Idrak al-maani, ms. 2706 of the
Moroccan Royal Library, v. 21, f. 136-138; H.G. Farmer, A History of
Arabian Music to the 13" Century (1929), 80-81.
[Amnon Shiloah (274 ed.)]
ALGHERO, Sardinian port. The Jewish community devel-
oped there in the second half of the 14 century after Sardinia
was acquired by the crown of Aragon. In 1354 Jews supplied
the conquering army of Peter rv of Aragon and took part in
the siege of Alghero. Among them were Jews from Castile,
Sicily, Catalonia, and Majorca. Several are listed as soldiers.
Following the conquest, many remained in Alghero. The first
group of immigrants was joined in 1370 by families coming
from Catalonia and southern France. Around 1400, new waves
of immigrants came to Alghero, mainly from Provence. In
1360 King Peter 1v conceded the Jews of Cagliari the privilege
of erecting a tower in Alghero and permitted them to affix a
commemorative stone to the wall to mark its foundation. The
synagogue, built in 1381, was enlarged in 1438. The cemetery
was established in 1383 and extended in 1435. As long as the at-
titude of the Aragonese authorities toward the Jews remained
favorable, they were prominent in Alghero’s economic life. A
Jew, Vidal de Santa Pau, advanced money to the authorities
652
for restoring the city walls in 1423. In 1454 Samuel de Carcas-
sona and Jacob Cohen, secretaries of the Jewish community
of Alghero, obtained the right to emblazon the royal coat of
arms on the wall of the synagogue. The wealthy Carcassona
family loaned money to the Aragonese kings throughout the
15 century. In 1481 the brothers Samuel and Nino Carcas-
sona were victualers for the royal galleys and military pay-
masters. Maimon Carcassona gave hospitality to the viceroy
on his visits to Alghero. Moses, the richest property owner in
the Jewish quarter, was the official collector of taxes and du-
ties. Several celebrated physicians, including Bonjudes *Bon-
davin of Marseille, lived in Alghero. The friendly attitude of
the Aragonese authorities toward the Jews found expression in
the regulations of 1451 exempting them from wearing the Jew-
ish *badge and from having to listen to missionary sermons.
They were also granted judicial autonomy and exemption from
taxation. Conditions for Alghero Jewry began to deteriorate in
1481 when they shared the treatment meted out to the Jews of
Spain. They were expelled in 1492 after the general edict of ex-
pulsion from the Spanish dominions. The Carcassona family,
who became Christians, remained. Antonio Angelo Carcas-
sona (born in 1515) studied law at the universities of Bologna
and Rome, graduating as a doctor of both civil and canon law.
In 1533 and in 1586 members of the Carcassona family were
tried by the Spanish Inquisition for inviting foreign Jews as
guests in their house in Alghero.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Spano, in: Rivista Sarda, 1 (1875), 23-52;
L. Falchi, Gli Ebrei nella storia e nella poesia popolare dei Sardi (1935),
23-28; A. Boscolo, in: Annali della Facolta delle Lettere e di Filosofia
dell Universita di Cagliari, 19, pt. 2 (1952), 12; R. Latardi, in: RMI, 33
(1967), 207-10; Milano, Italia, index; Roth, Italy, 263ff. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: M. Perani, Italia, 5 (1985), 104-44; C. Tasca, Gli ebrei
in Sardegna, Cagliari (1992), 98-114, 127-34; A. Rudine, Inquisizione
spagnola censura e libri proibiti in Sardegna nel ’500 e ’600 (1995);
61-76; D. Abulafia, “Gli ebrei di Sardegna,” in: C. Vivanti (ed.), Sto-
ria d'Italia. Annali 11, Gli ebrei in Italia. Dallalto Medioevo alleta dei
ghetti (1996), 83-94.
[Attilio Milano / Nadia Zeldes (2"4 ed.)]
ALGIERS (AlI-Jazair), capital of *Algeria. The small Jewish
community in the late Middle Ages was enlarged after 1248 by
Jews from the Languedoc and about 1287 by Jews from Ma-
jorca. The population of Majorcan Jews increased between
1296 and 1313, when the town enjoyed a short-lived indepen-
dence. The Majorcan Jews were arms suppliers. Before 1325 the
port was visited regularly by Catalans and Genoese, as well as
by Jewish shipowners and merchants.
The first Jewish refugees from Spain were warmly wel-
comed in 1391, but their increasing numbers caused anxiety
among the Muslims and the native Jews, who feared their
competition. One individual (whose identity cannot be as-
certained), himself an immigrant, used his influence to pre-
vent the landing of 45 newcomers and advised that all the fu-
gitives be sent back, as they were accused of being Marranos.
The qadi (Muslim religious judge) intervened in their favor.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
The Spanish Jews prospered greatly and finally became the
majority; they separated themselves from the native Jewish
community by acquiring a cemetery and synagogue of their
own and moving into a separate quarter. The leader of these
Jews at first was R. Saul Ha-Kohen “*Astruc, a scholar and phi-
lanthropist, who served as judge for the whole community. His
successors were the famous R. Isaac *Bonastruc, R. *Isaac b.
Sheshet (Ribash), and R. Simeon b. Zemah *Duran; they in-
stituted the so-called takkanot of Algiers which governed the
religious life of Algerian and Tunisian Jews. Because of the
school of Isaac b. Sheshet and the Durans, Algiers became
a major religious and intellectual center in the 15> century.
Many Marranos moved there in order to practice Judaism
openly. The large-scale maritime trade of the Spanish Jews at
the end of the 14" century gave economic impetus to the city
and prepared it somewhat for its future role.
From early in the 16" century, the Turks ruled in Algiers.
In order to develop trade, they encouraged the creation of a
privileged class. They employed Jews as advisers and physi-
cians; Jews were also responsible for the coining of money and
the accounts of the treasury. The mass of the people, Moors
and Jews, suffered periodically from the whims of the Janis-
saries and the cruelty of the militia. In 1706 an outbreak of the
plague and a terrible famine reduced many Jewish families to
indigence. Then, influenced by false accusations, the bey im-
posed an exorbitant fine on the community and ordered the
destruction of the synagogues, which were saved only by the
payment of a further sum. This ruined the majority of the Jews.
They commemorated the failure of the Spanish who attacked
Algiers in 1541 and 1775 by instituting two “Purims” of Algiers,
which were celebrated every year by the whole community.
From the 17" century onward, former Portuguese Marranos
and many Dutch, Moroccan, and Leghorn Jewish families
went to settle there. Proficient in business, many owning their
own ships, they gained control of Algerian commerce and ex-
tended the system of letters of exchange, and that of conces-
sions and agencies in Europe and the East. These new immi-
grants intermarried with the older families of the town and
settled on the Street of the Livornese, completely separated
from the Hara (“quarter”). These “Juifs Francs” (“Francos,’ i.e.,
free from the obligations of other Jews), or “Christian Jews”
(because they wore European garments), were employed by
all European countries to ransom Christian prisoners. Many
were able diplomats who negotiated or signed various peace
and trade treaties. Among these diplomats in the second half
of the 17‘ century were Jacob de Paz, Isaac Sasportas, David
Torres, Judah Cohen (d. early 18» century), and Soliman Ja-
quete (d. 1724). Their families became the aristocracy of the
community and were active in promoting its welfare.
Internal strife in the Jewish community appeared only
when the kabbalists R. Joshua Sidun, R. Joseph Abulker, R.
Aaron Moatti, and above all R. Abraham Tubiana (d. 1792) in-
troduced new rituals in their synagogues in accordance with
the theories of R. Isaac *Luria. Members of other synagogues
considered this sacrilegious and accused the innovators of
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALGIERS
promoting a schism. Until the mid-20" century two differ-
ent rituals were followed in the synagogues of Algiers, that
of the mekubbalim, or kabbalists, and that of the pashtanim,
or those who followed the original customs of the refugees
from Barcelona and Majorca. The intense religious life of the
community was stimulated later in the 16" century by emi-
nent scholars such as R. Abraham Tawa, R. Moses Meshash,
R. Abraham *Gavison, physician to the famous “beylerbey”
(Ottoman governor) Euldj Ali (1568-87), R. Solomon Duran 11
and his disciple R. Judah Khallas 11 (d. 1620), R. Solomon Seror
(d. 1664) and his grandson Raphael-Jedidiah Seror (d. 1737),
the philosopher R. Masud Guenoun (d. 1694), the poet R. Ne-
horai Azubib (d. 1785), and R. Judah *Ayash, one of the most
venerated rabbis of Algiers. Their works, however, were ne-
glected by the new generations, which turned toward other
forms of culture.
In the late 18't-early 19" centuries the wealth of certain
families added to the enormous influence of Naphtali *Busn-
ach; this aroused the jealousy of the Janissaries, who assassi-
nated Busnach. The day after Busnach’s assassination (June 29,
1805), they sacked Algiers killing between 200 and 500 Jews.
Despite this catastrophe, the great families would not forgo
their internal disputes nor their fierce competition for power.
David Bacri succeeded his partner and relative Naphtali Bus-
nach as head of the community. He was beheaded in 1811 by
the dey and replaced by David Duran who represented the
opposing families. The latter was in his turn put to death
by the dey during the same year, and Joseph Bacri assumed
the title of *mugaddam (head of the community). Involved
against his will in disputes between the Jewish families, the
rabbi of Algiers, R. Isaac Abulker, was dragged to the stake
with seven other notables of the town (1815). After the land-
ing of the French in 1830, Jacob Bacri was named “Chef de la
Nation Israélite”; he was replaced by Aaron Moatti whose ap-
pointment was terminated in 1834.
In 1870 Algerian Jews became French citizens; subse-
quently antisemitism spread throughout the country manifest-
ing itself in serious pogroms, particularly in Algiers (1884-87,
1897-98). After World War 1 a Zionist conference, the first in
Algeria, was organized at Algiers. Although the Jewish élite
was always active in the defense of Judaism, they were loyal
French citizens.
The Algiers community was deeply affected by the na-
tionalist struggle for independence. Much of the communal
structure ceased to exist. The Great Synagogue in the ancient
quarter, ravaged in the Christmas Eve riots of 1960 was only
temporarily restored. The Maimonides rabbinical college was
closed. During the French army’s search of Bab-el-Oued in
1962, in reprisal for the machine-gunning of French soldiers
by the local oas, the synagogue of that quarter was ravaged.
Population Statistics
During the last four centuries the Jewish population of Al-
giers declined and increased according to the economic and
political situation of the capital. In the 16" century it declined
653
ALGUADES, MEIR
from 2,000 to 750 persons, because of the Spanish assaults. In
the 17‘ and 18* centuries the number of Jews rose to 15,000,
but then decreased to 7,000 and later, to 5,000. About the
same number was found there by the French in 1830. Eight
years later there were over 6,000 Jews, but after the antise-
mitic persecutions of the last decades of the 19» century only
5,000 remained. After 1900, with the defeat of the anti-Jewish
party, the Jewish population increased continuously: 10,822 in
1901, 17,053 iN 1921, 23,550 in 1931, and 25,591 in 1941. Dur-
ing World War 11 Algiers received over 1,000 Jewish refugees
from Europe; after the uprising against the French in 1954
a large number of Jews from the interior settled in Algiers.
Over 95% of this population, numbering about 34,000, left
the capital when the declaration of independence was pro-
claimed in 1962. The vast majority immigrated to France, some
went to America, and others to Israel. By 1963 only 2,500 Jews
remained in Algiers. In 1969 their number was reduced
to a few hundred and at the turn of the century to a few
dozen.
For bibliography see “Algeria.
[David Corcos]
ALGUADES (Alguadez), MEIR (d. 1410), personal physi-
cian to successive kings of Castile, chief rabbi, and chief jus-
tice of Castilian Jewry. After the massacres of 1391, Alguades
devoted his energies to rehabilitating the stricken Spanish
communities, despite his personal misfortunes (his son-in-
law had accepted baptism during the persecutions). Algua-
des’ activities extended beyond the frontiers of Castile into
Aragon and Navarre. He was a friend and patron of Solomon
ha-Levi of Burgos (later *Pablo de Santa Maria), Benveniste
de la *Cavalleria, and Hasdai *Crescas, the learned apologist
and satirist Profiat *Duran, and the poet Solomon da Piera,
who composed an elegy on Alguades’ death. Alguades trans-
lated into Hebrew Aristotle’s Ethics (ed. by Satanow, Berlin,
1790) and in his foreword speaks of the obstacles which he
encountered in his work, while leading the life of a courtier
bound to accompany the monarch on his travels. A number
of medical prescriptions written by Alguades in Spanish have
been preserved in Hebrew translation. Beside his activities as
court physician, Alguades was apparently a tax-farmer. The
statutes of the Castilian communities issued at *Valladolid in
1432 confirm that Alguades’ widow and daughter were to be
exempted from taxes because of the services rendered by him
to the Jewish communities. The local legend associating Al-
guades with the *host desecration charge which entailed di-
saster for the community of *Segovia in 1410 seems to have no
basis other than the improbable account of *Alfonso de Espina
in his Fortalitium Fidei.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index, s.v. Meir Alguadex; S.
Usque, Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel, ed. by G.I. Gelbart
(1962), 325-33; I. Rodriguez y Fernandez, Segovia-Corpus (1902); Bo-
letin de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, 7 (1885), 397 ff.
654
ALGUM, a tree which cannot be definitely identified. Men-
tioned among the trees of Lebanon which Hiram, king of Tyre,
sent to Solomon for the building of the Temple and the palace
(11 Chron. 2:7), it is referred to elsewhere as having been im-
ported from tropical Ophir (11 Chron. 9:10-11; 1 Kings 10:11,
where it is called almog). The Septuagint identifies the tree
brought from Lebanon as a species of pine and that from Ophir
as apparently a species of Tuja, while the Jerusalem Talmud
and the Midrash identify it with alvos, i.e., Aquilaria agallo-
cha, which is a tropical tree of high quality used in the making
of furniture. It has also been identified with the biblical aloe
(Num. 24:6; Ps. 45:9; Prov. 7:17; Song 4:14) used in incense and
for perfume. In modern Hebrew almog is used for coral, which
is also the meaning given to it in the Talmud (RH 23a).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Feliks, Olam ha-Zomeah ha-Mikrai
(19687), 124-5.
[Jehuda Feliks]
ALHADIB (al-Ahdab), ISAAC BEN SOLOMON BEN
ZADDIK (mid-14 century-—after 1429), Hebrew poet and
astronomer. Of Spanish origin (very likely from Castile), af-
ter the events of 1391, Alhadib went to Sicily in 1396. He lived
first in Syracuse and then (1426) in Palermo. He applied his
scientific interests to biblical interpretation, and also wrote
secular and liturgical poetry. O. Raanan published in 1988 a
critical edition of almost 90 of his poems, most of them sec-
ular, including monorhymed and strophic compositions and
some rhymed prose. His poetry, with popular tendencies, is
sometimes didactic, ethic, or sapiential, but sometimes also
humorous or satiric, including some riddles, proverbs, and
polemics, and introductions to prose works. Two interest-
ing poems, alluding to the 13 principles of Maimonides, were
written on the occasion of the wedding of his two sons. Like
other late Hebrew poets, he wrote in a mannered style (for
instance, a poem has one thousand words starting with the
letter nun), imitating the octosyllabic structure of Romance
poetry in many of his Hebrew verses. He wrote a hymn on Es-
ther giving his name in acrostic, and an addition to the poem
with which Moses Handali opened his commentary on the
Hebrew translation of Al-Fergani’s astronomy.
Only one of his works in prose has been published in
full, Leshon ha-Zahav, on weights and measures mentioned
in the Bible (Venice, undated). His writings (in manuscript)
include Orah Selulah, on calculations; Iggeret Kelei Hemdah,
describing an astronomical apparatus wich he invented in Sic-
ily; Keli ha-Memuza or Keli ha-Emzai, also on astronomy; and
Maamar be-Gidrei ha-Devarim, on theological terminology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 7 (1864),
112; M. Rabinowitz, in: Mizrah u-Maarav, 3 (1929), 219-23; David-
son, Ozar, 4 (1933), 417; Roth, in: JQR, 47 (1956/57), 324. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: Shirei Yitzhak Ben Shelomoh Al-Ahdab, ed. O. Raanan
(1988); Schirmann-Fleischer (1997), 618-24.
[Abraham Meir Habermann / Angel Saenz-Badillos (2"4 ed.)]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AL HA-MISHMAR (Heb. 772W73 ?y), Hebrew daily news-
paper of the Israeli left-wing *Mapam Party, its affiliated Ha-
Shomer ha-Za’ir youth movement, and the Kibbutz Arzi
network of agricultural settlements. Established in Tel Aviv
in 1943 under the editorship of Mordekhai *Bentov as Ha-
Shomer, it became Al ha-Mishmar five years later after Ha-
Shomer ha-Za’ir merged with Ahdut ha-Avodah into Mapam.
The newspaper was both a voice of the strident left-wing of the
Zionist movement and the more inward-looking network of
agricultural settlements. A quality newspaper, it covered na-
tional and international developments as well as local kibbutz
news. In its earlier days its journalistic style was of a party or-
gan. Yet its literary pages in particular were open to non-party
voices. Its journalistic workforce consisted of members of kib-
butzim on loan to work on the newspaper. After Bentov was
elected a Mapam member of the Knesset, he was replaced as
editor by Yaakov Amit. Other editors of the paper were Marek
Geffen, Hayyim Shaw, Sever Plotzkur, and Zvi Timor. In later
years the paper's style was characterized by less ideological
rigidity. Its staff included not only kibbutz members but also
professional journalists. Its readership reached 15,000-18,000,
but 10,000 of these were kibbutz subscriptions. Its circulation
declined to 8,000 in the 1990s after kibbutz members were
no longer required to read the paper. Their preference for the
non-party commercial press, and for television over neswspa-
pers, together the financial problems which struck the kibbutz
movement, caused the paper to close in March 2005.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Tzafati, “Al ha-Mishmar - Anatomiyah shel
Iton Miflagti? in: Kesher, 27 (May 2000).
[Yoel Cohen (274 ed.)]
ALHANATI, DAVID (1908-1990), Greek attorney and com-
munity activist. Alhanati was born in Athens to a mixed Ro-
maniote/Sephardi family from Ioannina and Larisa. He stud-
ied law at the University of Athens and from 1935 until 1942 he
was legal advisor to the Jewish Communities of Greece and
served on its board. During World War 11, he fought in the
Greek army on the Albanian front in 1940-41, was arrested by
the Italians in 1942 as a prominent member of the Athenian
Jewish community, and during the German occupation from
September 24, 1943, went into hiding in the mountains and
found refuge with a Greek friend in Pirgos until the libera-
tion. Previously, he had assisted Rabbi Barzilai when he was
pressed to hand over community lists to the Germans, and
burned the Athenian community Jewish archives.
In 1945, he founded the Board of Jewish Communities of
Greece (KIs) and served as its first chairman. He also founded
the opalE Organization of Rehabilitation of Jews in Greece
and was its vice president from 1945 until 1952. He represented
the Jewish community of Greece in war trials held in the late
1940s and 1950s in Greece against Jewish and German Nazi
collaborators. In 1945-46, together with the Mosad le-Aliyah
Bet, he helped organize the voyage of four boats of illegal im-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
AL-HARIZI, JUDAH BEN SOLOMON
migrants from Greece and Northern Europe departing from
the Sounion coast, southeast of Athens, to Erez Israel. He
established two hakhsharah (training) farms in 1945, which
housed ma’pilim (“illegal” immigrants), as they waited for
their departure to Erez Israel.
Alhanati was president of the Union of Greek Zionists
(1965-84), was Greek delegate to the 26 and 27't World
Zionist Congresses, and was president of the Jewish National
Fund in Greece from 1965 until his later years. He also was
secretary-general of the HELLAS-Israel organization and a
lifetime member of B’nai B'rith.
In Athens, Alhanati also represented the legal interests of
the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Agency, and worked
together with the Joint Distribution Committee to rebuild the
lives of Greek Holocaust survivors and help Jewish refugees
from Arab Middle Eastern countries and the former Eastern
Bloc of the Soviet Union reach the West for relocation.
[Yitzchak Kerem (2™ ed.)]
AL HA-NISSIM (Heb. 0°037 9; “for the miracles”), thanks-
giving prayer added to the penultimate benediction of the
Amidah and to the Grace after Meals on Hanukkah and Purim.
The prayer starts with a general introduction: “For the mira-
cles, the redemption, the mighty deeds, the saving acts, and
the (victorious) wars, which Thou didst for our fathers in
former times at this season.” On Hanukkah a condensed ac-
count of the Hasmonean Revolt is added. The opening words
of this section “In the days of Mattathias, the Hasmonean, son
of Johanan the high priest...” present some difficulties owing
to an apparent confusion between Jonathan, the high priest,
and Johanan, father of Mattathias the Hasmonean. The addi-
tional recitation for Purim briefly retells the story of Purim.
This prayer dates back to talmudic times (Shab. 24a). Several
ancient sources also have the addition “as Thou hast done for
them, thus perform for us, Lord our God, miracles and won-
ders, in our days” (Sof. 20:8, also Siddur R. Amram Gaon, Seder
Hanukkah, and Siddur R. Saadyah Gaon, 256), but the prayer
books omit this phrase on the halakhic principle that petitions
and thanksgivings should be kept separate (Sh. Ar., OH 682:1).
An imitative form of Al ha-Nissim was inserted into the Ami-
dah and the Grace after Meals on the local Purims (see Special
*Purims), and an attempt has been made to establish the reci-
tation of such a prayer on Independence Day in Israel.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 130 ff.
AL-HARIZI, JUDAH BEN SOLOMON (1165-1225), He-
brew poet and translator. He was born in Spain, very likely
in Christian Toledo, a city that at this time preserved Arabic
culture and that he describes with particular detail; however,
there are no conclusive proofs of it, and other places have
also been suggested. His education in this cultural atmo-
sphere made him familiar with Arabic and Hebrew language
and literature. Al-Harizi was a member of a wealthy family
655
AL-HARIZI, JUDAH BEN SOLOMON
which became impoverished, and was therefore dependent
on patrons.
He spent some years in Provence, where he translated
several Arabic works into Hebrew for the non-Arabic speak-
ing Jews and participated in the ideological disputes of the
time, returning to Spain in 1190; in 1205 he was in Toledo and
wrote a poem on the death of Joseph ben Shoshan. During
discussions of the work of Maimonides he defended the Mas-
ter against the anti-rationalist rabbis from Toledo. Some time
later he left Spain to travel to the Orient. He first went to Mar-
seilles, and from there he sailed to Egypt; in 1215 he arrived in
Alexandria and from there he visited Cairo, later continuing to
Palestine, Syria, and Iraq. According to the information that
he gives us in one of his works, in 1218 he was in Jerusalem.
Damascus, Aleppo, Mosul, and Baghdad were among the cities
visited. He mentions seeing the tombs of the prophet Ezekiel
and of Ezra in Susa. The ten last years of his life, until his death
in Aleppo in 1225, are now much better known thanks to im-
portant documents discovered and published in recent years.
J. Sadan published in 1996 an Arabic biography written by Ibn
al-Shaar al-Mawsili in a work on the poets of his time (the first
half of the 13" century). There are also many details about his
travels in his Tahkemoni as well as in an Arabic description,
Al-rawdah al-aniqah (“The Pleasant Garden”), written by Al-
Harizi himself in his last years, which has been published and
annotated by Y. Yahalom and Y. Blau (2002).
We do not know exactly the reasons for Al-Harizi’s trav-
els. Scholars usually allude to his curiosity, to spiritual motifs,
like the love for Zion, to the search for rich patrons in the Ori-
ent, etc. Al-Harizi’s visits to these countries helped to acquaint
the Jewish communities there with Spanish-Hebrew culture.
Most of his compositions were written during his travels and
contain reflections on his experiences. He wrote many po-
ems in honor of the prominent Jewish men of these commu-
nities, both satirizing their defects and praising their virtues,
and used to revise what he had previously written, sometimes
leaving different versions of his writings.
Al-Harizi’s most important literary translation is his He-
brew rendering of the maqamat of the Arabic poet Al-Hariri
(Bosra, d. 1121), which he entitled Mahbarot Itiel (“Note-
books of Ithiel”), completed before 1218. His translation of the
magqama, an Arabic literary form in rhyming prose, attains the
quality of an original composition, and imparts a Hebrew fla-
vor to Al-Hariri’s typically Arabic art; it reproduces the elusive
word play and ornate style of the original. Al-Harizi’s trans-
lation contained 50 maqamat of which only a portion of the
first and 26 of the subsequent maqamat have been preserved.
The Mahbarot Itiel were published by Th. Chenery (1872), and
more recently by Y. Peretz (1951).
Al-Harizi himself used this form for his major work Sefer
Tahkemoni (“The Wise One”?), completed after 1220; he was
among the first to use this genre in Hebrew literature. Its 50
magamat show Al-Hariri’s influence, being at the same time
his way of showing the possibilities of the Hebrew language
and of defending its usage. The language, rhymed prose with
656
some poems intermingled in the text, is taken from the Bible
and is often a mosaic of biblical quotations. The different ad-
dressees of the work that appear in the manuscripts are not
surprisingly Oriental Jews, as Al-Harizi composed this book in
his travels through the Orient, from one country to the other,
or, as he says, from Egypt to Babylon.
The maqamat of the Tahkemoni begin with a narrative
frame introduced by the narrator, Heman the Ezrahite, who
represents in many cases the opinion of the writer. The main
character, Heber the Kenite, resembles the heroes of the Arabic
magama in his nature, a roguish polymath and rhymester. He
appears in many different forms and is only recognized at the
end of the narratives, after having shown his abilities and wis-
dom. The book includes love ditties, fables, proverbs, riddles,
disputes, and satirical sketches, such as the descriptions of a
flea and a defense by a rooster about to be slaughtered.
Apart from its literary merit and brilliant, incisive style,
the Tahkemoni also throws valuable light on the state of He-
brew culture of the period, and describes the scholars and
leaders of the communities visited by the author. Al-Harizi
gives vivid descriptions of the worthies of Toledo, the poets
of Thebes, a debate between a *Rabbanite and a *Karaite, and
conditions in Jerusalem. The Tahkemoni also contains critical
evaluations of earlier and contemporary poets, although Al-
Harizi’s appraisal of his contemporaries is not always reliable
and occasionally misses their most essential features.
In spite of the existence of many manuscripts, and of
the edition of Sefer Tahkemoni by Obadia Sabak (Constanti-
nople, 1578) and the more modern ones by de Lagarde (1883;
1925); by A. Kaminka (1899); by Y. Toporowsky (1952), etc., no
critical edition of the Tahkemoni has been published. Several
of the maqamiat were translated into Latin, English, French,
German, and Hungarian. There is an English translation by
V.E. Reichert, The Tahkemoni of Judah al-Harizi, an English
translation, 2 vols. (Jerusalem, R.H. Cohen’s Press, 1965); and
a new one by David S. Segal, The Book of Tahkemoni: Jewish
Tales from Medieval Spain (Portland, Oregon, Littman Library
of Jewish Civilization, 2001), with a long section dedicated to
the analyses of each maqama and a detailed bibliography. A
Spanish translation, with introduction and notes, appeared in
1988: Las asambleas de los sabios (Tahkemoni), by C. del Valle
(Murcia: Univ. de Murcia).
Al-Harizi also wrote the Sefer ha-Anak (“The Necklace”),
a collection of 257 short poems on moral and pious themes,
mainly composed in two stanzas with rhyming puns (like the
book of the same name by Moshe Ibn Ezra). It was published
by H. Brody, Sefer ha-Anak, in Festschrift Harkavy (1908); and
by A. Avronim (Tel Aviv, 1945).
In one of the last maqamat of the Tahkemoni Al-Harizi
includes more than 170 Hebrew poems according to the Anda-
lusian tradition. In his stay in the Orient he wrote also poems
in Arabic and sometimes, in Hebrew and Arabic. A number of
his poems not included in the Tahkemoni and Sefer ha-Anak
are extant in manuscript. Yahalom and Blau have published
an autographic letter found in the Genizah.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Al-Harizi was notably active as translator of philosoph-
ical, halakhic, and medical works from Arabic to Hebrew.
Under the Hebrew title Muserei ha-Filosofim he translated
for the sages of Lunel the Adab al-Falasifa (“Dicta of the Phi-
losophers”) of Hunain ibn Ishak, a collection of proverbs
synthesizing Greek and Arabic wisdom literature. This transla-
tion was published by Loewenthal in Frankfurt/Main in 1896.
The most important of his prose translations is that
of *Maimonides’ Moreh Nevukhim (Guide of the Perplexed,
published by A.L. Schlossberg, London 1851-79; reprint Tel
Aviv, 1952). Al-Harizi, who translated the book after Samuel
ibn *Tibbon for some Jews of Marseille, intended to render
it simply and clearly, employing biblical Hebrew. In spite of
two chapters added by him explaining difficult words and
describing the contents of the chapters, the translation was
considered of literary value but failing in accuracy. For this
reason it was received with much criticism, and Ibn Tibbon’s
translation is generally preferred (Y. Shiffman, Journal of Se-
mitic Studies, 44/1 (1999), 47-61). It was, however, through Al-
Harizi’s translation that Maimonides’ ideas were propagated in
the Christian world. An anonymous Latin translation of the
Guide, published in Paris by Agostino *Giustiniani in 1520, is
based on Al-Harizi’s translation and was used by the English
schoolmen. Al-Harizi’s version also served as the basis for
Pedro de Toledo’s Spanish translation (published by M. La-
zar according to the Ms. 10289, B.N. Madrid, in 1989, Culver
City, Calif: Labyrinthos).
Al-Harizi translated in Lunel, for Jonathan ha-Kohen,
Maimonides’ introduction to the Mishnah and his commen-
tary on the first five tractates of the Mishnah order Zera’im.
He also translated other minor works, like the Medicine of the
Body (Ferrara, 1552) and a few short works attributed to Ar-
istotle or Galen.
Al-Harizi’s prominence in medieval letters is due both
to his light, entertaining, and allusive style, and to the vari-
ety of his subject matter. In consonance with the tendencies
of the time in Romance literature, his descriptions of nature
are more realistic than those generally found in other Spanish
Hebrew poets, with a feeling for the rural life and the animal
world. He described storms at sea and, with the exception of
*Samuel b. Joseph ha-Nagid, was the only medieval Hebrew
poet to describe battle scenes.
[Aharon Mirsky and Avrum Stroll /
Angel Saenz-Badillos (274 ed.)]
As a Musical Writer
Al-Harizi’s Hebrew translation of Hunain’s Adab al-Falasifa
contains, in its first part, three chapters (18-20) on music.
As usual in adab-literature, the text consists of sayings and
aphorisms uttered by ancient Greek philosophers or other
famous men. They deal with the miraculous power of music,
its influence on soul, temperament and even animal life, its
therapeutic value, and the like. Al-Harizi was the first to intro-
duce these ideas of late Hellenism, which had been transmit-
ted by Hunain to Arab philosophy, into Jewish philosophical
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALHAYK, UZZIEL BEN MORDECAI
and musical thought. Circulating in many manuscripts and
a print of 1562, they were continually perused and quoted as
a source of musical knowledge, and even as late as 1680 by
Shabbetai *Bass.
As the original Arabic text has not yet been published
from the manuscripts, Al-Harizi’s Hebrew version and its
modern (though inadequate) translations serve as sole source
to students of musical history up to now. The chapters on mu-
sic in Arabic were edited by A. Shiloah (1958), who showed
that Al-Harizi’s text is governed by a deep understanding of
this intricate subject.
[Hanoch Avenary]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Schirmann, in: Moznayim, 11 (1940), 101-15;
S.J. Kaempf, Die ersten Makamen aus dem Tachkemoni oder Divan des
Charisi (1845); idem, Nichtandalusische Poesie andalusischer Dichter
(1858); Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 251, 355, 428-32, 851f., 857f.;
J. Schirmann, Die hebraeische Uebersetzung der Maqamen des Hariri
(1930), 113-6; A. Percikowitsch, Al-Harizi als Uebersetzer der Maka-
men Al-Hariris (1932), 1-5; A.M. Habermann, in: Sinai, 31 (1952),
112-27; Davidson, Ozar, 4 (1933), 388-90; S.M. Stern, in: Jar, 50
(1959/60), 269-76, 346-64; idem, in: Papers of the Institute of Jew-
ish Studies, London, 1 (1964), 186-210; V.E. Reichert, The Fourteenth
Gate of Judah Al-Harizi’s Tahkemoni (1963). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Y. Sadan, in: Peamim, 68 (1996), 16-67; Harizi, Judah ben Solomon.
Maase Yehudah: Hamishah Pirkei Masa Mehorazim, ed. J. Yaha-
lom, Joseph and J. Blau (2002); Schirmann-Fleischer, 2, 145-221; A.
Sdenz-Badillos, in: Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos, 34/2
(1985), 61-70; R. Brann, in: Princeton Papers in Near Eastern Stud-
ies, 1 (1992), 1-22; R. Scheindlin, in: Studies in Muslim-Jewish Rela-
tions, 1 (1993), 165-75. MusIc: M. Plessner, in: Tarbiz, 24 (1954/55),
60-72; A. Shiloah, Pirkei ha-Muzikah ba-Kitab adab al-falasifa (The-
sis, Jerusalem, 1958); E. Werner and J. Sonne, in: HUCA, 17 (1942-43),
513-32, 558-63; H.G. Farmer, A History of Arabian Music to the 13"
Century (1929), 126-7.
ALHAYK, UZZIEL BEN MORDECAI (17402-18202), Tu-
nisian rabbi. Alhayk was born in Tunis where his father was
a dayyan and communal leader. He studied in the yeshivah
of Nathan b. Abraham *Bordjel, the greatest scholar of Tunis,
and under David b. Moses Najar. He was appointed rabbi of
the Portuguese community in Tunis. Most of his rulings deal
with financial problems and testify to his great juristic ability.
Alhayk was very familiar with business and economic prob-
lems, and it is possible that he himself engaged in business. His
responsa are an important source for the history of the Jews
of Tunis of his time. He became friendly with Hayyim Joseph
David *Azulai during the visit of the latter to Tunis in 1774.
He collected the takkanot of Tunis which he published in his
Mishkenot ha-Ro’im (102aff.; Leghorn, 1860), his most impor-
tant work, comprising alphabetically arranged articles on the
Shulhan Arukh. It deals primarily with civil law and, to a lesser
extent, with laws of marriage. Many of the articles consist of his
own responsa and rulings. He wrote Hayyim va-Hesed (Leg-
horn, 1865), sermons delivered between 1767 and 1810, includ-
ing eulogies on Tunisian sages and other contemporaries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Cazes, Notes bibliographiques sur la litté-
rature juive tunisienne (1893), 169-73.
657
AL HET
ALHET (Heb. xvn >y; “for the sin’), first words of a formula
of confession of sins (and of each line in the formula) recited
on the *Day of Atonement. The confession of sins during the
afternoon *Amidah on the eve of the Day of Atonement and
in every Amidah (and repetition of the Amidah) on the day
itself, with the exception of that of the *Ne’ilah service, is re-
quired according to a baraita (Yoma 87b). In talmudic times,
apparently, any expression admitting sinfulness sufficed, but
in time a set form of confession evolved. There are two such
forms: *Ashamnu, known as the “Shorter Confession,’ and Al
Het, the “Great Confession” (so called in the *Mahzor Vitry,
374; Siddur Rashi, 96; and Ha-Manhig, 60a).
Al Het contains a list of sins in alphabetical order, two sins
being allotted to every letter. Each line begins: “For the sin we
have sinned before Thee.’ After the 44 sins in alphabetical or-
der, another nine lines are added enumerating sins according to
their prescribed punishments. The recitation is divided into four
parts. After each, the formula, “And for all these, O God of for-
giveness, forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement, is chanted
during the reader’s repetition. The list of sins embraces the spe-
cific (e.g., unchastity) and the general (e.g., those committed
“unwittingly”), but sins of a ritual nature are not included. The
whole confession is in the first person plural, perhaps as an ex-
pression of the doctrine of collective responsibility.
The authorship of the Al Het is unknown. It is first men-
tioned in the She’iltot of Ahai Gaon (eighth century) and an
abbreviated and probably more original form is found in the
Seder Rav Amram. The Christian Didache (second century)
also contains traces of an earlier Jewish alphabetical confes-
sion suggesting that this arrangement is very ancient. In the
Sephardi rite the alphabetical arrangement is only one letter
for each sin, but in some this is followed by a reverse-order
alphabetical arrangement. The Yemenites use a shortened
version. There are many textual variants of Al Het according
to different rites; an interesting example of the confession ap-
parently used in pre-expulsion England is contained in the Ez
Hayyim (ed. I. Brodie, 1 (1962), 102 ff.). It is customary to recite
Al Het while standing with the head bowed, and to beat one’s
breast at the mention of each sin. In Reform usage the Al Het
has been considerably shortened.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer S., Siddur, 416ff.; Elbogen, Gottesdi-
enst, 150; Idelsohn, Liturgy, 229; Hertz, Prayer, 910-8; Abrahams,
Companion, cc; Adler-Davis, 2 (1915), 79; E. Levi, Yesodot ha-Tefil-
lah (1961°), 262.
ALI (Ben David; 12‘°-13" century), physician and poet. Ali,
who lived in the Near East, probably in Syria, influenced po-
ets in his time and exchanged verses with them. The ten po-
ems which he wrote to his friend Aaron ha-Kohen (possibly
Aaron ha-Kohen b. Marion of Acre), and Aaron’s ten poems
for Ali, are preserved in the Cairo Genizah, the former ap-
parently in Alis handwriting. These metrical poems express
mutual praise and longing and reflect the influence of Span-
ish poetry. Several poems, written when the two friends were
separated, express sorrow at the unfortunate fate of kindred
658
souls. Some of the poems found in the Genizah which are
signed “Ali,” are presumably by him.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Zulay, in: Sinai, 23 (1948), 217-28.
[Abraham Meir Habermann]
ALIAV (Kluger), RUTH (1914-1980), the only female mem-
ber of Mosad Le-Aliyah Bet, the organization which saved
Jews from the Holocaust by smuggling them into Erez Israel,
in defiance of the restrictions on immigration imposed by the
Mandatory Government (see “Illegal” *Immigration). The
name Aliav, given to her by David Ben-Gurion, is an ana-
gram of Aliyah Bet.
Aliav was born in Kiev; her family later settled in Cz-
ernowitz, Romania. She immigrated to Erez Israel in 1934
and settled with her husband on a kibbutz. She was one of
the founding members of the Mosad and in 1939 returned to
Romania to organize the escape of Jews and their illegal im-
migration to Erez Israel. In 1941, when further rescue work
became impossible, she fled to Turkey from which she pro-
ceeded to Egypt to continue her rescue activities in bringing
Jews from Arab countries.
From 1942 to 1945 she worked closely with the French
and Dutch Resistance movements in Europe, became a colo-
nel in the *Haganah, and was appointed by David Ben-Gu-
rion as the only official Israeli representative in Europe. She
was the first woman to enter the concentration camps upon
their liberation. She continued her activities until 1947, serv-
ing directly under Ben-Gurion.
In 1947 she was awarded the Croix de la Lorraine by Gen-
eral de Gaulle, and the Legion dHonneur of France. After the
establishment of the State of Israel she headed the public re-
lations and press department of Zim, the Israeli Navigation
Company which evolved out of the “Illegal Immigration” ships
of the Haganah; was the Israeli president of the International
Federation of Business and Professional Women; and was hon-
orary life president of the International Public Relations As-
sociations. Her book, The Last Escape, is a dramatic account
of her two years’ activity in Romania.
ALIBAG, Indian town on the Konkan Coast, south of Bom-
bay; formerly the leading settlement of the *Bene Israel com-
munity. Its synagogue, “Magen Avot,’ was founded in 1840
(rebuilt in 1910) on the initiative of the hakham Shalom Shur-
rabi, author and sponsor of liturgical works for the Bene Israel
community. Alibag was the favorite resort of retired military
personnel of the Bene Israel group and the center of Hebrew
instruction for youth from neighboring Bene Israel settle-
ments. The historian of the community, Hayyim Samuel *Ke-
himkar, was born in Alibag. The synagogue in Alibag was still
functioning in the beginning of the 21° century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H.S. Kehimkar, History of the Bene Israel of
India (1937); S. Samuel, Treatise on the Origin and Early History of the
Bene Israel of the Maharashtra State (1963). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
J. Roland, The Jewish Communities of India (1998).
[Walter Joseph Fischel]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALI BEN AMRAM (second half of the 11'* century), re-
ligious head of the Palestinian community in Fostat (Old
Cairo), Egypt. Ali was the colleague and eventually successor
of R. *Ephraim b. Shemariah, who bore the honorary title of
he-haver ha-me'ulleh (“most excellent scholar”). In a letter,
written about 1060, that was found in the Cairo Genizah, Ali
addressed the court physician Abraham b. Isaac ha-Kohen b.
Furat, informing him that on Sabbaths and holidays he would
receive public recognition in the synagogue for his virtuous
acts. Two letters addressed to Ali from Palestine concerning
the Jews in Tiberias and one intro-ducing Moses b. Joseph, a
Spanish scholar on diplomatic assignment, were also discov-
ered in the Genizah. Ali was the author of a lengthy poem,
extant in manuscript, dedicated to one Ali b. Mevasser. Two
letters from the gaon Daniel b. Azariah to Ali have been pre-
served: in one, the gaon expresses his great confidence in Ali
and gratitude for his kindnesses; in the other, the gaon asks
Ali to hand over to the bearer contributions that had been col-
lected in Fustat, probably for the yeshivah in Jerusalem. Ali
was also in close touch with *Samuel ha-Nagid and his sons
Jehoseph and Eliasaph in Granada.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt, 2 (1922), index; idem, in:
HUCA, 3 (1926), 279, 283-8; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935), index; Ashtor, Ko-
rot, 2 (1966), 82-83.
[Moshe Nahum Zobel]
ALI (or Eli) BEN ZECHARIAH (13 century), gaon and
head of the Pumbedita academy. Ali was born in the town of
Erbil (now Iraq), and lived in Baghdad. From Arab sources
it appears that while *Daniel b. Samuel ha-Kohen ibn Abi-
Rabia was the gaon of the academy, Ali made a claim for the
post. The dispute came before the vizier, who in 1250 decided
in favor of Ali and appointed him gaon (chief judge, as the of-
fice is designated in Arab sources). The poet *Eleazar b. Jacob
ha-Bavli composed a poem in Ali’s honor. Although Baghdad
was captured by the Mongols in 1258, during Ali’s gaonate,
the office continued to exist. Of Ali’s sons, two are known:
Zechariah, who was deputy head of the academy, and Isaac,
referred to as “prince.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), 225-7, 299, 301-2;
Fischel, Islam, 131-3; idem, in: MGwJ, 79 (1935), 315-8; A. Ben-Jacob,
Yehudei Bavel (1965), 33-34; Eleazar b. Jacob ha-Bavli, Divan, ed. by
H. Brody (1935), nos. 55, 182, 221; S. Poznaniski, Babylonische Geonim
im nachgaonischen Zeitalter (1914), 49-52. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
M. Gil, Be-Malkhut Ishmael, 1 (1997), 463-64, 511.
[Abraham David]
ALIENS ACT, measure enacted by the British parliament
in 1905 which restricted immigration into Britain from ar-
eas outside the British Empire; it is generally believed to have
been chiefly a response to heavy East European Jewish im-
migration into Britain after 1880. (In British law, the age-old
term “alien” is used to designate someone who is not a citizen
of Britain or its Empire; it has no derogatory connotations.)
Agitation to restrict Jewish immigration began in the 1880s
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALI IBN SAHL IBN RABBAN AL-TABARI
and became more outspoken through the actions of a num-
ber of right-wing groups and activists. In 1902, a Royal Com-
mission was held into this question which recommended that
there should be no general restriction on immigration but that
“undesirable” migrants should be excluded. By the Act of 1905,
would-be immigrants had to disembark only at a designated
port, where officials could deny entry to “undesirable” immi-
grants, especially those without means of support. Historians
have generally believed that the Aliens Act reduced East Euro-
pean Jewish immigration to Britain by about one-third in the
years 1905-14. Recent research, however, has suggested that
the Act had only limited effects, and that immigration declined
because of perceptions of much greater economic opportu-
nity in America. As Britain had no immigration restrictions
prior to the 1905 Act, plainly something like it was inevitable.
In 1919, following World War 1, the 1905 Act was replaced by
a much more stringent one which virtually ended Jewish im-
migration to Britain until the 1930s.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: V.D. Lipman, Social History of the Jews in
England, 1850-1950 (1954); B. Garner, The Alien Invasion: The Ori-
gins of the Aliens Act of 1905 (1972); G. Alderman, Modern British
Jewry (1992), 132-37; W.D. Rubinstein, Jews in Great Britain, 153-58;
A. Godley, Jewish Immigrant Entrepreneurship in New York and Lon-
don, 1880-1914: Enterprise and Culture (2001).
[William D. Rubinstein (2™ ed.)]
ALIGER, MARGARITA YOSIFOVNA (1915-1992), Rus-
sian poet. Aliger was born in Odessa and began to publish
verse in 1933. Her prewar collections, God rozhdeniya (“Year
of Birth,” 1938) and Kamni i travy (“Stones and Herbs,’ 1940)
although somewhat imitative and conventional, showed an
unusual lyrical gift. She achieved fame in 1942 with her long
poem Zoya (Stalin Prize, 1943) based on newspaper accounts
of the life and death of a Moscow schoolgirl who fought be-
hind the German lines during the defense of Moscow. In her
long poem, “Tvoya pobeda” (“Your Victory”), Aliger, for the
first time, turned to a Jewish theme and, while declaring un-
reserved love for her Russian homeland, bitterly complained
about the historical injustice of German and Russian antisem-
itism. Expunged from subsequent editions of the poem, the
passage in question widely circulated in manuscript during
the 1940s and the 1950s. The poem reflected the ideological
and emotional crisis of the Communist Jewish intelligentsia,
brought about by the Holocaust and the upsurge of overt an-
tisemitism in the U.S.S.R. during World War 11. A number of
her poems were translated into English by Elaine Feinstein
(Collected Poems and Translations, 2002).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kratkaya Literaturnaya Entsiklopediya, 1,
154.
[Omri Ronen]
ALI IBN SAHL IBN RABBAN AL-TABARI (ninth cen-
tury), physician and medical writer in Iraq. He was born in
Tabaristan, south of the Caspian Sea, son of a well-known Jew-
ish astronomer and mathematician, Sahl ibn Rabban, whose
659
ALI IBN SULEIMAN
greatest astronomical feat was his translation into Arabic of
the Almagest of Ptolemy around 800. Because of civil distur-
bances Ali moved to Raiy, in the vicinity of Teheran, and be-
came the teacher of Muhammad al-Razi, the Muslim medi-
eval scholar and mystic. He then took the post of secretary
to Mazyar ibn Qarin, prince of his native Tabaristan, and be-
came a Muslim and a leading figure at the courts of the caliphs
al-Mu’tasim and al-Mutawakkil. His medical writings, espe-
cially the Firdaws al-Hikma (“Garden of Wisdom”), a medical
compendium in seven parts (edited by Max Meyerhof), intro-
duced Indian medical lore to Arab readers and to contempo-
rary Western medicine. His other works include treatises on
diet, on the proper care of health, on amulets and magic, on
cupping and similar subjects. He also wrote a book in praise
of Islam called Kitab al-Din wa al-Dawla (“The Book of Re-
ligion and Empire”).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Friedenwald, Jews and Medicine, 1 (1967),
173; Brockelmann, Arab Lit, 1 (1898), 231.
[Moshe Rosen]
ALI IBN SULEIMAN (c. 1200), Karaite exegete and
philosopher. It is conjectured that he was a member of the
Karaite academy in Jerusalem. Ali’s literary activity was
mainly confined to publishing older Karaite works in abridged
form. These include (1) an Arabic commentary on the Torah
(parts on Num. and Deut., preserved in manuscript in
the British Museum and in Leningrad); (2) a compilation
in Arabic of the compendium of *Abu al-Faraj Harun on
he Torah (Ms. Sulzberger, in the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary in New York; another part in the second Firkowitsch
Collection in Leningrad); (3) the Agron, a dictionary of
Hebrew rootwords in Arabic, based on the work of David
*Alfasi, but incorporating several Hebrew roots and deriva-
tives omitted by Alfasi, and explaining biblical terms by ref-
erence to the Mishnah, Talmud, and Targums (Ms. Lenin-
grad); and (4) a philosophical treatise (manuscript in Brit-
ish Museum).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Pinsker, Likkute Kadmoniyyot, 1 (1860),
175-216; Steinschneider, Arab Lit. (1902), no. 180; S. Poznanski, Kara-
ite Literary Opponents of Saadiah Gaon (1908), 54; S.L. Skoss, The Ara-
bic Commentary of ‘Ali ben Suleiman the Karaite on the Book of Gen-
esis (1928); idem, in: Tarbiz, 2 (1930/31), 510-13; Mann, Texts, 2 (1935),
41-42, 98; L. Nemoy, Karaite Anthology (1952), 235, 377.
ALISTAL (Slov. Dolny Stal, today Hrobonovo; Heb.
NINOW>YT .NINVW?>N), village in Slovakia, near Bratislava.
A community was established at Alistal in the 14 century by
Jews from Bohemia and Moravia, who exported horses from
the nearby royal stables. A synagogue was built in 1579. A com-
munity is mentioned again in records of 1780. Jews without
residential rights in Pressburg (Bratislava) were enabled to live
in Alistal under royal protection. In 1929 the Jewish popula-
tion in Alistal and environs numbered 259; approximately half
were occupied in agriculture. The community came to an end
during World War 11.
660
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Magyar Zsid6 Lexikon (1929), 26. ADD. BIB-
LIOGRAPHY: E. Barkany and L. Dojé, Zidovské ndbozenské obce na
Slovensku (1991), 163-64.
ALITURUS or ALITYROS (first century), Roman actor;
*Josephus, in his autobiography, describes him as a special
favorite of the emperor Nero and of Jewish origin. He relates
how, going to intercede for three priests who had been sent
to Rome in bonds by Felix, procurator of Judea, on a “trifling
charge,’ he won the friendship of the actor, who introduced
him to the empress Poppaea. With her aid he secured a par-
don for the priests. The Polish novelist Sienkiewicz introduced
“the actor Aliturus” in his Quo Vadis as Nero’s instructor in
the use of gesture in oratory.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jos, Life, 3:16.
ALIYAH (Heb. 7°79; “ascent”), (1) the coming of Jews to the
Land of Israel as olim (fem.: olot; sing.: oleh, olah) for perma-
nent residence; (2) Jews coming from a particular country or
region, or during a particular period, for this purpose, e.g.,
the Polish aliyah, the First Aliyah. Aliyah means more than
immigration: it is a major ideal of *Zionism and the primary
means for its realization. It implies personal participation in
the rebuilding of the Jewish homeland and the elevation of the
individual to a higher plane of self-fulfillment as a member
of the renascent nation.
In earlier years the majority of olim were inspired by
idealistic motives and even during the period of mass aliyah,
when the main driving force was persecution and distress,
many were motivated by messianic yearnings and there was
always an infusion of idealists. Aliyah has been an almost un-
interrupted process ever since the crushing of Jewish resis-
tance by the Romans, but the term has been used particularly
in connection with the modern Jewish return to the Land of
Israel. Five major waves have been distinguished during the
period of Zionist resettlement, each of which played its part in
molding the yishuv, the Jewish community which constituted
the Jewish state in embryo.
The First Aliyah, 1882-1903, consisted of individuals and
small groups, mainly under the inspiration of *Hibbat Zion
and the *Bilu movement, who established the early moshavot
(see *moshavah). Some 25,000 - mostly from Eastern Eu-
rope — arrived during this period. There were two main in-
fluxes: in 1882-84 and 1890-91.
The Second Aliyah, 1904-14, which laid the foundation
for the labor movement, consisted mainly of pioneers from
Eastern Europe, who generally worked as hired laborers in the
moshavot or the cities. They established the first Jewish labor
parties and self-help institutions, the *Ha-Shomer watchmen’s
association, and the first kevuzot (see *kibbutz), and laid the
foundations for a new Hebrew press and literature. The influx,
which totaled about 40,000, was interrupted by the outbreak
of World War 1.
The Third Aliyah, 1919-23, which started immediately af-
ter World War 1, contained many young pioneers (halutzim)
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
belonging to the *He-Halutz and *Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir move-
ments. Together with the veterans of the Second Aliyah, they
established the *Histadrut and *Gedud ha-Avodah, worked
on road-building, set up more kevuzot and kibbutzim, and
founded the first *moshavim. Over 35,000 arrived during
this period.
The Fourth Aliyah, 1924-28, which totaled some 67,000,
contained many middle-class olim, over half of them from
Poland. Some four-fifths settled in the main cities, consi-
derably increasing the urban population, building new
quarters, and setting up workshops and small factories.
Development was halted by an unemployment crisis in
1926-28.
The Fifth Aliyah, 1929-39, accounted for an influx of
over 250,000 Jews and transformed the character of the yi-
shuv. A prominent part was played by refugees from Nazi
Germany, over a quarter of the total, who transferred large
amounts of capital and contributed valuable skills and busi-
ness experience.
Aliyah continued during and after World War 11, total-
ing about 100,000 in 1940-48 (sometimes referred to as the
Sixth and Seventh Aliyot). Under British rule (1918-48) aliyah
was regulated by the Government of Palestine. The official
criterion for the numbers admitted was, in normal periods,
the country’s “economic absorptive capacity,’ on which the
British authorities and Jewish leaders did not agree, but in
periods of crisis aliyah was often halted or severely restricted
on political grounds. Between 1934 and 1948, some 115,000
olim were brought into the country in defiance of British
restrictions, while another 51,500 were interned by the au-
thorities in Cyprus and admitted only after the achievement
of independence. This influx was described by the British
as “illegal” *immigration and by the Jews as Aliyah Bet or
ha’palah.
Independent Israel immediately removed all restrictions
on aliyah and enacted the *Law of Return (1950), which guar-
anteed every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel as an oleh,
unless he or she was a danger to public health or security, and
to become a citizen immediately on arrival. The mass aliyah
that followed the establishment of the State assumed the char-
acter of kibbuz galuyyot (“the *ingathering of the exiles”), al-
most entire Jewish communities, such as those of Bulgaria,
Yemen, and Iraq, being transferred to Israel. The resources of
the State, as well as massive contributions from world Jewry
through the Jewish *Agency, were mobilized for the transpor-
tation, reception, and integration of the olim. Mass aliyah -
mainly from Eastern and Central Europe, North Africa, and
the Middle East - resulted in the immigration of over a mil-
lion and a quarter Jews in Israel’s first two decades, the influx
rising to its greatest heights in 1948-51 (684,000), 1955-57
(161,000), and 1961-64 (220,000). After the Six-Day War of
1967 there was a considerable increase in “voluntary” aliyah
from Western Europe and the Americas. In the 1970s, as a re-
sult of pressure from Israel and other Western countries, the
US.S.R. opened its gates, enabling more than 150,000 Jews
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALJAMA
to make aliyah. The majority arrived until 1973, and later on
many of them left Israel and moved to other Western coun-
tries. The next massive aliyah from the U.S.S.R. began in
1989 when it reestablished relations with Israel. In 1990-91,
350,000 Russian immigrants arrived in Israel, and by 2003,
over a million had emigrated from the former Soviet Union,
making them the country’s largest immigrant group. The ma-
jority were motivated by economic and social factors rather
than Zionist ideology. Many were professionals — physicians,
engineers, musicians, etc. - and by the end of the 1990s over
30% were non-Jews (as opposed to 10% in the 1990-95 pe-
riod), benefiting from Israel’s liberal Law of Return, which
accords the right to immigrate to non-Jewish descendants of
Jews. Though their absorption in the country was often diffi-
cult, they became a highly visible and influential population
group in the course of the years.
During the same period Israel also faced aliyah from
Ethiopia. The first olim arrived at the end of the 1970s, after
R. Ovadiah *Yosef acknowledged their Jewishness. About
5,000 arrived independently at refugee camps in Sudan and
were brought from there to Israel. As many of them lost their
lives on the way, the Israeli government initiated Operation
Moses at the end of 1984, in which 8,000 were airlifted to Israel
in a 45-day period. In 1985, Sudan closed its borders and the
Ethiopian aliyah ceased. In May 1991, it was renewed, with
another 14,000 arriving in a dramatic 36-hour airlift (Opera-
tion Solomon). Since then, more have arrived in small groups,
bringing the total of Ethiopian Jewry to 80,000 in 2002. Their
integration into the country’s life, socially and economically,
has been extremely problematic, though the younger genera-
tion is being steadily “Israelified.”
In the early years of the 21° century, aliyah consisted of
small groups of olim, mainly from Argentina and France.
See also State of *Israel: Aliyah, Absorption and Settle-
ment, where a bibliography is given.
For Aliyah le-Torah, see *Torah Reading.
[Misha Louvish/Fred Skolnik (2"¢ ed.)]
ALJAMA (derived from the Arabic al-Jamd‘a, an assembly
or congregation), self-governing Jewish or Moorish com-
munity in medieval Spain. In the Iberian Peninsula the term
refers to the legal institutional framework in which the Jews
lived in a locality. It was the kehillah as perceived in Jewish ju-
risdiction and recognized by the authorities. The appellation
also denotes the quarter inhabited by Jews or Moors. Other
forms of the word are aliama and alcama; in Aragonese docu-
ments it sometimes appears as yema while in Portuguese the
word is Alfama. The term was also used regularly in Sicily,
and sometimes in south Italy, to designate the Jewish com-
munity. It was declined as a Latin noun, and still appears in
Spanish dictionaries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. de las Cacigas, in: Sefarad, 6 (1946), 91-93.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Romano, in: Sefarad, 39 (1979), 347-54; Y.
Assis, The Golden Age of Aragonese Jewry (1997), 67-73.
661
ALKABEZ, SOLOMON BEN MOSES HA-LEVI
ALKABEZ, SOLOMON BEN MOSES HA-LEVI (c. 1505-
1584), kabbalist and mystical poet, composer of the Sabbath
hymn “*Lekhah Dodi” (“Come, my Beloved”). In 1529 he de-
cided to settle in Erez Israel. In the course of his trip he stayed
briefly in Adrianople. Here, a group of kabbalist ascetics asked
him to instruct them in the spiritual life and in his methods
of worship of God. At Nikopolis, he was probably in contact
with Joseph *Caro, who greatly appreciated Alkabez’ knowl-
edge of Kabbalah. Alkabez states that while they were both
studying the Torah on the night of Shavuot, the *maggid ap-
peared to Caro. They therefore established the custom of stay-
ing awake on the night of Shavuot to study the Torah. The
custom, which became widespread, is known as “Tikkun Leil
Shavuot.” Alkabez preached wherever he went, and Samuel
b. Israel de Uceda, Eleazer *Azikri, Abraham *Galante, Elisha
Galileo, and Isaac Gershon were among those who listened to
his preaching and quoted from his sermons. Alkabez probably
arrived in Safed in 1535. Very little is known of his life there.
His signature on rulings and documents is rarer than that of
any other important Safed scholar. Nothing is known about
his attitude to Isaac *Luria. It seems that he was head of the
Meron yeshivah and it is almost certain that he was an offici-
ating rabbi in Safed. A prolific author, he wrote some works
on the Bible, and others of a kabbalistic nature. Many of his
manuscripts were stolen when he died. It is not clear whether
this was done during persecutions, or by other authors. None
of his purely kabbalistic works was printed or preserved in
manuscript.
Alkabez, in order to understand the secrets of the Zohar,
used to go out with his students to pray and meditate on the
graves of zaddikim. This practice was called gerushin (“banish-
ment”). During these gerushin-peregrinations, they concen-
trated on rousing their contemplative powers spontaneously
and without any previous preparation. Alkabez had a power-
ful gift for stimulating spiritual revivals and mystical life. His
best-known disciple was Moses *Cordovero (who married
Alkabez sister). It seems, however, that the teacher became
student. This is mainly apparent from Alkabez’ Likkutei Hak-
damot le-Hokhmat ha-Kabbalah (“Collection of Introductions
to the Doctrine of Kabbalah,’ Oxford Ms. 40). The structure
of this work is analogous to that of Cordoveros first important
book, Pardes Rimmonim, and the opinions expressed in both
works are generally the same. In one matter of principle, how-
ever, Alkabez took a more extreme view. According to him,
the Sefirot (“Divine Emanations”) are the essence of God, and
he moved toward the conception of God as immanent in the
world. His kabbalistic doctrine emphasized the theoretical
element and attempted to endow these symbols reflecting an
inner, hidden world, with a conceptual character.
As a kabbalistic commentator on the Bible, his system
generally follows that of his teacher, Joseph *Taitazak. His
manner of developing an argument by first raising a series
of difficulties as a basis for the understanding of his text, is
similar to that of the Sephardi commentators and homiletic
authors of his time. In his opinion, the sayings of the talmu-
662
ALKABEZ FAMILY MOSES HA-LEVI
ALKABEZ
first half of 15 cent.
SOLOMON
1482 printer
in Guadalajara
MOSES JOSHUA — R. ISAAC
COHEN
MOSES SOLOMON
CORDOVERO author of
kabbalist @® = dtr. Lekhah Dodi @® ~~ dtr.
in Safed b. c. 1505
1522-1570 d. 1584 Safed
MOSES
dic sages were the true Kabbalah, because they possessed au-
thentic traditions which were handed down from generation
to generation and their commentaries were not homileti-
cal interpretations of the text. He believed that the aggadot
of the sages were reliable, and that one should not be given
preference over the other. His writings show that in addition
to expressing purely kabbalistic opinions in unique style, he
was one of the first to bring full-length quotations from the
Zohar and to explain them. The work also includes esoteric
aspects of the Torah which are interpreted in brief (Shoresh
Yishai (1561), 77). More than any other scholar in Safed and
in Turkey, he made extensive use of the kabbalistic writings
of *Eleazar b. Judah of Worms, particularly Shaarei Binah and
Maaseh Rokeah. His attitude toward the sciences was negative.
He often quoted commentaries of latter-day authors, some of
whom lived close to his own times, as well as his older con-
temporaries. Among these were the treatises on the Bible by
Joseph Gakon and Joseph Jabez he-Hasid. He also quoted from
his father Moses Alkabez, his uncle Joshua, Joseph Taitazak,
and the great halakhist Jacob *Berab (c. 1474-1541).
A collection of Alkabez’s prayers has been preserved
(Moscow, Ms. Guenzburg 694, and Paris Ms. 198). They con-
tain supplications, confessions, admonitions, and songs of
praise, both in the form of hymns and of meditations in the
style of Gabirol’s “Keter Malkhut.” Alkabez probably initiated
the custom practiced by the kabbalists of Safed of going out to
the fields to welcome the Sabbath with a recital of his hymns.
His “Lekhah Dodi” achieved unparalleled popularity, and is
sung in Jewish communities at *Kabbalat Shabbat. “Lekhah
Dodi” was accepted soon after it was written and was intro-
duced into the prayer book in 1584 (Sephardi version, Venice).
The meaning of this hymn, which is permeated by a longing
for redemption and the regeneration of the *Shekhinah (“Di-
vine Presence”), was changed by the Shabbateans who con-
tended that the Messiah had already arrived, and they adapted
it to conform to their views.
His works include Ayyelet Ahavim (1552, on the Song of
Songs), Shoresh Yishai (1561 or 1566 on Ruth), Manot ha-Levi
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
(1585, two commentaries on the Scroll of Esther), Divrei She-
lomo on the Minor Prophets, Ne’im Zemirot on Psalms, and
Pizei Ohev on Job. The titles of his other works on the Bible
are not known. His sermons are also found in the book Or
Zaddikim. His other writings are all kabbalistic: Ozar Nehmad,
Amarot Tehorot, on the Sefirot and some sayings of the Zohar;
Appiryon Shelomo, Beit Adohai, Beit Tefillah constitute “a com-
prehensive interpretation of all the prayers of the year”; Berit
ha-Levi, a commentary on the Passover Haggadah in both
the literal and the kabbalistic manner; Lehem Shelomo, the
devotional rules of the meals, in the kabbalistic manner; Mit-
tato shel Shelomo on the mystical significance of sexual union;
Sukkat Shalom, Avotot Ahavah, Shomer Emunim, prayers and
litanies (Ms. 8° 1008, Jerusalem).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S.A. Horodezky, in: Sefer ha-Shanah shel Erez
Yisrael (1935); R.J.Z. Werblowsky, in: Sefunot, 6 (1962), 135-82; idem,
Joseph Karo, Lawyer and Mystic (1962), 19-20, 51, 99-111, 119, 142; M.
Benayahu, in: Sefunot, 6 (1962), 14-17.
ALKAHI, MORDEKHAI (1925-1947), Jew executed by the
British in Palestine. Alkahi was born in Petah Tikvah and grew
up under difficult circumstances. He joined 1.z.L. in 1943 and
gained a reputation for his courage and initiative. He was cap-
tured together with Yehiel *Drezner and Eliezer *Kashani on
Dec. 29, 1946, while attempting to kidnap some British off-
cers, and with his companions was hanged in Acre.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Nedava, Olei-ha-Gardom (1966); Y. Gu-
rion, Ha-Nizzahon Olei Gardom (1971).
ALKALAI, ABRAHAM BEN SAMUEL (1750?-1811), Bul-
garian rabbi and codifier. Alkalai, who was apparently born
in Salonika, studied under his uncle Reuben b. Jacob, whose
novellae he sometimes quotes in his works. He served as rabbi
of Dupnitsa, where he also headed a yeshivah (1781). He vis-
ited Salonika in 1798, and Adrianople on his way to Con-
stantinople (1802), as emissary of his community, which was
suffering great hardships. Later he settled in Safed. His best-
known work is Zekhor le-Avraham, in which he arranged al-
phabetically the laws of the Shulhan Arukh (2 vols., Salonika,
1798; vol. 3, addenda, 1815). A second edition of the first two
volumes, published by his nephew Judah Hayyim Alkalai, in-
cluded an abridgment of vol. 3 with his own additions (1818).
He also wrote responsa, Hesed le-Avraham (2 vols., 1813-14).
A manuscript volume of his sermons is in the Jewish Theo-
logical Seminary library in New York (no. 9425).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rosanes, Togarmah, 5 (1938), 160; 6 (1945),
135-8.
ALKALAI, DAVID (1862-1933), founder and leader of the
Zionist movement in Serbia and Yugoslavia. Alkalai, who was
born in Belgrade, was a grandnephew of Judah *Alkalai, whose
granddaughter he married. He studied law in Vienna, where
he joined the Zionist students’ association *Kadimah, and
was active in the group centered in the first Zionist periodical
*Selbstemanzipation. Alkalai continued his studies in Vienna
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALKALAI, JUDAH BEN SOLOMON HAI
and Tubingen, then returned to Belgrade, where he practiced
law. He represented Belgrade at the First Zionist Congress in
Basle (1897), was elected to the Zionist General Council (the
Actions Committee), and from then on was the moving spirit
in the Zionist movement in Belgrade and in Serbia. In 1924
he became president of the Zionist Organization in Yugosla-
via, and was, for many years, president of the Belgrade Jewish
community. He was instrumental in winning Yugoslav states-
men over to Zionism. Alkalai was a pioneer in the publica-
tion of Zionist literature in Serbian. He appears as Aladin, a
Sephardi, the Jew heading the Land Acquisition Department
in Herzl’s novel Altneuland.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Agmon (Bistritzkij) (ed.), Megillat ha-
Adamah, 2 (1951), 233-4; A.L. Jaffe (ed.), Sefer ha-Congress (19507),
89-90, 292-3; Ha-Olam (Feb. 16, 1933).
[Getzel Kressel]
ALKALAI, JUDAH BEN SOLOMON HAI (1798-1878),
Sephardi rabbi and precursor of modern Zionism. Alkalai was
born in Sarajevo (then Bosnia) and brought up in Jerusalem,
where he was strongly influenced by Sarajevo-born R. Eliezer
Papo. From 1825 until he again moved to Jerusalem in 1874, Al-
kalai was rabbi of Semlin (Zemun), near Belgrade. He taught
Hebrew to the young men of the congregation, whose mother
tongue was Ladino. As a young man, Alkalai was introduced to
the concept of the Jewish nation by the rabbi of Corfu, Judah b.
Samuel *Bibas, one of the originators of the idea of Hibbat Zion
and settlement in Erez Israel. The struggle of three nations -
Turkey, Austria, and Serbia — for the domination of the town of
Semlin also directed his thoughts to a modern political concep-
tion of the destiny and aspirations of the Jewish people.
His first two books were written in Ladino; the rest in
Hebrew. In his first book, Darkhei Noam (1839), a Ladino-
Hebrew textbook, the outstanding feature is his revolution-
ary attitude toward redemption as opposed to the traditional
religious interpretations. Teshuvah (“repentance”), which,
according to the Talmud (Sanh. 97b), is the precondition for
redemption, is interpreted by Alkalai in its literal sense, ice.,
shivah, return (to Erez Israel). This approach, which was first
expressed by R. Bibas and was later developed in Alkalai’s
writings, is the foundation of his preaching for a Return to
Zion within the framework of traditional religious thought.
He interpreted the traditional meaning of teshuvah as peratit
(“personal”), ie., “that each man shall return from the path
of evil according to the definitions of repentance given by the
early sages,’ whereas the new meaning refers to teshuvah ke-
lalit (“general return”), i-e., “that all of Israel should return to
the land of our fathers.”
Alkalai’s second book was a rebuttal to the scornful criti-
cism that was heaped upon these interpretations. Entitled She-
lom Yerushalayim (1840), it contained the first reaction to the
*Damascus Affair and hints of a Return to Zion. The united
stand of world Jewry during the Damascus Affair, as well as
the struggle of the Serbs for their independence, led him to
publish his first Hebrew work Minhat Yehudah (1843). In this
663
ALKALAJ, ARON
work he interprets the year of the Damascus Affair, 1840, as
a fateful and symbolic year for the Jewish nation on its road
to redemption. The libeling and suffering of Damascus Jewry
occurred in order to arouse the Jewish people to their plight
in exile and “to the remoteness of Jerusalem?” “Complacent
dwellers in foreign lands” should learn the lesson of the Da-
mascus Affair.
In all his writings, Alkalai cites passages from the Tal-
mud, the Midrash, and the Kabbalah, to which he adds his
own mystical interpretations. His own views, however, which
he repeated both verbally and in writing, are clear, namely that
redemption is primarily in the hands of man himself, of the
people, and redemption through a miracle can only come at
a later stage. This introduction of a natural voluntaristic fac-
tor into the yearnings for redemption was a daring concept
for his period.
Alkalai aroused strong opposition in Orthodox circles,
which rejected the modern concept of redemption. However,
he continued to publish pamphlet after pamphlet, stressing
that the settlement of Erez Israel was the primary solution to
the Jewish problem in Europe. In these pamphlets he quoted
the early and later sages, also using *gematria. From these
pamphlets, a far-reaching plan for the realization of the re-
turn to Erez Israel emerged. Alkalai called for the introduc-
tion of the tithe for financing settlement, for the achievement
of international recognition of Jewish Erez Israel, for the res-
toration of the assembly of elders as a Jewish parliament, for
the revival of Hebrew (particularly spoken Hebrew), for Jew-
ish agriculture, and for a Jewish army. He expressed the hope
that Great Britain would supervise the execution of the pro-
gram. He opposed a plan, discussed in the early 1860s, to erect
houses for the Jews in Jerusalem (battei mahaseh) as being
merely of temporary benefit, whereas agricultural settlement
would prove of permanent value.
In 1852 Alkalai visited England in order to propagate his
idea for a return to Erez Israel. He subsequently traveled to
several other West European countries seeking support for his
plan. In each locality that he visited he founded a Society for
the Settlement of Erez Israel. He corresponded with prominent
rabbis in Germany and Austria who gave their imprimatur to
his pamphlets. Alkalai also called for the establishment of an
international Jewish association, which was realized only in
1860 with the founding of the *Alliance Israélite Universelle.
He requested of this organization to help him carry out his
plans. However, when, in 1870 the Alliance established the
*Mikveh Israel agricultural school in Erez Israel, he opposed
the project, arguing that, despite the usefulness of the school
in training future Jewish farmers, the only worthwhile activity
was the large-scale acquisition of land for settlement purposes.
Alkalai opposed the religious Reform Movement in Germany
which omitted the references to Zion and Jerusalem from its
prayers. He also had no faith in the Emancipation movement,
which he regarded as an unwanted diversion from migration
and settlement in Erez Israel. For this reason, he also opposed
Jewish emigration to the U.S. and elsewhere.
664
His efforts brought few results. He encouraged the So-
ciety for the Settlement of Erez Israel, founded by Hayyim
*Lorje, but it achieved nothing. Alkalai eventually lost faith
in his own society and those founded by others. He went to
Erez Israel in 1871 and founded the Kol Israel Haverim society
for the settlement of Erez Israel, giving it the same name as
the Hebrew translation of Alliance Israélite Universelle, as if
to establish an Alliance branch in Erez Israel. However, when
Alkalai returned to Serbia, the organization failed as a result
of the opposition of the Jerusalem zealots and the Amster-
dam center for the distribution of *halukkah funds. Alkalai
violently attacked the Jerusalem zealots and all other oppo-
nents of the settlement of Erez Israel, from leading Orthodox
rabbis to the heads of the Reform movement.
He published 18 pamphlets and many articles in Hebrew
newspapers. One of his pamphlets, Mevasser Tov, also appeared
in English translation entitled Harbinger of Good Tidings: An
Address to the Jewish Nation on the Propriety of Organizing an
Association to Promote the Regaining of Their Fatherland (1852).
A selection of his writings, with a bibliography and an intro-
duction by G. Kressel, was published in 1943. A complete edi-
tion of his works, with an introduction by Y. Werfel (Raphael),
appeared in 1944. Alkalai is the hero of a novel by Yehudah
Burla, entitled Ba-Ofek (“On the Horizon,” 1943-47).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Herzberg, Zionist Idea (1960), 32-36,
103-7; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 119-20 (incl. bibl.). ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHY: M. Penkower, in: Judaism, 33:3 (1984), 289-95; Y. Rephael,
Kitvei ha-Rav Yehudah Alkalai, 2 vols. (1974); Z. Loker, “Le Rabbin
Juda ben Salomon Hay Alacalay et 1* Alliance Israélite Universelle a
propos de ses letters inédites,” in: Revue des Etudes juives, 144 (jan-
vier-septembre 1985), fasc. 1-3, 127-44; J. Lebl, “Holeh Ahavat Yerush-
alayim,” in: Pe‘amim, no. 46 (1989), 21-48.
[Getzel Kressel]
ALKALAJ, ARON (1880-1973), author and communal leader.
Alkalaj, the son of a cantor, was born in Belgrade, where he
became a bank director and Jewish communal and cultural
leader. Apart from works on finance and economics, he pub-
lished a biography of Moses (1938); a work about Josephus and
the fall of Judea, Josif Flavije i pad Judeje (1965; orig. in Jevrejski
almanah, 1963-64); a study of Jewish life in Belgrade; a mono-
graph on Moses and a book about Israel (1960).
ALKAN, ALPHONSE (1809-1889), French printer and au-
thor. Born in Paris, Alkan worked as a printer, but also wrote
for printing and bibliographical magazines. He later became
secretary to the comte de Clarac, keeper of the Museum of
Antiquities in the Louvre. There he was also able to exercise
his knowledge of printing by acting as a proofreader. Alkan
wrote several books on printing and its history, including Les
Etiquettes et leurs Inscriptions des Boites - Volumes de Pierre
Jannet, Fondateur de la Bibliotheque Elzévirienne (1883), Un
Fondeur en Caractéres, Membre de l'Institut (1886), and Les
Quatre Doyens de la Typographie Parisienne (1889). Other sig-
nificant books by Alkan dealt with bibliography.
[John M. Shaftesley]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALKAN (real name Morhange), CHARLES HENRI-
VALENTIN (1813-1888), French pianist and composer. The
son of a school director, Alkan, a child prodigy, became a
concert pianist but retired in 1839. He spent the rest of his life
almost in seclusion, teaching, composing, and studying litera-
ture, especially the Talmud. Alkan wrote almost exclusively for
the piano. His music fell into neglect, perhaps because of its
tremendous technical difficulties, but in recent years concert
pianists have rediscovered him. Alkan liked the grotesque and
the macabre, and his melody is somewhat dry and unexpres-
sive. Searching for orchestral sound on the piano, he achieved
interesting effects of color and harmony through surprisingly
modern-sounding chords by adding foreign tones and by un-
usual pedal effects. His brother NAPOLEON (1826-1888) was
also a pianist and composed some salon pieces.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove, Diet, and Supplement; Riemann-Gur-
litt, Sendrey, Music, no. 4569.
[Claude Abravanel]
ALLEGORY, a narrative in which the agents and the action,
and sometimes the setting as well, are contrived not only to
make sense in themselves, but also to signify a second corre-
lated order of things, concepts, or events (Abrams).
In the Bible
A pure parable differs from a pure allegory in two respects:
(1) it is simple and credible in itself; it begins by saying that
case A is like case B. The parables in the Midrash and Gos-
pels are of this sort (e.g., prodigal son: Luke 15:11-32; father-
less steward: ibid. 16; the 11" hour: Matt. 20:1-16). There are,
however, some parables which tell a tale simple and credible
in itself but do not begin by saying case a is like case B, but
rather leave the hearer wondering, or - at first - deliberately
mislead him (e.g., Nathan's parable, 1 Sam. 12:1-7; the “story”
told by the anonymous prophet in 1 Kings 20:39). The latter
might be called quasi-allegories or crypto-allegories. These
stories are not as contrived as Ezekiel 17:1ff., which only makes
sense as a “riddle” (hidah; Ezek. 17:2). This is not an allegori-
cally applied parable but an allegory pure and simple. A simi-
lar quasi-allegory is the “Song of the Vineyard” in Isaiah 5:1-6,
which, however, has an allegorical element (cf. verse 6 b) in
the story as well as being allegorically interpreted in verse 7.
The fact is that biblical Hebrew was hardly aware of a distinc-
tion between simile, metaphor, parable, and allegory. Thus, in
Ezekiel 24:3 the word mashal designates a metaphor, whereas
in 17:2 it introduces, together with the word hidah, a typical
allegory (Ezek. 17:3-24). In fact, both these words cover the
gamut of figurative language, including not only parable and
allegory, but fable, tale, enigma, maxim, and proverb.
Beside allegorical figures, such as kindness (grace; hesed),
faithfulness (emet), righteousness (zedek), integrity (shalem)
in Psalms 85:11-12, 14 and 89:15, wisdom (hokhmah, hokhmot)
in Proverbs 1:20; 8:1, 1239:1; 14:1, and folly (kesilut, ivvelet) in
Proverbs 9:13, 14:1, maiden Israel, fair (lit. daughter) Zion, fair
Jerusalem, and similar expressions in various poetical books,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALLEGORY
there are two principal kinds of allegory in the Bible. The first
occurs when the narrative is based upon an image that sug-
gests the intended subject. Allegories of this kind are often
found in Ezekiel, perhaps the first Hebrew poet to make an
extensive use of the metaphor. Thus, in Ezekiel, 16:3-63, Jeru-
salem appears as an adulteress, and in Ezekiel 23:2—45, the two
adulterous sisters Oholah and Oholibah represent Samaria and
Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 19:2-14, there is a twin allegory, in which
the lioness and the vine stock symbolize the people of Israel.
This allegory is perhaps partially inspired by an originally Su-
merian lyric, The Message of Lu-dingir-ra to His Mother (see M.
Civil, in: JNES, 23 (1964), 1-11; J. Nougayrol and E. Laroche, in
Ugaritica, 5 (1968), 310-19, 444-5, 773-9). Another allegory of
the vine stock is found in Psalms 80:9-17. In Ezekiel 31:3-18,
the fate of the Cedar of Lebanon symbolizes the destiny of
Pharaoh, while the allegory of the shepherds and the flock in
Ezekiel 34:2-16, 17-22, alludes to the kings of Israel. Ezekiel’s
allegorical descriptions are sometimes followed by an inter-
pretation of all the figurative elements, a method found later
in apocalyptic literature; symbolic visions are explained by a
heavenly being or a man of God. This occurs first in Ezekiel
17:3-24, one of the finest pieces of allegorical imagery, which
represents the king of Babylon as an eagle and the house of
David as a cedar. The same proceeding is found in Ezekiel’s vi-
sion of the resurrection of the dry bones (37:1-14), an allegory
of Israel's restoration. The description of the invaders’ army
in Joel 2:1-11 portrays in reality the invasion of locusts, which
the poet considered a sign of the Lord’s anger. The shepherd’s
allegory in Zechariah 11:4-14 is a kind of apology of the di-
vine Providence toward Israel. Some visions of apocalyptic
literature, such as Daniel 4:7—24 or 7:2-27, are akin to alle-
gory inasmuch as the details have an assigned meaning. The
allegory of old age in Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 is, in its individual
figures, somewhat akin to a riddle.
The second kind of allegory occurs when the literary
composition has a complete meaning contained within it-
self, independently of the moral or spiritual framework that
lies beyond it. There is perhaps one sustained allegory of this
type in the Bible, namely the Song of Songs, which is an ar-
tistically elaborate anthology of love lyrics. Some scholars
have nevertheless attempted to see it as an allegorical narra-
tive about the relations between God and His people. An al-
legorical interpretation may be imposed by others on a work
whose author did not intend it to have any meaning on other
than the literal level. The allegorical exegesis of the Song of
Songs may reflect such a creative approach to a work, which
originally had no allegorical meaning at all. In fact, allegoriz-
ing interpretations made their way into Judaism in the first
centuries B.C.E. and C.E.
[Edward Lipinski]
In Talmudic and Medieval Literature
Allegory was used in the talmudic period, and especially in
the medieval period, in three types of literature, each using
allegory in its own, different way: (a) homiletical literature
665
ALLEGORY
used allegory in trying to translate facts and ideas known to
the public, into ethical teaching, by discovering the hidden
meaning behind the well-known phenomena; allegorical in-
terpretation of Scripture was frequently used in this literary
type; (b) fiction, both poetry and prose, used allegory in order
to develop a multi-level story or poem; (c) theological litera-
ture, especially medieval philosophy and Kabbalah, used alle-
gory as a means to express the idea that the phenomena which
are revealed to the senses are but a superficial and sometimes
false part of the divine truth, whereas allegory can penetrate
to deeper and truer levels.
The preachers of the talmudic and midrashic literature
seldom used complete and systematic allegorical construc-
tions. An attempt has been made to prove that two schools
of allegorists existed in talmudic times, the doreshei reshumot
and doreshei hamurot, both of which were frowned upon by
the leading talmudic scholars. This may well be, and the re-
sult was that allegory is found in a scattered, unorganized way
in this vast literature. One of the clearest examples of the use
of allegory is to be found in the homiletical discussions of
Ecclesiastes 9:15, 16 (Eccles. R., ch. 9). Here the characters in
the biblical verse are interpreted in several allegorical ways,
but each is complete, and explains every detail in the source,
whether it is historical allegory, finding in the verse the story
of Israel in Egypt, or ethical allegory, describing the relation-
ship between the good and the evil (inclinations) in man.
The midrashic preachers in this case, as in a few others, had
no doubt whatsoever that the biblical verse is allegorical in
nature; they discussed various possibilities of unveiling this
allegorical meaning. This is a completely different situation
from that found in the interpretations of the Song of Songs
as allegory, for in that case the meaning (e.g., the relationship
between God and Israel) preceded the detailed allegorical in-
terpretations.
Later homiletical literature, in the medieval and early
modern periods, revealed allegorical meanings not only in
biblical verses, but in talmudic and midrashic passages. Ob-
scure sayings of talmudic scholars, strange stories told by them
(e.g., the stories of *Rabbah b. Bar Hana, allegorically inter-
preted by R. *Nahman of Bratzlav in the first years of the 19
century), all served as material for allegorical interpretation,
usually within an ethical, moralistic framework. However,
here also systematic, allegorical structure is very rare.
The clearest examples of the use of allegory in fiction is
to be found in the *maqama of the 12'®-14' centuries, espe-
cially in Spain. Characters in these works are sometimes al-
legorical entities, usually with some hidden philosophical
meaning. Usually it is difficult to distinguish between a well-
developed fable and allegorical elements in these works, but
some allegorical tendencies are evident. Most of the writers
of this school followed examples, or even definite works, by
their Arab predecessors or contemporaries. In Hebrew poetry
of the period, especially sacred poetry but sometimes also in
the secular, allegorical elements may be found. However, it is
666
difficult to point out a separate allegorical school. Abraham
*Ibn Ezra’s Hai ben Makiz is one of the best examples of alle-
gorical works of this period.
It is not surprising that theological allegory is to be found
more in the homiletical and exegetical works of medieval He-
brew philosophers and mystics than in the “straight” theologi-
cal works. Allegory was used mainly to reconcile ancient lore
with contemporary theology, and homiletics and exegetical
literature are usually the meeting place of the old and the new.
However, some use of allegory is to be found in stories and
fables incorporated in theological works, e.g., in *Bahya ibn
Paquda’s Hovot ha-Levavot,’ in the writings of R. Shem Tov
ibn *Falaquera, or even in Maimonides’ famous “parable of
the Palace” (Guide, 3:51).
The philosophers used allegory not only to explain away
the physical attributes of God in the Bible and the talmudic
literature. They interpreted whole biblical stories as allegory.
This tendency is less evident in the early development of Jew-
ish medieval philosophy; it came into its own only in the 13
century, in the writings of Maimonists like R. Zerahiah Hen
(see *Gracian), in his polemical letters and his exegesis of the
book of Job, or R. Jacob *Anatoli, in his homiletical work,
Malmad ha-Talmidim. In works like these, one plot is sub-
stituted for another: the story of Abraham and Sarah, for ex-
ample, becomes a parable of the relationship between matter
and form, and Noah's three sons represent the three Platonic
social classes.
[Joseph Dan]
In Kabbalah
Allegory does not occupy a prominent place in kabbalistic
thought and insofar as kabbalists used it, they were influ-
enced by philosophical exegesis. The specific domain of kab-
balistic thought is the aspect of sod (“mystery”), that is, view-
ing the processes of the world or interpreting the Scriptures
in a manner which refers them to the mystery of the God-
head and its hidden life. However, opposed to sod is remez
(“allusion”), which is allegory. Philosophical commentaries
did not talk of processes within the divine world revealing
themselves through symbols; but of parallelism between bib-
lical data, e.g., the stories of the Bible, and philosophical views
derived from Greek and Arab tradition. Such commentaries
recur in certain parts of the Zohar, especially in the Midrash
ha-Ne’lam concerning the stories of the patriarchs and Ruth,
where these stories were interpreted as allegories of the fate
of the soul in its descent from above into the human body, its
vicissitudes inside the body, and the future allotted to it after
death and in the world to come. Here and there such com-
mentaries are also found in the main body of the Zohar. In
kabbalistic literature this type of allegorical interpretation is
prominent among those kabbalists who tended (especially in
the 13" and 14" centuries) to seek a compromise between phi-
losophy and Kabbalah, and to develop mystical views beyond
the specific theosophical system of *Sefirot. The main repre-
sentative of this conception is *Isaac b. Latif. In the wide-rang-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ing commentary on the Pentateuch of *Bahya b. Asher the al-
legorical parts (“rational exegesis”) were separated from the
kabbalistic parts (“exegesis in the manner of the Kabbalah”).
Allegorical interpretations are also found in the writings of
kabbalists like Joseph *Ibn Wagar and Samuel *Ibn Motot.
Allegory of the type which interprets the words of the Scrip-
tures as referring to the history of man and his fate is found
in abundance in the hasidic literature which combines the
manner of the allegoristic and aggadic interpreters with the
style of the kabbalists.
[Gershom Scholem]
One of the major kabbalists who systematically used
philosophical allegories, especially Maimonidean ones, was
Abraham *Abulafia. He describes this exegetical method as
the fourth in his sevenfold system and applies it widely to
the biblical texts in his Commentary on the Torah entitled
Sefer ha-Maftehot. Moreover, unlike most of the other kab-
balists and philosophers who allegorized the sacred scrip-
tures, Abulafia composed some of his prophetic writings as
allegories, inventing dramas whose specific meaning he him-
self interpreted by resorting to Maimonidean psychology or
metaphysics.
The impact of his allegoristic approach is evident in
Johanan *Alemanno, and in some instances of Hayyim *Vi-
tal’s exgesis.
[Moshe Idel (24 ed.)]
Modern Literature
Influenced by kabbalistic symbolism modern Hebrew (and
later also Yiddish) literature developed the allegorical drama,
of which the most outstanding examples are the moralistic
dramas of Moses Hayyim *Luzzatto (e.g., La-Yesharim Te-
hillah). As to prose writings, while it is probable that the sto-
ries of R. Nahman of Bratslav are of an allegorical nature, as
they were later interpreted, there is no distinct allegory until
the appearance of Di Kliatshe (Heb., Susati) of Sholem Yankev
*Abramovitsh (Mendele Mokher Seforim). Also some of the
writings of I.L. *Peretz and S.Y. *Agnon (e.g., Pat Shelemah,
Shevuat Emunim) were interpreted as allegories. Note should
also be made of many political allegories which flourished
during the years of Jewish underground activities in Erez
Israel in times when writers had to disguise their message
for fear of the censors. Further examples may be found in the
early stories of Abraham B. *Yehoshua (e.g., Mot ha-Zaken,
1962) and in some prose works of Yitzhak *Orpaz, as both
writers seek to explain the tensions within the personal and
collective subconscious. The allegorical names given to some
opf the characters are interwoven with realistic features (e.g.,
in Orpaz’s novel Or be-ad Or, 1962). In his novella Nemalim
(“Ants,” 1968), Orpaz describes how a horde of mysterious,
demonic ants invade an apartment, threatening to destroy
the home of a couple on the verge of a divorce. The menace of
the ants has been interpreted as an allegorical story about the
horror of the modern family as well as the destructive forces
among the Arabs. Benjamin Tammuz’s novella Ha-Pardes
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALLEN, MEL
(“The Orange Grove,” 1971) is likewise an allegory about the
relations between Jews and Arabs, set against the background
of pre-State Israel.
[Anat Feinberg (2™4 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in
the Bible (1898), 748-54; A.M.J. Lagrange, in: RB, 6 (1909), 198-212,
342-67 (esp. 347-55); C.G. Montefiore, in: JQR, 3 (1912/13), 623-4;
O. Eissfeldt, Der Maschal im Alten Testament (1913), esp. 14-16; H.
Gunkel and H. Gressmann, in RGG’, 1 (1927), 219-20; A. Bentzen,
Introduction to the Old Testament, 1 (19584), 179-80; F. Hauck, in: G.
Friedrich (ed.), Theologisches Woerterbuch zum Neuen Testament, 5
(1954), 741-59 (esp. 744-6). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Abrams, A
Glossary of Literary Terms (1971), 4; J. Fraenkel, Darkhei ha-Aggadah
ve-ha-Midrash (Heb., 1996), 197-232; idem, Midrash ve-Aggadah
(1996), 181-99; M. Idel, Language, Torah and Hermeneutics in Abra-
ham Abulafia, tr. M. Kallus (1989).
ALLEN, ISAAC (1875-1973), U.S. Zionist pioneer and talmu-
dic scholar. Born in Russia, Allen immigrated to the United
States in 1891. He graduated from the Law School of New York
University in 1901, and while still a student won the right for
Jews not to be required to take examinations on the Sabbath.
A devoted Zionist, as early as 1897 Allen helped establish the
Federation of American Zionists and the New York Zionist
Council, of which he became president in 1898, and was a
founder of the Mizrachi Organization of America in 1912. He
was also a founder of the American Jewish Committee and
the American Jewish Congress. He was a delegate to the Ninth
Zionist Congress in Hamburg in 1909 and to many subsequent
ones. He wrote regularly in the Yiddish press on American law,
history, civics, customs, and policies for the benefit of new im-
migrants and also lectured publicly on these subjects. For 20
years, until failing health and eyesight forced him to retire at
the age of 93, Allen conducted classes in Talmud at no fewer
than four synagogues in New York.
ALLEN, MEL (Melvin Israel; 1913-1996), U.S. sportscaster,
member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Allen was born in Bir-
mingham, Alabama, to Julius, a traveling shirt salesman,
and Anna, scion of a rabbinical family and related to Simon
*Dubnow and Shmarya *Levin. Allen’s Russian-born grand-
father arranged for a shohet to come to Birmingham for the
Bibb County Jewish community and built a synagogue next
to his house. Julius and Anna kept a kosher home, celebrated
all the Jewish holidays, and the family attended an Orthodox
synagogue regularly. When Allen was working for the Yan-
kees and would have the ballplayers out to his house for a
cookout, Allen’s mother brought out a separate set of dishes
from the basement and would fry oysters and cook shrimps
for the players.
The eldest of three children, Allen was bar mitzvah in
1926 in Greensboro, North Carolina, where his family had
moved, giving his bar mitzvah speech in Hebrew. At age 15 he
enrolled at the University of Alabama, where he received his
undergraduate degree in 1932 and a law school degree in 1936.
667
ALLEN, PAUL G.
He got his start in broadcasting while still a law student, when
the Alabama football coach asked him to replace the team’s
announcer for $5 a game.
During a Christmas vacation in New York with friends,
in 1936, Allen stopped at css for an audition on a lark and
was shortly hired as a $45-a-week announcer, understudying
Ted Husing, cBs’s top sports announcer, and Robert Trout in
news. Allen’s father thought his son was wasting a good ed-
ucation, and was less pleased when Mel explained that cas
wanted him to change his name. “They said, “Not that we
have any objection to the name Israel, but we just think it’s a
little too all-inclusive’ So I dropped the last name and kept
my father’s middle name, which was Allen, so that I still felt
at least I had part of my father’s name.” Thus Melvin Israel
became Mel Allen.
His broadcasting for cBs included interrupting Kate
Smith’s afternoon program with a news bulletin reporting the
crash of the German zeppelin Hindenburg. The first baseball
game Allen ever broadcast was the 1938 World Series for cBs,
and in June 1939 he was hired to call New York Yankees and
New York Giants home games.
Allen’s garrulous, infectious style made him one of the
first prominent American sportscasters, and the icon voice
of baseball as television replaced radio as the primary form
of mass entertainment. This occurred at the same time that
the Yankees were playing in 15 of 18 World Series beginning
in 1947. The “Voice of the New York Yankees” broadcast from
1939 to 1964, and was present for many major Yankees’ events
during that time, including introducing Lou Gehrig at Yan-
kee Stadium on July 4, 1939, when Gehrig made his famous
“Today, I am the luckiest man” speech; introducing a dying
Babe Ruth at his sad farewell in 1948; and Roger Maris’ record-
breaking 61 home runs in 1961. Allen saw Gehrig in the dugout
one day in 1940, when the Yankee captain was dying of amyo-
trophic lateral sclerosis. “Lou patted me on the thigh and said,
‘Kid, I never listened to the broadcasts when I was playing, but
now they're what keep me going,” said Allen, who was then
27. “I went down the steps and bawled like a baby.”
It was Allen who gave the nicknames “Joltin Joe” to
DiMaggio, “Old Reliable” to Tommy Henrich, and “The
Scooter” to Phil Rizzuto. His endearing signature phrases on
the air were his sign-on, “Hello, everybody, this is Mel Allen,”
his exclamation at high points in a game, “How about that!”
and his home run call, “That ball is going, going ... gone!” His
home run pronouncements were punctuated with reference to
the team’s sponsors, calling them “Ballantine Blasts” after the
beer sponsor and “White Owl Wallops” for the cigar sponsor.
Allen was abruptly fired after the 1964 season for reasons that
have remained a mystery.
Allen broadcast Cleveland Indians games in 1968, and
returned to call Yankees games on cable from 1978 to 1986.
From 1977 he was the host of the long-running weekly tele-
vision show, “This Week in Baseball? which continued to in-
troduce the show with his voice even after his death. Allen
also broadcast New York Giants baseball games from 1939 to
668
1943, 20 World Series, 24 All-Star baseball games, as well as 14
Rose Bowl games, five Orange Bowls, and two Sugar Bowls.
He was the sports voice of Movietone newsreels and hosted
boxing matches.
In 1978 he and sportscaster Red Barber were the first
broadcasters awarded the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s
Ford C. Frick Award for “major contributions to baseball”
Allen was the fourth person elected to the National (usa)
Sportswriters and Broadcasters Hall of Fame in March 1972,
was inducted into the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame in
1985, and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988. In
1959 he wrote It Takes Heart with Frank Graham Jr.
[Elli Wohlgelernter (2"¢ ed.)]
ALLEN, PAUL G. (1953- ), U.S. entrepreneur. As the co-
founder of the Microsoft Corporation, Allen became one
of the wealthiest (third-richest) men in the world. He also
became one of the world’s most active philanthropists, sup-
porting the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Founda-
tion, among other projects. In 2004 he gave away more than
$500 million.
As a child, Allen attended Lakeside, a private school in
Seattle known as a breeding ground for the city’s future lead-
ers. There he met Bill Gates and the two became fast friends.
In 1975 someone brought to Lakeside a clunky Teletype-like
computer and Allen convinced Gates that they should not
miss out on the technology revolution. They set about devel-
oping an operating system for the computer, the Altair 8800,
and succeeded.
Allen dropped out of Washington State University to
work for Honeywell in Boston. There he again linked up with
Gates, who was attending Harvard. They founded Microsoft
in 1975. Allen had the programming expertise, Gates the fi-
nancial acumen. In 1977 Allen said he expected the personal
computer to become as much a part of everyday life as a tele-
phone, and he envisioned innovations like E-mail and sug-
gested the name Microsoft. He talked about a “wired world,’
a phrase he claims to have originated.
In 1982 Allen contracted Hodgkin's disease and endured
months of radiation therapy. The following year, against Gates’
wishes, Allen left Microsoft. The company did not go pub-
lic for three years, but when it did, Allen’s shares were worth
$134 million. He invested $170 million in Ticketmaster, the
computer-ticket service, and collected $568 million when he
sold the stock in 2002. He then started Starwave, one of the
first Internet content sites and in 1992 the first home to ESPN’s
sports coverage on the Web. Five years later he sold it to Walt
Disney for $200 million. An early investor in Priceline.com,
the online travel business, he invested $30 million in 1998
and collected $125 million when he sold his shares two years
later. He was also a major investor in Dreamworks sxa, the
film and entertainment studio headed by Steven *Spielberg,
Jeffrey *Katzenberg, and David *Geffen. For an investment
of $675 million, Allen was given 18 percent of the company
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
and a seat on the board. Not all of his investments were suc-
cessful. In 2003 and 2004 Allen pared his portfolio from 100
to 40 companies. In 1999, according to Forbes magazine, Al-
len was worth $40 billion. By 2003 his fortune was “down” to
$21 billion, Forbes estimated. Allen's grants to outside organi-
zations and individuals have varied. Asked whether he had
philanthropic role models, he pointed to the Stroum family,
a prominent Jewish family in Seattle which supported the
University of Washington, the Seattle Symphony, and local
Jewish institutions. Allen had “a broad and diverse range of
interests,” according to Laura Rich, author of The Acciden-
tal Zillionaire: Demystifying Paul Allen. One of Allen's stron-
gest interests was music. He played the guitar and collected
memorabilia about Jimi Hendrix, the rock and blues guitarist
and, like Allen, a Seattle native. Allen played with the Butcher
Shop Boys (known for butchering songs, he said). He owned
a recording studio and taught himself to play “Purple Haze,”
a Hendrix signature number.
Passionate about the arts, Allen hired Frank *Gehry to
create an interactive rock ‘7 roll museum, the Experience
Music Project, in 2000 at a cost of $240 million. He was also
involved in a documentary on blues music for public televi-
sion and organized benefit concerts to raise money for mu-
sic education and blues artists. He also supported efforts to
increase public understanding of science. In 2001 his docu-
mentary company produced a seven-part television series on
evolution and helped fund another documentary on global
public health. In 2004 Allen provided the British entrepre-
neur Richard Branson with the funds to build an aircraft for
manned commercial space flight.
Allen was keenly devoted to sports. He owned the Port-
land Trail Blazers, a professional basketball team, and paid
$46 million of the $262 million cost of the Rose Garden, a
21,500-seat arena in which the team plays. He also bought
the Seattle Seahawks, a professional football team. Allen lived
alone — and well - on Mercer Island, an enclave of old Seattle
wealth and new millionaires. In 2004 Allen’s wealth was esti-
mated at $18 billion, including $3.8 billion of Microsoft stock,
enough to afford a 413-foot Octopus yacht, the world’s largest
and, at $200 million, the most expensive.
[Stewart Kampel (274 ed.)]
ALLEN, WOODY (originally Allen Stewart Konigsberg;
1935— ), U.S. comedian, filmmaker. Born in Brooklyn, New
York, Allen started selling one-liners to gossip columns at
the age of 15. He began his career writing jokes for television
comedians, such as Garry Moore and Steve Allen. He then
appeared as a stand-up comedian and in comedy sequences
based on the theme of failure. Short, slight of build, and wear-
ing heavy glasses, he developed what he called “formless farce,”
exemplified by his film scripts for What's New, Pussycat? and
What's Up, Tiger Lily? His play Don’t Drink the Water opened
on Broadway in 1966. He played the lead in the film Take the
Money and Run in 1969. Allen soon emerged as one of the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALLEN, WOODY
most notable figures in the film industry. From 1969, he di-
rected and scripted an average of one film per year. His most
successful was Annie Hall (1977), which won an Oscar for the
best picture of the year; in addition, he took two other prizes
for best director and best screenwriter. In 1978 he produced
his first serious drama, Interiors. It has been compared in style
and tone to the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman,
whose work has influenced Allen greatly. In 1987 Allen won
the best screenplay Oscar for Hannah and Her Sisters, as well
as the American Comedy Award for Funniest Lead Actor. That
year the American Comedy Awards also presented him with
a Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy.
Allen’s other films include Bananas (1971), Play It Again,
Sam (1972), Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex
but Were Afraid to Ask (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death
(1975), Manhattan (1979), Stardust Memories (1980), Midsum-
mer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982), Zelig (1983), Broadway Danny
Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Radio Days (1987),
September (1987), Another Woman (1988), New York Stories
(1989), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Alice (1990), Shad-
ows and Fog (1992), Husbands and Wives (1992), Manhattan
Murder Mystery (1993), Bullets over Broadway (1994), Mighty
Aphrodite (1995), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Deconstruct-
ing Harry (1997), Celebrity (1998), Sweet and Lowdown (1999),
Small Time Crooks (2000), Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001),
Hollywood Ending (2002), Anything Else (2002), and Melinda
and Melinda (2004).
In 1990, along with such fellow filmmakers as Stanley
Kubrick and Martin Scorsese, Allen helped establish the Film
Foundation, a group dedicated to preserving the heritage of
American films.
In 1992 Allen caused a stir when it was discovered that
he had been having a relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, the
adopted daughter of his long-time girlfriend, actress Mia Far-
row. In 1997 Allen, who was 62, and Soon-Yi, 27, were mar-
ried in Venice.
Allen caused another stir in 1998, this time among the
Jewish community, when he wrote an op-ed article in the New
York Times (January 28) saying that he was appalled by Israel's
treatment of the rioting Palestinians (during the first Intifada).
He expressed incredulity at what he understood from the me-
dia to be “state-sanctioned brutality and even torture.’ Stressed
Allen, “I can’t believe it, and I don’t know exactly what is to be
done, but I’m sure pulling out my movies is again not the an-
swer ... to bring this wrongheaded approach to a halt.”
As the perennial onscreen personification of angst and
neurosis, Allen projects a love-hate relationship with him-
self and with his fellow Jews. Taking more of an amiable
swipe than a nasty jibe, he peoples his films and peppers his
dialogues with more Jewish wiseacres and wisecracks than
most American directors or screenwriters ever have. A New
Yorker to the core, Allen bases most of his films in his be-
loved hometown.
His dour, deadpan humor is just as funny off-screen as
it is in his films. He is quoted as saying, “Most of the time I
669
ALLENBY, EDMUND HENRY HYNMAN, VISCOUNT
don’t have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun
at all? And “If my film makes one more person miserable, I'll
feel I've done my job.”
Capturing that humor in print, Allen has written a num-
ber of books and plays as well. They include his short story
collections Getting Even (1971) and Without Feathers (1975);
his essays Side Effects (1980); and in addition to his theatrical
fare Don’t Drink the Water, such plays as Death Knocks (1971),
Death: A Comedy in One Act (1975), God: A Comedy in One
Act (1975), The Floating Light Bulb (1982), and Three One-Act
Plays: Riverside Drive, Old Saybrook, and Central Park West.
He also published Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversa-
tion with Stig Bjorkman (1995).
Another of Allen's creative talents, his clarinet playing,
is highlighted in the 1997 documentary film Wild Man Blues,
directed by Barbara Koppel. The film follows Allen and his
New Orleans jazz band on their European tour. A serious jazz
musician, Allen has been performing for more than 25 years
at a downtown club in New York.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Lax, Woody Allen: A Biography
(1991); S.B. Girgus, The Films of Woody Allen (20027); S. Lee, Woody
Allen’s Angst (1997); R. Blake, Woody Allen: Profane and Sacred (1995);
E Hirsh, Love, Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life in the Films of
Woody Allen (1992); M.P. Nichols, Reconstructing Woody: Art, Love
and Life in the Films of Woody Allen (1982).
[Jonathan Licht and Ruth Beloff (2"4 ed.)]
“ALLENBY, EDMUND HENRY HYNMAN, VISCOUNT
(1861-1936), British soldier. Allenby commanded the Egyptian
Expeditionary Forces which, in 1917-18, defeated the Turks in
Palestine. In June 1917 he was sent to Cairo to succeed Sir Ar-
chibald Murray as commander of the British forces in Egypt
and Palestine. British troops were then held up at Gaza after
two unsuccessful battles. Deceiving the enemy into thinking
he would launch a third frontal attack, he took Beersheba in-
stead (October 31), thus forcing the Turks to withdraw from
Gaza, and leading to the capture of Jaffa and of Jerusalem
(December 9, 1917). By the autumn of 1918, troops trans-
ferred from Mesopotamia and India to Palestine were ready
for forays across the Jordan, in which the *Jewish Legion
(38 and 39" Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers) took part. Al-
lenby again deceived the Turks into thinking that he would
attack once more with his right wing, but, having secretly
transferred the bulk of his forces (some 35,000 men) to the
orange groves north of Jaffa, he broke through on the night
of September 18-19 and reached Nazareth via the Megiddo
Pass before the Turks realized what was happening. Their es-
cape routes blocked, tens of thousands of Turkish troops were
taken prisoner in a decisive victory. Pressing on to Damascus
and Aleppo, Allenby forced Turkey out of the war on October
31. For his achievements he was named Viscount Allenby of
Megiddo and Felixstowe, and received a parliamentary grant
of £50,000. Of massive build and forceful personality (known
to his troops as “The Bull”), Allenby later became British high
commissioner in Egypt (1919-1925). In 1918 he was present at
670
the laying of the foundation stone of the Hebrew University
on Mount Scopus. Though as a commander of the British Ex-
peditionary Forces he was noncommittal toward Zionist aspi-
rations, doubting the wisdom of British policy concerning a
Jewish National Home, he later expressed an understanding
of Zionism in a speech delivered at the inaugural banquet of
the Hebrew University in 1925. One of the main streets in Tel
Aviv is named in his honor.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Gardner, Allenby (Eng., 1965); Great Brit-
ain, Army, Brief Record of the Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary
Force, 1917-1918 (1919); T.L. Jackson, With Allenby in the Holy Land
(1938); A. Wavell, Allenby, a Study in Greatness, 2 vols. (1940-43); He-
brew University of Jerusalem, Banquet Speeches (1925), 50-51. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Hughes and E Cass, Allenby and British Strat-
egy in the Middle East, 1917-1919 (1999); D.L. Bullock, Allenby’s War:
The Palestine-Arabian Campaign 1916-1918 (1988); L. James, Impe-
rial Warrior: The Life and Times of Field-Marshall Viscount Allenby,
1861-1936 (1994).
[Edwin Samuel, Second Viscount Samuel]
ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG DES JUDENTUMS (aZ], “Gen-
eral Journal of Judaism”), one of the first modern and certainly
the most important of German Jewish periodicals of the 19"
century. The Azj was published in Leipzig and later in Ber-
lin between 1837 and 1922. In 1860, the journal had a circula-
tion of about 1,500 copies. It was read not only in Germany,
Austria, and Holland, but also in Eastern Europe. Its success
enabled it to be independent of subsidies from public bod-
ies as well as to publish monographs by scholars such as I.M.
Jost, S.D. Luzzatto, L. Zunz, A. Geiger, A. Jellinek, and Franz
Delitzsch. The founder, Ludwig *Philippson, edited the paper
from 1837 to 1889. During the first two years the AzJ was pub-
lished thrice weekly, in 1839 twice weekly, then weekly, and
finally only once every two weeks.
The AZj advocated moderate religious reform and closer
relations with non-Jews. It prompted the convention of the
Rabbinical Conferences of 1844-46, the Reform Synod at
Leipzig in 1869, and the establishment of the Lehranstalt fuer
die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin. However, its col-
umns were open to varying views. After the adherents of other
ideological trends in Central European Jewry established their
own periodicals from the middle of the 19" century, the azj
ceased to reflect the moderate view. A most important con-
tribution to Jewish life in Central Europe was made through
the journal's efforts to foster and spread “Jewish” belle-lettres.
While ignoring the more realistic genre of “village and ghetto
tales” (e.g., by Berthold *Auerbach), Philippson focused on
historic and heroic texts to stress the “ideal” aspects of Jew-
ish life. The journal was instrumental in the establishment
and support of the Institut zur Foerderung der Israelitischen
Literatur in the late 1850s. In 1866, Philippson’s Juedisches
Familienblatt with its literary content was integrated into the
feuilleton of the Azyj.
Following Gabriel Riesser’s paper Der Jude (1832-35), the
AZjJ understood itself as the main organ of the Jewish eman-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
cipation movement in the 19‘ century. Despite the politi-
cal reaction after the 1848 revolution, it continued the battle.
After the foundation of the German Reich, when full legal
rights were achieved, the fight against antisemitism became
the main focus of the azj. With the rise of Zionism, the jour-
nal declined in importance. Under the editorship of Gustav
*Karpeles (1890-1909), its interests shifted towards the Jews
of Eastern Europe and their situation. When Ludwig *Geiger
took over (1910-1919), the journal assumed an anti-Zionist
and anti-Orthodox position. Albert Katz (1858-1923), ini-
tially in charge of the supplement for communal affairs, be-
came editor in 1919. In 1922, the azyj finally merged with the
*C.V.-Zeitung.
The AZjJ is available at http://www.compactmemory.de. ADD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. V.-Zeitung 16, No. 18 (May 6, 1937); J. Philippson,
“The Philippsons, a German-Jewish Family 1775-1933, in: LBIYB 7
(1962), 95-118; ibid., “Ludwig Philippson und die Allgemeine Zeitung
des Judentums,’ in: H. Liebeschiitz and A. Paucker (eds.), Das Juden-
tum in der Deutschen Umwelt, 1800-1850 (1977), 243-91; M. Eliav,
“Philippsons Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums und Erez Israel,” in:
Bull BI 46-47 (1969), 155-82; H.O. Horch, Auf der Suche nach der
juedischen Erzaehlliteratur (1985); idem, “Auf der Zinne der Zeit; in:
Bull Br 86 (1990), 5-21.
[Ezriel Carlebach and Robert Weltsch / Marcus Pyka and Johannes
Valentin Schwarz (2"4 ed.)]
ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE (Heb. x1? 73
n> 0°720 “All Israel are comrades”), first modern interna-
tional Jewish organization, founded in 1860, centered in Paris.
The foundation of the Alliance expressed the renewal of Jew-
ish cohesiveness after a short period of weakening in the sec-
ond half of the 18" and up to the forties of the 19" century. Its
inception was stimulated by ideological trends and political
events in the national and international spheres in the second
half of the 19 century.
Origins and Structure
From the outset the Alliance labored under a built-in tension;
it was conceived to be a world organization of “fortunate” Jews,
who had achieved emancipation and assimilation in their own
countries, to help their fellow-Jews, wherever they were suffer-
ing for or discriminated against because of their religion.
The *Damascus Affair in 1840 renewed the urge toward
Jewish solidarity and cooperation. Opinions were subse-
quently voiced, especially in Germany and France, that a reg-
ular body should be established to defend Jews everywhere,
whenever discriminated against on religious grounds. The
idea was discussed by various authors (Z. *Frankel; J. *Car-
vallo). The 1848 European revolutionary climate, however,
worked against Jewish cohesion. On the other hand, the po-
litical constellation in Europe of the 1850-60s, and the hege-
mony of France under Napoleon 111, was propitious for the
establishment of a Jewish organization under French leader-
ship for international Jewish work.
The *Mortara case in 1858 accentuated the urge for world-
Jewish self-help, while the French hegemony in Europe pointed
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE
to French Jews as the natural leaders. Inter-European tensions
in the Catholic Church also emphasized the international
character of religious problems, and the need for international
solutions. The same year, Isidor *Cahen declared in his Ar-
chives Israélites that the Jews should mainly rely on themselves
for their own defense, and suggested the establishment of an
intercommunal organization to be named “Alliance Israélite
Universelle” to defend the interests of Jews throughout the
world. In February 1860 Simon Bloch, the French writer and
later secretary of the Alliance, repeated this proposal. The Al-
liance was launched in May 1860, the founder-members - J.
Carvallo; I. Cahen; N. *Leven, the secretary of Adolphe *Cre-
mieux; A. *Astruc, and the poet, E. Manuel - meeting in the
house of Charles *Netter. In June 1860 they published their
manifesto which stressed the need for solidarity on Jewish
matters, and stated that the Alliance would “serve as a most
important stimulus to Jewish regeneration.”
The aims of the Alliance, as formulated by Carvallo and
Netter were three: “to work everywhere for the emancipation
and moral progress of the Jews; to offer effective assistance to
Jews suffering from antisemitism; and to encourage all pub-
lications calculated to promote this aim.”
‘The statutes of the Alliance stipulated a typically French
centralism. It was to be administered by a central committee of
30 members, located in Paris, elected by the general assembly
of all members of the organization. Two-thirds of the central
committee had to be Paris residents. Seven formed a quorum.
The central committee had to report annually to the general
assembly. Regional and local committees everywhere had to
transfer their funds to the central committee, or to use part
of them locally, with permission of the central committee. All
Alliance presidents have been French Jews with the exception
of the German S.H. Goldschmidt (president 1881-98). Adol-
phe Crémieux (president 1863-80) did much for the develop-
ment of the Alliance. Other presidents have included Solomon
*Munk, Narcisse Leven, Sylvain *Lévi, and René *Cassin.
Aims and Activity
Its aims, as expressed in its statutes, have been implemented
under changing historical conditions. These, ever since its
establishment, have influenced the scale and direction of its
activities, conducted mainly in the diplomatic, social, and
educational spheres.
Diplomatic Activity
The Alliance soon became the address to which persecuted
Jewish communities turned to for help throughout the world.
From the 1880s its main diplomatic activities were conducted
on behalf of Near-Eastern Jewish communities. Political inter-
vention was secured by various means and the Alliance may
be considered the pioneer of Jewish diplomatic methods in
modern times. During and after the 1860s the Alliance made
repeated appeals to obtain improvement of the legal status of
the Jews of Serbia and Romania basing its case on paragraph
46 of the 1858 Paris Convention, which declared the principle
671
ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE
of equal rights for the Jews. The Alliance interceded on be-
half of the Jews of Belgium and of Russia, and for civil rights
of the Jews of Switzerland. After Adolphe Crémieux became
president, the French Foreign Office and French authorities
in the colonies and protectorates frequently cooperated with
the Alliance.
The peak period of Alliance diplomatic activity was dur-
ing the Congress of Berlin (1878; see *Berlin, Congress of),
when, in conjunction with the Joint Foreign Committee of
the Anglo-Jewish Association, and the Board of Deputies it
took steps to protect the interests of the Jews in the Balkan
countries, obtaining the inclusion of a paragraph in the trea-
ties with these states stipulating civil rights for all Jews. The
Alliance interceded with the sultan of Morocco during the
Madrid Congress of 1880, and obtained promises for the im-
provement of the status of Moroccan Jews. At the peace con-
ference of Versailles, after World War 1, the Alliance was active
on behalf of the Jews of Poland, Hungary, Romania, and other
countries affected by the peace treaties. It acted independently
of the *Comité des Délégations Juives, since the Alliance op-
posed both the concepts of national *minority rights and of
*Zionism; the Alliance then cooperated with those Anglo-
Jewish organizations holding similar views.
ASSISTANCE TO EMIGRANTS. ‘The Alliance began to provide
assistance to Jews who wished to leave countries where they
suffered from disabilities in 1869, mainly on behalf of Jews
from Russia and Romania. It contacted both institutions and
individuals in the U.S. to ascertain whether Jewish emigration
there was desirable, the numbers that could be absorbed, and
the most suitable qualifications. The Jewish migration was
regulated by the committee for Jewish refugees in Koenigs-
berg, established and operated in collaboration with other
Jewish organizations. The Koenigsberg committee also cared
for the placement of starving Jewish orphans with German
Jewish families for possible adoption. With the commence-
ment of mass emigration from Russia after the pogroms of
1881, the Alliance again shared relief activities with other Jew-
ish organizations.
When the first wave of 4,000 refugees arrived in Brody,
Galicia, that year, Charles Netter went there on behalf of the
Alliance. He failed, however, to cope with the unprecedented
stream of emigrants. Subsequently the Alliance participated
in several conferences of Jewish organizations and at that held
in 1882, was charged to find opportunities for Jewish immi-
gration outside the United States. It participated in two such
conferences after 1891, although by then it had decided that it
would not support the refugees in order to discourage further
emigration. In matters of migration, the Alliance also cooper-
ated with the *Jewish Colonization Association (ICA).
EDUCATION. In the 1890s the Alliance began to concentrate
its efforts (in conjunction with 1ca) on aiding Jewish educa-
tion, especially in the Balkans (until after World War 1) and
the Middle Eastern countries. The educational activity of the
Alliance was concerted with its diplomatic efforts, since it
672
aimed at the betterment of the social and legal status of the
Jews through their “cultural and moral elevation.” It was also
an expression of the French patriotism of the Alliance and its
pride in French language and culture which it intended to dis-
seminate among the Jews. The work encountered difficulties
since certain communities viewed the propagation of French
culture in the schools established by the Alliance as a danger
to the traditional framework of Jewish life. The French char-
acter of Alliance education was also to prove its undoing as it
became inconsistent with the new nationalist spirit in these
countries following World War 1.
The important network of schools established by the Al-
liance made rapid progress with the help of large donations
by Baron Maurice de Hirsch “to improve the position of the
Jews in the Turkish Empire by instruction and education”
These amounted to one million gold francs in 1874 and ten
million gold francs in 1889. In Greece ten schools were opened
at intervals, but progress there was arrested in the period be-
tween the two world wars; only four remained open by 1939
and there were none by the 1960s. In Bulgaria, the Alliance
established ten schools between 1870 and 1885; these gradually
disappeared soon after World War 1. A similar process took
place in Turkey where in 1912, the Alliance possessed 71 boys’
schools and 44 girls’ schools, of which 52 were in European
Turkey (including the Balkans) and 63 in Asian Turkey (in-
cluding Iraq, etc.). From 1932 the Alliance gradually handed
over its schools to the local communities. The few schools of
the Alliance in Serbia and Romania similarly closed. The Al-
liance increasingly concentrated its educational activities in
North Africa and the Near East, including Iran. In Morocco,
the schools in Tetuan (founded 1862) and Tangiers (1869)
were followed by schools in five major cities (1873-1902). In
1912 almost 5,500 pupils attended 14 schools. At that time, the
French administration began to take an interest in these activi-
ties and an agreement was concluded between the local gov-
ernment and the Alliance in 1928, whereby Alliance schools
were placed under the strict control of the Public Education
Department, and were also assured of effective material sup-
port. The network of the Alliance henceforth became an in-
tegral part of the social and educational activities conducted
in the protectorate. The Alliance social relief activities com-
bined with the educational movement to improve the living
conditions of the pupils from the mellah. In 1939, 45 schools in
Morocco had 15,761 pupils. The support of the local authorities
enabled the Alliance to continue its work even during World
War II. It received a new impetus in 1945. From 14,000 pupils
in 1945, the total rose to 28,000 in 1952, the increase in atten-
dance being mainly in the large urban centers of Marrakesh,
Fez, Rabat, and Casablanca.
The Ecole Normale Hébraique of Casablanca fulfilled the
local need for Jewish teachers. The Alliance also increased its
activities in the small communities, and a school was estab-
lished for every Jewish community numbering 300 to 400
persons. In Casablanca, the Alliance also established a school
for sufferers from trachoma, as well as an institute for the deaf
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
and dumb, in collaboration with *orT and the *American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In Tunisia, the Alliance
opened its first school in 1878; by 1960, there were 2,150 pupils
in elementary schools, 700 in secondary schools, and 76 in
commercial classes run by the Alliance. An attempt to open
a school in Beirut in 1869 was unsuccessful, but later several
schools were established.
Alliance schools in Beirut were destroyed by explosives
in 1950, but were immediately rebuilt. In 1960 the schools of
Saida and Beirut had 1,295 pupils. Several Alliance schools
functioned in Syria, mainly in Damascus and Aleppo. In
Iraq, where the Alliance opened a school in Baghdad in 1865,
there were 6,000 pupils in its ten schools in 1947. In Iran, the
Alliance inaugurated its first school in Teheran in 1898, not
without encountering difficulties from the local Jewish com-
munity. In 1960, the school network of the Alliance in Iran
had 15 schools with a total of 6,200 pupils, the greatest con-
centration being in Teheran; in the provinces all Jewish chil-
dren attended Alliance schools. In Erez Israel, the Alliance
agricultural school at *Mikveh Israel was opened by Charles
Netter in 1870; in 1882, an elementary school was opened in
Jerusalem. Other schools followed in the important towns. In
Egypt the local communities carried out the educational work
on behalf of the Alliance by gradually taking upon themselves
the responsibility for the local schools.
World War 11 marks a watershed in Alliance activities.
All branches of its activities were cut off from the head office
which in turn had to take refuge from Paris in the non-occu-
pied zone. From November 1942 the isolation was complete
(see *France). The Free French government interested itself
in the fate of the Alliance, and General de Gaulle entrusted
responsibility for it to René Cassin. After the liberation, the
Alliance - with assistance from American Jewry - resumed its
normal activities again in Paris, and immediately had to deal
with the upheavals following the war. Its central problem in-
volved the struggle for a Jewish state, in Israel and the upsurge
of nationalism in the Arab countries, their fight against colo-
nialism and their refusal to recognize the national existence
of the Jews in Israel. The Alliance found itself in a delicate po-
sition in regard to the many schools which it maintained in
the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Iraq. Redefining its
policy and its raison détre, the Alliance published a program-
matic declaration in 1945, in which it reaffirmed its universal
character, its attachment to educational work, and its deter-
mination to “demand for the Jews who so desired the right of
entry into Palestine, under the auspices of the United Nations
and on the responsibility of the Jewish Agency in Palestine.”
The consequences of the Israel-Arab war of 1947-48
made themselves felt immediately by persecution of the Jews
living in Arab countries and the mass exodus of Jews from
these lands. After the departure of thousands of Jews from
Iraq, all the schools of the Alliance there closed down. The
same happened almost without exception in Syria and Egypt.
In Morocco and Tunisia also, the success of the nationalist
revolt, and the gradual achievement of independence from
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE
France, resulted in an exodus from North Africa to France as
well as to Israel in the 1960s and upset the foundations of the
educational project of the Alliance. In Israel, the Alliance had
to relinquish the French orientation of its schools; its elemen-
tary schools were closed down or taken over by the Israel edu-
cation system. These, however, combined to give preference to
the teaching of French as the first foreign language. The Alli-
ance concentrated on development of secondary education,
opening schools in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa.
In Morocco, the number of pupils in the schools of the
Alliance fell from 30,123 in 1959 to 13,527 in 1963. In 1960, the
Moroccan government decided to integrate part of the Alli-
ance schools into its own school system. The Alliance retained
its remaining schools under the name of Ittihad-Maroc, but
they steadily lost their character. The same debilitation pro-
cess, due to the same causes, could be observed in Tunisia
and in Iran.
Educational network of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in 1968.
Country Number of Schools Numbers of Pupils
Morocco (|ttihad) 31 8,054
Iran (Ettehad) 13 5,158
Israel 13 4,828
Lebanon 3 1,109
Tunisia 3 1,366
Syria 1 431
Total 64 20,946
In addition to schools, the Alliance had established in
Paris, in 1867, the Ecole Normale Israélite Orientale to supply
the necessary directors and teachers for its schools and to give
their teaching staff a certain homogeneity. The Ecole num-
bered 120 pupils in 1968. The Alliance had also opened (1897)
a rabbinical school in Istanbul for the Oriental communities,
which functioned for about ten years. A valuable library on
Jewish subjects was founded at the Alliance offices in Paris,
at the instance of its secretary-general, the historian Isidore
*Loeb; it also issued many publications (see Bibliography).
The Alliance organized expeditions for the purpose of helping
*Beta Israel in 1868, and the Jews in *Yemen in 1908.
In the 1960s, the Alliance intensified its educational ac-
tivities in France, where many former pupils from North Af-
rica now lived. The Ecole Normale Israélite Orientale ceased
to be exclusively a professional school, and admitted students
who did not necessarily intend to become teachers. Second-
ary schools were opened in Nice and in Pavilions-sous-Bois
near Paris. The diplomatic activity of the Alliance were mainly
carried on through the Consultative Council of Jewish Orga-
nizations (New York) founded in 1946.
In the course of its long career, the Alliance has not al-
ways been immune from controversy. In the eyes of antisem-
ites, it became the embodiment of the Jewish international
“octopus” strangling civilization. The nefarious myth of the
*Elders of Zion crystallized around a falsified image of the
Alliance. It was criticized for being too French and not suf-
673
ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE
ficiently universal. Much criticism was directed after World
War I against Sylvain Lévi who took a sharp anti-Zionist stand
on behalf of the Alliance at the Versailles peace conference. In
1945, however, the Alliance took up a pro-Zionist stand.
In September 1989 the aiu inaugurated a new library
which became the largest Jewish library in Europe, possessing
over 120,000 items. Available at the library are the Alliance
archives which have now been catalogued and offer a wealth
of information on Jewish communities in the Mediterranean
Basin as well as on French Jewry from the end of the 19 cen-
tury through the first half of the 20. The library also now
houses specialized archives on Jewish medicine and Jewish
education. It regularly organizes special exhibitions such as
that on the Dreyfus Affair in 1995.
Publications of the Alliance Israelite Universelle have
included: Paix et Droit, 1-20 (1921-40); Cahiers (1945- );
Mahberet (1952-_); The Alliance Israélite Universelle 1860-1895
(1895); La question juive devant la conférence de la paix...
(1919); N. Leven, Cinquante ans d’histoire... 1860-1910, 2 vols.
(1919-22). For other titles see Hebrew Union College Library,
Dictionary Catalog of the Kalu Library, 1 (1964), 408-11.
Les Nouveaux Cahiers (1965-_ ) is a quarterly publication
offering a forum for topics in Jewish Studies as well as for cur-
rent issues of note among French Jewry. The journal regularly
devotes space to interfaith relations, a subject of great concern
to aru Day-long seminars are held once or twice a year un-
der the auspices of the journal and are devoted to a historical,
political, philosophical, or literary topic. A special annual ap-
pears with the papers of these seminars.
The aiv also has a College of Jewish Studies focusing
its activities, under the direction of Shmuel Trigano, on
in-depth study of Jewish thought in its various expressions.
In addition to its regular courses, it organizes an annual sym-
posium on a theme concerning the basic issues of Jewish ex-
istence and attracts French scholars as well as others from
elsewhere.
In additions to its own widespread network of schools,
the aru has a growing number of affiliated institutions in
France, Belgium, Spain, Canada, and Israel.
The Didactic Creativity department at the Paris head-
quarters places its services at the disposal of teachers inter-
ested in producing school materials. One project supported
by aiu was a Hebrew-French dictionary for young children
and another was a large colorful fresco on the principal stages
of Jewish history.
To make the most important texts in Jewish tradition
available to the largest possible reading audience, Aru spon-
sors the works in the “Les Dix Paroles” collection of the
Verdier publishing house.
In Israel, the aru took an active role in receiving new im-
migrants and helping in their absorption, particularly those
from the areas of the former U.S.S.R. and from Ethiopia, and
also expended great effort in facilitating contacts between
young Jews and Arabs towards promoting mutual understand-
ing and tolerance.
674
Prof. Adolphe *Steg became president of aru in 1985,
succeeding Jules Braunschvig, honorary president who died
in 1994.
[Simon R. Schwarzfuchs]
Women Teachers and Students
By 1872, women were also included in the Alliance teaching
force. Since few French Jews were willing to serve as teach-
ers in the villages and towns of North Africa and the Middle
East, the Alliance sent the brightest students from its schools
to be trained in Paris. While the Ecole Normale Israélite pre-
pared all male Alliance teachers, young girls arriving in Paris
were assigned either to the Ecole Bischoffsheim, a vocational
and normal school, or to the middle-class boarding schools of
Madame Weill-Kahn and Madame Isaac. The Alliance opened
its own normal school for girls in 1922.
The female teachers of the Alliance were a diverse group.
Students in one class at Mme Isaac’s, for example, came from
Constantinople, Adrianople, the Dardanelles, Tangier, Mo-
nastir, Alsace, Aleppo, Damascus, Aden, Beirut, and Salonika.
They also differed in background, language, and piety as well
as in temperament and intellect. Their teaching experiences
were equally diverse, for the positions they were assigned
and the cities to which they were sent (almost never to their
town of origin) rarely had much in common. Women Alli-
ance teachers were permitted to marry; most chose to do so,
generally marrying their male counterparts, and large fami-
lies were the norm.
In addition to founding, teaching in, and directing Al-
liance schools, women teachers also established workshops,
organized cottage industries, and oversaw the employment of
their graduates. They negotiated, not always easily or success-
fully, for the support of local community leaders, and provided
the Alliance with ethnographic information which became
the basis of its decisions and policy making. They had the
benefit of a network of support (sisters, cousins, friends, and
husbands) which, in contrast to their female counterparts in
France (institutrices), often freed them to act independently.
The Alliance's goals of westernization and moderniza-
tion were demonstrated in its women teachers, who were
models of autonomy and literacy. Their examples spoke not
only to the Alliance’s vision of forming female students into
good mothers and intelligent companions for their future
husbands, but also to the empowerment of young girls, intel-
lectually, physically, professionally, and spiritually. Refram-
ing the ideology of French Jewry to reflect more accurately
the needs of Jewish girls, the women teachers of the Alliance,
and their many thousands of students, played a central role
in their own emancipation.
[Frances Malino (2"4 ed.)]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Chouraqui, LAlliance Israélite Universelle
et la renaissance juive contemporaine (1860-1960) (1965); B. Mevorah,
in: Zion, 23-24 (1958-59), 46-65; 28 (1963), 125-64; G. Ollivier, L’Al-
liance Israélite Universelle 1860-1960 (1959). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
E. Benbassa and A. Rodrigue, The Jews of the Balkans (1995); M.M.
Laskier, The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Jewish Communities
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of Morocco 1862-1962 (1983); F. Malino, “The Women Teachers of the
Alliance Israélite Universelle 1872-1940,” in: J.R. Baskin (ed.), Jewish
Women in Historical Perspective (19987), 248-69; idem, “Prophets in
Their Own Land? Mothers and Daughters of the Alliance Israélite
Universelle,” in: Nashim, 3 (Spring-Summer 5760/2000), 56-73; A.
Rodrigue, French Jews, Turkish Jews: The Alliance Israélite Universelle
and the Politics of Jewish Schooling in Turkey, 1860-1925 (1990); idem,
Images of Sephardi and Eastern Jewries in Transition: The Teachers of
the Alliance Israélite Universelle, 1860-1939 (1993).
ALLIANZ, ISRAELITISCHE, ZU WIEN, Jewish society in
Vienna, originally intended to operate as a branch of the *Alli-
ance Israélite Universelle in Paris, with similar aims. Since the
Austrian authorities opposed affiliation with the Alliance, the
Vienna Allianz was established as an independent society in
1873. Its first president was Joseph von *Wertheimer. Initially,
it concentrated on assisting Jews in *Romania and *Siberia.
It aided Jewish victims of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 and
supported the Alliance in its efforts to obtain equal civil rights
for the Jews in the Balkans. At the Congress of *Berlin in 1878
the Allianz took up the Balkan issue in cooperation with the
special Jewish committee for liaison with the congress. With
the outbreak of the pogroms in 1881-82, the Allianz partici-
pated in relief and migration activities. It organized and main-
tained a number of educational institutions in Galicia and Bu-
kovina, later supported by the *Baron de Hirsch Fund. The
Allianz combatted antisemitism, notably at the *Tisza-Eszlar
(1883) and *Polna (1899) blood-libel trials. Relief and emigra-
tion projects were established in conjunction with the “Esra”
Association of Berlin and the *Jewish Colonization Associa-
tion (1cA) to benefit Romanian and Russian Jewry between
1897 and 1905. During World War 1, the society chiefly aided
Jewish war victims; after the war it helped Jewish refugees and
emigrants in transit through Vienna. The Allianz was liqui-
dated in 1938 after the Anschluss.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Jahresberichte der Israelitischen Allianz zu
Wien (1873- ); N.M. Gelber, Aus zwei Jahrhunderten (1924), 131ff;
idem, in: BLBI, 3 (1960), 190-203; Z. Szajkowski, in: Jsos, 19 (1957),
36-38.
[Nathan Michael Gelber]
ALLON, GEDALYA (formerly Rogoznizki; 1901-1950), his-
torian. Allon was born in Kobrin, Russia, and studied at the
Slobodka yeshivah. In 1917 he returned to Kobrin, where he
became active in the Zionist movement and established a re-
ligious Hebrew school, Hevrona. After a year’s study in Ber-
lin in 1924 he immigrated to Palestine. He was in 1931 one of
the first graduates of the Hebrew University and then taught
Talmud and Jewish history there. Allon clarified many prob-
lems in the development of halakhah and the evolution of the
social history of the Jews. He argued that the period following
the destruction of the Second Temple should not be viewed
as the beginning of the Diaspora, but as a continuation of the
period of autonomous existence in Palestine, retaining the
basic elements of national independence (the lack of which
is characteristic of the Diaspora). Allon’s work, combining an
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALLON, YIGAL
exhaustive acquaintance with source material and an acute
critical sense, placed the history of Palestinian Jewry in the
first centuries of the Common Era upon a new basis. His To-
ledot ha-Yehudim be-Erez Yisrael bi-Tekufat ha-Mishnah ve-
ha-Talmud (“History of the Jews in Palestine in the Period of
the Mishnah and the Talmud,” 2 vols., 1953-56) was published
posthumously, as were Mehkarim be-Toledot Yisrael bi- Yemei
Bayit Sheni u-vi-Tekufat ha-Mishnah ve-ha-Talmud (2 vols.,
1957-58) and collected essays that had appeared in various
scholarly journals.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Z. Dimitrowsky and S. Safrai, in: Ks, 26
(1950/51), 308-14; Le-Zikhro shel G. Allon (1953), tributes by members
of the faculty of the Hebrew University; Sefer Zikkaron li-Gedalyahu
Allon (1970); Sefer Kobrin (1951), 275-7.
[Shmuel Safrai]
ALLON (Paicovitch), YIGAL (1918-1980), Israeli statesman
and military commander; member of the Third to Ninth Knes-
sets. Allon was born in Mesha, which later changed its name
to *Kefar Tavor, in the Lower Galilee. His father, Reuven Yosef
Paicovitch, a member of Hovevei Zion in Grodno, Russia, had
settled in Eretz Israel in 1882. Allon received his elementary
schooling in his native village and graduated in 1937 from the
Kadoorie Agricultural High School. In that year he became
one of the founders of Kibbutz *Ginnosar, where he was to
reside for the rest of his life.
As a boy Allon joined the *Haganah, and in 1936, at the
age of 18, became a member of the newly created special units
(peluggot sadeh) under Yizhak *Sadeh, rapidly rising to officer
rank. In 1941 Allon was among the founders of the *Palmah,
and in this capacity he fought with the British forces in Syria
and Lebanon in the years 1941-42. In 1943 he became the dep-
uty commander of the Palmah, and after Sadeh became act-
ing chief of staff of the Haganah in 1945, he replaced him as
its commander. In this capacity he was responsible for plan-
ning the Palmah’s multifaceted training program, operations
against Arab bands, and attacks on civilian and military in-
stallations of the British Administration during the last years
of its presence in Palestine. He also played a major role in
smuggling immigrants illegally into the country (Aliyah Bet),
and establishing settlements in prohibited zones. During the
*War of Independence Allon commanded in decisive battles
for the liberation of the Upper Galilee and Safed in the north;
Lydda, Ramleh, and the Jerusalem Corridor in the center of
the country; and the Southern Coastal Plain and the Negev, in-
cluding Beersheba and Eilat, in the south. He also commanded
the forces that entered deep into Sinai, as far as El-Arish, but
was ordered by David *Ben-Gurion, who was under Ameri-
can pressure, to withdraw. Ben-Gurion also blocked his plans
to capture the West Bank from King Abdullah’s Arab Legion,
even though Allon believed he could accomplish the mission
within three weeks.
In 1950, following the dissolution of the Palmah on Ben-
Gurion’s orders, Allon left active military service, but in the
eyes of many remained a war hero whose military career had
675
ALLONEI ABBA
wrongfully been cut short. Allon then entered active politics,
joining the leadership of the Kibbutz Hame’uhad kibbutz
movement, and *Mapam within the framework of his own
movement. However, he objected to Mapam’s pro-Soviet lean-
ings and supported the decision of his movement's four MKs
in Mapam to break away from the combined parliamentary
group in the summer of 1954. Allon then joined the leader-
ship of the reinstated *Ahdut ha-Avodah-Poalei Zion. In 1955
he was elected to the Third Knesset, and was to serve in all
the Knessets until his death in February 1980. He resigned
from the Fourth Knesset in October 1960 in order to pursue
his studies at Oxford but was forced to cut short his stay in
Great Britain because of early elections for the Fifth Knesset.
Nevertheless, during his stay in Oxford, Allon met many of
the leaders of the British Labour Party, several of whom be-
came his personal friends.
From 1961 to 1968 Allon served as minister of labor, in
which capacity he promoted the improvement of the state-
run employment service and manpower training, initiated
extensive road works, and introduced new legislation on labor
relations, including laws regulating strikes and lockouts and
the establishment of labor courts. During his term of office,
social insurance was extended. During the crisis leading up
to the 1967 *Six-Day War, when Prime Minister Levi *Eshkol
was advised to appoint a minister of defense in order to soothe
the public, Eshkol preferred Allon, but due to Allon’s absence
abroad in the critical days, and pressure from other quarters,
it was Moshe *Dayan, Allon’s long-time rival from the days
of the Palmah, who was appointed. Eshkol compensated him
by appointing him deputy prime minister and minister for
immigrant absorption.
Allon had strongly supported the establishment of the
Alignment between *Mapai and Ahdut ha-Avodah in 1965,
and in 1968 supported the union of Mapai, Ahdut ha- Avodah,
and *Rafi to form the *Israel Labor Party. Following the Six-
Day War he developed a plan for a permanent settlement of
the Palestinian problem, which came to be known as the “Al-
lon Plan.” The plan, which sought to maximize Israel’s secu-
rity while minimizing the number of Palestinians who would
remain under Israeli rule, proposed that most of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip be handed over to Jordan, which would
turn into a Jordanian-Palestinian state. Israel would remain
in united Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley (except for a corridor
connecting the Kingdom of Jordan with the West Bank around
Jericho), the first mountain ridge west of the Jordan River,
*Gush Etzyon, and the Latrun area. The Allon Plan was never
adopted by the Government, but until 1977 most of the Jewish
settlements in the territories were established within its pa-
rameters. Following the elections to the Seventh Knesset, held
in 1969 under Golda *Meir’s leadership, Allon was appointed
deputy prime minister and minister of education and culture,
and he was given the same positions in the government that
Meir formed after the election of the Eighth Knesset on De-
cember 31, 1973. After Meir’s resignation, following the publi-
cation of the Interim Report of the Agranat Commission on
676
the outbreak of the *Yom Kippur War, Yitzhak *Rabin, who
was elected by the Labor Party as its new chairman and its
candidate for prime minister, appointed Allon deputy prime
minister and minister of foreign affairs, in which post he re-
placed Abba *Eban, who was not included in the new govern-
ment. As foreign minister Allon was a member of the negoti-
ating team that held talks with U.S. Secretary of State Henry
*Kissinger on the Disengagement Agreements with Egypt
and Syria in 1974, and the Interim Agreement with Egypt in
1975. In 1974 he also tried to promote his “Jericho Plan,” under
which Israel would hand over Jericho and an area around it
to King Hussein of Jordan, as a first step towards implement-
ing the Allon Plan, but the results of the Rabat Arab Summit
Conference foiled his plans.
Serving under Yitzhak Rabin, who had been his subordi-
nate in the Palmah and five years his junior, was not easy for
Allon, but the relations between the two remained friendly.
Following the 1977 election upset that brought *Menahem
Begin to power, he remained a member of the Knesset, and
was appointed chairman of the World Labor Zionist Or-
ganization. Among the issues that Allon promoted in the
Knesset was the Mediterranean-Dead Sea canal for the gen-
eration of electricity. In the vote on the Camp David Ac-
cords with Egypt of September 1978, Allon abstained for
ideological reasons. Allon also supported the creation of a
united kibbutz movement, in order to better confront the
economic difficulties that the kibbutzim faced following the
1977 elections.
In the books he wrote between 1948 and 1967 Allon de-
veloped a defense doctrine, which included the concept of
“anticipatory initiative.” He wrote “The Making of the Israeli
Army,’ in M. Howard, Theory and Practice of War (1965),
335-7, and his books include Maarekhot Palmah (“Palmah
Campaigns,’ 1966), Masakh shel Hol (“Curtain of Sand,’ 1968),
Shield of David (1970), and My Father's House (1976).
Even after his premature death, differences of opinion
remained as to whether Yigal Allon had been deliberately de-
nied his rightful place as leader of the Israel Labor Party, or
whether he had lost something of his charisma and qualities
of leadership after ending his military career. In the late 1970s
British Labour Party leader Harold Wilson said of Allon that
he would never assume the leadership of his party, since he
was “incapable of going for the kill” Friends and foes alike,
however, never denied his humanity and charm.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sefer ha-Palmah (“The Book of the Palmah’),
Z. Gilad and M. Meged, eds., 2 vols. (1953), index; Y. Cohen, Tohnit
Allon (1972); A. Busheiri, Tefisat ha-Bitahon shel Yigal Allon el Mul
Tefisato shel Ben-Gurion (2003); A. Shapira, Yigal Allon: Aviv Kheldo
(2004).
[Susan Hattis Rolef (2"4 ed.)]
ALLONEI ABBA (Heb. 828 71)?X), moshav shittufi in north-
ern Israel, in western Lower Galilee. Affiliated with Ha-Oved
ha-Ziyyoni movement, Allonei Abba was founded on May
23, 1948, during the War of Independence. Many of the set-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
tlers were survivors of the Holocaust from Czechoslovakia,
Romania, Germany, and other countries. The economy was
based mainly on farming: poultry, dairy cattle, field crops,
and vineyards. In the mid-1990s the population was approx-
imately 200, increasing to 283 in 2002. The name refers to
the natural Tabor oaks in the vicinity (allon, “oak”) and also
commemorates the *Haganah hero Abba Berdiczew who
died during World War 11 after having been parachuted into
Slovakia.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
ALLONEI YIZHAK (Heb. jm? °y1?X), youth village in cen-
tral Israel. It was founded in 1948 within the confines of neigh-
boring *Kefar Glickson, with which it continued to be closely
linked. In 1949 it received its own land in the vicinity. Its es-
tablishment was aided by the *General Zionist and Progres-
sive parties and by the *Hadassah Organization of Amer-
ica. Within the framework of *Youth Aliyah, Allonei Yizhak
trained immigrant children, principally in agriculture, and
held courses for American high school students under the
auspices of its American-Israel Secondary School Program.
Subsequently it became a boarding school housing 75% of the
village's students and still absorbing immigrant youth with
special ulpan courses to learn Hebrew. ‘The village included
various farm branches, where students worked one day a week.
In the mid-1990s the population was approximately 300, drop-
ping to 223 from 20 different countries in 2002. The name
(“oaks of Yizhak”) refers to the oak forest formerly in the vi-
cinity and to the Zionist leader Yizhak *Gruenbaum.
WEBSITE: www.knay.alona.k12.il.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
ALLONIM (Heb. 073/28; “oaks”), kibbutz in northern Israel,
on the Tivon hills of western Lower Galilee. Allonim was
founded in 1938 as a “tower and stockade” settlement dur-
ing the Arab riots. The original settlers were graduates of the
first *Youth Aliyah group from Germany. In 1968 it had over
500 inhabitants, including immigrants from various countries
and Israeli-born. In 2002 the population was 547. The kib-
butz economy was based on intensive mixed farming (field
crops, dairy cattle, sheep, poultry). It was also home to the
Algat Company, specializing in aluminum finishing processes
for the aircraft, military, and other high-technology indus-
tries.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
ALLOUCHE, FELIX NISSIM S'AIDOU (1901-2), Tunisian
editor. Born in Sfax, Allouche was editor of the local news-
paper Dépéche Sfaxienne, formed a Zionist club in 1919, and
in 1929 became associated with Vladimir *Jabotinsky. In 1924
he founded the Jewish weekly, Le Réveil Juif, and in 1934 be-
came editor of Tunis Soir, which took a militant Zionist line;
he also helped to found the Zionist weekly, La Vie Juive. Dur-
ing World War 11, he joined the Resistance and later served as
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALMAGIA, ROBERTO
Tunis correspondent for newspapers in Europe and America.
Attacked bitterly by the Tunisian national press, he emigrated
to Israel in 1956.
ALLUF (Heb. 12x), honorary title conferred on scholars of
the Babylonian academies who had the privilege of sitting in
the first row. The word is of biblical origin: the tribal chiefs of
Edom were called allufim (Gen. 35:15ff.). (1) In the Bible, this
word has two principal meanings: (a) “friend, companion, in-
timate” (cf. Jer. 3:4; 13:21; Micah 7:5; Ps. 55:14; Prov. 2:17; 16:28;
17:9); (b) according to the current interpretation, “chieftain,”
but more probably (and this also applies to the Ugaritic alp)
“clan” (which is also a meaning of alluf in Gen. 36:15-43; Ex.
15:15; 1 Chron. 1:51-54). (2) In the geonic period alluf was syn-
onymous with the title of the *resh kallah which was already
current in the Babylonian academies in the talmudic period.
Originally the title was conferred on the seven heads of the
*Kallah who served in Sura and Pumbedita, but from the ninth
century onward it was also bestowed upon prominent scholars
and personalities residing in other countries. (3) Based upon
Psalms 55:14 the term allufi u-meyudda’ was used in classi-
cal-style Hebrew as an address in letters to a friend or teacher.
Similarly, prominent members of the Jewish community coun-
cils were often referred to among Ashkenazim as allufim. (4)
Rank in the Defense Forces of the State of Israel, equivalent
to major general (see *Israel, Defense Forces).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt 1 (1920), 144 ff; 2 (1922), 58ff.;
S. Eppenstein, Beitraege zur Geschichte und Literatur im geonaeischen
Zeitalter (1913), 11ff.; Poznariski, in: Ha-Kedem, 2 (1908), 91-96; I.
Davidson, Saadia’s Polemic (1915), 35; Lewin, in: Ginzei Kedem, 3
(1925), 14 ff.
AL-MADARI (Al-Mudari, Al-Mundari, El-Modari),
JUDAH HA-KOHEN BEN ELEAZAR (Eliezer?) HE-
HASID (13'-14" century), talmudic scholar of Aleppo. Al-
Madari compiled a commentary to the code of Isaac *Alfasi,
part of which is no longer extant. Though he was comment-
ing on Alfasi, he based his book on Rashi’s commentary and
also cited Maimonides and other later scholars. It is probable
that the novellae to the Talmud quoted in his name by vari-
ous authorities are in reality quotations from his commentary
on Alfasi and are not from separate compilations. His com-
mentaries on tractates Yevamot, Ketubbot, Gittin, Kiddushin,
Sanhedrin, and Avodah Zarah were printed in the 1962 edi-
tion of the Talmud published in Jerusalem (Pardess, El Hame-
koroth). His commentaries to Pesahim and Megillah were seen
by H.J.D. Azulai.
BIBLIOGRA PHYy: Steinschneider, in: JQR, 11 (1898/99), 133, no.
314; S. Assaf, in: KS, 23 (1946/47), 233-38.
[Abraham Hirsch Rabinowitz]
ALMAGIA, ROBERTO (1884-1962), Italian geographer and
historian of cartography. He was born in Florence and in 1911
became professor at the University of Padua, which he left in
1915 to become professor in Rome. His early interests lay in
677
ALMAGOR
geology and oceanography, but he moved to the history of geo-
graphical science and finally to the history of cartography. His
first published work was Studi geografici sopra le frane in Italia
(2 vols., 1907 and 1910). His Cristoforo Colombo appeared in
1918, and in 1937, Gli italiani primi esploratori dell’America, in
which he dealt in detail with the Italian contribution to the dis-
covery of America. From 1920 he was co-editor of the Rivista
Geografica Italiana, published by the Societa di Studi Geogra-
fici, of which he became president in 1955. In 1922 he published
L “Italia” di G.A. Magini e la cartografia dell'Italia nei sec. XVI
e xvil. He edited in 1929 Monumenta Italiae Cartographica, a
volume of reproductions of early maps of Italy. During World
War 11 he was granted refuge in the Vatican, where he pre-
pared Monumenta cartografica Vaticana (4 vols., 1944-55). Il
mondo attuale (3 vols., 1953-56) and LItalia (2 vols., 1959) are
his outstanding works on general and Italian geography. Al-
magia achieved an international reputation and was the re-
cipient of many honors. His interest in a Jewish homeland is
shown in his La Questione della Palestina (1918), Una Escur-
sione in Palestina (1925), and Palestina (1930).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Geographical Journal, 128 (1962), 367-8.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Boorsh, “The Case for Francesco Ros-
selli as the Engraver of Berlinghieri’s Geographia, in: Imago Mundi
56:2 (2004), 152-69.
ALMAGOR (Heb. ia N; “No Fear”), moshav on the Corazim
Plateau N. of Lake Kinneret. Almagor was founded in 1961 as
a *Nahal outpost on the Israeli-Syrian border (until 1967). A
number of its soldier-settlers fell in Syrian ambushes in the vi-
cinity and a monument was erected here in their memory. Its
economy was based on out-of-season crops, vineyards, sheep,
and poultry as well as mango and olive orchards. The moshav
also operated a rest house, pub, and sailing facilities on the
lake. In the mid-1990s the population was approximately 250,
dropping to 207 in 2002.
[Efraim Orni / Shaked Gilboa (2"4 ed.)]
ALMAGOR, GILA (1939- ), first lady of Israeli stage and
screen; also the author of several children’s books. Born in
Petah Tikvah, Almagor wrote about her troubled childhood
as the daughter of a widowed, mentally ill Holocaust survivor
in her book, The Summer of Aviya, which was filmed in 1988.
It starred Almagor herself in a role based on her mother. The
prize-winning film was followed by another book, Under the
Domim Tree, and another film adaptation starring Almagor.
These two films are highlights in a career that began when
she was 17 and appeared in the Habimah National Theater’s
production of The Skin of Our Teeth. Her stage credits include
Medea, The Crucible, and ‘Three Sisters. She has appeared in
over 35 films, including Sallah Shabbati (1964), The House on
Chelouche Street (1973), Operation Thunderbolt (1977), Life
According to Agfa (1992), and The Gospel According to God
(2004). She was awarded the Israel Prize in 2004. Almagor is
married to Yaakov Agmon, the former director of Habimah.
[Hannah Brown (2"4 ed.)]
678
ALMAGRO, town in Castile, Spain, administrative center of
the Order of *Calatrava. Jews probably settled there soon af-
ter the Christian reconquest (14' century). It was one of only
four communities in the area of Ciudad Real that existed in
the 14" and 15 centuries. The community developed during
the 15> century, when cities in the crown domains offered lit-
tle security to their Jewish population, but from the amount
of tax paid it was a small one. During the 1460s it was able to
construct a synagogue. There was also a sizeable *Converso
group, and many Conversos from Ciudad Real took refuge
there when they were attacked in 1449, 1469, and 1474. A num-
ber of the New Christians in Almagro were sentenced by the
Inquisition in Ciudad Real and Toledo. The Jewish community
was assessed to pay 800 maravedis in 1474 and 4,365 marave-
dis in 1485 to finance the war against Granada, and survived
until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. There is no
information on the location of the Jewish quarter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Beinart, in: Sefer Yovel... Y. Baer (1960),
207-15; idem, Anusim be-Din ha-Inkvizizyah (1965), index; Baer,
Urkunden, pt. 2 (1936), 370; Suarez Fernandez, Documentos, 65,
80.
[Haim Beinart]
ALMAH (Heb. 1739y), Israeli moshav on a basaltic plateau N.
of Safed. Almah is affiliated with Ha-Poel ha-Mizrachi. It was
founded in 1949. In 1953 the original settlers, who came from
Libya, were joined by the proselytes of *San Nicandro, Italy, who
later moved to other places in Israel. In 1968 Almah’s inhabit-
ants were from Libya and Tunisia. The economy was based on
hill culture (vineyards, deciduous fruit, vegetables) and beef cat-
tle. In 2002 the population was 732. The name Almah is histori-
cal, mentioned by *Benjamin of Tudela in the 12" century.
[Efraim Orni]
ALMAN, SAMUEL (1877-1947), composer of synagogue and
secular music. Alman was born in Sobolevka, Podolia. From
1895 until 1903 he studied at the Odessa and Kishinev conser-
vatories. While at Kishinev, he was strongly influenced by the
cantor *Razumni. After the *Kishinev pogrom (1903) Alman
went to London where he attended the Royal College of Mu-
sic, and wrote a biblical opera King Ahaz (performed in 1912).
He served as choirmaster of various London synagogues (no-
tably at Humpstead) and Jewish choral groups. Alman's style
was deeply rooted in the Southern Russian cantorial tradition,
and he owed much to the choral technique of the meshore-
rim (“choristers”), as heard in the compositions of N. Spivak.
He solved the problem of modern harmonization by follow-
ing (especially in his instrumental works) the impressionistic
style of Debussy. Alman succeeded in preserving the melodic
features and deep sentiments of the Eastern European Ashke-
nazi chant, often creating a mystical atmosphere. Among his
published works are Shirei Beit ha-Knesset, 2 vols. (1925, 1938),
for cantor and choir; Psalm 15 (1915) for chorus and organ, and
Psalm 133 (1934) for chorus and piano; “Mi addir” and “Sheva
berakhot” (1930) for cantor and organ; Ethics of the Fathers
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
(1928); many arrangements of Yiddish folk songs; and compo-
sitions for strings including the quartet suite Ebraica (1932). In
addition, he edited Shirei Rozumni (1930) and the supplement
to EL. Cohen's Voice of Prayer and Praise (1933).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Holde, Jews in Music (1959), 25; Ephros,
Cant, 4 (19597), 126-8, 180-1,224; Sendrey, Music, 185, index.
[Hanoch Avenary]
ALMANSI (Almanzi), Italian family, originally deriving from
Almansa, near Murcia, Spain. About 1665 Abraham Almansi
established himself in Scandiano in the duchy of Modena.
The family continued to be associated with this little place
until the 20" century. The synagogue there, long maintained
in the house of Isaac Almansi, was rebuilt by his sons in 1740.
Later the family became scattered throughout Italy. BARUCH
HAYYIM of Padua (d. 1837) was a noted bibliophile who pur-
chased in 1812 a great part of the important library of Hayyim
Joseph David *Azulai. His eldest son was Joseph *Almanzi
(1801-1860) the poet and book collector. EMILIO (1869-1948)
of Florence was a distinguished physicist and mathematician,
noted for his contribution in the field of mechanics of the
theory of elasticity. DANTE (d. 1948), a magistrate who was a
Fascist party member and deputy chief of police (prefetto) was
forced into retirement when the Italian racial laws came into
operation in 1938. He was designated president of the Union
of Italian Jewish Communities and made responsible for se-
curing government authority in 1939 to found, together with
Lelio Vittori Valobra, the vice president of the Italian Jewish
Communities, Delasem (Delegazione Assistenza Ebrei). He
presided over the Union of Italian Jewish Communities with
exceptional dignity during the period of racial persecution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Padoa, in: RMI, 33 (1967), 37; M. Wilensky,
in: JQR, 38 (1947/48), 189-96. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R.J. Almansi,
Dante Almansi: President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities,
Nov. 1939 to Oct. 1944 (1971); R. Almansi, “Ancora su Dante Almansi,”
in: Rassegna Mensile di Israel, 42 (1976), 453-54; idem, “Mio padre
Dante Almansi,’ in: Rassegna Mensile di Israel, 42 (1976) 234-55; S.
Sorani, Virtt contra furore: lassistenza ai profughi in Italia, 1933-1947:
contributo alla storia della “Delasem” (1978); D. Almansi, “Attivita
svolta dal consiglio della Unione delle Comunita Israelitiche Ital-
iane dal 13 novembre 1929 al 17 novembre 1944,” in: Rassegna Men-
sile di Israel, 45 (1979), 507-24; S. Sorani, Lassistenza ai profughi ebrei
in Italia (1933-1941): contributo alla storia delle Delasem (1983); D.
Almansi, “Dante Almansi, President of the Union of Italian Jewish
Communities,” in: S. Pugliese (ed.), The Most Ancient of Minorities
(2002), 345-52.
[Cecil Roth / Manuela Consonni (24 ed.)]
AL-MANSOR AL-YAHUDI (early ninth century), court mu-
sician of the Umayyad caliph al-Hakam 1, in Cordoba, Spain.
A written record of this author's contribution to music is re-
ported in the book Nafh al- tib of the historian and biographer
al-Maqgari (1591-1632), who relied on other source material of
the Andalusian historian ibn Hayyan (987-1076). Al-Maqgqari
refers to al-Mansur in the colorful story describing the arrival
in Cordoba in 822 of a leading musician, Ziryab. The story re-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALMANZI, JOSEPH
lates that al-Mansur was sent by caliph al-Hakam to meet him
in Kairouan and escort him to Cordoba. When the two musi-
cians met, the news reached them of the sudden death of the
caliph (822). Al-Mansiur then succeeded in persuading Ziryab
to offer his services to the new caliph, ‘Abd al-Rahman 11. Thus,
al-Mansur helped bring about the splendid era of Arab music
in Spain inaugurated by Ziryab. It is assumed that al-Manstr
continued his musical activity together with Ziryab.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Al-Maqaqari, Analectes sur l’histoire et la lit-
térature des Arabes d’Espagne, 2 (1861), 85ff.; H.G. Farmer, History of
Arabian Music to the 13°" Century (1929), 129, 131.
[Amnon Shiloah (274 ed.)]
ALMANZI, JOSEPH (1801-1860), Italian Hebrew author
and poet. He was born in Padua and received his instruction
in Jewish studies mainly from R. Israel *Conegliano, who re-
mained his teacher for 20 years. He also acquired a knowl-
edge of Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, Latin, Italian, French, and
German. Almanzi never married and devoted his time (when
not engaged in trade) to Hebrew literary works and the ex-
pansion of his library. This contained thousands of Hebrew
books, among them rare and valuable prints and manuscripts,
several coming from the collection of Hayyim Joseph David
*Azulai. Almanzi’s collection became widely known among
Jewish scholars and many of them turned to him for their lit-
erary research; he responded willingly and thereby became
friendly with the greatest scholars of his generation, such as
S.D. Luzzatto, Zunz, Fuerst, and Steinschneider. Toward the
end of his life he moved from Padua to Trieste. Most of his
poems, which bear the signature “Yoel, are sonnets of moral-
didactic content. He also wrote: Me’il Kinah (a lament on the
death of his teacher, R. Israel Conegliano (Reggio, 1824)); To-
ledot R. Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto (first published in Kerem
Hemed and several times thereafter as a preface to the books
of R. Moses Hayyim *Luzzatto), a detailed and accurate biog-
raphy of M. H. Luzzatto; Higgayon be-Khinnor, original and
translated poems (Vienna, 1839); Kinnim va-Hegeh va-Hi on
the death of Jacob Hay Vita Pardo, published in S.D. Luzzat-
to's work Avnei Zikkaron (Prague, 1841); and Nezem Zahav
(97 sonnets, Padua, 1858; new edition, Tel Aviv, 1950). In ad-
dition Almanzi published poems in various periodicals; these
included a translated fragment from Horace’s “On the Art of
Poetry” (in Bikkurei ha-Ittim ha-Hadashim, Vienna, 1845).
After his death, his heirs published a catalogue of books of
Jewish interest found in his library; the catalogue was edited
by S.D. *Luzzatto and entitled Yad Yosef (Padua, 1864). It lists
also Almanzi’s published works. Almanzi’s manuscripts were
described by S.D. Luzzatto in Steinschneider’s Hebraeische Bib-
liographie, 4-6 (1861-68). In 1865 the British Museum bought
Almanzi’s manuscript collection for a thousand pounds; the
collection served as the foundation for the large Hebrew man-
uscript department of that institution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Zeitlin, Bibliotheca, 4.
[Gedalyah Elkoshi]
679
ALMERIA
ALMERIA, Spanish Mediterranean seaport. A Jewish com-
munity was formed in Almeria at the end of the tenth century
by refugees from the neighboring settlement of Pechina. The
community became one of the most prosperous and impor-
tant in Andalusia. The Jewish quarter was near the harbor.
With the fall of the Caliphate many Jews of Cordoba moved
to Almeria. The Jews were engaged in maritime trade. Ap-
proximately 2000 Jews lived in Almeria at the time. In the
11 century, the vizier of Almeria, Ibn Abbas, published li-
belous tracts against *Samuel ha-Nagid, vizier to the king of
Granada, and the Jews. His attitude led to war, in the course
of which the king of Almeria was killed and Ibn Abbas exe-
cuted on Samuel’s instructions. According to Abraham *Ibn
Ezra’s historical elegy (Ahah Yarad, line 4), no Jews in Almeria
survived the Almohade persecution of the mid-12" century,
but the community revived subsequently. Later, the *Black
Death resulted in much suffering. The treaty of surrender on
the Christian Reconquest of Almeria in 1489 afforded the Jews
the same protection as the Moors. The conquerors found there
some Conversos who had fled from Castile. After the edict of
expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 a number of exiles
sailed from Almeria for North Africa.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, index; M. Garrido Atienza, Las
capitulaciones para la entrega de Granada (1910), 187. ADD. BIBLI-
OGRAPHY: E. Ashtor, The Jews of Moslem Spain (1979), 295-300; L.
Torres Balbas, in: Al-Andalus, 22 (1957), 438.
[Haim Beinart / Eliyahu Ashtor]
ALMOG, RUTH (1936- ), Israeli writer. Almog was born in
Petah Tikvah to an Orthodox family of German descent. “My
parents emigrated from Germany in 1933. My mother insisted
on it, she was a pessimist while my father was an idealist. As he
could not find work as a physician, which was his profession,
he decided to become a farmer, partly out of idealism. And so
they bought beehives.” Childhood memories, the atmosphere
of the first Hebrew *moshavah, and the figure of the father are
indeed recurring elements in Almog’s prose. Almog studied
literature and philosophy at the Hebrew University and taught
in schools as well as at Tel Aviv University, making her home
in Tel Aviv and from 1967 serving on the editorial staff of the
literary supplement of the newspaper Haaretz.
Almog is considered one of the seminal women-writers
in contemporary Hebrew literature. Relationships within the
family, love, passion and betrayal, romantic dreams, and disil-
lusionment are some of the major concerns in her prose. Fol-
lowing a collection of stories entitled Hasdei ha-Laylah shel
Margarita (1969), she published Be-Erez Gezerah (“The Exile,”
1971), the story of a young woman’s journey to Germany in
search of her family roots and her own identity. In her novel
Mavet ba-Geshem (1982; “Death in the Rain,’ 1993), set against
the Mediterranean landscapes of Israel and Greece, she depicts
an intricate relationship between three men and two women.
Shorshei Avir (“Roots of Light,” 1987) is the story of Mira Gut-
man, who desparately tries to disentangle her roots in an at-
tempt to free herself from the coils of her family’s fate. Unlike
680
some of the other women-figures in Almog’s stories, Mira, a
modern Antigone, refuses to be passive and submissive. The
death of her lover Jan during the Russian invasion of Czecho-
slovakia prompts her to fight for the ideal of freedom. The
collection of stories Nashim (“Women,” 1986) depicts women
coping with loneliness, physical handicaps, and haunting
memories: In “Rachel Stern meets Fellini in Rome,’ Almog
juxtaposes the longing for life and the painful awareness of
immanent death; In “Henya Is No Longer Blue,’ she describes
Henya’s physical deterioration and her last moments of grace.
The collection entitled Kol ha-Osher ha-Mufraz ha-Zeh (2003)
depicts, amongst other things, Holocaust survivors and immi-
grants who are trying to build a new life in Israel. This is also
the theme of Me’il Katon (1993), the story of the boy Shaul-
Paul who grows up amidst old and sickly immigrants from
Europe and Oriental Jews. Almog’s other works include the
epistolary novel Be-Ahavah, Natalia (2005), various collec-
tions of stories, books for children, and two novels which she
wrote together with Esther Ettinger (Meahev Mushlam, 1995,
and Estelina Ahuvati, 2002). Almog was awarded the Brenner
Prize (1989), the Agnon Prize (2001), and the Yad Vashem
Prize for children’s literature for “My Journey with Alex”
(1999).
Almog’s story “Shrinking” is included in Six Israeli Novel-
las (edited by G. Shaked, 1999); “Dora’s Secret” appeared in The
Oxford Book of Hebrew Short Stories (edited by G. Abramson,
1996); and “A Good Spot” is included in New Women's Writing
from Israel (edited by R. Domb, 1996).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 5 (1998),
340-66; idem, Bein Bat la-Avotehah, in: Moznayim 72, 6 (1998), 8-12;
P. Shirav, Ketivah lo Tamah (1998); Y.S. Feldman, No Room of their
Own: Gender and Nation in Israeli Women Fiction (1999). A. Zehavi,
in: Yedioth Ahronoth (Dec. 12, 1980); M. Geldman, in: Haaretz (Jan.
2, 1981); P. Shirav, Derekh ha-Em, in: Alei Siah 34 (1994), 69-82; N.
Tamir-Smilanski, Zikaron shel Nashim be-Sippurei R. Almog, in: Ha-
Hinukh u-Sevivo 20 (1998), 103-8; N. Gertz, Mitahat lifnei ha-Shetah:
Al ha-Sippur she- mitahat le-Sippurah shel R. Almog “Gamadim al
ha-Pidgamah; in: Sifrut ve-Hevrah ba-Tarbut ha-Ivrit ha-Hadashah
(2000), 316-27; E. Adivi-Shoshan, Zo Yalduti ha-Sheniyah: Al Sip-
purei ha-Yaldut shel R. Almog, in: Ha-Hinukh u-Sevivo 24 (2002),
287-306.
[Anat Feinberg (24 ed.)]
ALMOG (Kopeliovitz), YEHUDA (1896-1972), leading fig-
ure of the Third *Aliyah. Almog, who was born near Vilna,
joined Joseph *Trumpeldor in organizing *He-Halutz. In 1919
he settled in Palestine, where he was a founder of *Gedud
ha-Avodah. In 1923 he went to Soviet Russia as an emissary
of He-Halutz and later to Persia and other countries. He was
a founder of the kibbutz Ramat Rahel, near Jerusalem. From
1934 onward Almog devoted himself to the needs of the pot-
ash factory workers living in the difficult conditions of Sodom
as well as to the settlement of the Dead Sea area and the de-
velopment of *Masada as a national monument. His writings
include Hevel Sedom (“Sodom Region,’ 1945), and Hevel Yam
ha-Melah (“Dead Sea Region,” 1956).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Tidhar, 4 (1950), 2005; Y. Erez (ed.), Sefer ha-
Aliyah ha-Shelishit (1964), index; H.M. Sachar, Aliyah: the Peoples of
Israel (1961), 155-91.
[Benjamin Jaffe]
ALMOGI (Krelenboim), YOSEF AHARON (1910-1991),
Israeli politician and labor leader, member of the Third to
Eighth Knessets. Almogi was born in Hrubieszow, Poland. In
1924 he joined the Dror youth movement and in 1928 started
to prepare for his immigration to Erez Israel. For a number
of years after arriving in Erez Israel in 1930, he worked as a la-
borer in orange groves and in construction. He was a member
of the Kefar Sava Labor Council and joined the *Haganah. In
1936 he was sent to organize the *Hapoel defense units within
the *Histadrut in the Tel Aviv area, and in 1937 he organized
the Hapoel defense units within the Histadrut in Haifa. In
1940 he enlisted in the British Army; he was taken prisoner
by the Germans in Greece, remaining in a prison camp un-
til the end of the war and organizing the Jewish prisoners of
war from Erez Israel. In the years 1947-51 Almogi was acting
secretary of the Haifa Labor Council, and in 1948 organized
a special labor brigade which took over the essential services
of the city when the British evacuated it. In 1951-59 he served
as secretary of the Council.
Almogi was elected to the Third Knesset in 1955 as a
member of *Mapai. He served as secretary-general of Mapai
in 1959-61 and as minister of housing and development in
1963-65. He was one of the members who broke away from
Mapai in May 1965 together with David *Ben-Gurion to form
*Rafi, and subsequently resigned from the government. Half
a year after Rafi participated in the formation of the *Israel
Labor Party in January 1968, he was appointed minister of
labor. Almogi was reelected to the Eighth Knesset in 1973, but
was not given a seat in the government, since he was elected
mayor of Haifa, a position he held in 1974-75. In 1975-78 he
served as president of the World Zionist Organization. His
autobiography, Be-Ovi ha-Korah (“In the Thick of Things”),
was published in 1980.
[Susan Hattis Rolef (24 ed.)]
ALMOHADS (Arab. Al-Muwahhhidin; “Those who Advo-
cate the Unity of Allah”), Moroccan Berbers from Tinmel in
the Atlas Mountains. Like their predecessors, the *Almoravids
(al-Murabitin), who ruled major areas of the Maghreb and
Muslim Spain, the Almohads comprised a confederation of
local Berber tribes. The Almohads were influenced by puri-
tanical notions of Islam to even a greater degree than the Al-
moravids. They had been essentially inspired by the religious
teachings of Ibn Tamart (d. 1130), whose doctrine was a mé-
lange of a strict conception of the unity of Allah, with a pro-
gram of moral reform based on the Koran and the Sunnah:
the traditional social and legal practice of the early Muslim
community.
In 1121, Ibn Tumart proclaimed himself the mahdi, or
spiritual-messianic leader, openly questioned the legitimacy
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALMOHADS
of Almoravid rule, and waged a protracted war against them
in the Maghreb. Ibn Tamart’s actions came in the aftermath
of a series of military challenges posed to the Almoravids
also by the Christians in Spain, who had previously carried
out the early phases of their plan of “re-conquest” and de-
Islamization.
Under Ibn Tumart’s successor, ‘Abd al-Mu’min, the Al-
mohads brought down the Almoravid state in 1147; they cap-
tured *Marrakesh and transformed it into their Maghrebi
capital. On the other hand, Almoravid domains in Muslim
Spain were left virtually intact until the caliph Abu Ya‘qib
Yusuf forced the surrender of Seville in 1172. The spread of
Almohad rule over the rest of Islamic Spain soon followed.
During the reign of Abi Yusuf Ya‘qub al-Mansur (1184-99)
serious Arab rebellions devastated the eastern provinces of the
empire, whereas in Spain the Christian threat remained con-
stant. At the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), the Almo-
hads were dealt a devastating defeat by a Christian coalition
from Leon, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon. They retreated to
their Maghrebi provinces, where soon afterwards the Muslim
Hafsids seized power in Tunis, the Abd al-Wadids took Tlim-
san (*Tlemcen), and Marrakesh, the Almohad capital, fell to
the Marinids in 1269.
The decline and eventual fall of the Almohad state was
attributed to three main reasons. First, it shared power with
no group outside its own hierarchy placing the center of power
solely in the hands of the founders and descendants. Secondly,
the puritanical orientation of Ibn Tamart waned gradually
among his many followers after his death. Under his succes-
sors, precedents had been set for the construction of costly
and lavish “non-puritan” monuments. The famous Kutubiya
mosque in Marrakesh and the older parts of the mosque of
Taza attest to this policy. Neither did the movement for a re-
turn to traditional orthodox Islam survive; both the mysti-
cal movement of the Sufis and the philosophical school rep-
resented by Ibn Tufayl and Averroes (Ibn Rushd) flourished
under the Almohad kings. Finally, the Almohads proved to be
intolerant toward their Muslim opponents and the Maghrebi
Jewish minority, thus alienating diverse segments of the pop-
ulation. In fact, in the pre-Almohad Maghreb the position of
the Jews was apparently free of significant abuses. No factual
complaints were registered prior to 1147 of excesses, coercion,
or malice on the part of the authorities. After the ascendance
of the Almohad ruler Aba Ytsuf Ya‘qib al-Mansiar, how-
ever, the Jews began to encounter humiliations; many were
forced to convert to Islam and had to wear the qalansuwa, a
cap of strange and ugly shape, reaching down to their ears.
The Jews, who officially had been converted to Islam but
were suspected of secretly practicing their own religion, were
compelled to wear special, and rather ridiculous, clothes so
that the Muslims easily identified them. At the same time,
Jews were not the only victims of Almohad cruelty; the Mus-
lim maliki school of Sunni Islam was banned in Almohad
North Africa and its leading works were burned in the pub-
lic squares.
681
ALMOLI, SOLOMON BEN JACOB
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib
in the Islamic Period (1987); H.Z. Hirschberg, A History of the Jews
in North Africa (1974); C.-A. Julien, History of North Africa: Tunisia,
Algeria, Morocco (ed. and rev. by R. Le Tourneau, 1970); M.M. Lask-
ier, The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Jewish Communities of
Morocco: 1862-1962 (1983); R. Le Tourneau, The Almohad Movement
in North Africa in the 12" and 13" Centuries (1969).
[Michael M. Laskier (2"4 ed.)]
ALMOLI (Almuli), SOLOMON BEN JACOB (before 1485-
after 1542), grammarian, physician, philosopher, and kab-
balist.
Biography and Basic Works
Probably born in Spain, Almoli passed his early years in Sa-
lonika, but before 1515 settled in Constantinople, where he
spent the rest of his life, serving as a dayyan and rabbi of one of
the congregations there. Almoli devoted himself to the study
of science and medicine, earning his livelihood from the lat-
ter, and serving, as it seems, as physician to the sultan. Few
biographical details are known of his life except that it was
marked by want and poverty. Having conceived the idea of
compiling a general encyclopedia, he launched his undertak-
ing enthusiastically, though fully aware that the work would
take many years to complete and that large sums of money
would be required for an adequate reference library. He was
encouraged by the hope that others would take up his work
in the event of his failing to complete it, but the scholars of
Constantinople reacted disparagingly and rejected the plan.
Almoli was also unsuccessful in his attempt to recruit a group
of trainees for his work. He did, however, publish a small pam-
phlet of 24 pages under the title Meassef le-Khol ha-Mahanot
(Constantinople, c. 1531), a prospectus of the proposed ency-
clopedia which was to be in three parts: (1) Mahaneh Yisrael,
on what every Jew needs to know; (2) Mahaneh Leviyyah, on
general knowledge; and (3) Mahaneh Shekhinah, on Hebrew,
Aramaic, biblical exegesis, theology, Kabbalah, and the com-
mandments of the Torah.
The fate of the project is unknown. Also included is his
Shaar ha-Shem he-Hadash (Constantinople, 1533), which he
describes as being “the first section of the large book which
deals with all matters of faiths.” In it he treats the existence of
God, His attributes and essence, according to the Kabbalah
and philosophy. He states that “wonderful secrets and expla-
nations, hitherto unrevealed” (p. 13a) have been disclosed to
him. With one exception, all Almoli’s other works are mere
prolegomena to larger works which he contemplated. The
exception is the Mefasher Helmin (Salonika, c. 1515) often re-
published under its Hebrew title Pitron Halomot (“Interpre-
tation of Dreams”) and translated into Yiddish (Amsterdam,
1694). In it he classifies dreams by categories and gives rules
for their interpretation.
Other Publications
(1) Halikhot Sheva (Constantinople, c. 1520), according to Al-
moli, the introduction to a larger projected work on the sci-
682
ence of Hebrew grammar. This is an original study, including
rules for the pointing of the vowel e, under differing circum-
stances. The first part begins with general comments on the
relationship between the sheva and the other vowels, which
are significant guidelines for the history of the science of the
Hebrew language. In the second part, the sheva is classified by
categories. The third part deals with the different forms of the
noun. Almoli cites various opinions as to the alternate pronun-
ciations of the sheva na’ (“mobile”) and gives his own analysis
of it as a third type of vowel, having its place midway between
the short vowels and the sheva nah (“quiescent”). A criti-
cal edition was published by H. Yallon. (2) Iggeret ha-Purim
is mentioned in Halikhot Sheva and is probably a treatise
on the Scroll of Esther. (3) Shaar ha- Yesod (Constantinople,
1536) deals with the roots of Hebrew words. This book is not
extant, except for the title page. (4) Almoli was also instru-
mental in the publication of books on language and vocal-
ization by other authors. These are the Magen David (Con-
stantinople, 1517) of *Elisha b. Abraham, in the writing of
which Almoli participated, replying to Profiat *Duran’s and
David *Ibn Yahya’s criticism of David *Kimhi; the Yesod
Mora (Constantinople, 1530) and the Safah Berurah (Con-
stantinople, 1530) of Abraham *Ibn Ezra; the Leshon Limmu-
dim (Constantinople, 1526) of David ibn Yahya, together with
the Shekel ha-Kodesh on prosody. For many years this last
book was also thought to be the work of David Ibn Yahya,
but H. Yallon has shown that it was written by Almoli, who
included in it criticism of the Leshon Limmudim (critical
edition by H. Yallon, 1965). Almoli also composed poems
which were published in his own books and in those he ed-
ited.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Aloni, in: KS, 18 (1941/42), 192-8; H. Yallon
(ed.), Shelomo Almoli Halikhot Sheva (1944), 79-115; idem, in: Sinai,
32 (1952/53), 90-96; idem, in: Aresheth, 2 (1960), 96-108; idem, in:
KS, 39 (1963/64), 105-8; Gruenbaum, in: Aresheth, 4 (1966), 180-201.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Morag, “Some Notes on Shelomo Alo-
moli’s Contributions to the Linguistic Science of Hebrew,’ in: J.A.
Emerton and S.C. Reif (eds.), Interpreting the Hebrew Bible, Essays
in Honor of E.1.J. Rosenthal (1982), 157-69.
ALMON or ALEMETH (Heb. nv?y 7107), levitical city in
the territory of Benjamin (Josh. 21:18; 1 Chron. 6:45). Alemeth
appears in the genealogical lists of Benjamin beside *Anathoth
and Azmaveth (1 Chron. 7:8; 8:36; 9:42) but it is missing in
the list of Benjaminite cities in Joshua 18:21-28. Alemeth is
identified with Khirbet Almit, 1 mi. (c. 2 km.) northeast of
Anathoth. It was erroneously identified with Ailamon (Ai-
jalon) on the Madaba Map which was based on a reference
of Eusebius (Onom. 18:14). In the Crusader period Amieth
(Alemeth) is mentioned with Aneth (Anathoth) and Fara-
fonte (Ayn Fara).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: AASOR, 4 (1924), 156; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938),
242; Press, Erez, 4 (1955), 730; Aharoni, Land, index.
[Michael Avi- Yonah]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALMOND (Heb. 77), one of the “choice fruits of the land”
sent by Jacob to the ruler of Egypt (Gen 43:11). The tree blooms
in Israel in January or February, while other fruit trees are still
bare. Moreover, the almond blossoms before it is covered with
leaves. Thus it symbolizes (Jer. 1:11-12) the speedy fulfillment
of the prophecy of doom. It may also signify old age and the
imminence of death. It is used, allegorically, in this sense in
Ecclesiastes (12:5) to describe the short cycle of human life.
Although the tree blossoms early, the fruit only ripens late
in the summer. *Ahikar accordingly advised his son: “Be not
like the almond tree, for it blossoms before all the trees, and
produces its fruit after them.” The almond can be regarded as
having two periods of ripening. It is edible together with its
rind a few weeks after the tree blooms, while the fruit is still
green. Its second ripening is three months later, when the
outer rind has shriveled and the inside cover has become a
hard shell. In its exposition of Jeremiah’s vision, the Talmud
has the first ripening in mind: “Just as 21 days elapse from the
time the almond sends forth its blossom until the fruit ripens,
so 21 days passed from the time the city was breached until
the Temple was destroyed” (Tj Ta’an. 4:8, 68c), the 21 days be-
ing the period between the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the
Ninth of Av. Beth-El was originally called *Luz (Gen. 28:19)
which is the less common word for almond or almond tree in
Hebrew, but loz is the regular Arabic word for almond. Several
localities in modern Israel bear the Arabic name Al-Luz. Two
strains of almond grow in Israel: one, the amygdalus communis
var. dulcis, usually producing pink blossoms and sweet fruit;
the second, the amygdalus communis var. amara producing
white blossoms and bitter fruit. The latter strain grows wild
in mountain groves. It is edible only with the rind when it is
young (Tosef. Ma’as. 1:3). Roasting, however, destroys the poi-
sonous alkaloid, and makes this almond edible even in its later
stages (cf. Hul. 25b). The almond played a part in the modern
history of Erez Israel. Grown extensively in the earlier part of
the 20* century, it was attacked by the borer beetle and almost
all the orchards were destroyed. In the 1960s, almond cultiva-
tion was revived especially in the Northern Negev and again
became an important branch of agriculture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loew, Flora, 3 (1924), 242ff,; J. Feliks, Olam
ha-Zomeah ha-Mikra’i (19687), 56-59. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fe-
liks, Ha-Zome’ah, 165.
[Jehuda Feliks]
ALMOND, GABRIEL ABRAHAM (1911-2002), U.S. po-
litical scientist, credited with inventing modern comparative
political science. Born in Rock Island, Illinois, Almond was
the son of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. His father was
a rabbi. A student at the University of Chicago, he went on to
earn his doctorate in 1938; but his thesis, Plutocracy and Poli-
tics in New York City, was not published until 1998. The work
contained psychoanalyses of several wealthy New Yorkers, in-
cluding unflattering references to John D. Rockefeller, a princi-
pal benefactor of the university. Charles Merriam, chair of the
political science department, refused to recommend the thesis
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALMON-DIBLATHAIM
for publication unless the offending material was removed. Al-
mond refused. The thesis remained in the stacks of the Univer-
sity of Chicago library, where it became an underground classic
among scholars. It was finally published by Westview Press.
Almond taught political science at Brooklyn College
from 1939. During World War 11 he was head of the Enemy
Information Section at the War Information Office (1942-44).
After the war he was professor of political science at Princeton,
Yale, and Stanford. He also taught at universities in England,
Japan, Brazil, and the Ukraine. He was elected chairman of the
Social Science Research Council’s Committee on Compara-
tive Politics and, in 1966, president of the American Political
Science Association. Almond’s Appeals of Communism (1954),
an empirical study of the attractions and weaknesses of Com-
munism, was significant for its treatment of the psycho-so-
ciological background of political behavior. Almond’s major
contribution in this field was the recognition of a cultural di-
mension in politics, and its application in the first nationwide
study of political culture (G. Almond and S. Verba, The Civic
Culture (1963)). The book examines the differences in the po-
litical cultures of five countries and looks at how these influ-
ence each nation’s stability and prospects for democracy.
Almond also developed the “functional approach” to
comparative politics. Later he turned increasingly to problems
concerned with the theory of political development as seen in
“A Developmental Approach to Political Systems” (World Poli-
tics, 17 (1964-65), 183-214), and in G. Almond and G.B. Powell
Jr., Comparative Politics: A Developmental Approach (1966).
Other books by Almond include Political Development:
Essays in Heuristic Theory (1970); The American People and
Foreign Policy (1977); Comparative Politics: System, Process,
and Policy (1978); Sects in Political Science (1989); The Civic
Culture Revisited (1992); Comparative Politics Today: A World
View (1999); European Politics Today (1998, 2001); Strong Re-
ligion: The Rise of Fundamentalisms around the World (2002);
Discipline Divided: Schools & The Ventures in Political Science:
Narratives & Reflections (2002).
[Moshe M. Czudnowski / Ruth Beloff (274 ed.)]
ALMON-DIBLATHAIM (Heb. 0°0?27 ]in?y), city in the
northern Moabite plain (the Mishor) between Dibon-Gad
and the mountains of Abarim (Num. 33:46-47), along the
route followed by the Israelites on their way to the plains of
Moab (Arvot Moav). Khirbet Deleilat esh-Sherqiyeh, a site
containing Iron Age 1-11 pottery, located about 10% mi.
(17 km.) north-northeast of Dibon (Dhiban), has been sug-
gested for its identification. It is probably identical with Beth-
Diblathaim, a Moabite city which is mentioned in the Mesha
inscription between Madaba and Beth-Baal-Meon and in the
prophecy of Jeremiah after Dibon and Nebo and before Kiria-
thaim (Jer. 48:22).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Glueck, in: AASOR, 14 (1934), 32; Abel, Geog,
2 (1938), 269ff.; Press, Erez; 1 (1946), 78-79; 4 (1955), 731; Aharoni,
Land, index.
[Yohanan Aharoni]
683
ALMORAVIDS
ALMORAVIDS (Arab. Al-Murabitiin; “Warrior-Monks”),
confederation of Berber tribes of the Sanhajah group who
lived in the Moroccan Sahara Desert. Their religious fervor
and fighting capabilities enabled them to establish a formida-
ble empire in the Maghreb and Muslim (Andalusian) Spain
in the 11" and 12‘ centuries. Their theological Islamic zeal
is attributed to Yahya ibn Ibrahim, their spiritual leader, as
well as to the alim (religious scholar) ‘Abd Allah ibn Yasin.
Imbued with Islamic zeal, the Almoravids conquered Mo-
rocco and major sections of western Algeria between 1054
and 1092. In 1062 they turned *Marrakesh into their base of
operations and religious capital. Thenceforth, their main lead-
ers embraced the title of Amir al-Muslimin (“commander of
the Muslims”) but nevertheless continued to recognize the
legitimacy of a still higher authority in Islam: the Abbasid
caliph in Iraq upon whom the title Amir al-Mu’minin (“com-
mander of the faithful”) had been bestowed. It was toward
the end of the 11 century that the Castilian Christians who
held on to parts of Spain began challenging the authority of
the Almoravids and encroaching on their territories. The Al-
moravid leadership succeeded in temporarily repulsing the
Christians and foiling their plans to conquer such key cities
as Cordoba and Toledo.
With the exception of Valencia, Muslim Spain remained
under Almoravid control. Notwithstanding, perhaps the weak-
est aspect of Almoravid rule in Spain and the Maghreb is the
fact that they were a Muslim Berber minority in charge of a
Spanish-Arab empire. With the passage of time, they found it
increasingly difficult to protect all their territorial possessions
from the Christian reconquest, especially in the aftermath of
the fall of Saragossa in 1118. Moreover, in 1125 the *Almohads
(those who advocated the “Unity of Allah”), a confederation
of rival Berber tribes, began to rebel against them in the At-
las Mountains. Following a protracted struggle and relentless
fighting, the Almohads defeated the Almoravids in 1147; they
transformed Marrakesh into their own capital and extended
their authority into Muslim Spain.
In addition to the powerful military force that they cre-
ated at their zenith, the Almoravid period is also interesting
for its art and architecture. What characterized Almoravid
art was its puritanism. As Saharan military monks, the Al-
moravids rejected the lavish decoration that had dominated
the late Umayyad architectural style, and they built on a practi-
cal rather than a monumental scale. Piety and asceticism pre-
vented them from erecting elegant palaces and magnificent
monuments. The most famous architectural site that remained
from the time of the Almoravids is the Great Mosque at Tlem-
cen, Algeria, built in 1082 and reconstructed in 1136.
The position of the Jews under Almoravid domination
was apparently free of major abuses. Unlike the problems en-
countered by the Jews during the rule of the *Almohads (the
Almoravids’ sucessor dynasty), there are no factual complaints
of excesses, coercion, or malice on the part of the authorities
toward the Jewish communities.
684
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib
in the Islamic Period (1987); J. Clancy-Smith (ed.), North Africa, Is-
lam and the Mediterranean World (2001); A. Julien, History of North
Africa: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco from the Arab Conquest to 1830 (ed.
and rev. by R. Le Tourneau, 1970); C.R. Pennell, Morocco since 1830:
A History (2000).
[Michael M. Laskier (24 ed.)]
ALMOSNINO, Sephardi family, originating in Spain and
prominent later in Morocco, Salonika, Gibraltar, and Eng-
land. The family was established from the 13" century at Jaca
in Aragon, where BARZILLAI was baile in 1277 and JOSEPH and
jacos (possibly his sons) were “adelantados” of the Jewish
community in 1285 (Régné, Cat, nos. 1277, 1370). ABRAHAM,
an outstanding member of the Jewish community of Huesca,
helped in the readmission of the converso Juan de Ciudad to
Judaism in 1465. A generation later he was condemned by the
Inquisition for his complicity in this and burned alive on De-
cember 10, 1489. His family thereafter settled in Salonika and
were among the founders of the Catalan community there
and legal proprietors of its synagogue. His children included
the physician, JosEPH, author of an elegy on the destruction
of Jerusalem (published in Sefunot, 8 (1964), 264-5); a son
HAYYIM, an active member of the Catalan community; and a
daughter, who married R. Abraham Cocumbriel, son of Asach
(Isaac: not Abraham, as the name was remembered in family
tradition). Cocumbriel had perished together with Abraham
Almosnino. The two families continued to intermarry, their
descendants including BARUCH (d. 1563), head of the Cata-
lan community in Salonika in the mid-16" century, father of
*moses. Another ABRAHAM, a physician of Toledo (perhaps
a cousin of the martyr), settled in Fez after the expulsion
from Spain where he assisted in organizing the community
of the megorashim (“exiles”). His son JOSEPH was a physician
as well as a poet, and so was his grandson ABRAHAM. The
ALMOSNINO FAMILY
ABRAHAM ALMOSNINO
of Huesca
d. Auto de Fé 1489
ISAAC COCUMBRIEL
of Huesca
d. Auto de Fé 1489
HAYYIM JOSEPH daughter oo) ABRAHAM
escaped to fl. 1492
Salonika escaped to escaped to Salonika
Salonika
'
Boos
'
BARUCH
ALMOSNINO GD ae
d. 1563 .
JAPHETH MOSES P daughter
0.1568 ¢. 1515-c. 1580 © Pofia SIMHAH
| I [ ee |
BARUCH SIMEON daughter
ug CSAarc y
I
JOSEPH
1642-1689
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
latter’s nephew, IsAAc HASDAI (b. c. 1580), after many adven-
tures, was arrested at Goa (India) on suspicion of being a New
Christian physician from Oporto named Manuel Lopes and
was sent to Lisbon for trial by the Inquisition. On successfully
demonstrating that he was a Jew by birth, he was released and
deported (Torre do Tombo Archives, Lisbon, Inquisido de Lis-
béa, reg. 5393). In a later generation, HASDAI (c.1640-1727) was
among the most prominent rabbis of Tetuan. He was proba-
bly the father of isaac (d. 1785), rabbi of Gibraltar, who went
from there with other Jews to London during the siege of 1781.
His son Hasdai became a member of the bet din of the Lon-
don Sephardi community. Of the latter’s sons, tsa ac (d. 1843),
hazzan of the community, modernized the service, at the same
time carrying on a protracted quarrel with the rabbi, Raphael
*Meldola, over the pronunciation of Hebrew, and soLoMon
(1792-1877), was secretary of the community and exercised
influence over it for many years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Urkunden, 1 (1926), 196; 2 (1936), 484 ff;
E. Carmoly, in: Univers Israélite (Jan.-March 1850); A.M. Hyamson,
The Sephardim of England (1951), 230-2.
{Cecil Roth]
ALMOSNINO, JOSEPH BEN ISAAC (1642-1689), rabbi,
halakhic authority, and kabbalist. Almosnino was apparently
born in Salonika, and studied under Hananiah Taitazak. He
went to Jerusalem to study in Jacob Hagiz’s bet ha-midrash,
Bet Yaakov, where he probably made the acquaintance of *Na-
than of Gaza. About 1666 Almosnino was appointed a rabbi in
Belgrade where he married the daughter of the rabbi of that
city, Simhah ha-Kohen, whom he succeeded c. 1668. He was
won over to Shabbateanism and transcribed the writings of
Nathan of Gaza which were sent to his community (Oxford
Ms. no. 1777). The community suffered two serious blows dur-
ing Almosnino’s tenure of office: a great fire in which his li-
brary and part of his writings were burnt and, in 1688, the fall
of Belgrade to the Turks, as a result of which the community
was destroyed. Most of the Jews escaped, but some were taken
captive. Almosnino afterward traveled to the German com-
munities where he succeeded in raising funds to ransom the
captives and reconstruct the community. He died in Nikols-
burg, while on this mission.
Many communities turned to Almosnino with their
problems. Moses *Ibn Habib corresponded with him on hal-
akhic matters and wrote an approbation to his responsa. Al-
mosnino also corresponded with Zevi Hirsch *Ashkenazi.
Many emissaries from Erez Israel visited him, including Moses
*Galante. Those of Almosninos works which escaped the Bel-
grade conflagration were preserved by chance. They were sold
to Arab dealers from whom they were acquired by a Jew. Two
volumes of his responsa were published posthumously by his
sons Simhah and Isaac under the title Edut bi- Yhosef (Con-
stantinople, 1711, 1713). Several of Almosnino’s poems, though
never published, are extant in the manuscripts of contempo-
rary Turkish poets (Jewish Theological Seminary, Ms. no. 60,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALNAKAR, ABRAHAM BEN JOSEPH
353; Adler 358; Guenzburg 196). He wrote an autobiographical
sketch that appears in the introduction to Edut bi-Yhosef.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rosanes, Togarmah, 4 (1935), 26 ff.; Scholem,
Shabbetai Zevi, 1 (1957), 189; 2 (1957), 535, 790; Attias, in: Minhah le-
Avraham... Elmaleh (1959), 135 ff.
ALMOSNINO, MOSES BEN BARUCH (c. 1515-c. 1580),
Salonika rabbi, scholar, and preacher. His numerous publi-
cations show his extensive knowledge of science, philosophy,
history, and rhetoric. His rabbinic scholarship was widely re-
spected. Although his responsa were never published in col-
lected form, authorities such as Samuel de *Medina, Hayyim
*Benveniste, Isaac *Adarbi, and Jacob di *Boton included some
of them in their works. A gifted orator, he served in succes-
sion as preacher to the Salonika congregations Neveh Shalom
and later the Livyat Hen, founded by Gracia *Nasi. A selection
of his sermons, in Hebrew, is printed in his Meammez Koah
(1582). In 1565 Almosnino was chosen as member of a delega-
tion to Sultan Selim 11 to procure the confirmation of the privi-
leges and exemptions granted by Suleiman the Magnificent to
the Salonika community in 1537. The document had been de-
stroyed in the great fire of 1545 and the local authorities again
began to place crushing burdens on the community. The two
other members of the delegation died en route. Almosnino,
with the help of Joseph *Nasi, succeeded, after much heart-
breaking effort, in obtaining a favorable decision (1568), and
the Salonika community was given the status of a self-govern-
ing entity, which it enjoyed for many centuries. Almosninos
works in Hebrew include commentaries on the Five Scrolls
(Yedei Moshe, 1582), a supercommentary on Abraham Ibn
Ezra; a commentary on Avot (Pirkei Moshe, 1562); and com-
ments on the Pentateuch and prayer book (Tefillah le-Moshe,
1563). While in Constantinople, Almosnino compiled in La-
dino a description of Constantinople, published, with some
rearrangement and omissions, in Spanish by Jacob *Cansino of
Oran under the title Extremos y Grandezas de Constantinopla.
It is one of the rarest works of Spanish Jewish literature and
an important historical source. He published, also in Ladino,
an ethical work, I] Regimiento dela Vida (Salonika, 1564; re-
printed in Latin characters, Amsterdam, 1729), which enjoyed
considerable popularity in its time. Appended to it is a lengthy
treatise on dreams, “composed at the request of the most illus-
trious sefior, Don Joseph Nasi” and giving a graphic descrip-
tion of the latter’s luxurious way of life. He also published an
exposition of Aristotle’s Ethics and notes to Al-Ghazali.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kayserling, Bibl, 10-11; Molcho, in: Sinai, 6
(1942), 198-209; Ben Menahem, ibid., 19 (1946), 136-171; C. Roth, The
Duke of Naxos (1948), 165 ff.
[Abraham Hirsch Rabinowitz]
ALNAKAR, ABRAHAM BEN JOSEPH (1740?-after 1803),
Sephardi liturgical scholar. Alnakar was born and brought up
in Fez. From there he went to Algiers but returned to Fez by
1783, in which year he began to travel extensively. He was in
685
AL-NAKAWA, ISRAEL BEN JOSEPH
Tlemcen in 1783, in Tunis in 1785, in Melian, in Tripoli the fol-
lowing year, and again in Tunis in 1788. From there he pro-
ceeded to Leghorn where he remained until his death. For a
number of years he engaged in publishing. In 1789, he went
into partnership with Jacob Benaim of Morocco and they pub-
lished, at their own expense, Tikkunei ha-Zohar. They used the
Constantinople edition of 1719 including the glosses of Jacob
Vilna and Moses Zacuto. Alnakar added an introduction to
the book, and songs of his own, which he printed in the book.
The partnership was probably unsuccessful, since in 1791 his
partner, together with Hayyim Abraham Israel Zeevi, a Jeru-
salem emissary, published the Zohar with the glosses of H.J.D.
*Azulai. Alnakar turned to the publication of prayer books. He
became friendly with Azulai, receiving glosses to the festival
prayers. In 1798 he published a prayer book for the New Year
and the Day of Atonement, with his own commentary, Zekhor
le-Avraham. This commentary appeared in almost every edi-
tion of the High Holy Day liturgy published in Leghorn, as
well as in the Tripoli festival prayer book. In addition he pub-
lished a small prayer book for the New Year and the Day of
Atonement according to the rite of Argil (Leghorn, 1803). In
the same year he published festival prayer books according to
the rites of the Sephardim of Tunis and of Tlemcen. His Afra
de-Avraham has remained in manuscript. He also drew a de-
sign of the Temple candelabrum with a kabbalistic commen-
tary, of which he published a lithographic edition.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 18b;
M. Benayahu, Rabbi H.Y.D. Azulai (Heb., 1959), 204-5.
AL-NAKAWA, ISRAEL BEN JOSEPH (d. 1391), ethical
writer and poet. The Al-Nakawa family had lived from the
12 century in Toledo where a synagogue (Midrash Ben Al-
Nakawa) had been established by Israel’s uncle, Abraham b.
Samuel (murdered in 1341). Israel studied with *Asher b. Jehiel
and his son Jacob. During the attack on the Jewish community
of Toledo in 1391, which claimed many victims and even more
converts, the aged Israel was savagely attacked and dragged
through the streets. He finally killed himself, an example fol-
lowed by his brother Solomon. The harrowing details are de-
scribed in a dirge by an otherwise unknown poet, Jacob ibn Al-
bene. According to one interpretation of this poem, Israel was
the hazzan of a Toledo congregation. His son Ephraim escaped
to North Africa and became spiritual leader of the Tlemcen
Jewish community. Israel is best known through his Menorat
ha-Maor, a compilation of aggadic and halakhic material in 20
chapters. The author attributes the inspiration and name of his
work to a vision (as other authors had before and after him)
of the seven-branched holy candelabrum (cf. Zech. 4) and a
scroll (cf. Ezek. 2:9-3:3), in which he was instructed to write
a book with this title. Whatever the inspiration, the troubled
times through which Spanish Jewry passed in the second half
of the 14" century called for a handbook of ethical and ritual
instruction such as the Menorat ha-Maor. After an introduc-
tory poem and an introduction in rhymed prose, the author
686
describes the general need for a book such as his, in times of
decline of religious knowledge and observance. The divisions
of the book deal with the main themes of religious life: charity,
prayer, repentance, humility, study of Torah, honor of parents,
education of children, marriage, business morality, good man-
ners, etc. Several supplements are appended to the work which,
however, may not be by Al-Nakawa. The sources from which
he drew his material include the whole range of rabbinic lit-
erature: the Talmud, the Midrashim, including some now lost,
such as the Midrash Hashkem, the writings of the geonim, Mai-
monides, Nahmanides, down to those of his teachers. Another
work whose influence can be seen throughout the Menorat
ha-Maor is that of Mitzvot Zemanniyyot by Israel b. Joseph.
The Zohar is quoted under the otherwise unknown name of
Midrash Tehi Or and in a Hebrew adaptation of the Aramaic
original. It has been suggested that Israel was responsible for
a Hebrew translation of the entire Zohar which was still cur-
rent in the 16 century. The relationship between the Menorat
ha-Maor and the Midrash ha-Gadol still needs investigation.
In common with Isaac Aboab’s Menorat ha-Maor (1514), Al-
Nakawa’s is of primary importance because of the texts, both
extant and lost, quoted by the author. The originality of such
a work lies in the arrangement of the material, in its emphases
as well as in the “continuity” provided by the compiler. While
Aboab’s Menorat ha-Maor soon became one of the most stud-
ied and most often reprinted religious works, Al-Nakawa’s re-
mained relatively unknown. Though copies were current in
Spain in the 14" and 15" centuries, only one complete manu-
script has survived (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Opp. 146)
which H.G. Enelow published in a monumental edition (4
vols., published 1929-32). The last chapter of the Menorat ha-
Maor (on good manners) found its way into J.C. Wagenseil’s
Belehrung der Juedisch-Teutschen Red- und Schreibart (Koe-
nigsberg, 1699), from a Judeo-German translation by Isaac b.
Eliakim of Posen (Prague, 1620). Jacob Emden included the
same chapter in the third part of his prayer book, Migdal Oz
(Altona, 1748). The relations between Al-Nakawa’s and Isaac
Aboab’s Menorat ha-Maor have been much discussed and it is
generally assumed that Aboab used, adapted, and condensed
Al-Nakawa. However, there can be no absolute certainty in the
matter. The main differences are that Aboab’s work is purely
aggadic and more speculative, and that its structure is more
logical; that it has practically no Zohar quotations and that
many talmudic passages are quoted in the Aramaic original,
whereas Al-Nakawa mostly translates them into Hebrew. Israel
Al-Nakawa was renowned as a poet and as such is mourned
by the writer of the elegy mentioned above. Davidson’s Ozar
ha-Shirah ve-ha-Piyyut includes 16 of his compositions. Two
piyyutim, with Al-Nakawas acrostic, were published by Enelow
(Menorat ha-Maor, 2:439-43) from a manuscript.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 374; Schechter, in: MGW],
34 (1885), 114-26, 234-40; Efros, in: JQR, 9 (1918/19), 337-57; Roth, in:
JOR, 39 (1948/49), 123 ff; Waxman, Literature, 2 (19607), 279-80.
[Moshe Nahum Zobel]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALONT, NISSIM (1926-1998), Israeli writer and playwright.
Aloni, who was born in Tel Aviv, served in the War of Inde-
pendence, and studied in Jerusalem and Paris. In 1963 he es-
tablished Te'atron ha-Onot (“The Theater of the Seasons”),
serving as director and artistic manager. His first play, Akhzar
mi-Kol ha-Melekh (“The King Is Cruelest of All,” staged 1953)
published in Ha-Masakh, 3 (1954), focuses upon the personal-
ity of Rehoboam, the king who revolted against Jeroboam in
the name of freedom and justice, but who adopted his rival’s
evil ways upon assuming the monarchy. In Bigdei ha-Melekh
ha-Hadashim (“The King’s New Clothes,” staged 1961) and
Ha-Nesikhah ha-Amerikait (“The American Princess,’ staged
1963; Engl., 1980), the influence of the Theater of the Absurd
is evident. In his plays Aloni constructed a highly original
world. Its basic components are drawn from the earliest ele-
ments of the European theater: myth, mask, costume, stock
characters, etc. Aloni eschewed any blatant philosophical or
emotional expression that might have been conceived in a
situation existing outside the clear-cut boundaries of theat-
rical action. His play is to be judged by the author's ability
to marshal these various theatrical components to express
this imagined universe. He employed various means, such as
the tape recorder or the cinema, to emphasize the clear and
unique connection of his characters with imaginary reality.
Other plays by Aloni include “Eddy King” (French, 1985), “The
Bride and the Butterfly Hunter,’ “Napoleon, Dead or Alive,’
“Aunt Lisa,’ and “The Gypsies of Jaffa.” Similar thematic ele-
ments also appeared in the few stories which Aloni published.
Their main subject is a “reconstruction” of the world of child-
hood as a world of imagination, which may have been cre-
ated either in the imagination of the child protagonist or of
the adult narrator. Aloni’s published works include the prose
collection Ha-Yanshuf (1957, 1996). “Liheyot Ofeh” appeared
in English translation as “To Be a Baker,’ in S.Y. Penueli and
A. Ukhmani (eds.), Hebrew Short Stories. Aloni was awarded
the Israel Prize for theater in 1996.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Nathan, in: Keshet (Summer 1966), 5-39.
ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 5 (1998),
133-38; Ch. Shoham, in: L. Ben-Zvi (ed.), Theater in Israel (1996),
119-32; E. Rozik, in: L. Ben-Zvi (ed.), Theater in Israel (1996),
133-50.
[Matti Megged]
ALONI (Adler), SHULAMIT (1928- ), Israeli politician
and civil rights activist. She served in the Sixth and Eighth to
Thirteenth Knessets. Shulamit Aloni was born in Tel Aviv. She
served in the *Palmah during the *War of Independence and
was taken prisoner by the Jordanians in the Jewish Quarter of
Jerusalem. After her release she worked with immigrant chil-
dren. She received a law degree from the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem and joined *Mapai in 1959. In 1961-65 she pro-
duced a radio program dealing with issues of legislation and
legal procedures, establishing a reputation as a fighter for citi-
zens rights, and as a critic of the bureaucracy in Israel. It was
largely due to her advocacy that the Commission for Public
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALOUF, YEHOSHUA
Complaints was established by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in
1965. She was elected on the Mapai ticket to the Sixth Knesset
in 1965. During this period she established the Consumers’
Council and served as its chairperson until 1970. Her refusal
to toe the party line, and personal animosity between her-
self and Prime Minister Golda *Meir, resulted in her exclu-
sion from the Mapai list for the Seventh Knesset. As a result,
in September 1973, before the elections to the Eighth Knes-
set, she established the Civil Rights Movement (Ratz), which
managed to pick up some of the protest votes following the
*Yom Kippur War, and received three Knesset seats. In the
government formed by Yitzhak *Rabin, following Meir’s res-
ignation, Aloni was appointed minister without portfolio, but
when the National Religious Party joined the government in
October 1974, she resigned. In the Tenth Knesset, after receiv-
ing only one seat, Aloni joined the Labor-Mapam Alignment
for the duration of the Knesset, for tactical reasons. In the
course of the Twelfth Knesset Aloni was one of the advocates
of the establishment of a new parliamentary group, made up
of the ten members of the crm, *Mapam, and Shinui. The
new group called itself *Meretz and ran in the elections to the
Thirteenth Knesset under Aloni’s leadership. Meretz joined
the government formed by Rabin in 1992, and Aloni was ap-
pointed minister of education, culture, and sport. However,
she had frequent verbal clashes with the leaders of the *Shas
religious party, which was also a member of the government,
and in order to avoid a coalition crisis agreed, in May 1993, to
hand the ministry of education over to Amnon *Rubinstein
of Meretz, while she became minister of communications,
science, and arts. Aloni decided not to run in the elections to
the Fourteenth Knesset, but continued to fight for the issues
she believed in from outside the Knesset.
Over the years Aloni helped numerous couples, unable
to marry in Israel for halakhic reasons, to draw up marriage
contracts, and participated in other activities designed to abol-
ish or circumvent what she regarded as religious coercion. She
was also active in helping establish shelters for battered women
and stations to assist rape victims. In 1982 she was one of the
founders of the International Center for Peace in the Middle
East. In 2000 she was awarded the Israel Prize for her special
contribution to Israeli society.
Among her books (all in Hebrew) are “Children’s Rights
in the Laws of the State of Israel” (1964); “Social Legislation”
(1970); “The Arrangement: From a State of Law to a State of
Halakhah” (1970); “Women as Human Beings” (1976); “Citi-
zen and State: Basic Principles of the Doctrine of Citizenship”
(1985); “Can't Do It Any Other Way” (1997).
[Susan Hattis Rolef (274 ed.)]
ALOUF, YEHOSHUA (1900-1980), educator. Alouf was
born in Slonim, Belorussia, but was sent to Erez Israel at the
age of 12 to study at the Herzliah Gymnasium in Tel Aviv. Re-
turning for the holidays in 1914, he was caught up in World
War I and continued his studies in Warsaw where he became
687
ALPER, MICHAEL
a top gymnast with the local Maccabi. He returned to Tel Aviv
in 1920 and was appointed teacher of physical education at
the Gymnasium, later completing his studies at the Physical
Education Institute in Copenhagen in 1925. From 1938 un-
til his retirement in 1965 he served as national supervisor of
physical education in Israeli schools. He was prominently as-
sociated with the Maccabi Sports Organization in a number
of capacities, and was in charge of the first five *Maccabiahs.
Alouf was responsible for the coining of modern Hebrew
nomenclature in sport. He wrote many books on physical
education. Alouf was awarded the Israel Prize for physical
education in 1974.
ALPER, MICHAEL (1902-1955), U.S. rabbi and educator.
Alper was born and educated in New York City, receiving
his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Colum-
bia University as well as rabbinical ordination from the Jew-
ish Institute of Religion. Early in his university career, Alper
became the director of Jewish Education for the Hebrew Or-
phan Asylum. His tenure in this position coincided with a pe-
riod of rapid growth and modernization in Jewish education
in America. Advances in the field of general education were
applied to Jewish schools and adult classes. Alper was a lead-
ing participant in this process of professionalization, writing
textbooks and articles on educational topics, overseeing the
publications of the American Association for Jewish Educa-
tion and the Jewish Education Committee, and editing the
journals Jewish Education and Adult Jewish Leadership. For the
last nine years of his life, Alper taught at the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion, specializing in the train-
ing of teachers of religion. He was also involved in the nascent
Reconstructionist movement, editing the Reconstructionist
magazine for 15 years. Alper wrote The Bible Retold (1930),
Outline in Jewish Education (1950), and Reconstructionism and
Jewish Education (1954).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Jewish Year Book, 57 (1956); New
York Times (Jan. 31, 1955); Who's Who in American Jewry (1938-39).
[Adam Mendelsohn (2"4 ed.)]
ALPERSOHN, MARCOS (Mordecai; 1860-1947), Argentine
farmer and Jewish writer. Alpersohn was born in Kamenets-
Podolski, Russia. His father, Israel, was a shohet and melamed.
In his youth Alpersohn was a maskil, writing Hebrew articles
in the Jewish press. In 1891 he emigrated to Argentina and set-
tled in Colonia Mauricio, the first agricultural colony founded
by the *Jewish Colonization Association (1cA). From the very
outset he wrote pamphlets in Yiddish under a pseudonym crit-
icizing the ica administration. After 43 years in Mauricio, he
began to spend winters in Buenos Aires but remained on his
farm during the summer.
Alpersohn was a prolific writer. In his three volumes of
memoirs (“The 1ca and Its 30 Years of Colonization in Ar-
gentina”), novels, plays, stories, and newspaper articles, he de-
scribed with much color the life of the Jewish farmers in the
688
1c colonies. He is considered one of the outstanding Yiddish
writers of Argentina.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Alpersohn, Colonia Mauricio (n/d); H.
Avni, Argentina ha-Aretz ha-Ye'udah (1973).
[Efraim Zadoff (2™4 ed.)]
ALPERSTEIN, AVRAHAM ELIEZER BEN YESHAYA
(1853-1917), rabbi. Born in Kobrin, Grodno Province, Alper-
stein studied under the direction of Rabbi Joseph Dov Halevi
*Soloveitchik and Rabbi Jacob David *Willowski, who later
became Alperstein’s colleague in Chicago. He then studied at
yeshivot in Kovno and Vilna and was granted rabbinical ordi-
nation from Rabbi Mordecai Meltzer, communal rabbi in Lida,
and Rabbi Aryeh Leib Yellin of Bilsk, and then briefly served as
rabbi of the Kaminetzer synagogue in Vilna before becoming
the communal rabbi in nearby Novograd. A few years later, he
accepted a position as rabbi of the Zevah Zedek synagogue in
the vibrant Jewish community of Slobodka near Kovno.
Alperstein came to New York in 1881 together with the
first wave of immigrants. He served as rabbi of Congregation
Adath Jeshurun in New York. Three years later he moved to
Chicago, where he remained for 15 years, serving in several
synagogues, Congregation Oheb Shalom Bnai Marienpol, An-
shei Kovno, and the Suwalker shul. While in Chicago, Alper-
stein published his only book, a commentary on the Jerusalem
Talmud, Tractate Bikkurim. After spending two years in St.
Paul, Minnesota, Alperstein returned to New York in 1901 to
become rabbi of the Yagustava shul on Rutgers Street, which
enabled him to work together with Rabbis Moses *Matlin and
Judah David Bernstein on the yeshiva named for Rabbi Isaac
Elchanan Spektor of Kovno. Alperstein campaigned through-
out the shteiblach of the Lower East Side, appealing for funds
on behalf of R1ETS, which began to grow and prosper. He ar-
ranged for the school to transfer its program to the Yagustava
shul, where he served as rabbi and taught Talmud. By 1905, the
year he became rabbi at Congregation Mishkan Israel, approx-
imately 100 students were engaged in Torah study at RIETS.
Alperstein was also active on behalf of the newly formed Agu-
dat Harabbonim, the Orthodox rabbinical association.
Following his death, his wife founded in his memory
the Beth Abraham Home for the Incurably Sick in the Bronx,
which at present is the Beth Abraham Hospital, part of the
Montefiore-Einstein complex.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ha-Meassef, 8:2 (1903), 18; 8:4 (1903), 473 8:5
(1903), 543 8:11 (1903), 1453 9:3 (1903), 34; B.Z. Eisenstadt, Chachmei
Yisrael bAmerica (1903), 14; idem, Anshei ha-Shem be-Arzot ha-Berit
(1933), 41.
[Moshe Sherman (24 ed.)]
ALPERT, HERB (1935-_), U.S. trumpeter, bandleader, com-
poser, and producer. Born in Los Angeles, Alpert studied jazz
and classical trumpet and served two years in the army as a
trumpeter and bugler. His first success in the music industry
was the writing and recording of the instrumental hit “The
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Lonely Bull” (1962) with his backup group the Tijuana Brass.
Alpert's style influenced a number of other groups, such as Di-
ana Ross and the Supremes and the Beatles. In 1962 he used his
royalty monies to purchase the old Charlie Chaplin studio and
form A&M Records in partnership with Jerry Moss. Under
Alpert’s guidance, A&M signed many famous pop performers
such as the Police, Cat Stevens, Joan Baez, and the Carpen-
ters. In addition, Alpert himself recorded the number one hit
single “This Guy’s in Love” (1972). In 1990 he and Moss sold
A&M and in 1994 started a new record label — Almo. His al-
bums showed an eclectic style with influences from Africa,
funk and disco, Big Band sounds, and hip-hop. Among his
recordings are Herb Alpert and Hugh Masekela (1978); Rise
(1979); My Abstract Heart (1989); North on South Street (1991);
the jazz album Midnight Sun (1992); Second Wind (1996); and
Passion Dance (1997).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online; MGG’.
[Jonathan Licht / Israela Stein (274 ed.)]
ALPHABET, HEBREW. The origin of alphabetic script has
always been a subject of human curiosity. According to Greek
mythology, script was brought to Greece from Phoenicia. This
tradition was accepted by the Greek and Roman writers, some
of whom developed it even further, and stated that the Phoeni-
cians learned the art of writing from the Egyptians. In the 19
century there were scholars who subscribed to the theory of
the Egyptian origin, while others believed that the Phoenician
script developed from the Akkadian cuneiform, Cretan linear,
Cypriote syllabic, and Hittite hieroglyphic scripts.
This entry is arranged according to the following outline
NORTH-WEST SEMITIC
CURSIVE SCRIPT
SQUARE SCRIPT
MASHAIT SCRIPT
LETTERS USED AS NUMBERS
BRAILLE
MANUAL (DEAF)
SHORTHAND
NORTH-WEST SEMITIC
The Proto-Canaanite and Cuneiform Canaanite Scripts
Modern investigation into the origin of the alphabet began
in 1905 with the discovery of the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions
by Sir Flinders Petrie at Sarabit al-Khadim in the Sinai Pen-
insula. These were short texts inscribed in an unknown pic-
tographic script of approximately the middle of the second
millennium B.c.£. The first steps toward decipherment of
these texts were taken 12 years later by Sir Alan Gardiner, who
noted a recurrent series - oxgoad (= Canaanite lamd); house
(= bayt); eye (= ayn); oxgoad (= lamd); cross (= taw) - and re-
alized that if the signs followed an acrophonic principle, their
parallel Canaanite value (lamd-bayt-a‘yn-lamd-taw) would be
Ib’lt - “for the lady” (goddess). Since then many attempts at
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
decipherment have been made. The most eminent study is that
of WE. Albright, who believes that it is possible to identify 23
of the probable 27 letters occurring in these texts. Accepting
Gardiner’s Canaanite acrophonic theory and assuming that
these texts are votive inscriptions written by West Semites
who were employed by the Egyptians in the turquoise mines
of Sarabit al-Khadim, Albright bases his readings on the re-
cent knowledge of the Canaanite dialects (mainly Ugaritic) in
the second millennium B.c.£.
AN EARLY PALESTINIAN EPIGRAPHIC CORPUS. For several
decades it was assumed that these West Semite workers (or
slaves), while being in daily contact with the Egyptian hiero-
glyphs, invented the first alphabetic writing. However, at some
sites in Palestine several similar pictographic inscriptions were
found. Most of them are ofa later date than the Proto-Sinaitic
texts (mainly from Lachish, but also from Hasi, el-Amarna,
Beth Shemesh, Megiddo), but at least three are earlier than the
Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions (from Shechem, Gezer, and Lach-
ish). This early Palestinian epigraphic corpus consists mainly
of inscribed shards and jar inscriptions (partly fragmentary),
but there are also inscriptions on seals, a dagger, and javelin
heads. The latest specimens (from the end of the Late Bronze
period and from the very beginning of the Iron Age) display
simplified linear letter forms which developed from the early
pictographs. The script of these texts is called Proto-Canaanite
(see figure 1).
The order of the early alphabetic texts is suggested by
EM. Cross, Jr. as follows:
1. The Proto-Canaanite Texts
a. Old Palestinian (17‘h-12"" century B.C.E.)
b. Proto-Sinaitic (15 century B.C.E.)
11. Canaanite Cuneiform Texts
a. Ugaritic (14th—-13'" century B.C.E.)
b. Palestinian (13'—-12'» century B.C.E.)
PROTO-CANAANITE SCRIPT AS THE SOURCE OF LATER
ALPHABETS. The Proto-Canaanite alphabet seems to copy
some pictographic signs from the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Some
Canaanite communities adapted the method of writing as in
the Akkadian cuneiform syllabic script (ie., clay tablet and
stylus) to the new alphabetic system. Akkadian cuneiform
was used in the latter half of the second millennium for in-
ternational correspondence even between the Egyptian pha-
raoh and his vassals in Palestine (see *el-Amarna). The cunei-
form alphabet was not limited to Ugarit in northern Canaan;
specimens of this script were found at three sites in Pales-
tine (Beth-Shemesh, Taanach, and Nahal Tabor). However,
whereas the cuneiform alphabet, as far as is known, ceased to
exist with the beginning of the Iron Age (12" century B.c.E.),
the Proto-Canaanite script was the source of all alphabetic
scripts which later spread throughout the entire world. From
this script the Proto-Arabic script branched off in the course
of the 13 century B.c.E. (This is the parent script of the South
Arabic monumental and the Ethiopic script, as well as the
689
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Proto Sinai, Palestinian Proto-Canaanite inscriptions, 13-11" cent. B.c.£. Phoenician ¢. 10008.c.2.) Modern
c. 1500 B.c.E. (Ahiram Sarcophagus) Hebrew
lod + fat +k *K K X
m7 w“ z ke 9 g a
L oN 17 7 3
<> ns 4 4 z
Ms [é/3] n
Q Y ’
a ro a
wW
=
2
mA
Ma [Me PR} € fF) BM Hc Jag
Y Vy] Vv 5
= G @ 79> Ve b
lad wie $ ”
“ f er NU $s :
= @ 0 D Oo Ps Pos y
Hy stn x
A A 2 ae q a
we) $3 w \N ww Ww wv
+ + ++ + + n
Figure 1. Proto-Canaanite script, with its predecessor and main offshoot. From EM. Cross, “The Origin and Early Evolution of the Alphabet,’ Eretz Israel,
8. Jerusalem, 1967.
690 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Thamudic, Safaitic, and Lihyanic scripts.) The main offshoot
of the Proto-Canaanite script, however, is the Phoenician,
from which the (Ancient) Hebrew and Aramaic as well as the
Greek alphabets evolved (figure 2).
THE TERM “ALPHABETIC SCRIPT.” It has been alleged that
the term “alphabetic” does not fit West Semitic writing. This
script, using letters for consonantal phonemes (i.e., each sign
represents a consonant plus any vowel (or “zero” vowel)) is,
in LJ. Gelb’s opinion, a system of syllabic writing. While it is
true that the West Semitic system of writing is a less developed
stage than the Greek, the term alphabet itself does not mean
that each letter must stand for either a consonant or a vowel, or
for a consonant plus any vowel. Alphabet means a number of
letters (20 or 30 approximately) listed in a fixed order, notwith-
standing their individual values. The first abecedary known
until now, found in Ugarit, belongs to the 14" century B.C.E.,
and its order (after omitting some letters) generally fits that of
the Hebrew alphabet (figure 3). The reduction of the symbols
to represent consonantal phonemes was a revolutionary step
toward spreading literacy, and the systematic insertion of the
vowel signs into the script was only a further, though impor-
tant, step in this process. Therefore there is no reason to re-
strict the term alphabet to Greek or Latin scripts.
1600
1500
1400
1300
1200
1100 Phoenician
Proto-Canaanite
Proto-Arabic
Hebrew
1000
Aramaic South Arabic
Greek
Latin
200 Jewish Nabatean
Palmyrene
B.C.E. Samaritan
(GE Syriac
Parthian,
Pahlevi, etc.
Ethiopian
North Arabic
600 (Classical)
Cyrillic
Figure 2. Offshoots of the Proto-Canaanite script. J. Naveh, Jerusalem.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
mILTE BLED POMBE TT
“Pp meV $
i AVA
| t- = Dy avs
Figure 3. The Ugarit abecedary, 14" century B.c.£. After Virolleaud, Syria,
28, Paris, 195,22.
The Phoenician Script
The Proto-Canaanite and the cuneiform alphabetic (as well as
the South Arabic and the Classical, or North Arabic) scripts
have 27-30 letters; the cuneiform also distinguishes between
alef - a, alef— i, and alef— u. The Proto-Canaanite inscriptions
were written either in vertical columns, in horizontal lines or,
quite frequently, in boustrophedon. In the 11 century B.c.E.,
with the development of the linear letter forms, the stabiliza-
tion of the right-to-left direction, and the reduction of the
number of letters to 22 consonants, the Proto-Canaanite de-
veloped into the Phoenician script. (The c. 1000 B.c.£. inscrip-
tion on the Ahiram sarcophagus found at Byblos displays this
stage of evolution.) It seems likely that the Phoenician phone-
mic system consisted of 22 consonants; but the phonemic sys-
tems of the Hebrew and Aramaic languages were richer than
that of the Phoenician language. When the Hebrews and Ar-
ameans adopted the Phoenician script they could not express
in writing these phonemes which did not occur in Phoeni-
cian. In Hebrew, for example, there exists § (shin) and $ (sin),
but both phonemes are designated by the same letter W; only
in a relatively late period, with the invention of the diacritic
signs, was it possible to distinguish between W (shin) and v
(sin).
The Phoenician people traded throughout the ancient
world, and Phoenician inscriptions have been found as far
apart as at Ur in the Persian Gulf and in Spain (figure 4).
Most of these inscriptions, however, originated in Phoenicia,
Cyprus, and Carthage. The Carthaginian inscriptions and
those which were found in the western Phoenician colonies
are called Punic inscriptions. While it is possible to distin-
guish between the dialects which were spoken in Phoeni-
cia proper, in Cyprus, and in the Punic colonies, no special
local characteristics in the scripts of the various centers de-
veloped. This one-trend evolution seems to be reflected in
the scarce ink-written cursive material, but it is especially
obvious in the many monumental (mainly votive) inscrip-
tions. Whereas the Phoenician inscriptions of eastern ori-
gin after the third century B.c.£. are rare, the number of the
Punic inscriptions (mainly from Carthage) increases in the
late third and early second centuries until the destruction
of Carthage in 146 B.c.k. It seems likely that in this period
there developed in the west an independent cursive, which
was later adapted to monumental writing by the neo-Punic
communities existing in North Africa after 146 B.c.£. This is
the neo-Punic script.
691
ALPHABET, HEBREW
NORTH-WEST SEMITIC
Figure 4. Phoenician inscription of the sarcophagus of King Eshmunezor at Sidon,
fifth century B.c.E. Louvre.
Figure 5. The earliest known Hebrew inscription: detail from the Gezer Calendar,
Cc. 950-918 B.C.E. Louvre.
Figure 6. The Royal steward inscription from Siloam, Jerusalem (eighth century
B.C.E.) shows the developing cursive character of the Hebrew script. From a plas-
ter cast of the original inscription in the British Museum.
Figure 7. One of the Arad ostraca, c. 600 B.C.E. Jerusalem, Israel Museum.
Figure 8. One of the 18 Lachish ostraca, from the destruction level at Lachish,
587/6 B.C.E., reflecting the most developed cursive hand of this period. Jerusalem,
Dept. of Antiquities and Museums.
Figure 9. A 12"'-13" century. c.g. inscription from a Samaritan synagogue near
Shechem shows the Samaritan script which was developed from the Paleo-He-
brew. Jerusalem, Israel Dept. of Antiquities and Museums.
Sia
692 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
The Hebrew Script
The Hebrews adopted the alphabetic script together with
other cultural values from the Canaanites in the 12" or 116
century B.c.E. They followed the current Phoenician script
until the ninth century, when they began to develop their
own national script.
EARLY INSCRIPTIONS. The *Gezer Calendar is considered to
be the earliest Hebrew inscription known. Its script resembles
the scripts of the tenth century Phoenician inscriptions from
Byblos. The spelling of two words reflects the contraction of
the diphthong ay, which is either a Phoenician or a North He-
brew (cf. Samaria ostraca) linguistic feature. On paleographi-
cal grounds, the Gezer Calendar should be dated in the late
tenth century B.c.£. (ie., in the time of Solomon) when Gezer
was an Israelite city (1 Kings 9:16), and thereby determined as
a Hebrew inscription (figure 5).
As strange as it may seem, the earliest clear Hebrew fea-
tures can be discerned in the scripts of the ninth-century
Moabite inscriptions, namely the stele of *Mesha (the Moabite
Stone) and in a recently found fragmentary stele where kmsyt,
the name of Mesha’s father, is mentioned (for the Moabite
script, see below).
As the eighth-century Hebrew inscriptions exhibit many
specific and exclusive traits, it is obvious that in the ninth cen-
tury the Hebrew script was written by wide scribal circles. The
fact that up to the present almost no Hebrew inscriptions have
been found from the ninth century is accidental, but the quan-
tity of the epigraphic material from the eighth century onward
shows a gradual increase of the spread of the knowledge of
writing among the people of Israel and Judah.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDEPENDENT HEBREW SCRIPT.
The evolution of the independent Hebrew script is one of
a specific cursive character: the further it diverges from the
(Phoenician) mother script, the more it drops the lapidary
features. This one-trend development is obvious in the eighth-
century engraved inscriptions, namely the Siloam Inscription,
the Royal Steward (figure 6), and other tomb inscriptions (all
from Jerusalem), as well as from the fragmentary Hebrew
inscription on an ivory which was taken as booty (probably
from Samaria) to Nimrud, and the hundreds of the eighth-
to the sixth-century Hebrew seals from various sites. These
inscriptions on hard material were written in a cursive style,
copying even the shading, which is a natural feature of pen-
and-ink writing. This lack of lapidary script may indicate that
the custom of erecting stelae by the kings and offering votive
inscriptions to the deity was not widespread in Israel. Such an
assumption would explain how the specific lapidary element
could disappear from the Hebrew script.
HEBREW EPIGRAPHIC MATERIALS. ‘There is some indication
of the common use of papyrus. In addition to the seventh-
century palimpsest papyrus, preserved in the dry climate of
Wadi Murabba‘at near the Dead Sea about 20 clay sealings of
papyrus rolls have been found (mostly in Lachish).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
The majority of the Hebrew epigraphic material which
has been found is pottery. About 100 jar inscriptions are
known today. Sixty jar handles, inscribed after firing, were
found in Gibeon, and other jars bear inscriptions on their
bodies. Some were incised or written in ink after firing, but
others were inscribed before firing the vessels. These inscrip-
tions are mainly the names of the owners or the names of
those responsible for their capacity, and others indicate the
measure of capacity (bt Imlk, “a royal bat”). Toward the end
of the seventh century B.c.£. it became more usual to impress
a seal on the jar handle rather than to write on the soft clay.
Recently 80 “private” seal impressions of some 30 specimens
and about 800 royal (Jmlk) seals were listed (M.L. Heltzer, in:
Epigrafika Vostoka, 17 (1965), 18-37).
The most important Hebrew epigraphic material con-
sists, of course, of ostraca, some of which were incised (e.g.,
two dockets from Tell Qasile, a name-list, and a message-
like short letter from Samaria), but most were written in ink.
The majority of ostraca were found in Samaria, Lachish, and
Arad. This corpus, together with the Siloam Inscription and
an ostracon from Mezad Hashavyahu, are the most important
sources for the study of the Hebrew language in the period
of the First Temple.
SOURCES FOR THE HEBREW LANGUAGE IN THE FIRST TEM-
PLE PERIOD. The Samaria ostraca consist of 63 dockets be-
longing to the eighth century B.c.E., probably to the time of
Jeroboam 11. They were found in the storage rooms of the royal
palace and describe shipments of wine and oil brought in by
farmers from various places, presumably as taxes. This ma-
terial is the main source for the study of the Hebrew dialect
spoken in the Northern Kingdom, while the other material
reflects the Judahite, or Jerusalemite, dialect.
The Siloam Inscription describes the building of the tun-
nel through which the water of the Gihon was brought into
the city of Jerusalem, presumably in the time of Hezekiah
(11 Kings 20:20; 11 Chron. 32:30).
The ostracon found at the seashore fortress called to-
day Mezad Hashavyahu, near Yavneh Yam (Minat Rubin),
is a letter written by a reaper who worked in the royal estate
of Josiah, king of Judah. The reaper complained to the local
governor of the confiscation of his garment (cf. Ex. 22:25-27;
Deut. 24:10-13).
The Arad ostraca, which have only been partly published,
were found in various levels of the eighth and seventh centu-
ries. The published material from about 600 B.c.£. consists
mainly of short messages dealing with supplies for the mer-
cenaries employed in guarding the southern border of Judah
(figure 7).
The 18 Lachish ostraca are letters sent by an officer to
the governor of Lachish, who was probably in charge of the
defense of the area, on the eve of the Babylonian conquest
of Judah just before the destruction of the First Temple in
586 B.c.E. These ostraca reflect the most developed cursive
hand (figure 8).
693
ALPHABET, HEBREW
+wg P}
ofy7$lv2eHIydaA 1986
o—_h
WY ¢iLd
a 2 oA. AS Y A oF
de da
oF YoY ZOeH=y4arI7t
ade Gee;
oPy Wl ye H=XASTIFT
Maio: oo ta ie
oF7 YLILOSRHZYAANTD F
aie ao ae
co oy7 fyt4 AKT asi aT
ia ky
“999 Yt BAT KL4A19~%
Awe HT
eve y bg aon 4d4argse
pita dee a ale a
cel ytOR m1 SAY GF
nwa gery
0sesg ly teazxaargr
pyoryy
ease Sys ONIaNyrnsy
fea ae)
ORGY TT MBAKTASAIK
xwayp J
Q 5 44 4 20m 44154
Figure 10. (1) Ahiram sarcophagus, c. 1000 B.C.E., Phoenician; (2) Gezer Calendar, late tenth century B.c.z., Hebrew; (3) Mesha stele, mid-ninth century
B.C.E., Moabite; (4) Samaria ostraca, eighth century B.c.E., Hebrew; (5) Bar-Rekub stele, late eighth century B.c.E., Aramaic; (6) Siloam inscription, c. 700
B.C.E., Hebrew; (7) Mezad Hashavyahu ostracon, late seventh century B.c.E., Hebrew; (8) Saqqara papyrus, c. 600 B.C.E., Aramaic; (9) Hebrew seals, late
seventh-early sixth century B.C.E.; (10) Lachish ostraca early sixth century B.c.£., Hebrew; (11) Elephantine papyrus, late fifth century B.c.g., Aramaic;
(12) Eshmunazor inscription, fifth century B.c.E., Phoenician; (13) Exodus scroll fragment, second century B.c.E., Paleo-Hebrew. Copyright Joseph Naveh,
Jerusalem.
694
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
The Paleo-Hebrew Script
The Hebrew script did not cease to exist after the Babylonian
capture of Judah, when most of the nobles were taken into
exile. It was used by the people who remained to work the
fields; the sixth-century inscribed jar handles from Gibeon,
on which the names of winegrowers are listed, are an example.
However, from the fifth century onward, when the Aramaic
language and script became an official means of communica-
tion, the Paleo-Hebrew script (i.e., the ancient Hebrew char-
acters as used in the time of the Second Temple) was used for
writing Hebrew both in Judah and Samaria. It was preserved
mainly as a biblical book hand by a coterie of erudite scribes
(presumably of the Zadokite priesthood; cf. the Paleo- Hebrew
Pentateuch fragments found among the *Dead Sea Scrolls).
The vast majority of the *Hasmonean coinage as well as the
coins of the First and Second Jewish Revolts bears Paleo-He-
brew legends. Although this script is a relatively static, formal
hand, it seems likely that the Hasmoneans did not revive a
forgotten national script; they struck coins with legends of a
known writing which survived - though in a narrow circle -
in the period of the Second Temple.
Together with the discovery (in Wadi Dali’yeh) of Ara-
maic deeds written on papyrus in Samaria in the fourth cen-
tury B.c.E., two clay sealings with Hebrew texts written in the
Paleo-Hebrew script were found there without any Samaritan
peculiarities. It seems likely that the divergence of the Samari-
tan script began sometime in the last two centuries of the first
millennium B.c.z. The Samaritans continued to use this script
for writing both Hebrew and Aramaic texts, but the Jews ceased
using it after 135 c.z. A comparison of the earliest Samaritan
inscriptions and the medieval and modern Samaritan man-
uscripts clearly indicates that the Samaritan script is a static
script which was used mainly as a book hand (figure 9).
The Rise of the Aramaic Script
The Arameans adopted the Phoenician script in the 11 or
10% century B.c.E. The first *Aramaic monumental inscrip-
tions originating in the Aramean kingdoms in the ninth and
eighth centuries (Damascus, Hamat, and Sama’l) were writ-
ten in the Phoenician script. The earliest clear Aramaic fea-
tures are discernible in the cursive script of the mid-eighth
century. In this period the Assyrians introduced the Aramaic
language and script as a common means of communication
among the various nations in the Assyrian Empire. Moreover,
it became a lingua franca and was used from then on as a dip-
lomatic and commercial language. For example, an Aramaic
papyrus letter sent from Palestine about 600 B.c.E. was found
at Saqqara in Egypt.
THE ARAMAIC SCRIPT COMPARED TO CONTEMPORARY
PHOENICIAN AND HEBREW SCRIPTS. A comparison of the
Aramaic script of the Saqqara letter and other Aramaic cursive
material of the same time with the contemporary Phoenician
and Hebrew cursives (e.g., the Arad and the Lachish ostraca)
is most instructive. (It should be remembered that the inde-
pendent development of the Aramaic script began 100 years
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
after that of the Hebrew.) The Aramaic script, omitting various
bars, looks like shorthand in comparison with the Phoenician
and particularly the Hebrew script. This phenomenon can be
explained by the differing geopolitical and cultural factors pre-
vailing among the respective peoples using the various scripts.
The Phoenician script was relatively widely used among this
trading people but remained a national script. The conserva-
tive Hebrew script was developed by a nation tending to pre-
serve its traditional values; from the late eighth century B.c.E.
(the fall of Samaria) this script was more or less restricted to
Judah and was written by a people dwelling in a mountainous
land away from international highways. On the other hand the
Aramaic script, written by many peoples, became a strictly
practical means, stripped of all sentiment (figure 10).
The Moabite, Edomite, and Ammonite Scripts
The inscriptions found in various sites in Transjordan provide
a quite clear picture of the scripts used by the peoples living
there and reflect their cultures.
The scripts of the ninth-century Moabite stelae - namely
the Mesha stele and the fragmentary kmsyt stele - display
definite Hebrew characteristics, though their language is not
Hebrew but Moabite (another Canaanite dialect, different
in some aspects from Hebrew). Later Moabite inscriptions
(mainly seals from the seventh and sixth centuries) show clear
Aramaic letters written side by side with letters of Hebrew
form or of specific local character. The inscriptions bearing
Edomite theophoric names (e.g., Qws‘nl) found in Elath and
in Umm al-Biyara near Petra, exhibit a similar state of affairs.
The writing of the Moabites and the Edomites in the ninth
century did not differ from that of the Hebrews, while in the
late seventh and sixth centuries clear signs are to be found of
the intrusion of Aramaic elements into these two scripts. This
intrusion probably began in the last third of the eighth cen-
tury B.c.E. when the political influence of Israel and Judah
came to an end and the Assyrians appeared on the King’s
Highway south of Damascus.
The recently published ninth-century B.c.z. Amman
citadel inscription shows that the Ammonites spoke in a Ca-
naanite dialect (similar to Hebrew and Moabite) but adopted
the Aramaic script from the Arameans who lived in Damas-
cus. About a score of Ammonite seventh-century seals writ-
ten in contemporary lapidary Aramaic indicate that the Am-
monites followed the Aramaic scribal tradition common in
the Assyrian Empire.
The Official Aramaic Script and Its Descendants
Aramaic, being an official language of the Assyrian, neo-
Babylonian, and Persian empires, was spoken and written in
a vast area. Aramaic inscriptions have been found in Egypt,
North Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia,
Persia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The examination of all this
epigraphic material has shown that until the end of the third
century B.C.E. (ie., about 100 years after the fall of the Persian
Empire) no local script developed and the Official Aramaic
script remained a uniform script.
695
ALPHABET, HEBREW
1 2 3 3a 4 4a 5 6 7
QR |x" MALL YNK | 666 | © RAY | ANN) BRA
SB (42 | 44 |993|/22 |/a3 as {35a )/ a
A AA AA A AX
4 4 mn j9rt [IF [4 wy fat | 4
ns TnNN lath [aan ANA | ATA] yn mn | AN
4 4? 14 14 19) i) \1 WA 1
yyy7| x4 I | ry yy
a
a4 4
yo Lt
AA Y9 | 4 927
jo | 1 | 54
1) sn
pww | beOr| perv) YY WY | vy
Figure 11. Examples of the Jewish script. (1) Exodus fragment; (2) Bar Kokhba letter; (3) Bet Mashko letter; (3a) Signatures of witnesses to no. 3; (4) Aramaic
deed; (4a) Signatures of witnesses on no. 4; (5) Dura-Europos fragment; (6, 7) Bet She’arim tomb inscriptions; 1-4a from Wadi Murabba at, i.e., before 135
C.E.; 5-7 of the third century c.g. Copyright N. Avigad in Scripta Hierosalymitana, 4, 1957.
Many nations used Aramaic as a second language, and
often it became the main spoken tongue. This was the situa-
tion in the fifth-century B.c.z. Jewish military colony in *El-
ephantine, where over 100 Aramaic papyri and ostraca were
found. This corpus - which is a main source for knowledge
696
of the Official Aramaic language and script - consists of legal
documents and private and official letters, as well as two lit-
erary works. In the Persian period there existed an Aramaic
lapidary script (cf. the fourth-century Judean jar-stamps), but
the influence of the cursive hand was so strong that many in-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
scriptions on hard material were written in the cursive style.
The lapidary script died out in the late fourth century B.c.£.,
but the use of the standard Aramaic cursive went on for at least
100 years after the fall of the Persian Empire (330 B.c.E.). Ara-
maic was widely spoken and written and continued to flourish
in various centers even in the Hellenistic period, when Greek
became the official language.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARAMAIC LOCAL SCRIPTS. In the
third and second centuries B.c.£. local scripts began to de-
velop from the Aramaic. In the West two national scripts were
born, the Jewish (square Hebrew) and the Nabatean, while the
eastern offshoots are many: Palmyrene, Syriac, Mandaic, as
well as the local scripts of Hatra (Mesopotamia), Nisa (Turk-
menistan), Armazi (Georgia), and Elymais (Khuzistan). The
Jewish book hand became stabilized in the Herodian period,
and it did not undergo essential alterations until the present.
From the Nabatean cursive hand the North Arabic script de-
veloped. The eastern branches and their relations to each other
have not yet been studied thoroughly, but the developments
of some trends are quite clear. The script of the ostraca of the
first century B.c.E. found at Nisa (a Parthian capital) is a tran-
sitional stage between Official Aramaic on the one hand and
Parthian (Pahlavik), Persian (Parsic), Book-Pahlavi, and other
scripts which were invented for Middle Iranian languages on
the other hand. This writing also employed a system of Ara-
maic ideograms. The script of the inscriptions and a coin-leg-
end of the Elymeans is the ancestor of the Mandaic writing.
The Mandeans are a religious sect living in Khuzistan near
the Persian Gulf who preserved an eastern Aramaic dialect
resembling that of the Babylonian Talmud.
The earliest Syriac inscriptions stem from the first and
second centuries c.£. This script was employed by Christians
in Syria-Mesopotamia. There are three main Syriac styles of
writing: the Estrangelo, which resembles the script of the early
inscriptions, is formal; the Serto, ordinarily used by the Jaco-
bites, is a developed cursive; the Nestorian hand is another
cursive variation. Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic dialect spo-
ken by the Christian communities in Edessa (modern Urfa)
and its vicinity. However, although the Palestinian Christians
spoke in a Western Aramaic dialect, they adopted the Syriac
script and wrote in a style similar to Estrangelo. The Mani-
chaic script is an offshoot of Syriac; it was invented in the third
century c.E. by Mani, the founder of the Manichean sect, as
a book hand for writing religious manuscripts in a Middle
Iranian dialect.
The Jewish Script
The talmudic tradition (Sanh. 21b) ascribes the adoption of the
Aramaic (“Assyrian”) script to Ezra, who brought it from the
Babylonian captivity. However Aramaic arrived in Judea also
through the Babylonian and mainly through the Persian ad-
ministrations. At any rate it became the colloquial language, at
first of the educated classes and then of wider circles. It seems
likely that in the Persian period the Aramaic script was used
for writing Aramaic texts only, but the earliest Hebrew manu-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
scripts found in Qumran are fragments of Exodus and Samuel,
probably written in the second half of the third century B.c.£.
in the Proto-Jewish script, which displays the earliest Jewish
national development of the Official Aramaic script. From
this period on the Paleo-Hebrew script was restricted to He-
brew texts, but the Jewish script was used both for Hebrew
and Aramaic. (The Samaritan script - a descendant of Paleo-
Hebrew - was employed both for Hebrew and the Western
Aramaic dialect spoken by the Samaritans.)
The most important material for the study of the early
evolution of the Jewish script are the scrolls from the Qum-
ran caves and the other documents found in the caves of Wadi
Murabba‘at and Nahal Hever. The other material consists of
tomb and ossuary inscriptions (mostly from Jerusalem) as
well as some ostraca found mainly in *Masada (where a scroll
of the apocryphal Book of Ben Sira was also discovered) and
at *Herodium.
THE JEWISH CURSIVE HAND. As the development of the
formal book hand will be dealt with below (see below, Square
Script), the earliest Jewish cursive will be considered here.
This cursive hand began to develop in the Late Hasmonean
and Early Herodian periods (cf. the Jason Tomb inscription
from Jerusalem), and flourished in the time of the Second Re-
volt (132-135 C.E.). As in other cursive scripts the letters are
generally rounded, and there is a tendency to join the letters.
However there was not sufficient time for the development of
a fully ligatured writing (e.g., Syriac, Mandaic, and North Ar-
abic; figure 11). Several minor cursive inscriptions are among
the inscribed ossuaries and on the ostraca, but most of them
are known from the papyri, messages of Bar Kokhba and his
officers, found in Nahal Hever and Wadi Muraba‘at. The in-
fluence of this hand was strong enough to affect the formal
hand. Therefore some biblical manuscripts and mainly legal
documents were written in semiformal or semicursive styles.
It seems likely that the cursive style ceased to exist with Bar
Kokhba’s defeat or soon after it, while from the surviving Jew-
ish book hand other cursive offshoots have been born.
See also entries on individual letters of the Hebrew al-
phabet.
[Joseph Naveh]
CURSIVE SCRIPT
It is only natural that letters, notes, business matters, legal
documents, etc., should be written with less care and accu-
racy than books. The writer does not intend to reproduce ex-
actly the letters of the formal script. His intent is to give the
basic structure of the letters, that is, an approximation of the
“ideal” forms. This is clearly illustrated by figure 1 (second
century C.E.). In the course of time there is less and less ap-
proximation, i.e., changes take place. Unwittingly, to save time
and effort, the writers omit certain details by linking individ-
ual strokes, which were formerly not linked, and by uniting
or fusing certain strokes. The pace of such structural devel-
opment is much faster than the changes in the square script,
697
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Figure 1. Fragment of Exodus 13 in Palestine cursive script, second century
c.E. Jerusalem, Hebrew University Dept. of Archaeology.
which, by comparison with the cursive, hardly moves at all.
The result is the rise of a full-fledged cursive style which can
no longer, by any stretch of imagination, be called a simpli-
fied square. The changes that have taken place are so great that
many letters have become utterly different from their coun-
terparts in the square style. It should be mentioned that oc-
casionally books are penned in cursive. Figure 2 (fifth-sixth
centuries) is an early stage specimen. It contains a form that
is decidedly cursive — the open he. This was not, at that time,
a recent development; it had been in existence for centuries
but it stayed outside formal writing until almost the end of
the Middle Ages. The early cursive seems to have lasted until
the eighth-tenth centuries, but further research and/or new
material might change the present picture.
Figure 2. Mosaic inscription in the synagogue of Jericho, fifth-sixth cen-
tury c.g. in situ.
PALESTINE-SYRIA TYPE. The 11'4-century Palestine-Syria
type is a fully developed cursive style, although the connec-
tion with the square script is quite clear. In figure 3 (12 cen-
tury) the right strokes of the alef are high up, and the left one
practically always joins the top of the middle stroke; bet and
kaf differ greatly; lamed consists of two strokes only; final nun
is regularly joined to the preceding letter; the middle stroke
of shin is a small horizontal curve joined to the top of the left
stroke. Whether the modern script of the Palestinian-Syrian
698
a» € oe
ois : A ‘my Ay Da.>
here wal nvaj rho ni sean agp
9 SNs9\ 52
Kong
| ys ae | “BY Ary ate
M22 dareny hn co
¢, re (Marvrte bo Aum ot
‘ Syisse sa) a) ITN V6) a) - : ae :
as POY \y |
La
37S G&
yy 183) yo
Bt he ‘Pie
pydol Ame Ses -
pay AS 0 MS DKe)) i
Figure 3. Palestine cursive script in a letter written in 1114 c.E. Cambridge
University Library, T-S 13-J. 13/3.
region (figure 4) is a continuation of the style shown in figure
3 cannot presently be established.
One special group of cursive in ancient Palestine is char-
acteristic of the Negev. This writing (figure 5; second century)
appears, at first glance, to be undecipherable and its connec-
tion with the square script could only be established with dif-
ficulty. Documents of this type dating from the second half
of the first century B.c.£. until the end of the Bar Kokhba War
are extant. The fact that it disappeared without a trace shows
that it was not the general Jewish cursive.
EGYPT TYPE. In Egypt the early stage of the cursive style
seems to reach into the eighth century. The fully devel-
oped cursive style dates from the ninth to tenth centuries.
Figure 6 belongs to the fifth century, figure 7 to the eighth,
figure 8 to the 11°; in the latter, the alef appears in two forms
at the same time - regular and cursive - and the final nun is
written separately; generally the left downstroke of the tav
is hardly severed from the top stroke. Four centuries later
(figure 9) the alef is more cursive; final he is joined to the
preceding letter and is a long inverted S-wave: the right and
left downstrokes have been linked, in consequence of which
the left one has been dragged down to a position below the
line bottom; the same has happened, in most cases, to tav but
there the linking stroke has not disappeared into the wavy
line.
BABYLON TYPE. The early stage of the Babylonian cursive is
represented by the fifth/sixth century incantation bowls (fig-
ure 10). The earliest available example of the fully developed
cursive style (figure 11) belongs to the 11" century. Alef has the
structure of K in the Roman alphabet. In the modern cursive
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
(figure 12) many letters are very far removed from their origi-
nal forms, e.g., alef, gimmel, he, tet, etc.; the original top and
right strokes of tav have been merged into the top of the left
stroke, which runs very far down and finally bends leftward,
sweeping still further in that direction.
PARSIC TYPE. ‘The earliest specimens of the Parsic type (fig-
ure 13; 11" century) show a fully developed cursive style. Alef
has both the K- and the N-form; in he and tav there is no ten-
dency toward a linking up of the two downstrokes, such as
completed in the Babylonian type. In figure 14 (modern) the
upper right stroke of alef has become the main stroke’s top
part; gimmel resembles nun but the upper stroke of the letter
tends to be vertical, and the corner of the gimmel is an acute
angle; at the lower end, zayin bends with a little rightward
slant. These features are not of recent origin: they gradually
came into being after the period of figure 13.
TEMANIC TYPE. ‘The earliest available specimen of the
Temanic cursive dates from the 12" century (figure 15) and
later material of this type is also very scarce. Figure 15 con-
tains no very specific cursive forms: zayin developed into the
question mark type only some time between then and the 16"
century; its usage has continued to the present day.
MAARAVIC TYPE. The available cursive documents of the
Maaravic type begin in the 11" century, and then, for a con-
siderable time, continue to be scarce. In figure 16 (11' cen-
tury) alef has the K-form; the right stroke of mem does not
turn leftward at the bottom and the left stroke is as long as
the right one, being practically on the same level. Figure 17
(15. century) presents the most unusual appearance among
all the cursives, and its highly developed aesthetic character
does not make for easy reading. This difficulty is increased by
the fact that those letters which end in a leftward movement
touch those which follow them, that when bet or kaf or, some-
times, dalet precede a vay, this is linked up with it and thereby
dragged down from the line, the he in final position is linked
with a preceding resh and placed below it, and the yod is placed
inside a preceding bet or kaf. Alef has two forms, one that is
initial and medial, the other final. In the latter the original
main stroke is high and short, and the right stroke sits on its
right end; the former is even more contracted: the two right
strokes have been merged into one small vertical, while the left
stroke slants down to the left. He is a kind of inverted S-wave;
final mem is more or less an oval; samekh has a long tail; the
right stroke of zadi and final zadi is generally above the line
ceiling, and is joined to the tip of the main stroke; the top bar
and right downstroke of tav have been fused into a curve, and
the left stroke is joined to its bottom end. The modern hand
of figure 18 is a very careful one. Alef has become a shallow
S-wave starting above the line ceiling (the “full” form which
is often used in this specimen seems to be an unusual attempt
at special clearness); the top stroke of dalet is above the line
ceiling; he is an inverted shallow S-wave of line height; mem
tallies with the Ashkenazic form; resh is a tall letter - when
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
followed by he or yod it is linked with them, the yod being re-
duced to a dot; tav is a long, straight, oblique line.
SEPHARDIC TYPE. The available Sephardic material of fully
developed cursive starts from the beginning of the 11" cen-
tury. Figure 19 dates from the middle of the 11" century: alef
has the K-form but in final - and, less often, in other posi-
tions — the two right strokes are high up, joined to the top of
the left stroke; the alef part of the alef-lamed ligature is pre-
served in its angular form; the right part of tet is usually in
the upper half of the line; the left stroke of samekh is generally
not written with much care so that the letter is then identical
with final mem, being of circular or oval outline. Figure 20
(15 century) illustrates a writing that forms a counterpart
to the Maaravic hand of the same time (figure 17) but does
not present the same extreme degree of parallelization. This
kind of script is a book hand, but much plainer types are also
used in books. Upon the introduction of the printing press it
was not adopted as a type face and became very rare: it seems
to have died out in the 18 century. The modern hand (fig-
ure 21) is not a continuation of it but of the plain sort, being
clear and easily legible. Alef is a long letter, an S-wave begin-
ning on top, at the right, with a narrow loop; he is a little in-
verted S-wave, mostly in horizontal position. The form of the
lamed is identical with that of the present handwritten, but
what appear to be the corresponding strokes are not really
so. The main stroke of the Old Semitic form survives in the
right stroke of the Hebrew cursive but the Western cursive in
the left one. Resh is very often a tall letter; yod following alef,
dalet, samekh, or resh is attached to them as a dot; a he which
follows resh is linked to it.
YEVANIC TYPE. Figure 22, a dipinto from Magna Graecia
(c. fourth century), shows the early cursive stage of the Yevanic
type. Figure 23 (15'* century), while resembling the Sephardic
type in certain respects and Oriental types in others, is inde-
pendent of either. The similarities are due to convergent de-
velopments, growing from the same original forms. The most
characteristic letters are alef, dalet, he, zayin, tav; he and tav
appear in double forms, one being more highly cursive than
the other. A characteristic feature of this script is the right-
ward blob at the end of dalet and zayin.
ITALKIAN TYPE. The earliest available examples of the Ital-
kian type also come from Magna Graecia. Their script is the
same as that of the early Yevanic, from which it developed.
Figure 24 (11"* century or somewhat earlier) is a more devel-
oped cursive, written with great care and used as a book hand.
Little is left of these forms by the 13 century, and even less by
the 16": the writing of figure 25 is not particularly legible. The
two downstrokes of he are linked but the left one remains in its
position, thus the letter differs very much from those hitherto
met with, where the left stroke had been dragged downward.
The lower stroke of lamed has become a cross stroke — a fea-
ture unknown in the other cursives. Samekh as a plain circle
is very rare in other types. The pe is another unique form: it
699
ALPHABET, HEBREW
CURSIVE SCRIPT wr LaSs; le | Var i [ ies 7r2 fat oD hesgrr + ar
i 52
iy. ey ve % 2 i; "te? ale 22F
ioe ‘ Wy ay b an _ ere
bg ’
p))
b ye ie Ape a b yor = Ba ded
A Le Woke TAS, LAA vas 7
I
Lolli ae Voy ss 0g? zea
Figure 4. Palestine cursive script of the 20" century. London, S.A. Birn- rns rps 4
baum Collection. 2 is
Figure 5. Fragment from a marriage deed in Palestine cursive Negev script, Dua IAN!
117 C.E. Jerusalem, Dept. of Antiquities and Museums. “ teh p-
Figure 6. Egyptian cursive script of the fifth century c.g. London, British rr 72 wo Pal
Museum, Ms. Or. 9180C. iM
; Se ae . ; wn ATay
Figure 7. Egyptian cursive script of the eighth century c.g. S.A. Birnbaum. ge:
The Hebrew Scripts, London, 1954-57, Fig 153. de ey
Figure 8. Egyptian cursive script of the 11" century c.z. Oxford Bodleian a
Library, Ms. Heb. 6.3, fol. 1. sigh 00 mr
ae 9g 2O
pe mney}
opampar?
ry one
[DADs sonny HY 5 | iol By ype gslaK ony)
Halt Tp atvess Sibi dU pe Sets oped 93h
NIN? LY iter ta) Pass Ye IRS Dy oi
oS 2 a Ris Yost ¥ WAH Mh
J hu Sy dy 3 unk bye Andy! Sos
. 5 Rol Shiv aby se atyph Yo sir
Uw Asindy ay Sh ory sow Sep pe “
535.4) ‘oY PD MY,
ie ps DIO NBP rv
7 Aha
J : ph andy aby
Met #9 ee
700 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
‘i + yes gs eee tw wane :
73) aby gis OW yuo) wow p29? wedy wed gps per ot ‘
>) oy ode ws) wre piu py iseo ody we wget, vby 229 su) aap’
Pea) bia ue bende vine oF pee ose de ea wen bee wie
x Ee get Wen, ae ae Sat oon oa rpask we
ms Bile anges UY a4 me dy gyyin Prat wy pyselys ot Dee tps whduon (20 y on) " past Wa
i
LB MAYAS sw: qlvank wes
“sai 4 328 ror yo bs»
a1 pa roe onan Soy AB TYP IOP
ARON) peur os SHON) ARTES! ied
Aw SHY ria) uisbisk ISN OP) ie Y
re
y fee Cole
“8 ayoian par wee oan 3 ia Ye
| s2\t) 92)
aes Susenaan 01%) 4 p) 7 :
a & - WE.
and he ep kyon av os ali diate . *
Figure 9. Letter in Egyptian cursive script, 1436 c.E. Cambridge
University Library, Ms. Add. 3415.
Figure 10. Babylonian cursive script on an incantation bowl of
the fifth-sixth century c.g. Ibid. Figure 187.
Figure 11. This letter written in 1007 C.z. is the earliest example
of the fully developed Babylonian cursive script. Cambridge
University Library, T-S. 12.829.
Figure 12. Babylonian cursive script of the 20" century. Lon-
don, S.A. Birnbaum Collection.
Y Cero ry
1 SS FINELY
COEF Kose ene PAD
4 OF, ; .
TE at 2s yy gk ??
Ae ags, ys OVS
Wa °"7y €re ae a -
b osiw IST, Dye KA? +z) 6 en "e 0?
729° pe) ee tae pn re
yp?! lee), eure bh (MAYO I hie yy MH ef9f¥ C
Joyo IA, PIU hp F/2f fe osJiY 47? Ins rf
2A! eed 4 Pie oe tind vo very)
QA fe oJ2O' PY) pe ory
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 701
ALPHABET, HEBREW
_- "Sey ee
‘ymin i. war {
ae ouKeId mine , njska 1
ca Shao Peso 99 odes ssa K)yh
)ide Kp aS VMI WAP Meo te Whey
DN cascall WIIG KOT 97 wa inka)
Figure 13. Legal document of 1021 c.g. in Parsic cursive
script. Oxford Bodleian Library, Ms. Heb. b. 12, fol. 24r.
Figure 14. Parsic cursive script of the 20" century. London,
S.A. Birnbaum Collection. :
Figure 15. Temanic cursive script in a letter of 1133 C.E. > ay) i oer coe wus tees oy js
Cambridge University Library, T-S. 20.173. 2G
Figure 16. Maaravic cursive script in a letter of 1035 C.E. ey rd rum: rok oA) ete al & SL" R 35 Bhd wnr
Oxford Bodleian Library, Ms. Heb. d. 65, fol. 4r. |
14
‘9'59) ‘Th DID THIS
yy Pay Ro ALND? &
4D O97 Dy PIB» D
Boe kiz\59/p>7 >
Der in) Yor N
fe CC’ we a Se re: .
Bad Key! Sau 5 yun fh AS ae yaa
ed: #55 b’S9> heey > py
: Py PSH es enn en
; ws ms ree a y SInS sd Ks MR dOK ) I?
me van) a0 13K 2h % r . " iat
3s a IK SU eae ~ 123 Li ASPs) Vibe. ee sy
HW MKIST Sony boy ~ ay ( whe sy \-30
Phase
OO ta ae Se i) ‘hat omen ade. ups.
702 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
wepeynl ay eb veklupopampes
met Santoe ea aa a
nana
Lp pivow» prepa
ari raetet Waters eh
eeamery preirew apt LWP lal
Fe pat lots ple p
wives 4
kerma
WADI D
nook Lath maduayes
tee dewey ors ?
wy dally erway wBowupes
Up aaeusytiypiodiememayply, ORNS
rot 2 fe A aha 9: Ae aes Bora te
ey poiee: radio patss ale cae YPS fodya de -rrn0
vel pr “DR > ADAP ah tina art trade Je LAME: Daren
ss aa te phat plore gp - ae thew tvs $4? bepranting: aaa
‘ tal tples selp~ 0 2722 ues pivar'sngah nS orn Peed
“TY 'PLIO % Im OOTY pe riyn> yn y? w~ yabyy “rp 0199 XM HIE 19
Ap prdbis
Wi>e30 TID 74 aap Ae Vo. SK dyane BAK pipe
UyyeKk A> apabid oy ioe a2 gyn) er orn wayne 2K Ange 1D
AL enzo Prose k sw ior > rx aeew Ip 27922 82 YK Wx
2% apy ap TK ky sis yo dy ri Kn ws quer ry ax
Seen > aK srg endys
“WIP 2"21 roan i> kde
iDrls taza YK TI pK) alr o>”
9 ORK I daveb j02+1
2) Opn oman do warn od yxo4 ae dani denon kyo
Aa ak > adx op pron Mp pops 9K dy aw d2K ,
Dep gh ik
Figure 17. Fifteenth-century manuscript in Maaravic cursive script. Paris
Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. 2235, Heb. 758, fol. 17.
Figure 18. Maaravic cursive script of the 20" century. London, S.A. Birn-
baum Collection.
Figure 19. Sephardic cursive letter of 1053 c.z. Cambridge University Li-
brary, T-S. 13. J.9.4.
Figure 20. Fifteenth-century medical work in Sephardic cursive script.
Figure 21. Modern Sephardic cursive script. London, S.A. Birnbaum Col-
lection.
Figure 22. Yevanic cursive script on an epitaph from the catacombs at Magna
Graecia, Italy (fourth century c.z.).
20
whee any series
\ owas
you av Ly 2 DAT Ayo MAREE At “a
map? oun: fat: ad a ph ve ree .
goo" ae sre op rip ke
Lewy ”
ys) ed wad: ead
RAMS CD DIS DINE BEE va
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Pre ots days MED; PBs (8 Pr TTI
1470 Hrbv
PEULY
p75
Vr Z7Vt9
4
es
PARA LT VAP
Kat ala PAX
RVIKIAWK
[LE My i hoe fo ee ye
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Sf Sf 4 4 obwed
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703
ALPHABET, HEBREW
- pal oY yples2051
_sxfer ok sian Be vay
— PD Pry) DE)
pon iby aan snare Kby D> AN DWDSHA III 99 1295445, 73} 23
Co ee
ODM vase suIMR ID? WAL IIBWN OPE 93.3799 OMID Wh hea :
aan msaya pwh porn rere an WSN D2 VisNH arty Peaks ey Df) pw EP
pod pen o's na2 ang abo yrnas Rees
prrommabonpwnay xa ber aoobs byprws prepay
aD 34991 O'R ™ JMIDIAN Yrprpg Figure 23 Yevanic cursive script used for a copy of Joseph Albo’s
‘ ‘ Bas Sefer ha-Ikkarim made in 1469. Rome, Vatican Library, Ebr. 257,
Sane sen shores a9 evn ahvza mysirs bane 9992 bain sh yy ae
24 : ‘ : sacs ;
Figure 24. The Italkian cursive script in a manuscript of the 10" or
11" century. London, British Museum, Ms. Add. 27214, fol. 202a.
Figure 25. Halakhic letter in Italkian cursive script written by
ciakh i eet ole = a lees ee Ete sy Isaac of Morell in 1581. London, British Museum, Ms. Add. 27012,
fol. 101a.
alys Sa @ ced ph 2 WUT DICKS? , ted Figure 26. Italkian cursive script of 17" century. London, British
sure tee ee OID ; p03, OI a2 P'tamt 2 Museum, Ms. Add. 27085, fol. 28b.
dis Mest wnas sper gic wncye Mey Si Antti renee
My oe \» BI Aes me £BI5 ate ba Figure 28. A 14''-century businessman's notes in Zarphatic cur-
A a aR A E | sive script. Dijon, Archives du Département de la Céte d’Or, B.
25 10. 410.
f * che ver
: g l “ey ON xe 20 KE goth DY) DY Dow 2pI2 > “tm WIN
Dap pei
POH! 229A dA AU IND ghar IDY4 DIANA Dp.
sinehys 2 DO “NJ 17349 vlatow MEY ON IDA
Sin ye) Baas pe So Ne" S Don Soy Genie easy) weOHd
joi cacy pI / vip ‘22 A» \ pple o5 «(- )> v on /4 Wie ie 7
ae SS file ersii) EDS Hash 3 3, 44 \3b bj ey
4
704 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ehiya onan peor NrA2wIpy play Pts yan Gas
O77 mis WIT [ops BOYOY Kop QIN Jeyip9 no
Otdy Sa pooh 379 4) 3) Ben (Upon Ying OI po ne
f PIn4y, wAa [Faby NP 2 BIDLA WINDS AN ae py
29
Figure 29. Diposition of a witness in Ashkenazic cursive script, 1266 C.E.
Cologne, Rheinisches Museum, Judenschreinsbuch, No. 87, fol.4b.
Figure 30. Psalm 6 written in Yiddish in Ashkenazic cursive script, 1532.
Hamburg, Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek, Cod. hebr. 181, fol.3r.
Figure 31. Yiddish version of the Book of Esther in Ashkenazic cursive
script, 1631. Hamburg, Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek, Cod. hebr. 144,
fol. 31.
Figure 32. Yevano-Karaitic cursive script, 16" to 17" century C.E. Paris, Bib-
liothéque Nationale, Ms. Héb. 1014.
Figure 33. Yevano-Karaitic cursive script 1759. Cambridge University Li-
brary, Ms. Add. 2660, fol. 21b.
oir
cs Be [Don pra th2 Syd ceo wt rat dy vay? fot
ines | cd, Aci Raejutirers Codon” aonpientgrid vin wie s vy
4 apron Ny 5 Saws puepd MOD I 2m 788)
ons ow pp pon a ta Salen vk on gay pew or EL DTV,
Ks ca 3) oe figs arom ay: wey of pe eee ee bi
; AM 59% [sna Fe a eye it AN Any gr
‘ ee Sac atl : { i =
By fay poy Be? ss" WA’ eae gat Gas ye ths WH FYE Ie fee
Be oraeg oP 3 ath tts ate 8 a ee
Rats vn oye: ah aed at Get voray ane Ort 7” ta qebys absang
De jh tes a2 es Sem yo 3 ph own” Coro min yy”
ete fy PB pte 9 m9 oy hon ph in
31
Fg
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Cees a do en spores. rid Vrs Sl 25 pao
ey YA TI 9" tay (Td, HO 9 IT
yy py port JM 2949 pore us 12 paz org:
waph oy pon vik gee prveana prpaning We
savhhere§ "” <‘ a9 (7? 9 oy i" heerys i Ne
cy yr 499 Sg I sit ai? (7 LY ng vines gol forme
;
[usage om 2 apart yo P98 A 2¥p 2209
caigy a4 yt Sara 7M OH Bw 5 204
30
Bab MP
aging? ay Daet abada ep ye) sisph avn op?
“Pissed CUA “UIE IPRS YP Dt wIRe "ois
Ao vp: se nua) apy“ opin AingS Yin Me? pe
“aay Domine UY elas Sap tap samh2 #708
ANS ioe
wr '
Ant 12 sauna wand Gye newat 5 NP (290 nary
toe mans ond ait vy osgteae bodnn)
"tem gwk Ups @ GMa Abas omnes
Bante Wade Wh? arene Mite
“yee. f aia) 99 Dg)
MLM [2 "aD he
(mY Bas WAN?
way We ase
33
32
awrbshin if9vn SsItjp Cpr By ry
ol AyA [ory SIF Se poly vara) ‘LAY
hhh et aed AY fi raps Ee a
ola haved yrbise pr5 yore (II 1h
Wsar » TOF Lala OU Ss KIS We Sir;
ob Leja prey ahs is) ee \> ‘wybyn
Seer) Weel bee A
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
oie ypyc “ripstsk PIAS IS KLK ovbdayhs mps
795
ALPHABET, HEBREW
looks like horizontal figure 8 - the strokes increasingly curved
until even the one on the left, originally a straight line, had
become circular. In the centuries that followed there was
some slight development. For instance, in he (figure 26) the
left stroke and the link with the right stroke merged to form a
dot; the result is that the letter is now virtually identical with
modern Ashkenazic pe.
ZARPHATIC TYPE. The Zarphatic writing of figure 27 (12
century) might appear at first glance to be related to the Ital-
kian type. However, it is unmistakably of a different kind. Per-
haps the similarity arises from their both having been written
with the same sort of pen - a quill - while the other types from
early centuries previously dealt with here, were produced by
a reed pen. The forms in figure 27 are all in a properly devel-
oped cursive, although they do not differ greatly in their ba-
sic structure from the square letters. The most characteristic
are the alef, lamed, mem, final pe, and shin. This document is
written in a book hand. Figure 28 (14 century) is in a less
careful hand of the same type.
ASHKENAZIC TYPE. The early Ashkenazic cursive is practi-
cally identical with that of the Zarphatic. Figure 29 (13 cen-
tury) is not as carefully written as figure 26. It is not a book
hand. During the next three centuries considerable changes
took place (figures 30 and 31): the downstrokes of dalet and
zayin end in a curve which is open to the left; tet has become
a tick; the middle part of lamed has vanished, the letter being
almost a straight line; in mem the left stroke is parallel with
the right one and is generally of equal length - they are con-
nected by a bridge, which is mostly horizontal.
KARAITIC TYPE. There are two extant specimens of Kara-
itic cursive. Figure 32 (16'-17'" centuries) represents Yevano-
Karaitic. The right strokes of alef are high up; gimmel resem-
bles nun but its bottom stroke is straight and horizontal; the
upper part of tet is in the upper half of the line; lamed has lost
the middle stroke; the right stroke of mem is extremely short,
the left stroke is very long, starting high above the line; final
mem is circular; the same is true of samekh but it has a tail
on the left; the inner stroke of shin is joined to the top of the
left one, slanting down from above. The forms of Crimean
Yevano-Karaitic (figure 33; 18" century) are more or less the
same in structure as in figure 32 and yet the writing looks very
dissimilar. There is a structural difference in the dalet and za-
yin, where the downstroke finally turns rightward.
[Solomon Asher Birnbaum]
SQUARE SCRIPT
Sixth Century B.c.E. to Second Century C.E.
The square script belongs to the Aramaic branch of Semitic
writing. In the Babylonian- Assyrian and Persian empires the
Aramaic language and its alphabet became the official lan-
guage and script of the administration. They were also ad-
opted by the Jews in Babylonia and elsewhere, and later pen-
706
etrated Palestine. When the new script was officially adopted
for the writing of Torah scrolls the change-over from the Pa-
leo-Hebrew alphabet was complete although the old script was
twice revived, centuries later, for legends on the coins under
the Hasmoneans and under Bar Kokhba. The oldest dated
document in the new script and language comes from Egypt
(515 B.C.E.; figure 1). The script is highly stylized, with very
thin downstrokes slanting to the left and very thick horizon-
tals (or near-horizontals) dominating the picture. From this
general Aramaic writing the Jews and the other peoples of the
region — Palmyrene, Nabateans, etc. - in the course of the next
few centuries developed types of their own. By the end of the
fourth century B.c.E. the Jewish forms closely approached
the full-fledged Jewish script (figure 2). Therefore it should
properly be termed Jewish script rather than “Hebrew script,’
since it was used by Jews, not by Hebrews (nobody would ap-
ply the term Hebrews to the Jews of that period). In speaking
of this writing the designation Hebrew script should therefore
be dropped; it could then be employed to describe the alpha-
bet of the Hebrews. This would, in addition, have the advan-
tage of conforming to the usage in the ancient sources, where
ketav ivri denotes the pre-Exilic script. So long as the name
Hebrew script continues to be used for the Jewish script, the
script of the Hebrews ought to be designated Paleo-Hebrew,
the term introduced in The Hebrew Scripts (see bibliography).
In the second half of the third century B.c.z. Hebrew writ-
ing was already on the threshold of the square script (figure
3). By the middle of the second century B.c.£. further devel-
opment had noticeably taken place (figure 4) and during the
first centuries B.c.E. and c.£. the final form had almost been
reached (figure 5).
The evolution from the sixth century B.c.E. was consid-
erable. Figure 6 illustrates this step by step, through the six
stages of the final mem. The top of the first form is a cursive
development of the original W-form (which has been pre-
served in the Roman M).
Appearance of the Letters
For the second century C.£. it is already possible to speak of
the square script proper (figure 7). By the seventh century
(figure 8) almost every letter of the alphabet had either a top
bar or a head, while many had a base as well. The invisible
frame within which a letter was written was a rectangular
oblong standing on one of its shorter sides. Only rarely was
this frame a square. Hence the name square script is really a
misnomer. At certain periods in certain regions the frame was
not rectangular, the downstrokes being oblique while the top
and bottom strokes remained horizontal (see, for instance,
figures 24, 29, 34). After the first few centuries the evolution
proceeded at a very slow pace. The changes did not involve
the structure of the letters but the style of the writing. Per-
haps by the seventh century (figure 8) there was a tendency
for the horizontals to be thick, while the downstrokes were
thinner, or thin. The first dated manuscript (from 896 C.£.)
of the fully developed calligraphic kind (figure 9) was writ-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ten in a style which has remained virtually unchanged ever
since (figure 10). While the horizontals had originally played
a very minor role compared with the uprights, the opposite
extreme had now been reached. The near-polarization of hori-
zontal and upright strokes had not resulted in a dull geometri-
cal pattern: some oblique strokes were left outside the system,
some strokes extended above or below the line - the strokes
themselves were not geometrically straight but slightly curved,
wavy, or tapering. The great weight of the horizontals created
a clear impression of continuity along the line. Half the letters
rested on their bases, and the other half partly stood and were
partly carried by their neighbors, in the manner of a suspen-
sion bridge. But, although strongly linked together, they did
not lose their individuality. The evolution of the forms from
the sixth century B.c.£. is here illustrated by the letters he and
samekh (figure 11). It can be seen that the change in the first
five centuries (see lines 1-5) was much greater than during the
last eight (see lines 6-7).
One detail in the development of the forms - the rise of
the litterae dilatabiles — requires special mention, because it
falls outside the category of structural evolution, and is of a
purely aesthetic nature. Certain letters, when they stood at the
left end of a line but did not reach as far as the actual edge of
the column, had their top bars extended to that edge so that
the line might be of the same length as all the others. The ef-
fect was to make the left edge of the column neat and straight,
and ensure that the general appearance of the page should be
pleasing to the eye. This device - dilatation is the term intro-
duced in The Hebrew Scripts - no doubt arose spontaneously
and spread among the scribes because it combined the virtues
of simplicity and effectiveness. These forms do not appear to
antedate the sixth to seventh centuries C.E.
Although an increasing number of Jews lived outside Pal-
estine after the Babylonian Exile, there must have been close
contact between them and Palestinian Jewry. This is evidenced
by the fact that for a long time no divergent development took
place. But such a state of affairs could not continue beyond a
point, as forms do not remain static forever and writing, like
language, is subject to change. As the dispersion of the Jews
increased, separate developments set in, and each distinct cul-
tural branch which grew up had its own type of writing. In
some cases differentiation was restricted within narrow lim-
its but in others divergence went very far, even though the
conscious aim of the scribes was to reproduce faithfully the
traditional forms of the letters, especially in the copying of
synagogue scrolls. Other than in scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzot,
the square script was used in biblical, liturgical, and talmudi-
cal codices but hardly ever in any other books. Certain letter
forms were reserved for the scroll script.
Basic Types
The main groups or types of writing which came into being in
the various Jewries are Ashkenazic in Germany and in Ash-
kenazi settlements elsewhere, Babylonian, Egyptian, Italkian,
Maaravic in the Maghreb, Palestinian-Syrian, Parsic in Per-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
sia and Parsi settlements, Sephardic in the Iberian Peninsula
and Sephardi settlements, Temanic in the Yemen, Yevanic in
the Balkans and Crimea, and Zarphatic in northern France.
There were also some small groups, e.g., the scripts of the Jews
in China or India. The Karaites developed three main types
of their own (see below).
It is hardly ever possible to establish, with any measure
of certainty, the genetic relation between the types, because
the small amount of early material known was penned cen-
turies after the group in question came into existence, and by
then time had effaced any obvious clues. Sephardic appears to
be an extension of Maaravic. Maaravic is presumably a con-
tinuation of the Palestinian-Babylonian-Egyptian complex.
Parsic, though very individual, might be descended from
Babylonian, and the same possibly holds good of the equally
individual Temanic. There is, however, one exception where
the relationship between two types is beyond doubt: the case
of Ashkenazic and Zarphatic. Ashkenazic is definitely the con-
tinuation of Zarphatic.
Egypt Types
Outside Palestine only the Egyptian branch provides pre-
square material (see above, figures 1 and 2). The oldest datable
Bible manuscript, written in Egypt in a calligraphic hand, is of
about the fifth century c.e. (figure 12). Although earlier than
figure 8, it is in a more regular, formal style. A non-biblical
manuscript dated three centuries later is written in an almost
modern hand (figure 13).
The final stage of calligraphic development in Egypt was
reached in the 10' and 11" centuries (figure 14), when hori-
zontals were thick but not excessively so.
Babylon Type
The forms in figure 15, a non-biblical Babylonian manuscript
of about the eighth century, are even less formal than those
of the corresponding manuscript of the same time in Egypt
but the forms in the biblical manuscript in figure 16 (written
in 916 C.£.) are practically identical with those in the corre-
sponding manuscript written in the Egyptian type; however,
in figure 16 there is not much contrast between the thickness
of the horizontals and verticals.
Parsic Type
The Parsic type, i.e., the script of the Persian Jews and their
descendants outside Persia, is presumably derived from the
Babylonian one, although there is too little early comparative
material available to arrive at a paleographical decision. The
earliest available documents already show a highly individual
development. By the 16 century (figure 17, of 1571) the forms
were so completely different from the Babylonian ones that
the gulf must by then have been in existence for a very long
time. The style was much less regular and formal, and there
was an absence of monumentality. The horizontal strokes were
very thick, the downstrokes thin. This contrast was already in
evidence, though to a less marked degree, in the tenth cen-
tury, when it is encountered in Palestine and Egypt — a strik-
797
ALPHABET, HEBREW
ing example of how, in spite of geographical separation, new
developments spread from group to group.
Temanic Type
Yemen was the southernmost early seat of Jewish writing. The
available material begins approximately with the 12 century
(figure 18). The contrast in thickness between horizontals and
downstrokes was by then in full force. The term for this type as
used in The Hebrew Scripts is Temanic. Like the Parsic type it
is not regular and formal, and thus contrasts sharply with the
Palestinian-Syrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian types. However,
Temanic does not otherwise resemble Parsic, as a comparison
of a manuscript of 1468 (figure 19) with the Parsic one of 1571
(figure 17) will show.
Maaravic Type
The northwestern shore of Africa - the Maghreb - was the
home of the Maaravic type of the Jewish script, which had pre-
sumably followed the line of migration from Egypt westward,
its forms being closely related to those of the Palestinian-
Syrian/Egyptian/Babylonian complex. The general impres-
sion given by the script of the earliest available dated Maara-
vic Bible manuscript of 946 C.E. seems to point to a closer
relationship with the Palestinian than with the Egyptian and
Babylonian types. The contrast between thick and thin strokes
is clear but not so great as in some of the above-mentioned
types. In the non-biblical fragment of 978 c.£. (figure 21) the
writing is slightly less formal. But Maaravic is connected not
only with the east; there is also a close link with Europe, ie.,
with the Sephardic type of the Iberian Peninsula.
Sephardic Type
This type is practically identical with Maaravic. It is to be as-
sumed that Sephardic was introduced from Africa. However,
available material of both types, which is of rather late origin,
provides no definite proof. An epitaph which is of an unusu-
ally earlier date (sixth century, figure 22), and contains some
rather archaic forms, also provides no proof in this respect.
The possibly oldest pen-written Sephardic manuscript avail-
able comes from the ninth-tenth century (figure 23). Here the
contrast between thick horizontals and thin down strokes is
great. The writing is considerably less formalized than that of
the Palestinian-Syrian-Egyptian-Babylonian complex. That
stage was reached, and surpassed, by the 12" century.
The biblical manuscript of 1207, illustrated in figure 24,
shows forms which are harmonious and regular without being
rigid. The next three centuries saw hardly any change at all,
and, upon the introduction of the printing press, the typeface
was designed on the basis of contemporary manuscript forms.
Through a historical accident only this typeface has survived
to the present day, while the two other early typefaces (see be-
low) disappeared. In the course of the centuries it deteriorated
very much aesthetically, as a comparison between figure 24
and printed books from various ages will show.
The Sephardic type was not restricted to the Iberian
Peninsula. It spread to the north of it; it was also employed in
708
Provence, Languedoc, and Comtat Venaissin. When contact
with Spain ceased, upon the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, the
script north of the Pyrenees and that of the exiled Sephardim
started developing on divergent lines. In the new settlements,
too, differentiation arose. The form used in the largest and
most important of these - that in Turkey - is the main repre-
sentative of the Sephardic type.
Yevanic Types
With Sephardic the Jewish alphabet entered Europe from the
southwest. But its southeastern entry was perhaps of even
greater consequence. Hardly any material has survived from
Greek-speaking Jewry in Asia Minor and Greece during the
Hellenistic period. However, slightly more material, the oldest
available documents of the Yevanic type in Europe, has sur-
vived from Magna Graecia. These documents are also the ear-
liest extant written in the Jewish script in Europe (see above,
the section Cursive Script, figure 22). The oldest available ex-
ample of the square style comes from Asia Minor (figure 25).
It clearly belongs to the neighborhood of figure 5. No early
biblical manuscript is available from this group but to judge
by the conditions in other types the tenth-century fragment
shown in figure 26 might indicate that there was a calligraphic
biblical square style then in existence.
Italkian Types
The next stage was in Italy. Is the Jewry of this country de-
scended mainly from the Jews who lived there in antiquity,
or is the main source perhaps the settlement in Magna Grae-
cia? If the latter, the Italkian type would have its roots not in
the Palestinian but in the Yevanic type. The documents (in-
scriptions) start about 300 C.E. (figure 27). The earliest square
manuscript, a biblical one, is of 979 c.£., the oldest from Eu-
rope that is dated (figure 28). The contrast between thick and
thin strokes is strong. The style of the writing is quite unlike
that of the contemporary western Oriental groups or that of
Maaravic and Sephardic. Comparing the forms with those of
figure 10, it would be most difficult, at first glance, to say ex-
actly what makes them appear so different although the cor-
responding letters are constructed identically. In the 15** cen-
tury the thick/thin feature was - perhaps under Ashkenazic
influence - so pronounced that the script looked as if it con-
sisted only of horizontals (figure 29, of 1466). When, not much
later, the typeface was designed, this kind of writing was not
chosen as a model (figure 30).
Zarphatic Types
In central and northern France the Sephardic type that was
encountered in southern France was not found, a result of
the southern provinces coming only very late to the French
Crown. It is therefore misleading to use, in this context, the
word French, with its wide connotation. The traditional He-
brew name for the northern and central region, Zarefat, is
the source of the term Zarphatic, introduced in The Hebrew
Scripts. In the earliest manuscripts certain similarities with
the Italkian type can be noted. Was there perhaps a genetic
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
* om
.
ay ae ry, 7 ee) yee ee
SQUARE SCRIPT
Figure 3. The earliest example of Jewish square script: a passage from I Sam.,
C. 230 B.C.E. Jerusalem, Israel Museum, IV Q Sam. b.
Figure 2. The transition to Jewish square script is shown in this docu-
ment of c. 300 B.C.E. Berlin, Staatliche Museum, Papyrus 10678.
,
-
‘ i:
1
Fp cgpy ara gencpan aera APRN HD eis Ros pte
= yam a hase) \, i ren
“omni stern wets shawn res ebay nee nA si ssl at \
BY piaa.ned ama vein ey ved ieee ngrens uzAT” sy
ls a a
z ar
—— ne. " AW Ts WV TY UNE A
Naya vy Seo Le Lidl
seats Dey pois oye rae ood bay prrer upere:
a j
P ioiides aebgtencwoin eye voy
Figure 4. Square script of the mid-second century B.c.z£. in one of the
Dead Sea Scrolls. Jerusalem, Israel Museum, Shrine of the Book, Isaiah
Scroll A.
Figure 5. Tablet recording reburial of the remains of King Uzziah between
first century B.c.£. and first century c.g. Jerusalem, Israel Museum.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 709
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Figure 6. Evolution of square script
illustrated in the final mem.
k
RK
Figure 7. Passage from Exodus in Jewish &
square script, first half of the second cen-
tury c.E Jerusalem, Israel Dept. of An- jg
tiquities and Museums.
d {nem bpp AP niger ase pA De eo
pp yous Wir yoro} qos. norte
Figure 8. Excerpt from Palestinian Targum, c. seventh century c.g. in Jewish square script. Cambridge University Library, T-S. 20. 155.
nivonsey ach yt
wnrigy Born
mikSy nT ra iu
Bid BRIONDHY
rao xO
» Siaigharn WRI a)
Ankeny a
4
fete on Clg
't bs
& 9 +4 Figure 10. Passage from Deuteronomy in Jewish square bio 930 C.E. Lenin-
grad, Public Library, II Firkovitch.
P ul
p w
4 4 > 4 Figure 11. Evolution of the letters he and samekh between the sixth century
re B.C.E. and the seventh century c.g.
Figure 9. Earliest extant example of the fully developed Jewish square script,
896 c.k. Ibid., Fig. 92.
710 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
. Figure 13. Piyyut by Eleazar Kallir in
+ Egyptian square script c. eighth cen-
tury c.E. Cambridge University Library,
’ T-S. 6. H. 13.
Figure 14. Final development of
ALPHABET, HEBREW
~
: : ae
TO YS Hes; popes
SWANN TMs may
THO EPA nay
sry atyhn
ye apne
omnia :
5 elf td
: “Tin bn MODS
DEIR DONS"
9D DSA SIN NY acme
DNA Twp 13 OST LY
PRE NDEIONY S79
TYAS PIN ATA TTT
BD WNT? PIN Sys
Awes THT PA myax
TO oa x33
eat ( a es
VRID ae
» yhoo omy
' is eas Sis
Egyptian square script: manuscript ie
of Genesis c. tenth century c.E. Ann
5
ae tbon yrrerhy sepa Bh”?
Arbor, University of Michigan Li- gy Sy D> ome erpim2n Aimy -ortas eae
brary, Ms. Heb. 88, fol. 39a.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
711
ALPHABET, HEBREW
E earn Se j Py ae
a9: ah ‘me
‘ a “€ Sag es ee
“wis Saitoh ohn Dp heat noises wists SVN HD
oh el ASsps sissy iste 9 Ty viipairiin wate
MID iow Bil eee Fa ho Lad sv iavD thir avs
vibwh 3 bit sayeth Five bre “BP: ae Rising “BI are
i naen set “Bm 7 es “eS isiee a ha aise
“5 yas risa SOI Nw ND “shee pine soit baud
Wises Soy395087 AP set Das ASaioMsteigd mean soy Bp iets
seb ew} np isiriy’s mes ‘or nin a thats T95
Bisvien ae avis Sues vee qrens 49 Sey + Linde ssp
Yor Wit Det yi Hee ers “) bisre SIN WH We
Figure 15. Babylonian square script used for a halakhic Midrash to Leviticus, c. eighth century c.E. Rome, Vatican Library, Ms. Ebr. 66, fol. 42a.
DY TIN me he
STW YY IT D5
roberto ny
PRATT HN
“Arsmpsp ph
ares sgrniaen inant ohh by Mab)
Wheinmatee Teen nian
CAL Tri
Kom
ye That”. ppm nono 48 ,
CYT aIN| yaTY SN), i a i e 7
eskimo See poprone psn
. Sprain tin
Than wn soem ry
Aen bos
' c.E. Leningrad, Public Library, Firkovitch Ms. B.3.
Figure 16. Hacer foi Book of Ezekiel in oe square script, 916
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Sy Mais
| ° DoT TSn TORR o72t7
me ww TIMID OT Sigs
ae ‘3 ws" Moy IT VIALe ic)
PH RG NIT NAS WT aiyda eis
Ror. 295 ‘sr ipeiatmbiers s
TNSTET VSIA IT Be
ut a Basta
es ; Wt oi Se ne roa
ca)
st we
wer Sy
Figure 18. Temanic square script, 11'"-12" century c.E. A Yemenite manu-
script of Numbers with Targum. London, British Museum, Ms. Or. 1407.
u | pelgehione
om dy
Wx ATK! YPRUSIDND"
WATMPHADIBATAD
Ssbsannne spss
‘OXOAS SO WADI” YANK)
Smonipy mason
Pree n Durban cae
en tere om DIY nob pie WY
| ssyosdiinnwn7 TED yr
seve etvintacnany essen gae SUVA BN DOU
script, 946 C.E.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 713
ALPHABET, HEBREW
TS Dayar 12 iy’
Be apt TTR 1
PV MAPP 13 aH) 9 TT
une
ahh TOIT
RNBONOW
pene WADI
etic ane
“bry zis
S ae roan
DANI! Ny?
iN, wry DY
ee
WI WR, O13
‘ im
vr
ge 22. nm in ‘Sephardic square script from Tortosa Cathedral,
Spain. Sixth century C.E.
Figure 23. Sephardic square script
ninth-tenth century C.k. ay ashy Loy: '
SEE aon a SNA ORM AATINTYwDAS 2
snes oe bs): Serra =
ahrbraryspry pm Baer poreane: =
pe stow mor swine ay
Sas AMS Wee “NRADIPN OITA
poinher Wary Yn rosa mnAD
forms mone em nda ase phos ° beweneyprpaanlehs
ee Nationale, Ms. 2235, Heb. 82, fol. iar ryaysion nays Sige nests bay vas)
714
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
DIP Aww vo ty
SOReY maw oN
Sete Taps 9
aad aya Typ ha mia) 7
agzor7e ova Ay Sur
i iva br AaB oe) SINT
"ONT mys barca oar
oh Lb We
t i aed 2 “4 ospT wy MOTOS:
ypran ‘Games
4, § Sow Ps] wen ay AVON
: ry “531! Doane sabe yuh)
: Ww id 31 faye byon sean
: apa OUT yw nA ha)
ayaa opine sees
~ DertoupT aod
Sy oN NysT
SON TVpD nes SAMI
VaN bevy: “nD: Sar
ra ay Tawny
Lagi
Hy.
area zooms °
iamoya ohp Sica
wists? “etn
at ‘ IDAN TOS
“eg ap
ger
tye o9 de am
“TIX (DAN F Twansen
D wy aw SHNT wer
Figure 28. The oldest European Ms.
in Italkian square script. Bible dated
979 C.E. Rome, Vat. Lib. Ms. Urb.
Ebr. 2, fol. 41a.
Figure 26. Yevanic square script in a He-
brew-Greek glossary of the tenth century
c.£. Leningrad Public Library, Antonin
Evr. II B.
Figure 27. Epitaph in the Monteverde Cat-
acomb, Rome, in Italkian square script, c.
300 C.E.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 715
ALPHABET, HEBREW
sey saab 2 7
‘PAOD ONIN) Dre 99 +9
99 DPIDILD 2D 479 2, PNY Ht 07 O22 D5 Dips
= ns
wy TAI:
TaN
UTE
ome Samay ab
Bai Say 0 my
ee oem pre
yorerh probe bos 99°
oy 0 yp oanay ma
n 49 which) pou pres ae
1 svach pve: som pro
oT We S wat porn Arz07
79 Do741
ayIPwE MoT MONI TO
37D Se eID pM
soins arab 199733 IS
bres oa torn So nate
© yey sae panasy aah
a3. eben pps bo whshy yo
wore wn "2 petro
28” wen pat Mba) ae
Figure 29. Extract from a prayer book in Italkian square
script, 1466. London, British Museum, Ms. Harl. 5656,
¥ s fol. 273a.
Onimewn ohn Spb) 2 B nie womaAE
Ry b3 nti hay om wy Bony “203 DAD fey,
pant te eal mw Spa) made OOD kay
inne WIP WE op an nos 5 M83
aa mmaeT39 TANK ON TY D IWIN WUD
Aw orwy fap DAD m3) bet Tp 53 m
niNwY ‘ops 73 wm: Sse3 Kay 73 moyen
Figure 30. Early printed Bible in Italian square script, 1482.
716
Appa
= shh, jeanne |
pA DN + i
sopene
ee era Oyen
Ashkenazic square script, DA conus Pes
1082 C.E. “soIsy Siew $5
Sree bras bas oy ip
t ont ' v3 wmssan 5s
VPININ DN Hs
Tay? TW Does
vane
Wish ‘es |
| ons wena
Bite Ms in Zorphane | eh eae
square script, London, sys Lh Dini
B.M., Ms. Add. 21161,
fol. 6a.
mas
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
sonra —,
ouva Sat Sn as coat
ALPHABET, HEBREW
roy Nan rab
Toy phan nie) oy,
eT AT PY
vy be] Aras TYP BS
AT AMPS NYY
e | orien tao rn
Fe m yay 75: ABUT
ayy NADY TIT
~vo's remNay
Figure 33. Extract from Bible of 1236 in hye ay ) A
A oeuae seca idles Biblio 4 pe bi
teca Ambrosiana, B. 30 inf., fol. 96r. ND Nae m2) ay
| ares So Se eh saa
| maoyaleany shins eta
Figure 34. Extract from the tractate Avot in Ashkenazic square script, 1432. Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Ms.
Reuchlin 4, fol. 2397.
Ashkenazic square script.
UN rar Sap mor
apoum Sp-s
Jaw. Maw bes Vo~
N TIA AN reap As
Dew mn wr 22703 YS
vaorarcs sinindseran>wya
Figure 35. Fifteenth-century typeface in on QUN ANOR aT
Sp xdos
apmas nwrrns
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
aren Bb
un
TOEN
“pane orn
717
ALPHABET, HEBREW
relation between the two, or do they represent separate, in-
dependent developments going back to Roman times? Cur-
rent information is insufficient to answer the question, as no
available Zarphatic manuscripts antedate the 12‘ century
(figure 31). The difference between thick and thin strokes was
strongly marked. Zarphatic did not long survive the expul-
sion of the Jews from France (1394) because the refugees were
absorbed into the Jewries of their new homes. The Zarphatic
type also included the script of medieval England, where the
Zarphatim had settled in Norman times. It came to an end
after only two centuries, when the Jews were expelled from
England in 1290.
Ashkenazic Types
The earliest specimens of the Ashkenazic type (Ashkenaz is
the traditional Hebrew name for Germany) show identity of
script with Zarphatic. It therefore may be concluded that the
Ashkenazic group is descended from Zarphati Jewry - which
confirms the existing tradition to that effect, and corroborates
the evidence provided by the Romance element in the Yiddish
language. Available Ashkenazic material dates from the first
half of the 11" century, consisting of epitaphs, the first dated
one being of 1034, while the earliest manuscripts can be as-
cribed to the 12" century; of these, the first dated manuscript
in square script is from 1236. Ashkenazic is one of the three
richest sources of codices, the others being Sephardic and
Italkian. The early epitaphs showed well-proportioned, pleas-
ing lettering (figure 32, of 1082). Here there was no difference
between the thickness of horizontals and verticals, while the
Bible manuscripts of even earlier dates in the other types al-
ready had that feature fully developed. The earliest dated Ash-
kenazic Bible manuscript had the thick/thin contrast (figure 33,
of 1236). By the 15** century the domination of the horizontal
strokes had reached its climax (figure 34, of 1432): the hori-
zontals were longer, i.e., the letters were wider. In addition,
the letters had a characteristic stance. In all groups and dur-
ing all periods the downstrokes slanted somewhat to the right,
so that the letters leaned slightly to the left. But now the slant
had become considerably more pronounced (compare figure
34 with, for instance, figure 29, which was otherwise written in
the same kind of script). Curves and undulating elements de-
creased, the forms became slightly rigid, though less so than in
the printers’ typeface (figure 35): When the typecutters trans-
ferred the handwritten forms onto the metal, they regularized
them geometrically. They also diminished the preponderance
of the horizontal strokes. The thick horizontals began to be
taken over for lapidary use in the 13"* century; they became the
rule toward its end. Detailed research might establish whether
the development of the thick/thin feature was purely a matter
of aesthetics, or whether there was a special reason, or a partial
one, perhaps the transition from the reed pen to the quill.
Karaitic Types
Finally, there was the script of the Karaites. They had cut them-
selves off from rabbinical Judaism in early times but continued
to use the Jewish script, as they considered themselves to be
718
the real Jews. In their hands it underwent a distinctive devel-
opment, which is not surprising as there is an intimate con-
nection between religion and script throughout history and in
all cultures. No single Karaite type existed; in various regions
different Karaitic types developed from the Rabbanite types.
Material dated from the 11‘ century onward is available, but
on the whole is sparse. There was a southern Karaitic type in
Egypt and Palestine, Yevano-Karaitic in the Byzantine regions,
Parso-Karaitic in Persia.
From the above review of the square script it may be
seen that there are many unsolved problems. An answer to
some might be found by further research. For the fact is that
the study of the Hebrew, i.e., the Jewish script, is, after all,
still only at its beginnings. And the field is vast - stretching
over more than two thousand years and many regions of the
Old World.
[Solomon Asher Birnbaum]
MASHAIT SCRIPT
Cursive was sometimes used as a book hand when, of course,
more care was taken with the writing. But this did not involve
an approximation to the square; it led to elaboration and orna-
mentality of a different kind, and thus to the shaping of a new
style, the mashait script (incorrectly designated “rabbinic”.
The Palestine-Syria Type
This development took place independently in the various
types and differed in degree from type to type. Evolution
away from the cursive was greatest in the European types; in
the Oriental ones there was little of it. A good example is in
a specimen of the Palestine-Syria type (figure 1; 11" century).
Alef has the pure K-structure; in Jamed the horizontal stroke
is omitted; mem has no base; final nun starts with a curve at
the line bottom and is thus rather short; the inner stroke of
shin tends to be slightly curved and joins the upper part of
the left stroke. The forms in figure 2 (15'* century) show very
little change in detail but the general impression is one of a
regular, pleasing hand. Alef has the square construction; zayin
is a wavy line of the question mark type; the alef part of the
alef-lamed ligature is a flattish parabola; final nun is a shal-
low S-wave, starting from the line ceiling; the inner stroke of
shin is a little curve in horizontal position, joined to the top
of the left stroke.
Egypt Type
This type, like Palestine-Syria, is the basic kind of mashait (fig-
ure 3; 13'* century). The two right strokes of the K-form of alef
are joined high up to the top of the left stroke; the left stroke
of tet is of double height but does not extend below the line
bottom; lamed has the two-stroke form; mem has no base; fi-
nal nun starts slightly below the line ceiling; samekh is a circle;
the middle stroke of shin is a horizontal curve joined to the
top of the left stroke. Figure 4 (1326) shows a somewhat more
formal hand. The two right strokes of alef are high up but, in
contrast with that in figure 3, the letter is based on the square
construction, except that the right stroke joins the outer end
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
of the middle stroke; generally the left stroke does not extend
beyond the line ceiling; the alef part of the alef-lamed ligature
is a shallow oblique S-wave, or even a straight line; the left
stroke of samekh is short and only starts at the line bottom so
that the letter is open on the left.
Babylonia Type
Figure 5, a Babylonian specimen (tenth century), also repre-
sents the basic kind. The alef part of the alef-lamed ligature is
the unchanged right-hand part of alef; mem has a short base
which is often curved; the inner stroke of shin is joined to the
middle of the left stroke. The modern hand is shown in figure
6. The right stroke of alefis above the line ceiling, joining the
top of the left one — it often looks as if it were its top part; the
original middle stroke is strongly curved and situated in the
upper half of the line height; gimmel has the form of what, in
most types, is a nun; he has the question mark shape; lamed
has the two-stroke form; the right stroke of mem has shrunken
to a tiny stroke at the line ceiling — it is now nothing but the be-
ginning of the inner stroke, changing it into a shallow S-wave;
the left stroke has become long, filling the whole line height,
without, however, extending above the line ceiling; final mem
is a circle; zadi is a tall S-wave; the inner stroke of shin has
become a dot at the top of the left one; the left downstroke of
tav is severed from the top stroke, beginning at the line bot-
tom and running rather far down.
Parsic Type
Although the individual letter forms of the Parsic type (fig-
ure 7; 14" century) present nothing unusual, the general pic-
ture is very distinctive. The main reason is the thickness of
the horizontal strokes, which has the effect of reducing the
distance between the top bar and base to a very narrow gap.
Alef looks like a Roman N with the two right strokes half up
the line height; zayin is a flattened Roman Z - it has thus al-
most returned to the Old Semitic form; the middle stroke
of lamed has become the top part of the curve which is the
lower half of the letter; mem has no base; the inner stroke of
shin is a small curve in horizontal position. The top stroke of
gimmel in figure 8 (18 century) slants down rightward, and
is continued on the line bottom by a horizontal piece, which
then slants down leftward below the line bottom. The zayin
of figure 8 (186 century) has become unsymmetrical: the top
stroke is much smaller than the bottom stroke, and sometimes
disappears altogether; mem has no base; the inner stroke of
shin has become a small curve, joined to the top of the left
one. The modern forms (figure 9) do not differ from those of
figure 8, or, for that matter, from modern cursive. The form
of the alef here is an extremely rare one; what distinguishes
gimmel from nun is that it is an acute angle, whereas nun has
a rounded corner; the downstroke of dalet ends by turning
right; zayin is of the question mark type; final mem is circu-
lar but the stroke often ends outside the letter with an upward
movement; samekh is written in the same way, but when the
top is reached a downstroke is added. In the somewhat cur-
sive writing of figures 8 and 9, the thickness of the horizontals
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
is less pronounced. The tall forms of dalet and resh are very
rare, and have obviously been adopted from outside - they
were used in the neighboring Babylonian type at least from
the late 15** century.
Temanic Type
This type shares with Parsic the thick horizontals and the con-
sequent narrowing down of the space between the top bar and
the base (figure 10; 13" century). The main stroke of alef has
become horizontal, resting on the line ceiling; the alef part of
the alef-lamed ligature is, on the whole, rather angular, as in
alef, zayin is a small —- sometimes very small - downstroke,
crossed by a short horizontal; tet is like the Ashkenazic cur-
sive form but preserves the inner stroke; the middle stroke
of lamed is straight and horizontal; the right stroke of mem
very occasionally ends in a short base; final mem differs from
samekh in not having a downstroke on the left; samekh is gen-
erally less wide, and the downstroke has sometimes become
a mere tail, resulting in an open letter. All downstrokes slant
rightward. Three centuries later (figure 11; 15» century) the
style is rather different, although very little change has taken
place in the forms themselves. The horizontals are much less
thick. The middle stroke of alef begins by being straight and
horizontal, and then curves downward but does not reach the
line bottom; the alef part of the alef-lamed ligature generally
corresponds to the form in figure 10, but two other types are
occasionally to be met with — one is identical with the right
part of the square form, and the other is a shallow S-curve,
running from the top right to the bottom left; the top of zayin
is a tick, and the end of the downstroke turns rightward. The
general style of figure 11 continues unchanged for two more
centuries (figure 12; 17 century). The lower right stroke of alef
now reaches the line bottom, unless prevented by the preced-
ing letter; the alef part of the alef-lamed ligature corresponds
to the square form; zayin is unchanged.
Maaravic Type
The forms of the Maaravic type (figure 13; 14" century) are
cursive but written with care and regularity. The same applies
to the specimen from the next century (figure 14). Here the
parallelism of the downstrokes is developed to an extreme de-
gree. Its impact is intensified by the high and narrow look of
the letters, arising from the shortness of the horizontals. The
right part of alefis high up and very small; gimmel is a right
angle; final mem is an oval in the upper half of the line; samekh
is triangular. The style of extreme parallelism seems to have
been characteristic of one particular region and period, and
is not met with again subsequently (see, for instance, figure
15; 18" century). An interesting detail in this specimen is that
the alef of the big display script used for two initial words, is
written in cursive, while the text itself is in mashait.
Sephardic Type
This type (figure 16; 11" century) corresponds to the cursive
of the same period (figure 19, Cursive Script). It is clearly well
advanced toward a fully developed mashait, although, in many
719
ALPHABET, HEBREW
letters - e.g, in he, mem, shin - formality is achieved by fea-
tures from the square. Alefis of the K-type; the middle stroke
of lamed is fused with the downstroke to form a semi-circle
in vertical position; final mem is more or less round; samekh
is quadrangular; shin consists of a base and three parallel
downstrokes, the inner one of which often does not reach the
base. In the 15» century Sephardic mashait (figure 17) reached
its climax, being a beautiful book of a high order. Legibility,
however, is not good, the letters are narrow and very close to
each other, and any downstrokes that end leftward touch the
next letter. When the right downstroke of a letter does not
turn leftward at the line bottom, it stops midway down the
line height. Starting from the tip of the left stroke the lower
right stroke of alef begins horizontally on the line ceiling and
ends by curving clown to the middle of the line height; the
right top stroke is very thin and short, above the line ceiling;
final mem consists of two more or less rounded halves, top
right and left bottom; the bar of final pe has a little stroke at
its left end, which represents the original top of the left stroke;
the right stroke of zadi and final zadi is an extremely short
horizontal which joins the top of the left stroke; the same ap-
plies to the inner stroke of shin. Transferred to the typeface
of the printing press, this script, like the square, lost much of
its beauty (figure 18; 18" century). Although only a shadow
of its former self, it is still a pleasing hand. The usual, but in-
correct, designation for it is “Rashi script,” obviously because
*Rashi’s commentaries on the Bible and Talmud - the books
which everybody was constantly handling from boyhood to
old age - were printed in (Sephardic) mashait. Rashi himself,
naturally, wrote in Zarphatic (see below).
Provencal Sephardic Type
For a long time this type did not differ from the Iberian type.
Figure 19 (13"* century) is a very plain hand. Alef, more often
than not, has the cursive form. Figure 20 (15‘ century) is a
beautiful hand. Figure 21 (18 century) is far inferior, but its
mashait character is more pronounced than in the Sephardic
type of figure 18.
Yevanic Type
The 13'* century Yevanic mashait is a very plain hand (fig-
ure 22). Alef consists of a lower main part and an upper one,
the lower combines the lower halves of the former left stroke
with the former main stroke, resulting in a circumflex; the
former right stroke and the upper part of the former left
stroke remain separate; the downstroke, both of dalet and
he, finally turns rightward. Figure 23 (15' century) is a more
formal script but much less elaborate than contemporaneous
Sephardic. In contrast with the latter, the horizontals play a
very big role. Dalet and zayin have the same characteristics
as in figure 22; the inner stroke of shin is short and joined to
the middle of the left one.
Italkian Type
The first specimen of Italkian mashait (figure 24; c. 11! cen-
tury) shows a very regular and pleasing hand, which, how-
720
ever, is not yet calligraphically developed. The left down-
stroke of he still issues from the top bar; shin is practically
triangular, and the middle stroke is short and does not reach
the line bottom; the frequent expression “he said” is al-
ways rendered by an abbreviation; the left stroke of alef and
the left top stroke of the mem are omitted. In the 14' cen-
tury a highly calligraphic style was reached. The horizon-
tals dominate the picture in the way they do in the square,
and a number of letters have the same structure, although
their appearance is very different indeed - cf., for instance,
the mems or nuns of the two styles occurring in the speci-
men (figure 25). There are practically no straight strokes;
everything is curved. About a century later (figure 26) the
difference between the thick horizontals and thin down-
strokes is even greater. The latter have become thinner, lon-
ger, and straighter, and all the letters have a strong leftward
slant. The downstrokes of the long letters are shallow S-
curves, rather thick in the middle. Figure 27 shows the con-
temporaneous typeface. The designer evidently wished to
avoid extremes.
Zarphatic Type
The Zarphatic forms of 12'*-century mashait (figure 28) are
clearly distinct from those of the contemporaneous cursive:
not only are they very carefully written but they differ in many
details. The right part of alef is at the line ceiling; the top part
of kofis a horizontal line - only the merest trace of the down-
stroke is left. The fully developed calligraphic hand begins
in the 13" century. Most downstrokes are shallow S-waves,
thickened in the middle (figure 29; 14' century). Neither
horizontals nor verticals dominate the picture. The distance
between the letters is reduced to a minimum; very often they
actually touch. Shin has a wide horizontal base. By the 15'®
century, only traces of this calligraphic style (figure 30) sur-
vived.
Ashkenazic Type
The differences between the 13°-century Ashkenazic mas-
hait of figure 31 and the almost contemporaneous Zarphatic
of figure 28 appear to be due only to the individualities
of the scribes. Further research is needed to establish when
the divergence between the two types became pronounced.
It seems that the full development of the calligraphic style
was reached in Ashkenazic very slightly later than in Zar-
phatic and that, like there, it was soon simplified (figure
32), surviving only as a display script (figure 32, top and
bottom). The plain style is the basis of the typeface (figure
33).
Southern Karaitic Type
The 16'*-century Southern Karaitic type of figure 34 is pleas-
ant to the eye. There is not much difference between the thick
and the thin strokes. The opposite may be said of the Yevano-
Karaitic specimen (figure 35; 16" century).
[Solomon Asher Birnbaum]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
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Figure 1. Excerpt from letter in Palestine-Syria mashait script, 1094 C.E.
Cambridge University Library, T-S. 20, 141.
Figure 2. Palestine-Syria mashait script, 1443. Hamburg, Staatsund Univer-
sitaetsbibliothek, Cod. heb. 56, fol. 32v.
Figure 3. Deposition by a witness in Egyptian mashait script, 1218. Cam-
bridge University Library, T-S. 13. J. 3. 27b.
Figure 4. Part of Tanhum Yerushalmi’s commentary on Ecclesiastes in
Egyptian mashait script, 1326. London, British Museum, Ms. Or. 5063,
fol. 142.
Figure 5. Babylonian mashait script, end of tenth century c.z. Cambridge
University Library, T-S. 13. J. 25/5.
Figure 6. Modern Babylonian mashait script. London, S.A. Birnbaum Col-
lection.
Figure 7. Grammatical treatise in Parsic mashait script, 1312 C.E. Letch-
worth, Sassoon Collection, 1065, p. 72.
7
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ALPHABET, HEBREW
1 Loew ingy iorop ay unum: isp dy Jsnnre woxne eva ny dannad
she mong (ann “pr awe miban 2309 DINE eR) Iat> ip P24
So na dus ode Mw Inet o9 RVeKUD DID DBI? Mh SsMMOM do!
yon por)
PANN nw
ebeiaa WAY “YPN 395 BD
4 A} Su nk
LAE STIL) Pav) shons jae hh fe yern 999 [WAN sl ead
5 A nNabse nave ersst pusoNn bm Lae Vu sidinnaven pins
pironsobass ria pdsnnsen bo D0 TN Here psa
adic dd aad for ere jv JASN OFLIt
4 when wm) yarn pow)
1S > ds 914
sari A
ed |
MASHAIT SCRIPT
|
Mg bor pb vpn hee wr |
ee a |
Bras row 7 persed) yr VFe2 ho MNy ARNE A
y
mer RYAN AbOS
Sorts Of Ip) 07 33eBI eaa8
eee spo yen fe ney TEN
Z dard fs Drips tines DATD dws
“peel why
y
S20 MIT ID NK
Tyan Se mY tare TWAS:
sas dns Wags pd }
b 29
Bye a i
Yap? DDT {7 rots ruSp o'23 72 I? work
Par ose:
P97 Yip phe Ee VIE? PROD & oper aud Paps
opp rhip >> 7272 wpePh phe be owner epphe
aber ue as +347? oO pe DIFP? OPI) o-27p? ws as.
—oity pip 2792 pele Whe) vou hed veer zp
has ref ANALG P* FaasE
ow
fag (ior baad
6
Se acy (se
: Z 7 : ; :
BOHN PVs KAS ail Pry SSP BSUS iy p9P iS) baie osinens
SHAN DAN yclione ne Ribs (yarns {WR BL weet pn BSH, tates bas BHIAD
vent BesyN pea \s nt MAD ats Biyss 1ST SEAS SI pe ow a
sip) swaes obi9 bay bons pias Pin gab year wneeryan te po 7 pines
ee be 919
A
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
— ASA i Bane Was pH les ai Aste, in Ans
tA A
ee a
721
ALPHABET, HEBREW
My py pheystinrs rrp \o0 ADAMS nny
‘ohm sho Lop 77 Or Dye? 2H 9S ys HEM
Sis wala >rny ono nn 262 psy
WH paren (4yH9 hop 97 Sawn 2909 97 non
12 moe ibn 497 719 23 29 Pav TER
$9 919 hs 2199 tH FL 2_y0h Owhd Th
xy e-) 2 Suh Tp Mile d)) =] yo : oP x7 spy
Figure 8. Excerpt from Shahin Shirazi’s Judeo-Persian paraphrase of the
Pentateuch in Parsic mashait script, 1702. London, British Museum, Ms.
Or. 4742, fol. 342b.
Figure 9. The Parsic mashait script of today. London, S.A. Birnbaum Col-
lection.
Figure 10. Temanic mashait script used in a copy of Maimonides’ commen-
tary on the Mishnah, 1222 C.E.
Figure 11. Temanic mashait script as used in the Mahberet attijan, 1490.
London, British Museum, Ms. Or. 2349.
Figure 12. A mahzor of 1674 in Temanic mashait script. London, British
Museum, Ms. Or. 1479, fol. 72b.
Figure 13. Colophon in Maaravic mashait script, 1364 c.E. Cambridge Uni-
versity Library, Ms. D.d. 11. 22, fol. 80b.
Figure 14. Extract from a mahzor in Maaravic mashait script, 1401. Paris
Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. héb. 657, fol. 81b.
v b
porrinws 7
ee
‘Wrnonteao'y Hohn preven qn yy
to wats SiH pos rnb a5 ont pK
wey iy nila pealenay v1 iy 3% mY ch
Maye) “arozéraranno tn rrens
(OR pindons pony’ TaN oho
ri wpm baad it mm debi ee :
PANSY Daacy Nath S3t HIN OPH YS
Sonn Sn vor “open apn ron on
1 “slo apne soapy rhe np (os atay et
t ¥
eres MUP WETS Peers Weise
V2 te Er yn oe Ww
Ys wom Te et do Neen Sit
arene yor Dey “pan mene
tymitos ante Tear Ne oun A)
TQION Yo WO ers urvs
10 ee dy “NS “ea ae =~ ~
POTN ns yy EIS | PRU yey .
Pag as 2 ye (15 ee wn MIB YULID YS 3 oD
FOO S10 a7 192 NIH 7090 NT OH 5 ye adie o>
* Ymarir(agns Ces a QOD NSN HULL? PSL
sade rrr). . HOPI (KOEAPIM MIN MONT SNS UM IZ>IICID
ee Tahara Crone = ae PIT KITT 119 S119 IF WED p¥s7-9P1
ee ERE! Soe wee sennlypwsitesmon pap aan ae
ee eee ere eet 7297 sb NI:DMNE MOPS IIT ah COUN (aR 99
“Bub ibs mamma cp meymge pide kati =i ied %
ae pod pone ae Sn) germ 901 Gat Mids 2 PE, regina
POSE ia yrs SN BT IW ep wp Re winner Ye 9399 MIND
ee P erkiey onvprp koo9 o704 Hid rerenne nnd7
14
by soinh side nyyass Seraph) yin estnnay povs3y
Seyaryyayrnba, “omni wm
Koos alppharabong
aeenp wma 1G alent “aim Wines neat Hoy aNd
Bye} IAN 122 (08 NPN AMTY J AN oat
at} “yosy 208 ban aime ab fain (57218 04!"
Tah feodemmey “pons Hos yinv of 83103
Byaip ran apni Emp ain Bonn INN 71297)
op oNSSe OPAHoND rGDson| Yn OHH YS 4
722
8 youn DOI PRINT AED NTI?
YO swr ring? Arbia oP
Dongs ph 09? Or AYO, Sapwvt
BUS MP) DPI? 24° SION
Bw Ae. VSL! Ds Comin) odky)
Vy orion) Dwi. swypasroys
JPEG psp eh pr)
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PIP (oh
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
‘avy dy en rob aye Vecatent POR WMS AY TB Says
Savona fue gpy 33 10 988 Aisa a100 bw ph So shy penny ys
Sana epebey toesxhy
sono b evade &: ppieraylnory obp Joursh gms agoo pen ayes iro 1
[ oly 89 FED bw porns ik sah Torre bint S wity oy NI YP KD
i avy EMDR) IPS Oop sassy pes TOY Bois merits pivbus VS eoppesindy ay 15 Br wy pot es
AG eth gai a A ace cs Mncln We dot ie As oy
a PI pys So) sumvryay midis sb verve 2% Jens pevetsen, sae qi eb waits tyes bos ges
20
oye peal saloas pepe awe
! \ ue
) ‘
oreo yp oat VIAN wp oly pepe -
DIY sane toelynl ay ambdowponbenly sbpewree
DE EOE MIDNA PUN VIO TY VIM TrID PHIM
sey ve hpalenbopesbiy onsaapmyn pp
{ iw . a :
: Figure 15. Maaravic mashait script from a mahzor of 1769. New York, Jew-
ip «) py ‘DP ied wl ish Theological Seminary, Adler 2306, fol. 99a.
i vi
te te Lot
Barcelona Cathedral Library.
iad Figure 16. Deposition by a witness in Sephardic mashait script, 1096 C.E.
Figure 17. Responsa of 1417 in Sephardic mashait script. Cambridge Univer-
sity Library, Ms. Add. 499, fol. 324v.
Figure 18. Marriage deed printed in Sephardic mashait script, London, Brit-
19 - ish Museum, Ms. Or. 7951.
r | Figure 19. Grammatical treatise in Provencal Sephardic mashait script, 1264
f ites reyybhy hm) g rnp P y bh on c.e. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Ms. 5660, fol. 195a.
pup ad mips wy I) NI 93 779" Ww Figure 20. Mahzor of 1453 in Provengal Sephardic mashait script. Paris,
my! oyny omy 9) yy pip Skroyy 71959 Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. 2235, héb. 735, fol. 131.
ate oan pid pr 977) HIN Moay
YD py; ebyay maprnnh 7b) pny
PPS nr riund Araya [9p VIDAL /
18
15 A 4 t
Sy) yyy NUN c } Fae a" an : furs fap? Sov fry WD ad JOP pond oy Mitte ae
% Lat YREID P2 FOI UPL PW prvon frviey ‘fadins Bro a Royer
wraSS ' peroteroins bas we Ip gabou DIY (OF) (OP) (ror vr (338 parse a of Jalog.
ufos) “Wh? Y= 9m YErI> hanpin Sy Ae : J Jt
eae : : TU) 2A a yf 22 paso ow Spar sup.
2) oy words yrmameby <7 29> Wy DUN OAL ae Ie Ae Ce
yy 253) (v2 serv) ootint piu 252 Sysy wow Inf? J) hip wri
np hpi enh Jin pop v9 sev god Jip 8 Nd a9 porn 39 9°
, vom Jin Jo nae . , yates 4 fe mails
J spr Ua JF pane wot Ji9 womny Ap Per worn a7 ifs we
vf mwieiny “Wee? af arn: we ine oy
Swe yyy -
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1 723
ALPHABET, HEBREW
(have “wpe roy panne fons ans pil ig Apidhn Hab yn.
Dest) Top Hynes toyndy de a MS ary eh ho IE Pe} " ii
ovis nhyp Des fad Hime neon isienS ie rior end Sh NSE Hen
[A vio Ht sanay eat a tins “Sy notte eM NY pacsiiaeaton
ssa se ly ra me vy ante pny tr a Gee
23
sae IL jee yrs 9236 persere 359 $6 NOON 45
KIN AeAY hws nina In hae won A209 Hh my
non pha nber hvnwa tha - ‘PHININIS vos)
ws open nar fired “era -aeaseh % area myers hy,
ay har veer busts -resbusye - san preen aeowes ayy
MINE AIDE? 499 149 PINT ISU 197) BI Dan,
24
Figure 21. Mahzor of 1713 in Provencal Sephardic mashait script. New York,
Jewish Theological Seminary, Ms. Adler 1938, fol. 72a.
Figure 22. Excerpt from Abraham Ibn Ezra’ astrological treatise, Reshit
Hokhmah, in Yevanic mashait script, 1267. Oxford Bodleian Library, Ms.
Opp. Add 40. 160, fol. 371.
Figure 23. Excerpt from Yom Tov Lipmann Muelhausen’s Sefer Nizzahon
in Yevanic mashait script, 1459. Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. 2235, héb.
735, fol. 139.
Figure 24. An uth-century copy of the Midrash Genesis Rabbah in Italkian
mashait script. London, British Museum, Ms. Add. 27166, fol. 184a.
Figure 25. Italian translation of a hymn, written in Hebrew Italkian mashait
script, 1383. London, British Museum, Ms. Or. 2433, fol. 78b.
Figure 26. Mahzor in Italkian mashait script, 1466. London, British Mu-
seum, Ms. Harl. 5686, fol. 177a.
say Riuuprppuhan dd, :
mere “ghos IU ay 5. qo) oye Oh: i)
ate pdve inby ene Sé i ie bee 31365
(4 pee ov wede-: da JIG red), webby
oyun J9UT oa
rie 4 19 PIMP sy: ny
orp 0" pip se ye an
Leash gh aznohny saw boob
ere soni by hy syah arunn
‘wip eh mare sarena whan
26
ros — “shy 5 seal ye ret 2 Bay
ne Bed 3 ae ™ ran Dy wwrig'e « sane be)
ra & x ki
Saape eee N
DDB. NOD ee fobyp
ove ly a. \
iy hud pra mae ren
_ ya, was "~
searyaion som sy SIDS ys ND?
ST TEA PON,
2M WTS" a ae
Cad ID VN’ “D704
ODS ayaa baie)
70" Gent Dr “TADS
“Sys ap yb,
25
To 8
22
“en AON) SONA BI sem ataonts army miperebery:.
} phYniNY DIDI Ne emayD pasty
mye, wir Gant ee * YINUP ld PANHOYN Mens ST ee.
et Ms ye ee inte env ements
. oa ns , Be eS weer
"hart St ian 732 ov : 13 Ego pnts washes
haere fp e a oe a a CS SI a ane aL
724
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
no mocha yay ynora’nysoohsn
PIVOTS ODN wD po 20 IMA AI
yrvry ywens'n 7D apDDS proce
sopymou «Mea MeM aren pose
‘men oo) nM ser etn pon
“ano S9stiere one wishin ad
ayaeedronsys pata thee pin
9 Severo: opm Sy yoo oc mneron owt
pimp pe cape amh prsenn - jonrin
von mento oeEds oon csom ey
mbewer coard oon ero nan -chn
qrver mera saa py rea IND 42°73
2 yreapomnrnh morvna 4s yoh
2202 PIRI DNS? P34 nero
5 vane nswa Aste ns proves ono
rome sree MDI TP] PT) 9337
snavema oe
27
Figure 27. Excerpts from a book printed in Italkian mashait script, 1476.
Figure 28. A liturgical poem in Zarphatic mashait script, c. late 12th century.
Paris Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. 2235, héb. 635, fol. 12v.
Figure 29. Commentary on the Rosh Ha-Shanah liturgy in Zarphatic mas-
hait script. 1301 C.E.
Figure 30. Zarphatic mashait script, 1429. Hamburg, Staats- und Universi-
taetsbibliothek, Cod. hebr. 244, fol.111V.
Figure 31. Ashkenazic mashait script, 1220. Cambridge University Library,
Ms. Add. 667.1, fol. 24a.
Figure 32. Extract from Isaac Dueren’s Issur ve-Hetter in Ashkenazic mas-
hait script, 1477, Hamburg, Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek, Cod. Scrin.
132, fol. 63a.
29
4 de soanip ag dam Sen mips aad wore rapa moor Sy
2 yw ye wy Ter ho pr tye pry PH DY,
at PONS go NIMS TS’ Li tg Tyyemow mp
sing jo-semein nly sing} Lp crane nye otra masta Fat
ae ‘p07 pclae Foo “preety | oops on ip rs
eam ye agen bas aegan ae DE Sap oH at A DOT
RD an We rr pa a I WR Don AF yt IT?
gree anny bey ope atin pb ano: ee me
sani snag seme aged Bet win b>
on ons dy oe
pte we
vom
.
spin bby gem erg on oF HTT
yw sayy Djor, ymoweNedy RON WIS
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
“D> MEY Onis O10 pop sadn LHI’ worn
PDI NDP rosa Yoja Wa onps
Jor WHI rips uDUH22 Jaane
7 " yoted rors p “Jone sah
© Mp Sap hip TH pie
Nav sop mo
KOI P wos
od onze
rar
28
Wyprlorow spruton py a
roe se fi Pa ss & syns ms
(DID V7 hl Ba ie
suas 2991 yor tl hc
W erorT tty ONS THN 83 197 HH
Tey AID ITA wy Yb
30
aR ID STEIN eter
“SY DPN S900 oH seep
foreman andi wri
VOMIRLIAT INE TRAITS TEI
31
ton
pagg gan grt gana aby ayes base 9 ona
725
ALPHABET, HEBREW
Wy Dena it: boi wail Sr be 319 soya pa bi pad pK
betio'3 ab OH HS 99° IoD wh fen [Ewa DIT prs
PRAT Tb RIE Th ob ph «(AT PS bo
Figure 33. Ashkenazic mashait script in a book printed in Yiddish, 1543.
WW sy aden ta anne nbay ait (N
Sb rat rcond as
posses sercusd ww tpg tomas
ona
é
“ \ 4
AUD Loo egret sjasl-wneno e02
. - « a. a a
Figure 34. A manuscript of 1520 in Southern Karaitic mashait script. Lon-
don, British Museum, Ms. Or. 2406.
Figure 35. Extract from a prayer book in Yevano-Karaitic mashait script,
1525. London, British Museum, Ms. Or. 1104, fol. 60a.
726
LETTERS USED AS NUMBERS
Although in some early Hebrew inscriptions (such as the
Samarian ostraca) there appear certain symbols which may
be taken as numerals, in general letters of the alphabet were
used as numerical signs. This usage is not biblical. It may
have been an imitation of the Greek custom; the first traces
of it are found on Hasmonean coins (c. 135 B.C.E.) The letters
from alef to tet stand for the units in succession; yod to zadi
for the tens, and kof to tav for hundreds (that is, up to 400). In
the Talmud the numbers above 400 are formed by composi-
tions (500 = 400 + 100 (?”N); 900 = 400 + 400 + 100 (P”NN),
and so on; in later times the final forms of the letters kaf 4,
_
ao
ao
10
_
_
300
:
_
[ry
.
_
.
in
_
nm
~
:
TELL
jh t
_
oo
uw
-
i=)
o
mem 0, nun }, pe *, and zadi Y were not infrequently used for
500, 600, 700, 800, 900). The thousands are represented by
the same letters as the units, but are generally followed by
a kind of apostrophe (or two dots are placed above them:
5727 = 1”"2wn 7). Numbers above ten are expressed by a com-
bination of letters, those denoting the higher numbers being
placed toward the right (e.g., 182 = 2”5/). In an indication of
the date of the year, the letter representing the thousands is
generally omitted (5727 = 1”2wn). The numbers 15 and 16 are
not denoted by the letter 7” and 1” (since these combinations
represent the abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton): in-
stead, the combinations 1”U (“nine and six”) and 7’U (“nine
and seven”) are used.
[David Diringer]
BRAILLE
This system enables the blind to read and write Hebrew with
speed and relative facility. Until the 1930s, each school engaged
in educating the blind and in printing Hebrew works in Braille
developed its own system of Braille signs. There was no stan-
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
dard system of pointing Hebrew letters and a pupil graduating
from a given Jewish school for the blind was unable to read
the literature published by another. In 1936, an agreement was
concluded among all the institutions engaged in the publica-
tion of the Bible, the translation and copying of books into
Hebrew, and the writing and editing of material in Hebrew
Braille. The agreement called for a uniform method of Hebrew
Braille pointing to be adopted by all educational institutions
concerned with the needs of blind children, as well as by the
cultural centers providing Braille literature in Hebrew for the
blind all over the world.
The problem and lack of uniformity in Braille writing
existed in all languages and in schools for the blind all over
the world. As a result of a UNESCO agreement in 1950, on the
occasion of the international meeting on Braille uniformity,
and upon the recommendation of the International Hebrew
Braille Committee 1936-44, it was decided to adopt a uni-
form Hebrew alphabet in all countries and languages. Ac-
cording to this system, there are signs for the following char-
acters: (1) all the Hebrew letters (with the exception of the end
forms); (2) punctuation signs; (3) mathematical signs (num-
bers and notation); (4) all the Hebrew vocalization signs (the
signs always follow the letter to which they belong); (5) signs
for chemistry and physics; (6) signs for musical notes. Errors
can be erased by straightening the embossed dots with the
aid of a special implement or by passing six consecutive dots
over the error. There are four institutions in the world en-
gaged in the printing and publication of the Bible and books
in Hebrew Braille: (1) the Jewish Braille Institute of America,
New York; (2) the Israel Ministry of Education and Culture,
Department of Special Education; (3) the Central Library for
the Blind, Netanyah, Israel; and (4) the Jewish Institute for
the Blind, Jerusalem.
[Zvi Hermann Federbush]
MANUAL (DEAF)
In Europe and America finger spelling as a means of commu-
nication between the deaf has been accepted for decades. Latin
finger spelling is not identical for all languages which use the
Latin alphabet. In all systems of Latin finger spelling one prin-
ciple determines the position of the fingers: the similarity of
the position to the shape of the written letter. This principle
aids in learning and memorizing finger spelling. This is also
the reason that the finger spelling of many letters is identical
in the systems used for the different languages written in the
Latin alphabet. The need for finger spelling depends directly
on the cultural needs of the deaf in his society. Hebrew fin-
ger spelling probably was not developed sooner because the
intellectual level of the deaf in Israel, now average, was low
35 years ago. During the second decade of the existence of
the State of Israel, educational and instructional activities for
children and adults in the community of the deaf were greatly
expanded. Even though only a small percentage of the mem-
bers of the Association of the Deaf and Mute in Israel draws
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW
its information from reading, this group continues to grow.
They express a readiness to learn writing and finger spelling
in the clubs for the deaf which exist in several centers in the
country. This is especially true of Helen Keller House in Tel
Aviv, the national center for the deaf.
Hebrew Finger Spelling
In 1968 a system of Hebrew finger spelling was published by
Jonathan Shunary, a teacher of the deaf. The system was de-
veloped according to the following principles.
(1) Thirteen of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet are
expressed by accepted positions for the Latin alphabet as es-
tablished by the World Federation of the Deaf (the Interna-
tional Manual Alphabet). However, almost all of the positions
adapted for Hebrew finger spelling represent sounds different
from those used in the International Manual Alphabet. This
was done to keep to the principle of making the position of
the hand as similar as possible to the intended letter. This was
important to make it easier to learn the system and to spread
its use quickly among the deaf in Israel. The letters y, |, m, and
n, are expressed as in the International Alphabet, since it is
possible to associate these to the Hebrew letters. The letter a
was given the numerical value of one, and the letter b the nu-
merical value of two. For several letters the position suggests a
word beginning with that letter (Heb. 229, devek, “glue”; Heb.
0°17}, karnayim, “horns”), or symbolizes the position of the
mouth during the articulation of the letter: for h the mouth is
opened wide so the sign is a scratching palm, s is pronounced
with a strong burst of air and so the fist is closed.
(2) Three letters representing consonants not used in the
Hebrew language are included in the Hebrew system. This is
necessary for foreign names, place names, names of people ac-
tive in international politics, science, sport, cinema, etc. The
sign for g (pronounced like the gin English “gin”) is a reversed
g with the fingers pointing down; the sign for Z (pronounced
like the j in the French word “jour,” or s in the English word
“leisure”) is a reversed z; and that for c (pronounced like the
ch in the word “church”) is a reversed c.
(3) The system makes it possible to represent vowels
which are not written in Hebrew as letters. (a) Every con-
sonant followed by an a vowel can be expressed by moving
the palm being used to the right. (b) e vowels are expressed
by moving the palm being used downward. (c) i vowels are
expressed by a slight twist of the palm being used. The let-
ter vav thus serves to indicate two vowels, o and u, just as it
does in written Hebrew. (d) 0 vowels are expressed by point-
ing the thumb up.
(e) the u vowel is expressed by pointing the thumb to the
left and moving it in that direction.
Just as many signs are expressed while simultaneously
employing the mouth or without sound, so there are those
who use a combination of finger spelling and this type of
speech. In this case the lips are used to express the vowels and
the finger spelling is made simpler.
[Jonathan Shunary]
727
ALPHABET, HEBREW, IN MIDRASH, TALMUD, AND KABBALAH
SHORTHAND
The first attempts at evolving shorthand were made in the
196 century. In 1866, for example, Max Gondos adapted the
Gebelsberger German method to Hebrew. Other attempts
were made by Wilhelm Lerfler, Dr. Hedrich, and L. Kutz. In
1918 Lenis tried to evolve a system of Hebrew shorthand. The
reason for the late appearance of Hebrew shorthand ties into
the fact that Hebrew was not utilized as a living language un-
til the 1880s. The need became pressing after World War 1
when Hebrew was recognized as one of the official languages
of Palestine and began to be used in courts of law and for ad-
ministrative purposes. Although it was widely believed that
there was no need for Hebrew shorthand, since the Hebrew
spelling omits a considerable number of vowels, this view
proved unfounded and it was discovered that ordinary writ-
ing could not keep up with the speed of speech. Methods were
invented after World War 1 by (1) Ben Yisrael Zulman (1919);
(2) D. Tames (1921); (3) Mrs. P. Shargorodska (1926); and (4) J.
Maimon (1929).
Of all these methods, Maimon’s proved the most suc-
cessful and popular among Hebrew shorthand writers. He
began to evolve his method in 1924, basing it on the interna-
tional shorthand system invented by General Felix von Ko-
novsky. However, he also took into consideration the sounds
and grammatical problems peculiar to the Hebrew language.
He accordingly introduced amendments into the shortening
of syllables and vowels and also invented special ideographs
for Hebrew words. After working for several years on im-
provements, he published his first textbook of Hebrew short-
hand in 1929; in 1932 he produced a guide called Elef Kizzurei
Millim (“One Thousand Ideographs”). Maimon decided that
Hebrew shorthand must be liberated from the traditions of
the normal Hebrew lettering and be independent of it. He
therefore established that Hebrew shorthand should be writ-
ten from left to right, unlike the square Hebrew lettering,
since this movement is easier for the right hand, as in Latin
characters, and that Hebrew shorthand should also represent
the vowels, as in Latin characters, and not omit them, as in
previous methods. He explained that in Hebrew, vowels of-
ten serve as important aids to recognition of a word, and
that if the vowel of the first syllable is represented it would be
possible, in many cases, to shorten the word without reduc-
ing the possibility of deciphering it. Furthermore, according
to his method (and in accordance with international practice)
the vowel signs in shorthand can serve as links between the
consonant signs. Other systems have also been propounded:
e.g., by H. Bar-Kama and H. and R. Shtadlan, who trained a
considerable number of students and won a certain amount
of popularity among Hebrew shorthand writers.
[Jacob Maimon]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: NORTH-WEST SEMITIC: S.A. Birnbaum, The
Hebrew Scripts, 2 vols. (1954-57); G.R. Driver, Semitic Writing, from
Pictograph to Alphabet (19547); Avigad, in: Scripta Hierosolymitana, 4
(1958), 56-87; Cross, in: The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Essays in
728
Honor of W.E. Albright (1961), 133-202; Cross, in: BASOR, 165 (1962),
34-42; 168 (1962), 18-23; LJ. Gelb, A Study of Writing (1965); WE Al-
bright, The Proto-Sinaitic Inscriptions and their Decipherment (1966);
Cross, in: Eretz-Israel, 8 (1967), 8*-24*; D. Diringer, The Alphabet, a
Key to the History of Mankind, 2 vols. (1968); J.B. Peskham, The Devel-
opment of the Late Phoenician Scripts (1968); J.D. Purvis, The Samari-
tan Pentateuch and the Origin of the Samaritan Sect (1968). MASHAIT
SCRIPT: W. Wright, Facsimiles of Manuscripts and Inscriptions (Orien-
tal Series; 1875-83); C.D. Ginsburg, A Series of 15 Facsimiles... (1897);
P. Kahle, Masoreten des Ostens (1913); E. Tisserant, Specimina Codi-
cum Orientalium (1914); C. Bernheimer, Catalogue des manuscrits et
livres rares hébraiques de la Bibliotheque du Talmud Tora de Livourne
(1914); idem, Paleografia Ebraica (It., 1924), 1-34; Catalogue of Hebrew
Manuscripts... of E.N. Adler (1921); A.Z. Schwarz, Die hebraeischen
Handschriften der Nationalbibliothek in Wien (1925); P. Kahle, Maso-
reten des Westens (1927); idem, Die hebraeischen Bibelhandschriften
aus Babylonien (1928) = ZAw, 46 (1928), 113-37 and tables; D.S. Sas-
soon, Ohel Dawid, 2 vols. (Eng., 1932); S.A. Birnbaum, The Qumran
(Dead Sea) Scrolls and Palaeography (1952). BRAILLE: C.N. Macken-
zie, World Braille Usage (1954), 109-12; G. Kronfeld, Braille Ivri (1956);
E. Katz, Ha-Braille ha-Ivri (1957).
ALPHABET, HEBREW, IN MIDRASH, TALMUD, AND
KABBALAH. The rabbis ascribed special sanctity to the let-
ters of the Hebrew “alphabet. The Psalmist’s declaration that
“By the word of God were the heavens made” (Ps. 33:6) was
taken to indicate the power of the letters, which form the
“Word” of God. Bezalel succeeded in the construction of the
tabernacle because he “knew how to combine the letters by
which the heavens and earth were created” (Ber. 55a). These
divine letters cannot be destroyed, and even when the mate-
rial tablets were broken by Moses, the letters flew upward (Pes.
87b). Similarly when R. Hananiah b. Teradyon was wrapped in
the Scroll of the Law and burnt by the Romans, he exclaimed,
“the parchment is burning but the letters are soaring on high”
(Av. Zar. 18a). The alphabet played a role in the creation of the
world. Bet was chosen as the proper letter with which to begin
the creation since it is also the initial letter of the word bera-
khah (“blessing”). Furthermore, the letter bet had other de-
sirable features. “Just as the bet is closed on all sides and open
in front, so we have no right to inquire what is below, what is
above, what is back, but only from the day that the world was
created and thereafter” (Gen. R. 1:10). The claim of the letter
alef was also acted upon favorably. It was finally placed at the
beginning of the Ten Commandments. Another reason given
for creation with a bet was to “teach that there are two worlds
since bet has the numerical value of two” (ibid.). The Talmud
related that this world was created with the letter he and the
future world with the letter yod, both letters forming one of
the names of God (Men. 29b). Every letter in the alphabet is
granted symbolic meaning by the Talmud. Thus, for exam-
ple, “alef bet means to learn wisdom (alef binah) while gim-
mel dalet means to show kindness to the poor (gemal dallim)”
(Shab. 104a). Even the way the letters are written has signifi-
cance. R. Ashi declares, “I have observed that scribes who are
most particular add a vertical stroke to the roof of the letter
het” This stroke signifies that “He lives in the height of the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
world” since the het is the initial letter of the word Hai, “He
lives.” The stroke above the letter indicates that the abode of
the living God is on high. The addition of a letter from God's
name to a person's name is indicative of Divine guidance and
protection. Thus God placed a letter from his name, the vay,
on Cain’s forehead (Gen. 4:15; PdRE 21). Abram’s name was
changed to Abraham by the addition of the letter he (Gen.
17:5; Gen. R. 39:11). The yod which the Lord took from Sarai
when her name was changed to Sarah complained to the Al-
mighty that, “Because I am the smallest of all letters, Thou hast
withdrawn me from the name of the righteous woman.” God
finally appeased the yod by utilizing it when Hoshea’s name
was changed to Joshua by addition of this letter (Gen. 17:15;
Num. 13:16; Gen. R. 47:1). The total number of letters in the
alphabet, 22, is also given significance. The wicked King Ahab
merited royalty for 22 years “because he honored the Torah
which was given in 22 letters,” by refusing to surrender it to
Ben-Hadad, king of Aram (Sanh. 102b). Great significance is
given to those psalms which are alphabetically arranged (in
119 and 145), as are the first four chapters of Lamentations. Of
the latter, R. Johanan declares that they were smitten by this
alphabetical dirge, “because they violated the Torah, which
was given by means of the alphabet” (Sanh. 103b). Halakhic
exegesis also derives important laws from superfluous or miss-
ing letters in the bible and even from the flourishes and other
graphic peculiarities.
[Aaron Rothkoff]
In Jewish Mysticism
The early mystical literature of the Jews, composed soon after
the Talmud was concluded, dealt extensively with the sym-
bolism and secret meaning of the alphabet. Apart from the
special mystical alphabets such as the Otiyyot de-Rabbi Akiva
(c. 700) and the alphabet of *Ben Sira (Alphabetum Siracidis,
c. 700), attention was devoted to the secret meaning of the let-
ters. The most noteworthy works are the Sefer *Yezirah, the
Heikhalot writings, the Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, the Sefer Te-
munah, *Shiur Komah, Harba de-Moshe, Sefer ha-Yashar, the
Book of *Raziel and the Book of *Bahir. The important role
that mystical symbolism of letters plays in these writings is
already partly evident from their alphabetical structure and
shape. The belief that the alphabet has mystical significance is
based on the idea that the 22 letters of the alphabet are spiri-
tual essences which came into being as emanations from God.
The Talmud had already stated that God created heaven and
earth with the help of the alphabet (Ber. 55a), and the idea
that the 22 letters as spiritual states were the basis of creation
recurs throughout mystical literature (Sefer Yezirah, 2:2; 5:22;
Zohar, 1:3; 2:152; Zohar Hadash, Ruth; Moses Cordovero, Shi’ur
Komah, 8; Yal. Reub., Gen., and elsewhere).
The Letters As Spiritual and Material Structures
The letters, as written in the Torah, are reflections of the
heavenly letters. Their relation to each other is like that of
the male and female which attain fulfillment only in union
(Zohar, 2:228; cf. 3:220). This characteristic is also expressed
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
ALPHABET, HEBREW, IN MIDRASH, TALMUD, AND KABBALAH
in the shape of the letters: alef is male, bet female, gimmel is
again male, dalet female, and so forth (Zohar Hadash, Ruth).
The form of the letters is not accidental; they are “spiritual es-
sences whose external shape corresponds to their internal es-
sence.” The spiritual counterpart of each letter derives from the
individual *Sefirot; thus, for instance, alef comes from Keter
(“Crown”), bet from Hokhmah (“Wisdom”), gimmel from
Binah (“understanding”) and so on (M. Cordovero, Pardes
Rimmonim, 27:2; Sefer ha-Temunah, the end of alef). When a
person pronounces or uses letters of the alphabet, it awakens
the spiritual essence contained in them and “sacred forms”
come into being which rise and unite with their origins, the
heavenly letters, “which are the sources of emanation’; there
they become subtle and incorporeal, similar to what they were
before they took on a definite material shape in man’s mouth
(Cordovero, op. cit., 27:2; 9:3; 15:3; idem, Shiur Komah, 53;
idem, Elimah (Ms.), 132; Sefer ha-*Kanah, 24; *Dov Baer of
Mezhirech, Or ha-Emet, 12; idem, Maggid Devarav le- Yaakov,
28). The whole doctrine of the spiritual, supernatural charac-
ter of the letters seems to have originated under the influence
of the Pythagorean theory of numbers.
The Letters of the Torah and Prayers
The letters “are the apparel of the Torah, woven from all the
colors of the light, white, red, green, and black” (foreword to
Tikkunei Zohar). An individual section of the Torah, com-
posed of verses, is as “the soul for its physical members [the
verses]” and in the same manner as the words draw their vi-
tality from the verses so do the letters from the words: the one
is the soul of the other and the apparel of the one is that of the
other (Pardes Rimmonim, 21:5). This explains the particular
sanctity of the scroll of the Torah and of the act of writing it
(ibid., 27:2; 20:1). The writing of a letter constitutes the mate-
rial stage, its pronunciation, the spiritual stage, and its tran-
sition from oral pronunciation to thought is the third stage.
Hence the special sanctity of prayer performed with purity and
fervor, for it transforms the letters of the prayer into spiritual
substances which rise, toward their heavenly origins (Cordo-
vero, Shi’ur Komah, 19).
The Sequence of the Alphabet
Alef as the first letter encompasses all the others: “Alef is their
primary source and they all draw from it.” The remaining let-
ters are organized in three groups, each consisting of seven
letters: bet, gimmel, dalet, he, vav, zayin, het “are the mystery of
the rule of Grace,” tet, yod, kaf, lamed, mem, nun, samekh “that
of the rule of Mercy,’ and ayin, pe, zaddik, kof, resh, shin, tav
“that of the rule of Strict Justice” (Pardes Rimmonim, 27:21).
Final Letters
The five final letters, which in the Talmud were stated to have
been instituted by the Prophets (Shab. 104a), according to the
Zohar were originally preserved by God, together with the
“primordial light,” for a better future; only Adam knew them.
After the Fall they were hidden from him too, until Abraham
through inspiration came to know them. Abraham bestowed
729
ALPHONSE OF POITIERS
the knowledge of the final letters on Isaac, he, on Jacob, and
the latter, on Joseph. After Joseph’s death, during the period
of servitude in Egypt, they were eventually forgotten. The
knowledge was regained when Israel received the Torah “and
apprehended them in their essence,” but after the worship
of the golden calf they were lost to the people. Only Moses,
Joshua, and the 7o elders still knew them. They brought the
knowledge with them to Erez Israel and there they were again
revealed in the Song of Songs to the whole people and added
to the other 22 letters of the alphabet (Zohar Hadash, Ruth).
When Moses ascended Mount Sinai he found God designing
crowns for the individual letters (Shab. 89a). These are the
crown-shaped flourishes which point to the ten Sefirot (Sefer
ha-Peliah, 73) and represent the life-principle (nefesh) of the
letters (Vital, Ez Hayyim, 1:5, 9). The vowels are the neshamah
(“soul”) and ruah (“spirit”) of the letters, which emanated
from the Sefirah Hokhmah (“Wisdom’; Pardes Rimmonim, 9:5;
28:6; Tikkunei ha-Zohar, 5). The cantillation accents evolved
from the Sefirah Keter (“Crown”) (otherwise ibid., = Tikku-
nei Zohar Pardes Rimmonim 29:5). Each zeruf (“combination
of letters”) has its special purpose, and is based on a particu-
lar mystical idea. The doctrine of the combination of letters
is already found in talmudic literature. In esoteric literature
this doctrine is further elaborated, first in Sefer Yezirah and
subsequently in numerous commentaries on it, in particular
that of Shabbetai *Donnolo (tenth century). Through the link-
ing together of letters it is possible “to call into existence new
creatures” and the amora Rava tried to create a man in this
manner (Pardes Rimmonim, 8:4; *David b. Solomon ibn Abi
Zimra, Magen David, introduction; Rashi to Sanh. 65b). The
doctrine of combination of letters regarding the Divine name
was derived from the doctrine of zeruf (Abraham Abulafia in
his letter to R. Solomon; cf. Sefer ha-Bahir). The entire kab-
balistic literature abounds in speculations about the alphabet,
730
but the following writings deal particularly with this subject:
Sefer Barukh she-Amar (1804); N. Bachrach, Emek ha-Melekh
(1648), chapter Shaashuei ha-Melekh; Elijah ha-Kohen, Mi-
drash Talpiyyot (1736), s.v. Otiyyot; Isaac ha-Levi, Otiyyot de-
Rabbi Yizhak (1801).
[Samuel Abba Horodezky]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Judah Leib b. Joseph Ozer, Einei Ari (1900);
S.A. Horodezky, Kivshono shel Olam (1950), 29-47; E. Lipiner, Geshi-
khte fun a Fargetert Ksav (1956); idem, Oysyes Dertseylen... (1941).
°ALPHONSE OF POITIERS (1220-1271), brother of
Louis 1x (Saint Louis) of France. His jurisdiction extended
over *Poitou, Saintonge, and Auvergne, and areas including
Agenais, Quercy, and the *Comtat-Venaissin, i.e., almost one-
third of present-day France. Alphonse treated the Jewish in-
habitants in his domains with arbitrary harshness. In July 1249,
he decreed the expulsion of the Jews of Poitou. The order was
apparently not implemented, unless for a short period. In Oc-
tober 1268 he ordered the wholesale arrest of the Jews in his
territories, and seizure of their movable property to finance his
departure on a crusade. He subsequently fixed the tax liability
of the Jews in his domain at 8,000 livres for the communi-
ties in Poitou, 6,000 for Saintonge, 2,000 for Auvergne, and
3,500 for Toulouse. In July 1269 Alphonse compelled the Jews
to wear the Jewish *badge; those who failed to comply had to
pay the heavy fine of ten livres. In July 1271, during Alphonse’s
absence, his “vice administrators” (vices gerentes), claiming his
authorization, expelled the Jews of Moissac.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Molinier (ed.), Alfonse de Poitiers, Cor-
respondance Administrative, 2 vols. (1894-1900); P.F. Fournier and P.
Guebin (eds.), Alfonse de Poitiers, Enquétes Administratives (1959),
includes bibliography; Nahon, in: REJ, 125 (1966), 167-211.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 1
Bronze figurines of bulls dating from the 12th-10th c. B.c.£., Judea. Photo: Z. Radovan, Jerusalem.
THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF ANIMALS MENTIONED THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE,
RANGING FROM THE FANTASTIC, SUCH AS THE GREAT FISH THAT SWALLOWS JONAH, TO THE EVERYDAY,
SUCH AS RAMS AND CALVES. THE FAUNA OF ISRAEL AND THE SURROUNDING AREA WHERE
THE STORIES OF THE BIBLE TOOK PLACE IS EXTREMELY VARIED, AS IS ITS FLORA, BECAUSE ISRAEL
ENJOYS FOUR CLIMATE ZONES. THE IMAGES HERE SHOW A FEW OF THESE ANIMALS
REPRESENTED IN SCULPTURE, DRAWING, AND OTHER ART FORMS.
ANIMALS OF THE BIBLE
wow Baas WVB
Detail of the mosaic floor of the 4th c. c.z. Gaza synagogue depicting a lioness and her cub. Photo: Z. Radovan, Jerusalem.
ANANSI
INIDTNIN
raninniy = (ks HE
yswaowow of
lonpnun
oes
ABOVE: Illustration of
Jonah being swallowed by
the great fish from a
Hebrew Bible, 1299.
© Visual Arts Library
(London)/Alamy.
LEFT: Cast of Hebrew
seal (9th—8th c. B.c.£.)
inscribed “Shema, servant
of Jeroboam,” found
in Megiddo.
Photo: Z. Radovan,
Jerusalem.
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Seek queeuen tment won GUtberee, cuuNeg 4Uereummume Rea TERD RS chsze
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Ivory calf, from Megiddo, Israel, Israelite period (c. 1200-600 B.c.z.). Bronze Age. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
RIGHT: Bronze monkey
from Megiddo, Israelite
period (c. 1200-600 B.c.z.).
Photo: Z. Radovan,
Jerusalem.
BELOW: From one of
the wall paintings of the
Dura Europos synagogue:
The consecration of
the tabernacle, showing
the ark of the covenant,
the menorah, and
sacrificial animals.
Photo: Z. Radovan,
Jerusalem.
Hamat Tiberias synagogue mosaic floor. Detail from the zodiac panel
depicting the sign of Taurus. Photo: Z. Radovan, Jerusalem.
Leopard detail, ca. 6th c. c.£., from the mosaic in the pavement at
NY.
Israel. Erich Lessing/Art Resource,
the synagogue of Maon at Nirim,